When talking to an MLM prospect or new team member, it’s vitally important to discover their main motivating factor. What makes them want to join your business? Or if they have already joined, why did they join?
In order for someone to be successful in MLM, they must have a big enough “Why”: why did they join? What are they trying to achieve? It’s all very well if they say “financial freedom” is their goal, but what exactly does that mean to them, and why is it so important to them? After all, the phrase “economically free” can mean many things to different people. Some people may think they have achieved financial freedom if they pay their mortgage along with their monthly expenses, like utility and grocery bills. Yet others will think they have achieved financial freedom when they can travel world first class, never look at the prices on menus when eating in first class restaurants or the price tags on clothing. For others it would be sending their children to a private school and not having to worry about not having enough money to put a roof over their heads.
Of course it’s not always about money, money may not be an issue but time is, time to spend with the kids, time to take a relaxing break, time to take your partner for a good Dinner…
Without knowing what motivates your MLM prospect or new team member, you can’t help them achieve their goals. I’ve mentioned this in other articles, if you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want, but how do you do this if you don’t know what they “want”?
In his book “Questions Are Answers”, Allan Pease* describes an excellent method for discovering people’s main motivating factor. Ask your prospect or new team member “do you know why people start a networking business”? If they say “No” then you just say “let me show you”. If he says “yes,” ask him why, listen to what he has to say, and when he’s done, ask “more.” It will say “no”, so you say “let me show you” and it produces the following list;
additional income
Financial Freedom
Have your own business
More free time
Personal development
helping others
Meet new people
Withdrawal
Leave a legacy
Then ask them the following questions;
1. WHAT IS YOUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY?
2. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT?
3. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU?
4. WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT HAVING THIS OPPORTUNITY?
5. WHY WOULD THAT WORRY YOU?
After each question, be sure to listen to what they have to say without interruptions or comments, just go through the questions one after the other in the order above. When you are done, you will have identified your main motivation.
Now you can tailor the rest of your talk to describe how your MLM opportunity can help them get exactly what they want. Don’t be surprised if some people get emotional answering the above questions, after all, you are digging into what is important to these people and what motivates them. The reasons are often very personal and therefore some people will inevitably get emotional.
Discovering someone’s main motivating factor is essential if you want to help them build a successful MLM business, if you fail to establish your “why” then it is highly unlikely that you will be able to help them and in turn succeed yourself.
*The questions are Allan Pease’s answers, posted by Manjul.
