I know a lot of people really struggle with this and I have to be honest – for me personally, it depends on the market I’m working in. I find Aussies and Kiwis are pretty easy to get on the phone in a general sense and Americans have been typically the worst mainly due to their complex phone minding systems. However, if you are serious about building long-term residual income in the MLM/Network Marketing industry I have some key points here to share with you on how I get prospects on the phone most of the time.
Firstly, you absolutely have to be sure that the leads you are generating from your marketing efforts are qualified. And what do I mean by qualified – well let’s just say that the 4 foot rule and mirror fogging methods no longer work! They have to be people seriously searching for a business for starters and your ads need to reflect this. If they are not qualified, then the chances of them answering their phone will be considerably lower and you don’t want to be wasting your time on people who are not serious about what you have.
Secondly, aim for peak times. If I’m calling in the morning, I aim for around 10:30 – 11:30am, so mid morning. If it’s a Mum you’re calling, it will be well and truly after school drop off time and usually for working people after the first meeting of the day. They will be more likely to pick up the phone than if it’s close to or during lunchtime or first thing in the morning when people are more likely to feel that it’s their bank calling! Afternoons it’s between 2 and 5pm (before or after school pick up time) and evenings it’s between 7 and 9pm – well and truly after dinner time. Never call people at 6pm – they will automatically assume you’re a telemarketer.
Thirdly, always try people three times and on three separate days. Ideally as soon as the lead comes in you want to be calling them as quickly as possible. It’s not just good customer service, it shows you are a professional and considering that most Network Marketers are not calling their leads, it positions you strongly and ahead of the others who are just e-mailing their leads. So if a lead came in at Midday, I would call them immediately (they are probably on their lunchbreak and ready for the call, otherwise I wouldn’t). I would try again between 2 and 5pm the same day if I didn’t get them straight away. I would try again the following morning between 10:30am and Midday then the following evening between 7 and 9pm.
Leaving a message is always done after the first attempt. I don’t personally leave another message until the third try and I always let them know that I’ve tried them a few times over the past few days and that this will be my final attempt. That way you are leaving it up to them – if they are serious, they will call you back. I repeat this process with e-mail. I e-mail them after trying them the first time on the phone and leaving a message and the third time after leaving the message. The e-mail is almost a carbon copy of the voicemail you leave.
After the final attempt and leaving a message and sending that final e-mail, I’ll also text them and see if I can find them on social media and ping them there too. That way, I’ve covered all bases. If they don’t respond after all of that, then clearly they are not the type of person you are looking to work with (unless of course some huge family emergency has just occurred which is usually pretty unlikely).
Lastly, and this is probably the most important thing you can do, always ensure that your number is not blocked or set to private. Have your phone settings so that your number displays on your prospects phone. It is literally mind blowing the number of people (business owners included) who simply do not answer their phone if a “Private” or “Blocked” number comes up. This is absolutely critical to your success in getting people to answer.
So I hope these tips have helped. Some of you may already be doing this, but I’m pretty confident most are not. Understand that this is a numbers game and most prospects you won’t bring on board as team members. And that is perfectly okay. Remember you are the CEO of your business and you decide who you do and don’t work with. If someone is going to be impossible to connect with, how are you going to be able to help them build a business and help others do the same? So go out and make at least 5 – 10 of these types of calls a day. Do that regularly and you are well on your way to making a solid full-time residual income. Have fun!!
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