How to Recover from a Bad First Impression

Did you ever get off on the wrong foot with a prospect that you knew would make a great distributor for your business? A way on how to recover from a bad first impression would help to restore good-will with your prospect and with getting you off on the right foot with them.

Our prospects are neutral before meeting us. They are neither good or bad prospects. It is when they meet us that turns our prospects into good prospects or bad prospect. They become either people liking and trusting us or people ready to run away during the next meet-and-greet.

The problem with most new distributors is they turn most prospects into run-aways. New distributors are excited and ready to spread the word about their new business opportunity. The problem is they have no skills of saying and doing the right things.

They always end up saying and doing untrained things causing the prospects to flee like a chicken fleeing away from the farmer wife ready to make a meal.

A way on how to recover from a bad first impression by most people’s standards in MLM is a good thing to know.

To Re-Connect with the Prospect After a Bad First Impression…  

You’ve just met Jim, a professional who owns three businesses in your town. You want him on your team.

Introducing Jim to your business opportunity ought to be breeze. “Dazzle him with money,” you say to yourself.

Having little training with saying the right words, you stumble over your sentences by saying to Jim, “I found this great opportunity Jim. You really need to look at it. You’re going to love the money it makes for you.”

What’s Jim going to do from being a successful business man with so many others wanting a piece of what Jim has made? He may be polite and change the subject or he may be rude and tell you with what you can do with yourself.

What you did with Jim is a design mistake of the first caliber leaving a bad taste in his mouth about network marketing. 

How to recover from a bad first impression with Jim? 

First, you should have never approached Jim until you are trained with the right words and doing right things in recruiting and prospecting. 

Second, having already stuck your foot in your mouth with Jim, here is the recovery.

“Jim, there are two types of people in the world. Those who work hard and then retire a year before they die … and those that figure out a way to retire early. Wouldn’t you agree? That is why I said what I did.”

If you don’t like that one, how about this:

“Jim, there are two types of people in the world. Those that see opportunity in every problem … and those that see a problem in every opportunity. Don’t you find that true? That’s why I said what I did.”

What you have done with Jim in those two statements is to get him thinking about which group that he wants to belong: Those who work hard only to retire one year before dying or those people working smart and retiring early. Or, those people that see an opportunity in every problem and those people that see problems in every opportunity laid before them. 

Jim’s brain switches from the mistake you made to deciding which group works best for him. His mind switches to survival mode with wanting to find a way to be in the MOST group crowd that works to his benefit.

Learning how to recover from a bad first impression is learning to give them two choices to make for their survival. 

Choice one is the SOME crowd meaning the less popular. Choice two is the POPULAR crowd meaning what most people choose. 

Jim’s survival instinct always chooses the POPULAR crowd over the SOME crowd to shore up his financial future. The more you are aligned to the popular crowd, the more chances you have at success.

Some Additional Recoveries  

I open my mouth and utter profane things of telling the prospect how great my company is and how he is going to earn $100,000.00 his first year in the business. 

The prospect is about flee across the street without looking both ways at traffic when you catch your mistake and bring recovery fast before the prospect steps out in front of a bus.

You say, 

“There are two types of people in the world. Those that just accept whatever their boss gives them … and those that want more. Wouldn’t you agree? That’s what I was trying to say.”
 
“There are two types of people in the world. Those that pay for their holidays out of their hard-earned savings … and those that earn a free holiday from their network marketing company. Wouldn’t you agree? That’s what I was trying to say.”

“There are two types of people in the world. Those that want a different future … and those that have given up, and are just waiting to die. Wouldn’t you agree? That’s what I was trying to say.”

Why does this work? These phrases peak curiosity. It switches the mind from the mistake you made with the prospect to their need to know what might be good for their survival.

How to recover from a bad first impression with your top tier prospects? Offer two choices upon which both parties agree upon. One that is not so popular followed by the other choice which is popular. My first impression as a prospect of that kind of recovery would be impressive indeed.