Do 3-Way Calls Work?

When 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.

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Amy Howard, October 12th 2009 | Tags: , , , , ,
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Another MLM Secret Exposed

I was preparing my notes for a class that I am going to be teaching next week and it reminded my of an important MLM secret – training your downline.  If you want to have a successful network marketing business you have to pass on some of your knowledge to the people that are helping you to grow that business, your downline. 

This may not sit too well with some of the network marketers out there because they were taught to just bring in the people and the MLM company will take care of the training.  The problem is that most MLM companies (even the top MLM companies) don’t provide the kind of training that is needed to make a six figure income. 

The majority of the MLM network marketing training provided is only designed to get you STARTED in your business.  You may make a few sales using their techniques but for the most part, you won’t be able to quit your day job.  Here are some of the techniques that are currently taught by almost all MLM companies:

  • Make a list of your friends and family and show them what you are doing.  This network marketing tool is usually good for signing up 1-3 people into your business.
  • Three foot rule (talk to everyone within earshot of yourself).  This network marketing tool usually helps you to develop your 30 second introduction speech but it’s pretty rare that anyone will sign up from it.
  • Hand out CD, DVD, or brochures that you have to purchase from your MLM company.  This network marketing tool puts a lot of money in your company’s pocket but vary rarely puts any in yours.
  • Pass out flyers, business cards, or sizzle cards to everyone, put them on cars, leave them in books at the library, etc.  This network marketing tool usually only gets one person to call your number, the security guard at the mall telling you to stop putting your trash on people’s cars.
  • Buy expensive opportunity seeking leads and call them on the phone.  I personally spent thousands of dollars using this network marketing secret and managed to sign up a couple of people but it didn’t justify the expense of the leads.

The thing is that these network marketing tools work great for the MLM company but don’t usually work for the individual distributor. So if you want to be successful in your network marketing business you have to teach your downline the real network marketing secrets that actually help people to sell their network marketing product.  That’s right the product, not the business.

Let’s put it like this.  Would you buy a franchise from someone that couldn’t or wouldn’t show you how to sell your product?  Of course you wouldn’t, that would be silly.  So why are we taught to sell our business and not our product?  Oh, but I digress.  This is supposed to be about teaching your downline.

So, what do you teach your downline?

You don’t have to try to teach them everything all at once.  Start off with the basics:

  • Teach them who their target market is.  That way they won’t be wasting time talking to the wrong people.
  • Teach them where to get leads.  If you are really nice, you may even want to give them some of your leads so that they can get started right away.
  • Give them your prospecting script and role play it with them.
  • Give them access to the presentation that you are using to bring in new customers.
  • Give them your closing script and role play it with them.

If you give your downline access to the things that are working for you, they will feel like they have a partner in their network marketing business and want to work harder.  Make yourself available to your people and they will reward you.

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Amy Howard, October 7th 2009 | Tags: , , ,
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How To Invest In Your Network Marketing Business

A lot of people believe that network marketing is a business that increases in value over time.  In other words, a network marketing business isn’t worth anything until you have a large downline buying the products and recruiting people into the MLM Company. However, network marketing is just like every other business and as such it’s important to treat it as a business.

One of the sad statistics in the network marketing industry is that – Most network marketers will run out of cash flow in about 3 months and quit because they aren’t making the money they wanted to. 

Just like any other business, most home based businesses fail within their first two years of operation.  One of the keys to survival is investing in your network marketing business in order to create cash flow.  You have to know how to properly spend your MLM income.

What Serious Network Marketers Invest In

If you look at the successful network marketers, you will see that they ALL invest in at least two things:

Leads – it’s vital to your network marketing business to have people to talk to.  You will have to buy network marketing leads either with your time or with your money.
Training – successful people are always looking to improve themselves with more training.

You will probably notice that some of the top network marketers will also invest in other tools that help to bring in more revenue (internet marketing, predictive dialer, etc.).  But, these tools are only useful if you know how to use them (training) and you have the leads to put through them.

How Much To Invest In Your Network Marketing Business

I don’t care what MLM Company you are involved with; you will have expenses if you want YOUR business to grow.  Typical network marketing business expenses are:

Sign up fee
Auto-ship of MLM product
Phone
Leads
Training
MLM Meetings
Travel Expenses

Some of these expenses you can’t get away from but there are ways to limit how much you are spending in order to grow your network marketing business. 

For instance, there is always a sign up fee when you are joining a MLM Company but did you know that most MLM Companies have more than one sign up package available.  (I’m probably going to tick off a few heavy hitters by letting you know this MLM secret.  Oh well, I’m here to make a difference in YOUR business.  They will just have to get over it.)  Anyway, if you are looking to join a MLM Company, ask if there is a less expensive sign up package available.

Every MLM Company on the planet will want you to consume their MLM product/service on a monthly basis and will want you to be on auto-ship but does it make sense for YOUR network marketing business to be receiving product on a regular basis.  Look at what you are buying, are you using the MLM product, selling the MLM product, or are you stockpiling it in your garage>

You may have to have a telephone to operate your network marketing business, however, there are numerous options available today when it comes to using the telephone to grow your network marketing business.  There is VOIP, Skype, even a new thing called Magic Jack that can lower your monthly phone bill.  Find something that works well and works within your budget.

When it comes to training, there are a ton of options available.  You can go online and get loads of information on how to grow your MLM business.  You can go to the library or bookstore and get books on the subject of sales.  There are even a lot of training programs designed specifically for network marketers.  My suggestion is to look at what is available in your price range and go from there.  If you can’t afford to buy into a training program, then go to the library and get all of the books that you can on the subject of network marketing, sales, cold calling, closing, marketing, advertising, etc. and get busy reading.  Yes, it will take a LONG time to get all of the information that you need but at least it won’t break the bank.

If the idea of having to wade through a ton of information to get your training makes you want to stop before you get started or if you can afford to buy into a training program, check out the MLM training programs thoroughly.  Does it come with a guarantee, is the MLM training limited, how is the material delivered, etc.?  Find a program that works for YOU!

Some expenses you can totally eliminate.  For example, we are in network marketing and as such, we are supposed to be able to operate our business from home.  With that in mind, there really isn’t any reason to go to the local MLM Company meetings.  (This will probably tick off a few more heavy hitters but I don’t care.)  All the meetings are the same; the information is always the same, the only thing that may change is the person that delivers the message.  So, stop going to the meetings.

If the purpose of the meeting is to put your prospects in from of the information, but you don’t have any prospects at that meeting, then why do YOU have to be there?  In fact, couldn’t you have your prospects listen to a similar presentation over the phone using a free conference line?  That way no one has to spend money on gas getting to a briefing.

I hope that I have given you some ideas that you can take back and apply to your network marketing business.  it doesn’t really make sense to keep spending money on growing your home based business without getting any positive results.  Remember this is YOURnetwork marketing business not anyone else’s and you have to treat it like a business.  There are only 2 things that you MUST have in order to grow your network marketing business; leads and the training to close the sale.

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Amy Howard, August 5th 2009 | Tags: , , ,
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