A truth in home business prospecting, which has been proven over and over again…
People don’t join programs. People join people.
Sure, every once in a while a program will run an insane special, and jam a bunch of people into it. But they never stay for long.
Or another expression that turns out to be true…
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
How does this manifest in the way we prospect, in the way we talk with our prospects? Or for that matter, in the way we talk with anyone, prospect or otherwise?
We ask questions. Lots of questions.
We ask good questions. If we’re using a prospecting system, or even a script, it has lots of good, open ended questions. The kind of questions that get people thinking, feeling, opening up their imaginations. Laying bear their fears and frustrations.
And of course the system allows for us to be genuine, to be people who can respond to the answers with good, strong follow up questions. The kinds of questions that challenge people, and make them feel safe in answering honestly.
I learned quite a bit about prospecting with questions by reading The Greatest Networker In The World, by John Milton Fogg. If you haven’t read it, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It’s a magnificent story.
I also learned a lot about prospecting with questions by listening to people who were awful at prospecting. They plowed ahead with their “presentation” without any idea if what they had was right for me. They were too insecure or nervous to deviate from their “script.”
Or they asked questions in a way that told me they were completely uninterested in what the answers were. It wasn’t a conversation. It was waiting for me to stop talking so they could find a way to fit their opportunity into the conversation.
Total turn off.
Now it’s true that what you say about your home business opportunity is important. At the end of the questions, there has to be substance. The company has to be strong. The products or services have to be relevant. The marketing plan has to be fair. And it has to be presented in a clear, professional way (which is why the best presentations are made by an automated system).
The statements are important. But you’ll never get to them unless you learn to ask good questions.
Ask them with empathy, sincerity and interest.
Let the answers take you to the next questions, and the right statements.
Prospecting got easier for me when I started asking more questions, listening and trying to find out what they were really looking for. (Sometimes it’s a job and my work is done!)
I script is a good crutch in the beginning. The only way to move past the script and feel comfortable (not nervous like you said) is practice.
Even better than a script is probably a list of questions!