Oh yeah! I am all signed up....I am now an independent distributor.....I am excited and ready to rock and roll! The incentive from the company: a brand new black BMW of your choice. This was my motivation for the short term. But the long-term motivating factor is, of course, the residual income this venture CAN bring for me and my family.
But before I go on about the hoopla of all this, let's address the questions running around on your mind right now. You're probably asking yourself, "Why Visalus"? Here's the answer: read Chapter 1 blog. Your other question is probably, "Why the health and wellness industry"? Because:
a. I believe in living a healthy lifestyle. I've always lived by it so naturally, I will lean towards a business that I have some passion for. I believe preventive maintenance through proper nutrition, exercise and weight management are better alternatives than pharmaceuticals and medical procedures when it comes to reducing the likelihood of adverse health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
b. Health and wellness is projected to be the next trillion-dollar industry. Health insurance companies are pushing the concept of healthy lifestyles to their insured. Haven't you seen the Kaiser television commercials? With the rising costs of healthcare, doctors are doing what they can to promote healthy lifestyles to their patients: giving nutritional advice, tracking routine check-ups, promoting exercise as a daily routine, etc. It costs less to support a healthy individual than to support medical costs for unhealthy people.
Now that I've addressed your burning questions, let's get to the hoopla. I'm excited, I'm gung-ho, I want that BMW in 30 days! So, what are the next steps? Tap into my network, my COI (circle of influence), my SOI (sphere of influence), or whatever you wanna call it. In short, my family and friends. The first assignment: make a list of everyone I know and have personal relationships with (warm contacts) and start the outreach with them. Second: create another list of acquaintances that I've come into contact with, but have no personal relationships with (cold contacts). If I could rally up 100 or more names and make the calls, I will get my BMW within the first month. Hhhmmm....my lists, combined, are short of a 100 names. But that's ok. All I need is 5 people, right?
So I have my lists in hand. What next? Tapping into my network meant making "outreach" calls to each person and eloquently tell them what it is I'm calling about, get them interested in finding out more information about the company. It was intimidating at first, because I had to stick with a script which felt rehearsed. But after I got the hang of it and knew the guidelines I had to stay within, I used my own words and emotions and I got better at sounding natural. I started to sound like me again rather than robotic. Of course, this is an over-simplified explanation of how outreach calls are conducted. Each MLM has their own guidelines but they share same fundamental goal: get the person interested in finding out more information. The ultimate objective of MLMs is to recruit distributors and customers.
Recruiting, sounds easy enough, right? Yes, if you have more than 100 names to call. The "numbers game" theory indicates that out of the 100 people, a probability of 10-15 will be interested in more information. Out of that group, 5-6 may be new recruits. I'm beginning to think that BMW is not going to happen for me this month...or the second month. But that didn't stop me. I plugged away until I reached the last name on my list. Then I came back around and called the same people again. For one week, I made initial calls and then follow-up calls. I got 5 people interested in finding out more. Of the 5, I got 2 customers, zero distributors. The month ended and no BMW for me. But I have two customers! That is a start.
My upline business partners are great leaders. They are always readily available by phone, meet with me regularly, give me ideas on networking, share their experiences and challenges inherent in this industry and keep our team "plugged" in with training meetings and seminars. The support was and continues to be remarkable! The team concept and upline support are two additional reasons I feel good about working with Visalus.
Take-aways from this chapter:
1. Don't be discouraged with the "Not interested" replies you will get. There will be A LOT!
2. Having a huge network list will help you.
3. Having a great upline support is invaluable to your business.
4. Don't give up. Unless you've been in a MLM before and already have a huge network, a business like this is, in my opinion, slow to start and needs continuous effort. As an example, it took 3 years for one of my upline business partners to get to the highest level in the company (Ambassador).
I didn't get my BMW the first month. I didn't get it the second month either. My journey continues....
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