The 5 Skill Sets for Network Marketing Success

By Randy Gage

People often make network marketing out to be a lot more difficult than it really is. I believe
you can be very successful in the business, simply by developing five skill sets.

Let's begin with the first skill set:

The Ability to Work a Candidate List.

Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Yet not many people in the business do this well.

Of course we need to have a candidate list. The mistake beginners make, is to do one when
they start the business, and never keep it working. The do a list, put it in their manila
"prospects" folder, then file it never to be seen again.

Your candidate list should be an ever-evolving organic tool. You eliminate people as they
either join or decline the business, and constantly be adding people as you meet them. When
someone tells me they have exhausted their warm market I want to shake them! The truth is,
if you work the list correctly - and you do the business the right way - you'll never get through
your candidate list.

Here's the secret: Sponsor people in waves. People who attempt the "one-sey, two-sey"
approach to the business end up being grinders, and never reach big success. The truth is
that it is easier to build the business fast than it is to build it slow.

There is a sense of urgency, momentum is created, and that momentum attracts other
people. You rank advance faster and make more money sooner, so it keeps the team
inspired and in action. I like to do this in "blasts."

You do a blast, where you get a large number of people into your prospecting pipeline. You
do this through launch meetings at your home, email announcements, phone calls, and
distributing prospecting materials. Get 80, 90 or even 100 people into your pipeline. (Do not
be making presentations yourself. Use 3rd party tools, for reasons we'll go over in a future
lesson.) From that blast, you are likely to get eight, 12, or 15 people who enroll.

Now we know from experience they won't all get into action right away. Some will do it now,
some will do it later, and some will do it never. But if you start 10 or 12 people, you are certain
to get at least three or four "runners." These are the people who will jump in and get serious.
Once you have identified who these runners are, you should take the next couple months
working with them, helping them learn your system and become self-sufficient.

During that time, you won't be in recruiting mode, but you are still meeting people. The
average person meets at least ten or 15 people every week. But they aren't paying attention
to this, and not adding them to their candidate list. Make sure you do. Then when the couple
of months are up, you are ready for your next blast. And you'll have plenty of names to
choose from.

In my company, I have offered the chance to see the opportunity to more than 700 people.
Yet I have over 100 new people on my candidate list that I haven't even approached yet.
Basically I will offer a chance to look at the business to all of them when I do my next blast.
(Other than a few that I just believe are way too negative or I simply don't like them or care to
work with them.)

But I still won't run out of candidates...

Because I will spend the next couple of months working with the runners that materialize from
that blast. And meantime I will be meeting ten or 15 new people every week, and adding them
to my candidate list. If you maintain an organic candidate list and work it like this, you'll never
run out of good prospects. Learn the skill of working a candidate list and you'll be off to a
great start.

Now let's study the second skill set: Inviting.

Your ability to invite people in a compelling manner is probably the most important of these
skill sets. Because it's the one that gets your candidates into the recruiting pipeline. It means
they are reviewing the correct information to determine if they are right for the business.

Some of the things you might invite a candidate to do are:

* Review some marketing materials;

* Attend a home presentation;
* Attend an opportunity meeting;
* Get on a 3-way call;
* Listen to a conference call; or,
* Participate in a webcast.

Your ability to invite candidates to take actions like these with power, conviction, and poise
will have a huge impact on how fast and large you are able to build a business. And it will
have a dramatic impact on your earnings ability.

A network marketing amateur may invite ten prospects to watch a DVD and only one or two
will do so. A network marketing professional might get eight or nine out of ten. Likewise with a
home meeting. Professionals that have honed their inviting skills will get high turnouts, while
those that haven't will have poor compliance rates.

The good news is that inviting skills - like all of our skill sets - can be readily developed if you
will commit to learning how. A good invitation should:

* Be well planned, yet earnest and sincere;

* Lead with benefits for the prospect;
* Be for something in the immediate future; and,
* Have a strong sense of urgency.

Let's look at each of these in turn:

I'm not a big believer in people rehearsing programmed, robotic scripts. They almost never
work. However having a general guideline of what you want to say is important. When I'm
creating a system for a client or my own team, I like to provide a number of general ideas of
what you might say. Then I encourage people to find something that feels and sounds right
for them, and make it their own. By having some guidelines of what you can say in different
situations, each person can find something that is right for them. And if it feels right to you, it
will be earnest and sincere, and not sound stilted or canned. The discipline of knowing what
you want to say and what the outcome you want are, actually give you the freedom to relax
and be real.

