Don’t Dwell on Network Marketing Prospects
Posted in Watkins Business by Eldon on March 7th, 2007 Sometime, network marketers get so anxious to sponsor others into their business, that the importance of each prospect gets over-emphasized. Sure, it would be nice to sponsor all of our prospective associates (people who have responded to our advertising and indicated an interest in starting their own business). In reality, that will never happen.
Following is a response I recently sent to one of my downline Watkins associates. This associate had a very promising prospect who (unexpectedly) decided to opt out by clicking a “delete me” link in one of our emails. My associate was very disappointed, but bounced back quickly and is moving on. All names have been changed.
Hello Jim,
I’m really glad you decided not to call Mr. Jones back. There is no question he intended to delete himself. When they click that delete link, it goes to a screen that tells them they are about to be permanently removed from our system, and asks them to confirm. So, it is a two-step process that doesn’t leave much room for error.
I understand how badly you want to sponsor, and I understand why you had so much hope for sponsoring this particular prospect. I have observed something over time. When a prospect, such as Mr. Jones, tells me they are going to sign up when an “event” occurs (in this case, receiving a tax refund) - I immediately put them in the “follow-up later” category, and move on to work with others. Many times, prospects who are not convinced they want to start a Watkins business don’t want to just come out and tell you “no”. So, to avoid having to disappoint you, they defer their potential involvement to a future date when a certain event happens (when the kids go back to school, when they pay off certain bills, when they get a tax refund or some extra money, and so forth). Deep down, they really aren’t excited about the business, but they are trying to be nice. They just can’t say “no, I’m not interested”.
Many (if not most) Watkins associates, when given an excuse like this, will be happy to just wait. Few will take time to follow-up later like you did. Sometime prospects who aren’t really interested are banking on this. They hope you won’t follow-up. However, you are doing what most associates won’t do - you are staying on top of your prospects. You are showing that you care. In the long run, you will sponsor many more prospects this way. There will always be “Mr. Jones’s” who sound SO promising but who just drift off. Don’t misunderstand - there will be some like this who really DO sign up later. My point is, don’t put too much stock in any one prospect joining - just follow up later, and move on and work with others.
I had a prospect about a month ago who really seemed interested in starting his own Watkins business. He called me several times, asked a lot of questions, and seemed almost ready to go. However, he said he needed to wait for his tax refund before he joined. I was excited about this prospect, because he had the contacts and resources to do a good amount of product sales as well as sponsoring. This past weekend, he left me a voice mail on Sunday morning indicating he got his refund and would be signing up Monday morning. Sunday evening, he called and said he wasn’t signing up now, because he saw a report on TV that gas might go up to $3.00 a gallon this summer. He was afraid this would hurt his business (he runs a retail market) so he backed out of his plans to start up with Watkins.
Now, go figure that. But anyway, I was disappointed, but I quickly moved on. If someone doesn’t feel good about getting started, for whatever reason, I would rather they didn’t.
Keep on doing the right things Jim, your success is coming!
Talk to you soon,
Eldon
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About the Author:
Eldon Beard is a Watkins Manager with Associates All Across the USA and Canada
