I should really begin this article by explaining my state of mind and the state of mind of my husband, prior to joining (COMPANY).
We were like most network marketers. Extremely frustrated. We had tried several network marketing companies with limited success. In about half the cases we made a bad decision in choosing the company. With the other companies, problems within the company or the particular organization we had joined prompted us to leave the company. Nothing seemed to be working! Nothing.
We toyed with the idea of getting out of network marketing altogether. We had all the disappointments we could stand. We pretty well backed out of the industry for several months, although we did roll the dice a couple of times on newly launched companies.
Then the phone rang. It was an acquaintance from New York I had worked with in a company several years ago. He had just joined (Company} under an organization he felt could give me a great advantage in building a business. He explained that the leaders of the organization were already top producers and wanted to build a new power leg. He felt I would be perfect for it. I was flattered, but skeptical. My husband, even more-so. But, I set up an appointment for both my husband and I to speak with our acquaintance and one of these leaders on the phone for the next night.
We listened to what they had to say. When the leader got off the call, my husband had some pretty strong words for our acquaintance. I quote: “New York is only a 14 hour drive. If you do Brande wrong, I will be there.” (I later found out our acquaintance could not understand my husband’s strong southern accent. So, he did not know what my husband had told him.)
I faxed in my application that night.
It was a few days before I received my value pack and business kit. In the mean time, I was taking care of some other projects to free up my time a little.
It was now about the 20th of January. I needed to get busy. My first call was to a very good friend who had worked with me with several companies in the past. Sure, she would sign up, but she said she could not until after the fifth of the following month. I appreciate a sign-up whenever I can get one.. but I was in a hurry to build. So I thanked her, told her that was great, and moved on. I would get back with her after the first of the month.
I started calling leads I had accumulated over the years. My upline was wonderful with the three-way calls. They worked with me constantly. I was getting bites, but wasn’t landing any fish! All I knew I could do was keep on trying.
My husband has his own business, and did not have time to be of any real help during the day. But at night, he was up with me until 3AM most mornings helping put together our web sites, writing promotional materials, and doing whatever he could. But all of this was for future business, I needed sign-ups now!
I dug through my files and found the names and telephone numbers of a few people I had worked with, or at least was in the same company with, several years ago.
My first call was a success! He said he would sign up, but wanted to wait until the end of the month. Again, this was wonderful.. but I wanted sign-ups now! I put him on my list to get with after the first of the month.
I kept making calls and I kept building relationships on-line. I told those I met each day of the opportunity I am involved with. I did everything I felt I could do to build a business in a hurry. When I was tired of prospecting, I would do other things to help my business. I set up a toll free number and a 5 minute prospecting message with a local answering service, and I started planning the rest of my strategy for off-line building.
Finally, on the 22th of the month, I had my first actual sign-up! I was dead tired.. not having slept more than three or four hours a night. My husband was tired from working on his end of the bargain, and we both were extremely grouchy. But now I was on fire! I decided I wanted to make director by the end of the month, nine days away!
When I told my husband my goal, he simply rolled his eyes. Don’t get me wrong, he has always supported my efforts. But he might of felt my goals were a little lofty. You see, he likes to sleep at night and he hates to sleep alone.
Over the next several days I worked extremely hard. I would get what I thought was a great prospect, only to be disappointed that they just would not make a decision. Old teammates were either frustrated at network marketing or were otherwise involved. New introductions to the company were slow to make decisions. I was getting frustrated, but not discouraged. So, I kept working.
I made notes of people who were interested, but not yet ready. I scheduled appointments to get back with them. I added their e-mail addresses to my newsletter subscriber list. Essentially, I created a prospect database.
On the morning of the 29th, I made a list of those who I felt would sign-up and those who I felt I had a chance of getting before the first. It was close, REAL close. I started following up with them to make sure they got their paperwork to me. My friend who wanted to wait until the 5th decided to go ahead and join that day. But a couple of my other good prospects ran in to problems, and others decided to put off joining until after the first of the month.
On the morning of the 30th, I was coming up short! I needed more people and I was feeling a little lost. I had to do something! But all I could do was stick with it. I made calls to new prospects and followed up with old prospects.
On the morning of the 31st my list was still short by two people, and that is if, and that is a big if, those I felt would sign up actually did. For the last several days I am sure I had been driving my upline crazy with phone calls. But today, I called them countless times. They were rooting for me and helping me with problems, but it was up to me to prove I could produce. And, I had to have everyone submitted to (Company} by 2:00 AM that night.
