Tips and tactics on how I learned to turn potential prospects into successful affiliates
“What this power is, I cannot say. All I know is that it exists … and it becomes available only when you are in that state of mind in which you know exactly what you want … and are fully determined not to quit until you get it.” - Tony Hawk, professional skateboarder
In Network Marketing like in any other businesses, it is very important to know your business partners. The relationship between you and your affiliates must be one of friendship because in the end you must help, teach, and learn all together as one.
In this article I show you some tips that I have learned along the years as a Network Marketer which will help you be a better sponsor to your affiliates and a better Network Marketer.
Organization is key
First of all, a good sponsor must be organized in order to be successful with their business. A good way to get organized is to have an hourly agenda and a full month calendar view. What is the reason behind this? Well, having an hourly agenda allows you to write a detailed description of what you must accomplish for that day. The benefit of having a full month calendar view is that it allows you to get a quick glance of the most important tasks. It’s an effective and quicker way of remembering things if you go with the more traditional way of jotting things down on paper.
A more modern approach and a tool that I highly recommend is the calendar tool on Google. It has the option to view your tasks by day, one week, four days, a month, or like an agenda. All you have to do is add your task one time and the calendar automatically adds it to the five options and you can also print it however you like.
Another useful service is Remember The Milk. A task management tool that has many features and can be used with your iPhone, Blackberry, Google Calendar, Twitter, and on many other tools. If your a “to-do list” person, this is definitely the website for you.
A sponsor always has to be trustworthy and punctual. Never forget anything and never be late!
Keeping track of your prospects and affiliates
One of the most important things is having a file for each prospect and affiliate. What do you write in it? Everything. Record everything that you know about them and if you had any previous contact with them, write down the date and what you talked about. You don’t necessarily have to write essays all the time, just short notes.
Any time you talk with your affiliates, make sure at the end of the call you always make an appointment for a next call or meeting.
Meeting a new prospect
When you meet a new prospect, first you have to get to know them on a more personal level. People usually don’t care about your business, but if you take the time to soften them up a little bit without “forcing” the pitch on them, people will be more receptive to you.
Ask as many questions as you can (eg. about their families, hobbies, etc) about their personal life without getting too personal and making them uncomfortable and when you get a chance, don’t forget to write all that information in their file.The next time when you meet or talk to them again, mention something meaningful from the last conversation you had with them and they will feel that you really care about them.
Ask questions
Obviously, asking questions is very important. The more information you can find out about them, the more help you can give them. For example, you can ask about the most important thing in their life (e.g. freedom, family, money, etc) or what is not working in their lives (e.g. there is not enough money, not enough free time, etc).
Don’t forget, everyone has different needs and dreams! Again, make notes in their files about all those things!
Tell stories about real people
It is very important to tell stories about real people, how people’s life changed positively after they got into the business. People can relate to real stories and people also like to look up and model people who have been successful in your line of business.
The importance of a sponsor’s aid
When a prospect joins your business, they become an affiliate. Afterwards, you, the sponsor, are responsible to help the affiliates achieve their goals!
Since everyone is different, everyone has different expectations about network marketing. Some people do it as a full time job, but some do it part time. It depends on their expectations, but try to help them achieve their goals, or at least, guide them in the right direction. Write down a monthly plan for each of your affiliates that you see having the most potential and the most motivation. Plan out what you want to work on together for that month (e.g. set a limit of new prospects to talk to daily/weekly) and very importantly determine their desired monthly income.
Both of you should work to reach all the goals that you have set together!
Develop their weakness
Find out your affiliates’ weakness and help them to improve, but first make sure they can identify it and make sure they can understand why it’s wrong. For example, some people give up easily when they hear the word “NO”, get rejected, or fail. Remember that old saying, you learn from your mistakes? It is easy to give up and lose motivation, but a good sponsor will always be positive and add more fuel to the fire.
Not to be negative, but everyone will get rejected many times in this business. Those who take this rejection and simply pay no attention, but learn from their mistakes or change their strategy are those who will be more successful and eager to find the next opportunity. Think about how many times a toddler falls before they learn to walk. Be consistent and disciplined! How many times have you asked your prospect to read, listen a CD, or check out a website and you know that they haven’t done it? A tip is to follow up and not give up. If after four days you haven’t heard from them, follow up with an email, a call, or a personal visit.
Not everyone will be interested and that is fine. Imagine if everyone did what you are doing! But don’t forget, some people reject your offer because it isn’t the right time for them and to your surprise, you might get a call later on down the road. Keep in touch with all your prospects, you never know what will happen in the future and NEVER give up!
Life long education
Willing to learn! Read every morning after you wake up and every evening before you go to bed, surf the internet, or join a class. Be a sponge and soak in everything.
Educate yourself! Tell your affiliates about the books you read (check out the books that I recommend on the right side of my website) and everything you hear that’s meaningful in your every day life.
If someone is not ready to learn, then that person will never be successful in this business! Self development is forever, we never stop learning.
Finding a prospect and having them join is the easy part. Teaching them and being a leader is the hardest part. First, you must help yourself and learn everything that you can and with time and patience, helping others will come naturally.
Working with friends every day and making dreams come true together is a wonderful gift!
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