A sales presentation can be delivered to your warm prospect through print, through a presentation, through a website, or various other ways depending on your creativity. We say "warm prospect" because this prospect has been sorted and filtered, and does know a little about what's going on from your mini-marketing message. He is receptive to continuing in the process so you deliver a detailed sales presentation to him.
The detail given should be at a medium level, not too high and not too low. You can tailor the sales presentation to the type of prospect or you can give a higher or lower-level amount of detail depending on the responses the prospect gives. A self-service platform like a website allows scaling of detail by presenting at a high level but allowing the prospect to get more granularity with the click of a button.
Make sure to review the following resources for more information:
Showing posts with label Sales And Recruiting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sales And Recruiting. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Skill Of Selling - Part 7
Asking for the sale, or closing the sale, is simply about asking the customer to make a purchase in some way. This relates to product sales more than recruiting, because in recruiting we want people who are self motivated, not somebody who must be asked to make the next move. That may mean that we don't sponsor as many people as the next guy, but people we do sponsor are motivated, hard-working distributors. You would only care about recruiting if you are a headhunter (job recruiter) or multi-level marketing distributor.
Now back to selling a product and closing the sale... Usually in selling a product the customer needs just a little nudge at the end for a go or no go decision. If it is no go, we are back to answering customer objections or perhaps we will just have to wait until the customer decides he or she is ready. Otherwise, we have an order and we make the sale. Not asking for the sale is a mistake and can lead to all kinds of bad consequences. Perhaps the customer will shop around and find somebody who will ask for the sale... so it is important to do this at the end.
Asking for the sale can take on different forms: "Can I wrap this up for you?", "I can offer a 10% discount if you will purchase today", "Would you like to place an order?". You can use your imagination and come up with several other ways of asking that do not place too much pressure on the customer.
Here are some resources to review about asking for the sale:
Now back to selling a product and closing the sale... Usually in selling a product the customer needs just a little nudge at the end for a go or no go decision. If it is no go, we are back to answering customer objections or perhaps we will just have to wait until the customer decides he or she is ready. Otherwise, we have an order and we make the sale. Not asking for the sale is a mistake and can lead to all kinds of bad consequences. Perhaps the customer will shop around and find somebody who will ask for the sale... so it is important to do this at the end.
Asking for the sale can take on different forms: "Can I wrap this up for you?", "I can offer a 10% discount if you will purchase today", "Would you like to place an order?". You can use your imagination and come up with several other ways of asking that do not place too much pressure on the customer.
Here are some resources to review about asking for the sale:
The Skill Of Selling - Part 6
Answering objections is about working with the customer to solve the problems they truly have. If they say they cannot afford the product, are concerned with it's safety, don't know if it has the features they want, or they like your product but have additional problems to solve, you are there to listen and help them through the process. Often marketing will script sales objections with answers but you must listen to the customer so that you truly understand the nature of their problem in order to offer the best solution.
Many of the objections people would have about buying the product or buying from us, we had answers. We also had the flexibility to tell the customer that they don't need our product or to truly customize a solution for them. I think that having prepared responses is great but there are often gaps that need to be filled, and a salesperson should have the flexibility to truly offer real help for any customer situation.
Please review the following resources about answering customer objections:
Many of the objections people would have about buying the product or buying from us, we had answers. We also had the flexibility to tell the customer that they don't need our product or to truly customize a solution for them. I think that having prepared responses is great but there are often gaps that need to be filled, and a salesperson should have the flexibility to truly offer real help for any customer situation.
Please review the following resources about answering customer objections:
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Skill Of Selling - Part 4
Delivering your mini-marketing message to your prospect is about networking or advertising. When you network, a qualified lead can be given a very short introduction to what you are selling, then invited to review your sales presentation. A sales presentation can be either printed or delivered, so depending on how you do it, you can either offer to send the prospect your presentation or invite him to attend one.
With advertising, we do generally the same thing by delivering a message to a targeted audience through print, radio, television, internet, or other media. Our advertisements will similarly entice the reader to take the next step and view or attend our sales presentation.
Make sure to read more about advertising and networking in the following resources:
With advertising, we do generally the same thing by delivering a message to a targeted audience through print, radio, television, internet, or other media. Our advertisements will similarly entice the reader to take the next step and view or attend our sales presentation.
