"I was skeptical, and then …"

What a great way to start a testimonial.

When someone says they were skeptical, but then decided it was real, people believe that person even more. This testimonial is a great way to create rapport with a skeptical prospect.

Not every testimonial has to be a glowing report from beginning to end.

How would this sound in real life?

"I thought taking vitamins was a waste of money. Why not just eat healthy food? But I tried the vitamins, and three days later I felt like I was a 10-year-old waking up on Saturday morning. Now I am living the life I was missing."

Soundbites.

"Soundbites" are short sentences or phrases that compel prospects to make quick decisions and take action now. Sound like something we could use? Absolutely! We’ve heard these before, but are we using them now?

By sprinkling these phrases into our conversations, we can get immediate decisions with no rejection. Want some examples?

• "If you don't take care of your body, then where are you going to live?"
• "Stop putting chemicals inside your children’s mouths when they brush their teeth."
• "Take 5-star holidays for the price of a budget hotel."
• "Never struggle with tangled hair again."
• "The 3-minute makeup trick that makes mornings easy."
• "Our chocolate shakes are like having dessert for breakfast."
• "Travel like a millionaire on a thrift store budget."
• "Lose weight while enjoying chocolate."
• "Make your face your best first impression."
• "Wake up before your alarm clock, full of energy for the day."
• "Stop sending generic greeting cards that show you don’t care."
• "Helps you fall asleep within seven minutes of your head touching the pillow."

When things go wrong.

We are talking to our prospects and they make facial expressions that say, "Despite the looks on our faces, you are still talking!"

What should we say next?

We can recover this situation quickly by saying, "Here is the short story."

"No decision" is a decision!

Thinking it over is deciding not to move forward.

One of our biggest obstacles is procrastination. Instead of comparing ourselves to our competitors, we should work on giving our prospects a vision for change. If they want to change, motivating them to move forward with us is easy.

I posted this on my Facebook page …

"Medical students don't become doctors by surfing social media and looking for cool posts.

"They make learning a new profession seriously, read books, attend lectures, and practice.

"Might be something to point out to new team members."

Nasir Qureshi added that medical students don’t earn a penny for years while becoming a doctor.

But network marketers? We can earn an income while we are learning our new profession. Nasir says, "It’s a learn-and-earn business. The more we learn the more we earn!"

If we are nodding in agreement now, then we should ask ourselves, "What am I reading or listening to now that will move me ahead in my business?"

"Readers are leaders." – Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

How Facebook Ruined My Business.

I heard a speaker tell this story.

He said, "I was so excited about my company. Every time the company had an announcement, an event, a promotion, or a trip to win, I posted it on my Facebook page. Later, when I called my friends to prospect them, they all said that they already knew about my business from my Facebook page, and that they weren’t interested."

Ouch.

Facebook can be awesome for our business … or it can ruin our business. Think carefully about what we post and what our long-term strategy will be with our Facebook friends.

An Easy Way to Prospect.

I was talking to a distributor who sells a healthy snack. I asked her where she found her best prospects.

She said: "It's easy. At work, I simply follow people when they go to the vending machine. Then I stand next to them, eat my healthy snack, and they always ask me how they can get some healthy snacks, too."

She is selling lots of healthy snacks and making a great part-time income at work.

Meanwhile, another distributor is doing this:

1. Creating a healthy snack brochure.
2. Designing the copy for the webpage.
3. Hiring someone to create the webpages.
4. Writing an auto-responder series.
5. Testing a Google AdWords keyword group.
6. Creating an order page.
7. Spamming Facebook groups.
8. Etc., etc., etc.

Sometimes we forget that network marketing is a people-to-people business. :)

Great Opening Words

If our first sentence promises our prospect a story, our prospect will be eager to hear the story. This is so easy. So, our first sentence could start with these types of word sequences:

• I've got a good story …
• If you have a few minutes, I would like to tell you what happened …
• Before I show you how this works, let me tell you what happened to me …
• Let me tell you what happened to …

Our first sentences are everything. If prospects don’t like our first sentence, then they won’t be listening with open minds.

Getting our team to accept personal responsibility.

If we wait for someone to come around and motivate us, what will happen if they don't show up? Are we going to stay unmotivated for the rest of our lives?

Have we ever had new distributors call us and say:

"Oh, I can't be successful because my sponsor doesn't help me. I need more help. Why doesn't my upline sponsor a group for me? Why doesn't my sponsor do my work and prospect, call, and present my program to prospects he finds for me?"

As leaders, we can only smile when we get phone calls like this. We know the callers are avoiding personal responsibility for their results. They prefer to blame everyone in the world but themselves.

What can we tactfully say to these callers to help them grow up and accept personal responsibility? How about replying to the callers by saying:

"So what exactly do you want your sponsor to do for you that you are unwilling to do for yourself?"

It is not guaranteed, but most distributors will at least begin to accept personal responsibility for their businesses.

Avoiding Negative People

If we are alone with a negative person, we get 100% of their negativity.

Solution? Try to make sure there are additional people when we encounter a negative person. Why?

First, we don’t have to be the only target for negativity.

Second, the negative person might feel like he or she is in the minority, and will therefore say less.

Third, we can excuse ourselves from the group conversation and slowly slip away.

An Easy Way to Prospect

Don’t have much time? Don’t get out much? Afraid of approaching strangers?

Bob Burg recommends this approach.

Simply send three "thank you" notes a day.

First, these notes can be a card, a letter, or even a postcard. Just thank someone for something. Maybe they gave good service, remembered our name, or took the time to help you.

Second, realize that everyone feels great when they get a "thank you" from someone. So if we make three people a day feel great, they will remember us fondly. This makes prospecting easier.

And third, this activity doesn’t take long. We could do it every morning before starting our day.

So let’s stand out from the crowd and make more people appreciate us. Send a "thank you" note today. This is a great way to guarantee fresh prospects three months from now.

And yes, this could be a great way to follow up with those prospects who didn’t join immediately.

"Are you next?"

What a great way to get a prospect’s attention.

Some examples?

• Diet failure. Are you next?
• Job cutbacks and pay reductions. Are you next?
• Wrinkles appear overnight. Are you next?
• Families learn how to get discount holidays. Are you next?
• Work at home full-time. Are you next?
• Arthritis pain happens suddenly. Are you next?
• Blood test surprise. Are you next?
• Weekly paychecks. Are you next?

This phrase shouts out to prospects, "Hey! Pay attention to this!"

"Who are you?"

Q. When we scan our emails, what do we look for first?
A. Who sent the email.

It is the same when we talk to prospects. The first of five decisions in the prospects’ minds is, "Who are you?"

Having a good reputation and relationship with prospects helps. But what if our prospects don’t know us?

Then we move on to question #2 in our prospects’ minds: "Can I trust you and believe you?"

This is easier. We know the skills of building rapport. We can control this answer.

If we are talking to strangers, we will immediately start with the rapport step.