10. PERSIST
Call on good prospects as many times as it takes to persuade them. About 80
percent of sales are made on the fifth call or later. It takes at least three fol-
low-up contacts to enroll most successful network marketers. Yet studies have
shown that:
- Fully 50 percent of network marketers call on a prospect one time
and quit. - About 18 percent call on a prospect twice and give up.
- Some 7 percent call three times and call it quits.
- About 5 percent call on a prospect four times before quitting.
- Only 20 percent call on a prospect five or more times before they
quit.
It’s that 20 percent who enroll the majority of future associates and gen-
erate 80 percent of the sales through their persistent efforts. You don’t have to
become a dynamic personality to consistently sell or enroll. You don’t have to
put pressure on people or outtalk people to accomplish your objectives. In
fact, putting pressure on your prospects is ineffective in producing a result or
in developing long-term leaders. It also leaves so many prospects who do not
choose to become involved with a very bad taste about those obnoxious,
pushy network marketers!
The most effective thing you can do is to apply your own intuitive skills
and savvy to these 10 ways to add strength to your persuasion. To master the
art of persuasion—as well as selling and enrollment—you must also learn to
recognize and work with different personality types.
There are eight different types of personalities:
- The balkers.These people are indecisive. They can’t make up their
minds. It takes a lot of patience to deal with them. Sooner or later,
you have to support them in moving the action in a forward direc-
tion by asking, “What would keep you from making a decision to
join us today?” - The talkers.You can control the talkers by asking questions to keep
pulling them back on track. Use simple questions they can answer
“yes” or “no” interspersed with questions that allow you to develop
rapport, identify what’s important to them or missing from their
lives, and support them in seeing how your offerings can contribute
to their lives.
The Art of Persuasion 101