Make sure to read more about advertising and networking in the following resources:
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Skill Of Selling - Part 3
Sorting and filtering potential customers is about finding the right types of people who would be interested in your product or service. We do this by building a demographic profile for our customer and seeking people that fit the profile. You can do this through networking or through advertising. When you network you can find the right people for your product by asking "Do you know anybody who..." type questions, rather than selling to everyone you talk to. In advertisements, you can find your demographic by advertising in the right places and asking for the right kind of response in the ad.
Sorting and filtering can involve other types of qualifying actions also. For instance, to make sure your prospect can afford your product you might charge for information or admission into the sales presentation. The places where you advertise might also qualify your prospect in some way. For instance, if you advertise in a magazine, you know that the prospect probably bought the magazine. If you advertise in a free newspaper, you may find that your prospects are less price qualified.
Check out the following resources for more information:
Sorting and filtering can involve other types of qualifying actions also. For instance, to make sure your prospect can afford your product you might charge for information or admission into the sales presentation. The places where you advertise might also qualify your prospect in some way. For instance, if you advertise in a magazine, you know that the prospect probably bought the magazine. If you advertise in a free newspaper, you may find that your prospects are less price qualified.
Check out the following resources for more information:
- Demographic Profile - Wikipedia
- Lead Generation - Wikipedia
- Building Your Marketing Campaigns Around Your Demographic Profile
- Demographics - Answers.com
- Qualifying Prospects: Seven Vital Questions To Ask
Also see:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Skill Of Selling - Part 2
The sales process is a defined set of steps involved in selling the customer your product or service. I prefer the old mail-order model sales process:
- Sort and filter potential customers
- Deliver your mini-marketing message to your prospect
- Deliver a sales presentation (i.e. details of your product) to your prospect
- Answer any objections
- Ask for the sale (for product/service sales, not recruiting)
Defining your sales process allows more of your selling to be automatic rather than being random attempts. The random attempt approach to selling is usually very frustrating, like beating your head against a brick wall hoping it will crumble. It can lead to poor motivation or a bad attitude, which leads to more failed attempts to sell. Having a process that you go through will lead to more success and more motivation to make sales.
Please review the following resources for more information:
- Sales Process Wikipedia
- Sales Process Defined - Just Sell
- What is a Sales Process - Wise Geek
- Five Levels of Internet Marketing and the Sales Process - About.com
Also see:
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Skill Of Selling - Part 1
In this multi-part series, I am going to be discussing the technical skill called selling. Selling is the direct interaction of a company representative with the customer in order to create the sale of a product or service. I consider it a technical skill as opposed to a business skill because it is generally a process that is created by marketing and executed by a sales professional. Sales people are craftsman, hands on individuals who develop their craft over time by studying great sales people and by practicing their art. Creativity and practice are what makes selling an art, but there are straight-forward skills that can be learned.
I had the opportunity to work with many customers in our dietary supplement business and found that selling is generally the execution of a good marketing plan, but also the flexibility to be able to solve customer problems whatever they may be. We were helping people lose weight, but we would also have customer objections to price and concern as to whether the product would work for them. We had answers ready to go for both objections, but we really could not be so robotic in our technique, so we would make sure to listen to the customer's concerns and provide them real answers rather than scripted ones. Chris and I both got better at this as time went on but the marketing preparation really helped as we were early in our business.
Here are some resources to look at on selling. I will write more on selling and the sales process next time.
I had the opportunity to work with many customers in our dietary supplement business and found that selling is generally the execution of a good marketing plan, but also the flexibility to be able to solve customer problems whatever they may be. We were helping people lose weight, but we would also have customer objections to price and concern as to whether the product would work for them. We had answers ready to go for both objections, but we really could not be so robotic in our technique, so we would make sure to listen to the customer's concerns and provide them real answers rather than scripted ones. Chris and I both got better at this as time went on but the marketing preparation really helped as we were early in our business.
Here are some resources to look at on selling. I will write more on selling and the sales process next time.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Would You Like Some Help?
