Questions and Objections
Objections fall into one of two categories. The first is the prospects’ limiting belief in their abilities. They aren’t sure they can be successful. The second is a limiting belief in Network Marketing. They aren’t sure Networking Marketing will help them achieve their goals in life.
1. When Prospects have a limiting belief in their abilities:
Most common objections in this category are:
“I don’t have the money,” “I don’t have the time,” “It’s not my thing,” “I’m not a salesperson,” “I don’t know anyone,” or “I’m too old/too young/ have no experience,”
No need to make yourself seem smarter and the prospect seem stupid with responses like, “You don’t have the money? Do you have a cable bill? Do you have a cell phone? Do you ever go out to dinner? You have lots of money!
Or
“You don’t have the time? How long do you want to have that reality in your life? You have to change if you want your life to change!”
Instead! Be relatable! =) When someone tells you they don’t have the money. Respond with something like, “I had that same exact challenge! I didn’t have enough money to pay my bills, let alone start a new business. But when I thought about it, I realized if I didn’t have enough money to pay my bills now, how was I going to change that in the future? I was tired of being behind. I was tired of always scrambling. I wanted more out of life. So you know what I did? I found a way, and it was the best decision I ever made! Let me ask you something…if you really felt this was a chance for you to take control for your financial future, do you think you could find a way to make it happen?”
Watch this short clip for a sample: http://www.sarahrobbins.com/objections-series-i-dont-have-money-to-start-a-business/
Not your story? Use another coach’s story that is similar to your prospects! Be a story collector and share as needed! Stories INSPIRE others and SHOW others it CAN be done and what IS possible!
“I know what you mean. I have a friend who had that exact same problem and let me tell you their story.”
2. When people have limiting beliefs about Network Marketing:
This category includes:
“Is this MLM?”
“Is this one of those things?”
“Is this a pyramid scheme?”
“I’m not interested in MLM.”
“I don’t want to bother my friends,” and
“How much are you making?”
Let’s start with the “Is this MLM?” or variations like, “Is this one of those things? Or, “Is this a pyramid scheme?” or, “I’m not interested in MLM.”
Instead of going crazy and saying something like, Pyramid Scheme? Like every corporation in the world? Like the government? You mean like that?
Instead be understanding and come from a place of teaching after you understand. Usually this type of question comes from someone who knew someone who joined with no success or else they’ve done it themselves (usually “hoping with luck” that it would work without putting in the work). The others have heard of opportunities like this and are rightfully skeptical of the promise of getting rich quick.
If they ask this question with any type of emotion it’s a hint they’ve been involved in some type of MLM. Simply ask the question, “Wait a minute. You have a story. What happened? Were you involved in Networking Marketing (OR another similar company) at some point? Then just let them tell you their story. It opens them up! It lowers their defense and allows you to ask some questions about their experience. You can now learn more about why they are skeptical and help them learn more about how they can be successful. Most will respond, “I joined a company a few years ago, bought some product and lost my money.” Ask them, “What do you think was the reason you didn’t have success?”
They will most likely respond with “well my friend talked me into it. I didn’t have a lot of time and I thought more people would join right away but they didn’t. I guess I just lost interest.” Your reply to them, “do you think you really gave it a fair shot?”
They may respond with something like, “No, not really.” Your response, “do you think Network Marketing (name of company/ product) was the problem? Or do you think maybe your timing wasn’t right?” They reply back to you, “it was probably the timing.”
Additionally, you can relate to them by saying you had the same objection initially and telling them how you overcame it. If someone uses the work “pyramid” I always say “oh no. “Pyramid schemes are illegal, and I would never be involved with something illegal.”
3. For the question, “I don’t want to bother my friends,” Again relate to them by telling your story or someone else’s story. And then ask questions like, “what makes you think you’d be bothering your friends? Or, “if you truly believed in the product, would you let your friends know about it? And, “if I could show you how we share this product with others without feeling or sounding like a sales pitch, would that help you?”
4. “How much are YOU making?” If you are making money already, this is a great question. If you’re not, your answer depends on how long you’ve been involved. If you’re brand new, you can tell them you’re just getting started. If you’ve been around for a while and not making big money yet, you can tell them you are working this part-time and are really excited about your future. You could also say that you’re excited about your future with this company because you knew things weren’t going to change if you didn’t do something to change them.
5. “I’m so busy, I don’t have enough time to do this!”
Here is how you may respond, “I understand how you feel. I felt the same way when I got started. I was teaching kindergarten full time, and working this business very part time. But that’s not uncommon. We’ve found that most people work this business in very part time hours – working it into your everyday life on your own time, on your own terms! Starting with just about 10-15 hours per week, I was able to build a big business.” Tell stories of people who are working their business part time successfully! After all, most people work our business model around busy lives and schedules–that is the beauty of our business!”
Watch this short clip for a sample: http://www.sarahrobbins.com/handling-objections-series-dont-time-business/
Another response is to tell your story and then tell stories of people you know who ARE making good money. You can even suggest setting up a phone conversation with those people so they can feel more comfortable about the opportunity.
All of this takes practice and lots of repetition! Your goal is to get the concepts down not the exact verbiage. The other great thing is you only have this handful of the same objections for the rest of your career. There’s nothing new here. Remember your goal is to educate and understand.