Learn to communicate
Filed under: MLM, building your business, finding new prospects, learning network marketing, network marketing, overcoming fear, perfect business, positive attitude, prospecting, talking with friends
With any business, you have to learn how to communicate with others. If you make fabulous jewelry, you’ll have to wear it all, unless you can tell others all about it.
There are lots of options for getting the word out, and those options exist whether you’re an artisan, a dentist, a massage therapist, a CEO, or a network marketer.
So, if you want to move from the world of employees trading their time for some money, into the world of business owners, where your time and money expand while you sit on a beach, you have to learn to communicate.
Luckily, communication is a learned skill. I know, because I used to be lousy at it. I couldn’t think of what to say after “Hi, I’m Marilyn.” Most of my mind then switched to the theme of “How do I get out of this conversation without mortifying myself.” I was wooden; I was shifty-eyed, I was shallow, I was frozen.
Now, I can pretty much chat away with anyone I choose. It’s pretty cool. And a HUGE relief.
The key is to keep the focus of the conversation on the person to whom you’re speaking. If you can keep a person talking about himself, he will come away from the conversation thinking that you are fascinating. If you can keep a person talking about himself, you will come away knowing whether or not what you have to offer is a good fit for that person. Perfect.
Most of the time, the initial conversation isn’t about your business or product at all. It’s about establishing a connection. Some people only need a slight connection before they’re ready to talk business. Other people need a long long time before they can open their ears.
Follow their lead. If their need is strong, right there on the surface, they’ll bring it up long before you have to pry it out of them. If their need is minimal or doesn’t carry a relationship to what you have to offer, then you don’t need to talk business after all. It’s not the right time yet, or it’s just not for them. Either way, you know where to go, because you’re just following along after them, asking questions that let you know what’s up with THEM.
Practice where it’s easier. Tell the cashier that you like her earrings. See if the conversation has good energy around it. Then be on your way. Ask the couple in front of you in line if they’ve ever eaten here before, what’s their favorite on the menu. See if it goes anywhere. Follow their lead.
Practice every day, in small ways. Then when the right opportunity for a business conversation comes along, you’ll be a well-oiled machine. You’ll be open to the possibilities each person presents to you, and it will all be natural and fun.
If it’s fun, you’ll do it more often. The first dozen might be awkward, but soon you’ll get to the fun level, and then you’ll be on your way. You’ll have crossed another hurdle, and you won’t need to look back.
Hurray for you!
I’ve been fired, Day 3
Filed under: MLM, finding new prospects, giving up, network marketing, overcoming fear, overcoming obstacles, perfect business, positive attitude, solving problems, try try again
Day 3 hit me hard. It was a day of anxiety and disappointment, but now that I’m sitting here in Day 4, I can see that it was a reality that I created for myself.
Huh?
What I mean is that I had huge expectations. I envisioned my conference room filled to the brim with 40 people, that they would all enthusiastically fill out the enrollment forms after hearing my brilliant presentation, and that they would each run out and find 5 of their friends for our next meeting and the avalanche would carry us all along to the promised land.
Well, there were less than 40 people, and although the presentation was brilliant, not everyone signed up and rushed out to find their friends. So I slipped into a slump and landed in a great big puddle of fear. My poor husband; he helped me limp along while I gave in to despair and waited until there was a glimmer of positive thought and blew gently on that ember so that it could start to warm my soul.
In actuality, I made 3 extremely promising contacts that have become even more promising this morning, only 18 hours later; I have a list of 20 new emails and phone numbers for follow up from enthusiastic people who weren’t able to make it to last night’s meeting, and I have a clear idea of my next step. Oh, and did I mention that I have 3 new enrollees?
And yet that icky fear is still clinging to my ankles, threatening to rise up and swallow my heart, and render me incapable of motion.
It’s all in my head. Yesterday was a GREAT success. At any other point, my heart would be dancing a jig, and I would be grinning at everyone within radar range.
Thank goodness for self-honesty. It’s important to be able to look inside and discern the source of discord. Stress is the difference between the way we want something to be, and the way it actually is. Stress diminishes when you work with things the way they are, instead of the way that you want them to be.
So when I look at what really happened yesterday and my reaction to what happened yesterday, it’s easy to see that the cause of my stress is this impending deadline of needing to make this work within 2 months. I felt that my very survival depended on the presence of 40 enthusiastic enrollees at one meeting. I created this reality for myself that told me I failed, when actually, I succeeded.
