Archive for the ‘Closing’ Category
MLM Secret – 3 Way Calling
Monday, December 14th, 2009When you first get started in network marketing, you will more than likely be taught to do 3 way calling to grow your business. I’m about to let you in on a little MLM secret about that particular method. First let’s look at…
What is 3-way calling?
Basically, it is a tool that you can use with your phone. First, you have to make sure that you have that feature on your phone plan before you can use it. What it does is it allows three people to talk to each other on the phone.
Three-way calling is used in network marketing because it is supposed to help you to: build credibility with your prospect; validate you and your MLM products or service; and let someone stronger than you to do the selling and telling; and finally it is used as a training tool.
How does 3-way calling help?
Let’s look at building credibility first. What does it say to your prospect when you have to get someone else on the phone to close the sale? Whose credibility does it build? If I have to ring someone from my upline in order to tell my prospect about how good this MLM opportunity is, then that just tells the prospect that I don’t know what I am doing and have to run to the expert for help. Why would the prospect want to join with me?
Does it really validate you and your MLM product? Well, I don’t think that it validates you at all. You have already proven that you don’t know enough to build your own home based business. Does it validate the MLM product? Maybe, if you can actually get your upline to talk about something besides the business opportunity.
What about letting someone else stronger that you to do the selling and telling about the MLM company and products? Actually, 3-way calling will do this for you. That is if you can get anyone in your upline on the phone. However, you are telling your propect that you aren’t a leader. I ask again. Why would the propect want to join you in your network marketing venture?
3-way calling used as a training tool. Okay, I’ll give you this one. If you have a new MLM distributor that has no experience in network marketing, then having them listen to you make prospecting calls and do close attempts is a very powerful training tool.
Why is the 3-way calling technique used in network marketing?
Most of us get into network marketing thinking that all we have to do is share our product or home-based business opportunity with all of the people that we know. When we are getting starting, no one says anything about having to do sales. So, I think, that the 3-way calling techniques was brought into network marketing in order to soften the blow.
Many people aren’t comfortable asking for the money and therefore shy away from doing sales. I have to say that if you don’t have good skills in sales, then asking for the money may be difficult for some to do. But getting the skills is way easier and a whole lot better for your home-based business than relying on someone else to close the sale for you.
Be the leader your prospect is looking for.
No one likes dealing with the trainee. In network marketing, you are the owner, the sales force, the manager, the bookkeeper, you are everything. As an owner, you have to treat your home based business as such. Don’t give your power away willingly to someone else. Become the expert that the prospect needs you to be.
If you don’t have all of the skills needed to run your home based business successfully, then go out there and get the skills. Pick up the phone and call me if you don’t know where to go.
Do 3-Way Calls Work?
Monday, October 12th, 2009When I got started with my first network marketing company, I was told that I wouldn’t have to do any telling, selling or convincing. I must admit that I was relieved to hear them say that because I didn’t have any experience in sales and frankly I didn’t really want to become a pushy salesperson.
At first I couldn’t understand how you were supposed to sell your network marketing product without doing any telling, selling or convincing but they were the experts and I was totally new to network marketing. Part of the appeal of network marketing is that you are in business for yourself but not by yourself. Your network marketing company will help you to succeed. So, I was taught about:
Closing the Sale Without Having To Say A Word
Most network marketing companies call it the 3-way call. This is where you call your upline sponsor while you have your prospect on the line and let them take over the sales process and do the closing. You don’t have to say a word. In fact, you are encouraged to keep your mouth shut during this process.
When I was introduced to this network marketing technique, I thought it was very cool. I didn’t have to say a thing and someone else would make the sale for me. I mean who wouldn’t want someone else to do the work and you get paid?
Six figures, here I come.
I got prospects to a presentation and I was even able to call them back and talk to them. But then I had a problem, whenever I tried to call my upline to do a 3-way call, they were nowhere to be found. I lost those prospects, my time, and the money that I spent getting the leads in the first place. Did I do something wrong?
