How To Decrease Your "No-Shows" By Increasing Your MLM Posture by
David Ledoux
The year was 1994. I was sitting in the Golden Griddle Pancake House at Dixie
and the 401 in early December. I was on my fourth cup of gut-rot...I mean
coffee.
I drummed my fingers on the table and mumbled under my breath. "Where
the heck is Eric? He promised he'd show. I'm going to kick his ass when I see
him...."
Another MLM No-Show victim. More negative energy. More time wasted.
Can you relate? If you can't, then you're not working hard enough. They are
part of the game. But any way you slice it, no-shows suck. But here are a few
ideas on how to dramatically decrease your no-show percentage.
When I think back to my telephone conversation with Eric, I realize that it
was extremely weak. Let me paraphrase what we said to each other.
"Eric, let's meet at the Golden Griddle at 3 pm."
"Okay, I'll try."
"Great! See you there!"
My assumptive enthusiasm didn't work on a friend. It definitely won't work on
a cold market contact. Today I slow the process, way, way down. I spell it out
and do what I call an "INTEGRITY CHECK" on the prospect.
Let's imagine a scenario where you have a cold market lead from your internet
lead capture page. You can't get any weaker than that. You have talked for a few
minutes and you'd like to book a time tomorrow to do a 15-minute telephone
presentation. Here's what I would do. (I have BOLDED key words and PHRASES).
"Guido, I am impressed with you so far. I'd like to book 18 minutes to
give you a 1on1 INTERVIEW tomorrow. I have two slots available, 3:30 in the
afternoon and in the early evening at 7 pm. Which INTERVIEW SLOT can I assign
for you?".
"I THINK I can make 3:30".
"Guido, I only have the two times. Can we confirm the 3:30?"
"Sure." (warning buzzers are going off....THINK means NO.)
"Guido, can I ask you a CRITICAL QUESTION?"
"Sure."
"Integrity is everything in business. If this business is exactly what
you are LOOKING for and you can SEE yourself doing well at it, then we'll be
working extremely closely TOGETHER, almost like PARTNERS. I'd like to ask you
about your integrity. If something came up and you'd have to reschedule, are you
the kind of person who would just no-show me and WASTE my valuable time, or are
you the considerate type of individual I'm looking to PARTNER up with and you'd
call me to let me know?".
"Oh no Mr. David, I'd call you."
"Great. Here's my last question. How do you track your schedule? Do you
use a Palm Pilot or a paper calendar?"
(ZING! This is a HUGE question....think about it for a minute. What does
their answer tell you about them?)
"Uh...paper?"
"Great. Write this down. I will be phoning you on this number at 3:30
tomorrow for an 18-minute interview. If anything comes up you'll call me on
555-1212, right? Do you want me to email you a confirmation?".
"Sure."
"Okay, speak with you tomorrow. I APPRECIATE meeting you Guido!"
Here are some questions to think about?
Who is in control of the interview, them or me?
Who values their time more in this conversation?
Why is finding out their scheduling system (or lack thereof) so valuable?
If you call back and Guido is NOT there, what do you do? (hint: NEXT!)
Here's my last piece of advice. Always remember that YOU are in control of
the presentation. It is YOUR opportunity. They NEED what YOU have. You don't
need them, they need you. Stop wasting time on LOSERS! The most important
attribute to success in network marketing is a BURNING AMBITION!
I appreciate you.
David Ledoux
