MLM prospecting is always being debated by networkwork marketers. What is the best way to prospect? Is old-school, belly-to-belly, three-foot-rule style prospecting the way to go? Or is new-school - attraction marketing and lead generation more effective for growing a large organization quickly?
Let's Break MLM Prospecting Down
Prospecting is figuratively "the search for precious metals or stones, a physical labor, involving traversing, panning, sifting and looking for signs of mineralization." MLM Prospecting is comparable; it is the search for precious people - you're truly traversing, panning, sifting and looking for signs of a qualified business teammate.
There are plenty of methods and resources to go about your MLM prospecting, just as there were during the gold rush. The larger part of prospectors headed out with a pick and shovel and a gold pan and went to toil. These modest-scale operations were at times successful - an educated guess and a little good fortune could certainly pay off. For the most part though, victory was limited. There's only so much area you can traverse on your own with a pick and shovel.
Think of this formula as your old-school MLM prospecting method. You head out, equipped with business cards, pamphlets and CDs, driven to give out your business with everyone who comes within three feet and has a heart beat. You approach folks, hand out your pamphlets, pitch your business, and sift for desirable business partners or product users, and of the thirty folks you talk to that day, 3 enrol. Great triumph right?! Hmmm. let's look a little closer.
The Issue with Old-School MLM Prospecting
First of all I was being generous with the numbers - most marketers can't speak with anywhere close to 30 people a day. most accountability calls with elite mlmers only call for 3 looks a day, and even that is a stretch for most persons. I also gave a signup rate of 1 in 10. that's exceptionally high for our industry and it's approximated that 4% industry-wide is closer to valid.
At that percentage, if you prospect every day for 30 days, you would get 3.6 new enrolments - we'll round up and say 4. Still, one a week isn't bad. But then why aren't more humans successful with this form of MLM prospecting?Rejection
It's sad but true - people don't appreciate being "sold." Just think about your own reaction when a telemarketer calls, or somebody shows up to "lock in your energy costs." You don't enjoy it do you? And 9 times out of ten you'll do whatever you have to do to bypass the circumstances all together. And when you can't you either hang up, or listen considerately until you can compose an excuse to get back to what you were doing before the unsolicited disruption. And all the while there is an awareness of tension growing inside of you. "What are they trying to sell me now?"
You don't care for being convinced and neither does anyone else. And the truth is, not everyone is as pleasant as you and I are about saying no. I don't care how thick your skin is, getting hung up on and doors shut in your face sucks. I know, I've had it done to me. lots.
Does Old-School MLM Prospecting Work?
Evidently it does, for about 3% of humans. I'm not going to tell you not to use these techniques - there are lots of very successful mlmers who swear by it. But if this is going to be your strategy I highly recommend growing a thick skin - you're going to need it.New School MLM Prospecting - What's the Difference?
Back to our gold prospecting analogy - let's pretend that instead of picks, shovels and a gold pan you head out with a metal detector and a magnetic surveying device. You'd do a lot less digging at the beginning, but you'd also spare yourself a lot of time excavating in the incorrect places. Now let's say you take along an excavator - you get a lot more excavating done, a lot more rapidly right? It's still all you - it's just you on steroids.
That's what attraction marketing, MLM advertising, lead generation and automatic email campaigns do for your MLM prospecting. It can still all be done by one person, you can just leverage technologically advanced tools to make your prospecting task easier, faster, more effective.The New-School Edge: ZERO REJECTION
What is it that makes new-school MLM prospecting so agreeable? A complete lack of rejection. In all seriousness. If you do this right, the only persons you'll ever be in touch with are persons who have specifically requested information from you. The persons who don't want what you have to offer will either not put in for advice in the first place, or they will unsubscribe from your list. But never will they distrust why you're calling them. they know who you are, and what you do long before the initial conversation.
New School MLM Prospecting by the Numbers
Using the aforementioned 4% enrolment rate, let's see how the numbers stack up. A well-crafted attraction marketing strategy can bring in countless leads - literally, unlimited. But for our purposes, let's be moderate and say 10 leads per day. Over 30 days that amounts to 300 leads and translates to 12 enrolments. Over a 1-year period that equates to 144 new distributors in your business, as opposed to old-school techniques that come in at 48 new signups per year.
So Who Triumphs? Old-School or New-School MLM Prospecting?
In my modest opinion, old-school marketing just doesn't make sense, any more than running off into the mountains with a pick and a gold pan. That's not to say it can't work, just that as technology moves forward there are faster, easier methods and resources of accomplishing the same outcome.
Learning how to prospect either way includes a learning curve - you just have to decide where you wish to spend your time. Are you going to master how to prospect like its 1848 or are you going to harness the force of the technology that is right at your fingertips?
iAutoblog the premier autoblogger software
No comments:
Post a Comment