Be All Ears

Guilty Pleasures

Are you guilty of talking more than you listen?  I sometimes am.  I just spent 5 days with my brother who does a lot of public speaking and unabashedly admitted that he loves to get in front of the room and talk about his favorite topic: HIMSELF!  Social scientists tell us that whether or not we want to admit it, that’s true for most of us – we are our own favorite subject.

Do you know that the people most of us like best are the ones who ask us about ourselves?  Who really listen to what we have to say?  Unfortunately, I find that in networking, especially when people get nervous or are a bit intimidated, they tend to talk more than they listen.  If you can develop your ability to listen and ask questions, you’ll increase your income.

Shut Up and Increase Your Income 

That’s actually true no matter what business you’re in. However, in network marketing, people often feel pressed to communicate their business concept.  They get so caught up in delivering the message they forget to spend time asking the qualifying questions.  Never mind spending the time to lay the foundation for ‘know, like and trust.”  We are so committed to – telling them about our business – we forget to take the time to get to know them, learn what makes them tick.  Because of that, we typically never find out what they might be looking for, or may be interested in looking at.

Ask, Be Quiet and Receive

Try a few of these questions, and see if you don’t get further with your prospects:

• If there was one thing you could change about your current financial situation, what would that be?

• What would your ideal workplace be?

• What would you ideal workday look like?  Could you see yourself working like that?
  

• Do you keep your options open?

• If something came along that would allow you to achieve that ideal situation would you look at it?

• What would you do differently if you had an extra $1-2 thousand dollars every month?

• How would that impact you (or your family?)

Really, Tell Me More

Listen to the answers and don’t jump in right away with the solution. Try instead to respond with: That’s interesting – tell me more about that. Or: Thanks for telling me that – I’m trying to learn more about what makes people tick so I can get better at what I do.

Then, let them ask you about what you do if they’re curious.  Don’t jump all over the chance to download about what you do.  Instead, stay a little removed, and let them ask you questions.  They’ll find what you’ve got more appealing, plus they’ll find your approach refreshing.  And, that will very likely draw them closer to REALLY wanting to learn about what you do.

Everything You Do Is Training, Everything

Remember, whatever you do when you’re talking to a potential business partner is ultimately part of their training.  Here’s what I mean.  If they did join you at some point, your example is what they will follow.  What do you want your new business partners doing?  Do you want them to move in with their dump truck and unload everything they know?  Or, do you want them to take the Low-Key Question Asking Approach that will not only put them at ease, but will also keep all their conversations relaxed and amicable.  Which way do you think will work best?

Need Help?

You
don’t have to ask all the questions we suggested above, in fact you most likely won’t (and shouldn’t).  Use your common sense.  Ask
questions that will add to the flow of the conversation.  If you would like some help with this join us for our complimentary coaching call on Monday, April 11th.

And if you are really ready to take your business to a professional level, consider our Power Prospecting Course that starts in May.  You’ll be ready to talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime after that course.  That’s guaranteed – yes, guaranteed.  At the end of that course, your approach will get your phone to ring with people asking you questions.  No kidding.

Click here to leave a comment or ask a question

What is it that you are sure you can’t do?  At 5’3” tall (nearly) and weighing 122 pounds (and losing- 13 pounds shed and 10 more to go..yeah!), I’m sure that I’ll never play defense in a football game.  Out of the question.  Some things are just not going to happen.

But then there is the nasty chatter.  The chatter that tells me I can’t do other things (and it is patently untrue).  I hear it in many of you too.  For me it goes like this:

“You’ll never be any GOOD at yoga, you’re too old.  Your knees haven’t been good for years.  What makes you think you can do this?”

Yet, I know there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people around the globe that are similar in age to me with all the same issues that age brings -  who do yoga.  And they get better at yoga every day.  And like me, when I practice (you knew it was coming didn’t you, the practice word) they have their moments of brilliance.

Choose Your Battles

The trick is knowing which things to go for, and which things are truly impossible.  When someone tells me, ‘I don’t have enough time,” I know they are really saying, “I haven’t made getting a handle on time my priority.”  When someone tells me network marketing doesn’t work, I know they have NOT really put their time and correct effort into money making activity that builds a business.

You see, I know that network marketing works.  I’ve made it work for me.  Amy Posner has made it work for her.  Neither of us is any smarter than you or anyone else.  In fact, you know someone that network marketing has worked for.  Every company has leaders making good (often phenomenal) money.  Why not you?

What then is the deal?  What is the dis-connect between you and those who are making money?  It is exactly what the title implies, FEAR (false evidence appearing real) plus time and correct effort in money making activities.  Success will allude you in your network marketing business until you work past your FEAR and put in the time and money making effort to make your business a success.  Bummer huh?

