The Secrets to Identifying the Prospect Leads who will Build Your Network Marketing Empire

Knowing where to find your high quality prospect leads will probably be no secret at all if you've just read the section on how to identify your customers! But before I move on to telling you exactly who and where your prospect leads are, let me have a guess at your current prospecting methods.

• Number One prospecting method is to talk to everyone in your 100 Name Friends and Family list(to the point that you're no longer invited to family weddings, baptisms and funerals and you're a fully paid up member of the "No Friends Left" club)
  
• Prospecting all your business prospects
  
• Cold calling (eugh)
  
• Buying "lead lists"...only to discover that the poor unfortunate at the end of the phone wasn't aware they'd ever actually expressed an interest in a home business opportunity
  
• Talking to everyone who comes to within three foot of you (whoever thought of that one? Do YOU like it when someone does it to you??)
  
• Listening with intent during every conversation you ever have wondering how you can get in a bit about your opportunity, or at the very least leave them a DVD.
  
• Collect business cards from anywhere just so you can call them afterwards about your opportunity
  
• And so on.
  

Did you actually like doing them? Do you like rejection? (But you're told that it's OK because for every nine no's you'll get a yes!)

No? Neither did I.

And did your self confidence get knocked?

So Who Are Your Prospect Leads, and Where Exactly Do You Find Them?

Well, with pretty much the same answer as I gave for "who are your customers", your prospect leads are people who are already in network marketing, or who are already looking for a business opportunity.

Obvious answer...and if that's so, why are we taught to talk to everyone we meet and come into contact with, or even those that we don't come into contact with via cold calling?

Because we don't really know where these people are. They could be anyone or anywhere. I agree, but wouldn't it be a whole lot simpler to be in the places where these people actually congregate?

And where they actually want to talk to you? Where they don't think you're mad because you're in network marketing, and don't for one second, suggest it's a cult or a pyramid scheme or so on? Wouldn't they be good prospect leads?

(One day I'm going to start selling pyramids just so I can say "Yes, it IS one of those pyramid schemes and it's brilliant!!!)

The thing is, it's not always easy to identify your best prospect leads. Alot of them may be looking for a little bit of additional income and are not aware that network marketing exists.

You may see the value of network marketing to some prospects before they see it themselves. For instance, mums who want to earn a bit of extra money around their children.

So, what we have really is two distinct groups of potential prospect leads. (And a lead is just that - a 'lead'. It does not mean they will join or buy).

Group 1 of Your Prospect Leads:

Those who are already in network marketing, and those who are already actively looking for a business opportunity (in my experience, these people want the "bigger picture")

and

Group 2 of Your Prospect Leads:

Those who are looking for a bit of extra money each month, but have no idea that the network marketing industry exists. (These people will make up the majority of your network marketing organisation...those who do a little bit consistently each month).

The other important element is that the people who will join you in your network marketing business do not generally come from your warm market, and they don't come from a completely cold market either. (NB Warm leads are not the same as people who come from your warm list).

They come from that bit in the middle that leading MLMer John Milton Fogg describes as your "fuzzy" market. These are the people that you have some kind of relationship with, but you don't know that much about them. You will find them via your warm market - that is, it will be the people that they know, or from a cold market that you've spent time building up a relationship with (and this does not mean via cold calling!).

Hot Tips on Talking to the Two Groups of Potential Prospect Leads

The overriding advice that I would personally give from a marketing point of view is that when you initially speak with a prospect you are NOT to speak to them directly about the business. Remember, at this stage, they are just a prospect lead....not an actual hot prospect. Your job is to qualify them, or let them qualify themselves....in order to take them on to the next stage. (Once they have qualified themselves and are interested in the next stage, it's at that point where they are no longer classified as a "prospect lead" and become, instead a warm, or hot, prospect.)

You qualify them by chatting with them and asking pertinent questions to find out whether, indeed, your opportunity is the right one for them. And it may not be! So be prepared to never mention your opportunity to your prospect...for example you find out that your "at home mum" is passionate about staying at home with her children until they are all at school, then that's the way it should be. And you can chat about that instead!

Of course, it's far easier talking to your prospects leads in Group 1 - after all, you know that they are already looking. However, your opportunity may not be the right one for them. So, always be prepared to let go.

Talk to them, find out about them, what they're looking for in a company, what their short and long term goals are, why they are interested in network marketing etc. From that information, you are qualifying them and will find out whether your business opportunity is right for them or not. It may not be! (Which is where it's sometimes useful to be involved in a couple or more opportunities, but don't do that until the time is right for you to do so.)

Also, you may not like them...or they may not like you. That's all OK...this is a "people-buy-people" business after all, and if you've done your homework properly in the USP section you'll know the kind of people you would be happier working with.

Exercise 4b - Know your Target Market for Your Prospect Leads

So, for your exercise on your prospect leads, go get your beverage of choice and some munchies (hey - this site is not about losing weight after all!), grab your notepad and pens and work through the following:

1. Write down a list of the qualities of the type of people that you would like to work with. For example, would you like to work with fun; down to earth people; high flyers; very professional; computer literate; honest; etc. You may find that your ideal prospect's qualities match your own values.

2. Look around your network marketing company and make a list of the similar qualities of the "high fliers" compared to the majority. Also, are there any marked qualities/professions that are standard throughout your company? For instance, one of the companies I work with seems to have an incredible amount of nurses in it, the other is primarily attracts small business owners and other network marketers.

3. Make a list of all the categories of people that would benefit from your business opportunity. Think carefully. Some network marketing companies are more suited to mums, some more to professional financial types, some more to those particularly interested in a specific product area. You may get a mixture.

4. Choose one category of person from Group 1 (those already in network marketing and looking for an opportunity) and Group 2 (those wanting a little extra income each month). If you go after everybody, you will loose everybody. Focus on, and become a specialist in, one or two areas and you will attract lots of those people to you. This will immediately take the pressure off you too when you're out "just being you" and socialising.

5. Profile in full each category that you have chosen. Build up a complete picture of them - their age, sex, where they live, what their hobbies and interests are, where they work, where they socialise what clubs or societies they belong to, what business clubs they belong too, where do they go on the internet, what are they feeling, what do they want, what are they looking for, and so on. Have a look at the list of questions within the customers page for more ideas. Cut out pictures from magazines and stick them on a board if that helps. You may need to do some additional research. Get to the point that you recognise this person as much as you would your best friend.

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The people you are looking for will be a mixture of the profile of point 5, with the qualities of point 1 and the attributes of point 2. If you've done your homework properly, the answers to point 5 will tell you where they are too (online and offline).

Did this take some thinking about?

Yes of course it did. But make no mistake. Successful marketing (and business building) is about the laying of these foundations. So many people do not do these first few sections...so few people take the time to do the necessary preparation. They go rushing in writing adverts without a second's thought to who's going to be reading the ad and why.

In the professional marketing world, you would be told in no uncertain terms to "go away" (that's the polite version!) if you try and brief a creative team without knowing what the goals and objectives of your marketing are, what the strengths and weaknesses are of the product or service, what it's unique selling proposition is and who the target market is (in as much detail as possible), the budget and any back up research.

If you've read this far, you're obviously very serious about learning how to do marketing properly. Well done...and keep going! If you've taken the time to read through all the steps to this point, and have done the exercises, you're head and shoulders above anyone else out there!

Go and relax...safe in the knowledge that you're well on your way to building a successful marketing campaign.

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