21 Best Tips for Prospecting Success

Someone asked me recently the other day in a blanket question, “Todd, what are your best tips for prospecting success?”

That's like leaving the door wide open for anything to come your way when I open my mouth and talk about the subject of prospecting and recruiting in network marketing.  Of course, I was kind and gave a handful of great tips that I feel have personally led me to great successes year in and year out as an entrepreneur in the network marketing profession, but the list was still lacking.

So…I sat down after that discussion and decided to write down ALL THE THINGS that I felt have led me to consistent victories in selling and in recruiting as a network marketing professional.  Here they are…and they are in no particular order either.  In other words, number one isn't 21 times more important than tip #21.  They are ALL important.  And…they are ALL things that will lead you to more success if you apply them into your business.  

1. Keep your Pipeline Full.  It's hard to make a lot of sales or recruit a lot of people when no one is looking at your product or business.  So…my suggestion to you is that you do everything that you can to consistently get more eyeballs on your stuff.  Want your business to grow?  Get more people to look at it pure and simple.  Waiting never made anyone rich. 
2. Track your Numbers.  I tell everyone to draw a box on a piece of paper at the end of every day…and in that box, write the number of NEW PEOPLE you talked to that day about your business.  When you do that, you get FEEDBACK.  You get a reflection of your activity or inactivity levels in your business.  You can track the raw numbers of contacts…or you can get even more detailed and track the number of contacts, messages left, presentations given, follow up calls made, etc. and get an even CLEARER IDEA of how many people you personally need to expose to your product or business to make a sale.  
3. Follow up…Fast.  I can't tell you how many people I talk to that say they aren't good at follow up.  The reality isn't that they aren't good from a skill standpoint, they simply drop the ball and don't finish what they started.  When you show someone your business and they need to get more information to make an informed decision, find out how soon they can look at it and follow up with them on THAT day.  If I know you are going to be looking at my “more information” that I am sending you tomorrow and tomorrow is Tuesday, my question to you will be, “When can I follow up with you tomorrow?”  Don't ever ask, “Can I follow up with you?”  Be sure to specify a day…or even a day and time.  
4. Don't Overload your Prospect.  You don't need to choke your prospect with every piece of information available.  Just get them enough so they can begin to understand what it is that you do and how they'd fit into the picture should they decide to do so.  Overload creates confusion.  Confused people do nothing.  You want your prospect to look at your stuff, not be so overwhelmed that they feel intimidated.  
5. Leverage your Leadership.   You likely have people in your upline or on your leadership team that are better than you or more experienced.  Use them!  There's no better way of learning that putting a good prospect on the phone with someone who has more experience than you.  I'm amazed at how many people complain about their lack or results and then I ask them if they've ever done a 3-way call with a leader, their answer is NO.  Use them…it's what they're there for.  
6. Be Genuinely Interested.  People who pitch themselves and their company without every getting to know their prospect likely aren't getting good results.  The more you show genuine interest in someone and their needs, their desires, their dreams and aspirations…the more you'll attract people.  It doesn't matter how good your product or business is if you don't care about your prospect.  Start showing it through your actions and you'll start seeing the result in your bonus check. 
7. Listen (pause), then Respond.  Too often, people are concerned with telling people about their deal rather than ENGAGING a human being in a real and interactive conversation.  If you ask a question…or your prospect asks a question, take a moment and PAUSE before responding.  It tells them that you are actually listening, rather than stepping all over the end of their sentence which is a blaring sign of disrespect and clearly shows that you actually aren't listening at all.  
8. Put your Blinders on and Focus.  Tiger Woods doesn't play tennis.  Michael Jordan tried baseball, but it didn't work out so well for him, did it?  Focus on building one company and your money worries will be gone.  Build multiple deals and you'll have money problems multiplied for many years.  ‘Nuff said?  I think so.  
9. Don't Hover.  I see this happen all the time.  People get 5 to 10 people looking at their business, and they stop reaching out to more people.  Keep moving forward.  Keep following up, but don't hover “hoping” that you're little group of people you've shown your business to are going to set you free for life.  Some give you a definitive “no”, and others simply don't make a decision.  If they haven't made a decision over an extended period of time, they've likely made a decision, but simply haven't told you yet.  Move on…find someone else.  Just don't hover.  
10. Dump the Hype.   We have enough cheese already in this business, we don't need any more of it.  The “greatest launch in MLM history” has been done a million times over.  The “we're the next billion dollar giant” line only makes you look stupid.  Be real with people and be realistic as far as what they will experience in your business and you'll not only grow a great check, but you'll grow a great reputation based on being real and genuine in your approach with people.  
