Authors: Eric Worre
In terms of scripts, it’s best if you get the basic concepts down and don’t focus too hard on the exact script. Life doesn’t work that way. But if you learn to let your prospect know you’re in a hurry, then compliment them, then invite them, then pass on a tool with, “If I, would you,” then confirm using the process I described, and finally get off the phone or complete the invite, you’ll do just fine.
Remember, in recruiting, there are no good or bad experiences—just learning experiences. On your journey to becoming a Network Marketing Professional, the best thing that can happen is for you to develop the skills to recruit on demand, in any situation. Then you never have to worry about being lucky. So practice, practice, practic
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CHAPTER SIX
Skill #3—Presenting Your Product or Opportunity to Your Prospects
We’ve talked about the first two skills of identifying prospects and inviting them to learn more about your product or opportunity. As you’ve learned, you’ll be inviting them to review a tool or attend some sort of event.
If they are reviewing a tool by themselves and you’re not around, there’s nothing for you to do. Just follow up when you said you would. If you’re physically with them, there are some things you need to understand, and one of the biggest is, YOU are not the issue!
This was a tough one for me to accept. When I first got started, I read everything I could, listened to everything I could, and attended all the training sessions I could. I thought the most important thing I could do was become an expert on all the facts associated with my company so if anyone asked me any questions, I’d be right there with the answers. Sounds logical, right?
I would sit down with someone and say, “Let ME tell you all about our products. Let ME tell you all about our company. Let ME tell you all about our compensation plan. Let ME tell you all about our incredible support system.” There are big problems with that approach if you want to build a large and successful organization. For me, the first problem was, no matter how much I learned, there would still be questions that stumped me. And since I was presenting myself as the expert, if I got stumped, that might make the prospect question the whole opportunity.
The second problem was, most of my prospects knew I wasn’t an expert. So when I came to them and presented myself as an authority figure, they knew it wasn’t true. It actually made them more skeptical.
The third problem was, even if I was successful at becoming an expert, the other distributors in my organization didn’t necessarily have that same desire or willingness to learn. As a result, I was the go-to guy for every single presentation. There’s no way to create an organization that will duplicate with this approach, and without duplication, Network Marketing is just a job.
In the early days, that’s what Network Marketing was for me—a job. I had no duplication because I made myself the issue. But I was determined and I started to observe and take careful note of how the most successful distributors did their presentations.
The pros never made themselves the issue. More than that, they never presented themselves as an expert. They acted as a consultant who connected the prospect to tools, events, or other distributors to help them become educated. If the prospect asked a question, they would guide them to the answer, but they wouldn’t give the answer directly. This baffled me until I started to comprehend duplication. The pros knew they could sign the person up by dazzling them with their knowledge and experience, but they also knew it would take a long time for their new distributor to do the same, so they came up with a simpler approach.
It was around this time I heard a concept that has stuck with me ever since:
In Network Marketing, it doesn’t matter what works. It only matters what duplicates.
This should be a guiding principle for every Network Marketing Professional.
The pros use tools instead of their own wisdom. The pros use live events instead of their own presentations. The pros use other distributors to give the facts instead of giving them themselves. The pros don’t present themselves as experts; they just invite people to learn more about the product or opportunity and let the third-party resource provide the information. The pros bring passion, enthusiasm, excitement, and belief. If you ever watch a pro at work, you’ll see a fire in them that is contagious. Make passion, enthusiasm, excitement, and belief your priority, then invite professionally and let the third-party resource do the rest.
In addition to learning how to effectively present your product or opportunity during your personal recruiting efforts, it’s also important to learn how to present your opportunity to groups of people.
I’ve heard it said (and I think it’s true), “The person with the marker makes the money.” In other words, the person in front of the room giving the presentation usually has a higher than average income. When I first got started I was deathly afraid of speaking in front of people, but I was ambitious, and since everyone said this was an important skill, I was determined to master it.
I started by learning how to give a short and effective testimonial. Learning to tell my story was extremely valuable in building my business and has been to this day. People aren’t interested in how much you know, but they ARE interested in your story, as long as you don’t bore them to death with it.
I worked on my story for a while and, after tweaking it a time or two, here is what I came up with. “Hi! My name is Eric Worre and I’m a retired underachiever. I had 18 jobs by the age of 23 and was starting to think my future wasn’t looking so good. I was embarrassed by my lack of results and I was desperately looking for a way to make something of my life. In January of 1988, I was introduced to Network Marketing and it has changed my life. Instead of being afraid of the future, now I’m excited about it.” (And then I would insert whatever was appropriate based upon my current levels of success.)
The theme of my story was, if I could do it, anyone could do it. And it worked. I used it all the time. In hotel meetings, in home meetings, on three-way phone calls, on conference calls—you name it.
