Calling Leads Training

Keep in mind that we (Cutting Edge Media) don’t just deliver you leads; we are an introduction service connecting you with people who have raised their hand interested in hearing from business owners, like you, about the possibilities of starting a business. You may not like some of the people we connect you with, and some are going to give you every objection in the book. Please understand, you’re going through a sorting process to identify a few prospects, every month, who you feel are going your way and could be successful in your business. Each month you continue in the lead program you’ll be building a strong pipeline with more and more serious prospects. This momentum will continue to increase as we introduce you to new prospects. If you have this mindset of sorting through prospects to identify the qualified ones, you’ll be successful. Many of the people who fail with leads do not have proper expectations.

You can not expect to purchase leads and get a return on your investment immediately…or get a return ten-fold. The variable that determines success or failure is you. And our company is here to help you succeed in all aspects of your prospecting, from fresh prospects, training, to converting sales. With time and practice, you’ll develop the skills to sponsor new distributors/leaders nationwide. For some, you may see a return on your investment the first month, but many of you will take several months or even a year. If you stay in the game long enough, talk to new prospects every day, follow a script/process, and take advantage of our training, you will succeed. Let’s face it, most people fear picking up the phone to call prospects. But the people who overcome this fear are rewarded – handsomely!

As mentioned above, we are an introduction service connecting you with people who are interested in hearing from owners about a business opportunity. You’re simply returning each prospect’s request for information, so it’s not a “cold call”. When you receive that lead in your email, remember that it’s your responsibility to find out if they are a lot for your business.

The biggest reason people fear calling prospects is rejection. It’s an ugly word and it typically comes when a prospect says, “I’m not interested.” Prospects are not rejecting you personally, but rather your company/business, so don’t take it personally and move on to the next lead. Before you ever pick up the phone, be sure to review the prospect’s information, make notes on their answers and use the information that we provide to your advantage. The more knowledge you have going into the call, the better your conversation or interview will be. There are two things that will help you overcome fear more than anything else: knowledge and practice. Knowledge. You just read about being organized and prepared for your conversations. That would be considered knowledge of your prospect. The other aspect of knowledge that will help you more than anything else is being comfortable with your company and product. You believe in your company, and these prospects are requesting that you share information with them – there’s nothing to fear here. Have a plan in place and know what you are going to say when that prospect answers the phone (see our sample phone script in chapter four).

To prospect successfully you don’t have to be a master at explaining your compensation plan or know all the science that goes into your products. These things will come with time and practice, which brings us to the most important activity for overcoming fear: practice! Practice. It’s the single most important key to unlocking the doors to all your fears! Many trainers in our industry agree that to overcome fear of prospecting, a person should take the military’s approach. Hilton Johnson said it best: “To overcome fear you should drill, drill, drill and when you’re tired of drilling, drill some more!”

A few tips:

1.) Practice your presentations with a teammate. Take turns calling each other and role-play various situations while taking them through your exposure process.

2.) Record your practice calls. It’s illegal to record a call without the other party knowing and agreeing to be recorded, so record your calls with teammates or friends. Then play them back to learn your strengths and weaknesses.

3.) Participate in live prospecting calls. Cutting Edge Media has several live prospecting calls per week where you can listen in on live conversations with prospects. To find out more about these training calls, contact your marketing or lead specialist at 1-800-561-9297. The only fear you should have is not making a call to that prospect who may be your next business builder.

We can all probably agree that 99.99% of opportunities work one simple way: you’re sponsored by someone who’s already in the business, and that person was sponsored by another and another and so on. These people are known as your upline and they each followed a system, a step-by-step process to expose their business and recruit new prospects. It’s also safe to say that each of your upline leaders were asked to make a list of all their friends, family, acquaintances, etc. Then they were probably given very specific instructions to follow for exposing the business opportunity or products to each person on the list. This is called warm-market duplication, and it’s the first step recommended by most network marketers. Many distributors who get into home businesses have little or no sales experience. Because of this, your organization and/or company has a process for you to follow to expose new prospects to the business which does most of the selling/presenting for you.

Our message about prospecting is for you to totally embrace and master the duplication process that has been created for you and the entire company. However, there is only one situation where duplication is totally ineffective – when you don’t have a viable warm market or you have simply run low on people to talk to! This, of course, is where Cutting Edge Media can help you with an unlimited supply of prospects. So remember, when you’re thinking about creating more activity by advertising or purchasing leads, do not abandon the system your leaders or company have created for you. Almost any form of prospecting done outside your warm market can be done very similarly, if not almost the exact same way, as face-to-face prospecting. most companies have created tools (Web sites, Flash presentations/movies, CD’s, DVD’s, recorded messages, and more) for you to expose the business to prospects whether they live next door to you, in another state, or even on the other side of the world. That’s the beauty of the 21st century recruiting – you don’t need to meet a prospect face-to-face in order to bring them into the business. The message here: always listen to your leaders and utilize your tools!

