SHORT
SPONSORING PIPELINE STEP 1
The Short Overview
It takes less than four minutes to find out whether a person is interested in your company. Use any words you like, but the essence of the first question is, “Are you interested in making some money?”
Here are several ways you can ask the first question (choose one, or think of your own):
- If I could show you a way to make money on the Internet, and we both know fortunes are being made on the Internet, would you like to know more about it?
- Are you still looking for a home-based business?
- Do you know anyone who has a computer and would like to make some money with it?
NO EMAIL
Here’s what I say to a prequalified prospect if we haven’t been emailing. First, a very enthusiastic greeting, such as “Oh hi ________! I’m glad I reached you live!” Then...
- I
understand you might be interested in starting a home-based (or Internet,
or network marketing) business. I wanted to just ring up and meet you
and find out how serious you are about that right now.
Notice that it is not a direct question, though most people answer it as such. I don’t believe in prying into someone’s personal affairs before telling them why I’ve called.
EMAIL CONTACT FIRST
Here’s what I say to a prequalified prospect who has opted in to my email campaign (it can be adjusted slightly if the emails have been running only one direction). Again, begin with a greeting as to a long-lost friend, such as “Oh hi ________! I’m glad I reached you in person!” Then...
- We’ve
been emailing each other about a home-based (or Internet, or network
marketing) business. I wanted to just ring up and meet you and find
out how serious you are about that right now.
Notice that it is a statement, not a question, and should carry the inflection of a statement, with the voice dropping at the end. Although, you could change the ending to, “How serious are you about something like starting your own business right now?”
See how simple the approach is? No slick salesmanship to impress them or scare them off. Just sincere, warm, direct conversation.
TRANSITION TO OVERVIEW
If the response is positive, then move on to sharing the short overview with the prospect. You can give them a tollfree number to call and tell them you’ll check back with them in five minutes (especially if you’re working in groups such as on a phone jam), but you can also play the overview for them right then over the phone. (This same approach also works in person, face-to-face. I love a flexible approach!)
Here is a good way to introduce the overview:
- Do
you have a couple minutes right now?* Great.
What I’d like to do is hook you into my tollfree
number and play a short, 2½-minute overview of the business for
you, ok? This will give you enough information for you to know whether
you want to learn more or not. Please hold on.
*If they do not have a couple minutes for you right now, arrange to call back later; do not give them the tollfree number or explain any thing. If they don’t have 120 seconds for you, what are you going to stammer over in 30 seconds that will keep them hot till you call back?
OVERVIEW
You can three-way the person to your tollfree number, but a less expensive way to share the information is to play a tape you recorded of the overview. You can play it from your computer if you know how, or from a tape player through the telephone using the device described below.
PLAYING TAPE RECORDINGS THROUGH THE TELEPHONE
An inexpensive device will allow you to play presentations through your regular phone at about the same quality as listening to a tape yourself. (You can also record phone presentations through the same device.)
The “little
phone device”
Radio Shack #43-1237, $14.99. Aug. 2000
Not every accessory that has buttons that say “record” and “playback” will playback through the phone. They all play back, but some play only into the room, not into the receiver. This one must plug, by way of a regular phone jack (RJ-11), into the receiver of a conventional land-line phone. (It will not work with a cordless phone.) The other end plugs in to a tape recorder.
HOW TO USE IT
On a short tape (30 min is fine, 15 min./side), record two consecutive copies of your, 2-3 minute tickler. Sure, the tape will hold more, but with only two recordings, you can remember to use it twice, then rewind the tape so you’re ready for the next person. More than two and you’ll start asking yourself, “Do I have another one on here or is it time to rewind?”
THE CLOSE
When I finish playing the message for someone, I say something simple like...
- Does that sound like something you would like to know more about?
They will say yes or no or ask a question. Usually they ask a question, such as the price, the product, how long you’ve been doing it, etc. Any question they ask at that point means they want to know more about it, right? So, you go to the next step.
THEIR QUESTIONS
Take them to the next step, which is probably a full presentation. It might be a live conference call, a recorded call, or a longer recording you can use just like you used the short overview. You lead into it something like this...
- There is a 10-minute full presentation that goes into a bit more detail about what the product is, how much does it cost, how much money can you make, and what exactly do we do to make money. Are those the questions you would like answers to?
© 2001 Lin Ennis, All Rights Reserved
Updated October 15, 2005
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