Nothing Wrong With You

But there is not one damn thing wrong with you.  Not one.  You are as capable as Amy, me or anyone else in your company of learning how to build your business.  You have no special limits on your ability, creativity or time that makes it impossible for you to build a business.  NONE.

It is these kinds of statements that earned me the reputation of being “The Not So Warm and Fuzzy Coach.”  But jeez, I see potential in everyone I meet, but too often hear the same story.  I can’t because I don’t have:

•    The time
•    The money

There are different circumstances around those two excuses (excuses yes, they are not good reasons).  Sometimes it even sounds pretty good.  Recently I heard this, “I can’t spend any money until I make some, I promised my wife.”  Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?  In fairness to one’s partner, we’ll not spend any money until we make some.

Catch 22

But the double bind is glaring.  The FEAR is written wide.  With a little probing it became clear that regardless of how many tapes this person listened to, no matter how much he was learning, he was not breaking through his FEAR of talking to people.  This man travels a lot for his job.  He told me his intention was, “…to talk to people while I was in X CITY but that nasty chatter stopped me.”  (I hope you are listening PC!)

At the risk of upsetting some of you (and maybe losing you as readers), this is hogwash.  I don’t believe you are incapable.  I don’t believe that you don’t have the money.  I don’t believe that you don’t have the time.  I don’t believe you cannot get a handle on your nasty chatter.

I Do Believe

I DO BELIEVE that you can join the ranks of the leaders in this industry.  I DO BELEVE that you can build a successful business.  I DO BELIEVE IN YOU.  Are you willing to believe in you?

Are you ready to do your part in order to build your business?  (That would be the showing up and practice part.)  Amy and I have removed the money issue for our Power Prospector Course.  It is fully guaranteed.

We Will Work With You

You get your money back or continue to work with us until you break through (your choice).  All you have to do, of course, is the work.  But we will – this is our promise – work with you through each and every step.  Each and every step.  Promise.  All of them.  Nothing left to chance.

There are no time issues either.  It is all recorded – audio and video – and we’ll work with you to set your personal coaching appointments around jobs or anything else.  No excuses.

You are sitting on your dreams.  Are you ready to hatch ‘um?  Check out the details for the Power Prospector Course here.

We know you can.  We did, so can you.  Go on, take our hand, let us help you.

December 10 – Wisdom Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?

Oh this is a no brainer.  Partnering with Amy Posner has by far been the wisest decision I’ve made this year.

How’s it playing out?  Yahoo!  Is how it’s playing out.  Sometimes you connect with someone and the energy of 1 + 1 = 3.  Lucky me, I get have that kind of energy with my husband Tom as well as with Amy my new biz partner.  I don’t have a handy example to share with you about my husband (but I’ll fix that soon).  But I have a couple of things you can check out to see how things work at Savvy Sponsoring now that Amy is on board.

Amy and I are doing a coaching call (free) December 16 at 9:00 am pacific (Noon eastern) and I’d love it if you would join us.  You won’t be sorry either. Click here to sign up

Have you ever met someone and thought: I’d love to talk with them for a minute.  You just knew they were a professional and a go getter and you’d love an opportunity to chat with them.  But… But… You were nervous, felt unsure or whatever…bottom line you didn’t make a move.  Want to get past that?

That is exactly what this coaching call is about.  Come see why I believe the wisest decision I’ve made this year is partnering with Amy.

During the call you will learn to open a conversation with anybody and build a bridge during the call to get their information and make an appointment to call (at a more appropriate time).  Promise.  And you are NOT doing the three foot rule.  NOT EVER.  You will not mention your company or your product – nada.   And it is not bait and switch either.

Instead, they will be curious, at ease and open to you and what you have to say.  I told you it was a wise decision partnering with Amy Posner! Come join us.  It’s is our Holiday Gift to you  –  a complimentary coaching call.

You’re going to meet lots of people that you both know and don’t know over the holidays.  How about setting the stage to comfortably call them back after the holidays.  Don’t be disappointed again because you didn’t say anything.  Get your business off to a great start in 2011.  Join us for the call.

Other than joining our coaching call, what is the wisest decision you’ve made this year?  How that playing out?

This is a question we got from one of our listeners that we weren’t able to get to on our last call, but we will on our complimentary call July 7th.

Click here to register and save your seat now!

“We hear on conference calls and at convention great stories about results & financial rewards. But we are not told the nuts & bolts of how to create those results and the great financial rewards. What is it they are not telling us?”

The Magic is in the Detail.