Being in business for yourself is more than just making things happen, like getting people to a meeting, training them, mentoring them. It’s also about personal growth, managing yourself, taking responsibility for your reactions, monitoring your world view. I’m a much stronger person today than I was yesterday, because I had to lift some pretty heavy weights, and I did it. I’m a bit bruised, but even that is evaporating as the minutes tick by.
Despair doesn’t get you anywhere. Clear thought, positive attitude, taking action: those get you wherever you want to go. So, I’m leaving despair behind, and turning my face toward my next positive action, which is to follow up with the 25 people that I met yesterday.
Day 4 awaits!
Look to the boomers
Filed under: MLM, direct sales, earn money from home, earn money online, entrepereneurs, finding new prospects, network marketing, perfect business, right product, solving problems
Do you want a LOT of customers? Do you want a LOT of business partners?
Look to the baby boomers.
Baby boomers control about 65% of the wealth on the planet. They have money to use; they are experienced consumers; there are a LOT of them: 76 million in the US, 1 billion worldwide.
Just after World War II, between 1946 and 1964, baby boomers popped up everywhere. What did they need first? Baby food. Gerber became a household name as it fed boomers across the country. After that, in quick procession other HUGE trends swept the world: Mattel and Hasbro (toys); the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Beach Boys (music); Ford Mustang (cars), McDonalds and Burger King (fast food); then Century 21 (real estate). These trends were so huge, that we simply think of them as reality. But, if not for the boomers, these trends would have been blips on the screen, like rotary clubs and literature societies.
Right now, the boomers are between 45 and 65 years old. What are they buying now?
Health and wellness information and products
Stay young stuff
Financial planning
If you choose one of these markets, you’ll have the potential of a billion customers knocking at your door.
One of the things that I love about my company is that it’s perfect for baby boomers, both as customers and as business partners. It combines aspects of business and health, financial freedom and staying healthy, that are very appealing to the baby boomers. It has it all.
Nice, huh?
Communicate from your heart
Filed under: MLM, finding new prospects, handling objections, leadership, learning network marketing, network marketing, positive attitude, prospecting, solving problems
When you’re getting ready to talk with a new prospect about your business, take a moment to energetically prepare yourself. Let yourself grow quiet. Connect with your higher self. Reach out to the person with your thoughts, with your heart.
All you know about the prospect may be a phone number. Maybe you know the city where she lives. Maybe you have a fancy program that tells you things about that part of the world, like current weather, local news. Maybe you only know what time of day it is there.
Just let you mind rest on the connection you’re making with her.
If you don’t know how to do this, pretend that you know how. It works just as well that way, too. Pretty soon, you’ll know how to do it.
Ask yourself: Is what I have to offer a fit for what she needs?
Let your mind rest on that question for a moment.
Then call her, and ask her about herself. Take quick notes. Children? Corporate job? Laid off? What does she enjoy doing? What would be her perfect job? What qualities about her perfect job are her highlights, her favorite aspects? If she had all the time in the world, how would she spend it?
Sprinkle in information about yourself, too, so it doesn’t start to feel like 20 questions. Ick. But always end your SHORT story about yourself by bringing the conversation back to her.
Where did she go to school? Does she like to work with her hands? Does she write much? Does she like floating around the internet?
Then, ask yourself what aspect of your business would appeal to her the most? Does she like talking with people? Does she like meeting friends for lunch? Does she use the internet all day long? Is she overwhelmed with her kids and can’t imagine taking time to start a business?
Handle her objections. Connect with her truth, and link it up with your truth. Be honest, sincere, supportive, creative, empathetic, authentic, courageous, respectful, inspiring. Be a leader.
Then she’ll be able to see what fantastic business partners the two of you can be.
FaceBook empowers YOU!
Filed under: MLM, entrepereneurs, finding new prospects, how do you learn to do network marketing, learning network marketing, network marketing, prospecting
There are things that you can do to get a head start on your new network marketing business, even BEFORE you actually sign up and pay your entry fee and monthly overhead.
One thing that you can do is increase your internet visibility through facebook. Here’s my suggestion:
Start a new facebook account. All you need is an email address that’s different from the one you’re using for facebook now. Start out fresh, and find some facebook groups that share your interests. Maybe stay at home moms, work at home moms, knitters, gardeners, whatever kind of things that describe you.
Then start inviting the people who also belong to those groups to be your friend. You can only invite 30 or 40 people a day, without getting a warning from facebook, so it takes a while to have a BIG group of friends.
Some people will send you a message asking if they know you, and you can just answer back saying that you’re trying to connect with people that are interested in the same things you are. Something like that. Some will decline, but most will accept.
The reason you want this to be a separate facebook account from your friends and family account is that this one is going to get HUGE. You don’t want your friends’ posts to get lost in all of the other ones that you’ll start to receive from this new group.