Would you like some personalized help for your situation? Feel free to call me or email me, my information is listed in the "About Me" section on the left. That is my personal cell phone number. Please understand that if I don't answer your call I might be busy, and if I don't call back right away I might be having a busy day. Regardless, I am perfectly willing to help you with the situation, problem, or idea and I promise I will not try to cross-recruit you. The reason I am willing to do this is that it will help me find new things to write about and it will test my ability to truly help people. I also really enjoy interracting with other business people.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sponsoring Almost As An Afterthought
Many multi-level marketing distributors make it their mission to sponsor, or recruit. That is all they do. They create a marketing plan to appeal to business people, have a one step or two step follow up, and give a wonderful presentation. There is nothing wrong with this, but as I said before, the product is the opportunity. The product must be sold along with the opportunity in order to make any money, because as we know, we earn nothing if product is not sold.
Selling the product first, then sponsoring, can be a great way to earn a quick profit and to find people who love the product first. With a minor pitch the people who love the product can become great sales people in your organization. The important thing is to know how to appeal to your customers to become distributors. For instance, most people will be put off if you tell them that they should sell the product. They are not sales people, how could they possibly sell the product? We have found that telling the customer that they can save money on their own product purchases by becoming a distributor is usually very effective.
There are usually many questions a customer will have about becoming a distributor when you use this little pitch. How much does it cost to sign up? Will I have to pay my own sales taxes? Will I have to fill out complicated paperwork for income tax? How much product do I have to buy at once? Is it complicated to order? Be ready with the answers to these questions and take note of other questions that customers ask about becoming a distributor.
If you sell the product and that's all you do, you are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to build your business by recruiting other people. These people will generate you passive income because you won't have to service them as customers, which takes much more time than supporting distributors. Even if they never sell they will continue to order, continually generating commissions for you. Often, though, customers who become distributors make great spokespeople and sell the product like crazy.
If you are with a company with products that people know and can buy elsewhere, it may be tough to lead with the product, but you may also need to sponsor in a special way to keep building your organization. I would personally prefer to belong to an organization with a unique product or a unique quality of product that can be sold and have adoring fans.
Sometimes a company can be overflowing with a number of products. It can be tough to sell 500 products at once so it is usually good to lead with one or two products and let the customer decide to purchase others within the product line. Focus is definitely a good idea when selling, especially because you will get a lot of questions about what makes a particular product special. Knowing everything about every product is tough.
Good luck with your sales efforts and make sure to follow up with the discount!
Selling the product first, then sponsoring, can be a great way to earn a quick profit and to find people who love the product first. With a minor pitch the people who love the product can become great sales people in your organization. The important thing is to know how to appeal to your customers to become distributors. For instance, most people will be put off if you tell them that they should sell the product. They are not sales people, how could they possibly sell the product? We have found that telling the customer that they can save money on their own product purchases by becoming a distributor is usually very effective.
There are usually many questions a customer will have about becoming a distributor when you use this little pitch. How much does it cost to sign up? Will I have to pay my own sales taxes? Will I have to fill out complicated paperwork for income tax? How much product do I have to buy at once? Is it complicated to order? Be ready with the answers to these questions and take note of other questions that customers ask about becoming a distributor.
If you sell the product and that's all you do, you are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to build your business by recruiting other people. These people will generate you passive income because you won't have to service them as customers, which takes much more time than supporting distributors. Even if they never sell they will continue to order, continually generating commissions for you. Often, though, customers who become distributors make great spokespeople and sell the product like crazy.
If you are with a company with products that people know and can buy elsewhere, it may be tough to lead with the product, but you may also need to sponsor in a special way to keep building your organization. I would personally prefer to belong to an organization with a unique product or a unique quality of product that can be sold and have adoring fans.
Sometimes a company can be overflowing with a number of products. It can be tough to sell 500 products at once so it is usually good to lead with one or two products and let the customer decide to purchase others within the product line. Focus is definitely a good idea when selling, especially because you will get a lot of questions about what makes a particular product special. Knowing everything about every product is tough.
Good luck with your sales efforts and make sure to follow up with the discount!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Elements of a Good Sales Presentation
We give a sales presentation to our warm prospects who respond to our mini-marketing message. Our mini marketing message was given during our networking calls or through our advertising. These mini marketing messages are meant to get our prospect asking for more and our sales presentation is the more that they will get. Sales presentations are typically used to get the prospect to the point of buying the product or service, though they may still have questions or objections after the sales presentation. A good salesperson will be able to handle any questions or objections the prospect may have, as unusual as they may be.