Yep, I didn’t make sure that I had someone to 3-way with before I called my prospects back. No problem, I’ll just make sure that someone is available before I make my calls. Now, I have a prospect on the line and someone from my upline (not one of the top dogs because they don’t do 3-way calls unless they benefit directly from the sale) but he’ll do. So, it’s time to ask for the sale and he doesn’t actually ask the prospect if they are ready to get started.
With my next prospect, I get someone else to do the 3-way call with and this time they ask but they weren’t very enthusiastic about it. I try someone else, and someone else, I get someone from my crossline and we make a pact to do 3-way calls for each other and ask for the sale and are available and still no sales. I lost more prospects, more time, and more money. Did I do something wrong?
MLM Secret – YOU have to close the sale
As much as I wanted to make those 3-way calls work, they just didn’t – at least not for me. I’m sure they work for some people or the network marketing companies wouldn’t teach that technique. The key to MLM selling is YOU. YOU have to form the relationship with your prospect. Your prospect has to be comfortable with YOU and trust YOU. YOU have to be able to close the sale.
With that in mind, I am going to be writing more posts about closing the sale yourself. Stay tuned for some really good stuff about creating the urgency to buy and some pretty cool closing techniques that I am excited to share with you.
Secrets To MLM Marketing – 3 Way Calling
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009If you are new to network marketing or if you have been at the MLM game for a while but you aren’t quite doing as well as you would like, then you may be wondering what the purpose of 3-way calling is?
First, I probably should tell you what three way calling is before I tell you what the purpose is. Basically, it is a tool that you can use with your phone. First, you have to make sure that you have that feature on your phone plan before you can use it. What it does is it allows three people to talk to each other on the phone.
Three-way calling is used in network marketing because it is supposed to help you to:
-
build credibility with your prospect
-
validate you and your mlm products or service
-
let someone stronger than you to do the selling and telling
-
it is used as a training tool.
How does 3-way calling help?
Let’s look at building credibility first. What does it say to your prospect when you have to get someone else on the phone to close the sale? Whose credibility does it build? If I have to ring someone from my upline in order to tell my prospect about how good this MLM opportunity is, then that just tells the prospect that I don’t know what I am doing and have to run to the expert for help. Why would the prospect want to join with me when they know that there are better leaders out there?
Does it really validate you and your mlm product? Well, I don’t think that it validates you at all. You have already proven that you don’t know enough to build your own home based business. Does it validate the mlm product? Maybe, if you can actually get your upline to talk about something besides the money you will make. Actually, they may say something like: “the product is so good it practically sells itself.” Yeah, Riiiiiiight. If that were true, your network marketing company wouldn’t need you at all.
What about letting someone else stronger that you to do the selling and telling about the mlm company and products? Actually, 3-way calling will do this for you. That is if you can get anyone in your upline on the phone. Here is what really got to me when I did 3-way calls. If I was lucky enough to get someone from my upline to do a 3-way call with me, (unless they directly benefitted from me getting a sale, they wouldn’t be available) they wouldn’t ask for the money either. It was a case of the blind leading the blind. The real successful network marketers don’t call someone else to close the sale for them. They close the sale themselves.
3-way calling used as a training tool. Okay, I’ll give you this one. If you have a new mlm distributor that has no experience in network marketing, then having them listen to you make prospecting calls and do close attempts is a very powerful training tool.
I love using the phone to train others. I think a conference room environment is better with more people because you get the chance to hear more that one person’s story. But there are cases where I will train only one person at a time.
Why is the 3-way calling technique used in network marketing?
Most of us get into network marketing thinking that all we have to do is share our product or home-based business opportunity with all of the people that we know. When we are getting starting, no one says anything about having to do sales. When people find out that they may have to do sales in order to grow their MLM business, they immediately get visions of used car salesman in their head and want to run away. They want to quit their network marketing business before they even get started. So, I think, that the 3-way calling techniques was brought into network marketing in order to soften the blow.