If you start this now, it will cost you nothing, and you’ll be WAY ahead of the game once you take the plunge and sign up.
We’ll go over your NEXT step in a later post.
Ready? Set? GO!!!
They have to love you back
Filed under: MLM, entrepereneurs, finding new prospects, how do you learn to do network marketing, overcoming obstacles, prospecting
Back in my dating days, I was open to all kinds of ways to meet men. I liked being in a relationship, the companionship. I was actively looking for someone with whom I could share my life.
We all have to kiss a lot of frogs before we find a prince. I met guys for coffee. I went to dinner with them. I ran into them at bars. I kept telling myself that if this guy were in a comfortable relationship, he wouldn’t be this nervous; he wouldn’t be this fragile. I tried to see the real person behind the don’t-know-you-from-Adam facade. I tried to be as open and as accommodating as possible. I decided to give each guy at least two chances, 2 dates. Sometimes I went on as many as 10 dates with a guy before I’d finally accept the fact that this was not a good fit.
Then I met a guy who was crazy about me. That’s when I finally realized that no matter how accommodating, no matter how patient, no matter how attentive I was, if the guy didn’t love me back, it wasn’t going to work.
Prospects are like guys. They have to love you back, or it isn’t going to work.
What I mean is that you can’t accommodate someone into the business. If you do all the work, you’re always going to be doing all of the work. You’re always going to feel inadequate and frustrated.
We are actively looking for people with whom we can share our businesses, our products. By all means, handle the objections. Find out their why. Qualify them. But at some point they have to start moving toward you, or they’re just going to feel harried.
Connect with people. Find out what makes someone tick. Be sincere. Be real. But if they don’t respond, move on. There are so many people out there waiting to here about your opportunity, and if you spend all of your time and energy harrying the few that you really really really want to join you, even though they’re not interested, you’ll miss the chance to find the ones that will love you back.
So get out there and start talking to the frogs. You will find princes.
fear
Filed under: MLM, entrepereneurs, finding new prospects, network marketing, overcoming fear, try try again
There are three things you can do when you’re feeling afraid.
- You can endure the fear. You can go through your day and endure that tight feeling in your gut. You can simply decide to wait it out.
- You can quit. You can decide that you’re not going to do this anymore, and simply walk away from it.
- You can take action. You can face your fear and do something about it.
Taking action moves the energy and changes the emotion of fear into something else. You come out stronger on the other side. You take control of the situation.
Yesterday I decided that I was going to approach a colleague about my MLM business. I’ve talked to hundreds of people, given presentations, trained others; you’d think that I would have worked through this particular fear by now. But this colleague is a highly trained professional, and I found that I was a little intimidated by her. She might think MLM is beneath her. She might think less of me.
I remembered that my fear existed only inside my head. As long as I didn’t let anyone else, especially my colleague, know that I was afraid, I could regain control of my fear and take action. The way I could disguise my fear would be through my body language.
So I squared my shoulders, calmed my face and heart, and walked into her office. We chatted for a while about an ongoing project, and when we were finished, I made sure I was facing her directly, looked her calmly in the eye, and asked her if she had 5 minutes for a non-work conversation. She said sure. And then I asked her what she knew about network marketing.
I’ve decide not to use subterfuge, or pretend there isn’t an elephant in the room. This always makes people wary, and I just don’t like going through that charade. Straight forwardness makes people feel better and allows them to respond openly and honestly.
We talked enthusiastically for about 5 minutes, and she gave me her private email address. I gave her some printed information, then later entered her into my team’s management system. She’ll be receiving, automatically, detailed information over the next few weeks, and I’ll check in with her next week to see where she’s at.
We’ve started the conversation, easily, honestly, and without my fear being a factor in any way. It doesn’t matter whether she signs on or not. What does matter is that I’ve found a way to get past my fear: body language. It’s given me the advantage that lets me take action and not be crippled before I start.
What’s your fear? How can you move past it?
Practice where it’s easier. My colleague is a kind, friendly woman, and I knew she wouldn’t blast me. It was an easy place to start.
One of the most important things you can learn is that you don’t have to be afraid of being afraid. It’s just an emotion, and you can conquer it. The way to conquer it is to TAKE ACTION.
What’s your fear? How can you move past it?
Practice with a friend. Ask them to watch your body language and tell you what you do when you’re acting fearful, confident, joyful. Adopt the body language that reflects what you want to feel, and your emotion will shift toward that feeling, away from fear.
YOU CAN DO IT. All you have to do is take action.
I hope you’re having an amazing day.
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