My first contact with recruiters was in 1966. There was a little soiree going on called the Vietnam war. This was when I first learned that recruiters might be inclined to bend the truth occasionally, if not bust it clean in two!

Later, I moved into the business world. The recruiters were a little different, but many of the techniques and spiels remained the same.

To be fair to recruiters, let me point out that in one position I held for a few years, my job was to train new employees who had been recruited. I knew the inner workings of the company, I knew the offers that could be made, and in many cases, I knew the recruiters personally. In some instances, it was plain that the new employee had been given some incorrect data, to say the least. However, in many cases, after a little digging, I was able to figure out that the employee had simply misunderstood, or had not understood what the recruiter had been telling them.

Most newcomers to network marketing and multi-level marketing are in the same boat. Either they misunderstood what was told (or sold) to them, the recruiter wasn't clear enough, or the newbie was flat lied to.

Unfortunately, many people who sign up with multi-level network marketing, online or offline businesses have little or no experience or knowledge about what they are getting into. At the same time, they have probably been made to understand that a way to REALLY MAKE INCOME in their new program is to recruit other people to go in their downlines.

In order to get sign-ups in their downlines, many untrained, or sometimes simply unscrupulous, recruiters will make all kinds of claims about their program. Since there REALLY IS MONEY TO BE MADE in honest multi-level marketing companies, to dangle this bait in front of a prospective member seems perfectly logical. However, many new members make outlandish claims based on what they were told, or perceive. Even worse, many greedy members will make everything sound incredibly easy, and unbelieveably lucrative.

Whether someone has been recruited by unscrupulous, greedy, or simply untrained or badly informed people, or by skilled and caring marketers, they will likely repeat much of what they heard from whoever recruited them as they think that is what is real, or is supposed to be the way to do it.

True, getting people into your downline may eventually result in a greater income, but getting the wrong people in, or the right people for the wrong reasons or with the wrong inducements may simply result in a downline full of do-nothings or wrong-doers. Not the kind of people we want.

If you want your efforts to bear real fruit, you must be willing to be honest about your program...both with your candidates AND yourself. In fact, one very successful multi-level marketer I know of actually uses a screening technique, and does not waste his time with the merely inquisitive, greedy, or untrainable. The result? His down line is full of quality individuals who realize that this IS A BUSINESS, and that they must learn, practice, and grow just as anyone in any other new job.

I, myself, am in a particular multi-level company where I have a very small downline, but since the members of the downline are very productive, I make over $2,000 a week, yes, a week, mostly from their efforts.

Learn your business, realize that it is a business, get into a business that you respect and are comfortable with, and then communicate all that to your downline or downline candidates, and you will do much better than if you simply recruit, recruit, recruit.

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He has been an active internet marketer since 2000, and now makes his living online. You may find more of his articles at http://business-info.xtramoney4me.net/ and http://donovanbaldwin.blogspot.com