Follow Up! (written February, 1999) 

I believe that everything out in the mails today that is being promoted, as long as the Post Office deems it to be legal, is a viable opportunity. I believe that’s what make this country GREAT. It is truly “THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY.” Unfortunately, in our wonderful business, very few of the articles that are written ever tell you EXACTLY how to promote the opportunity. Instead, the articles usually focus on the hard work, patience, commitment, etc… The key important aspects involved in running your own business. All of these articles are correct. I’m not going to repeat what others are saying. That would only bore you. What I will say is this: You need to “Commit” to a proven philosophy of success and duplicate it. If you “commit”, then success will eventually be yours for the taking.

As I previously mentioned, every opportunity, as long as the Post Office deems it to be legal, can make you money. The key is “THE PROMOTION”. This is where 98% of the people FAIL! You can try to mail out brochures and sponsor people. You can try to encourage them to do the same, but the fact remains, MAIL costs money. LOTS OF IT! You can not build a large successful distributor group mailing out a few hundred or even thousands of brochures. It takes LARGE quantities, like say, 100,000-1,000,000 brochures. What’s the cost? Boy, these MLM opportunities are getting expensive now, aren’t they?

I’ll tell you what the least expensive, most time efficient and absolutely BEST way to sponsor people into your opportunity. It’s called the “inquiry–follow up” approach. You run small ads, large ads, medium ads – any size ad you want. The ad should simply tell about the opportunity. For example, “Great Products, Great Upline Support, Make Money. Free details. Send your name, address, and phone number (a must!) to…….” Be creative, but honest and ALWAYS ask for the prospects phone number. Insist upon it! It shows they are serious about the information they will receive. When the prospect sends in for your FREE INFORMATION, send them a nice letter with some important information on the program. Don’t send EXPENSIVE literature. Send a SIMPLE EASILY DUPLICABLE letter to your prospect with some important information on the opportunity. The next step is where the “KEY” to your success will be – “THE TELEPHONE FOLLOW-UP!” About one week after you send the information to your prospect, call them up. Simply say, “Hi, this is so and so, and I sent you information on the program you requested and I wanted to know if you were interested in joining”. That’s all. Be polite, but direct. If they say they are not interested, politely say thank you and wish them luck and hang up. If they have any interest at all, tell them why they should be getting involved. DON’T “HYPE” THEM about money. Tell them about the great products, about the great upline support, about what you will do to help them. Get them to commit to something. Always be friendly, but firm. If they are busy, ask them if you can call back next week. Always give your prospect the opportunity at any time by telling them, “that if she is not interested in what you have to say, please let you know. YOU WILL NOT BE OFFENDED!” Tell your prospect this so you will not waste your breathe and their time. It makes NO SENSE to try to get someone involved who has NO COMMITMENT. How can they duplicate you if you are committed and they are not? They can’t and you will not make money!

If you are not willing to get on the phone, either get involved with an upline that has a good telemarketing system, whereby you can pay for ads to be run and they do the follow-ups OR don’t get involved! The mails are much more costly and much more time consuming than the phone and YOU WOULD BE SHOCKED AT THE POSITIVE RESPONSE YOU GET when you call prospects! These prospects want to hear from you so you can show them how to make money!

I recently did a small test. I ran an inquiry generating ad in a publication for FREE INFORMATION on a money making opportunity – and I didn’t ask for the prospects phone number. I got 83 leads. 47 didn’t have their phone number and 36 did have their phone number. I mailed out a lousy “form letter” to all who responded. My letter simply told them a little about the program I was promoting and that I was going to TEACH them to DUPLICATE what I was doing. I also included a few sheets regarding the program and an application. It cost 29 cents per letter. Of the 36 who included their phone number and I called, 20 joined into my program, 14 told me they didn’t have the money right now and two told me they weren’t interested. Of the 47 who requested information and didn’t include their number, only two replied after my third letter two months later. One said he couldn’t get involved because he didn’t have the money and the other one told me he didn’t receive the original information and to re-send it. Neither included their phone number a second time and I haven’t heard from either since. What’s my point? If someone doesn’t want to send you their number, it’s a high probability they are “lookers”. Don’t waste your time with them! Let them waste someone else’s time while you are working with real prospects making you money!.

If you do not want to do the telephone follow-up because you wish to re-create the wheel, GOOD LUCK! In the many years I have been in business, I have mailed out millions of pieces. Last year (1990), I spent over $42,000 in bulk postage alone! If there was a way to simply sponsor through the mails, don’t you think I could have retired by now? I might also say that my phone bill averages $300 a month, which equals $3600 a year. Would you rather pay $3600 or $42,000?

I would also like to mention that it’s essential to not only do the telephone follow-up, but stay in touch with your downliners via the phone. Help them do their follow-ups and TEACH them to DUPLICATE what you are doing. Imagine if you had 10 people doing follow-ups BETTER than you?!? You would be “rolling in dough!” Happy Telephoning!

The author of this article is Larry Costello, President of All-American Print & Mail, 2200 Wilson Blvd #102-57, Arlington, VA 22201.