05-21-2013
(This is an excerpt. Read the full article HERE.)
It is useful for us, as marketers, to realize our
prospects Decide to Act (buy our product or join our
team) based on EMOTION, not Logic.
Thus we can stop wasting our precious time trying to
CONVINCE folks with Live Presentations, Audios, Videos, PDFs and Websites full of facts, figures, charts and colorful graphics…
At least not until AFTER they have already Decided to
ACT.
In his recent Big Al Workshops, Tom Schreiter asks us
to place these four activities in their proper order:
Ice Breaker; Presentation; Close; Rapport.
Rapport (Know, Like and Trust) is ALWAYS first. Then
the Ice Breaker (introduction), followed by the Close
(decision), and the Presentation is ALWAYS last.
Huh? What? That’s not what they taught us in sales
training!
Let’s see if my sponsor followed this formula when I
joined my first MLM, back in 1974…
I was in college. My sponsor was my best friend, a
fraternity brother. (Rapport.)
One day he approached me extremely excited, “We’re all
gonna be rich!” (Ice Breaker.)
When I asked how he replied, “I can’t tell You. It’s a
secret.” (The Close – Curiosity. Dammit, I was IN! I
just wanted to know how we were going to do it. Being
in a fraternal order, I trusted the secret would be
revealed at the proper time.)
His sponsor, another close friend and frat brother,
reinforced this excitement and secret stuff. I was yet
unaware they were following a proven, duplicate-able
system.
By the time I saw the Plan (The Presentation), I was
BEGGING for it!
Now, here’s a piece of real GENIUS: At the end of the
presentation, I was STILL not permitted to join!
I had to see the presentation a SECOND time along with
guests I invited to see it with me. Then, and only
then, would I be permitted to join.
I did not know enough about the company, products, or
compensation plan to screw things up! I had to resort
to, “I can’t tell You. It’s a secret.”
Before long, I was traveling the East Coast by
Greyhound Bus toting my blackboard and overnight bag to
reveal “the secret” to friends of friends of friends.
Not long after I joined, my sponsor quit. Later on his
sponsor, my other friend, quit.
But by then, my up-line leader had become a close
friend. (Rapport, again!)
Now, this exact method will not work today in 2013.
Shoot! For one thing, we have much better presentation
tools. In 1974 we did not even have whiteboards! (Back
then I used any available chair to prop up my
blackboard. I did not want to tote an easel on the
bus.)
In many ways, this story is similar to my current MLM
experience…
My sponsor and his sponsor quit, and my up-line leader
has become my best friend.
The biggest difference is we all met on-line and built
Rapport over the telephone.
Today we have built a Team on three continents –
without leaving the house, and without ever ASKING
anyone to join!
No buses. No chalkboards.
So, how do You build deep rapport with folks You meet
on the street or on-line?
THAT secret is revealed in Michael Dlouhy’s book,
“Success in Ten Steps,” and the skills are taught by
Mentoring For Free – to anyone who demands them at no
cost.
Ken Klemm – Florida, USA
P.S. When You don’t ASK, nobody tells You, “No.”