For some of us Network Marketers we have already experienced some of the pleasantries of trying several traditional styled network marketing businesses. For those of you that are newbies this will give you a mere glimpse of a 95% probable out come.
It Starts Like This:
Warm Leads - Build a list of family and friends.
Prospecting - Contact and invite them to a business briefing or home party.
Recruiting - Suit up, grab the car keys, collect your invites, watch the business presentation, and have them sign on the dotted line.
It doesn't always work like that and undoubtedly I can not be the only one that thinks holding a social gathering for friends and family to "BAM" hit them with a business opportunity is polite. It is somewhat misleading. Kind of like putting fly tape out for flies in hopes that they will stick. Besides that, here are two valuable points to ponder. Do you really think that your friends and family members are your proper prospects? Warm lead maybe, but probably not. When recruiting your family and friends they typically engage in business with you more for your personal support and because they care about your welfare. Truth is 99% of the time they don't believe you will succeed. So in perspective, what percentile do you think they rank themselves for success?
So as we journey down this road several months later you really feel like you've gotten the hang of things. You have all your friends leads, you have a prospecting script, and your mentor is finishing up on the recruiting process. You have mastered the art and science of being a book and cd dispenser, promoting the Tuesday night business meetings with a SPECIAL guest speaker ( usually more motivational than informative ), and you still wonder how home based business got the name home based.
Unfortunately, at some point in time this rotation of events will become tiresome. Sometime with in a year of two your business will probably spiral down. So you will improvise. You'll resort to passing out business cards, fliers to local briefings with free product samples, all to perfect strangers in hopes of keeping your network marketing business afloat. Please don't take me wrong, traditional styled businesses have a lot to offer. Yet, they are time consumed and solely work if you can maintain a pipeline of warm market leads. Which is why only 5% or less ever succeed, but don't beat yourself up. It is truly a good learning process and now you have mastered prospecting and recruiting with cold leads.
So the next question you have to ask yourself is "Can my system of approach be modified?" The answer is YES!
The advancement of technology and the internet can propel your business forward. Keep in mind the only real change is in the platform in which you build upon. You will be using all forms of social media to connect with your prospects. Treat them as though they were your family and friends. But first off, here's a little of what to expect.
Your going to want to start the basics of a marketing campaign. You'll need a prospecting script, some form of presentation, and a closing script. The next item that is on the list is leads. Until you are generating your own leads from other online media sources, cold leads will do just fine. This is where maintaining focus and perspective come into play. Your business has been on a spiral downward and now you want to put into hyper drive. Cold leads are not the answer, yet they are great for testing. Do your research first! Generic leads in any niche market don't need to run you more that 15 to 20 cents a lead. Sometimes you can negotiate for free ones. Beware though, make sure your lead broker offers some kind of replacement for disconnects and wrong numbers.
Now you want to start prospecting. Your script should be based around a product or service. Leading with your opportunity will only gain more negative results than positive. Focus on the numbers and how many people were willing to go to the call. Don't worry yet if your presentation in not complete. When they call you back and wonder where you sent them you will have confirmed that your script is dialed in for the results you were looking for.
As you finalize these two other steps of the process, prospecting and recruiting, you must bare-in-mind that your prospects are no different then the perfect strangers you passed the business cards too. If you are looking to start your Network Marketing Business in a new direction, these are the easiest 1-2-3 steps available. Leads, prospecting, and recruiting use many of the traditional methods of connecting with your audience which is the key factor no matter what platform you elect to use. It all falls back upon you as the marketer. Transparency, expertise, and integrity.
