Recently I was asked to participate in a conference call that was focused on improving sales conversion rates for a group of network marketers… fun stuff, especially if you’ve got a great product or service line and a decent comp plan.
Problem is, most don’t… but alas, I digress.
On the other hand, there are a handful of great business opportunities that are based on network or multi-level models… but finding them requires using the same level of due-diligence that one would expect to use in any other investment or business enterprise.
Problem there… is that most won’t!
Ah well… in any event, I wanted to offer their members something of real value that would impact their effectiveness and be worthy of their time, so prior to the call I asked the host what he believed was the main concern of the vast majority of the players in the organization.
Without hesitation he said, “They’re all worried about prospecting… can you give them fifteen or twenty minutes or so of the best ways to increase their own attractiveness and overcome objections during that process?”
Fifteen or twenty minutes?
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“How about fifteen or twenty seconds,” I responded. “I can tell you right now, in three words… Don’t be weird. Period.”
Oh, sorry… that was four words. But it’s true… being weird is an unconditionally and exceptionally bad marketing strategy!
Knowing what I knew about their challenges… for example, their marketing model was born in antiquity, their brand is almost universally viewed with contempt, and their prospecting process, as trained, borders on subterfuge… I continued, knowing it might likely get me bounced from the program.
Next, I gave him six tips on building expert status for himself and his team, threw in a few more to seriously monetize the efforts of the newest members, and as for prospecting… I suggested they put away the “curiosity approaches”, stop targeting strangers at malls, coffee shops and book stores and focus instead on creating meaningful relationships with like-minded people who are perfect and ideal candidates for the products and services they offer… in other words, their niche!
Whew..!
But the real question is whether all of that got me kicked off the training call!! Not at all… in fact, he generally agreed with me and then asked a favor.
“I think what my people want to hear is how to overcome objections… could you just teach them that?”
Hmm, well I do have some some thoughts on that… but they’re only valid if we’re not being weird. More on this next time!
🙂
- Questions:
When’s the last time you were approached by someone being weird?
What were they selling? Were they successful?
Why do you believe some people resort to subterfuge instead of searching out a meaningful relationship within a targeted niche?
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