There are many ways to present a product sales presentation. You can give a stand up speech with slide show, you can give the prospect a video or brochure, or you can have a web site that gives your product demonstration. The easier on the prospect is usually the best, as their time is valuable to them. In my opinion, a web site is usually the easiest on a prospect.
A good sales presentation will provide product features and benefits, reasons to buy over competitive products, common questions and answers, and reasons to buy from your company over others. You can tailor your presentation to the prospect, giving them a quicker presentation unless they ask for more detail. You can also build on your presentation by getting feedback from your prospects and using their suggestions to improve the presentation.
On a web site, keep the presentation concise but give the visitor the option of looking deeper into the details. The more details you can offer online, the more the prospect will feel comfortable buying the product. You can give technical details on how the product was invented, who the inventors were and their biographies, and details about the company that manufactures it. You can show the product label, the packaging, and the raw product. You can give testimonials and show people using the product. Feel free to use your imagination to provide your potential customer with anything you think may be relevant.
At the end of your sales presentation, you must give your customer a way to buy. The easier it is for them to buy the product the better. We used to take orders from our website, by 800 number, and by fax. We allowed the customer to pay with credit card or send in a check. Again, the easier you can make it the better. If you are doing a personal product demonstration, you can simply ask for an order.
Sometimes your customer will continue to have doubts about purchasing your product. If this is the case, you can give your prospect samples or offer a trial discount on the product, if the product is consumable. You could also offer a guarantee or free trial on the product, which could work even if the product is not consumable.
Our goal for the sales presentation is to provide enough information to the potential customer so that they can make a buying decision. The better we can make our presentation fit this goal, the easier it will be to make the sale.
There are many ways to present a product sales presentation. You can give a stand up speech with slide show, you can give the prospect a video or brochure, or you can have a web site that gives your product demonstration. The easier on the prospect is usually the best, as their time is valuable to them. In my opinion, a web site is usually the easiest on a prospect.
A good sales presentation will provide product features and benefits, reasons to buy over competitive products, common questions and answers, and reasons to buy from your company over others. You can tailor your presentation to the prospect, giving them a quicker presentation unless they ask for more detail. You can also build on your presentation by getting feedback from your prospects and using their suggestions to improve the presentation.
On a web site, keep the presentation concise but give the visitor the option of looking deeper into the details. The more details you can offer online, the more the prospect will feel comfortable buying the product. You can give technical details on how the product was invented, who the inventors were and their biographies, and details about the company that manufactures it. You can show the product label, the packaging, and the raw product. You can give testimonials and show people using the product. Feel free to use your imagination to provide your potential customer with anything you think may be relevant.
At the end of your sales presentation, you must give your customer a way to buy. The easier it is for them to buy the product the better. We used to take orders from our website, by 800 number, and by fax. We allowed the customer to pay with credit card or send in a check. Again, the easier you can make it the better. If you are doing a personal product demonstration, you can simply ask for an order.
Sometimes your customer will continue to have doubts about purchasing your product. If this is the case, you can give your prospect samples or offer a trial discount on the product, if the product is consumable. You could also offer a guarantee or free trial on the product, which could work even if the product is not consumable.
Our goal for the sales presentation is to provide enough information to the potential customer so that they can make a buying decision. The better we can make our presentation fit this goal, the easier it will be to make the sale.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
A Salesperson Is A Problem Solver
Whether you act like a salesman or a recruiter, you are a problem solver. Objections to your product or opportunity are problems in the mind of the prospect and you are there to find some sort of agreement that can be made. For instance, if your prospect says that your product is too expensive you might be able to offer them a discount.
Typically, though, a deal should be a synergy. A synergy is something that works out better for both you and the customer than you originally imagined. This may not be possible in all cases but it is the goal.
I almost gave up once with a prospect who kept saying they had no money. This was a distributor prospect who needed something to make money but had no money to start with. I finally offered to allow them to show the catalog, call the company using my distributor number, and order for the customer with their credit card. Then he would send me the customer's information, I would match it up with the order, then I would send him the commission. This was agreeable to him and ended up being a great way for him to find the money to sign up.
For product sales, the objection is sometimes cost or the risk that the product won't work. It is easy enough to give an introductory discount or a guarantee to the customer to overcome their objection.
