There is a big movement underway to re-brand network marketing to bring the profession into the mainstream and change misconceptions of the people and companies in our profession, this effort should include a set of best practices that includes the manner in which we recruit prospects into our opportunity. I network with a large number of MLM distributors often becoming engaged in conversations related to their businesses and that of their down lines concerning “warm market” vs. “cold market” prospecting, I have had several spirited conversations with experienced marketers and new marketers alike leading me to conclude that this debate is just plain silly.
Network marketing is a powerful business model and like most business organizations can be built a number of ways, including working within warm or known markets as well as cold or unknown markets. The days of limiting your prospecting efforts to friends, family and those within your immediate circle are gone and the most productive recruiters are utlizing a variety of methods to identify willing prospects in order to expose them to their businesses. The Internet has transformed the landscape and for the first time in history has provided a economical method of reaching a large group of people with a simple message and advance those exposures toward personal relationships.
Regardless if you are recruiting within a known or unknown (my preferred terms) market two of the most powerful mindset principles your can adopt are perspective and empathy.
1.) Perspective: a. Understanding the unique value of both warm and cold market prospecting strategies b.) Understanding the perspective of both warm and cold prospects by standing in their shoes for a moment.
2.) Empathy: a. Understanding how the prospect will view your approach to them when presenting your opportunity b. How are they going to feel 90 days after they join your program? This is a test to determine if your commitment is to succeed by helping others succeed, the opposite would be your desire to succeed by recruiting others with the mindset that some will make it and some will not, so I am going to throw as much mud against the wall as I can and hope enough sticks.
I’ll pose a simple question; why wouldn’t you approach your prospecting efforts in the same manner as you would any other business? The answer is you should leverage a variety of channels to drive qualified prospects into your sales funnel in order to grow a large and thriving organization. So what does a solid “Warm Market” and “Cold Market” strategy look like when working in unison?
With both strategies you need to adopt a “burn the boats” mindset. In other words, I have burned the boats that brought me here, so I have no other choice than to keep moving forward.
I. Known Market (Warm Market) Prospecting
Here are 7 actions you should take to grow through known market.
1. Complete a major blast with massive action to pour prospects into your funnel. Immediate action would be creating a list of 50 people you would like to evaluate your opportunity and expose them all to your program and then work with your prospect one on one to reach decisions.
2. Remember that when dealing with your known market your posture is critical. You must convey the confidence that you are serious about building a successful team and that they can really succeed with you.
3. Develop the internal mindset that you have a “gift” to offer them, not that you are begging them to join your team.
4. Learn not to become emotionally tied to the decision the prospect makes to join you or not. Many people fail because they become discouraged when their friends and family say no to their opportunity.
5. Often when your friends and family say no, they really mean no for now. They will see you in a few months and might be interested to see if you are still building your program. Are you driving that new car you talked about? Did you go on that cruise that you promoted to them?
6. Be willing to cycle known prospects through your list until they truly say “no,” you may find that as your story gets better “more success,” their interest level may increase.
7. Be sensitive and connect to where your known prospect is mentally and try to expose gaps in their lives that your opportunity can bridge. You must be willing to recruit based on shared mindset and not on emotion. People will stick with you and build a business over time if they know why they are doing it. “No empty get rich quick promises.”
II. Unknown Market (Cold Market) Prospecting
Here are 7 actions you should take to grow through cold market:
1. Make a decision about the components methods you will use to attract 1000-2000 unknown prospects into your funnel per month. Social network marketing, Web 2.0, blogging, websites, buying a pre-qualified list, etc.
2. Recognize that you can attract people that are looking for an opportunity online, so acknowledge the fact that this is very fertile ground to farm.
3. In the beginning avoid the temptation to measure results, instead measure activities and let natural ratios reveal themselves and play into your favor.
4. Create a duplicate-able system that you can teach you’re down line team and leverage into consistent growth. Here is a turnkey system that you can plug into your downline: MLM Mastermind Training
5. Recognize that a solid unknown market strategy can “save” members of your down line team who are not succeeding within their known market of friends and family.
6. Recognize that you will need to create a support system for your unknown market as many who join your team will not be in your local market. So, you will need to help them plug into your company leadership structure in their local market. Use technology to bridge this gap.
7. As with known market, be prepared to cycle your cold market prospects through your list and seek ways to add value for them, even if they do not join you right away. They may likewise be watching you to see if you are going to be around in 6 months.
Regardless if you decide to build a successful network marketing business in a known market, unknown market or both; you have an obligation to be a leader and help those who trusted you enough to give you their credit card and invest many of their dreams into what you presented to them, they joined you for a reason. The network marketing business is not a numbers business it is a people business and when people are committed to your business and are being properly lead, the numbers needed to allow everyone to succeed will follow.
(c) Copyright 2008 James A. Holmes. All Rights Reserved.
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James Holmes, Global Team Builder, Coach and Trainer, combining online and offline techniques to help you grow your business. To request a free 30 minute consultation contact James by phone at 303-523-9503 or email at james@AskJamesHolmes.com
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