Your ability to invite people in a compelling manner is probably the most important of these skill sets. Because it's the one that gets your candidates into the recruiting pipeline. It means they are reviewing the correct information to determine if they are right for the business.
Some of the things you might invite a candidate to do are:
* Review some marketing materials;
* Attend a home presentation;
* Attend an opportunity meeting;
* Get on a 3-way call;
* Listen to a conference call; or,
* Participate in a webcast.
Your ability to invite candidates to take actions like these with power, conviction, and poise will have a huge impact on how fast and large you are able to build a business.
And it will have a dramatic impact on your earnings ability.
A network marketing amateur may invite ten prospects to watch a DVD and only one or two will do so. A network marketing professional might get eight or nine out of ten. Likewise with a home meeting. Professionals that have honed their inviting skills will get high turnouts, while those that haven't will have poor compliance rates.
The good news is that inviting skills - like all of our skill sets- can be readily developed if you will commit to learning how.
A good invitation should:
* Be well planned, yet earnest and sincere;
* Lead with benefits for the prospect;
* Be for something in the immediate future; and,
* Have a strong sense of urgency.
Let's look at each of these in turn:
I'm not a big believer in people rehearsing programmed, robotic scripts. They almost never work. However having a general guideline of what you want to say is important. When I'm creating a system for a client or my own team, I like to provide a number of general ideas of what you might say. Then I encourage people to find something that feels and sounds right for them, and make it their own. By having some guidelines of what you can say indifferent situations, each person can find something that is right for them. And if it feels right to you, it will be earnest and sincere, and not sound stilted or canned. The discipline of knowing what you want to say and what the outcome you want are,actually give you the freedom to relax and be real.
A big mistake amateurs make is to structure an invitation around features, not benefits. Features are things about you, your products or company. Benefits are always about the prospect. Saying things like, I'm working with a 25-year old debt-free company and we're looking for key people" have no benefit to the candidate. Leading with a benefit such as, "I'm working with a company that offers a free car, profit sharing and passive income potential and you could do great with it," is much more likely to be compelling to a prospect.
The next important aspect of the invitation is timeliness. If you invite people to a home presentation three weeks from now, you'll have a lot of people confirm they can attend. But by the time the event rolls around, you'll find actual attendance quite low. But if you invite someone to a home presentation in the next few days,some people will have previous commitments, but the percentage of people that actually turn out will be much higher.
Finally your invitation should have a sense of urgency. If you want them to watch a DVD, ask how soon they can do it. When you hand out a packet of information, set a timely deadline to get backin touch. Let people know that positioning and timing are important.
The best way to develop strong inviting skills is to practice them.Bounce your invitation off your sponsor and practice with your spouse. Invite your dog or cat. Get a MP3 player and record your invitation and play it back. Does it sound like someone that could show you how to achieve financial freedom? If not, keep practicing until it does. Like all of our skill sets, this can be learned.
-Randy Gage
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Skill Sets for Network Marketing Success - By Randy Gage
Let's begin with the first skill set: The Ability to Work a Candidate List.
Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Yet not many people in the business do this well.
Of course we need to have a candidate list. The mistake beginners make, is to do one when they start the business, and never keep it working. They do a list, put it in their manila "prospects" folder,then file it never to be seen again.
Your candidate list should be an ever-evolving organic tool. You eliminate people as they either join or decline the business, and constantly be adding people as you meet them. When someone tells me they have exhausted their warm market I want to shake them! The truth is, if you work the list correctly - and you do the business the right way - you'll never get through your candidate list.
Here's the secret: Sponsor people in waves. People who attempt the "one-say, two-say" approach to the business end up being grinders, and never reach big success. The truth is that it is easier to build the business fast than it is to build it slow. There is a sense of urgency, momentum is created, and that momentum attracts other people. You rank advance faster and make more money sooner, so it keeps the team inspired and in action. I like to do this in "blasts."
You do a blast, where you get a large number of people into your prospecting pipeline. You do this through launch meetings at your home, email announcements, phone calls, and distributing prospecting materials. Get 80, 90 or even 100 people into your pipeline. (Do not be making presentations yourself. Use 3rd partytools, for reasons we'll go over in a future lesson.) From that blast, you are likely to get eight, 12, or 15 people who enroll.
