One word that you cannot escape in network marketing is "leads." If you do a search about the topic of network marketing or mlm, you will no doubt find article after article discussing ways in which to generate more leads. There are products being marketed that will help you get hundreds of new leads. Finding new leads is important and shouldn't be overlooked. Growing your network is what leads to a successful business. The problem I find is that many articles and things being taught about lead generation skip the part about leads being people.
Eventually, you may begin to feel like your only job is to get these "leads" and who cares how you get them. Make that sale, get them to sign up, recruit more and more! What about developing actual relationships? How about being a good sponsor, coach, leader or whichever term you choose to use? What about motivating your team or downline and helping them to reach their goals?
If all we are doing as network marketers is chasing leads and do nothing more than trying to sign them up, I feel it will only lead to frustrated people who give up before they start.
Get Your Lead but Get to Know the Person
While we will spend most of our time as new marketers perfecting the art of generating the leads, it's a good idea to remember that each lead is a person that you can get to know. I am still working on my confidence of talking to new leads over the phone. However, one of the things that I enjoy most about the whole process is getting to know each person. I enjoy learning about their "why" for wanting to join my network.
Since my business is in the health and fitness industry, many new leads are focused on improving their health. I can relate to them easily since that was my primary reason for starting as well. This makes the conversation very natural and actually quite fun. Don't go into communicating with a new lead by focusing on the dollars and cents. These are people that may join your network and you should want to get to know more about them.
As you get to know more people and realize that they are more than just another lead, they will join your network and together you can build successful businesses.
