The Digital Evolution of Network Marketing: A Deep Dive with Patrick Shaw

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Join us in this enlightening episode of ‘Beyond the Network Marketing Dream’ as we explore the revolutionary changes reshaping the network marketing industry with Patrick Shaw, founder of Rapid Funnel. Discover how technology, particularly Rapid Funnel, is transforming traditional marketing approaches, enhancing prospecting, and redefining team engagement worldwide. Patrick sheds light on the unique challenges and opportunities in the network marketing space, sharing insights from his journey and the pivotal role of authenticity and effective systems in achieving sustainable growth. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or new to the industry, this episode is packed with actionable strategies to navigate the digital landscape and elevate your network marketing game.

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Taylor:

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Beyond the Network Marketing Dream. We have a special episode for you this evening. We are going to be interviewing the founder and CEO of Rapid Funnel, Mr. Patrick Shaw. Patrick, how are you doing this evening?

Patrick (00:36.768)

you

Patrick (00:41.454)

you

Patrick (00:48.11)

Taylor, I am doing awesome, and it’s good to be with you.

Taylor Radway (00:51.574)

Hello, man. It’s good to have you on here. I thought we’d do something a little bit different, interview you and kind of hear your take on this industry and everything that it’s gone through over the last decades and what we’re looking forward to in the future inside of this industry.

Patrick (01:03.79)

You bet, it’ll be fun! Reverse the roles here.

Taylor Radway (01:07.052)

Absolutely. We’ll jump right into it and start asking you some questions. So Rapid Funnel has grown a lot. The company’s in 11 countries and hundreds of top leaders around those 11 countries. I mean, did you think this was going to happen when you started? Obviously, everyone wants to start with the big vision and the big goal, but did you really see this happening like this?

Patrick (01:26.478)

I had a big vision, but it was not to build a SaaS company, you know, software as a service. There was no design around that whatsoever. I was just trying to solve my problem in network marketing, to be honest.

Taylor Radway (01:31.086)

You

Taylor Radway (01:39.342)

So, solve your problem, right? You come up with this, it solves your problem. What makes you want to take it to all these leaders and all these different companies around the world and globally, what makes you want to do that after it solves your problem? Where’s the drive there?

Patrick (01:53.208)

You know, honestly, people just started asking because they saw the platform. I was in a billion dollar company. We were doing really, really well. And when you start sending resources out from the, from the app and people do move around and network marketing, it’s just the nature of it. And once people had experienced it, they’re like, Hey man, I need access. And you know, that, that, and that just came to the realization that there was, there was something bigger here.

And I guess, you know, truthfully, it even went back a little further than that. The company I was with paid me a lot of money to build it themselves. And when they did so, they not only paid me a lot of money, they spent more than a million dollars to build the platform. And it was kind of an unmitigated disaster. They never made me shut the platform down because they wanted to make sure theirs worked first, which was cool.

but it never got off the ground. And when I realized the amount of money and energy and time and effort they had spent as a very competent company, and they simply couldn’t build it, even though I was trying to tell them what to do, I just realized like there’s a lot of people that have a need for what we do. And that’s when the seeds started getting planted and then other companies started asking it, it just became self -evident.

Taylor Radway (03:13.612)

Oh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So a lot of times businesses are started serving your own interests and trying to solve your own problem, especially when you have that entrepreneurial mindset that a lot of people inside of this industry have. But just a question, because I’m curious, right? So a lot of people are probably familiar with the app watching this. They know that they can go log in and they have access to however many resources that they want about their company, about their opportunity to help prospects see the information and help get them to a yes or no. But

Patrick (03:25.472)

you

Taylor Radway (03:42.766)

What did you do before this? How did you expose people before this when you first got started?

Patrick (03:47.438)

Yeah, I had a VHS tape, a fax, a phone, and a meeting. So that kind of dates me a little bit, but you know, I’m 57. And when I started, they’re literally, I had a $700 phone bill, a fax machine, a single VHS tape that, you know, I bought hundreds of, and a meeting. And so that’s it. Like the business was really simple before this digital world came about.

Taylor Radway (03:49.358)

Hehehehe

Taylor Radway (04:14.026)

Absolutely. So when I got started, it was CDs a little bit, a little bit further, right? CDs and business cards at that point. So how, speaking of that, how has network marketing changed other than how we expose people, right? How has network marketing changed overall over the last decade?

p (04:18.414)

All right.

Patrick (04:30.318)

I think that I think the two biggest things that jump out at me is the number of influences. There’s a lot of people saying that they know how to teach network marketing because of social media. And a lot of them have never been in network marketing. They don’t understand duplication, but they’re digital marketers. And they do in fact know how to recruit people in network marketing. That’s like saying that I know cars because I can work on the engine. Well, that may be true, but that doesn’t mean you can drive right in.

