How to Prioritize Prospects

Posted 09/22/15 in [Questions My Downline Ask (QMDA)] | Comments Off on How to Prioritize Prospects

 

Let me be clear: you work every prospect which comes your way with the attitude of You just never know.

HOWEVER, you only have so much time, and there are usually some indicators which should guide you when you’re not sure whom you should spend quality time on, and who should be relegated to the back burner. Yes, I’m actually telling you to sort out people. If you are serious about working your business, you have got to focus on the people who are wanting to achieve their dreams of helping people, and let those who are not at that point simply know you are there for them. Don’t be like one upline I know who has to pull teeth to get their downline to act, because she attracted people who believe in the business but are hobbyists and not business builders. So, here are the two types of people:

Type Achiever: the person is really eager to get started and doing the stuff to get their business up and running no matter how clumsily or mistake-filled it might be.

Type Notready: everyone else.

The following bullet list is some things Type Notready’s do, followed by my thoughts on why this is a red flag. These aren’t all red flags if you see only one or maybe two, but if they are mostly present, you need to retool the time spent with them. Also, this does not mean these people are bad, unkind, unfriendly, unlovely people–in fact, they are likely excellent parents, good friends, and wise, hard-working human beings. It simply means they aren’t ready. I’m using singular he/she personal pronouns based on general grammar rules, to show it is both sexes who have done these things:

• Signing up and not purchasing: they cannot earn money unless they go on autoship and you told them that…so it is likely they are not interested in talking to others about earning money.
• Signing up and stating he isn’t going to work the business right away: see above.
• Mentioning things her last upline did that bothered her, and it is anything other than something illegal, unethical, or immoral (for instance, “My upline never contacted me,” or “My upline never trained me”): this is blame-shifting. Even if her upline never contacted her (which is a 50/50 possibility), it is up to her to make her business work and contact the company for someone in her upline who will work with her.
• Spending 20-30 minutes on the phone with you and leaving you with, “Well, I’m still making my decision and will contact you”: honestly, this type of person gets one follow up email from me restating everything we talked about in our call and telling them that when they are interested to contact me back, and then I add them to my team distribution list and let it lay.
• The prospect states he talked with other people in Life Force but then tells you what is wrong with the person he spoke with and why it will be a “cold day in you-know-where that I ever sign up with that person”: proceed with caution, and maybe put him waaayyyy down on your priority list. If he says it about that person, he has the capacity to say it about you.
• Stating she has worked with 13 (or some other number) MLM companies in the last 10 (or some other number) years and had some success: then why isn’t she still with that/those company(ies)?
• Prospect contacts you for more information, but withholds phone number and/or email address: does this person want to be contacted or not?
• Talking about the last network marketing company he just came from and how it “done him wrong,” usually because of the comp plan: this is a toss-up. Sometimes, there simply are bad network marketing companies out there, and there are certainly bad compensation plans out there.
• You telling her how you work with people and how you are going to get her started, and her countering with the way she is going to work the business and how “it’s a little different, but I know it will work because it did before”: then why is she shopping for a new company?
• The prospect asks you if/how many people you are going to put in their downline as one of the first things in your conversation: I translate this as, How lazy do I get to be if I work with you? and keep to my promise that I have to see her add to her downline before I do.
• You send prospect requested information and he doesn’t read it and in the next call asks you to summarize it: seriously? You took your time to send him everything he needs to know, and his time is too valuable he can’t even read it? Tell him you’re sorry, but you needed him to read it before you talk so you can answer his questions about it, and set up another time and hang up. That will show him your time is too important to do the work for him, and sets the stage that this is his business, not yours.
• The prospect asks what level you’re at with the company [which is a valid question] and then states they want to work with one of the top levels in the company and you’re too low: They don’t want to work with you and told you so up front. Thank them for their honesty and say goodbye, and get to your next level.
• The prospect tells you up front that she contacted Life Force and asked to be placed in her own downline at the top of the company and not under anyone, but the company insisted they contact someone to become their sponsor, so they’re talking to you: what? This one happens more than I can say and STILL confuses me as to what they are thinking??

Again, you work them all. Some of these can happen innocently out of naivetée. But spend less time on the above, because statistically they will likely be a dead end, and your time is more valuable than that!!

Carolyn

This post was edited 4/22/16 to correct general grammar errors and for readability.