In any business endeavor, a win-win outcome is always the
most satisfying and productive. It certainly beats the
alternatives - win-lose, lose-win, or (heaven forbid!)
lose-lose - in which one or both parties walks away feeling
an assortment of negative emotions, possibly including
disappointment, anger, resentment, and a desire to throw
crockery against the wall.
What do we mean by win-win when it comes to finding new
partners for our network marketing business?
For the prospector (you), a win probably means acquiring a
new business partner with the following attributes: easy
to work with, motivated, determined to succeed, reliable
and accountable, upbeat, honest, hardworking, and so on.
Of course, you would probably also want your recruit to
have some free time and enough money to get started.
For the prospect... well, we really don't know what a win
would be for her, do we? We could make an assumption and
guess. We could assume that she just wants to make a lot of
money. But what if we guess wrong? What if her heart's
desire is to help people and make a difference in the world.
The only way we can know for sure what's going through our
prospect's head is to talk with her -- ask questions,
listen closely to the answers, ask more questions, and do a
lot more listening.
One word of caution, though: When interviewing a prospect,
it's very tempting to listen just until she mentions some
problem your product or opportunity might help solve. And
then... (sound of bugles) YOU'RE OFF AND RUNNING! Bending
her ear about how wonderful your company is and how much
she's going to LOVE what the products will do for her.
But telling why YOU think your opportunity is the greatest
thing since sliced bread is not the goal. The goal is to
reach a win-win outcome, and there's more to it than just
presenting your favorite features and benefits and assuming
that's what your prospect wants, too.
If you're truly dedicated to win-win, your goal is to reach
a deep understanding of what a win would be for her and
then honestly assessing whether or not your opportunity
would create that.
If it's not a good fit, let it go. Thank her for her time
and move on.
On the other hand, if you believe your opportunity is a
match for her, go ahead and explain to her why you think
so. Be sure to connect the dots between her specific
problems and how your opportunity can address them.
Then she signs up, right?
Not quite. Actually, there's yet another critical step you
both must take before reaching a win-win outcome.
Recently, I started reading a book that really gets into
the whole win-win strategy, "The New Conceptual Selling" by
Stephen E. Heiman and Diane Sanchez. (Although it was
written mainly for business-to-business salespeople, most
of the principles the book lays out are applicable to
network marketers, too.)
It describes three stages of decision-making in the sales
process.
Stage 1: The decision-maker (your prospect) comes to a
better understanding of the situation she's facing. (This
is where your question-answer dialogue helps her.)
Stage 2: The decision-maker explores her possible options
and solutions. (This is that other critical step I
mentioned, and it's where many network marketers falter.)
Stage 3: The decision-maker puts it all together and picks
the best option for herself.
Why do I say that many MLMers falter in the second stage?
The answer is that we naturally want OUR option to be the
only one the prospect considers. But the person sitting
before us must be free to consider ALL her choices, or her
final decision will never be satisfying to her. (By the
way, this is a common problem with many salespeople, not
just network marketers.)
Plus, people know when they're being pushed or manipulated.
Throughout this whole conversation, you've been creating
rapport and building trust. If you suddenly start pitching
your solution as the only one, your prospect will close up
again before your very eyes. She might start talking about
how she needs to think a few things over - and maybe she'll
get back to you in a couple of weeks. Maybe. In other
words, you just lost her.
Or if you do succeed in manipulating her into agreeing to
your solution without giving her a chance to think about
her other choices, she's likely to feel buyer's remorse
down the road and secretly resent you for it forever.
That's certainly no way to begin a healthy business
relationship, is it?
If you want to play a positive role in your prospect's
decision-making process and achieve your win-win goal, you
must make it totally clear to her, both in your words and
in your actions, that you support her right to explore all
her different options.
The good news is, if you truly understand her situation and
genuinely believe that your opportunity is her best
solution, and if you have effectively communicated why you
think that way, chances are pretty good that your prospect
will end up agreeing with you. And then you will get to
enjoy the most treasured of all outcomes.
Your new business relationship will be launched in an
atmosphere of mutual respect and commitment, with the
positive expectation that it will continue indefinitely.
You and your prospect will each get what you want, and
you'll both feel terrific about your decisions.
----------------------------------------------------
Liz Monte is particularly intrigued by new trends in
network marketing that could potentially transform the
industry's negative image and lead to the widespread
acceptance of a kindler and gentler approach to direct
marketing. She invites you to visit her website at
http://www.wisenetworkmarketer.com
No comments:
Post a Comment