And building network marketing is a discipline. There are some fundamentals that exist. So I think there’s a lot of people that know maybe digital marketing, and they think that just carries over to network marketing, and it just doesn’t. So I think that’s one of the biggest single ways that the industry has changed. And then of course, you’ve got the big fundamental changes with FTC and you know.

no more garage qualifying or front loading. And I think as a whole, that’s been really good for the industry. And I see it as a pretty bright future for us right now, for the companies that get it right.

Taylor Radway (05:37.838)

Absolutely. And that’s the key thing, right? For the companies that get it right. As people, we have our phones in our hands, our iPads, we have all these impressions, over 5 ,000 different impressions on us every single day, right? And so how do you take the person that wants to be successful inside of network marketing? How do you show them how to adapt into digital marketing and still be authentic? Because when I went to college, I had a ton of marketing classes. Also dates me a little bit. None of those had any mention of social media.

Right. And so the times changing and still sticking with the fundamentals that truly build this business the best and remaining authentic, I think is big. So where do you see domestic and globally? If there’s a difference between the two, where do you think domestic and globally the industry overall is going? You think we’re kind of on a bullish run, bearish run, where are we going?

Patrick (06:28.238)

Yeah, I mean, look, we’re actually in about 20 different languages around the world. We’ve just launched, we’ve got three companies in South Africa recently. So you really get a bird’s eye view of what’s going on and markets are different. You take a place like South Africa and the perception of network marketing is actually pretty positive. There are a lot of people that are hungry, they’re teachable, they want to change their life.

and they do all have smartphones. So, you know, there’s differences there. You come to the States and the perception honestly just isn’t as good. But as you go into downturn, network marketing always does better. One of the biggest problems is we’ve evolved so far in the States with digital marketing. Again, going back to that original thing is that there’s a lot of confusion. There’s a lot of people that are…

They have high ranks in the network marketing models. They recruit a lot of people. They throw tons of people against the wall and they operate on the spread and the compensation plan. So they’re making a lot of money on the spread, but they’re churning all these people. Well, the very nature of network marketing is supposed to be, hey, let me build a team. Let me create depth, momentum, duplication and freedom. Let me sit on a beach. If I commit five, 10 or 15 years,

to the industry and a good business, I can create real freedom. Well, you’re seeing a lot of people jump from company to company to company chasing money and acting more like digital marketers or affiliate marketers or influencers where there’s nothing wrong with recruiting those people, but putting them on the stage to teach everybody else how to build a business is dangerous, right? It can literally…

It causes companies to fail because when these influencers are put on stage and they’re chasing the money, they disappear really quickly. They’ll come and go. There’s no loyalty there. And so it’s disrupting the nature of a really good model, if that makes sense.

Taylor Radway (08:39.256)

Absolutely. I mean, further than the disloyalty to with the influencers and things like that is that’s where they did something and it worked for them. The success was there for them. They posted the right videos. They were doing the trending topics, whatever it may be. And they saw success for themselves. However, the power of network marketing, like you just said, is duplication, right? Is helping somebody else being able to do it.

And as you spoke of earlier, digital marketing is not how you grow a fundamental and authentically growing network marketing business. And so if you go there and learn from somebody that has gone with the mass approach, it’s not going to translate as smoothly as sometimes these companies think into the network marketing model. That’s where, again, I think rapid funnel has so much benefit inside of this industry because it’s something that was really created and designed.

specifically to keep the authenticity and to keep the fundamentals while growing and adapting with the changes inside of this industry. So, I mean, that kind of brings us in. You answered a little bit of it, but what if any more? What are some of the biggest challenges that leaders are facing today in terms of growing their organization, getting that duplication? Because what I’ve seen is a lot of earners.

kind of get comfortable, they kind of get lazy once they get to a certain point and they’re good, their family’s good, they’re taken care of, they have a couple top leaders. Their business may not be growing as fast anymore, but how do the leaders that are kind of in that point take themselves to the next level in this new age of network marketing we have?

