How To Prospect Long Distance

Even though there are some Network Marketers who still feel that successful prospecting, sponsoring and training must be done face to face, this approach limits the speed with which you can build an organization and the size of your downline as well. With the development of such communication technologies as voice mail, three-way calling, telephone bridge hookups for tele-conferencing and satellite transmissions, one-on-one, face-to-face presentations are no longer the only way to build a business. And as the cost of these technologies drops, they become more affordable for everyone to use.

In fact, it’s much more efficient both to present your opportunity and to conduct weekly training electronically. However, there’s a degree of skill involved in enrolling prospects and building an organization in another state or country.

In addition to contacting people on your names list who live in another area, it’s possible to gain access to any particular market through advertising. The most cost-effective type of ad can be placed in the CLASSIFIED section of most local newspapers, as well as in any number of specialty papers and magazines.

In long-distance prospecting, whether with someone from your names list or someone answering an ad, there are two initial approaches you can use. Either one is fine.

A) First send the prospect a small “sorting” package to stimulate their interest and arouse their curiosity, then follow up with a phone call.

B) Call first, be brief and tell the prospect to expect a package that will introduce the company and the opportunity; at the same time, set up the appointment for a follow-up phone call.

The “sorting” materials you send should outline the products and their value, establish the company’s credibility and give an overview of the opportunity and its possibilities. The package can include an audio or video tape, some literature to spark their interest and perhaps a sample of your product if that’s possible.

With this initial introductory package in hand, the next step is the all-important follow-up. This conversation is best kept to 20 or 30 minutes, and should be entered into with a clear intended result both you and your prospect understand. For example, the intended result might be to enroll the prospect as a distributor, to retail some product, or to have the prospect attend an opportunity call or meeting.

Such a focused follow up call has a much better chance of bringing about your intended result if you can adeptly steer the conversation in that direction while satisfying your prospect’s questions and concerns. Most successful calls effectively touch upon the following areas.

Develop Rapport

Don’t just dump information. People don’t care what you know until they know that you care. Network Marketing Sales is about honoring a person’s values and providing them with those things that are most important to them in their lives. So take a few minutes and get to know them first. Ask questions about their family, occupations, residence, hobbies and passions. The better you get to know your prospects, the better you’ll be able to communicate with and serve them.

Also, successful Network Marketing relationships go way beyond the business end of the partnership. Since fun is mandatory for success in this business, work with those people you enjoy and get to know them from the start.

Discover and Enlarge Their “Why”

As a natural consequence of building rapport, you’ll get to know what is most important to each person you prospect. Always look to clearly develop the reason each person would want to become involved with you and your company. To the extent that your prospect is in touch with their “why” or reason for joining, they’ll have a solid purpose which will help them through the tough times of rejection and when it’s no longer “convenient” to go out and do what it takes to build a business.

For some, their “why” might be early retirement. For others, travel, college education for the kids, a favorite charity, a neglected passion or any number of reasons to pursue the freedom that Network Marketing has to offer.

So, from the start, work with each person to clearly develop their reason for becoming involved, embellish and amplify it, continually redefine it and constantly return them to their “why” as you both work in partnership toward achieving the goal.

Seek the Seeds of “Creative Discontent”

In addition to revealing those things that are most important to each person, look as well for what is not working for them in their lives.

Perhaps it’s dissatisfaction with their current occupation or salary. Perhaps they’re working too many hours or not able to save enough for a rainy day. Maybe they’ve given up on a dream or passion they once had. Find these seeds of discontent and water them until they sprout into full-grown weeds your prospect clearly realizes they can no longer tolerate. Far from being negative, this is a creative process that turns discontent into an empowering tool for positive change.

Establish the Value of the Products

It’s crucial that you establish the foundation upon which your opportunity is based. Without great products, the opportunity would be nothing more than a pyramid scheme. So, stress the value in the products; how are they unique, effective and in great demand. Tell stories to demonstrate their value and always share any benefits from their use.

