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CHAPTER FOUR Skill #1— Finding Prospects
When people look at Network Marketing, one of their biggest questions is, “Do I know anybody? ey believe if they know a lot of people, they can have lots of success, and if they don’t know a lot of people, they don’t have a chance. It sounds logical, but it’s just not true.
As I mentioned in chapter two, there are three kinds of people in Network Marketing: posers, amateurs, and profes- sionals. When it comes to finding prospects, the posers make a mental list of three, four, or ve people they hope will join their business, and their entire future is based upon the response of those few people. If they’re lucky enough to get one of them, they can extend the life of their career for a short time. They might even make another mental list of three or four people. Hopefully, they’ll eventually decide to stop being a poser and upgrade to the amateur ranks.
Would it surprise you to know that approximately 80% of all the people who join Network Marketing approach the task of building a business as posers? It’s true. Eight out of 10 distributors rst approach their business with the poser mentality. ey make a small mental list and see what happens. ey never set out to develop the necessary skills. Your job is to make sure you’re not one of them and to help your team do the same. Educate people. Help them understand how powerful this opportunity can be if they treat it with respect. For the posers, their only real chance is luck, and that luck had better happen fast.
The second group is the amateurs. Instead of a small men- tal list, these people make a written list, which is a step in the right direction. Let’s say they make a list of 100 prospects. ey charge out there with excitement, but not a lot of skill. ey begin prospecting, and their list begins to diminish. As it grows smaller and smaller, their anxiety level grows higher and higher. Their biggest fear is running out of people to talk to. I know that was my biggest fear. In my early 20s, my list wasn’t anything to brag about. As I mentioned before, I tried to use my parents’ contacts at the beginning, and it didn’t take long for me to run out of names. Soon everyone in my world knew what I was doing and had either said yes or no. It was scary. I felt like if I didn’t nd some great people from my list and nd them soon, I was go- ing to fail in this business.
It never occurred to me that nding quality people to prospect was a skill. Up to this point in my new career, I always viewed “the list” as the ticket to wealth. If you had a good list, you’d succeed, and if you had a bad one, you either had to get lucky or you’d fail. When I came to my defining moment and committed to become a professional, I began to study the people who had built large and successful organizations. I found that the professionals approached finding people to talk to as one of their core skills. It was part of their job to nd new people.They weren’t interested in luck. They weren’t worried about running out of people. They developed the skill to make sure that never happened. The professionals started with a written list. But then they made the focused commitment to never stop adding to the list. They created something called an “Active Candidate List,” and I’m going to show you how to do the same thing.
One of the people who taught me how to do this well was Harvey Mackay, author of the huge bestselling book How to Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. Harvey is a good friend and he’s also one of the best networkers in the world. I once asked him how he built such a large and in u- ential list of friends. He told me that at the age of 18, his father sat him down and said, “Harvey, starting today and for the rest of your life, I want you to take every person you meet, get their contact information, and nd a creative way to stay in touch.” He’s done that for over 60 years, and today his list of friends totals more than 12,000 people. And these aren’t just social media friends. ey’re real friends, and I consider myself fortunate to be one of them.
If you want to master this skill, follow these four simple steps:
Step One: Make your list as comprehensive as possible. Include every person you can think of. EVERY person. It doesn’t matter if you think they are a prospect or not. Your database will be one of your most important assets. Ev- eryone goes on the list. If they are negative, put them on your list. If you hate them, put them on your list. If they are your best friend, put them on your list. If they’ve said, “I’ll never be involved in Network Marketing,” put them on your list. If they’re 98 years old, put them on your list. If they’re 18 years old, put them on your list.
It’s important to do this, because as you empty your mind out on paper, it will make more room for new contacts to nd room in there. When you write down your nephew, you will begin to think about the circle of people around your nephew. All of these connections will become apparent to you as you make your list more and more comprehensive. ink about everything—every organization you’ve ever been involved in, every group you’ve ever been a part of, everything you’ve ever done. If you do this right, it will end up being hundreds and hundreds and maybe even thousands of people. You’re not required to prospect everyone on your list. at’s up to you. But it’s extremely important to do the work necessary to truly capture your network on paper.
Step Two: Have you heard of the concept that we’re all only six contacts away from any person in the world? Six degrees of separation? I’m not sure if that’s a myth or if it’s true, but I believe in the concept. Step two is looking at your list and thinking about the people they know—the second degree of separation. Chances are, you’ll know most of them also.
ink about members of your family. Who do they know? Add them to your list. ink about your friends. Who do they know? Add them to your list. ink about all the relation- ships in your life. Who do they know? Add them to your list. Don’t worry about what you’re going to do with this list yet. We’ll talk about that a bit later. Just keep building it.
Step Three: Constantly expand your list. is is why the professionals call this an “Active Candidate List.” It never stops growing. e pros have a goal to add at least two people to their list every single day. ey may not prospect them, but as Harvey Mackay’s father said, they go on the list and you should nd a creative way to stay in touch. Harvey’s book Dig Your Well Before You’re irsty deals with this concept. If you think about this as a core skill, you’ll real- ize it isn’t very hard. You come into contact with people every day. Just add them to your list. You meet people through on- line social media. Add them to your list. You do business with new people. Add them to your list.
My friend Jordan Adler is the author of Beach Money®, and he’s also a seven- gure-a-year earner in Network Marketing. He’s a master at step three. He just lives his life and is always making new friends, and if you look at his business, almost all of the people he’s recruited into his huge organization are people he didn’t know before he started his Network Marketing business. He’s a Pro.
Professionals develop a higher level of awareness. ey pay attention to the world. ey know they will be introduced to new people all the time. Posers and amateurs don’t even notice. ey just go through their day saying “What people? I don’t see any people.” How hard would it be to raise your awareness and add two new people a day to your list? ink about it. If you did that six days a week, that is over 600 new people a year. Do that for ve years and it’s over 3,000 people. Can you see why profes- sionals don’t worry about running out of people to talk to?
Please understand, I’m NOT saying you should assault these people with your pitch the moment you are introduced. Some people in Network Marketing make that mistake and it’s not good. Just add them to your list, make friends, develop a connection, and when the time is right you can help them understand what you have to o er.
Step Four: Network on purpose. Professionals network on purpose. It’s hard to meet new people if you’re hid- ing from the world. Get out there. Have some fun. Join a new gym. Have fun with a new hobby. Volunteer for a cause that’s important to you. Find places and organizations where you can meet new people. Not only will it be good for your business, but you’ll also make some great friends.
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