How to Prospect Successfully

by Randy Gage

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they join the business is thinking "Who can I sell this stuff to?" This question is completely off-base. It's the exact opposite of what a successful distributor should be thinking.

Here's the reality.

Every Monday morning at 6:00, 6:30 and 7:00 am, alarm clocks all around the world are going off. People are groggily hitting the snooze button, desperate for another five minutes of sleep. They get up at the last possible second, rush through their shower, and then either microwave breakfast, skip it or buy it in a drive-through window on the way to work.

We know that 80% of people are going to a job they don't like (or actually hate) and 99.9% of them think they should be making more money. Most of them will slog through the day in a comatose state and grab dinner at another drive-thru window on the way home. Then, they will plop onto a sofa or recliner and spend the night rubbing the hair off the back of their heads, drinking cans of rancid, fermented hops and watching mindless sitcoms until they're ready for bed.

Tuesday morning, the process starts all over ...

Wednesday morning … Thursday morning ... 'til Friday morning ... thank God it's Friday!

You know what Friday means - it's payday. So, at five o'clock, when their boss whistles them over to fetch their meager pittance, they can feel - if for only a few brief moments - like the check is theirs.

Now, of course, that check is already spent, because they have a stack of credit card bills waiting for it. But for those few glorious moments - it feels like it's theirs. This calls for a celebration. This means tonight they can eat out! So, at least here in America, that means off to Pizza Hut for a stuffed crust, meat-lovers, double-cheese, double-meat pan pizza, which, of course, they'll wash down with a Diet Pepsi, because they need to "watch their weight."

From dinner, it's off to the neighborhood video store, where they'll stack up 6 to 8 videos - just enough to keep them from thinking about their life of quiet desperation all weekend. Until Monday morning, when the alarm clock goes off and they start the process all over again ...

Do you understand something? You don't need these people. They desperately need and want what you have to offer. So stop thinking "Who can I get to do this?" Start thinking "Who would I like to offer this opportunity to?"

Which brings me to another point. You may think your product is vitamins or skin care or discount long distance service, but it is none of those things. What you have to sell is freedom.

Never lose sight of that.

You're offering people the opportunity to become their own boss and control their own destiny. For most of them, it will be the first opportunity they've ever had with unlimited income potential. It's also the first time they've had a chance to become successful by empowering others. Obviously, everyone would be interested in this, right?

No. Actually, many are not.

Why?

Because it means getting out of their comfort zone. Because it takes a belief in one's self that they don't possess. Some of them want success, but not if they have to do any work to get it. They're playing the odds, figuring a rich relative is going to die, or that the next time the phone rings, it will be the Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol calling for their cross street. And many more think they want success - but are actually taking actions to prevent it because they suffer from "lack" consciousness, and don't even know it. So, while the universe of people who need what you have is vast - the group who will seize the opportunity you're offering is much smaller. You have to screen out the people who have a dream and are willing to do something about it (the prospects) from those who are waiting to hit the lottery (the suspects).

Of course, the first question to arise is where do you find these people?

The natural place to begin is with friends, neighbors and relatives. It makes the most sense. You won't have to make cold calls or talk to strangers. People who know you will give you the benefit of the doubt and usually at least look at your Pre-Approach Packet or meet you for a one-on-one over coffee.

A lot of people are reluctant to talk to the people they know, fearing that they'll become the victim of the can't-be-a-prophet-in-your-own-hometown syndrome. There is some truth to this. If you've been working alongside Joe for the past ten years and now come along with this opportunity to get wealthy - Joe is probably going to be a little skeptical. That's okay. This is where edification comes in.

Let me explain.

Edification works on the principle that for most people, the expert is the guy from out of town with a briefcase. Many people place much more credibility in strangers than they do in their own daughters, husbands, fathers, etc.

After all, your family and close friends know every mistake you've ever made, from the lemonade stand you had when you were six that lost money to the time you tried to make money franchising ant farms. They haven't been able to achieve a happy, fulfilling life (and they figure they're a whole lot smarter than you), so they can't understand how you would know.

So, here's how it happens a lot of times. You join a network marketing company and you're excited about the possibilities. You start to think about who you want to help and naturally your thoughts turn to your parents. You call them up, go over to the house and make your presentation. It's a beauty. You sit back and relax - waiting for the grateful appreciation your parents are about to express - thankful that you've found a way to repay them for all they've done for you over the years.

Mother leans forward, about to speak, "So, Mister Big Shot, you're going to make all this money. Don't you remember when you had the paper route and you couldn't wake up in time? Your father had to deliver all the newspapers ..."

You're devastated. Here you're trying to do some good, trying to help them, and they're reacting like you were offering them a gift certificate for a complementary office visit with Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

You've just experienced the prophet-in-your-own-hometown syndrome. No one is immune from this. To this day, the hardest presentation I've ever given was to my sister Leise. This is the reason most people are afraid to talk to their friends, neighbors, and relatives (their warm market).

There is a solution ...

Edify your sponsorship about your warm market and bring your first people to them. Your warm market is your best market. But when you first begin the business, you shouldn't be making your own presentations. Your sponsor (or, in cases of fast growth, someone further up your sponsorship line) should be making your initial presentations, while you're taking notes and learning the presentation. This is the time to get to all of your can't-be-a-prophet people. Get them to a one-on-one, or give them the Pre-Approach materials. Make sure you let them know that this is a brand new opportunity for you, you've just discovered it and were introduced to the business by someone with a savvy business mind who's really good at helping people reach financial freedom. By edifying your sponsor in advance like this, you're already building up their credibility in the mind of your prospect.

Your friends and family will hear things from strangers that they cannot hear from you. If you want to start fast and get the best results, get these people in front of your sponsorship line and let them do the presenting. To break through with your warm market, you must take your ego out of the equation and edify your sponsor. This allows your sponsor to give you the most support. If your sponsor is already successful, bill them as "an expert in the business." If they're relatively new, moving up, but not mega-successful yet, refer to them as a "rising star." What you're doing in this scenario is leveraging the credibility you have with your warm market for maximum effect.

Here's why.

If your sponsor were to cold call one of your friends, neighbors or relatives and try to tell them about an opportunity - they'd probably hang up. If you try to tell your friends about the opportunity, you get the hometown prophet treatment. But, here's the secret ...

Your warm market trusts you enough to review some initial materials, like a Pre-Approach Packet, or meet for coffee. If it looks interesting, they'll be intrigued enough to meet someone with you (or come to your home for a meeting). And, because you said you're new to the business, don't understand it all yet, and you've found this person to be an expert - they will hear things from them that they couldn't hear from you. This is the secret to getting started fast - and it really works!

Over the course of time, while you are learning the presentation from your sponsor (usually a five- to eight-week process), you'll be bringing in all your "chicken list" people. (Your chicken list consists of the people who are the most busy, successful and ambitious people you know - the ones you're "chicken" to make a presentation to.) Just get them in front of your sponsor. And during this time, your own presentation skills will be getting better and you'll be gaining confidence and getting new distributors into your group. By the end of your first week, you'll be able to do a one-on-one presentation by yourself. By the time your five to eight weeks are up, you'll be quite capable of holding home meetings yourself.

Here's the best part:

When you have people that you're still nervous with, or who still give you the hometown prophet treatment, just edify your sponsorship line about them and bring those people to a second-look meeting, where your sponsorship line is presenting! This is the way huge organizations are built! It's completely warm market, non-threatening and very easily duplicated. Anyone can build a group this way.

*Excerpted from How to Build a Multi-Level Money Machine by Randy Gage. The first book ever published on the science of how to become wealthy in Network Marketing