When you hear an ‘expert’ talking about the number of people (s)he trained last or signed up last week, do you ask the tough questions you’d like to know? Or are you quiet (intimidated?) and wonder…

Where did they meet them?

How did they stop them?

Were they nervous?

If yes, how did they get over it?

Here is the deal folks, network marketing is a business of stories. Unfortunately all too often we only get the ‘back end of the story.’ The result. Plus, we only hear the good stories. This isn’t fishing folks. You don’t hear about the one that got away! You only hear about the successes. The key to your success is not about listening to the success of someone else.

The key to your success is getting the details of “how” they created the success scenario from step one.

Too often we are told (and tell our downline) what to do but not how to do it.

How many of you have asked your new recruit to make that list of a 100 and then sent them out to “make calls.” It isn’t that you are wrong. Your new recruit does need to make calls. But you have only told them what to do.

Certainly knowing what to do is important. It is critically necessary. But everything falls apart unless they also know how to make those calls. Do you spend the necessary time to make sure your recruit knows exactly what to say (how to do it).

Nothing stops someone faster than sending them out to do something that they feel they are not prepared for.

I’m not talking about feeling like an expert. They simply need to feel prepared.

Of course, if you only know “what to do” but not “how to do it,” it is tough to train and coach your new recruit.

What do you need to do?

If you are listening to someone who gets results you don’t get, then ask questions. Smart Savvy questions. Lots of them.

What is a smart question? Everything you’d like to know. What questions are running through your mind?

• How after being in this business a zillion years do you meet new people?
• If you’ve just heard this great story about someone they recruited, ask them ‘how did you meet them?”
• How many people did you talk to at the (mall, restaurant, event) before someone was willing to talk to you?
• How many of them told you ‘no’ before someone told you ‘yes.’
• What did you say to open the conversation?
• How did you get their attention?
• How do you get their number?
• How soon do you call them?
• Where they there when you called?
• Did they call you back?
• What kind of a message did you leave on the answering machine? (Do you leave a message?)
• How do you deal with “no.”

Aren’t these the very questions you’d like to have the answers to?

The problem is two fold.

1. Too often the stories we are told are all about results.
2. We don’t ask about the details.

Your Savvy Smartness lies in the details. The details bring out the magic of your business.

If you think this article was helpful, don’t miss our call on July 7th and we’ll have some fun with these questions. You can stop someone in a market and not be rude. You can talk to someone in a restaurant and not be rude. You can approach people with professionalism and confidence. You just need to know the “nuts and bolts.”

Come join us for an hour of coaching to talk about “how to nuts and bolts.”

Warmly,

Jillian

He went on to say how necessary it was to implement a system to drive the processes in the kitchen. Then have a way to measure the success of those systems long before the customer starts to complain! Sound familiar? It should!

Every business has the same issues. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the restaurant business, the dry cleaners business or you are a network marketer building a distribution center. If you want it to be a financial success your business needs:

1. A system to drive it so processes are done the same way regardless of who is doing it.
2. A method of measurement to make sure that the system is doing the job it should be doing.
3. Regular systematic communication with all the players to keep your hand on the pulse of what is going on with the people inside your business.

Do YOU?

Do you have a system in place that drives your business? Is everyone you sponsor (or your downline sponsors) trained the same way? They should be if they are going to work with the general public as an independent representative of your company. Yes, everyone.

Why would you turn someone loose to talk to people (even if they are only going to do one home event a month) unless you know they can do a great job? They are out there representing your company and the network marketing industry at large. Hostesses either love them because their party was successful or they don’t. People in the room enjoyed themselves and bought product, looked at the business or they don’t. Regardless, they are going to tell people about their experience. Unfortunately, they are most likely going to tell more people about a bad experience than they are about a good experience. People hate having their time wasted!

Do you have a way to measure the results of your activity? Or do you just keep on doing things hoping they are going to work? (Hope is a great thing but it is not a good strategy!) Plus, how sane is it to keep doing the same things over and over again ‘hoping’ to get different results? Hmmmm? If things aren’t working, how do you strategically implement change(s) into your downline?

What kind of communication/training/coaching is in place that your team can count on regularly? Are you limiting your business by trying to talk to every person individually? Or do you have (as they say here in Boston) a “wicked good” team MasterMind coaching call?

Want Some Help?

Want some help in setting these things up? Click here to register for our upcoming no charge to you teleclasses. There are three teleclasses in the series. Don’t miss any of them.

There are 11 months left in 2009. You can either whine or you can shine. (I know sorry, it is a bit corny but fun – and true!)

Don’t have the time to get your business in order?