Getting a prospect's objection is a good thing because it means that they are communicating with you. When they shut down and stop talking, the negotiation is over. Don't give up when the prospect objects, it's just the beginning.
Typically, though, a deal should be a synergy. A synergy is something that works out better for both you and the customer than you originally imagined. This may not be possible in all cases but it is the goal.
I almost gave up once with a prospect who kept saying they had no money. This was a distributor prospect who needed something to make money but had no money to start with. I finally offered to allow them to show the catalog, call the company using my distributor number, and order for the customer with their credit card. Then he would send me the customer's information, I would match it up with the order, then I would send him the commission. This was agreeable to him and ended up being a great way for him to find the money to sign up.
For product sales, the objection is sometimes cost or the risk that the product won't work. It is easy enough to give an introductory discount or a guarantee to the customer to overcome their objection.
Getting a prospect's objection is a good thing because it means that they are communicating with you. When they shut down and stop talking, the negotiation is over. Don't give up when the prospect objects, it's just the beginning.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
What's Wrong With This Picture?
You are excited. You sign up and buy the kit. You are going to make big money. All you have to do is sponsor three and teach them to sponsor three. Sounds soooo easy. You call all of your friends and none - zero want to be your distributor. But but all you have to do is... Then you try and try and try, you get more and more frustrated. Then discouragement sets in. People are telling you that you seem like you are part of some cult, and that this will never amount to anything. You know what else your sponsor told you? That you never have to sell... Hey, you've been selling your opportunity to your friends and family right?
These are the two lies that sponsors tell: You only have to sponsor 3 - and you don't have to sell. "Everybody" uses these lies, because they are true in theory. I mean, you don't have to sell if you are buying for yourself and sponsoring others, or do you? Sponsoring is recruiting and is very similar to selling; so technically - it is selling. And you do sell to yourself. If you advertise, your marketing message is a sales pitch and usually requires a sales presentation as a follow up. Even if you are recruiting this is true.
As far as needing to sponsor just 3 people and teach them to sponsor 3, in my experience your attempt to sponsor from your warm market is nearly impossible and where else would you get just 3 from? Let's say that you beat your head against a brick wall long enough and it crumbled... in other words you sponsored 3. The likelihood that all 3 will want to do anything is slim and none. Especially if you use the same "sales" pitch: sponsor just three, no selling involved. Some people will just sign up to get you off their back. Others will sign up and get busy. Others must watch Monday night football and have a case of beer nightly. Some just have the misfortune of getting sick, injured, fired, divorced... you just never know what you're going to get.
Ok, so what do you really have to do? First, realize that you are in business. You started a small business and you will need to know how to sell your product. No way around it. You must sell to yourself, your warm market, people you know, and people you don't know. You do this to learn their objections. Hey if you sell something, that is great, but your greatest learning experience is when people don't buy. Why did they choose not to buy? Very important stuff because we need to learn how to overcome the objections to your product... mainly because the product is also the opportunity.
When you sell an opportunity, you are selling yourself as sponsor and your lifestyle, but you are also selling your product. Because... who is going to buy the product? We know from earlier posts that legal MLM companies must have product sales in order to pay commissions to distributors. If everyone is recruiting and nobody is buying or selling the product, how much money do you make? That's right, zero. "Gasp," you say, "I don't want to work my butt off and earn nothing!" Well then, you must sell the product to yourself, to customers, and to your downline distributors.
Second, you must realize that even though theoretically it's possible to only need to sponsor three (or four or five), the reality is that 95% or more of distributors will drop out. No matter how they are recruited, no matter how much support, no matter if you build their business for them, no matter if you have the greatest product ever... they will drop out. So you will constantly need to replace your drop out distributors in order to keep your business growing.
Another sad reality is that good distributors (i.e. big fish) work not with all of their distributors constantly, but mainly with their best producers. Do I agree with doing this? Absolutely. You should be there for all your distributors but usually it's the best ones who want and deserve help. The others are bothered when you call them.
One thing you can do to keep drop out distributors happy: Don't oversell your opportunity. If you tell your distributors they can make money while playing on the computer, they'll be playing solitaire wondering why the checks are not flowing in. Tell them that hard work pays, they will either work hard or not, but they won't be unhappy either way.