Sample System & Process forExposing Prospects to Your Business

Step 1

Pick up the phone and call your prospect following a phone script (sample script in chapter four).

Step 2

Qualify the prospect on your first call:

• If that prospect does seem interested and qualified, set up a follow-up phone appointment and ask them to review your business in more detail by sending them to your Web site, Flash presentation, mailing them a CD or DVD, having them listen to a recorded message, etc.

• If the prospect does not seem qualified, then move on. You could place them in an autoresponder if you feel at some point they may become interested, mail them a postcard every month or so, and give them a call in a few months to see if things have changed. Or if they are not interested, discontinue contact and move on to yournext prospect.

Step 3

Make a follow-up call to your qualified prospects to see if they reviewed the company information you sent them. Ask them questions and find out if they have any interest at that point.

Step 4

If the prospect has reviewed the company information and has an interest, get your upline leader on a three-way call with your prospect. Introduce your prospect to your leader who sponsored you into the business and let your upline leader take it from there.

First Call Script

Before picking up the phone please understand the first 10 seconds of the call will set the tone for your success or failure of having a quality, open and honest conversation. So, don’t use the age-old telemarketing approach of formerly asking if Mr. or Mrs. _______ is there. Be careful about asking, “How are you doing today?” For most people, that question immediately sends off a “salesman signal” and the risk of a bad answer is far greater than the reward of an insincere “good”.

Step 1

Remember your mission is to make contact with the prospect, build a little rapport, assign them a task and book a follow-up appointment. When prospecting nationwide you will experience people from all backgrounds and personalities. You will talk to people who sound terrific and others who you’ll have trouble understanding. The goal is to sort through the not-so-serious to the serious and expose your business opportunity and products. Just BE REAL, RELAXED and UPBEAT…as if you were talking to your neighbor or returning a call to a friend!

Scenario 1

If you’re pretty certain you’re going to be speaking with a male prospect, but a woman answers the phone, or vice versa, say with a smile: Hi, this is _____ (your first name) is _____ (prospect’s first name) around? If you’re asked, “Who?” Be quick and upbeat with your name as if you can’t believe they don’t recognize your voice: _____ (your full name) I’m returning ______’s (prospect’s .first name) call.

Scenario 2

If you’re pretty sure your prospect is a man or woman and they answer the phone, say with some pep:

Hi, is this ______ ? (prospect’s first name & wait for a reply) ____ (prospect’s .first name) this is _______ (your full name) from ______ ( your city and state). I’m just calling you back about your request for information about working from home. What can I do for you?

Or

Hi, is this ______ ? (prospect’s .first name & wait for a reply) ____ (prospect’s .first name) this is _______ (your full name) from ______ ( your city and state). I just got your request about starting a home business. How can I help you?

* Remember, they requested that you call them with information about a home-business opportunity. With any Cutting Edge Media Real-Time Lead, the prospect has already been introduced to you because we gave them your name, phone number, email & Web site and told them that you would be calling!

If they answer positively, as in, “I saw the ad and thought I’d find out more” then move on to Step # 2. If they answer hesitantly or negatively, as in, “I was just curious, getting something for free or fooling around” or something similar, with a smile say:

No problem! _______(prospect’s name) I don’t know if what we do is right for you. But why don’t we spend two to three minutes together, then I’ll send you some FREE information, and you can make the decision to find out more from there. _____ (prospect’s name) does that sound fair? (Wait for an answer!)

Step 2

After asking one of the next two questions, you need to do the hardest thing possible:

put tape over your mouth and say nothing until after they answer! It’s crucial to get the prospect talking to you before you start asking them personal questions about their life and history.

The next two questions will achieve two very important goals:

A.) Allow you to learn about their perception or experiences about working from home.

B.) Get the prospect openly talking to you!Remember, if you really ask them with sincere concern, you will be very believable!

Optional Question #1

______ (prospect’s name) before we get started, let me ask you…How’s your search going?

Optional Question #2

______ (prospect’s name) what made you curious about starting a home business?

After each of the next few questions, try and draw on a similar experience or common interest and briefly expand upon it. Remember, this is a simple conversation!!

Phone Script

Also, the next few questions below may have already been answered from the question above, so take a few notes but most importantly LISTEN CLOSELY!_______ (prospect’s name) what do you do for a living?Follow-up with: How long have you been ______ (occupation)? _____ (prospect’s name) don’t you find it interesting anymore and/or what’s changed that’s causing you to look at starting a business? _______ (prospect’s name) to start any type of business, you’re going to need capital. Have you been setting any money aside? If yes, then say, “Good”, and move on!

If no, then say:

Well ______ (prospect’s name) depending on what you choose to do you may not need much, but if you ever expect to have your own business and make money you’re going to need some sort of start-up investment. But let’s not worry about that right now. _______ (prospect’s name) are you married?

