Steps to Getting Others to See You as a Leader from the Start
1. Approach people with faith, enthusiasm, and action.
2. Present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
3. Position yourself as the one in charge, as the leader.
Approach Your Business with Faith, Enthusiasm, and Action
I give credit to my personal sponsor, Bob, for sharing with me with those three words: faith, enthusiasm, and action. “Go out and do your work with the power of faith, enthusiasm, and action behind all your business-building efforts,” he said.
Faith in yourself and your business. Faith in your product. Faith in the ability of multilevel marketing to work for you. Faith in the vision you’re building. Faith that you can build this with or without any potential distributor. That’s a huge piece. There’s nothing worse than chasing people down and feeling you need them to sign up. There’s nothing better than their knowing you would love to work with them, but you don’t need them.
Enthusiasm is like a magic wand. You can’t directly measure it, but people can feel when you do your work enthusiastically. You’re enthusiastically talking to people. You’re enthusiastically sharing the business opportunity. You’re enthusiastically communicating the vision of where you’re going. It’s been said that sales is simply a transference of energy and belief from one person to the other. When you know where you’re going, when people can feel the energy you have, when they can feel your enthusiasm about your opportunity, you pass that on to them. Your enthusiasm becomes part of them. They become enthusiastic alongside you.
Action is simply going out there and doing the work. Showing up every single day, putting in the hours, week after week, month after month, year after year.
Position yourself as a leader by approaching your business with faith, enthusiasm, and action.
Present a Once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity
Looking back, I recognize that whenever my business experienced jumps in volume or emerging leaders, we were always focused on something big. A Big-New-Exciting Opportunity in the business right now that people could not miss out on. Something exclusive right here, right now.
Here are a few approaches I’ve used to present this business as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity:
1. Ground Floor – When I first got started, my company was already five years old, but I promoted this being a ground-floor opportunity for my first year.
2. New Training Coming Up – I just revamped my training, and this is an exclusive, test-group launch of the new training. I’m looking for a few new distributors to mentor.
3. New Face to the Company – We just partnered with an investment company that infused $50 million into our infrastructure. Ride this new growth.
4. New Product Release – There’s a new product coming out, now is the time to get in.
5. New Territory – We’re expanding into a new country and looking for partners there.
That’s an abridged list, but you get the idea. When you go out there and talk about your business – whether one-on-one, on social media, or wherever else you’re sharing – your emphasis is always about your next new, big thing. This special situation is coming up, and you’re looking for partners to join you.
As partners start coming into your “next big thing,” you want to celebrate it and make it public in your social media, emails, etc. I love the whole process of celebrating. It’s fun and it builds momentum. I say things like, “We’ve got this new training, only 30 spots available. Oh, 2 spots taken! So-and-so signed up and so-and-so signed up. Oh, 2 more spots taken – so-and-so signed up and so-and-so signed up.” Then the people watching are thinking, “Oh, wow. That person from work signed up.” It creates a buzz around your big opportunity. That buzz leads those who are on the fence and watching, to reach out to you.
Position Yourself as the One in Charge
To position yourself as the one in charge, you need to know and others need to know that you don’t need them. I know it sounds harsh. It’s not that you don’t want to work with them. You would love to work with them. There’s nothing more that you want, but you don’t need them. You have something to offer that they need. See yourself as a leader. Position yourself as the one in charge.
When someone is interested in signing up with me, I use four tools to position myself as the one in charge:
1. An application.
2. A follow-up phone or video interview.
3. A welcome email.
4. A “getting started right” call.
The Application
Have people fill out your application regardless of how they come to you. Don’t just send them your sign-up link. If you’ve been out talking to somebody face-to-face and she decides she’s interested in working with you, your next step is sending her an application. If you’ve been posting on social media, someone is watching, and he’s ready to sign up, your next step is to send him an application. Your long-term goal is building leaders in your downline. The application is part of the positioning process. Don’t skip it because you want to rush to sign people up.
When people have to fill out an application before talking with me, what did I just do? I positioned myself. Now, they’re coming to me. They’re filling out an application to work with me. Some of the application questions are designed to give me an understanding of what people want to get out of this business. Are they looking to do a little part-time thing or are they looking to build a big business? If they’re looking to build a big business, are they willing to see me as a mentor? Are they willing to have an employee-employer relationship? Are they willing to put together a personal development plan? Are they going to be coachable?
After they fill out the application, an email auto-responder directs them to text me so I know they sent an application in.
*BONUS* Application and auto-responder available at www.KeithCallahan.com/book.
Again, you see the positioning? People fill out an application. The application asks a bunch of questions and positions me as the authority. Then they get an email back saying, “I’m super busy, send me a text message so I know to check for your application.” From the start these steps set a tone and expectation regarding how our relationship will work.
