One Reason New Recruits Struggle
-By Tammy Stanley
It can be incredibly discouraging to direct sellers and network marketers when new recruits quickly give up on the possibilities that seemed so exciting to them when they first submitted their application. Far too many new recruits seem to give up before they even give this business a chance, which can be very challenging for those who recruited them.
After you have gone through all the effort of following up with them, helping them to understand this opportunity, doing the initial training with them, and getting to know them, it is an understatement to say that it's a big letdown when they suddenly stop taking your calls or seemingly disappear from the face of the earth.
Can you and I agree that when that happens it is NOT fun? (I will assume we can.)
When my daughter-in-law and I took little Rocco (my 2-year old grandson) out trick or treating the other night, something happened that gave me some insights into that situation with new recruits.
When we walked up to the first neighbor's house, they were sitting outside on the front porch enjoying the evening and handing out candy (I think I had better explain to those living in cooler climates - it's still warm here in Arizona and we can actually do that - relax on the porch outside at night!). Well as soon as Rocco saw these people sitting outside he got nervous and very, very shy. He refused to say trick or treat, hello, thank-you, or good-bye.
We did not understand what was going on with him. We thought he was excited to go trick or treating for the first time, but his behavior was definitely saying something different. Still, we chose to give him another chance.
Upon approaching the next house Rocco got very energetic and ran up to ring the doorbell. When the people answered he said "TRICK OR TREAT" nice and loud just like that. He even said, "Thank you and Happy Halloween" to them. We then thought, "Oh, he just needed to get warmed up."
At the next house he was happy as a lark, ringing the bell and saying all the things he said at the last house. We could tell now that he was on a roll and we might be doing this for a while.
Think again.
As we approached the next house I noticed that Rocco once again lost that skip in his step. These neighbors were outside on their front porch, and as nice as they were to him, he would not look up or say anything to them. And after that Rocco just wanted to back to my house and play with his train set.
As we were trying to figure out what he was so uncomfortable with, my daughter-in-law Stephanie said, "Do you think it has something to do with how I coached him? When I told him how this works, all I kept repeating was: You walk up to a house, knock on the door, and when the people answer the door you say trick or treat."
We all started laughing because we realized in that moment that little Rocco felt totally prepared when the people were inside their house, but when they were waiting outside their house... Well, no one had told him that people would do THAT!
Now let us se how this might apply to you and your direct sales or network marketing business!
When new recruits go to an opportunity meeting or a sales meeting, who are the people around them? All the people who said, "No" to the business? Obviously no.
Consider also how most of the training you give is structured on what to do with people when they say, "Yes." In the home party business you show new recruits how to coach a hostess and how to do the company demo at a home party. In the network marketing business you show new recruits what to say during a one-on-one appointment or how to get them to an opportunity meeting.
In other words, you train them on what to do with the people who show interest, but there is hardly any training on what to do with the people who show no interest. Hmm... In addition to that, what do most prospects say to new recruits? Would you believe, "No"?
An almost comical thing in this business is that the people you feel certain will tell you "Yes," often tell you, "No." Of course the flipside to that is that the people you feel certain will tell you "No," often tell you, "Yes."
However, the situation with most new recruits is that they get incredibly discouraged when they discover that the people they thought would be supportive are not. Because they are totally unprepared for that, they end up acting just like little Rocco did - they retreat and tell themselves that it would be better to give up on this endeavor and go back home to their comfort zone (And I've heard that some men still play with trains! LOL! I couldn't resist saying that since I know one who does!)
If you only present the good, the great, and the fantastic of this business, your new recruits are far more likely to think that they are not cut out for this business once they experience something less than wonderful. They fail to realize that this business does not require a certain personality type; it requires skills that one needs time and experience to develop.
When you present a more realistic view of things, it is actually far easier for new recruits to be successful, and contrary to what you might think, you do not scare away perfectly good prospects. Indeed, you will find it to be quite the opposite - the people who secretly want a "get rich quick scheme" will walk away, while the diligent people, the ones who understand that a good business opportunity requires an investment of time and money, will step forward.