Being in the network marketing business, you know as well as I do that follow-ups are a key component to getting new recruits as well as keeping the present ones.

This post will focus on when you meet new prospects and what to do with them.

Probably the most important element involved is the time frame. As you bring a prospect through your recruiting process, it’s important you keep the time line tight.

A good rule of thumb is 48 hours. You should not let more than 48 hrs elapse before touching base with your new contact again.

People have lives and with that comes a short memory filled with distractions.  The fact that you let them have a CD or DVD to listen or watch can be easily forgotten. That’s why if you let 3 of 4 days go by, you may lose them.

A simple tactic is to expose your new contact to a series of events that grow in importance and urgency and to do this with no more than a 48 hour period elapsing between events.

So for example, on Tuesday you give your prospect a recruiting CD or DVD or whatever tool is best suited for a first time exposure to your product and opportunity.

On Thursday you escalate the importance of this event by doing a 3-way call or conference call with them that will introduce them to others.  This gives you credibility.

On Saturday you may be hosting a home presentation to further inform your candidate.  Remember that you are undertaking to educate your candidate.

And then on Monday, you may be attending a hotel opportunity meeting to seal the deal.

By exposing your prospect to an escalaing set of event, you qualify your prospect more fully.  I understand that it isn’t always possible to follow such a scenario, however, even if you are just dropping off some marketing material or calling to see if they have questions, you are creating an event of some sort and connecting with your prospect.

You have to stay visible and keeping the prospect focused for a series of sustained impressions has a powerful cumulative effect and will produce your best results.

Remember to make contact every few days. Escalate the impressions if possible. Tell the candidate when you will follow up, and then do what you say.

This simple set of steps should be part of any effective network marketing training.

In part 1, you learned how to replace certain network marketing terms that no network marketers would not understand with terms that are understood by everyone.

In part 2, you learned how to approach a business owner, make a connection and get the appointment so that you could pitch your opportunity.

In this last part, you are ready to close your prospect.

One good method is to visually explain what the term leverage means. To do that, you can use what is termed the napkin presentation .

Let’s say you draw a circle and place the person in the circle. Draw another circle below that one linking it to the top one and put 5 in that one.

The number 5 represents the number of people the prospect would have signed up over some time. Then under that circle draw another, link it to the top one and put 25 in that one.

Keep doing this turning 25 into 125 and then 625, 1250 etc. You get the idea.

Now there are all kinds of representations for the napkin presentation. I have another model here.

You can also draw a matrix with a circle in the middle – YOU – and lines around this circle to other circles with individuals (i.e. staff members) and business names in them.

Then you clinch the whole presentation by saying:

“John, our team will collaborate with you to support and train your staff and your clients, with health seminars, help with displays and promotion, ALL FREE OF CHARGE!

John should be blown away by this offer.  You won’t only be helping him grow his business, give his employees a raise he won’t have to pay but also training him, his staff and his clients all at no extra charge.

You then continue to inform him of his investment in all of this by saying:

“And John, your investment for all of this is $2000 per year, divided in 12 monthly installments.

These monthly payments buy your protein shakes to retail in your gym where you will be making a profit and recouping all of your investment plus much more.

I can have your IsaLean Shakes here at the beginning of next week.”

Pause here….

Now don’t you think the business owner will give this offer serious consideration?

If he doesn’t, there are many more out there who will and with practise you can get really good at this process.

It’s all about growing and getting just a little uncomfortable to achieve even greater things.  Getting good at this will spell faster success for your business.  Teaching your team this strategy is crucial.

I know that some of you will have different products you are promoting.  Just modify the scenario accordingly.

It’s all about how much you want to succeed.  So get-em!  I am!

Everyone’s a prospect! You may have come across that statement from a fellow networker or even your upline trainer.

To believe such a statement puts into practice the “3 foot rule” and the “when in doubt blurt it out” technique.

In these days of network marketing, you will be laughed at and rejected often.

Who likes to be rejected?  Not me!

So you may be new to the industry but it does not mean that you have to talk to everyone that comes within arms length. There is nothing more embarrassing than to go to a network marketing convention and see hundreds of associates approaching anything that walks and talks.

It makes me want to hide! It’s also these kinds of antics that have damaged the industry’s reputation almost beyond repair and what holds back a lot of people to even consider network marketing as a viable second income that could lead them to the freedom they really want in a shorter time than a 9 to 5 job ever will.

Now don’t get me wrong. I was once a newbie and I also didn’t know any better or I should say I was not taught any better.

I can remember a convention I attended in Florida about 14 years ago. Boy, when we hit Tampa, Tampa new we were there. Thank God I have since learned how to really do network marketing in an efficient and less intrusive way.

The plain old truth of the matter is that not everyone is your prospect!

Not everyone is looking to run their own business. There will always be some, and that really is the majority of people, who just want to have a no hassle, don’t bother me life. And that’s great? Don’t you need customers?

And there will always be some that despise the industry and see it as a scam. There is nothing you can do about that and as Jim Rohn says “Don’t even go there”.

Why waste your energy when there are others just waiting to hear about an opportunity that might change their lives?

Remember that your time is valuable and that people have to earn their time with you by showing an interest in what you’re offering and by asking questions.

It doesn’t matter if you think the person is the perfect prospect. Until they go out of their way to get more information, they really are just another bystander.

It’s not your job to convert anyone. Your job is to get the maximum returns possible for your time and efforts. How? By talking to people who is already on the same page as you or soon will be.

Sure you can cold call and try to prospect other networkers and you might get lucky after many rejections. I hate cold calling. It just makes me squirm inside.

There are much better ways to market and invest in a respectable marketing system that will find targeted prospects that want to hear what you have to say.

Who finds who first is what’s important. It positions you as the expert and you no longer have to feel as the hunter looking for prey.