The Interview
Many big-time recruiters do not see the value in the interview and skip it. Don’t do that. If you’re looking to build a long-term sustainable business, you want to start developing relationships with the people in your downline (which we’ll explore in detail in a later chapter).
During the interview with a potential distributor, my goal is to make sure we’re a fit for each other. My willingness to spend half an hour with somebody who hasn’t signed up yet gives me leverage because many other distributors are not willing to get on the phone with a prospect. Doing so says a lot. It also starts our relationship-building process.
*BONUS* 12-minute audio and accompanying PDF detailing this interview process available at www.KeithCallahan.com/book.
The Welcome Email
When new distributors sign up, I send them a welcome email with two attachments: a checklist and a questionnaire. The checklist sets up new people to succeed by taking action right away. It also gives me the opportunity to stress what I think is important, not what corporate thinks is important. Corporate is not focused on building leaders, therefore, their welcome email is likely to be very different from my welcome email.
Much of what we work on initially is getting a new distributor’s mind in the right place, not navigating the back-end office, how to set up their website, and the like. My focus is on the big picture, on inspiring, on getting distributors oriented toward my thinking.
The questionnaire helps me better understand who they are and what their goals are. It’s similar to the application they already filled out, but more detailed. I then work with their questionnaire responses on our “getting started right” call.
The welcome email and attachments represent quite a bit of work for
new distributors. If they do all of it, they’re really diving in. They’re thinking about their goals. They’re thinking about how they want to start building their business. All of this positions me as an authority and at the same time focuses them in the right direction, and generates enthusiasm and excitement about what is coming.
*BONUS* Welcome email with checklist and questionnaire available at www.KeithCallahan.com/book.
The “Getting Started Right” Call
Finally we arrive at the “getting started right” call. By this time the distributor’s attitude is: “Keith, tell me exactly what to do.” She has this attitude because of how I’ve positioned our relationship from the start. Consider the process she has gone through: as a prospective new distributor, she fills out an application, then has a phone call in which I explain how I mentor and what she can expect; she signs up, and her welcome email gives her 10 things to do and another questionnaire. All this positions me as the authority. Collectively it says, “I know what I’m doing. I’m completely capable of helping you achieve your goals, and I’m going to show you what to do, step by step.” This allows me to set expectations from the outset.
*BONUS* 11-minute audio and accompanying PDF detailing this call available at www.KeithCallahan.com/book.
One of the questions distributors I mentor ask frequently is “How do you get your distributors working right away?” As you can see, I don’t sign up distributors and then tell them, “Okay, now it’s time to get to work.” The entire getting-started process indicates: I’m going to work, it’s going to be uncomfortable, but Keith is going to set goals and show me exactly what to do right from the start. So when distributors sign up with me, they’re nervous – just like all new distributors – but they take action right away. They take action because they have been expected to all along. When I start new distributors, they’re usually signing up people within the first day. The first week at the longest. That’s what I expect. Because I expect it and because I have positioned myself as the authority, that’s the only path they know.
Can you see how adhering to this process positions you as a leader? Can you see how this positioning influences the way new distributors start their business? Leading others and getting them started strong doesn’t begin when they sign up. It begins with being a leader from the first interaction.
Action Steps
1. Download my templates at www.KeithCallahan.com/book to use in creating your own scripts and documents:
a) An application for interested prospects.
b) A follow-up email for that application.
c) Your interview script.
d) Your welcome email.
2. Go through the last few weeks of your recruiting content (what you’ve put on social media) and think about the conversations you have had. Do the people you’re interacting with see you as a leader? Is that the message you’re conveying? If not, make the commitment to shift what you say and share.
Chapter 7
Attracting Leaders
Leadership is the ability to guide others without force
into a direction or decision that leaves them still feeling empowered and accomplished.
— Lisa Cash Hanson
Attracting leaders is 100 percent about you. It’s not about your products, services, or business opportunity. People are buying YOU. Think about it like you’re a magnet looking to attract that perfect prospect. Whatever means you use (face-to-face, email, social media, etc.), the more attractive you are, the more magnetic you are, the more people are going to be drawn to you. People are buying your energy, your story, your vision, your dream. People are attracted to you, follow you, and eventually become a partner of yours because they’re inspired by who you are and what you stand for.
Questions Every Prospect Asks
Two questions will go through the mind of every prospect you come across, though they never ask you directly:
1. Does [your name here] have the ability to help me achieve my goals?
2. Can I do this?
These two questions are like the first domino in a series of dominos. If you can answer these two questions, all their other questions and reservations become irrelevant. You will speak to these two questions over and over as you’re out there recruiting.