Patrick (10:17.998)

You know, I think there’s three big drivers, right? Number one is people have got a prospect in in follow up effectively. The more often the story gets told and more effectively and consistently the follow up happens, that team is going to win at the end of the day. There’s a book out there, The Four Disciplines of Execution, that talks about the lead measure. We know what KPIs are, but there has to be a culture in the company that is built around, I’m going to tell the story. Number two,

is you’ve got to have a simple onboarding process. It’s easier to sign up and drive Uber today than it is to join the average company. That’s a problem. Back in the day, it was so easy to get somebody started. And now there’s so many distractions, so much noise. So onboarding is important. And then at the very highest level, systems duplicate and people don’t. And today, because of technology,

you really better have a system. I mean, we used to always talk about systems in network marketing, but the system was like, hey, hand them this VHS tape, say this, invite them to a meeting. I mean, you know, it was a system, but it didn’t require any technology. Today, because we live in a digital world, you better have technology. And we should be in an era where that technology,

can give you the activity metrics, the data, opt -in rates, play rates, engagement rates, open rates, and it can give you the data around every independent distributor in your organization without making them download any platform that they have to create content or get to talk to each other. Like all that should be pre -built, but nobody builds technology for network marketing. Think about it. Name one single platform in the world,

that is built for network marketing. None of them. I mean, it’s no offense. I could go through all the names, you know, all the technologies, whether that’s text broad classing, texting platforms, survey platforms, funnel platforms, email platforms, social media platforms. None of them are built for network marketing.

Patrick (12:35.886)

And if you believe as a leader that fundamentals in network marketing are unique, duplication, relationship based, simplicity, work in depth, the average person has five to seven hours a week, part time, it’s about the relationship. If you believe those things, then you must realize that all the digital tools are built for a one to many mass marketing. Let me reach a bunch of people and hide behind the tech. So how do you make those things work in network marketing? The answer is you don’t.

you find a platform actually built for network marketing. Plug, rapid funnel.

Taylor Radway (13:12.078)

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that’s big, the trackability, especially, right, because you and I have both sat down with with major large leaders in this industry and

they don’t know what’s going on in their business. If you asked them, you know, whether they have a team of 10 ,000, 50 ,000, however, you know, how many exposures did your entire organization do last month? They can’t tell you. And so I’m big into working out big into Jiu Jitsu. The biggest way to track this, right, is you write down the weights you lifted, the moves you’ve learned and your progression through the system. If you don’t track it, you’re never going to truly know if you’re getting better or if you’re declining.

So it’s the same way inside of this industry. You need to be able to have that trackability. We have, like you said, all these digital tools. So why not utilize them, package them in something specifically built for this industry? And if you’re a leader looking at it, I mean, how can you not get excited about knowing exactly how many exposures are done in your organization? What people are watching the most? What videos are working? What videos are not working? That’s huge. So it…

Patrick (14:18.926)

Taylor, this is crazy. I was on a call like an hour and a half ago with a $70 million company in network marketing for three years they’ve been using our competitor, quote, our competitor. I mean, I can’t even take it seriously. I am on their website looking at it right now. I’m not gonna name them, but I would tell you they’re not hard to find. I go to their website.

And on their website, they say trusted by brands like Saks, Target, Best Buy, Gap. What do those companies have to do with network marketing? When I click on the link on their side that says direct sales and I click on the link, there’s a 404 error. Oops, the page you’re looking for couldn’t be found. This is our biggest competitor. Right. I mean, they’re not. Network marketing is unique, man.

Taylor Radway (14:57.102)

You

Patrick (15:14.67)

Use a platform built for it. Somebody and some company that understands these fundamentals. And I could go on and on about leaderboards recognition babies cry for it men die for it. What is it. It’s recognition. Why is it so important in network marketing. Every leader knows it. OK well how about relationship based. I am working through my personal network. The most powerful thing in network marketing is seven levels deep seven levels deep.

I tap on a guy’s shoulder, we tap into his network, he knows all these people. If I can leverage that in a positive way with a good product and a comfortable approach, we cut through all the digital noise. It would take a thousand impressions on digital, maybe to get five people to respond. In networking, tapping into my network, I can touch 10 people on the shoulder and get seven to nine of them to respond. That’s a whole different game.

but you better use tools geared for that industry. Yeah.

Taylor Radway (16:15.66)

Absolutely. I wonder how many how many companies that competitor has helped Uber get drivers then it sounds really difficult to get signed up like you were saying earlier, when it when it comes to that digital marketing approach, right where that one to many that that that 5000 impressions a day that we’re all seeing all of that stuff where network marketing changes like like you said, it’s your people that you know, so they might may have these 5000 a day impressions going on.

but you’re their friend, you’re their family member, there’s somebody that you worked with, whoever it may be, there’s gonna be a little extra incentive for them just because they know you to look at this. And real quick, one thing that I wanted to ask you is because this is huge, especially when it comes to opt -in rates, funnels, different things like that, there’s a large funnel company out there right now that speaks so highly about what they’re able to do and their conversion rates and things like that. And…

They’re publicly stated those conversion rates that they have, but I’m just curious with rapid funnel. What are you seeing on average in the opt -in rates and just in the engagement through things that we are sending out in resources?

