USANA
ONLINE BUSINESS BUILDING
- by Pete and Dora
Zdanis
The online
prospect contacting process is much like contacting any other prospect.
However, your prospect is now expecting your call and waiting to hear from you,
and they are a much higher quality prospect than most you may have worked with
in the past.
Once your
prospect has identified themselves as someone who is interested and wants more
information, it is very important that you contact them by telephone as soon as
possible, ideally within 24 hours or less.
Remember, as
soon as you make a contact online, the first thing you need to do is get them
offline and on the phone.
Your
objectives at this point are to:
·
Acknowledge
your prospect’s interest and response to the questionnaire
·
Develop
a positive rapport with your prospect
·
Determine
if they are in fact a qualified prospect who you would want to work with
·
Agree
on “next steps”, i.e., meet for a personal presentation, send them additional
information, schedule a follow-up phone call, etc.
·
Answer
any preliminary questions they may have
·
Thank
them for their time and interest
It is
critical that this be accomplished with a telephone call. Remember, your
prospect has given you their phone number and best time to reach them. They are
expecting to hear from you, and you don’t want to disappoint them. Do not rely
solely on e-mail messages for this step of the contact process. E-Mail messages
are much less personal and much less effective than telephone calls, especially
with all the SPAM e-mail, firewalls, etc. today.
Every
prospect is unique, and all Associates are unique, so there is no “best” way to
accomplish the above, but, you will want to keep the following in mind as you
do your contact calls:
Acknowledge Your Prospect’s Interest - When you call, tell your prospect
that you are calling them in response to a questionnaire they sent to you after
they recently viewed an on-line presentation about starting their own home
based business. It is important that you remind them of the presentation and
questionnaire, to remind them that they had given you permission to call them,
and it will make them more receptive to your call. Thank them for their
interest and for taking the time to view the presentation.
Develop A Positive Rapport - Ask your prospect if this is a good
time for them to talk for a few minutes. Show respect for their time. Exchange
some pleasantries, but don’t take up a lot of time talking about the weather,
etc. You want to start developing a positive relationship, but, you don’t want
to waste your time or the prospect’s time, and you want to make sure that you
get to the reason for the call and don’t lose focus on what it is you want to
accomplish.
Determine If They Are a Qualified
Prospect - This is
more of an art than a science. What you would ideally like to do here is
determine if this is the type of person you would like to work with: i.e., Are
they able to invest the necessary time and money to build a USANA business?
What is their “why” for wanting a home based business? Are there any unique
obstacles or challenges which could be a problem?, etc. The best way to do this
is to ask open-ended questions - questions which require more than a “yes” or
“no” answer. One example might be “So, tell me, what did you think of the
online presentation? What did you like best about it?” You might also want to
focus on one or two of their responses to the questionnaire, such as, “I see
that one of your goals is to provide for your children’s education. Tell me a
little more about that.” You’ll be surprised how much people will tell you if
you just let them do the talking. Remember, we have two ears and one mouth -
use them proportionately.
Agree On “Next Steps” - Assuming that the prospect is
someone who you think is worthy of spending more time on, you will now want to
come to an agreement as to what should happen next. It may be setting up an
appointment to meet in person for a presentation. It may be sending them more
information e-mail. It may be referring them to an on-line presentation. It may
be mailing them an information package including a Health & Freedom paper,
True Wealth DVD, Product Information Book, or USANA Product Price List, etc.
You will need to decide what is best for that particular prospect, and then
explain to them what will happen next. If you are sending them information, it
is very important that you also agree on a day and time for you to call them
back and follow up after they have received and reviewed the information.
Answer Any Preliminary Questions They
May Have - Make sure
that the prospect understands what will happen next, and ask if they have any
questions about the process, such as what information they will be receiving,
when you will be contacting them next, and so forth. At this point, you do not
want to get into a detailed explanation of the USANA products, business plan,
compensation plan, etc. You just want to make sure that the prospect
understands what will happen next and who will be responsible for each step. If
they ask detailed questions about USANA, just assure them that the information
that you will be presenting or sending to them will provide all of the details.
Don’t act as if you are trying to avoid their questions, but politely explain
that all of their questions will be answered when you meet, or when they
receive the information you are sending to them. There is no need to be
secretive, but it is just not possible to effectively explain everything about
USANA in a phone call. Besides, you want to let USANA’s tools do that work for
you. They have been developed by experts and have been proven to work very
effectively.
