Network Marketing Success: 3 Types Of Stories
As you continue on the journey of personal development in your network marketing home business you will become more and more of a leader. You will undoubtably have more and more interaction with people and learn how to build relationships in the process.
Building relationships is the most rewarding and enjoyable aspect of building a home business. Think about the first time someone told you about how much the product or business opportunity you introduced them to has changed their life! Being in a position to help others is priceless!
There is no question, network marketing is about connecting with people.
While some people are convinced that, in order to be successful, you must know every detail about your company, product, compensation plan, the history, the top leaders, and so on-this is not always true. This method may work for some, but it is simply not necessary for everyone!
In reality, if you ask any top leader in this industry who has built a team of tens of thousands of distributors and they will all tell you the same thing:
Tools and systems are duplicatable, people are not.
In actuality, letting your tools and systems do the majority of the work for you is actually the best and most duplicatable way to build a business. Activities that take up so much of your valuable time can easily be funneled into a system that works for you 24-7. Activities like telling your story, giving a presentation, explaining the products, opportunity and compensation-all of these are best done in an automated system. This frees up you to work on building those relationship and gaining more prospects.
- You do NOT have to be an expert presenter to succeed!
- The people you sponsor do NOT have to be either!
- Successful businesses are built on activities that absolutely everyone can do.
Anyone can direct someone to a website. Anyone can hand out a DVD or a brochure. Anyone can email a link to a prospect to an online video. Anyone can invite someone to an opportunity call or webinar. It is just that simple.
One of the best choices you can make in building your home business is to rely on tools and systems to deliver the message and answer questions.
Practically speaking-if someone does not understand the network marketing industry, simply direct them to the “industry of opportunity” video that was shared with you when you first started. Or if someone has questions about a product, direct them to a video that explains it in better detail. No matter what, these resources exist to help you take out the long hours of repetitive busy-work and it gives you an easy, accessible way to explain the products, opportunity and story.
Facts Tell – Stories Sell.
All top industry earning live by this motto!
In fact, every company leader I work with has shared their story with me. This is not only captivating but engaging. We care about other people and their struggles as well as their successes and achievements. We care less about a company’s compensation plan or track record.
We care less about how a company has just come out with a new product, but how their company’s products have turned someone’s live around completely! How these products helped someone’s mother overcome her lifelong health struggles or how the opportunity brought someone from the edge of financial ruin to a life of financial freedom where they are now blessed to be able to give to others in need.
Everyone has a story!
Even if you have not reached your goals yet, you still have a story! Maybe you used to work 2 jobs and never saw your family for more than an hour each day… maybe you worked for a boss who would never listen to any of your ideas for improving the company and refused to give you even the slightest raise… or maybe you have missed every holiday for the last 2 years because you are so desperate not to sink under the pressure of your debt that you are forced to work every available day… and now, finally you have a path to living a life of freedom on your own terms!
That is a story. It is something that the majority of people can relate to and sympathize with and if they see that you have found the pathway OUT of situations that they are in or can relate to they will be desperate to know how you did it.
This basic concept brings us to one of network marketing’s main lesson:
Know the 3 Types Of Stories.
So if we understand now that it is not always necessary to explain everything to a prospect ourselves but that we can leave that up to the tools and system we have, then what is our role?
Our main focus is to ask questions!
All people love to talk about themselves and it is our job to listen to them! Listen to their dreams, their goals, their families and mostly their problems. Then we can use the power of stories to relate to them on a personal level and begin building a relationship.
Stories will always be the most powerful recruiting tool you have!
There are 3 types of stories:
- Your Upline’s Story
- Your Story
- Your Team Member’s Story
Your Upline’s Story
When you first begin your home business your story will not be complete yet and maybe it isn’t as impressive as someone else who has been working their home business longer and has become super successful.
This is why it is important to share your upline’s story. This can be anyone you know of within your upline or in your company who has a compelling story that really resonates with you and the person you have been in contact with.
Learn these amazing stories and practice sharing them. As you talk with your prospects remember-always LISTEN and let them talk about themselves first. You will be surprised to see how well one of your stories relates with them once you have listened!
