It has been said that assumption is the mother of all mis-communication. To assume, means to pre-assign meaning to a situation based on what someone says or does. The meaning that we assign, however, is based on our own internal frames of reference, “our frame” if you will.
Why does this lead to much lower conversion rates (sales conversion ratios) in your network marketing / MLM or direct sales business? The answer is simple … the entire default frame of reference for the industry is the assumption that someone wants to have more money, a better lifestyle, financial freedom.
In the various corners or product offerings of the network marketing / mlm or direct sales industries also lies more presumption. You see, when you understand that everyone does not have the same values as you; or assign the same importance to great nutrition, personal development, financial education, or even leisure travel, you then will begin to realize why you may set yourself up for failure right at the outset of a conversation.
Just yesterday afternoon, I was graced with a “slam call”, a person prospecting me for an opportunity ( he bought my name from a list I guess) and was cold calling me. He first used deception, posing as a prospect, asking me how my business was going (that I have been out of for over a year), and that sent up the red flag. He made it sound as if he was calling me about my business, and then all of the sudden shifted into a hard core press, push, and otherwise infliction technique whereby he said the following …
“if I can show you how to put $10,000 on the table for your kids in the next 30 days using a system where people like me would be calling your customers and closing all of the deals for you, wouldn’t you want to take a few minutes to learn more? You would earn up to $3,000 per sales while you are doing something else.”
Pretty strong statement actually, attaching money and to my kids. However, he was of course “pre-supposing” that I had kids, that I would even be interested in having $10,000, that I would be excited by $3,000 a sale, that I would want to have someone else do the selling for me (which means that I am weak or afraid of doing my own selling), or that I would go further in a discussion with a person that just used deception to get in the door.
I will tell you how I answered him in just a minute, however, I am willing to bet this guy makes lots of phone calls per day that are real short. I had actually called him back, because he left a message inquiring about my business (the old one), so I figured perhaps I could sell him a Mach 1 and/or Samurai Marketing course. However, I did not press him, or even get to the point of even discussing it with him.
Now, when you hear me talk about spraying the “spaghetti” against the wall in your network marketing / MLM or direct sales business, this is precisely what I am talking about. It’s called throw enough stuff out there, as fast as you can, that many people may have an interest in, and see what sticks.
Pre-supposition #1 was that I would want to have $10,000 in the next 30 days. Who wouldn’t especially if someone would simply give it to me, which is almost how it sounded to me.
Pre-supposition #2 was that I may be excited by $3,000 a sale income.
Pre-supposition #3 was that I did not want to have to do my own selling, or work, or otherwise.
Pre-supposition #4 was that I needed the money for my kids, even if I didn’t need it for me; that “of course” I would do it for them.
Pre-supposition #5 was that I would forget that he just deceived me to get me on the phone, and that I would then trust him.
Pre-supposition #6 was that I even needed or wanted what he had, because of course everyone wanted money.
I could parse this down even further, yet you get the picture. Sadly, this is very typical of a power sales script in network marketing, MLM, and direct sales. Pushy, presumptive/assumptive that more money is required or desired, etc.
When you chose to use a sales script like this, you will begin to realize that you are not going to “connect” with too many people, because there is something fundamental that must happen in order for that connection to happen. You must have credibility, and trust, at least a little, And that kind of trust and credibility is created by being polite, straight forward, and totally absent of deceit.
So how did I respond to this guy? Did I say I wasn’t interested? No, I figured he had a comeback line to that, where he would try to make me feel guilty or out of sync with everyone else. Did I ask him how much it would cost, or any other question? No I did not; because I know there was one word that would stop this train dead in its tracks; and would provide at least a little fun for me watching how he handled it.
So follow me here … his question sums up like this “if I could SHOW you how to have $10,000 for my kids right now, of course you would be willing to take a look right?” My answer … NO.
As I have so often pointed out in my articles, e-books, and trainings for several years now our prospects rarely tell us NO. They give us excuses, or well planned lies, to be polite, etc. However, I wanted to see what he did with that answer (just being curious of course); because with proper skills he might have elongated our discussion, and who knows.
When I said NO, I just let it hang out there. There was 8 -10 seconds of silence. He did not know what to say, and finally said, have a nice day in a sarcastic kind of self propping kind of way. He never even asked me what I was saying no to. (He was busy trying to think of what to say, a true pattern interrupt).
Because he was too busy giving me his pitch (and he is a busy guy of course), the thought never occurred to him to ask me what I may have wanted; why I got involved in the industry; or if I even had kids. With a pitch like that by the way, expect to make hundreds of phone calls per week as only those that fit your presumptive pitch will respond; and that will be limited to the desperate (the 30 day part), or the weak (the I close your sales part).
As regular readers of this blog, you should now have an understanding of what he should have done instead …
On tonight’s New England Marketing / Mach 1 Relationships call, I will cover the proper scenario in detail.
The call is at 9PM EST 712-338-8000 pin# 9079#
See ya there!
Jim Rivas