Follow-up with: Do you have children? (Children are a great common bond. If you have them, let the prospect know a few details like, boys, girls, ages etc.) Then ask, “What are their ages?” ______ (prospect’s name) how long have you lived in _____ (prospect’s city or state)?

To build a little rapport, know your geography. Ask:How far is that from ______ (name a large city in that state). This will show that you’re listening and are somewhat familiar with their area._______ (prospect’s name) our company is _______ (company name) and we’re in the ________ (type of business) industry. Are you familiar with _______ (company name)? Well _______ (prospect’s name) as I said before, I’m not sure if what we do is right for you, but why don’t I get you some FREE information about our business and products. Does that sound good to you? (Wait for answer!)

Now, you’re about to assign the prospect a task! Remember this is not a sales call, so you should not be trying to close. Your mission here is to simply build a little rapport and determine how serious they are by giving them information to review on their own.

Before you spend more of your time with your prospect you want them to show you how serious they are by investing some of their own time to learn about your opportunity! If the prospect is asking questions trying to get you to tell them more about your business, you should simply say: _______ (prospect’s name) those are great questions and I’d like you to write them down because were going to cover that and more after you view the information I’m about to send you. ______ (prospect’s name) the information about our business will only take about 15 minutes to review.Then if you’d like, we can do a quick follow-up call and I can answer all your questions, let you determine if _____ (company name) is a business you would like to learn about.

If it is, say: Great! I’ll spend all the time you need answering your questions and going into exact details about how to get started. In fact, I can even introduce you to my business partner who helped me get started.

If it’s not, say:

No problem. You can continue looking for the right home business and I can resume my search for the right business partner in the _______ (their city or part of the state) area. Does that sound fair? (Wait for an answer!) Great! ______ (prospect’s name) I’m going to send you an email with a link to my Website and very specific directions on exactly what to review just so you’ll know it’s from me and safe to open, I’ll put my name ______(your name) right in the subject line. Does that sound okay? (Wait for an answer!) Great! _______(prospect’s name) as I said, the information I’m sending you will only take about 15 minutes to review. _____ (prospect’s name) about what time will you be looking at the information? (Put the tape over your mouth and let them tell you when they’ll be looking at the info!)

Okay great_______(prospect’s name) how about right after that at ____ or ____. (Offer your prospect two times for the follow-up call. Example: if they say 6:00, then ask to follow-up at 6:30 or 7:00) We can quickly touch base, answer your questions and determine if you would like to know more about ____ (company name).

The next step is very important and will increase your follow-up call percentages!

______ (prospect’s name) I want to ask you one favor before we hang up. Occasionally I have to change an appointment because someone on my team needs my help, and I always put my team first! If that happens I’ll give you a quick call and let you know we need to reschedule. It’s just professional courtesy, wouldn’t you agree? (Wait for an answer!) Well ______ (prospect’s name) if something comes up and you can’t make our quick follow-up, would you extend me that same courtesy? (Wait for an answer!) Great! ______ (prospect’s name) got a pen and paper? Here’s how you can leave me a message _____(give them your phone number ask them to read it back). Just leave me a quick message saying you need to reschedule and be sure to offer another time if you can. Okay ______ (prospect’s name) I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you and look forward to chatting with you again at ______ (appointment time).

If they are married, leave them with this: Oh ____ (prospect’s name) by the way…when I started my business my (husband or wife) and I discussed it at great length. So I know that starting a home business can be a big decision for you both. When you look at the information, why don’t you invite your (husband or wife) to view it with you? That way both of you can make a few notes and get any questions that you both have answered at the same time. Does that sound okay? Great! Thanks ____ (prospect’s name) I look forward to talking with you at _____ (appointment time). Have a wonderful day!

When prospecting over the phone, you’ll probably average about 50% of your calls being answered by voicemail. Therefore, a good voicemail message is critical. When you get an answering machine or voicemail, leave a message with the same intent as your live conversation. Tell the prospect who you are, where you’re calling from and that you’re returning their call. To alleviate days and weeks of phone tag and uncertainty, don’t be afraid to assign them a task just as if you were speaking to them live. Here’s a great voicemail script sent to us by one of our clients who consistently achieves results from his message.

Hello_______ (prospect’s name) this is ______ (your name) from ______ (city, state). I’m calling you back in regards to the information you requested about a home business. What I’d like to do is leave you with my Web site, plus I’ll be emailing it to you as well so you can check out our company and system. I’m not here to sell you our product or business opportunity! If you see the value, you’ll sell yourself. My Web site is ______ (your Web site). Simply complete the presentation and once you’ve done that, I’ll gladly give you a call and see if we’re compatible and if we can work together.

If you need to reach me, again this is ______ (your name) my home office number is _______ (your phone number) my Web site is _______ (your Web site). Don’t forget to look for the email from me as well. It will have specific instructions on exactly what to view. Have a great day and I look forward to speaking with you soon!

Note: If you have an opportunity to relate to one of their answers from the survey, do so at the end of your message – kids, stay at home, retire early, etc.