No matter what your background is, you can craft a compelling personal story. I’ve found every good story has four elements:
Take some time to create your story and start telling it every chance you get.
Next I decided to master my company’s opportunity presentation. Again, the concept of modeling successful people came into play. The top earner in my company was extremely powerful and effective. In addition, he did the same exact presentation every single time, just about word for word. So I recorded his presentation and transcribed it by hand onto a legal pad. When I completed that step, I recorded my own voice doing that presentation. I did it word for word. Same stories, same jokes—everything was his exact presentation.
After I was done, I played it back and it was terrible! My voice had no energy. I was boring. I hated it. So I recorded it again and again and again until it was acceptable. In the end I had an audiocassette with my presentation on it, and I listened to it over and over in my car. I’ll bet I listened to that presentation 500 times, and by that time, I had it memorized. I knew it backward and forward. I could start from any part of the presentation and take it from there.
You would not believe the confidence this gave me. I went from being afraid to do the presentation to actively looking for opportunities to give it! I did the presentation on conference calls, in home meetings, on three-way calls, and any place else I could find. I became a regular presenter at our local meetings and continued to move up to bigger and better venues, even being asked to speak at company conventions.
For me, the evolution of becoming a presenter went through several stages:
One big defining moment as a presenter came in 1993. I was 29 years old and starting to make a name for myself in Network Marketing. I was having a conversation with the CEO of the company and the number one distributor at the time. I can’t remember exactly how the topic came up, but I recall saying something to the CEO like, “Well, he (the top distributor) might be a better networker than I am right now, but I can out-speak him anytime.”
It was meant as a joke, but the CEO raised his eyebrows and said, “Okay son, I’ll tell you what. We have our big convention coming up. Over 14,000 people will be in attendance. I’ll give you both the same amount of time and we’ll have a private contest. I’ll handpick a few judges and they will vote on who did a better job.”
Wow! Now I was really on the hook! I wasn’t a huge leader. I didn’t have as big an organization or reputation at the time as the top earner. So, I did the only thing I could control. I started to prepare like my life hung in the balance. I chose a theme. I wrote my talk and rewrote it over and over. I did research. I practiced. I recorded myself doing the speech. I did everything I could possibly do.
When the day came, I’d never felt so nervous in my entire life. Talking to 14,000 people is like talking to an ocean. But my preparation served me well. I steadied my 29-year-old insecure self and delivered.
The response was overwhelming! The crowd went wild, literally. I felt a little numb when I walked off stage as they were still cheering, and sat there while the top earner gave his speech. He did a fine job, but I have to admit to you, it felt so good to have the CEO come up and congratulate me for winning our private little contest. It was definitely a defining moment.
That speech was lost for a very long time but a copy was recently discovered. If you’d like to hear it, you can do so by going to this link:
www.networkmarketingpro.com/calltoaction
My voice sounds quite a bit younger, but it’s still me.
To summarize this skill set, remember a few important things:
CHAPTER SEVEN
Skill #4—Following Up With Your Prospects
In MLM, they say the fortune is in the follow-up. I think that’s true, because most people in MLM don’t follow up at all, at least not as professionals. You need to understand some important concepts if you’re going to master this skill.
Concept #1–Follow-up is doing what you said you would do.
If you say you’re going to call at a specific time, then do it. The Network Marketing Profession is full of people who get all excited one minute and then go missing in action the next. Run your business through a physical or electronic calendar. Be the person who does what they say they’re going to do. People will respect that.
I sold real estate the year before I got involved in Network Marketing. My father and his partner owned the company. One day I was in the office and a gentleman by the name of Chuck Aycock showed up for a 10 a.m. meeting with my dad. It was 9:55 a.m. and my dad wasn’t in the office yet. I greeted Chuck and told him I was sure my dad would arrive soon. At 10 a.m. exactly, Chuck got up and said, “It’s 10 o’clock. Your dad isn’t here. Have him call me if he wants to reschedule the meeting.”
I couldn’t believe it. He came all the way to the office just to leave 30 seconds after the appointment? I told him, “Mr. Aycock, I’m sure he’ll be here any minute. There’s no need to leave.”
And then he told me something I never forgot. He said, “Son, either you are early or you are late. He’s late and my time is valuable. Have him give me a call if he’d like to reschedule.” And he left!
My dad showed up at 10:10 a.m. expecting to meet Chuck. I told him what happened and he was as stunned as I was. My dad wasn’t habitually late or anything. That particular morning he was just a little casual with his time. He rescheduled the appointment and I noticed over the years that my dad was ALWAYS early for his appointments with Mr. Aycock.
What is the lesson in this story? For me, the lesson was that people respect a person who does what they say they’re going to do. People also respect a person who values their own time. If you say you’re going to follow up at a specific time or in a specific way, either do it or reschedule well ahead of your appointment.