MLM Network Marketing Training-The MLM Fear of the Telephone and Conquering It.
by Tim Sales /www.mlmbrilliance.com
Let’s face it. More phone calls = More appointments. More appointments = More Money. But if Fear of Phoning stops you or your people from making more calls, then none of you will make more money.
Overcoming Your Fears
In the Navy, people overcome their fear of defusing bombs underwater with 1 simple process: Drill, drill, drill — and when you’re sick of drilling, drill some more.
This doesn’t mean read, read and when you’re sick of reading, read some more; that doesn’t make someone skilled at defusing bombs. It’s the same with getting appointments. Not that reading and learning the way bombs go “boom” and phones go “ring-ring” isn’t important — it is. But it’s only part of knowing how to overcome fear and be successful.
The point is that to overcome any type of fear in Network Marketing , you must have both knowledge and practice. And there’s no better way of overcoming telephone fears in Network Marketing than TEAM CALLING.
Why Some MLM Distributors Quit
Think about what would have happened if the Navy trainers ever told the bomb squad to go home and read about the most common ways a bomb blows up and then sent them out by themselves to defuse a bomb. And yet that’s what Network Marketing leaders are often guilty of — asking their new distributors to go home and make their list of prospects.
They’re given a sheet (sometimes) of objections they “might” encounter and then are told to call their prospects and invite them to take a look at a great business. BOOM! Ever wonder why that new distributor disappears within 30 days?
Few Guests at Our Meetings = Assault Team Training
Ever have very few guests at your regular business meetings? It happens.
Well, I put together a program called Assault Team Training — an event to teach people how to get past the fear of the phone.
Eight distributors were invited to the event (because we had four phone lines and wanted two people per phone). To attend, each distributor had to bring 250 names with phone numbers.
Everyone spent the first hour around a table writing a script of what they would say on the telephone to invite contacts to a business briefing that we scheduled three days later. Then each person read their script back to the group and the group critiqued the script with one major emphasis: Prevent the objection. We all agreed that in the invitation call, it’s much easier to prevent objections than to have to handle them. (See table below.)
| AVOID THESE PHRASES | INSTEAD USE |
| I recently became involved | I’m working on a project |
| I’d like to get you involved | I’m looking for the right person |
| Are you looking for a business opportunity | Do you keep your eyes open for expansion/diversification |
| I think you would love this | It may or may not be for you |
| You would be good at this | This might be lucrative for us |
| New business opportunity | Business idea or project |
| Are you interested? | You might want to see this. |
| I want you to… | You might want to or you might benefit from |
You Start with a Script
Very often I’ve heard people say they don’t/can’t use scripts. That’s fine. Write down what you plan to say anyway, because you need to get comfortable with making your call. You’ll need to repeat it several times. It’s very helpful to “invite yourself” into a tape recorder microphone. Listen to the tape and ask yourself “would I accept that invitation”?
One of our scripts went something like this:
You: “Hi, John, this is Sue. Do you have a minute or did I catch you at a bad time?”
Them: “No, I have a minute. What’s up?”
You: “Great, I only have a moment myself, but I’m calling because I have a business proposition for you. I don’t know if this is for you or not, but I thought you might want to know about it. Are you available on [and give the date and time of the meeting]?”
Now, here are some responses you might receive:
MOST COMMON QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIONS
- What is it?
- Is this a pyramid?
- Is it Network Marketing or multi-level marketing?
- Is this sales?
- What would I be doing?
- I’m too busy, I don’t have time.
- What is the investment?
The MLM Steps to Success.
Here are the steps to take:
1) Drill, Drill, Drill
(Drill is defined as training by continued repetition.)
Divide people into pairs and have them role-play with each other. Person A reads the script. Person B asks the most common questions or objections. Start slow and easy and get tougher as your partner gets better. It’s very important that your partner feel successful. Compliment his/her efforts ALL THE TIME. Then switch: Person B invites and Person A asks the questions.
Your job as the leader here is to help keep the calls under three minutes and to insure that the person making the call wants to continue making calls. As a coach, resist the urge to correct “everything” you see a new person doing wrong. You don’t want to unintentionally invalidate the person or make him/her feel that they’re messing everything up.
It’s much better for the coach to consider the whole exercise as a gradual learning process. For some people, it can be a huge success just to dial 10 numbers in an hour.
2) Hit the Phones
Two people on each phone line. Spend one uninterrupted hour at a time, 15 minutes on, 15 minutes listening to your partner. Repeat the whole process again.
Another variation can be three dials on, three dials coaching.
The rules are: No getting up. No bathroom, no water, no answering cell phones. Nothing. It’s so important to play by the rules. We all know the feeling of searching for any excuse not to dial the phone. Believe me, this is fear-facing at its best.
3) Duplicate the Process
Use Monday — it’s the start of the week and the best day to invite to your weekly business briefing without a weekend interfering. Organize three sessions per day.
Sometimes, you can host just one session per day with a group and another session with just one other person. Charge $5.00 per person to cover the cost of the phone calls.
The group takes the first five to 10 minutes to review which event (business or product)they are going to invite prospects to, or what information they want to send out after each call. Then you break into pairs that rotate every hour, so everyone has the chance to make calls with different people.
Keep Accurate MLM Calling Records.
Keep a Daily Marketing Worksheet of dials, contacts and appointments similar to this:
| Activity | Goal | Actual | Results |
| Dials | 10 | 1111111111 | 10 |
| Contacts | 5 | 111111 | 6 |
| Appointments | 3 | 1111 | 4 |
It’s very important for everyone to keep statistics while doing team calling. This is the basis for coaching and measuring progress. If anyone complains about their results, you can go straight to the Daily Marketing Worksheet and tell exactly where someone needs help. Maybe they need help with their actual phone skills, or maybe they’re just not dialing enough numbers!
What Results Can You Expect?
After two one-hour sessions in which everyone kept their statistics, the least number of confirmed appointments we’ve seen was eight. The most was 64.
That’s right! But the most impressive are those eight. What this represents is the minimum result of eight confirmed guests!
What this means for you is that if someone spent two hours per week inviting through team calling, they would have a minimum of eight confirmed appointments at the weekly meeting!
The next time you or your distributors come to a business meeting without a guest, ask yourself and them, “How much actual time did you spend making calls?”
The bottom of the bottom line is that most people don’t make enough phone calls. Making phone calls isn’t as hazardous as bomb squad work, but it really can be just as scary.
Team calling provides structure, excitement and results! Partnering and coaching is the best way I’ve seen to lead your organization and help them overcome fear of the phone and produce explosive results.
Hint: In the process of developing strategies like Team Calling for the benefit of my team members, I also developed other resources to complement the development and enhancement of each member of my team. These tools made a huge difference in their ability to succeed. The proper resources, combined with good coaching and training yields better network marketers who share your same vision and desire to succeed.
Blessings…
doug Firebaugh / PassionFire Intl http://www.passionfire.com
© 2005 PFI / all rights reserved
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