OJT: ON THE JOB TRAINING – TEACH BY EXAMPLE (written August, 1998)

One of the “key” ingredients between success and failure in MLM is the “follow-up”. If you truly wish to be successful, you MUST generate an “inquiry” (lead) and send your information to the prospect, and then follow it up with a phone call about a week or so later. This is the most efficient, most cost effective and absolutely BEST method of sponsoring people into an MLM program. Let me show you a very simple way to “TEACH” members of your organization to ”follow-up”.

The most important aspect to teaching someone how to do something is “the student’s belief in your credibility”. If the student does not believe that you are successful in MLM, why would they follow your methods? The student won’t – and I don’t blame them – would you? Why would anyone follow you if there was not a successful proven method in which they were participating in? It would be the “blind leading the blind”. So the first obstacle you must overcome is “your credibility”. How do you prove your credibility? It’s simple. Actually do what you are trying to teach others to do. If you say that the follow up is the most important aspect, then by golly, you better make sure you are following up all the leads you get. Then when you sponsor people, tell them that this is what you do and you will teach them to do the same. Tell them that it takes time to learn and you will do their follow ups for them until they are comfortable doing it for themselves. No way – YOU say!?! I guarantee that if you advise somebody that you will do their follow ups for them, your sponsoring efforts will increase ten-fold! Why? Because everyone knows that you MUST follow-up, but everyone FAILS to do it – because of the “FEAR OF REJECTION!” I am not creating something magical here. The follow-up is the key and very few of you do it. As a matter of fact, I only know of maybe 12 people that actually do follow-ups. That is why if you advise your prospect you will do the follow-ups, your sponsoring ratio will increase tremendously.

Why should you follow up for other people? This is obvious to me, but I’ll let you know my reasons. The number one reason is that if your newly sponsored individual has just joined into the MLM company you are promoting, what are the chances they really knows what they’re is doing? Unfortunately, probably slim to none. Show them a method where he can generate leads and you will follow them up for him. This way, when a Prospect calls, your newly sponsored individual doesn’t “blow the sale”. You are much more qualified to handle leads then they are. Why lose a “hot” prospect? A lead is a lead. Go for it! Plus if you handle the leads, you are showing your newly sponsored individual that you really care about them and that you will go that “extra mile” to help them. Plus if the prospect gets sponsored, what difference does it make if the person is put in your downline or one of your downliner’s downline? I’ll give you my biggest reason, which pays off in the long term. When you start filling in a person’s downline and that person starts to taste some money, the newly sponsored individual will want to know how to do what you are doing, so they may expand their efforts. That’s where the real benefit is. That’s when you start to see an “explosion” in your downline. This doesn’t occur overnight. It obviously takes time. But the benefit is there for you to do the follow-up.

Do you know that old saying, “those who can’t do – TEACH”. Well that holds no weight in the MLM industry! How can you TEACH someone to follow-up when you have no clue what’s going to happen? If you really want to be successful, start “following up” today and your downline will grow and grow and grow tomorrow. I’ll talk you again soon. Peace and God Bless.

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