So That's How Network Marketing Really Works

Once you understand the rules of how networking really works, it gets easier. You can then:

• Locate more qualified, interested prospects, • Avoid painful rejection when prospecting, • Change the way prospects look at your business, • Develop leaders, and • Build a bigger bonus check.

So let’s quickly jump into a quick business-building insight to see how things really work.

Distributors aren’t lazy. Lazy people don’t leave their favorite cable television shows to attend an opportunity meeting. Lazy people don’t invest in an expensive distributor kit, promotional literature and products. And lazy people don’t commit part-time hours every week to build a future for themselves and their families.

So why are my distributors not working? New distributors have two problems.

• They don’t know what to do.
• They do the wrong things.

These are serious problems.

When I conduct a full-day workshop, I ask the attendees a simple question:

“What is the first sentence out of your mouth when you make a business presentation to a prospect?”

The silence is uncomfortable.

The attendees avoid eye contact.

The attendees pretend to look at their notes.

The whole room squirms in agony hoping that someone, anyone, will answer that question. If I didn’t say anything, nothing more would happen the rest of the day!

Finally, I give the attendees some relief. I explain that we only have one chance to make a good first impression. If our first impression is great, we can make mistakes for the rest of our presentation and our prospect will still like us... and probably join.

If our first impression causes our prospect to put up his defenses, mentally guard his wallet, and to evaluate every future statement from a negative, skeptical posture, then we’re in big trouble.

We could give the best presentation, complete with a laser light show, levitation demonstrations and magic card tricks, and the prospect won’t join.

That’s how important our first sentence is in our presentation. It’s almost everything. I like to say that...

99 percent of our success when we give a presentation— happens on the first sentence.

Here’s proof.

Example #1

Imagine a young man is making a marriage proposal to a young lady. The young man gets down on one knee, gently holds his girlfriend’s hand, looks lovingly into her eyes and says:

“If you marry me, I’ll take you on romantic moonlight walks in the park every Tuesday night. We’ll have candlelight dinners every Friday night. And on Sundays, I promise to always take out the garbage, etc., etc., etc.”

If the young lady loves the young man, this first sentence sets the mood for the rest of the presentation. Because the first sentence was so good, the young lady will forgive the upcoming mistakes the young man will make for the next few days, few months, or even for the next few years!

If the first sentence is good, you can mess up the rest of the presentation and it doesn’t matter! The first sentence puts the prospect on your side or the first sentence puts the prospect on the defensive.

It’s easy to enroll a friend. It’s almost impossible to enroll an enemy.

Example #2

Imagine the same young man is making a marriage proposal to the same young lady. This time the young man gets down on one knee, gently holds his girlfriend’s hand, looks lovingly into her eyes and says:

“If you marry me, you get to keep the ring!”

Now, what kind of response do you think the young lady will have towards this first sentence?

She will probably take offense at the young man’s first sentence. Her attitude and perspective become adversarial. She is not going to like anything the young man says from this point on. She thinks:

“If this young man only thinks that I am worth this one trinket of jewelry, I don’t want to see or hear from him for the rest of my life!”

Because the young man used a wrong first sentence, there is little or no chance to recover. No matter how eloquent his presentation, his prospect is mad, defensive, and will twist everything he says against him.

The same first sentence principle works in your business. Isn’t this like an opportunity meeting, a prospecting telephone call, or a business presentation across the kitchen table? Your first sentence will determine the mood and cooperation of your prospect.

A bad first sentence will cause your prospect to fold his arms, put up his defenses, guard his wallet, and listen with a skeptical attitude.

A great first sentence will make your prospect a partner. Your prospect will forgive the fact that you can’t remember the name of your company, that you get confused on the product ingredients, and that you don’t have a clue how the compensation plan works.

This is why I spend time helping people to develop a great first sentence. Most trainings concentrate on how to present the products or compensation plan. Hours and hours are spent memorizing and practicing presentation and closing techniques.

