same way. Harry has a need, but he’s telling me no and I know that he’s not
lying to me on purpose. That’s the key—on purpose. Always remember, an
excuse is a bag of reasons stuffed with lies. It looks good on the outside,
but inside there’s just nothing to it. And if Harry tells me he doesn’t have
the money and I find a way to handle his money objection, in most cases
I’m barking up the wrong tree and I’m still not going to sponsor Harry. I’ve
got to find out what’s really holding Harry back, and more importantly I’ve
got to help Harry understand what’s holding him back, too. Does it makes
sense that until I help Harry understand why he’s hesitating, I can’t get
Harry moving?
So, to sponsor somebody you’ve got to get him or her moving. You
can take a ship anchored in port and try all you can to steer it but it’s not
going to steer anywhere because it’s not moving. Once you get that ship to
pull anchor and start moving, even if it’s moving in the wrong direction, you
can steer it and make it go in the right direction. That’s what I want to do
with Harry. I want to get Harry moving. Once I get him moving, I can spon-
sor him. I may ask a very nonthreatening, noncommittal question: “Hypo-
thetically, and this will never happen, but I’m just curious... if the
president of our company gave you a promissory note that if you worked
this business four hours a week for the next four weeks only, and that’s all
you had to do, he would guarantee you a commission check of $4,000—
then would you get in and work it four hours a week for the next four
weeks if it’s guaranteed?”
What is Harry going to tell me? “Yeah, I’d do that.” Then I’ll say,
“Okay, great. What I think I hear you saying is.. .” and now you repeat their
answer in your words. “Let me repeat what I think I hear you saying. What
you’re really telling me, Harry, is if it was guaranteed to make you $4,000
this month for 16 hours’ work, then you could find the time and the money to
do this business? But because it’s not guaranteed, there are enough other
things holding you back that you’re not sure about this and therefore money
is an issue and time is an issue because we’ve got too many variables left un-
known? Is that what you are really telling me?”
What answer can Harry give me at that point? Is there anything besides
“yes” that he can say? You see, it’s not that I put Harry in a corner. It’s that I
now got Harry to confess to the honest truth. “Yes, if it’s guaranteed, I’d do
it. But it’s not guaranteed; therefore I’m hesitating.” Now we’re on the same
page. Only once we are on the same page can I answer his real objection.
The next step is to get Harry to start moving a little bit, and I need to
inch him along. Now, this isn’t a prefect world, so this doesn’t always hap-
pen this way. But if you are sponsoring 2 out of 10 people, this little tech-
nique will probably get your response rate from 2 out of 10 to probably 5 or
6 out of 10.
168 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO NETWORK MARKETING