Stop Talking & Start Listening if You Want to be a Great Sponsor in Network Marketing

Want to be a great sponsor for network marketing? All you must do is to stop talking and start listening. You’ll make more new sales and sign up more new reps.

Most of us with network marketing need a course on how to stop talking and listen.

Listening vs speaking – Is listening more important than speaking when you are trying to persuade others? Absolutely it is. Are speaking and listening of equal value? No, because listening has greater value. So, stop talking and start listening.

Listening is more important than speaking. Why? Because most prospects don’t have anybody to listen to them. Their boss won’t listen to them. Their spouse stopped listening to them. Their children don’t listen.

You can do more selling by keeping your mouth shut and with more listening. Let the prospect tell you what they want to achieve in their lives.

Five Questions to Ask

A simple way to stop talking and start listening is with an interview technique where the prospect simply answers a few open-ended questions.

Let your prospect tell you why they want to join and if network marketing is the type of business that they would like to do.

Imagine you are talking to a prospect over the phone who responded to a video that you sent out over social media.

Here are a couple of questions that you could ask just to get the ball rolling and would let the prospect tell you what they want to get out of this business.

The first question that you could ask is something like this:

“If there were a way for you to earn more money, have more time for your family, and never ever commute again, you’d at least like to know about it – wouldn’t you?”

I would stop talking and start listening and write down their answers and follow it with four more questions.

The second question would be,

“Have you ever heard of network marketing?” I again would listen and write down their answers.

Question three would be,

“What did you like most about network marketing?”

Question four is,

“What did you like least about network marketing?”

Question five would be,

“What is the most important reason for you wanting to earn some extra money?”

What We Learn by Asking the Five Questions

Here is what would happen if you would just ask those five questions and stop talking and start listening to the prospect.

Persuasive listening is not about arguing with the answers that our prospects bring. It is about how to stop talking and start listening which is far more persuasive with winning over their hearts and minds.

Question one – you’ve given them three important benefits, and question one should always include three benefits from your business that they can chose from.

At least one will be interesting for them.

I had a prospect who chose having more time with his family over the other two choices. That is important information for our use.

And before you jump in with both feet and start telling them about your business opportunity with flip charts, slide shows and your whole presentation, why not ask a few more questions just to see what the prospect is looking for.

Remember, our job is to stop talking and start listening.

You ask the second question, “Have you ever heard of network marketing before?” And then listen.

Again, stop talking and start listening.

Maybe, they might say, “No. I’ve never heard of it before. Tell me a little bit about it. Is it something like owning your own business?” And then listen.

If they say that, let’s move on to the next question, “What do you like most about network marketing?”

I know that seems like a strange and awkward question to ask someone who just told you that they don’t know anything about network marketing.

But it has its purpose. Ask it anyway. They just might tell you some more information

I had this prospect to whom I was asking these five questions.

With question two about whether he had heard about network marketing, he told me that he did not know anything about it and wanted to know a little bit more about it.

With that answer, I went straight into the third question about what did he like most about network marketing.

His answer was, “I don’t know anything about it, but is this starting your own business part-time, because I really am looking for that type of business where I can set my own time and be with my family?”

I said, “Sure.”

I discovered that he had an interest with starting his own business part-time. I discovered that he wanted to spend more time with family and have more time to do the things that he wished to do. That is useful information to know.

I would never have discovered that useful bit of information if I had not asked the third question about what he liked most about network marketing and stop talking and start listening.

Question number four was asked to my prospect, “What do you like least about network marketing and having your own business part-time?”

He said, “Well, it is kind of risky. I’m not sure about wanting to risk my time and money. I don’t like taking much risk. It must be something I can do for less than 20 hours a week. I don’t want to give up my job.”

Wow! More useful information flows to us just by asking the fourth question about what they liked least with network marketing.

And then the fifth question, “What is the most important reason for why you want to earn some extra money?”

With the fifth question, we may need to dig further for finding out what is on the prospect’s mind.

My prospect said, “Gee. The most important reason for me is I want to pay some bills faster.”

That answer is okay but let’s dig deeper and ask the question with more depth.

I then asked, “Why do you want to pay some more bills and do it quicker?”

The prospect said, “Because I want to improve my credit so I can buy a new car.”

That is a better reason, but let’s dig a bit further underneath the layers of his wants and desires.

I asked him, “Why do you want better credit and why do you want to buy a new car?”

