We know where we want to go, but we don’t know how to get there. The most common strategy of new distributors is to hope, wish, pretend, and fake success in the hopes that success will magically appear.
The problem? This doesn’t work.
Yes, we have the mindset and positive attitude. Unfortunately, what we are missing is the skills to make it happen. One of the most frustrating feelings for us is to want something badly, but not have the skills to make it happen.
In the beginning of our careers, we don’t know this. So we just chant affirmations, sing the company song, be persistent in the face of constant failure, and hope over time that results might happen. Of course, the results don’t happen.
What we are missing are the 25 basic skills of network marketing. Below is the list of 25 skills. If you can’t see the image, click here.
As in any profession, there are core skills we need to learn. Network marketing is no different. Dentists need skills. Engineers need skills. Accountants need skills. And, so do network marketers!
So what are some of the core skills we need to learn to make our dreams come true? Here are four core skills we should focus on in the beginning of our careers:
- Creating trust and belief in our prospects. If our prospects don’t believe the good things we say, we are dead. Our companies could offer the best plan in the world, but if there is no trust or belief, our prospects won’t engage. Fortunately, this only takes a few seconds to do. But if we don’t know how to do it, we will have frustrating careers.
- Learning creative ice breakers to turn social conversations and chit-chat into conversations about our business. We don’t want to look like greedy or sleazy salespeople. Instead, we want to guide people with problems to our solutions. This removes that icky feeling that we have when we plead with people to look at our company video, or review our literature.
- Learning how to close our prospects. We don’t take closing lessons in school, so there is no way we can understand the process of how our prospects make their decisions. We have to learn this new skill so that we are effective when we talk to people. When we don’t know this skill, closing will create fear and rejection. That is a bad combination.
- Understanding when and how to do a presentation. Regrettably, we feel presentations should be given like they were given in the 1960s. In the old days, salespeople were taught to talk AT people, tell them to hold their questions until the end, and to unload unlimited information in the hopes that this would convince prospects to buy or join. Modern brain science shows us that this is the perfect way to repel people. Yes, what we thought worked actually pushes people away. We need to learn the new methods of presenting.
So what is the bottom line?
If we are not where we want to be in our network marketing business, it may not be our mindset that is holding us back. Jumping up and down at events, putting on a brave face, and thinking positive affirmations before we talk to prospects can only take us so far.
In most cases, we are missing the hard-core skills of how to engage prospects and get them to make a decision to buy or join. Putting our efforts into learning the skills may be the fastest way for us to reach our dreams.
Here is a list of basic skills for our network marketing career. Which skills are we missing now?
And how much longer are we going to delay learning these skills?