Thank The Prospect - Tell the prospect again that you
appreciate their interest and time, and that you look forward to your meeting
or next conversation. Show them that you respect them, and they will in turn
respect you.
NEXT STEP - FOLLOWING UP WITH YOUR
PROSPECT
Now that your
prospect has received and reviewed information about USANA, or you have made a
presentation to them, it’s time for you to follow up with them. This is when
you answer any questions they may have about the company, products or business
plan, and then ask them if they are ready to sign up as a member of your USANA
team. Again, the follow up should be done in a telephone call, or, if possible,
a personal meeting.
Questions - Some people may have very few
questions, others may have many detailed questions. In either case, don’t be
overly concerned about knowing the answer to every possible question. It just
can’t be done. If a question comes up that you can’t answer, don’t be afraid to
say that you don’t know, but you will get the answer and get back to them
promptly. Just make sure that you do so. Also, be sure to get a complete list
of unanswered questions from the prospect so that you can get answers to them
all at one time and avoid going back and forth with questions and answers which
just wastes everyone’s time. Another good option is to do a three-way call with
the prospect and your USANA sponsor, or other upline member, to get all the
prospect’s questions answered at one time, once and for all. Be careful of
prospects who keep coming up with one question after another. Often times,
these are people who just don’t want to tell you “no”, so they keep putting you
off by coming up with a new question or concern after you’ve addressed their
last question or concern. Be aware of this possibility, and don’t let it waste
your valuable time.
Asking For The Sign Up - Now that all remaining questions
have been addressed, you simply need to ask the prospect if they are ready to
sign up. This sounds so obvious, but you would be surprised at the number of
distributors who work hard in finding and working with prospects, but simply
fail to take the final step and ask people to join their team. Many times, all
it takes is for you to simply ask, “So, is there any reason why you cannot get
started today?”
IMPORTANT: At this point, you need to just sit
back and wait for their answer.
If a prospect
says they are not yet ready, it usually means one of three things: Either they
aren’t truly interested, or they don’t yet have enough information, or there is
a concern over the amount of money needed to be invested. Some prospects are
not always forthcoming with the real reason why they are not yet ready, and it
can be difficult to determine the answer. All you can really do is ask them “Is
there anything keeping you from getting started today?”, and hope that they
will give you an honest answer.
If they are
not truly interested, just thank them for their time, and ALWAYS ask for
referrals of other people who they think may be interested in USANA.
If money is
an issue, assure them that there is no time pressure to get started immediately,
and that you will be ready to help them as soon as they have the necessary
funds. Ask them when they think that might be, and arrange to follow up with
them again at that time.
If they don’t
yet have enough information, try to determine what else they need to know, and
address the question(s) or concern(s) as soon as you can.
If none of
the above resolves the situation, all you can really do is politely thank them
for their time, and ask that they get back to you as soon as they are ready,
since you have many other prospects who you need to be working with. You may
want to follow up with these people every 30 to 60 days in the future, but you
shouldn’t waste a lot more time on them.
SUMMARY
To summarize
these simple steps:
·
Contact Every Prospect by Phone as Soon as
Possible
·
Acknowledge Their Interest
·
Develop
A Positive Rapport
·
Determine If They Are A Qualified Prospect
·
Agree
On Next Steps
·
Answer
Any Preliminary Questions
·
Thank
Them For Their Time
·
Follow Up With The Prospect
·
Answer
All Remaining Questions
·
Ask For
The Sign Up
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS AND TIPS
We have
intentionally not provided any “word-for-word scripts”, since this is not a
“one size fits all” process. As mentioned above, every prospect is unique and
every USANA Associate is unique. We all have our own personalities and ways of
doing things. However, as you make your first contact calls and follow up
calls, be sure to keep the above list of points in front of you to help you
make sure that you cover everything. You may also want to add some personal
notes to the list about specific questions you would like to ask, etc.
New
Associates may also want to involve their USANA sponsor or other upline member
on some of their initial contact calls and follow up calls, which will allow
your sponsor to give you constructive feedback on your techniques, as well as
help address questions and concerns that prospects may have.
For more
specific training on phone calling scripts and ideas, refer to the USANA
Business Development System (BDS).
Finally, as
you make your calls, remember: Keep a smile on your face, and it will be heard
in your voice. The same is true of frowns.
Happy
Prospecting!
© 2012 - Total
Performance Organization ® - All Rights Reserved
This article may only be
copied, shared, distributed or otherwise reproduced in its entirety, including
this disclaimer and copyright authorization.
Posts