Does he or she have the ability to help me achieve my goals? The more magnetic you are, the more you believe in yourself, the more you know where you’re going, the clearer your vision and your dream, the more your prospect will know you have the ability to help her get where she wants to go. At this point in your reading of Build to Last, you know that if you sign up with me, I have the ability to mentor you in achieving your goals. Why? Because I’ve positioned myself that way.
Can I do this? We all need someone to believe in us, and you can offer that belief in your prospect that he CAN actually do this. Whenever I talk to a prospect, I highlight qualities I see in him and how those qualities will contribute to his success in this business.
If he knows you have the ability to help him achieve his goals and he believes he can do it, you’ve empowered him to succeed.
A Period of Imbalance
Attracting leaders requires enormous energy. Making a real run at your network marketing business takes massive imbalance upfront. It needs to become an obsession, the only thing you think about, for a period of time. The best way for me to describe this is by sharing how it was for me in the beginning.
When I made the decision to start my network marketing business, I also made the decision to go all in. I let go of everything else in my life except two things: my family and this business. That’s all I focused on for an entire year. I stopped watching TV. I stopped going out with friends. I even stopped spending time with my extended family, except for holidays. I was obsessed with this business. It was my burning obsession because IT HAS TO BE.
To succeed at the highest levels in our industry, you first have to “get the boulder over the hill.” Getting the boulder over the hill is getting your business to the point that it starts to run away from you. When you attract other leaders and they start building their business, eventually your business thrives with or with-out you. Getting the boulder over the hill is when your team is producing exponentially more than you personally are producing. But you have to get that boulder over the hill, which takes massive imbalance and energy in the beginning.
For that first year I had an agreement with my wife. She understood that we were going to have imbalance for a while. If anybody tells you that you can put in five hours a week and it’s just going to build and build, they’re wrong. Building to last doesn’t work that way. You might experience small success that way, but if you want big success, you have to get that boulder over the hill. If you’re in the process of getting the boulder over the hill and you stop for even a week, that boulder will roll back down the hill. The longer you stop, the further down the hill the boulder rolls. If you’re halfway up the hill and you stop doing the work for a month or so, the boulder rolls all the way back down and you’ve got to start over again.
During This Period of Imbalance, Set Your Soul
on Fire
My mentor, Craig, loved sharing a particular story about the energy and mindset you have to get yourself into to get the boulder over the hill and succeed with this business. The story goes like this:
You’re on the highway driving home from work one day. You’ve been driving for a while and you’re nearing your exit. You see lights flashing and pull over to the shoulder. A bunch of fire trucks rush past you, sirens blowing. They’re flying down the highway, fire truck after fire truck. It concerns you. What could be going on? Obviously not something good. And it looks like they’re heading to the town you live in. All the trucks go by, and you get back on the highway then take your exit. Now you start to get a little more concerned because as you get off the main road and turn down the street toward your home, you realize all the fire trucks are heading that way. You get even more concerned when you realize
they’re going toward your house. As you turn the corner toward your home, you see all the trucks are at your house because it’s on fire! You speed up, arrive at the house, get out of your car, and start walking toward the house.
One of the fire fighters puts out an arm and says to you, “You can’t go in there.”
You respond, “That’s my house!”
The fire fighter says, “I know, but you can’t go in there. The house is on fire. It’s not safe for you to go in there.”
You sink down, totally deflated, and realize your entire house with all your memories in it is about to burn to the ground.
That’s one way the story could go. Here is a second way:
You’re driving home and getting off the highway. As you exit, you see fire trucks going by and realize they’re taking a left. They’re going down toward your house. Again you’re getting nervous, thinking, “Whoa, what’s going on?” Your heart starts beating a little faster. You drive a bit further and see the fire trucks taking a right into the cul-de-sac where your house is. Now your heart really starts racing, and then you realize it’s your house on fire! You step on the gas. You’re trembling and shaking and crying and screaming. You go speeding into your yard and park right on the grass – the car coming to a skidding halt. You jump out of the car, slam the door, and run toward the house. A fire fighter tries to stop you, but this time you push past him and three other fire fighters. Nobody is going to stop you from getting into that burning house. Nothing is going to hold you back because your family is inside that house!
You run up there, risking your own life. Nothing else matters in this moment. Nothing is going to stand in the way of your getting in that house and rescuing your family. You’re utterly focused. Nothing else enters your mind, nothing else matters at this moment. You have one job: rescue your family.
When you start going after your dreams like you would go after your family in that burning house – with that energy – that’s when you start attracting people into this business. Many of us need to move through the energy level of seeing a house on fire and saying, “Oh, bummer,” to the intensity of saving your family.
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