And by the way for all of you who are saying, “Well I’d like to get my business that organized, but I don’t have the time.” Bull Manure.

• It takes less time to set up a business correctly than it does to run it by the seat of your pants.
• It takes less time to work a business that is set up correctly.
• With systems in place you can run a large vibrant team in the same amount of time you are flailing around now.
• Everyone around you will respect (not necessarily like) what you are doing. (Think about that one for a minute. Kids on board with your time. Your spouse or partner on board. How different would that makes things?)

There are no excuses not to be the best you can be. None!

The Economy is Too Bad

Traditionally network marketing companies do extremely well in hard economic times. Why? People are motivated to make a change. Many have already lost their job or are worried about losing their job. Waiting for the other shoe to drop creates urgency. I urge you to take advantage of this economic downturn to build your business

Are you ready?

Click here for our upcoming (no charge to you) coaching calls.

Warmly,

Jillian

• a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
• the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.
• the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.

It sounds noble to be ‘resolved’ to get something done. It sounds very adult, grown up and mature. It also means I’m going to have to pull out my ‘will power.’ In other words, to carry out that which I resolve to do (e.g., New Year’s resolutions) I am going to have to rely on my strength of will to make it happen.

I have a problem. It doesn’t sound like much fun. I don’t know about you but I don’t have much will power. Oh, I have internal strength. I know how to put my nose to the grindstone and get things done. But years ago I ‘resolved’ to live a life I enjoyed. Dragging myself around by my will power doesn’t fit that resolution.

If Not Will Power Then What?

If I want to enjoy what I’m doing then I need to FEEL compelled to do it. Here’s what Dictionary.com says about being compelled:

Therefore:

• if I want to make Bikram yoga a part of my life;
• or I want to work diligently at my business in a professional money making manner;

I need to find a way to be compelled to do these things.

How do you find a way to want to get up at 5:30 am to walk into a 110 degree hot room to contort your body and love it?

Or, how do you find a way to want to pick up the phone and give the best business presentation you can give multiple times each day you work?

Here is what I think. Most resolutions don’t last because they are made out of guilt, discontent or fear. And although these are really powerful emotions, they have a tendency to paralyze us rather than actualize us.

Back To The Fun Bit

Take a few minutes and ask yourself what benefit your ‘resolution’ or goal will deliver to you. Careful here, you’re looking at benefits not features. Doing yoga might give me a stronger more supple body but so what. What benefit(s) does a stronger more supple body give me?

A growing financially sustainable business might give me financial independence (feature) but what benefits does it give me?

To be compelled to consistently build a business, you need to want to do it. In order to want to do it, it needs to resonate emotionally. Benefits resonate with us humans. Benefits feed our emotions. If emotions are involved we are pretty much compelled to be in the game. Make sense?

Big Dreams (resolutions/goals) Small Changes

When I started Bikram yoga I was really excited about the benefits. I knew my body would move more freely. It would ache less after being in the car. I would rest better at night and have more energy. I would enjoy being back in touch with my body.

I also knew if I decided to go everyday I’d never do it. I started out two or three times a week (and not at 5:30 am either). I let my practice evolve as the benefits to me increased.

Your business is exactly the same. Don’t try to be the perfect entrepreneur starting January 1st. Be sane.

• Make a list of things you want from your business.
• Prioritize them.
• Take the first one and list all the benefits that are important to you.
• Add small steps of change to your calendar.  Need help with that calendar? See http://www.savvysponsoring.com/store
• Each day look at that list of benefits.
• Each week note any changes you see in your progress.

Don’t spend any time worrying about what isn’t getting done. Keep yourself emotionally engaged with your small steps and the changes will ultimately be huge. (You can take that to the bank!)

If you want to achieve your New Year’s Resolutions in 2009, make sure that everything you do fills your heart with joy because of the benefits it brings to you.

Enjoy your life and still get what you want! This is not a dress rehearsal.

Warmly,

Jillian

Savvy Events :

Are You Ready?

Did you know that a poor economy is the best time to build your network marketing business? In the last couple of months a number of retired network marketing leaders have called me for coaching. They all say the same thing, “In the last recession my business doubled (or tripled).  I’m going back to work.”

Are you ready to take advantage of a recession economy to build your business? Yes! Great. Watch for announcements here for the next Savvy Sponsoring programs to begin in March. These programs are sponsoring and training intensive. They will help you put your business into high gear. People are afraid. People are worried about their jobs, their retirements and the quality of their lives. It is complacency that makes it hard to build a business. If people are happy they stay where they are. But people are not happy. Where do you want them to go?

Are you ready for strong community leaders to join your business? How are you finding them? How are you talking to them? How are you going to train them? Is your system in place? Are you ready to duplicate your efforts?