Now we know from experience they won't all get into action rightaway. Some will do it now, some will do it later, and some will do it never. But if you start 10 or 12 people, you are certain to getat least three or four "runners." These are the people who will jump in and get serious. Once you have identified who these runners are, you should take the next couple months working with them, helping them learn your system and become self-sufficient.
During that time, you won't be in recruiting mode, but you are still meeting people. The average person meets at least ten or 15 people every week. But they aren't paying attention to this, and not adding them to their candidate list. Make sure you do. Then when the couple of months are up, you are ready for your next blast. And you'll have plenty of names to choose from.
In my company, I have offered the chance to see the opportunity tomore than 700 people. Yet I have over 100 new people on my candidate list that I haven't even approached yet. Basically I will offer a chance to look at the business to all of them when I do my next blast. (Other than a few that I just believe are way too negative or I simply don't like them or care to work with them.)
But I still won't run out of candidates...Because I will spend the next couple of months working with the runners that materialize from that blast. And meantime I will be meeting ten or 15 new people every week, and adding them to my candidate list. If you maintain an organic candidate list and work it like this, you'll never run out of good prospects. Learn the skill of working a candidate list and you'll be off to a great start.
Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Yet not many people in the business do this well.
Of course we need to have a candidate list. The mistake beginners make, is to do one when they start the business, and never keep it working. They do a list, put it in their manila "prospects" folder,then file it never to be seen again.
Your candidate list should be an ever-evolving organic tool. You eliminate people as they either join or decline the business, and constantly be adding people as you meet them. When someone tells me they have exhausted their warm market I want to shake them! The truth is, if you work the list correctly - and you do the business the right way - you'll never get through your candidate list.
Here's the secret: Sponsor people in waves. People who attempt the "one-say, two-say" approach to the business end up being grinders, and never reach big success. The truth is that it is easier to build the business fast than it is to build it slow. There is a sense of urgency, momentum is created, and that momentum attracts other people. You rank advance faster and make more money sooner, so it keeps the team inspired and in action. I like to do this in "blasts."
You do a blast, where you get a large number of people into your prospecting pipeline. You do this through launch meetings at your home, email announcements, phone calls, and distributing prospecting materials. Get 80, 90 or even 100 people into your pipeline. (Do not be making presentations yourself. Use 3rd partytools, for reasons we'll go over in a future lesson.) From that blast, you are likely to get eight, 12, or 15 people who enroll.
Now we know from experience they won't all get into action rightaway. Some will do it now, some will do it later, and some will do it never. But if you start 10 or 12 people, you are certain to getat least three or four "runners." These are the people who will jump in and get serious. Once you have identified who these runners are, you should take the next couple months working with them, helping them learn your system and become self-sufficient.
During that time, you won't be in recruiting mode, but you are still meeting people. The average person meets at least ten or 15 people every week. But they aren't paying attention to this, and not adding them to their candidate list. Make sure you do. Then when the couple of months are up, you are ready for your next blast. And you'll have plenty of names to choose from.
In my company, I have offered the chance to see the opportunity tomore than 700 people. Yet I have over 100 new people on my candidate list that I haven't even approached yet. Basically I will offer a chance to look at the business to all of them when I do my next blast. (Other than a few that I just believe are way too negative or I simply don't like them or care to work with them.)
But I still won't run out of candidates...Because I will spend the next couple of months working with the runners that materialize from that blast. And meantime I will be meeting ten or 15 new people every week, and adding them to my candidate list. If you maintain an organic candidate list and work it like this, you'll never run out of good prospects. Learn the skill of working a candidate list and you'll be off to a great start.
Changing the Way We Change
Every so often an idea revolution occurs that turns the world view upside down. The earth is round. Germs cause disease instead of evil spirits. We have an unconscious mind.Each advancement had naysayers. And each advancement had people who took tremendous advantage of this knowledge.
Now, there is a revolution starting in network marketing. And it turns conventional thinking upside down. It has to do with the way you can change to grow your business. Conventional thinking says: Change your beliefs, your behavior will change and so will your life. If you're lucky your emotions will change as well. There is enough evidence to prove the legitimacy of this approach that it almost has the reverence of the Ten Commandments.
This commandment also says it takes work. A lot of hard work to change your beliefs. Change will eventually happen if you persist. So keep working at changing your beliefs, even though they feel etched in granite.
You are told about the ruinous effects of negative beliefs. Use affirmations and big dreams to help overcome them. They work,but with a 80% attrition rate maybe the formula needs adjusting.
