•Tom "Big Al" Schreiter  •Robert Butwin  •Rod Cook   •Jeffery Combs  •Jerry "DRhino" Clark •Greg Arnold  •Artemis Limpert  •Robert Blackman •Dr Zonnya •Ellie Drake - Contributing Editors

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“I am shy. How can I change and learn how to overcome my fear of talking to people or selling to strangers?”
By Tom "Big Al" Schreiter

Do you ever notice that the successful network marketers have a positive personality type?

Does the positive attitude come from them being already successful?

Or, maybe these successful network marketers had the positive attitude first -- and that positive attitude propelled them to success?

You be the judge.

While it is easy to have a great attitude when you are already successful, usually the positive attitude comes first and demonstrates itself by attracting success.

How can people overcome their fear of contacting prospects?

It’s a matter of desire. People usually get what they want most.

For instance, there is a choice between a good television show and attending an opportunity meeting. Some people will want to see the television show more than they want the success that comes from attending opportunity meetings with guests.

So, they watch television because they truly want that more than the long drive to hear a boring speaker at the meeting.

The same holds true when talking to people. What does a person want more?

1. Does this person want the calm, non-threatening day-to-day life void of rejection?

2. Or, does this person want prospecting success more than he desires to avoid rejection?

Sobering, isn’t it? Many people say they want success, but deep down they want activities that pose a lesser challenge.

What your prospects would really like to know.

When I conduct training workshops, I don't spend any time talking about my credentials. In fact, I don’t even introduce who I am. The workshop participants don't care about my credentials. And, they are right. My credentials won't make them a cent.

I wrote six books on how to sponsor distributors. Because I wrote those six books, not a single workshop participant will earn an extra dollar on his or her bonus check. Even if my credentials included a Ph.D. degree in Networking, my credentials don't mean a thing.

Why?

The training workshop attendees don't want to know about credentials, they want to know about experiences.

Book theory and my personal bank account balance won't put money in the workshop participants' pockets. Real life experiences, case studies, proven "real world" strategies and techniques are what distributors want to hear.

The same principle applies to sponsoring.

What don’t your prospects want to know?

   They don't want to know how big your car is.

   They don't want to know how big your bonus check was last month.

   They don’t care what management or leadership title you’ve achieved.

   They don't care how many heavy hitter awards you have won. 

All these things are things you have accomplished. Your prospects may not believe they have the same skills or abilities to match your accomplishments.

So, what do your prospects want to know?

Experiences.

They want to know how you helped other distributors become successful. They would like to hear about how other people in similar circumstances have been helped by you to become successful.

If you're successful in networking, you should have lots of these real life experiences to share with prospects. Your prospecting and sponsoring presentations will be easy.

For instance, let’s say that you have your own web page. One of the links on your home page could send prospects to a special page where some of your distributors tell their stories. A few of your distributors might have a story like this:

“I joined on August 1. Of course I was nervous. I didn’t know anything about having my own business. However, my sponsor (that’s you) sat down with me and we filled out a short “to do” list. My sponsor did all the talking and presenting for the first three days. I observed.

“Well, after those three days I already had six new distributors in my organization and I’m eligible for my first bonus check. For the next two weeks we worked closely together. Now I have 21 new distributors on my team.

“I wouldn’t have even started in this business without the help and assurances of my sponsor (that’s you). Now I’m on my own and this business just gets better and better.”

If a prospect read this on your web page, what would the prospect think? I bet he’d think:

“Wow! Everybody promises support and they say that their business is easy, but this person really delivers.”

What if you're not successful in networking
or just starting? What should you do then?

Sounds like a great time to start building your successful experiences. Instead of sponsoring wide, wide, wide, why not concentrate on your best distributor? Put some extra effort into helping your distributor make it to the top.

Once you have your first success story, move on to your next. You'll soon get the reputation of being "somebody who makes people successful." That's a great reputation to own. And, prospects will be attracted to you.

It makes sense. Prospects don't care what you have done for yourself. They want to know what you have done for the people you sponsored.

Tom Big Al Schreiter is the author of the Fortune Now Newsletter, a generic training resource for professional network marketing leaders. If you’d like to read some free back issues, go to http://www.fortunenow.com or get the current issue free by calling 281-280-9800.