Patrick (17:26.254)

You know, good opt -in rate in the digital world, B to C, business to consumer as an example, would be a 2 or 3 or 4 percent would be extraordinary. Our opt -in rate across all companies is over 30 percent. If a company is doing it right, the opt -in rate in the email is north of 60 percent opt -in rate. Now,

I will tell you, it feels like we’re cheating because it’s relationship based. When we deliver an email, it’s person to person. And then we also do a lot of things internally because we understand how to deliver email at a really high rate. But nobody can do that. I mean, that’s like a 15 -fold increase minimum in opt -in rates.

And now you have an entire army, a voluntary army, a network marketing organization of people that all have a pre -packaged, pre -prepared, very personal email campaign. And I mean, the first company we ever launched, they put 1 .2 million people into an email campaign in the first 24 months. Like, how does that happen, right? It’s just a different model.

Taylor Radway (18:34.752)

you

Taylor Radway (18:41.614)

And that’s what I was going to clarify. 60, 70%. That’s not six out of 10 people, right? These are large campaigns. I was looking at some stats that were sent out earlier and the stats have sent out and opened are just amazing to see this. And you have to understand when you get that email from your friend, a lot of people, and I laugh about it because it’s a lot of people my age, email, they say email doesn’t work. Email is dead. Email is a non -existent.

Patrick (18:52.934)

Right.

Taylor Radway (19:10.574)

tool anymore and you either need to text somebody, FaceTime them, Instagram them, whatever the case may be. I mean, you could ask anybody that knows me, that’s around me. I have so many different email accounts. I’m checking all of them. I don’t know who these people are that don’t use email, but I’m still using email. I have a junk email that I just put for spam and then another one that I give to important things. And so for the people that say that email is dead, I think that’s so crazy to see these opt -in rates.

Patrick (19:22.318)

Yeah. Well, you know, granted it’s changed, right? We don’t check email every day because we’re checking text and WhatsApp and social and you need to use those platforms. But

Taylor Radway (19:41.184)

you

Patrick (19:49.442)

anybody can go look up the stats on email. It’s extraordinary. It’s not even shrinking. It’s growing. It’s just used differently. So we should use it differently. And it’s a long tail strategy. If you can’t get somebody on board and networking in the first two or three weeks, what usually happens, Taylor? I mean, if we’re honest about it, if I prospect you in network marketing, and I can’t get you to make a decision in the first three weeks or two months,

Taylor Radway (20:05.376)

you

Patrick (20:19.63)

What in reality happens? Do I really ever follow up with you? I next them, right? And that’s what everybody does. But if I had a system and I said, Hey, Taylor, I’d love to stay in touch, man. Seems like the timing’s not right. I know you got so much going on. You’re relieved. And then I’m like, I’ll stay in touch. If I come across something super interesting, I’ll email you. Is that okay? You say yes.

Taylor Radway (20:23.63)

Nah, you just next them and you go on to the next person.

Taylor Radway (20:48.172)

Absolutely.

Patrick (20:49.614)

I say, Taylor, I’m dropping you an email right now. Check your inbox, would you? And boom, you click that email. And now I drop you an email every 30, 60, 90 days for the next three years. And sooner or later, you start clicking and the hot prospect algorithm tells me I got a new hot prospect. I reach out to you via text or phone and you’re like, oh, dude, that’s so crazy.

I was just watching one of your videos and I’m like, oh, no kidding. That’s awesome, man. The world is conspiring us to do us good, Taylor. Right? But in reality, I had the data. That’s a game changer for an organization. Right.

Taylor Radway (21:15.854)

Ha ha.

Taylor Radway (21:31.982)

Absolutely. What’s the saying? Everybody knows fortune is in the follow up. Oh, now just due to following the fundamentals, this follow up process is extending for 60, 90, 120 days without you with you doing work one time.

Patrick (21:42.734)

It’s crazy, man!

Taylor Radway (21:46.414)

So Patrick, man, thank you so much for taking out some time here today to jump on and answer these questions. I know this is gonna be amazing for all the leaders and all the new people getting started in the industry to really see the power of authentic sharing and what Rapid Funnel has to offer. So if you have any closing remarks, definitely would love to hear them and thank you so much for your time.

Patrick (22:02.59)

Nah, man, we’re gonna do it again, brother. I love it. It’s perfect. Thanks. Thanks, Taylor.

Taylor Radway (22:10.158)

Thank you, Patrick.

Important Links

• https://rapidfunnel.com/

About Patrick Shaw