Inviting- How to Master the Skills of Professional Network Marketer

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