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Your Contact List - The Door to your success in MLM

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Published: 05Nov2009
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Onto your Contact List should go everyone you can remember, going back as far as you can, no matter who they are, how long it is since you saw them or how little you know them. Your Contact List is the most important document in your possession: it is the foundation of your business.

Before you start your List, it is Important to understand that you cannot tell beforehand who will or will not be interested and if they do come into your business, who will or will not succeed. The most experienced distributors say that the only way they can tell who will succeed is by who is still with them after six months! Even if someone is not interested in the business, they might know someone who wouid be, or they may become a customer for the product, or they may know someone who would like to look at the products!There is just no way to tell in advance. And that person you rejected as being unsuitable-perhaps they know someone who would be a real star for you! So it is not who you know which matters, It is who they know.

So the rule is: do not prejudge. It is amazing how often distributors decide that someone they know would not be interested, perhaps because they think they are too busy or successful, only to find that someone else goes and signs them up!

If you do not show the product or the business to somebody, someone else will!

Get away from thinking that your job is to "sell" the opportunity or the products to people, because it is not. 'Selling' to some people suggests putting pressure on people and there is no place for this in network marketing-you will only lose your friends and destroy the reputation of your business.

Your job is only to sort the wheat from the chaff So just show people~everyone you can find-the product and the opportunity and let them make up their own minds. And remember, everyone is a source of names for you.

You need to write down everyone you know because sponsoring is a question of timing; unless you are incredibly lucky, only a small number of the people you talk to will be interested in an opportunity at that particular moment. Don't worry about that because you only need a small number of people anyway. If you find only 5 active people and everyone else brings in only 5, by just 5 levels down you will have 781 active people in your business. But to find that 5, you may need to talk to a lot of people. Let's say you start with only 10 people on your list, after selecting the contacts you judge will be the most interested. If the first 5 say 'No', you will be getting worried because, in your mind, half your contacts have let you down. But, if you have 100 names and you accept that you have no idea which of those 100 will be interested, you are not going to worry about 5 saying 'No'. Finally, if you do not start your business with a proper Contact List, the people you bring in will not, either. They will follow your example. I can tell you now that, if that happens, you will never get your business off the ground.

THE FROGS SYSTEM FOR BUILDING YOUR CONTACT LIST This is a pure numbers game. So you are going to have to kiss a lot of hogs to get your princes! The more people you see, the more you will sign. Do not be a sniper, picking off the odd target, be a machine gunner, firing at all and sundry.

Friends. Most people can easily remember the friends they see often. But check your address book and Christmas card list for those you see less frequently.

Relations. If you have few relatives, you will remember them easily. If your family is extended, again refer to your address book and Christmas card list, and ask close family members to check your list and add to it.

Organizations. The schools you attended (including the staff), the companies you have worked for (including the bosses and customers), the clubs and organizations you belong or have belonged to, all are sources of contacts.

Geographical:

1. Write down your neighbours where you live now

2. Note all your previous addresses, and write down all neighbours at each address at which you have lived

3. Think of everyone locally who is not a friend or relation, but whom you occasionally come across - your doctor, vicar, insurance broker, postman, milkman, accountant, solicitor, bank manager, receptionists, staff in shops, garages and so on. Do this for your previous addresses as well

4. Break the country into geographical areas and see if you can remember who you know in each area.

Social. This covers acquaintances who do not fit into any of the above categories. For instance, go through your list of friends again and try to remember who you met at their houses or at social occasions you attended with them. Do the same with your list of relatives and with neighbours you have visited.

CATEGORISING CONTACTS

You should categorise your contacts into two groups:

1. Executive Contacts: professionals, executives, managers, directors, salespeople, higher level entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and some people of a high social status or wealthy background

2. Non-executive Contacts: less high-powered entrepreneurs and businesspeople, and everyone else.

We said above, 'don't prejudge,' so why categorise? Not because people in one group may be more interested or more successful than people in the other. Your best contacts are those most determined and hungry for success, and they can come from either category. The only reason we categorise is because some people need to be shown the business differently:

- Executive contacts may be more influenced by how well the opportunity is presented to them or on the credibility of the person showing them than by the opportunity itself, and they are more likely to ask searching questions

- Non-executive Contacts may be less influenced by the way the business is presented1 and are less likely to ask searching questions.

This means that you should only approach Executive Contacts either when you have developed some experience, or with the hands-on support of an experienced upline. Don't worry if it is not possible, but try to see all your contacts with an upline. Not only is this the best way to sponsor but it is the quickest way for you to learn. For the same reason, train your downlines only to see their contacts with an upline.

Finally, keep your Contact List constantly updated. Collect business cards wherever you are. Every time you meet someone new, add them to the list. No-one is ever removed from your List until you sponsor them. Even If they loin another network, do not cross them off because it is quite common for people to try two or three networks before they find the one ~which leads to their success.

3. If a contact says 'Maybe' or 'No', cross their name off the Contact List and transfer their details to the card index system in the Contact Box, filed in alphabetic order.

4. Note on this card, the date of every approach you make to that contact (letter, phone or meeting), and the result.

5. Each time you get in touch, note in your diary the date on which you are next to get in touch. If they have become a retail customer, this of course is the next date you are to call about the product or reorders.

If you do a lot of retailing, you may want a second Contact Box just for your customers. Timing is important. Very often, people do not join a network when they first look because, at that stage, there is nothing in it for them. Perhaps they are happy at work and are earning enough for their needs. But no jobs or businesses are secure today and it often happens that a few weeks, months or years later, they will badly need your opportunity. If you do not keep in regular touch during this period, you will lose them to someone who does happen to approach them at the right moment. So it is important to follow up contacts frequently. This is very simple: just phone every few months and ask, 'How are things going?' As soon as you have made the call, enter the contact's name into your diary for the next scheduled contact.

Used properly, this system matures. It will sponsor more people for you in years two and three than in year one but not if you do not follow up properly!

Michael is a Distributor with Kleeneze, a UK Multi-Level Marketing Company, promoting household products via a catalogue. For further information http://www.vastincome.com

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