The prospect said, “I want to be able to take our kids to school without embarrassing them with the old clunker that I have to drive them around with. I want to move into a safer neighborhood with with a bigger and better home. I want better schools for my children.”

That answer really focuses in on why our prospect will want to join our business.

All I did was to ask five questions and stop talking and start listening.

Preparing the Presentation from the Information

So, at this point, what have we learned?

Stop talking and start listening to his answers.

We gave the prospect three benefits to choose from with the first question: earning more money, having more free time with family and not having to commute. Having more free time with his family was most important for him over the other two.

We learned that he did not know much about network marketing with the second question but wanted to know more about it.

The third question helped us by revealing he wanted to start a part-time business so that he could have more free time to spend with his family and kids.

With question four, we discovered He does not like to take risky ventures. He does not want to spend more than 20 hours a week working a part-time business. He doesn’t want to give up his day job.

And with question five and digging deeper with a few more questions, we have learned he wants to pay bills faster for improving his credit so that he can buy a new car to help with getting his kids around in a safer vehicle and without embarrassing them. He hopes by buying a new car that it will improve his credit so that he can buy a new home in a safer neighborhood with a bigger house for his kids.

Wow – all that is good information for us to prepare an effective presentation just by me taking the time out to stop talking and start listening.

So, what is my presentation for the prospect?

“The name of my company is ________,

“The cost for joining FuXion is $1,000.00 which is less than $2.90 a day – the price you pay for a good cup of premium coffee at a restaurant when you think about it. That’s pretty low risk, right?”

“Most people join NAME OF BUSINESS because with it, they get to spend more time with their family and kids than allowed with their job and it only requires working fifteen hours a week.

“And most people who work the fifteen hours a week with FuXion can buy a new car and move into a better neighborhood with a bigger house and feel safer and know that their kids are going to a better school.”

“Some people don’t join NAME OF BUSINESS because they don’t understand it, and because times with being what they are, they frankly cannot afford the $2.90 a day cost. They’d rather spend the money on that cup of coffee.”

“I just want to present the facts about FuXion to you. If you like what you hear, it’s okay, and we can get started.”

“If you don’t like what you hear, that’s okay too. Fair enough?”

How to Handle the Objections and Negativity

(1). Handling Objections

What have we done so far? We have to stop talking and start listening. We learned by listening what the core issues that are important in the prospect’s life and helped him to focus on it.

Let’s say, my prospect gets off-track by throwing up an objection after the presentation.

Focusing in on the real reason for why the prospect is interested in joining you in network marketing helps you to keep them attentive when they get off track.

Here is how the prospect from my real-life example can get off-track:

My prospect has this objection after making my presentation, “Sounds to me like a paper-work – that’s too much paperwork for me to join your business.”

I would come back and say, “We’re not really talking about a lot of paperwork. We are talking about finding a way for you to get a new car, improve your credit rating, and move to a better home in a safer neighborhood so that your kids can live a better life.?”

I bring him back by the very core things that he told me and matter in his life with his answers to the five questions.

I bring him to back to the reality that “yes, there is paperwork. But which is more important for you? Doing a little paperwork vs. buying that new house in a better neighborhood for the safety of your children?”

The prospect begins to think, “Yea, the paperwork is bad. However, it’s worse to live where we do right now because my children are not safe. I will do the paperwork, overcome my own objections, and go do what it takes to get that new house.”

What we’ve done is to ask questions and stop talking and start listening to the answers. The answers give us all this information about the core issue of having a better house in a nice neighborhood for the safety of the kids and overcomes the objection.

(2). Handling the Negativity

Now, what happens when the prospect is negative about network marketing.

Maybe they’ve been in network marketing in the past and had a bad experience.

Or,

They’ve heard from someone about how negative it is and decide to let you have it. How do you handle them?

Again, stop talking and start listening by bringing them back to the core issue that was started off with the first question.​

Remember the three benefits we gave him – earning more money, having more time with family and not having to commute? He chose having more time with family.

My second question is, “Have you ever heard about network marketing?” The prospect goes off on me like a shot-gun going off in a barrel of fish.

After unloading on me, I would acknowledge to the prospect,

“Ok, I understand that you don’t like network marketing because the company that you were with ran off with your dog.”

“I understand that the XYZ company folded three-weeks after you joined.”

“I get the fact that you bought all this product from the XYZ company and it walked off one night and disappeared.”

“I understand why you don’t like network marketing?

No matter how negative that the prospect becomes, I would continue with the remaining questions.