Next post I will write about how multi-level marketing is similar to and different from other small businesses.
These are the two lies that sponsors tell: You only have to sponsor 3 - and you don't have to sell. "Everybody" uses these lies, because they are true in theory. I mean, you don't have to sell if you are buying for yourself and sponsoring others, or do you? Sponsoring is recruiting and is very similar to selling; so technically - it is selling. And you do sell to yourself. If you advertise, your marketing message is a sales pitch and usually requires a sales presentation as a follow up. Even if you are recruiting this is true.
As far as needing to sponsor just 3 people and teach them to sponsor 3, in my experience your attempt to sponsor from your warm market is nearly impossible and where else would you get just 3 from? Let's say that you beat your head against a brick wall long enough and it crumbled... in other words you sponsored 3. The likelihood that all 3 will want to do anything is slim and none. Especially if you use the same "sales" pitch: sponsor just three, no selling involved. Some people will just sign up to get you off their back. Others will sign up and get busy. Others must watch Monday night football and have a case of beer nightly. Some just have the misfortune of getting sick, injured, fired, divorced... you just never know what you're going to get.
Ok, so what do you really have to do? First, realize that you are in business. You started a small business and you will need to know how to sell your product. No way around it. You must sell to yourself, your warm market, people you know, and people you don't know. You do this to learn their objections. Hey if you sell something, that is great, but your greatest learning experience is when people don't buy. Why did they choose not to buy? Very important stuff because we need to learn how to overcome the objections to your product... mainly because the product is also the opportunity.
When you sell an opportunity, you are selling yourself as sponsor and your lifestyle, but you are also selling your product. Because... who is going to buy the product? We know from earlier posts that legal MLM companies must have product sales in order to pay commissions to distributors. If everyone is recruiting and nobody is buying or selling the product, how much money do you make? That's right, zero. "Gasp," you say, "I don't want to work my butt off and earn nothing!" Well then, you must sell the product to yourself, to customers, and to your downline distributors.
Second, you must realize that even though theoretically it's possible to only need to sponsor three (or four or five), the reality is that 95% or more of distributors will drop out. No matter how they are recruited, no matter how much support, no matter if you build their business for them, no matter if you have the greatest product ever... they will drop out. So you will constantly need to replace your drop out distributors in order to keep your business growing.
Another sad reality is that good distributors (i.e. big fish) work not with all of their distributors constantly, but mainly with their best producers. Do I agree with doing this? Absolutely. You should be there for all your distributors but usually it's the best ones who want and deserve help. The others are bothered when you call them.
One thing you can do to keep drop out distributors happy: Don't oversell your opportunity. If you tell your distributors they can make money while playing on the computer, they'll be playing solitaire wondering why the checks are not flowing in. Tell them that hard work pays, they will either work hard or not, but they won't be unhappy either way.
Next post I will write about how multi-level marketing is similar to and different from other small businesses.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Sales Presentations and Web Sites
We have learned a lot of things thus far so I just wanted to review at a high level. In MLM, you can sell or you can sponsor. You can do either or both by networking or advertising with the objective to get warm leads and give them a sales presentation. You can advertise for free or for cost, off line or on line. We learned that a sales presentation could be a one step or a two step process, with the final step using mostly company or company approved materials. We also learned that in sponsoring or recruiting, you mostly sell yourself and your ability to help your prospect become successful, avoiding references to your upline or company until necessary. We also learned that image is important and we build image by being professional and not by spending lavishly. Your advertising can be used for image building by telling the viewer what they should think of your company, but mainly advertising is used to gather leads.
Your sales presentation can be given in person, by video, or with printed materials but at the point you mention the MLM company or it's products, you need to use company approved materials. I wouldn't be too worried about writing a cover letter with key points for joining but the company usually has very good materials and you won't get in trouble with them for using their materials. If you build your own presentation, you must work with your upline or company to make sure your materials are not going to cause you a problem.
A website can be your sales presentation to your prospect but again you must check with your upline or company about the requirements for selling or sponsoring online. Your website can do everything from beginning to end without your presence, which is great if you have prospects who want to do everything themselves. I would also allow some offline options, i.e. sending your prospect printed materials.
A website can also do so much more than deliver a sales presentation. You can use it in many ways to relieve you of telephone duties. Mainly you learn why a customer or prospect calls, then try to provide the information they need on your website. It doesn't prevent all telephone calls but prevents some.
