A few years ago we lived in southern California in a gated community, supposedly sequestered from the outside gang shootings and riff raff that could invade our homes at any minute.
One balmy evening, as my husband and I sat on the porch, we heard a guttural scream. “Bubba,” our neighbor’s boyfriend, ran shirtless down the street in an attempt to escape from “Lolly” brandishing an aluminum baseball bat chasing him. She screamed about his infidelity and broadcasted expletives through the smoggy Southland air.
We deducted from her loud screams that she had just found out about his recent carryings-on. Now, I can empathize with a scorned women. I can’t imagine the pain she was in when she found out, which would cause her to pick up an aluminum weapon of mass destruction and run him out of the house with it.
One of the biggest mistakes I see is that some overzealous MLMers treat their prospects just like Lolly whipping around her baseball bat. First, they throw up all over their prospects unprofessionally. Then they take follow up to a nouveau amateur level, calling them several times a day, even shoving so-called “tools” (i.e. brochures, scientific literature on how you will DIE immediately if you are not using their company’s megarevolutionary products). They chase their prospects down the street with their vomitoreous zeal. I’ve even heard someone talk about how if we buy her products we will help her qualify for a trip, or rapacious reps telling their prospects, “When you sign up, you’re going to make me rich!”
No wonder some folks have such a nasty opinion of the network marketing industry.
You don’t need to chase prospects fleeing for their lives down the street to enroll them. This is a legimitate, real profession.
Be professional, polite, and poised.
Show your prospects the presentation.
Follow up with them.
Answer their questions, and/or utilize your support leaders to help you.
Collect a decision.
If they say, “no”, thank them for their time and ask for a referral.
If they don’t enroll on the spot, and most of the time they won’t, no biggie. Don’t hunt them down until they do. Inform them every month or so of any company news, specials, success stories (they don’t even have to be your direct team’s stories).
Your professionalism and perseverance with your company and team are much more attractive than any baseball bat.
