calling leads

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Get Over Your Fear of the Phone and Call Your Leads

August 27, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

Even if you get most of your leads from the internet or through word-of-mouth, eventually you may have to follow-up with individuals over the phone. I don't believe in cold-calling but I still have to call leads when they request for me to call them. Often, I even ask if they would like to discuss details further over the phone.

At first I would be really nervous about following up over the phone. It was all new to me and I felt like I was stepping out of my comfort zone to call a stranger. I still get nervous when calling someone but not as much as before. Below is how I helped myself to get over the fear of the phone call follow-up.

Don't Stress Over What to Say

In the beginning, I would worry so much about how the conversation would go. I'd wonder what to say if this question is asked or that question is asked. You can't stress over what will be said. You can't predict a person's questions. The best thing you can do is have confidence in your knowledge of the business and be yourself. Remember that most people love to talk about themselves so when you have the person on the phone, ask "get to know you" questions. Ask where they are located, what the currently do, etc. Eventually they will bring up questions about the business and then just take it from there.

It's Your Business - Be a Leader

Change your attitude about your business. It's easy to get into the mentality of wanting to beg this person to sign up. You don't want to come across desperate and only after a new sign-up. This is a business and treat it as such. You don't want a somewhat interested person joining your team. You want a highly motivated individual who has the same goals you do when it comes to running the business. Take charge and be a leader in your business.

Enjoy Getting to Know Someone New

When you call up a new lead, enjoy the process of getting to know them. This makes it fun to speak with them because you are genuinely interested in what they have to say. This will come through in the conversation and chances are they will feel the trust factor they may have been looking for. Having a pleasent personality and caring about what the person on the other end has to say will make the chance of them joining your team increase significantly.

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Cold Calling is a Thing of the Past

August 10, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

Cold calling is one of the oldest techniques of landing potential leads in network marketing. If there is one thing that would turn me off from network marketing, it would be having to cold call people. Thankfully, this method is a thing of the past. Now that we have the internet, there isn't a need to put yourself and unsuspecting people through a cold call.

You may still come across individuals who teach this method and believe in it, however, as a newbie to network marketing, cold calling is a huge turn-off. It is one of those things that I feel isn't easily duplicable. You want to teach your downline things that work, yet won't make them feel intimidated either.

Not everyone does well on the phone. Add calling up total strangers on top of it and you see how most people would refuse to do it.

People Don't Like Being Bothered

Now a days people put their numbers on the "do not call" lists, they use their caller ID to scan calls, and there are call blocking features you can turn on with the phone company. People value their privacy and if you did happen to get through, you would likely face a harsh rejection.

People Are Wise to the Sales Pitch

More and more people are immune to the sales pitch. They can smell it coming from a mile away even if it is for something non-business related. I remember walking out of a Wal-Mart and a woman was trying to get people to sign a petition. She asked a man standing near her, "Do you want to pay less for your electricity?" and he promptly replied, "No, I want to pay more." I had to laugh under my breath but that is a prime example of how some people don't want to be pitched.

Why You Don't Have to Cold Call Anymore

It's called the world wide web and there are like a billion people on it. If you take the time to learn a little bit about online marketing, you could have leads tracking you down. I have only been doing my network marketing business for a little over 2 months and have two new people on my team and they both came via internet marketing.

You can see the potential in this. Yes, it takes time but the more you work it, the more networking you can do. The best part is, the people who connect with you are targeted and truly want to learn more. That is 100 times better than cold calling.

However, since I'm just a newbie to all of this, I could be way off about cold calling. I'm sure some network marketers use it and feel it is an effective method to generate leads. If you are one of them, please share your views in the comments.

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Why You Shouldn't Use 3-Way Calls

August 6, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

hammered_phoneThis is a follow up article to my last post titled: The Importance of the 3-Way Conference Call

I outlined why 3-way calling could benefit your network marketing business but now I'm going to go over possible reasons why it could be a disaster in the long term.

The premise of the 3-way call is to get your prospect on the phone with you and your upline sponsor. In network marketing, the biggest benefit to this is that as a new member of the business, you have the pressure taken off of you to pitch the opportunity to the prospect. Your sponsor does all of the talking while you listen in and learn from the conversation.

Below are some reasons why this may not work for your business:

You're left to depend on your sponsor

The problem with this comes in when your sponsor is unreliable. Imagine having to ask your new lead to wait until you hash out details of when you can set-up a conference call. If you can't find your sponsor, your lead will probably lose interest by the time you can get them on the phone.

You are not the expert anymore

Remember when you started your business? That made you the boss, the CEO, owner, or whatever title you wish to give yourself. Doesn't that mean you should know the ins-and-outs of your business and be able to speak about it yourself? When you get your prospect on the phone with your sponsor who does all of the talking, it can make you look as though you are not as competent to lead and train anyone on your team.

It's not easy to duplicate

When you have new members on your team, you want to have an easy system for them to duplicate. Not everyone can do 3-way calls well. If your prospect feels that this is what they will need to do and they feel uncomfortable about it, it may deter them from moving forward. Of course it is always their option but what if you are the one who feels uncomfortable about leading a call? This isn't something you want to train your team to do if you cannot follow through yourself.

These are just a few things to consider when deciding to implement 3-way calls into your business model. Remember, there is nothing wrong about introducing your prospect to your upline. However, you do not need to depend on your sponsor to do all of the talking for you. You are capable of building your team using other methods that don't require depending on someone else.

Photo credit: sxc.hu

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The Importance of the 3-Way Conference Call

August 2, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

Blackberry Curve 8900
Creative Commons License photo credit: Honou

If you have ever been a part of network marketing, then you know and are familiar with the 3-way conference call. In fact, you may have signed up to your first network marketing company after speaking with your sponsor and her/his sponsor on a 3-way call. As a Beachbody Coach, I personally never thought I would need to put much emphasis on the 3-way call.

I don't enjoy talking on the phone and many network marketers rather not deal with phone calls either. However, after a successful conference call with a lead of my own, I now see the significance of incorporating calls into your business. First off, I have to say my coach is awesome. The call not only helped to provide needed information to the new prospect, but it was also a valuable training call for myself.

I know that some day when my coaches want to do a 3-way call, they will depend on me to explain the benefits of becoming a coach. I know that I won't be perfect my first time, but I'm sure it will become easier with practice.

Once the new lead contacted me by email, I suggested setting up a 3-way call. After all, that is how I was signed up and it is what I've seen being used by other successful network marketers. The coach who sponsored me did 90% of the talking. After the call was done, it was then my job to follow up with the lead and help with signing-up, etc.

Don't Underestimate the 3-Way Call

Whether you feel intimidated about calling up leads for a conference call or you just don't see the point, it is important to reconsider. What I have learned from my first call is the following:

  • You get to know more about your new lead - their "why" for wanting to join.
  • The prospect will feel more comfortable in knowing that there are real people behind the web sites.
  • Lines of communication are now opened and the prospect now knows you are there to support them.
  • The prospect is much more likely to become a part of the team.
  • It is great training for you as you learn what to say from listening in.

Network marketing is all about getting to know people who have the same goals and interests as you do in terms of business. When you discover these types of individuals, you should want to do your best to get to know them.

3-way calls are not a hassle but a tool to help convert new prospects into part of your growing team.

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