That’s wasted effort!

If the opening sentence is great, you can mangle the rest of your presentation and prospects will still beg to join you.

I would rather have my distrib- utors give lousy presentations to prospects who love them— than to give great presentations to prospects who hate them.

So, back to what happens at my live workshops. During a workshop, I ask the attendees to write down the first sentence out of their mouths when they give a presentation.

And then the excuses begin.

The attendees say:

“Oh, I just kind of think something up, whatever feels good at the moment.” “I always start with the second sentence. I never use a first sentence.” “I’m confused. Do you mean the first sentence at an opportunity meeting? Or do you mean the first sentence at an in-home presentation?” “I just wing it.” “It depends on the prospect, the weather, or how I feel.” “I concentrate on a multimedia presentation of the compensation plan. I never worry about how the prospect feels.” “I just react to something the prospect says or does. I sure hope he says or does something or else I’m in real trouble.”

Right. Sure.

Want to know the real translation of what the attendees are saying? They are saying:

“I don’t know what to say or do.”

Their sponsors never taught them the importance and strategy of a good first sentence. They never learned the first words they should say to effectively start a successful business presentation. That’s sad.

When your distributors:

- don’t know what to do, - don’t know exactly what to say, and - don’t know how to start a successful presentation,

guess what?

They don’t do anything!

Distributors aren’t lazy.

They desperately want to build a business.

They just don’t know what to do.

You only get one chance to make a good first impression, yet untrained distributors are slaying good prospects and turning them into bloody clumps of anti-networking vigilantes.

Here’s a test.

Write down the first sentence out of your mouth when you give a business presentation to a prospect.

- Does your first sentence turn the prospect off? - Does your first sentence make you sound like a salesman so that your prospect immediately puts up his sales-resistant shields? - Or does your first sentence make your prospect immediately want to be your partner?

The first sentence out of my mouth is: (Write your sentence here.)

What’s the second reason why your distributors aren’t working? The second reason why your distributors aren’t working is because they feel rejected, dumped on, and think they are total failures, because they did the wrong things.

When a distributor locates 20 prospects, and none of the 20 prospects join, do you think that the distributor miraculously located 20 consecutive losers?

Do you think this distributor located 20 people who have a lifetime commitment to avoid opportunity?

I don’t think so.

A better-trained distributor or sponsor can give presentations to the exact same 20 prospects and several will enroll as a distributor.

What’s the difference?

The difference is that the better-trained distributor or sponsor knew the right and the wrong ways to give a presentation.

This is the perfect example of distributors who don’t know exactly what they should do. The untrained, uninformed distributor talked to 20 prospects and every one of these prospects swore they were not interested.

Why? Because of the questions and statements made by the untrained distributor.

The better-trained distributor talked to the same 20 prospects. Five of these prospects say they hate their job; they want time for their hobbies, friends, and family; they want more money and an exciting career; and they don't know how to find something to fill this need in them.

Why did they say this?

Because the better-trained distributor used different questions and statements. It's just that simple.

So now the better-trained distributor has five hot prospects and the untrained distributor is running a brand-new ad, accosting strangers in the shopping mall, and begging more people to come to an opportunity meeting.

Our discouraged distributors do the wrong things, get rejected, and achieve no results. So what’s left for them to do?

Quit.

Why suffer embarrassment, rejection, and frustration if you’re not going to make any progress in your business? Why work hard for no results? It makes sense to the frustrated distributor to stay home and watch television instead of all this senseless effort.

For instance, the new distributor will ask a prospect:

“Do you like your present job?”

This is the wrong question to ask. The new distributor gets unpredictable results, because he is doing the wrong thing. The new distributor doesn’t even know why this is the wrong question to ask.

The better-trained distributor will ask the same prospect:

“What do you do for a living?”

The better-trained distributor gets predictable, successful results because he knows the exact, word-for-word follow-up question that will turn the prospect into an eager, highly-qualified, interested, and open-minded prospect.