A big mistake amateurs make is to structure an invitation around features, not benefits.
Features are things about you, your products or company. Benefits are always about the
prospect. Saying things like, I'm working with a 25-year old debt-free company and we're
looking for key people" have no benefit to the candidate. Leading with a benefit such as, "I'm
working with a company that offers a free car, profit sharing and passive income potential and
you could do great with it," is much more likely to be compelling to a prospect.

The next important aspect of the invitation is timeliness. If you invite people to a home
presentation three weeks from now, you'll have a lot of people confirm they can attend. But by
the time the event rolls around, you'll find actual attendance quite low. But if you invite
someone to a home presentation in the next few days, some people will have previous
commitments, but the percentage of people that actually turn out will be much higher.
Finally your invitation should have a sense of urgency. If you want them to watch a DVD, ask
how soon they can do it. When you hand out a packet of information, set a timely deadline to
get back in touch. Let people know that positioning and timing are important.

The best way to develop strong inviting skills is to practice them. Bounce your invitation off
your sponsor and practice with your spouse. Invite your dog or cat. Get a MP3 player and
record your invitation and play it back. Does it sound like someone that could show you how
to achieve financial freedom? If not, keep practicing until it does. Like all of our skill sets, this
can be learned.

This next skill set, is no doubt the easiest of the skill sets to develop. Because all we are
talking about here is pretty much common sense, promising when to check back with a
prospect and then doing so.

Probably the most important element involved is the time frame. As you bring a prospect
through your recruiting process, it's important you keep the timeline tight.

I believe 48 hours is the maximum time you should let elapse between "touches" with your
prospect. People today have such short attention spans and face more distractions than ever.
If you let three or four days elapse between follow-ups with a candidate, you will lose many of
them.

The ideal situation is to bring them through what I call a "ladder escalation." This means every
time you get information in front of your candidate, it escalates in importance and urgency.
Each touch should be a bigger deal than the preceding one.

An example of how this might play out:

Thursday: You give the candidate a recruiting CD or DVD.

Saturday: You get him on a 3-way call or conference call.

Monday: You host them at a home meeting.

Wednesday: They attend a hotel opportunity meeting.

This is the perfect scenario because each step is a bigger event than the last. This isn't
always possible, due to when the candidate comes into the pipeline and when your meetings
are scheduled. But the main thing is making sure you are following up every day or two of the
process. Even if this is just dropping off a follow up piece of marketing material, or calling to
see if they have any questions, be sure to touch base. Keeping the prospect focused for a
series of sustained impressions has a powerful cumulative effect and will produce your best
results.

Remember: Make contact every few days. Escalate the impressions if possible. Tell the
candidate when you will follow up, and then do what you say.

Now let’s explore our fourth skill set: Presenting.

We have a standing joke in our organization, which is, "the person with the marker makes the
most money.”

Funny, but true.

The truth is, there is a special dynamic that happens on your team when they see you at the
front of the room presenting. It's a right of passage that signifies you are progressing into the
leadership ranks. Naturally your people feel a sense of pride for being a part of your team.
Moreover there is an increased level of respect for you that allows them to edify you more
and makes you more effective as a sponsorship line leader.
Now here's the dynamic you must watch out for...

There's a fine line between being an inspirational presenter and crossing over into a
"superhero" that cannot be duplicated territory. You becoming a local presenter should be an
intermediate step, on the way to your people becoming presenters and taking your place.
(And eventually replicating the process with their own people.)

So here are some important dynamics in the presenting equation...

Number one, you don't need to have this skill when you begin. In fact, demonstrating this skill
set too early may actually slow down your duplication. Here's why:

Remember that the universal principle behind network marketing is not whether it works, but
whether it duplicates. And most people don't come into the business with the presenting skill
set, and many are actually afraid of it. Which is why over the last couple of years I have
evolved into the belief that you should never conduct 1-on-1 presentations. Let me explain
why:

Take me as an example: with my belief level, experience, credibility and presentation skills - I
bet I could sponsor 95 or 98 out of 100 people that I would do a 1-on-1 with. It would work.
But would it DUPLICATE? Not really.

