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For instance, can you provide them with another product (maybe from one of your referral partners) that will save them time, money, or frustration? Do you have any additional contacts or information that can help them sell more effectively? Do you have any referrals for them? If so, share those names.

ENGAGE NAYSAYERS!

No matter how seasoned a network marketer you are, when someone says something negative about your business or your abilities, it stings. Conventional wisdom says that you should just ignore any naysayers. After all, won’t they just hold you back from your goals?

The opposite is actually true when you are trying to discover unique methods for successfully networking. Some of the best strategies and contacts are born from unwelcome criticism. Negative comments often contain kernels of truth—the people offering them just do not do a great job delivering them. Your goal in networking is to engage these naysayers, determine what experiences and ideas they have to share, and then ask them for help to achieve your goals.

Ask naysayers for help? Yes! These individuals are used to being ignored by others but have numerous experiences and contacts to share. By simply listening to them rather than dismissing them, you can make them an important part of your networking circle.

Perhaps they may have had a negative experience with a network marketing company, distributor, or product. Engage naysayers by requesting that they tell you all about their horrible experience. Show you are listening by repeating back statements they make to you. If they say you will never be able to get past people’s objections about the network marketing industry, you say, “You may be right. Getting past prior traumatic experiences can be difficult. What would you suggest to make it possible?”

Your goal is to find the truth, anger, or pain in what they are saying and discover new strategies they have to offer. As you hear them out and listen to their ideas, their defenses fall, and they will share their years of experience. And if they don’t have an interest themselves, they may just provide you with the name of someone who can help you achieve your goal. Now that is successful networking!

The foundation to achieving network marketing success faster is to realize that it is okay to ask for help. The most common notion people have is that in order to succeed, you must go it alone. But getting help is not a sign of weakness. It is just smart business. When someone else introduces you, it instantly increases your credibility and encourages people to trust you, making your sales process easier and your networking efforts more exciting.

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Remember that the key to achieving success in the field of network marketing is right there in its name—networking! Welcome to the world where successful networking is really just building a circle of continual referrals rather than a straight-line effort to create your own success.

Reaching more than 2.4 million entrepreneurs monthly, Romanus Wolter is the “Kick Start Guy.” As the author of the best-selling Kick Start Your Dream Business (Ten Speed Press), co-founder of www.KickStartSuccess.com, and Entrepreneur magazine’s Success Coach columnist, he provides practical, proven action steps that close the gap between goals and success.

As a radio host and speaker, Romanus leaves audiences energized and with enough creative ideas to last two lifetimes. His programs are tied together with passion and action! As more than one person has said, “Romanus does not view the cup as half-full or half-empty—it’s overflowing!” Romanus’ best-sell- ing small business guidebook, Kick Start Your Dream Business, provides the information and inspiration people need to succeed. The action steps in the book apply to both a person’s life and career, giving them the ability to make powerful choices. It helps change “I can’t” into “I can!”

Romanus obtained a master’s degree in international marketing. As an entrepreneurial consultant in London and Hong Kong, he learned what it takes for small businesses to expand. The practical steps captured in Kick Start Your Dream Business leverage this rare experience. His new small business web site at www.KickStartSuccess.com, provides the action steps, expert advice, community, and resources people need to succeed.

Romanus is a columnist for Be Your Own Boss, The Magazine for Working Women and has a monthly “The Kick Start Guy” segment on Entrepreneur Radio. His observations on what it takes to succeed have been reported in respected publications such as BusinessWeek, Bloomberg Television, the Chicago Tribune, Quicken.com, Money & Profits, the Korea Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous other media.

Chapter

27

Heating Up Your Cold Market

Amy Posner

Building a network marketing business is about talking to people. Naturally, it follows that you are always going to need people to talk to, and how to go about finding enough of those people is an especially important part of the larger success puzzle. Reaching Out

Methods (ROMs) are simply ways of marketing in order to find people interested in building a business. Depending on your personality and style, as well as available time and budget, there are various methods from which to choose.

Having a few different ROMs working in parallel is generally a sound marketing approach for your network marketing business. Some strategies will be more long-term, while others will work more quickly; some will require a larger financial commitment, some will be low-cost, and some will be no-cost. Some ROMs will be in your warm market, some in the cold. Each has its merits; the point is not to rely on one alone, but to always have at least a few different methods working for you at any given time.

Let’s take a look at several ROMs in detail, including working with Internet-generated leads; advertising through newspaper, radio, and magazine; and working in affinity groups.

Remember, you are running a business, and it makes sense to approach it in a businesslike manner. That includes having a marketing plan, consistently working that plan, and evaluating it on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. Doing so will enable you to see what’s working and what’s not, which in turn will allow you to invest more of your time and resources in those methods that yield the greatest results.

Many of us started our businesses in the warm market, talking to people we know. This has been the classic staple of network marketing train- ing—who hasn’t heard of the idea of starting out by making a list of family and friends?

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the warm market is the

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preferable way to go for everyone. Some people distinctly prefer to get started in the cold market first. This can be more difficult in some ways (for example, you may have less credibility with people you don’t know than with those you do), but some of us are simply more comfortable there— and that’s okay! In fact, sometimes cutting your teeth in the cold market and getting some success under your belt is exactly what will then enable you to feel more secure approaching the people you know and doing so with more conviction.

I’ve always been a phone prospector. Put me on the phone and I can talk to anyone I’ve never spoken to before without fear or intimidation.

But drop me off at the mall and ask me to meet people—and at the end of an hour I’ll be wanting to quit the business. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that I’m unfriendly or a recluse. I just know what I like and what I’m good at.

I had an eye-opening experience years ago when I recruited a dynamic woman who was keen to build her business. I trained her to do what I do: call people on the phone. A week into her business, she called and told me she realized that she had made a mistake; this wasn’t going to work for her.

We got together to talk about it. In conversation, I learned that she felt opposite from the way I felt: The thought of having to pick up the phone and talk to people was more than she could bear. In fact, she was someone who wanted to go to the mall and just see who turned up!

We discussed how to do that and what else she could do to get her out and meeting more people face-to-face. Her business started growing almost immediately—and I learned a huge lesson that has served me very well ever since: We’re all better getting started in those areas and using those methods with which we already feel comfortable. What works best for you may not work best for your new distributor!

Ask your new distributors (and for that matter, ask yourself this, too), what kinds of things can you see yourself doing to start talking to people about your business? Listen carefully to their answers and help them make a plan based on those responses. Eventually you’ll want to get out of your comfort zone, but starting there can be very helpful. For many people, just starting a business is enough out of the comfort zone, so it’s good to have a way to start it that’s not so scary or intimidating.

There are only two choices: talking to people you know, or talking to strangers. From there, the question is how to go about contacting people in either group. Being somewhat of a cold market expert, I’m going to focus on mostly on cold marketing methods. For talking to people you know, I’ll refer you back to your sponsor or upline to help you come up with your top 10 list and work on how to best approach them.