YOUR MISSION:  To find out right off whether they’re looking for some quick money now or to build something that will produce income for years to come.

If you knew that up front, wouldn’t you be just like a doctor who doles out advice after he hears the patient’s situation?  You know, so that you can figure out which of the goodies in your mental filing cabinet to pull out and offer the person?  And in what order?

Here’s how in two steps:

STEP 1
To find out what their situation is first, ask your prospects the three leading questions:
1. Let me ask you, what attracted you?
2. Have you ever done this sort of thing before?  Direct sales, Network Marketing, or owned your own business?
3. Tell me, what, ideally, are you looking for?

STEP 2
Listen quietly to their response each time.  Jot it down.  Let’s try it:

Prospect #1:  “I want to earn $1,000 in the next 30 days.”

Tip:  This is a short-termer situation.  They want something quick and now.

You:  Okay, great.  How much time and honest effort are you willing to commit in the next four weeks if I show you how to do that?  You tell me the time and effort that you’ll commit and I’ll tell you what it takes.  And then we can see if there’s a match.  Okay?  So, how much focused time per week in the next four weeks can you spend on this?

Listen and jot down what the person says.  Does their response sound reasonable and sincere to you?  Use your good judgment.  If you get:

Prospect:  Well, maybe five hours a week and uh, I don’t have any other resources to commit.  Like, I don’t know anyone, and my friends wouldn’t do anything like this.  Actually, I don’t know.

WE ALL KNOW THAT BEING LEFT ALONE DURING THE REACHING OUT PROCESS IS THE PRIME CAUSE OF ATTITUDE FAILURE AND SUDDEN ‘DEATH’ SYNDROME IN THE BUSINESS, DON’T WE?

What’s the prognosis?  How much time do you want to spend with this person?  What are their chances of success at earning the $1k that first month?

If you get:

PROSPECT:  Well, I can do 15 or 20 hours a week.  I will do whatever I need to do to make this happen if you can show me that the business and product work.  What would I have to do to make it happen?  I want to net $1K.

Better, yes?  It’s your turn to perform.  So now what?  You’ve got a potentially good prospect right here, right now.

If you were talking to me, here’s what I’d expect.  You might sign me up if you could tell me in six to ten sentences or with these eight (insert your own number) steps.  Here’s exactly what someone has to do to make $1,000 in his or her first 30 days.

1. You sign up.
2. You do X and Y.
3. You find someone else who wants this (or more) to X and Y…
4. Etc., etc.—specifics not generalities.

If, as in most cases, that means doing fast and furious retail sales and customer acquisition and getting a few others to do the same, say that.  But it must be completely specific as in “Here’s what has to happen—this many customers, this many product/services and sales, and this much volume for you and others.”  Whatever it actually takes to net $1K in 30 days.

Can you do that?
 

If you’re not sure you can, check your marketing plan or ask people in your upline who have done it (made $1K in their first active month) for the how-to in ten sentences or less.  (“Active month” is that month someone commits to the business, be that the first one or the 9th or 24th month).

After you state specifically what it takes, wait for them to respond and see what their next question is.  If it is something like “Great, so where do I find the people to do these things?” you can introduce them to the concept of the multiple reaching out methods (ROMs).  Together you can set up a time to review them all by phone or in person so that the prospect can select any three to five they like to start the process. 

Of course, you will be there (by phone or in person) to do the methods of reaching out with them or set them up with someone else so they are not doing any reaching out methods alone.  We all know that being left alone during the reaching out process is the prime cause of attitude failure and sudden ‘death’ syndrome in the business, don’t we?

If, after you’ve stated what it takes to make $1K in 30 days, they don’t sound like they can get it up to do what it takes, pass.  Again, use your good judgment.  There may be other options.  No dragging, however.  Do you want to succeed in your lifetime? 

Now let’s try another prospect:

Prospect:  I want something that will produce some residual income for later…income in two to five years that will keep coming in even if I don’t work as hard then as I might now to create it.

Tip:  This is a potential long-termer.

You:  Okay, great.  How much time and effort are you willing to commit if I show you how to do that?  Listen so you can determine if they have reasonable expectations, e.g., do they show they realize it takes some time to set up something that can produce future income as opposed to immediate earned income for doing a specific job or service right now?

Next, position the residual part of your business as follows adapting the message to your own style:

So, (prospect name), what if I told you that Network Marketing is an example of building up an income-producing asset?  Just like building up a real estate project?  You know, where they build up the apartments or offices in the beginning and then they rent them out and get rent for years and years after?

Or like writing a book or making a movie?  You know where they do the initial stuff up front and then when it works, they collect percentages for years and years after the hard part is done.  You know how that works, right?

This is like that, except with this, instead of building up a real estate tower, wqe build up an organization of people.  We do the initial building and creating, and if you do it right, there’s income you can get long after the initial building-up part is done.

Anyway, that’s what Robert Kiyosaki says rich dads teach their kids that poor and middle class dads don’t.  He says in his book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, that poor dads and middle class dads teach their kids to get a good education and work 40-60 hours a week at a good job with benefits.

He then says that rich dads teach their kids to spend their 40-60 hours a week getting involved as early as they can with either building up or participating in any kind of income-producing asset—something that after it is built up continues to throw off income.

So that’s what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.

What about you?  Does that sound like something you’d like to get involved in too—building up an income-producing asset with us?

Wait for their response.  Then, if they ask what it will take to start building up that income-producing asset, can you tell them what it will take in six to ten sentences?   Or in six to ten steps that are exactly the things required to accomplish that?

If not, ask someone in your upline who is doing it to describe his income and how it is derived per the plan of your company.

IF YOU POSITION YOUR BUSINESS FOR LONG-TERMERS AS AKIN TO BUILDING UP A REAL ESTATE PROJECT WITH RENT COMING AFTER IT’S BUILT, HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU THINK WILL ASK, “WILL I GET MONEY IN THREE MONTHS?”

This is just like building a real estate project.  You need to know how many apartments to build to get the income you want, right?  And the more you want to build, the more time and budget at the front end.  The more, the more, yes?

Isn’t this the same?

If you position your business for long-termers as akin to building up a real estate project with rent coming after it’s built, how many people do you think will ask, “Will I get money in three months?”  How many people will expect income if they walk away with a building half done?

Don’t you think that repositioning of your business for the long-termers will help avoid attracting people with the wrong ideas and expectations into your business?  The ones you may be sorry you ever signed up because they had no idea what they were in for?

Remember, this is for the long-termer.  Building up any income-producing asset is for a long-termer.  It may take three to five years,  but then if you succeed you have income coming in for years after it’s built, just like rent from an apartment or office complex.

BOTTOM LINE
Determine first who you have on the phone.  Ask the leading questions.  Then, based on what they say, show them how to accomplish the thing they say they want to accomplish—short term or long term…or a combination thereof.  Know how to show that you can help who you’re dealing with.  Quickly.  This might be a good one!

Remember, the top earners in the major companies have only one to four key people creating 90 percent of their obscene incomes.  You don’t need that many good ones to make it.  Show them you know what it takes.  And that you can show them how to succeed the way others are doing right now in your company.