Ice-Breaker Skills for Network Marketing

Hi Team,

I want to share with you some powerful new skills for building your MLM business. I learned these from listening to Tom 'Big Al' Schreiter's seminar tapes on IceBreakers. (Big Al has a great website at: http://www.fortunenow.com/ . )

Here are the basics of what I learned that can help you.

We all talk to people. The problem is we often say the wrong thing. We're all comfortable with "Hi, how ya' doing? How's the weather?" but there's a big gap between "Hi, how's the weather?" and "Hi, do you want to be a distributor?"

That big gap scares us and keeps us silent. We don't talk to people and nobody joins our business. The problem is if we don't know what to say, we'll have no one to talk to. We have to get this right.

There's a saying circling around out there in network marketing, "You can't say the wrong thing to the right person and you can't say the right thing to the wrong person?" This idea is somehow supposed to give us free reign to just blurt out anything to anyone. The problem: it doesn't work and it's not truthful. You can say the wrong thing to the right person.

As proof, Big Al weaves this delightful tale. Imagine you're a handsome single guy at a party and you see this attractive lady across the room. Excited at the prospect of meeting someone, you walk over, introduce yourself and make some small talk. Then, out of the blue, you say something like, "Wow, how old are you anyway?" followed by "How much do you really weigh?" and then "Who does your hair like that?"

Needless to say, that nice lady is not going to stick around very long. And you will leave thinking, "I hate going to these parties. You can't meet anyone here. Nothing ever works out for me."

It's not that nothing works out for you, it's that you just don't know what to say. You can, and did, say the wrong thing to the potentially right person.

Skills make a difference. In fact, the only difference between those who make tons of money in network marketing and those who don't is what they say. We need skills to get the job done correctly, efficiently, powerfully and passionately.

There's a big difference between dreaming of being a great musician and sitting down and practicing your scales every day. Skills are the foundation for greatness in any endeavor, including MLM.

These skills include knowing what to say, when to say it and how to say it. Trust me on this. I just got back from the Diamond Destination and I watched the big leaders signing up people left and right at the hotel before the cruise even began! How do they do it I wondered? So I asked.

Turns out, they intuitively know (or they have learned and totally assimilated that knowledge into their very being) what to say to people, when to say it and how to say it, in a way that people respond. For those of us who don't know how to do that yet, we are obliged to learn. That is the reason Jim Rohn says, "In order to have more, you need to become more." We need to become more skilled in what we say, when we say it and how we say it. So let's get to it.

There are four main categories of ice-breakers that we can use. For today's post, I'll go over the first category only. Then I will introduce the others to you in future posts.

Category 1 Ice-Breakers: Here's the formula for category 1 ice-breakers:

I just found out ____________________. If you'd like to know more about it, I'll be happy to tell you. In the meantime, please _____________.

For example, you're sitting at dinner next to a friend or relative and you say, "You know Joe, I just found out how to get an extra paycheck every week. If you'd like to know more about it, I'll be happy to tell you. In the meantime, can you please pass the peas."

This icebreaker opens up the conversation, without you dumping any company information, product information or pressure on friends and relatives. It just lets your friends in on a benefit that they may be interested and leaves it up to them to decide if they want it or not. No pressure, no rejection, no worries.

Another example might be, "You know Sally, I just found out how we can make more money part time than our husbands do full time. If you'd like to know more about it, I'll be happy to tell you. In the meantime, let's get back to shopping."

You get the idea. Those are company benefits, but you can also use product benefits. For example, "You know Joan, I just found out how to get the antioxidant power of 13 fruits and vegies a day into my kids diets and they love it. If you'd like to know more about it, I'll be happy to tell you. In the meantime, pass the ketchup."

Big Al says that "I just found out" are the most powerful four words he has ever found in 35 years of network marketing. Why? Because they almost compel us to find out more. It's sneaks into our brain and triggers our curiosity button. We just can't stop ourselves from wanting to know what they just found out.

So that's it for today guys. If you really want to succeed in network marketing, take 15 minutes today and practice your category 1 ice-breakers.

Mastery comes from practicing the fundamentals. Don't skip this part. You can't just read about it, you need to practice these ice-breaking skills. There's a story about an intellectual who thought he could learn everything from reading. He read a book on astronomy and became an astronomer. He read a book on biology and became a biologist. He read a book on swimming and he drowned.

You can't read your way to mastery. You must practice these skills. Make them your own. Let them become a part of you. When you do, watch your business explode. You will be on your way to mastery.

See you next time. Practice!

Neil F. Neimark, M.D.
http://www.monavieprosperity.com/
http://www.skillsmakeadifference.com/