The revolutionary adjustment is here. And you can apply it to the biggest problem of network marketing
Prospecting.
Although to be accurate, it's not prospecting that is the problem. The problem is the two biggest fears that are the inevitable companions of prospecting... The fear of rejection and the fear of failing.
Too many network marketers have not been able to sufficiently change their beliefs to overcome these twin assassins of prosperity. The emotional response to prospecting is more deeply embedded than the networking person is aware of. It has to do with how your brain works. Your brain has stored every painful rejection and failure to help you avoid it in the future. This is a necessary survival process and your brain does it automatically and efficiently.
Think about it:
If you got mugged at a convenience store, it takes no effort to feel unease the next time you go there (if you go at all). If you get mugged again at another convenience store it will be a while before you return to any convenience store. You will only go out of necessity. It's simply the way your brain works to protect you.
How does this apply to network marketers?
Every time you approach a prospect and the prospect refuses your opportunity, you are not just being rejected by them. They are re-stimulating the part of your brain (the limbic system) that has stored all painful memories of rejection and feelings of prior failures. It is the same as a having a phobia. You don't want to go near anything that looks like the phobic stimulus.
Telling people that they are sabotaging themselves when they don't prospect is a little bit insulting to a million years of brain evolution designed to keep us from repeating painful or fearful patterns.
Your fear of prospecting is simultaneously:
-a problem (you resist wanting to do it so you don�t grow your business); and,
-a solution (keeps you from feeling severe emotional pain).
For many network marketers, this emotional pain (phobia) is stronger than the lure of financial freedom and leading the good life. The 80% attrition rate or minimum success now makes a little more sense.
Now there is a way to overcome the anxiety of acting that is faster than trying to force a new change of beliefs. To deal with the protective fears, you need a new approach. The way you change is going to be easier and faster than you have been taught. The world is not flat
A Little Magic for Prospecting Relief
The following exercise will help you make a rapid shift so you can take action with reduced distress. This exercise is based on brain research, plus my professional and personal experience with clients around the world.
Here's what you need to make this work like magic:
1. Knowledge about what to say when you approach a prospect;
2. Knowledge about how to follow up after the initial contact with the prospect; and,
3. Confidence that your product, service, or opportunity offers a genuine benefit to the prospect.
If you have these three in place then you're set to take the following steps for a little more brain magic.
Read the directions all the way through before doing them. Remember this is only an experiment to see what happens when you feel and think differently about taking action. Reverting to the old tension is always a choice.
1. Think of a prospecting action step you have been avoiding or not doing very vigorously. Rate difficulty of taking action on a 1-10 scale with 10 being high.
2. When you think of taking this step, pay attention to the stress feeling in your body. It may be in the chest, neck, jaw, breathing, etc.
3. Then look up: it can be at the ceiling or sky if you are outside. The key is to look upward.
4. Pay attention to the location of the stress feeling in you body and with two fingers tap the acupressure point on your cheekbone directly under your eye (either one) while you take a few (4 or 5) relaxing deep slow breaths.
5. Don't force anything to happen. Just let any new insights, feelings, or better ways of looking at the problem occur spontaneously.
6. Think of the original situation and rate the difficulty of taking action.
Most people will experience a drop in their rating. If you went down a few points and want to reduce the rating even more, return to the difficult situation and think of a specific part of the action step that remains troubling. Then repeat steps 2 and 5 again. Keep repeating these steps until you experience noticeable or sufficient relief.
Why does this work?
It involves more regions of your brain than the part that creates beliefs. I've discussed this technique (and others that are even more powerful) with physicians, medical researchers, and other related professionals to get a better understanding of why and how this works the way it does. The conclusions of these scientists are theoretical. Interestingly, they independently reach similar reasons about why these techniques work. However, that's not really important, just try these steps and see the results your self.Interesting stuff, but there's more,You can learn more about rapid change to overcome the anxiety of taking action. These innovative and breakthrough techniques can give you the mental edge for lasting success. The good news is you can apply these same strategies for any area that you have been avoiding, procrastinating or time when you want to feel more confident.
-- Peter Pearson
Now, there is a revolution starting in network marketing. And it turns conventional thinking upside down. It has to do with the way you can change to grow your business. Conventional thinking says: Change your beliefs, your behavior will change and so will your life. If you're lucky your emotions will change as well. There is enough evidence to prove the legitimacy of this approach that it almost has the reverence of the Ten Commandments.
