Saying the right thing at the right time with prospects can either make you a lot of money or cause you to lose money in your network marketing business. Continue reading to learn the MLM training techniques I teach my downline of 56,000 people so they know how to become a "natural" when talking with prospects.
In this article I am going to take your MLM training to the next level when it comes to effectively communicating with your prospects. That next level is for it to become "natural" to you as you speak with people about your MLM business opportunity.
There are several definitions for the word natural and it is very important that you know which natural I'm referring to.
1. Not acquired; inherent; born with. THIS IS NOT THE NATURAL I'M TALKING ABOUT.
2. Free from artificiality, or inhibitions. THIS IS THE CORRECT ONE.
Definition one is referring to something that one is born with such as blue eyes, seven feet tall, etc.
Definition two is that you can rattle off your address without thinking about it. Natural, as in the way you know a favorite song. Or something you've said or sung many times.
Okay - so how is it you know your address? My guess is, you moved in, you got your address and you had to do an address change with the post office. You pulled out the piece of paper your new address was written on and you reference it several times to make sure you wrote your new address correctly. Then you wrote it on a FedEx envelope and remembered it all accept the zip code - hmm, is it 92105 or 92150? You find out and now you have it.
If you never wrote it again you'd perhaps forget it again, but if you use it frequently you "just know it" - and you are certain you know it.
By the way...how is it that you know that the name goes on the first line, street address on the second and city, state, zip on the third line? That's the formula it goes in...right?
For inviting, to be natural and sound natural you must smoothly and correctly transition from one part of the "Inviting Formula" to the next. By the way, the "Inviting Formula" is taught in great detail in a CD set I authored called "Professional Inviter," but for reference in this article the Inviting Formula is:
Greet
Qualify
Invite
Handle any Questions/Objections
Close to Action
Follow-up or Follow through
So when you're talking about your MLM business or a product you offer, the trick to being a "natural" is to know exactly when to transition to the next step in the "Inviting Formula." Like from Greeting to Qualify.
When you don't greet long enough, you don't get a prospect who will give you their need/want. Greet too long and your prospect feels you're wasting his time and will hastily get off the phone with you.
You have to recognize the exact moment when the prospect qualifies for your MLM business opportunity. Example: When the prospect says, "I'm sort of sick working for someone else." When I hear this I know they qualify to be in my business.
Or, if you're listening to see if the prospect qualifies for your MLM business and the prospect says, "I don't remember signing up for anything; why are you calling me !$&*$!" - then I know they just disqualified themselves from being in my network marketing business.
To truly be an MLM natural, you have to know the rest of the Inviting Formula and know when to make the transitions, but the good news is that the others are much easier to recognize compared to "Greet" and "Qualify."
If you can master learning when to transition for "Greet" and "Qualify" you will really be able to tell a difference in your ability to have meaningful conversations with prospects about both your network marketing business or your products or services.
So just how do you get good at these transitions?
Two ways I know of:
1) Invite over and over until you can "sense" it. Like letting the clutch out on your car - the first few times are rough. I recommend you drill the "Invite" for MLM business prospects and then drill the "Invite" separately for product or service sales. I don't recommend you invite your prospect to look at your business and your product/service in the same conversation.
2) Another way is to listen to someone else do it and then model what they do because very often prospect's responses are similar.
To help you learn how to make the transitions and what to listen for I have provided some sample transitions below, along with each step of the Inviting Formula. These are transitions I especially listen for when I'm trying to determine if the person qualifies as an MLM business prospect.
1) Greet - Get someone who will talk freely and openly to you.
Example transition: "Yeah, I requested more information because I'm looking to open my own business and I'm just looking around to see what's out there."
2) Qualify - Find out their needs/wants/don't-wants (as it relates to you business).
Example transition: "Well, I just know there's more out there. I'm sort of sick of working for someone else. I just want to be able to enjoy my life without always having to punch the clock."
3) Invite - Based on relevant information gathered in Qualify.
Your prospect doesn't have to give you any information here. But, depending on how they respond to your invite will decide if you move straight to "Close to Action" or if you do Step 4.
4) Handle any Questions/Objections - Handle the things that are stopping them from getting what they've stated they need/want/don't-want. Remember, your business or product/service MUST be a solution to the person's need/want/don't-want.
Example transitions: After you've handled an objection and they use words like, "Yeah, I can see that." "Yeah, that makes sense." "Hmm, I've never thought of it that way." "Well, it's really not a big deal to me...I've just heard that."
5) Close to Action - Create agreeable steps to move them towards getting them what they've stated they need/want/don't-want.
Example transitions: Anything that indicates they need to get off the phone. "I need to be hitting the sack." A child trying to talk to them. "It's been good talking to you."
6) Follow-up - Re-contact them to determine their interest level as it pertains to your MLM business or product/service.
Example transitions: Anytime they suggest that they can't talk right now. Or if you've closed to action. "Now's not a good time." "You've caught me at a bad time." |