Many people aren’t comfortable asking for the money and therefore shy away from doing sales. I have to say that if you don’t have good skills in sales, then asking for the money may be difficult for some to do. But getting the skills is way easier and a whole lot better for your home-based business than relying on someone else to close the sale for you.
Do you really think that it takes two people to close a sale?
Would you like it if every time you went shopping for something that you needed some explanation on, your sales person had to go and get an expert on the phone because they didn’t know how to explain the product to you?
No one likes dealing with the trainee. In network marketing, you are the owner, the sales force, the manager, the bookkeeper, you are everything. As an owner, you have to treat your home based business as such. Don’t give your power away willingly to someone else. Become the expert that the prospect needs you to be.
If you don’t have all of the skills needed to run your home based business successfully, then go out there and get the skills. Pick up the phone and call me if you don’t know where to go. I guarantee you that I can show you how to grow your network marketing business.
How do you close the sale solo?
If you are new to network marketing, you may be wondering how to close the sale by yourself when you have no experience and the only method you have been taught is to pick up the phone and do a 3-way call.
That’s a good question. First, become the expert. I don’t mean that you have to know everything. You only have to be an expert in your product or service. Really, trust me on this. If someone asks me about the compensation plan, (first off, they never ask me this because I only promote my product or service) I tell them that the more products I sell, the more money I make. That’s it. I will be the first to tell you that I really don’t get the meaning of all of those circles and legs and so forth.
The second thing that you have to know is how to overcome objection. Once you know that there are really only two objections that someone can give you, this task becomes much easier. I know what you are thinking. There has to be more than 2 objections. The truth is that there are only 2 that you have to worry about and every objection that you hear will be either one or the other.
Once you know this little secret, actually, it was kind of a big thing for me to learn. When, I learned this tidbit of information, it changed my home based business forever.
Here is what I want you to take away from reading this article. The network marketing industry is a great industry. Many people have made a lot of money in network marketing. However, it’s usually only a small number of people at the top, the so called “Heavy Hitters,” that are making the big bucks working from home. What is the difference between a “Heavy Hitter” and the majority of mlm distributors, besides the size of their bank account? It’s their skills.
Ask yourself – Does 3-way calling work? Maybe it does for some. It didn’t for me. I had to learn how to close the sale by myself because I couldn’t find an upline leader when I needed them and when I did, they usually didn’t ask for the money anyway.
If I could show you how to close your own sales, would that be worth an hour of your time to find out how to get that done?
Handling Objections
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009In network marketing, you usually only get one opportunity to close a prospect. With that in mind you must give it all that you have while you have that prospect’s attention. As I say this, I don’t want you to get the idea that I mean for you to hound your prospect to the point where they would rather get their eye poked out than to do business with you. That’s not what I mean at all.
Even someone that is good at closing may only close 20-30 percent of the time. You may be saying that 20 or 30 percent is a low number but in fact it isn’t that bad. Let’s put these numbers into perpective. For every 10 qualified prospects that you speak with, you will close two – three of them converting them into customers.
When you are closing, you are obligated to give it all that you have. If you are talking to a prospect at the closing stage they MUST want what you have or they wouldn’t even be there. You only have to HELP them to make up their mind.
The best way to do that is to make sure that you are comfortable with your closing skills and be in control of the conversation. People are more willing to buy from someone that has confidence and shows leadership in what they are doing.
Another thing that is good to know when you are trying to close the sale is that there are really only two objections that anyone can give you. They may be phrased in different ways but there are only two reasons that someone will give you for not wanting to buy your product or service.
Once you have identified your prospect’s reason for not wanting to buy, you need only follow a simple four step process to overcome that objection. The key ingredients to overcoming someone’s objection are leadership and confidence.
Learning to close a prospect may make you feel uncomfortable at first. After you have done it for a while it becomes no big deal. Most things that are worth doing are going to be uncomfortable in the beginning during the learning process.
The biggest thing to remember is that you should expect to hear the “no’s” and even the people that are good at closing a sale usually only close on average 20-30 percent of the time.