This commandment also says it takes work. A lot of hard work to change your beliefs. Change will eventually happen if you persist. So keep working at changing your beliefs, even though they feel etched in granite.
You are told about the ruinous effects of negative beliefs. Use affirmations and big dreams to help overcome them. They work,but with a 80% attrition rate maybe the formula needs adjusting.
The revolutionary adjustment is here. And you can apply it to the biggest problem of network marketing
Prospecting.
Although to be accurate, it's not prospecting that is the problem. The problem is the two biggest fears that are the inevitable companions of prospecting... The fear of rejection and the fear of failing.
Too many network marketers have not been able to sufficiently change their beliefs to overcome these twin assassins of prosperity. The emotional response to prospecting is more deeply embedded than the networking person is aware of. It has to do with how your brain works. Your brain has stored every painful rejection and failure to help you avoid it in the future. This is a necessary survival process and your brain does it automatically and efficiently.
Think about it:
If you got mugged at a convenience store, it takes no effort to feel unease the next time you go there (if you go at all). If you get mugged again at another convenience store it will be a while before you return to any convenience store. You will only go out of necessity. It's simply the way your brain works to protect you.
How does this apply to network marketers?
Every time you approach a prospect and the prospect refuses your opportunity, you are not just being rejected by them. They are re-stimulating the part of your brain (the limbic system) that has stored all painful memories of rejection and feelings of prior failures. It is the same as a having a phobia. You don't want to go near anything that looks like the phobic stimulus.
Telling people that they are sabotaging themselves when they don't prospect is a little bit insulting to a million years of brain evolution designed to keep us from repeating painful or fearful patterns.
Your fear of prospecting is simultaneously:
-a problem (you resist wanting to do it so you don�t grow your business); and,
-a solution (keeps you from feeling severe emotional pain).
For many network marketers, this emotional pain (phobia) is stronger than the lure of financial freedom and leading the good life. The 80% attrition rate or minimum success now makes a little more sense.
Now there is a way to overcome the anxiety of acting that is faster than trying to force a new change of beliefs. To deal with the protective fears, you need a new approach. The way you change is going to be easier and faster than you have been taught. The world is not flat
A Little Magic for Prospecting Relief
The following exercise will help you make a rapid shift so you can take action with reduced distress. This exercise is based on brain research, plus my professional and personal experience with clients around the world.
Here's what you need to make this work like magic:
1. Knowledge about what to say when you approach a prospect;
2. Knowledge about how to follow up after the initial contact with the prospect; and,
3. Confidence that your product, service, or opportunity offers a genuine benefit to the prospect.
If you have these three in place then you're set to take the following steps for a little more brain magic.
Read the directions all the way through before doing them. Remember this is only an experiment to see what happens when you feel and think differently about taking action. Reverting to the old tension is always a choice.
1. Think of a prospecting action step you have been avoiding or not doing very vigorously. Rate difficulty of taking action on a 1-10 scale with 10 being high.
2. When you think of taking this step, pay attention to the stress feeling in your body. It may be in the chest, neck, jaw, breathing, etc.
3. Then look up: it can be at the ceiling or sky if you are outside. The key is to look upward.
4. Pay attention to the location of the stress feeling in you body and with two fingers tap the acupressure point on your cheekbone directly under your eye (either one) while you take a few (4 or 5) relaxing deep slow breaths.
5. Don't force anything to happen. Just let any new insights, feelings, or better ways of looking at the problem occur spontaneously.
6. Think of the original situation and rate the difficulty of taking action.
Most people will experience a drop in their rating. If you went down a few points and want to reduce the rating even more, return to the difficult situation and think of a specific part of the action step that remains troubling. Then repeat steps 2 and 5 again. Keep repeating these steps until you experience noticeable or sufficient relief.
Why does this work?
It involves more regions of your brain than the part that creates beliefs. I've discussed this technique (and others that are even more powerful) with physicians, medical researchers, and other related professionals to get a better understanding of why and how this works the way it does. The conclusions of these scientists are theoretical. Interestingly, they independently reach similar reasons about why these techniques work. However, that's not really important, just try these steps and see the results your self.Interesting stuff, but there's more,You can learn more about rapid change to overcome the anxiety of taking action. These innovative and breakthrough techniques can give you the mental edge for lasting success. The good news is you can apply these same strategies for any area that you have been avoiding, procrastinating or time when you want to feel more confident.