Perhaps five or 10 out of my 95 enrollees could duplicate me and learn to conduct a

compelling 1-on-1 presentation. But what about the other 85? Probably not.

It's the same kind of situation - but even more extreme - when you bring candidates to
opportunity meetings when you are the presenter. In their mind they are thinking - consciously
or subconsciously, it doesn't matter - "So to do this business, I need to think of qualified
candidates, then invite them to a 60 to 90 minute witty, charming and compelling presentation
that I need to give."

That will slow you down some. Now think about what they're thinking if you bring them to a
presentation that someone else, not you, conducts. "So to do this business, I need to think of
qualified candidates, then invite them to a presentation that someone else gives." Big
difference.

So listen to this: I have now sponsored 113 people into the program I've been working for the
last three years. NONE of them has been the result of bringing them to an opportunity
meeting when I was the presenter. In each case I used a third party tool, or brought them to a
presentation that someone else was giving.

So what does all this mean?

It means that presenting is an important skill set for you to develop. But you don't need it to
start. Concentrate on the first three skill sets of working a candidate list, inviting, and follow
up, and you can get out of the gate fast. Then you can develop the presenting skill set later.
And once you do develop it, use it in a way that doesn't work against your duplication.

Next, let’s talk about the fifth skill set - the one that can make you the most money and create
the most success!

This skill set is the most important one: Leadership Development.

At its core level the business is about developing leaders more than anything else. Whether
we are talking about retailing, recruiting, or training, the ultimate success of all of these
depends on your ability to lead - and then groom others to replace you in leadership
positions.

What we're shooting for here is to create a leadership factory in your team: a self-
perpetuating process that creates new leaders coming up the ranks every month.
Some years back, I was asked to contribute a chapter to a book on leadership. The editors
asked me to define exactly what it is. I wrote that the essence of leadership is:

"To lead people to willingly do things that they would normally not want to do themselves."

Think about WWII. Hitler and the Nazi propaganda machine led millions of people to do things
they wouldn't normally want to do. This was a demonstration of great leadership ability -
perverted to evil purposes.

Churchill & Roosevelt led others to sacrifice and do many things to support the war effort.
Things they would not normally want to do. This kind of leadership was demonstrated all
through the ranks of the military.

How many people do you know that would willingly charge a nest filled with machine guns?
Yet many were led to do just that?

Of course in our profession we need not lead people to do such extreme things. We may lead
them to want to buy their first tie or suit, make their first prospecting call, or conduct their first
presentation on stage.

As great leaders we don't force people to do things. We demonstrate and model the behavior,
and inspire them to want to duplicate us.

So what are some of the ways we can develop leaders?

Well, first is our old standby: recognition. We know that recognizing people is one of the
things that inspire them to do more.

So as you review your organization, you always want to be looking for those people with
strong potential. Once you identify someone, you want to recognize and celebrate their early
achievements.

Build their confidence and enthusiasm - by recognizing their accomplishment on team calls,
events and newsletters.

Another great way to get people developing is getting them involved in event management.
This may start with small things such as being a greeter or ticket taker. Move up to things like
being responsible for displays, to finally being in charge of venue selection or managing the
entire event.

The next way to encourage leadership is to get people involved in the presenting process.
This may start with local opportunity meetings and graduate to regional events and webcasts
and/or conference calls. Just giving someone a five or ten minute session in the bigger
meeting is a great way to start. Then increase the length of their presentation as their
confidence and skills develop.

After people have started doing some of the presenting and achieving some success, the
next step is to involve them in the training events. Putting people on stage to help deliver
content on business building is one of the greatest honors you can give someone. And it's a
great way to get someone stepping into his or her leadership potential.

Later, as people develop into the higher pin ranks, you want to keep them involved in all
major decisions, such as any changes to the system, marketing materials development, and
team branding.

The more you give people a chance to practice leadership, the more likely they are to step
into the role. Of everything you will ever do in the business, this is the most important.

Make your organization an ongoing leadership factory and you'll develop true residual
income, and create a duplication model that allows your people to do the same. And then
you've got it licked.

To your success,

- RG

September 2008, Extracted from www.NetworkMarketingTimes.com