The third question: “What did you like most about network marketing?”

The prospect says, “it gives me hope.”

I would stop talking and start listening to the prospect and go right into the fifth question because the fourth question about what he liked least about network marketing was answered.

I would say, “I know what you liked least about network marketing. What is the most important reason for you wanting to earn more money especially in network marketing?”

The prospect says, “I really want to earn some extra money to get a new car?”

Again, like with the example above, I would get more in depth with my questions – “why do you want to get a new car?”

The prospect says, “I want to make my brother-in-law jealous. He is always throwing his success in my face. I am tired of him with being one-up on me”

“Why do you want to make your brother-in-law jealous? I would ask.

The prospect says, “My brother-in-law always is making fun of me because I’m not successful like him?”

Now, we are back to the core reason for why he needs to join network marketing and we can ready-make the presentation to fit his needs.

“The name of my company is FuXion, spelled with an “X.”

“The cost for joining FuXion is $1,000.00 which is less than $2.90 a day – the price you pay for a good cup of premium coffee at a restaurant when you think about it.”

“Most people join FuXion because it helps them to not only dream but to have things that they have only dreamed about like a new car of their choice every year without payments or a down payment because the company buys it for them as a bonus year-after-year for working the business.

“And most people who work the business fifteen hours a week are able to make a six-figure income in the first year and be the envy of their neighbors and family with their success.”

“Some people don’t join the company because they don’t understand it and because times with being what they are, they frankly cannot afford the $2.90 a day cost. They’d rather spend the money on that cup of coffee.”

“I just want to present the facts about FuXion to you. If you like what you hear, that’s okay, and we can get started.”

“If you don’t like what you hear, that’s okay too. Fair enough?”

After the presentation and if he still objects because of his previous bad experience with network marketing, bring him back to the core issue.

I would respond, “I understand you had some issues before, but don’t you really want to have a car that is the envy of your brother-in-law and make as much or more money than he does in the first year with this business?”

“Yea, I really do,” will be his response.

He will start thinking more positive about network marketing and probably join.

Using the Five Questions for Product Sales

Here is a stop talking and start listening example for product sales.

I am in a health and wellness company with FuXion.

One of our products is a healthy tea, a drink which supercharges the speed for burning fat.

I would start off with question one by saying,

“If there was a way for you to lose weight, have more energy, and not be hungry, you’d at least like to know about it, wouldn’t you?” – present three benefits of your products.

The prospect says,

“Yea, I’d like to know about it.”

Question number two:

“Have you ever dieted before?

The prospect says,

“Yea, I’ve dieted before but it never worked.”

Question three:

“What did you like most about your previous diet?”

The prospect says,

“I like those diets where you can exercise a lot. I used to work out and love to exercise.”

Question four:

“What did you like least about your previous diet?

The prospect:

“I don’t like those diets where you have to drink those awful tasting protein shakes. I don’t like swallowing pills.”

Question five:

“What is the most important reason for you wanting to lose weight?”

The prospect answers,

“Well the doctor says I need to lose weight in three weeks.”

Now is that a core issue? Yes, and maybe but we should dig deeper.

“Why did the doctor say that you had to lose weight in three weeks? – I would ask.

The prospect:

“The doctor looked at me and did a full examine and said if I don’t lose weight in three weeks, I’m going to lose my leg to diabetes.”

That is a pretty core issue for the prospect.

Here is my presentation from my having to stop talking and start listening example for product sales.

“The name of my product for losing weight is XYZ.”

“The cost for a 30-day supply is $50.00, which is less than $1.67 a day, the cost of a cup of coffee at a drive-in convenience store.”

“Most people buy Termo Te because it easily dissolves in a glass of cold water and tastes great with no bad after taste left in your mouth.”

“Most people with diabetes who take Termo Te for three weeks as directed will lose 7 inches around their belly and 35 lbs. of weight.”

“Some people don’t buy XYZ because frankly they feel it is too expensive for them to spend $1.67 a day and would rather spend it on video games or a Netflix movie at home.”

“I just want to just present the facts about XYZ, and if you like it, we’ll get started.”

If you don’t like it after hearing the facts, that’s okay too, alright?”

We have learned about why effective listening is more important than talking.

We’ve learned that the answers that they give to our questions provide us with all the information that is needed to make a persuasive argument for network marketing.

Be a good listener. Stop talking and start listening. It is the way for being a great sponsor for network marketing.