Present the Opportunity

No matter how great ANY product is, there is a limit to the level of enthusiasm that product alone can generate. And if you’re primarily seeking business builders rather than simply retail or wholesale product users, show how the products make the opportunity possible. Again, tell stories of how the opportunity has had an impact on people’s lives. Facts tell but stories sell. Show how real people have had their lives positively and dramatically altered as a result of their involvement with you and your company.

Also, make the opportunity real for people. Pick a monthly income example and show them what it would look like to reach that in terms of their organization building. Sketch out a simple plan, such as, each person gets five who each get five, all of them doing a certain monthly volume. Make it concrete and speak about how you will work in partnership with your prospect to attain that financial goal.

Also, contrast what’s possible with your company as compared to the career course they’re on now.

Quote a few economic and savings statistics like “Only 1/2 of one percent of Americans retire with financial freedom” or “The average savings of a 50 year old in the U.S. is $2500.” Show them that “if they continue where they’re currently headed, they’re likely to get where they’re going.” Then, paint a picture of the alternative you’re offering through Network Marketing.

Discuss Some Entry Options

Present a “good,” “better” and “best” entry program to provide your prospect with a choice. Typically, the “good” entry might be $100-$200 in product and a minimal order. (If your company doesn’t offer one, do it yourself.) The “better” entry might be $300 - $600 and a more substantial monthly renewal order. The “best” might involve, for example, reservations for a forthcoming seminar or convention, and perhaps a share in a co-op advertising program you’re putting together. The achievement levels and monthly automatic orders will vary depending on your product line and compensation plan requirements. The idea here is to give people a choice, ask them where they see themselves getting started and put together a sound action plan to work toward their success.

Think Ahead

You can really forward the action to produce quick results by letting your new distributor get a sense of what’s available. Set up a training schedule both on the phone personally and on a group call utilizing a teleconference bridge if available. Get a schedule of all forthcoming seminars your company has available and make arrangements to meet in person at a date in the near future.

Develop a Vision of Success Through Partnershipping

The two essential ingredients for success are VISION and PARTNERSHIPPING.

If you talk about product, you’ll primarily attract product users.

If you speak about the opportunity, entrepreneurs will show up around you.

And if you work with these entrepreneurs to establish a vision of what life will be like when they truly are financially free, you will have developed a team of unstoppable visionaries with a solid reason to persevere no matter what challenges they encounter.

Furthermore, by stressing the partnership aspect of your relationship with your prospect, you will be duplicating the notion of committing to their success. This “Partnership” transforms what might be a perception of, “Come into my business to make me a lot of money,” into the altogether different understanding. “Together we will both work toward your success.”

And when you have a team of such entrepreneurial visionaries working in active, duplicable partnership together, you have an unstoppable, geometrically growing force that can achieve anything--no matter what physical distance separates you!

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About the Author:

Dr. Joe Rubino is an internationally acclaimed trainer, author, success coach and the CEO of The Center For Personal Reinvention, an organization that provides personal and group coaching as well as productivity and leadership development courses. He was featured on the cover of Success Magazine and in the cover story, We Create Millionaires, because of his ability to champion others to succeed. Joe is the author of the best sellers, Secrets of Building a Million Dollar Network Marketing Organization from a Guy Who's Been There, Done That and Shows You How To Do It Too, The Magic Lantern: A Fable about Leadership, Personal Excellence, and Empowerment, and, most recently, The Power To Succeed: 30 Principles For Maximizing Your Personal Effectiveness, Book I and The Power To Succeed: More Principles For Powerful Living, Book II. For information about The Center for Personal Reinvention and its services or to order any of Dr. Rubino’s books, visit http://www.CenterForPersonalReinvention.com . To contact Dr. Joe about the possibility of hiring him as your personal success coach, email: DrJRubino@Email.com or call 800-999-9551 ext 870.