Want to be ready?  Click here for more information or to reserve your seat.

Whoosh! And the time is gone.

For those of you who have worked with me, you know that I am known to harp…yes I’ll admit it, harp on the importance of how you spend your time. Reflect for a moment about what is more important to you than your time here on earth?

What is the most important thing to you?

In my years of coaching I’ve heard people put forth the argument that their children or their mate are the most important thing to them. I understand that feeling. Tom and I are together now for five years. It is very hard for me to imagine my life without him. I’m sure you feel the same way, but I’m married to the nicest guy on the planet!

Which is all the more reason that I need to put him second to my time on this planet. Why? The quality I bring to the time I have here is the key to living my rich full life with him.

I refuse to “beat time” and do things because I have to. I refuse to get into bed at night tired but not feel that I’ve enjoyed my day and made the most of my time.

Ok enough preaching. Here’s the deal. A little planning goes a long way during these busy holidays. If you want to take the best care you can of all those around you and you have terrific holidays, plan your exit from work.

Then plan your re-entry into work.

Simple idea and a sure bet way to enjoy your holiday. How do you do that?

Exit Strategy

Make a list of what must get done before you walk away from your office. Do your best to keep it short and sweet. Put only those things that really must get done on your list (and only those things that you have to do go on your list – delegate where you can).

Prioritize and schedule time in your calendar for each of these items. Don’t work on anything else until these are complete. If you still have office time left, then work on the “B” and “C” things. But get the most important things done first.

Sometimes we can be moving so quickly we let the basics go. Work out of your calendar. Make sure you’ve allotted yourself enough time. Get that “to do” list out of your hands and give everything a time in your calendar. Not only will you get more done…you’ll have some sanity to enjoy all those important people in your life too.

The Re-Entry Strategy

This is really easy to do but most of us don’t do it.

One of the biggest issues I hear after any prolonged holiday is how difficult it is to get back to work. Often it is mid-January (or later) before people are back into full swing. I don’t have a problem with that as long as it is what you planned. Because if you didn’t plan this extra time out of production, you are most likely spending that extra time fretting and feeling guilty about what is not getting done. And typically, the longer you are in this limbo the more difficult it is to get a handle on yourself and get back into work.

Don’t leave to go on vacation until you have booked at least one money making activity in your calendar for the first Monday or Tuesday (at the latest) that you are due back to work. In other words make sure that you have something booked in your calendar that requires you to show up on your first or second day back from vacation.

There is nothing like an important appointment to bring us back to work.

The more you book your calendar right after your vacation with strong money making events the more likely you are to get back into the swing of things right away.

Why not start the year out right living your time rather than just spending it.

Warmly,

Jillian

I know it sounds strange. Network Marketing is a helping business and we are all so interconnected. But I see the results of not being selfish enough all the time.

Do you recognize any of these?

• Often working outside of your regular hours because someone else couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make one of the times you offered.
• Calling downline multiple times offering (begging?) to be of service.
• Working with someone over and over again who doesn’t follow through.
• Doing more in someone else’s business than they do so that it gets done.

Not enough selfishness here.

Here’s what I think. The more you ‘bend over backwards’ for someone, the less inclined they will be to take control of their business and do what it takes to make it work. Ultimately their business is doomed because they’re not doing it. But here’s the real scary part…so is your business…doomed.

Don’t let the interconnectedness of network marketing stop you from being “selfish” enough to take care of you. What do you think?

Warmly,

Jillian

PS – Please join me and 9 other business experts, coaches and luminaries for a F.R.E.E event exclusively for leaders in the direct selling, network marketing and multi-level marketing professions. You know I don’t promote a lot of events… but I had to tell you about this one because the speakers are so extraordinary. I know I’m there too but really look at this list.

• Margie Aliprandi, President of My Mind Makeover
• Jane Deuber, Leadership Expert and co-founder of the DSWA
• Leesa Barnes, President of Marketing Fit
• Michael Oliver President and Founder of Natural Selling Sales Training
• Sandy Grason, best-selling author of Journalution
• Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing
• Jillian Middleton, founder of Savvy Sponsoring Strategies
• Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall, co-authors of The Contrarian Effect
• Keith Ferrazzi, best-selling author of Never Eat Alone
• Sarah Robinson, Direct Selling Business Strategist and Founder of Profit, Purpose and Beyond

Profit, Purpose and Beyond will take place October 13 through October 24, 2008 (excluding the weekend). One speaker will take center stage each day at 1pm EST.

Go here now to get the details and grab your seat before they are all gone! Remember folks, there is no charge for this event!