If your distributor continues doing the wrong things, he quits. Distributors aren’t lazy, they just don’t know what to do, or they just do the wrong things.

Here’s a neat little way to predict your downline’s future. You know what kind of results your downline distributors are getting today with their present methods. You know exactly what the results will be if they continue with their present methods, because they are living those results right now!

If what your distributors are doing now isn’t producing the kind of bonus checks they need, it surely won’t get any better in the future.

If you’d like your distributors to change, to grow, and to prosper, you must give them different strategies and methods. Their present methods will only give them what they have today.

Here is another reason you should teach and expand the skills of your downline. They are looking to you for answers.

Your downline distributors want you to teach them exactly what to say and how to say it. They don’t want to experiment, get rejected, and waste time. They want results immediately.

Will you give them the correct answers to their questions?

Now that’s a really big question. If you are a leader, you will seek out the correct answers and provide them to your group. You won’t let them suffer rejection and disappointment because they don’t know what to say and do.

But how about another business-building insight?

Network marketers don't do enough marketing.

Most networkers only have a few good prospects— with no new prospects on the horizon. That's scary.

To conserve the few prospects they have, network marketers beg, cajole, nurture, flatter and then wait for their prospects to make a decision. With only a few prospects, network marketers are:

- terrified of asking people to join, - scared to ask for initial purchases of sufficient inventory to build a business, - scared of rejection, - and broke!

Without a large group of qualified prospects to choose from, network marketers settle for lower-quality, unmotivated prospects.

That's a vicious cycle that forces distributors to quit network marketing in frustration and disgust.

We need to learn prospecting techniques that will permanently change our relations with prospects, downline, and of course, our bankers. And what will happen then?

Instead of stressing over too few prospects, we’ll gladly work with the select few potential leaders chosen from our massive pool of qualified prospects. Nothing changes our attitude more than having a line of quality prospects waiting for a chance to work with us.

In 1987, I had a telephone conversation with Art Meakin. Art said that he worked hard, sometimes personally inviting up to 600 people a week to an opportunity meeting. Only one or two prospects would ever show up at the meetings, so Art was quite discouraged at his hard-work method of prospecting.

I asked Art a simple question:

“What if everyone you contacted was already pre-sold on network marketing, wanted to start his own business, and could be productive from the first day he started?”

This changed everything!

Art changed his sponsoring and prospecting campaigns drastically. He quickly implemented the following strategies:

• When you advertise, you get what you ask for. If you advertise that your program requires no work, then you get prospects who will not work. If you advertise for long-term prospects who are willing to learn network marketing, then you attract stable prospects who will invest months learning your business.
• Instead of mass prospecting for new prospects, make repeat contacts to your present prospects. Prospects enroll in you, not your company. The more you contact a prospect, the better your

relationship. If you believe that prospects join you, then better relationships are the key to a consistent flow of new prospects joining weekly.

• Don’t go fishing on dry land. If you are going to prospect for people who want to join network marketing, go where these people congregate. Spend your time surrounded by high-quality prospects who want to join your company. Don’t waste your time looking for fish on dry land.

Do these strategies work? Here's the bottom line— I know these strategies work!

I use these strategies myself!

These aren’t some well-meaning, but ineffective theories taught by some public speaker who drank a beer and read a book.

These are field-tested strategies and campaigns that work today! I don’t believe in wasting time with glossed-over generalities and theories. Successful network marketing leaders need to know these strategies and exactly how to implement them successfully.

A word of caution: Avoid listening to those academic, well-meaning, so- called experts who feel obligated to give you advice on these strategies. They are usually broke and have never risked a single penny of their own money on any prospecting campaign.

I receive free, unsolicited advice from brand-new distributors on a regular basis. They want to modify, correct, improve and change what successful leaders have proven to work. They insist on telling me that these strategies and other strategies are all wrong.

