Re: To Warm Market or Not?

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: I agree Linda - the quickest way to dampen the fire is by asking your friends to join the business straight away.  9 times out of ten they will ridicule or reject you. People don't understand MLM - they do understand buy it a wholesale and sell it at the market place for retail.

: Everyone gets 10+ customers to start. It puts some cash in your pocket and your friends understand it's a viable company with products that change lives. You then ask them: "Who do you know who would like to make some extra cash by sharing XYZ product?"

: Slip them a CD and walk away...

: 
: : To Warm Market or Not to Warm Market — That is the Question!

: : In the good old days of MLM, the prevailing advice for getting a newcomer off to fast start in their brand new, shiny business was this:

: : Get a piece of paper and a pen and write down everyone you know — don’t prejudge, just write down all the names of all the people you know — your family, all your friends, relatives, high school teachers, dentist, doctor, your kid’s teachers, your lawyer etc. Don’t stop until you have at least 200 names.

: : If you asked why you were doing this (as if you hadn’t guessed already!), your new sponsor just asked you to relax and follow the process. Once your list was complete you were told the good news — that you were going to contact everyone on this list (your warm market) and offer them your fantastic opportunity — one by one.

: : What do you think happened next? — the brave ones actually did contact at least 5 people on their warm market list, but after 5 no’s and lots of rejection — they were beginning to wonder what they had got themselves into and if this was really the business for them.

: : Now, I know that many people still like to use this system of prospecting, but I think that it is the WORST possible way to introduce an MLM newcomer to this business. Why? These so-called warm market prospects: family, friends and business associates are actually the hardest sell of all for an MLM newbie. These people already have a pre-conceived idea of who you are and they are often skeptical and negative when approached in this manner. They did not solicit this attention from you and the most common response you will get from a lot of people is the dreaded question: “Is this one of those pyramid things?”

: : I think a kinder and gentler approach is to teach your new recruits how to prospect to people who actually are looking for a business opportunity and let them practice their techniques on these strangers (cold market) before they tackle the really tough warm market.

: : In the past the warm market method was used by most experienced MLMer’s because it was a holdover from other sales professions (insurance, investments, etc.) and was a sales technique that had worked well for them. And it does work, if you are an experienced sales person or if your sponsor is an experienced sales person and is willing to help you do two on ones or three ways calls with your prospects. But how many sponsors really are capable of doing this for their new people?

: : The sad truth is that this technique fails for the average person 9 out of 10 times and leaves them with a very unfavorable impression of the MLM industry. In the 21st century we have lots of other proven sales techniques that work well and have no personal rejection associated with them — what with the various leads programs, direct mail, audio and video tapes, the Internet and a host of other marketing tools available at a reasonable cost.

: : So do your new recruits a favor and teach them to get warmed up by marketing to the cold market first and go after the ice cold warm market later!

: : Linda Locke
: : Editor, MLMWoman


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