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You Are NOT a Salesperson

People seem to have a huge misconception about network marketing and the people who are involved with it. They seem to think that this is an industry of salespeople. This is a perception that not only prevents many people from succeeding in this industry, but it prevents many people outside of the industry from benefiting from it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a business about making money by selling some type of product at some point. It is about building a network of people around you that you earn money from. It is about promotions, marketing, and sales. The problem is that it is NOT an industry of salespeople. This is not about convincing someone to buy stuff they may not even want or need.

This is a service industry. If you don’t understand that the goal is to help as many people as you can, you have already failed. On the one hand, you are charged with providing people with a quality product that will enrich their lives in some way. On the other, you are able to give people the power to make a positive and significant change in their lifestyle.

I once spoke to a prospect who was a car salesman. He was all about “making the sale” and “closing the deal.” He kept telling me that every conversation is about closing a sale. Coming from a sales background myself, I can understand what he is saying. Did I want him on my team? No. Never called him back.

There are a couple of ideas you should definitely take away from this article:

  • If they say “No,” then leave it alone. People don’t like to be sold. All you are doing is setting yourself up for returns and cancellations
  • If you have to “sell” someone to enroll them, you have to keep selling them to keep them on your team

Don’t set yourself up for failure. This industry is not about slick sales tactics to trick people. If this is your strategy, you will fail.

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Please Hold All Questions

After dialing about 30 numbers (15 of which were disconnected), leaving about 10 voicemails, and listening through about 4 of the most annoying callertunes ever, you finally get someone on the phone. You are conducting your interview of this potential prospect, feeling them out, when they decide to interrupt you with a question of their own.

What do you do?

Some reading this may have no idea why this is even an issue (don’t worry, I’m going to bring you up to speed). Others are smiling right now because they already know where this is headed. The bottom line is: the person asking the questions is the one in control of the conversation.

Do police officers or soldiers answer questions? No, they control situations. They ask YOU questions. They slap your questions aside like mosquitoes on a muggy day.

Think of your interview as a fencing match. The person asking the questions is the one on the attack. They are in control. They are looking for a weakness or flaw to take advantage of in their opponent. The other participant is simply defending. They hold no sway in the outcome at this point. Unless the attacker makes a mistake.

So, where do prospects get off interrupting you to ask you questions? You are supposed to be a leader, a master recruiter, an expert in your field. Start acting like one and control the conversation! You do it however you feel comfortable, but you do NOT answer any questions until you are done asking your own. Here’s a couple of examples of things you might say:

  • “That’s a great question and I’m glad you asked it! We’ll be getting to that in just a sec. Now, you said you have 2 kids, right?”
  • “The purpose of this call is simply to find out if you would be a good fit for my company. My time is very valuable, so we can either end the call here or I can continue the interview. Which would you like?”

Notice how both statements end with a question directed back to the prospect. This puts control of the conversation firmly back in your hands. You are probably going to stick with a variation of, “Good question, I’ll be covering that shortly. [insert random question here].”

Of course, you don’t want to sound like a robot and you may want to make sure that “random question” allows you to pick up right where you left off. If someone is consistently interrupting, then you may want to go with the more stern example above and probably end up sending them along their way. One of the best things you can do to avoid battling for control is to tell your prospect to write down any questions they may have so that you can answer them later.

Not only will controlling the conversation help you to maintain your leadership status, but it will help you sort you prospects faster as well.

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Doh! You Forgot to Close!

You are having a great conversation with a prospect. You have related on many different levels. You’ve laughed, you’ve cried, you’ve discussed personal issues. You even find out that you may be related or once lived in the same neighborhood. Everything is going great. You really feel like you can help this person to succeed and that they would be an excellent addition to your team. You hang up the phone feeling good about that call. You feel as though you have accomplished something. So what’s wrong?

You Forgot To Close the Deal!

You let that person go without: adding them to your team, getting a committment from them as to when they want to join you, or even scheduling a definite callback!

What are you doing?!

This is probably one of the most common failings of many marketers and it is actually a very simple one to fix… Continue reading “Doh! You Forgot to Close!”