My answer to their suggestions? I say,

“Go tell Art Meakin who found his mailbox stuffed with $5 bills attached to information requests that these strategies don’t work. Or, tell some successful leaders to quit what they are doing and to try your untested theories that you are afraid to use yourself.”

But how about one more business-building insight?

There is always a way to accomplish success. You just have to find the right set of instructions.

Suppose you are sitting in a room with 20 people. I walk in the door and say:

“I have a $1 lottery ticket for sale for tomorrow’s national drawing. Who would like to give me $500 for my ticket?”

The person sitting next to you says,

“This guy must be crazy. There's no way I'd overpay $499 for a lottery ticket.”

That's how most people think. They make decisions based on the facts they have.

Big mistake.

Why? Because there are always more facts.

For instance, I happen to know that only one ticket was sold for tomorrow's national drawing, and I own the only ticket!

This strategy escapes many beginning network marketers. Somehow they feel that if they continue doing the same thing over and over, magic will happen.

Nonsense!

For example, let’s say that a distributor gives 10 presentations. He starts each presentation with a series of three questions. After the three questions, the prospects fold their arms, frown, become combative, argue and eventually ask the distributor to leave their home.

Do we see a pattern here?

Of course. Every time the distributor asks those same three questions, the prospects become irritated and won’t join his program.

So what does our distributor do? He continues to ask those same three questions at every presentation... and hopes something magical will happen.

We know nothing is going to change until the distributor changes those three questions.

But, that won’t happen.

Why?

• Because the distributor won’t go to his sponsor’s training meeting

to learn new skills.

• He won’t read his distributor manual to find alternate questions

that might work.

• He won’t invest the time and energy to learn new skills.

Will anything change for this networker? I doubt it.

The only thing that might change is that he will become an ex-networker.

I have a friend who uses the following criteria to determine his potential leaders. He says he can predict with reasonable accuracy who is going to rise to the top in his organization. His criteria? He says:

“My future leaders are presently professional students of the business. They understand that there is a solution to any problem. A simple change or mid-course correction is all they need to get where they want to go. They are eager to learn new, more efficient ways to prospect, sponsor, retail, and lead.”

My friend also observes that his future failures are the people who use the same unsuccessful methods over and over again. These people won’t make the effort to learn new ways to get the job done.

Applying this success strategy is easy.

If what you are doing isn’t working, find a new (and hopefully proven) way to do it.

All of your distributors can become successful leaders and earn the bonus checks of their dreams.

They just have to find the right set of instructions.

So, don’t sit back and wait. Try putting these insights into your business now.

"I buy advertising. I buy vitamins." These are great answers to use when someone asks you what you do for a living. Why? Because they promote the conversation further about your business. For example, when someone asks Scott Hunt what he does for a living, he says:

“I buy advertising.”

When asked to explain further, Scott explains that he helps his clients buy advertising at the lowest possible cost and that he assists in selecting the right media.

This approach reduces rejection, because Scott appeals to the prospect as a helpful consultant instead of a pushy salesman.

Can you use this approach in your business? How about these examples:

“I buy nutritional products.” (I help my clients get the most potent vitamin formulations that are balanced and effective.) “I buy telephone long-distance service.” (I help my clients find the best value and service in the confused long- distance competition.) “I find part-time businesses.” (I help my clients find a part-time business that’s right for them, so they can get those special tax deductions and extra income.)

I’m sure you can create your own perfect answer for your product, service or business.

What’s the difference between leaders and non- leaders? Is it looks? Money? Contacts? Charisma? Great hair? No. The difference is the six or eight inches between the ears. Leaders are the same as everyone else, except they think differently.

So, if leaders think differently, if they have different attitudes and viewpoints, why not teach these thinking patterns to your distributors?

Here is what I recommend and why.

I have about 25 basic principles that I want my leaders to understand, believe, and live. If I can teach them these principles, everything else works.

Now, here is what you can do. Write down the principles that you want your potential leaders to understand, believe, and live. Then focus your development training on transferring those principles.