-- Peter Pearson
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Keep New Distributors from Dropping Out
Leverage your time, grow your business and stop new distributors from dropping out . . .
There's a magic moment in the sponsoring process when your prospect catches the vision and makes a decision to join the business. But, there's another magic moment -- one even more important. This happens when your new distributor really understands how he can make his dreams come true in your program.
When people drop out, it's usually because this second magic moment was never reached. What happened was your distributor had second thoughts. Those big checks, free cars and trips sounded wonderful . . . for you. But your distributor just didn't relate to how he could get those things for himself. Unless you show him how he can reach his dreams through your program, he won't have the frame of mind to persevere through the challenges and reach success. If you make this connection--you'll have a distributor forever.
Here's the usual sponsoring process. You make a presentation and sponsor a new distributor. He's excited and dreaming about all the money, trips, cars and other goodies he's going to get. He already has his first five distributors in his mind. So, you send him home and tell him to make a name list.
Since he already knows the five people he wants, he doesn't bother with the name list, but calls all five people and invites them to the next meeting. Now, he sits back and relaxes -- waiting for the big bucks to roll in.
The night of the meeting arrives, and what happens? With luck, one person shows up. Your new distributor is devastated.Hopefully, he will recover. Then, he will spend the next five weeks re-inviting those four people who never came. Every week, they have even better excuses.
What your distributor doesn't realize is that these people DON'T WANT TO COME. They just don't know how to tell him. So, by the end of his second month, your new distributor tells you, "I just don't know anybody else."
Rather than having to face more rejection and frustration, your distributor has given up the ghost. It's highly likely he will quit. If he stays with it, there's a good chance he may come to meetings for the rest of his life, but he will never bring a guest. His fears are greater than his dreams. He now sees those big checks, trips, etc. in the abstract -- they sound good and look good, but he doesn't actually believe they are ever going to happen for him.
To turn fantasies into dreams, and dreams into commitment -- your dreams must be stronger than your fears! Motivation, positive thinking and hype will only last so long. Unless your distributor has a believable, logical plan for attaining his dreams, the fear will take control. The same holds true for you, too.
Probably the most important component in building your business is the training you give your new distributors is in the first 48 hours. This formative stage is what determines whether they approach their new business like a business.
There's a magic moment in the sponsoring process when your prospect catches the vision and makes a decision to join the business. But, there's another magic moment -- one even more important. This happens when your new distributor really understands how he can make his dreams come true in your program.
When people drop out, it's usually because this second magic moment was never reached. What happened was your distributor had second thoughts. Those big checks, free cars and trips sounded wonderful . . . for you. But your distributor just didn't relate to how he could get those things for himself. Unless you show him how he can reach his dreams through your program, he won't have the frame of mind to persevere through the challenges and reach success. If you make this connection--you'll have a distributor forever.
Here's the usual sponsoring process. You make a presentation and sponsor a new distributor. He's excited and dreaming about all the money, trips, cars and other goodies he's going to get. He already has his first five distributors in his mind. So, you send him home and tell him to make a name list.
Since he already knows the five people he wants, he doesn't bother with the name list, but calls all five people and invites them to the next meeting. Now, he sits back and relaxes -- waiting for the big bucks to roll in.
The night of the meeting arrives, and what happens? With luck, one person shows up. Your new distributor is devastated.Hopefully, he will recover. Then, he will spend the next five weeks re-inviting those four people who never came. Every week, they have even better excuses.
What your distributor doesn't realize is that these people DON'T WANT TO COME. They just don't know how to tell him. So, by the end of his second month, your new distributor tells you, "I just don't know anybody else."
Rather than having to face more rejection and frustration, your distributor has given up the ghost. It's highly likely he will quit. If he stays with it, there's a good chance he may come to meetings for the rest of his life, but he will never bring a guest. His fears are greater than his dreams. He now sees those big checks, trips, etc. in the abstract -- they sound good and look good, but he doesn't actually believe they are ever going to happen for him.
To turn fantasies into dreams, and dreams into commitment -- your dreams must be stronger than your fears! Motivation, positive thinking and hype will only last so long. Unless your distributor has a believable, logical plan for attaining his dreams, the fear will take control. The same holds true for you, too.
Probably the most important component in building your business is the training you give your new distributors is in the first 48 hours. This formative stage is what determines whether they approach their new business like a business.
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