An engineer by profession with a masters degree in Business Administration, esteemed V Partner, successful QNET Independent Representative Ferdie Tolentino realised that network marketing, unlike what others perceived it to be, is not a world of it’s own. Like any other business or job, it requires training, hard work and dedication. With this, he started to dream again and decided to practice all his learnings and discipline from his job to network marketing.
How would you define network marketing after all these years?
Network marketing is a profession. It’s basically a form of selling products, but it’s unique from what we’re used to with traditional selling, because you sell through word of mouth. In essence, there are no third parties or, I would say, advertisements that you have to go through. Everything is done through word of mouth, which is so powerful.
However, this is also used by crooks with evil intentions. Network marketing should not be like that, so now there is a movement to make it more professionalised. The network marketers are now the new professionals.
“Good business ethics starts with me.” How do you promote or pledge this?
After you have offered the business to a person, that is just the start. After they become our independent representatives, the next thing should be training. Most people, they just like the money and want extra income without taking care of the people that they bring into the business. Here, there’s a process. Your goal is to help your people until they become successful, so you need a system to make it work.
Name one big mistake that network marketers do today that negatively affects the whole industry.
Most people do this for short-term gain. Some people say, “I did not make it in network marketing,” but if you ask them, “What have you done?” they’ll say, “I was rejected twice, then I quit.” That’s not the kind of business we are in. We are just like any other business. It will take some time before you become successful.
It’s a great thing we have The V and QNET making sure we have online training. We also have regular events as part of our system, like V-Con, wherein belief becomes stronger. This is because of the things that you may learn from our mentors, from the V Partners, from our Founders, and from those who made it big in QNET. In the end, it’s really just like any other business; you have to put in time and sacrifice – no pain, no gain.
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What is your advice to people who have to deal with rejection?
I have some friends who did not join me at first. I even remember one of my aunts called me and questioned me – “Why are you inviting your cousins into this kind of business?”
Some people look at rejection personally. It’s just like if you go into a restaurant, the waitress or the waiters will offer you coffee or tea. They don’t care if you don’t want coffee or if you don’t want tea; it’s just part of their job. It’s the same thing at QNET. Some people will not like it, but for me, that’s it in a nutshell.
Rejection is really normal in any business. As I’ve told many people, if I did not get rejected I probably would not be the kind of leader I am today.
Try reading the book ‘Your First Year in Network Marketing’ by Mark Yarnell. It gave me a change of heart.
How important are intentions and transparency in this business?
Very important, because some people may join you and some people may lure you to the big money. Some may even tell you, “Just give me your money, and you don’t need do anything else and you will earn.” That’s very wrong. You have to be very transparent or open to them. You need to tell them, “This requires you to talk to a lot of people.” It’s just a matter of telling them the truth. Actually, people who join you reluctantly are the worst people to be in your organisation. In the end, they will quit or they could be the ‘thorn’ in your organisation, because in the first place, you had to force them to do it. You need to be really truthful about what it takes to be successful in QNET.
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