11. Employ you.  The best question you could ever ask yourself every day is, “Would I hire me?”  Would you?  I mean that seriously.  Look at how you've been showing up until right now.  Based on how you've been showing up in your network marketing business, how would you answer that question?  In order to master your prospecting and maximize your potential, you've got to be living up to your potential every single day.  Start asking yourself that question at the end of every day.  If you don't like the answer, then do something different. 
12. Be Clear with your Desired Outcome.  What exactly do you want and when?  Do you even know?  Do you see it clearly?  Have you written it down?  It's hard to get someplace when you don't even know where you are going.  On the other hand, when you know exactly here you are going, it becomes very easy to get there.  Everything seems to fall in line for you when you have clarity in your life.  
13. Practice, practice, practice.  The only way to get better at anything is to put practice time in.  How often are you practicing your approach, your talk, your presentation or your pitch?  Do you rehearse what you're going to do or do you just “wing it”?  If the best athletes in the world practice regularly, why shouldn't you?  
14. Enthusiasm DOES Make the Difference.  The fact is that people are attracted to individuals who have a burning passion for what they are doing.  It is literally contagious.  Boring, hum-drum, blah isn't fun to be around.  In fact, it's the reverse of fun.  We are in business for ourselves, get to come and go as we please, live life on our terms and do whatever the heck we want to do whenever we feel like it.  There is something to get excited about in all of that, don't you think?  But…does that come out in your prospecting?  Can you prospect “feel” your excitement for what you do?  If not…change it.  
15. Under-Promise and Over-Deliver.  Nothing is more disappointing than someone who tells you they are going to do something and then they fail to do it.  If you make a promise, keep it.  If you say something, then do it.  Seems pretty simple, but people fall short of their promises all the time, and as a result, so does their check and their overall success. 
16. Be Consistent.  Want success in your business?  Do it every day.  Nothing good happens for someone who does something every once in a while, or when they feel like it.  In fact…when you don't “feel” like doing something, that's probably a really good sign that you need to be doing more of that something.  Do something every day, you'll get really, really good at it.  Do it every once in a while and you'll always be average at it.  
17. Recruit up.  Regardless of whether not you employ my Insider Secrets to Recruiting Professionals method, you still want to be looking UP.  Who do you want?  Good people or people that aren't good?  Obviously, you want the former.  So…when it comes to your recruiting and selling, look for those with talent and abilities, people that CAN do what we do.  It makes the business fun…and far more profitable in the long-term.  
18. Ask for Referrals.  I could talk about this until I am blue in the face, and still people don't get it.  You don't get anything you don't ask for in life.  If you'd like to make your leads list last forever and continue to grow your business organically, then asking for referrals is something you've got to start doing.  The more you ask, the more you'll get.  I've gotten referrals that have led me to literally tens of thousands of dollars in income.  In fact…I've probably made in excess of 6-figures just by asking for a referral.  If you knew that would happen for your, would it cause you to start asking?  You'll never know until you ask.  
19. Harness the Power of Projection.  When you are working outside of your warm market and contacting people who you don't know yet, use that to your advantage.  The fact they don't know you gives you power.  It gives you the power to project whatever image you choose.  So…if you're working out of a garage like I was, you don't have to act like it.  I literally got to my first $10,000 month in network marketing working out of a garage, but my prospects never knew it.  Why?  I acted “as if”.  I acted as if I was already successful and they accepted it as their reality of me.  
20. Model Success.  Don't change it.  When someone is willing to show you how to do something that you don't yet know how to do…and they're really willing to share with you exactly how they did it, don't re-invent what they've shown you…model it, copy it, do it, just don't change it!  
21. Take Responsibility for yourself.  No one but you is going to create success for you.  Blaming others, your comp plan, your upline or system for your lack of success doesn't cut it.  If you're doing that, my question for you is, “How's that working for you?”  Blaming, justifying and making excuses is the opposite of accountability.  You'll win because you chose to win and because you acted like a winner.  Failures blame others for their lack of success.  Winners accept responsibility for their actions, good or bad.  You're an independent entrepreneur.  Act like it.  

Looking back at my career, this is what I've found to work for me in helping me to achieve consistent successes year in and year out.  Success isn't hard, neither is prospecting.  It's work for sure…hard work at times, but the rewards are worth every moment you invest in doing this business and getting better at it.