For example, wouldn’t it be nice if your distributors believed that:

• Problems are always with us. Let’s just get on with doing our

business.

• My obligation is to notify everyone I know about my opportunity.

They don’t have to listen or join, but they should have the chance to hear about it if they wish.

• Prospects will join me, not the company, the products, the fancy

brochure, etc. I must have information and skills that prospects want.

• Success is within me. My success is not dependent on my

sponsor, good weather, company politics, a needed change in the compensation plan, or other outside factors.

• Life’s not fair, but that’s okay. I can still be successful and enjoy

my business.

Teach principles like this to your distributors and soon you'll have leaders.

Make your instructions easy to follow. How? By making the instructions simple.

No one will remember the 17-point plan for success, or the 33-steps for prospecting.

I am often asked,

“So how do I build my networking business? What should I do first?”

I like to break down the business-building process into three easy steps. I will use a nutritional product-based business for this example, but you can easily substitute a service-based business.

Step #1: Order 100 points in products.

As you know, the key to our business is to recommend and promote the products and opportunity when appropriate. But how will you know about the products if you haven’t tried them? What kind of personal testimonial will you have if you haven’t tried any products?

For instance, a prospect says:

“So you think I should try these products. Do you use them also?”

What will you say? Will you reply: “No, I don’t use the stuff, but you should.”

Not using the products could seriously handicap your business. So, Step #1 is to order and personally try some of the products. And since you are ordering anyway, you might as well do 100 points, which will qualify you for future bonuses.

Step #2: Get on autoship.

Well, how long do you want to feel better? One month only? Two months? Or for a long, long time? Purchasing your products on autoship also sets a good example for your downline and customers. You will want them on autoship too, right?

Step #3: Tell the story.

The more you tell others about the opportunity, the more your business will grow. Ask yourself this:

“How often did I explain the opportunity this week?”

It is easy to tell the story to others. You have lots of ways of telling the story such as:

• A one-on-one presentation. • A two-on-one presentation with the help of your sponsor. • A three-way telephone call. • An opportunity meeting. • A conference call. • Loaning a CD, an audio tape, or video tape. • Loaning a booklet or brochure. • Sending someone to your Internet site.

Pick a method or methods that are right for you. Just make sure people hear the story. That’s your part of the plan. Then, let people decide what’s right for them.

Remember, you are responsible to give people an opportunity to hear the story. You are not responsible for the choices they make in their lives.

That’s it.

Just do these three simple steps and you’re on your way to a bonus check to match your dreams.

So could you duplicate this?

Could you re-phrase your entire training program into three easy-to- remember steps?

Distributors want a guideline, and they will appreciate a simple, clear approach to building their businesses. It is up to us to provide that simple, clear approach.

Why not take out a pencil and paper and outline the training steps for your business right now?

Copyright 2006 by KAAS Publishing. All rights reserved. Please contact KAAS Publishing for permission to reproduce or copy specific articles.

Tom "Big Al" Schreiter is a speaker and all-time best-selling network marketing author, having sold way more than 10 million "Big Al" books world wide. Tom began his career in 1972 and is considered by the leaders of the industry to be the master's master.

In addition to Big Al Tells All, Sponsoring Magic, How To Create A Recruiting Explosion, Turbo MLM, How To Build MLM Leaders For Fun & Profit, Super Prospecting: Special Offers & Quick-Start Systems, and 26 Instant Marketing Ideas To Build Your Network Marketing Business, Tom is also the author of numerous audio programs.

Tom spends 375 a year traveling and speaking to network marketers around the world in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Russia, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, etc.

Tom publishes the Fortune Now newsletter and the Big Al Recruiting Newsletter, is the producer of the Power Marketing Principles workshops and has been called "the funniest man to have ever build a downline of over 100,000 distributors." To learn more about Tom and subscribe to his free newsletter, visit his website here: FortuneNow.com