When you are starting out, it is important not to spend tons of money on things, but you can develop your own website with free tools that are available. It is definitely not so important to develop a site that you must spend hundreds of dollars. In fact, your upline may actually have a prospecting web site that you can use to provide information to your prospects.
Your sales presentation can be given in person, by video, or with printed materials but at the point you mention the MLM company or it's products, you need to use company approved materials. I wouldn't be too worried about writing a cover letter with key points for joining but the company usually has very good materials and you won't get in trouble with them for using their materials. If you build your own presentation, you must work with your upline or company to make sure your materials are not going to cause you a problem.
A website can be your sales presentation to your prospect but again you must check with your upline or company about the requirements for selling or sponsoring online. Your website can do everything from beginning to end without your presence, which is great if you have prospects who want to do everything themselves. I would also allow some offline options, i.e. sending your prospect printed materials.
A website can also do so much more than deliver a sales presentation. You can use it in many ways to relieve you of telephone duties. Mainly you learn why a customer or prospect calls, then try to provide the information they need on your website. It doesn't prevent all telephone calls but prevents some.
When you are starting out, it is important not to spend tons of money on things, but you can develop your own website with free tools that are available. It is definitely not so important to develop a site that you must spend hundreds of dollars. In fact, your upline may actually have a prospecting web site that you can use to provide information to your prospects.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Difference Between Selling and Recruiting
The major difference between selling a product and selling an opportunity is really not much. In fact, you could sell them in the same way. However, you really want your new distributor to want to build their business so you want to avoid any pressure to sign up. In fact, you may want to give them a lot of space to decide that they really want to join and be successful.
Often in recruiting, you need to find the right person at the right time. They may be ready to jump right in, they may be looking at several opportunities, or they may just be procrastinating. In any case, asking or pressuring them to join is the wrong move. They will do things when they are ready, or they may do nothing at all. The best thing you can do is to keep looking for new prospective distributors and not worry about the ones who may join.
Another thing you need to understand is that besides an opportunity, you are selling a lifestyle. Your lifestyle in fact. Take a look at what you do on a day-to-day basis. What would other people think about your lifestyle? Not to say that you need to spend money lavishly to attract distributors, you don’t. You just need to be the kind of person other people are attracted to, the kind of person people want to be. If you are obsessed with your business and look nervous all the time you will attract no one.
One last thing about recruiting: Remember that you are the big fish. You should never sell the prospect on what your upline, sponsor, or company can do for them. You sell them on what you can do for them. Which leads me to this point: What can you do for your distributors? What special skills or aptitudes do you offer? Consider this before you begin talking to prospects.
Image can also play a role in sponsoring. Again, it is not about how much money you spend. Millionaires make a lot of income but spend very little of it. If you drive a Mercedes or an old beat up pickup, it does not matter. Image is more about being professional. Having nice looking business cards. Being a company rather than an individual. Having nice looking presentation materials. Looking well dressed and groomed. Image can also be how well you follow through. If a person asks you for something and you promptly get it to them, that will go a long way.
I would like to finish by reviewing key points: You will do well at sponsoring if you can identify your distributor’s demographics (a description of who they are), find people in that demographic, present to them (i.e. give them a video), be the big fish by giving them advantages for working with you, then let them have their space. Follow up but avoid pressure. Then find more people and do the same. Don’t worry about sponsoring, it will happen.
Often in recruiting, you need to find the right person at the right time. They may be ready to jump right in, they may be looking at several opportunities, or they may just be procrastinating. In any case, asking or pressuring them to join is the wrong move. They will do things when they are ready, or they may do nothing at all. The best thing you can do is to keep looking for new prospective distributors and not worry about the ones who may join.
Another thing you need to understand is that besides an opportunity, you are selling a lifestyle. Your lifestyle in fact. Take a look at what you do on a day-to-day basis. What would other people think about your lifestyle? Not to say that you need to spend money lavishly to attract distributors, you don’t. You just need to be the kind of person other people are attracted to, the kind of person people want to be. If you are obsessed with your business and look nervous all the time you will attract no one.