My husband and I had scheduled to go out to dinner that evening with prospects, and my husband had a busy day otherwise. When he was around, he would ask me “How many do you lack?” I was almost in tears. I just had to make director today, but I was short. Once, when my husband was out, I called some in-laws to see if I could find him. In the conversation I mentioned that I was real busy working on my business and told them a little about the products. They said they would love to see the products. Around 2:30 PM, my husband dropped off a catalog to them.
I was working on a local prospect at the same time. This prospect wanted to join up, but absolutely would not allow anyone to debit his checking account or charge his charge card automatically. He is just real peculiar in that way. After three phone calls he suggested that he just pay a year in advance and the company send him the products each month. This resulted in several calls to my upline and (Company}. The representative at (Company} said that was the first time they ever heard of such a request. It was finally decided that they were not set up to handle that situation. I was frustrated.
Our guests for the evening had shown up at 3:00 PM and was watching all that was going on. I imagine they were feeling a little put-out by my having to direct most of my attention to my business. About 4:00 my in-laws called back and wanted to order. This was a sheer stroke of luck. I had no idea they were seriously interested. I asked my husband to drop what he was doing and go pick up the applications.
At about 5:00 I called the cell phone of my prospect who did not like auto-drafts. He and his wife were dining at Steak & Ale and asked to get together that evening to discuss the matter. The problem was I already had guests for the evening, and I was trying to get all my sign-ups to fax me their applications, review them, and then fax them into the company. On top of that, I was talking with every prospect I could. There seemed to be no way it could happen!
I ended up talking to him on his cell phone three times while he was having dinner. Finally he agreed to sign-up and, since I was going out to dinner with my other prospects, he would leave the completed paperwork in the front seat of my car.
Our dinner prospects signed up. They were prospects which I had felt good about, but to my surprise, both of them signed up individually. They are an unmarried couple and both liked what they saw!
Upon returning home I anxiously checked my car. There were no applications from the prospect who did not like auto-drafts. So I called him on his cell phone. He said he had swung back by his office (he owns his own local service business) to review the information I had given him and was trying to decide what to order. He agreed to drop by the house in a bit.
In the mean time, I was on the phone with other prospects helping them complete their applications. Some disappointed me and fell through. Others came through when I did not think they would. I was pulling my hair out!
The prospect who did not like auto-drafts showed up at the house. My daughter ushered him and his wife into our basement office. I spent two hours going over the business with him, all the while taking calls from prospects I was working with, and working on completing applications and faxing them in.
Finally, the prospect visiting me decided to join, and join big ordering the business kit, the value pack, and some marketing materials.
At 11:00 PM, I had all the distributors I needed to make director, and all of the applications had been faxed in. It was time to call my upline. At the advice of my upline I faxed all the applications to (Company} a second time to be sure they had received them all.
I spent a few more minutes with my upline planning a future event here in Atlanta which he could attend. My new member who did not like auto-drafts had joined as a pacesetter. Being highly motivated, he offered to pay the cost of admission and provide transportation for our local organization to attend an upcoming motivational seminar in a neighboring city.
Still being hyper from an extremely busy and stressful day, at 1:00 AM I called (Company} to be sure they had received the paperwork and was processing it. Everything was fine. I had made director!
That is how I went from my first sign-up to director in just nine days of hard work. The icing on the cake is I have additional sign-ups scheduled over the next few days, and so do some of my teammates.
It is important for you to understand that this was not easy. During those nine days I had family and personal issues to contend with that just could not be put off or ignored.
Typically, six to eight hours a day was spent away from the business, plus about another four hours for sleep. I had a 15 month old son who wanted constant attention, and screamed at the top of his lungs when my attention was diverted to talking with prospects.
What made me successful was hard work and constantly putting the opportunity in front of prospects. I put most my effort in signing up my good prospects, all the while never turning down an opportunity to tell someone about my business. Taking advantage of these opportunities is what resulted in my in-laws signing up. Something I never expected. Persistence closed the deal with the prospect who did not like auto-drafts. I worked very hard to ease his concerns, and it was that effort that sold him on me.
Of course, the constant support and encouragement of my upline was a lifesaver at times. Their encouragement would cause me to make just one or two more calls before calling it a night. It is that little bit of extra effort that makes the difference between a winner and a loser.
What’s next for me? A long deserved good night’s sleep. Then tomorrow, I am going back to building my business. I have several people I need to help make director this month, so I don’t have time to waste!
Brande and Chris Bradford are active participants in a home based business opportunity and are the publishers of GREAT HEIGHTS, a monthly newsletter focused on home based business issues. To subscribe to their newsletter, send a blank e-mail to: Great-Heights-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit: http://www.brandebradford.com
