First Step Marketing

How to start a conversation about networking

If you listen carefully to what people say, you can steer just about any conversation around to network marketing. These opportunities will come up continuously. Suppose you are at a social function. You meet someone new. During the conversation you might say in a relaxed and conversational way: ‘Education? Well, you know, John, I was looking at an article in Time the other day on the rising cost of education. Horrific! Luckily I heard of a great way to make money and results look promising.’ (The factual approach.)

‘Susan, you said to me a moment ago that you’d love to travel overseas every year. If I could tell you of a way to make this kind of money, would you be interested?’ (The question approach.)

‘Phil Turner? Of course, I know him. As a matter of fact he was very interested in a money-making idea I came across. It’s called network marketing.’ (The personal-reference approach.)

‘What sort of business am I in? Networking. It’s a fantastic business. If you want to make money, give me 10 minutes and I’ll tell you about it. Let’s meet for coffee next week.’ (The direct approach.)

Often, when you meet people for the first time, they will ask you about yourself and what you do. You can talk about network marketing. A really red-hot prospect will ask you questions such as:

• ‘How did you get into network marketing?’
• ‘How many nights a week do you visit people?’
• ‘How much time would I have to spend to make money?

This shows an interest and desire to know more and, usually, to become involved. People see you are making money and are enthusiastic about the company and they think: ‘Hey, I could do this myself and make a bit of money. It’s easy.’

Not everyone wants to go into network marketing in a big way. For some it is just handy extra money; sufficient to pay for those few extras. For others it is a kind of forced saving towards a pension. But, once in a while, out of every 20 or so prospects you sign up, one will be a star and out of every 50, one a superstar, highly motivated, charged up and a real producer.

Your job as a networker is to satisfy all your downliners, no matter what their potential or capacity. Jim Boyd of Shaklee suggests you ask prospects: ‘How much do you want to make?’ And irrespective of the answer, you reply: ‘Our business has that kind of potential.’

Although it is possible to talk about network marketing at a cocktail party or while having a braai, the best approach is to set up a one-to-one meeting with the prospect in which you outline how network marketing works. Alternatively, you can invite the prospect to a group meeting with your network marketing team at which network marketing is discussed and explained.

Experience suggests that most people get into network marketing as a result of trying and liking products. So, when delivering products to a new product user you might say: ‘Joan, I’m sure you have a lot of friends who could use our products. Why not become a distributor and start your own business? I’ll help you. I’m sure the money would come in useful. How about it?’

If the prospect says she is interested, it is up to you to decide whether to continue there and then or whether to set up a meeting to discuss the opportunity. Sometimes, especially if you are talking to a spouse and the partner is not there, it is better to come back at an agreed time and meet the partner. But the cardinal rule is this: if the prospect has expressed an interest, strike while the iron is hot!

One-to-one meetings

If you find a prospect who is interested, have a one-to-one meeting. There is no hard and fast rule about how or where this should be held. There are two ways of holding one-to-one meetings: you can meet with the prospect and run through network marketing from beginning to end or, alternatively, you can hold a short introductory meeting, leave some promotional material behind for her to study and then hold a follow-up meeting.

If the prospect is a regular product user, she will have some idea of what network marketing is about. Your task is simply to hold a short meeting and clarify what networking is all about and how it works, to point out the advantages of having your own downline and to sign up the prospect, showing her how to forge ahead and develop her business. Most professional companies have a policy guide and a number of manuals which make getting ahead easy. Above all, promise your personal support and attention to make sure the new distributor gets off to a cracking start.

However, with a newcomer you may have to take it much slower. Many prospects have only a hazy notion of what network marketing is about. It is a mistake to rush into too much detail too quickly. Take it easy and keep things relaxed. Explain the concept at a pace that is suitable to your listener and check for understanding all the time.

Another reason to take it easy is that if the prospect is a stranger, she knows nothing about you, so you have to build communication bridges, forge links and develop a relationship. No one buys from a stranger. In such cases the two-step approach is preferable:

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Selling the Network Marketing Concept part 1

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 9:21 pm and is filed under Business Plans, Home Based Business, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.