One last thing about recruiting: Remember that you are the big fish. You should never sell the prospect on what your upline, sponsor, or company can do for them. You sell them on what you can do for them. Which leads me to this point: What can you do for your distributors? What special skills or aptitudes do you offer? Consider this before you begin talking to prospects.
Image can also play a role in sponsoring. Again, it is not about how much money you spend. Millionaires make a lot of income but spend very little of it. If you drive a Mercedes or an old beat up pickup, it does not matter. Image is more about being professional. Having nice looking business cards. Being a company rather than an individual. Having nice looking presentation materials. Looking well dressed and groomed. Image can also be how well you follow through. If a person asks you for something and you promptly get it to them, that will go a long way.
I would like to finish by reviewing key points: You will do well at sponsoring if you can identify your distributor’s demographics (a description of who they are), find people in that demographic, present to them (i.e. give them a video), be the big fish by giving them advantages for working with you, then let them have their space. Follow up but avoid pressure. Then find more people and do the same. Don’t worry about sponsoring, it will happen.
Why Can’t I Sponsor?
Sponsoring is recruiting new distributors into the multi-level marketing company. Once a distributor is sponsored under you, you share in their sales success. They can also sponsor other distributors, which also contributes to your commissions.
It is nearly impossible for a new distributor to sponsor because they seek people from their warm market to join, like family members, friends, neighbors, and other people they know well. The problem with this is that given any individual person, the person is very unlikely to want to start a new business.
This is very depressing, isn’t it? The warm market you are depending on probably won’t want to join. It gets worse. Your warm market knows you and are unlikely to believe that what you have is incredible or even credible. After all, they’ve known you for a while and you are not the kind of person who can do this kind of thing. People outside of your warm market are actually more likely to join because they have no preconceived notion of who you are.
More bad news: Let’s say you contact one new random person a day, how long would it take you to sponsor a new distributor? In my experience, with a rapidly growing company, you generally could sponsor 1 in 100 people. That is a very general estimate and it may be easier or harder to sponsor based upon a lot of factors.
Even more bad news: Your one distributor is unlikely to produce. Typically 1 in 100 distributors will sell and sponsor, many will drop out and many will do very little.
So to get three producing distributors, as your sponsor says you need to be successful, you need to make contact with about 30,000 different people. You can see that the typical way people are recruited is a recipe for failure.
So how do you change the odds? By contacting random people you can expect the information above to be true. If you want to sponsor more of the people you contact, you have to contact the right people. Better yet, you need people to come to you. I will write more about this soon.
It is nearly impossible for a new distributor to sponsor because they seek people from their warm market to join, like family members, friends, neighbors, and other people they know well. The problem with this is that given any individual person, the person is very unlikely to want to start a new business.
This is very depressing, isn’t it? The warm market you are depending on probably won’t want to join. It gets worse. Your warm market knows you and are unlikely to believe that what you have is incredible or even credible. After all, they’ve known you for a while and you are not the kind of person who can do this kind of thing. People outside of your warm market are actually more likely to join because they have no preconceived notion of who you are.
More bad news: Let’s say you contact one new random person a day, how long would it take you to sponsor a new distributor? In my experience, with a rapidly growing company, you generally could sponsor 1 in 100 people. That is a very general estimate and it may be easier or harder to sponsor based upon a lot of factors.
Even more bad news: Your one distributor is unlikely to produce. Typically 1 in 100 distributors will sell and sponsor, many will drop out and many will do very little.
So to get three producing distributors, as your sponsor says you need to be successful, you need to make contact with about 30,000 different people. You can see that the typical way people are recruited is a recipe for failure.
So how do you change the odds? By contacting random people you can expect the information above to be true. If you want to sponsor more of the people you contact, you have to contact the right people. Better yet, you need people to come to you. I will write more about this soon.
Leisure and Sales
Being too serious about sales can be a recipe for disaster. Often we find ourselves working so hard to find that next lead, to build our list of prospects, or to close that next sale that we will often be too focused on our job and not focused enough on the customer’s needs. Taking a break every once in a while can help.
In recruiting, it is especially important to have leisure time, as you are selling your lifestyle to the prospect. If he or she sees you working too hard, he is likely to be turned off by the opportunity.
In recruiting, it is especially important to have leisure time, as you are selling your lifestyle to the prospect. If he or she sees you working too hard, he is likely to be turned off by the opportunity.
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