It will be natural to share something like, “I completely know what you mean! One of my upline leaders went through the same thing” and then you will share their story. Be sure to end the story with something like, “And she was able to quit both her jobs and be home with her children working her home business! Actually they just spent a month in Hawaii on vacation together as a family and are now able to afford the adoption they have had their hearts set on for so many years now”.
Again, if your prospect is talking about a health challenge they are facing share a story of someone you know of who has had a similar health challenge resolved because of your products. They will care much more about that than if you list off all the “proven” ingredients in your products and how they work within the body. Or if they are having trouble financially, share a story of someone you know of who has reached financial freedom in a similar area with your opportunity instead of showing them the compensation plan that they will not understand anyway.
That is how you build relationships. That is how you set yourself apart from everyone else.
Your Story
Of course the next story you want to develop is your own! You will have two separate stories that you will develop as you build your home business.
First is your “financial” or “business building” story.
Second is your “product” story.
The reason your own personal story is so powerful is that when you tell your own story, your ability to develop a bond with a prospect is truly maximized.
If your story is relatable to your prospect it gives the most compelling foundation to build a relationship on.
If your story is product related, imagine how powerful it will be when you share with someone that you had the same struggle but this product changed everything!
Or imagine if it is related to finances or a lifestyle goal and to be able to share that you have already achieved the very goal that your prospect is looking for! And, even more compelling, is the fact they your prospect now knows that they will have YOU to help them succeed since you have already done it!
A great story snowballs success and that is why every top earner continues to use them as a foundation for consistent and significant results.
Your Team Member’s Story
The last type of story is just as powerful to use.
The story of one of your team members.
This could be the story of one of your personally sponsored team members or someone who was sponsored by someone below you in your organization.
Telling this person’s story is more compelling than telling your upline’s story and it can also be more powerful than telling your own.
Why?
Simple. The story is about someone who has joined your business and you have helped become successful.
Now that is compelling because your prospect is in the exact same position as your team member who is now successful. Now they have been given the right mental picture of exactly how they are going to become successful by following your example.
Each of these stories is compelling.
Each has their own place.
And instead of throwing facts and numbers and ingredients at someone they simple share real-life examples of how people’s lives have changed with your product or your opportunity. They don’t feel like they are being “sold to” and you don’t feel awkward sharing because a story is personal and relatable and genuine.
Best of all, these stories are relevant at any stage of your relationship with your prospect.
Stories can help you capture someone’s interest. They can help get people to ask for more information (at which point you direct them to one of your tools to do the busy work) and they can compel a person right then and there to join you!
A Practical Example
Let’s go over an example:
A woman name Jane is actively looking for a home business opportunity on the internet. She does a lot of research and comes up with a few options that interest her. For each she fills out a contact form on a lead capture page.
The first site she looks at is John’s. He has Jane’s information because she filled out the contact form on the lead capture page. He calls her immediately and goes into sales mode. He quickly tells her that his company is the best and exactly what products they have and amazing the compensation plan is.
He has just dumped a load of information on her and she ends the call feeling overwhelmed and confused as she can’t remember what he even told her.
The other site she looked at was Jim’s. Jim also gives Jane a call. But instead of immediately filling her ear with facts and numbers and ingredients, he patiently takes the time to ask her about herself. Since he already knows she is interested in a home business he asks her what made her open to starting one. He then asks what she did for a living and what she is looking for.
What he has done is he has given Jane the opportunity to talk and share her voice. He learns that she is a stay-at-home mother whose husbands has worked 6 days a week, 65 hours each week to provide for them and that they are struggling under their own student loan debt from college and that this home business opportunity is something they desperately need.
Jim is then able to relate to Jane that his wife also stays at home with their children. He also tells her of his friend who started with this opportunity to help pay off their crushing financial debt and in just 3 months was making over $1,200 each month.
This is highly effective prospecting! Jim never uses any “selling” techniques on Jane. Not direct anyway. And Jane feels comfortable with Jim and feels like he genuinely cares about her and is not out to make a quick buck off of her. You can imagine what her answer will probably be when Jim asks if he can send her an email with a link to a video he thinks she will enjoy.
Even better is the fact that Jane is asking him questions. He never has to chase her down, instead she is eager to learn more.
Between the two approaches there is no comparison.
The facts and numbers based approach is all about selling while the story approach is about relationship.
Stories will transform your home business! Be sure to take the time to develop and practice your stories!