My friend Ray Higdon posted the following excellent article on his blog. I will comment at the end.

If you have ever struggled on how to respond to a prospect, this is the blog post for you. If you want to get better at MLM recruiting but don’t wanna change who you are or be forced into some uncomfortable script, then you are going to get major benefit from this quick blog post.

Stress Free MLM Recruiting

The way to have zero stress in your MLM recruitingis to not be addicted to the outcome. It is only when you have an attachment to them saying yes or no that you create stress and frustration. When I get on the phone with a prospect I literally do not care if they sign up.

You might be thinking, oh sure Ray, that’s easy for you to say, you are the top income earner in your company and you have enrolled hundreds of people, well, it is actually this attitude that got me here, not that I developed this attitude once I arrived at some point of success. Do you know why I have no attachment when I am prospecting?Because I understand negotiations.

Negotiations and MLM Recruiting

Herbert Cohen wrote the books, Negotiate this, you can negotiate anything and a few others. When I was a real estate investor and trained people how to negotiate deals, I read all these books and then some. The number one thing that really made sense to me is when Herbert said, “When negotiating you want to care, but not that much”. It is the other sides recognition of your attachment that makes you weak. Let me say that again network marketers.. It is the other sides recognition of your attachment that makes you weak.

After I understood that fact I stopped trying to make every real estate seller come to my terms and instead went for numbers. Quickly qualifying sellers allowed me to talk to more sellers and essentially do more deals with people who truly needed my help versus someone just mildly interested in selling. Most network marketers are trying to make people join that have little to no interest or understanding and THAT is exactly where frustration is generated.

Examples of MLM Recruiting Power

Awhile back I was on a three way call with one of my teammates and she got me on the phone with someone, let’s say their name was Joe. Joe had watched a company presentation and had some questions. What I immediately got from Joe was that he had lost a lot of money (like me) and had failed a bunch of times in life and wasn’t real happy with himself right now.

How would you handle that? Most network marketers would focus on how today was different, the product is different, the comp plan is different, etc. What they don’t understand is when a person is in this mindset, it is hard to get them to see the future as their past is so present. Instead of going into “convincing mode” where most rookie network marketers live (they convince their family, friends, etc that MLM will be magically successful), I did a typical takeaway. I told Joe that based on my observations I did not believe he was ready to make money and he needed to get over his past first before we would invest time in him and train him. After I hung up the phone he called back and said that was exactly what he needed to hear and I was right and he joined.

Researchers and “Thinker About Its”

I was up in Toronto doing a meeting and after I was done a friend of mine brought up a prospect to me and said, “Ray, my friend here says he wants to do his research, what would you say to that?” What my friend was hoping for was an amazing burst of sales wizardry that converted the guy on the spot and created a story he would talk about with his friends on how amazing I was of a salesperson. What I did instead was quite different. I looked at the young man with his arms crossed defiantly, probably thinking, “you ain’t gonna get me” and I stated, “I would suggest spending as much time as humanly possible to go through each and every one of our videos, there are around 200 of them online, before you make a decision.” My friend was aghast, how could I dare to NOT do a sales dance and close this guy on the spot?!?

Fast forward to the next day and we all met at a coffee shop. My friend said that after he heard what I said he planned on NEVER bringing me another prospect, however, after I spoke to his prospect, he signed up that night.

MLM Recruiting: What Reps Wanna Hear Versus What Works

You have to identify the motives of the person and why they are looking at network marketing. Without this, you are just trying to sell Filet Mignon to a possible vegetarian. You might LOVE steak and the juicy aroma of a Kobe or Filet but they may abhor the idea of eating meat.

“Why” is the most powerful word you can use inMLM recruiting. I routinely ask people “why are we even talking about joining my company” or “why would you even bother looking at network marketing”. It is these types of questions that have me recruit a lot of people stress free than those that gain stress and have no results in recruiting.

Thank you, Ray for this marvelous advice. My team in Positive Cash Flow Rx  can certainly benefit from your suggestions.