Prospecting Strategies: Divide and Conquer

Many network marketing reps struggle as far as prospecting is concerned.

One of the reasons why they are so uncomfortable when approaching their friends is because they are fighting an uphill battle against their group of friends.

Granted, it is very difficult when you are doing it alone. After all, peer pressure is against you and the only way you can successfully convince your friends to join your network marketing is if you and another partner are working as a team.

The first and most notable example of working together as a team is with your spouse or your significant other.

The man will usually talk business, because most prospects usually perceive the man as the one holding the authority (not that women are inferior, but they have more powerful ROLES in different areas).

The women on the other hand, will do well trying to relate to the prospect through products and services.

With that said, don’t fight to be the boss – learn to examine the situation.

This sort of tag team prospecting is even more effective when dealing with couples because while the man talks about business plans in the living room, the women can chat all about products in the kitchen.

If you do not have a partner, you can always pair up with your upline or a side line (sometimes, it even works with downlines… after all, there is power in numbers). If your upline and you know a mutual friend, greatest leverage you have to convince a common friend to sign up is to use social leverage (after all, ‘everyone else’ is in… what about you?) This works even well if your upline has credibility and is someone who is well respected, you will have better chances for success.

The most important thing is to make sure you do not do this business alone. Network marketing is a business that puts you in business for yourself, but you are NOT going to work by yourself. Trying to go solo in your network marketing business is suicidal because if your downlines try and pick it up, they will each do things their own way (solo) and you will have a heck of a problem when your group reaches a large number.

Another reason why it is very difficult to work alone is because you don’t have all the time in the world to go running around prospecting and taking care of all your downlines at the same time. You need to share the load and give some credit to your downlines as they look out for one another when you are not around.

You are in business for yourself, but not BY yourself. You must learn to divide and conquer as you work together with your uplines, downlines, sidelines and even the staff in the company. When your prospect see you walk down the isle and the managers and staff are all waving to you, it gives you a lot of credibility (when they wave to you and you go, “By the way, that’s the managing director of the company…”)

Remember, there is strength in numbers.