Burke Hedges Speaks

I’m starting a series this week that I call “The Key To Success
In Life”.  People always ask me what the keys to success are in
this industry.  Is it a great product?  A duplicatible system?
 An online marketing program?  Great leadership?  What is IT?

In my opnion, “it” is people skills.

The direct marketing business is a people business and without
good people skills, it’s going to be tough to prospect, recruit
or sponsor anyone.  You must have excellent  people skills.

But what are “people skills” exactly?  And how can you improve
yours so your business grows faster?

That’s what we’ll be talking about over the next few weeks &
I’m excited to have you join me…so let’s get started!

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Most people don’t realize it, but one of the biggest elements to
success in life is getting along with people.  Working hard is only
part of the equasion.  It’s dealing well with people that will make
or break your business.

If you’ve been in this industry for any lengeth of time, you’ve
probably already figured out that people are VERY different. 
People have different temperments, attitudes, beliefs and goals.

We all don’t look at life in the same way.  We react differently to
challenges and problems.  And this difference can sometimes cause
conflict. 

Maybe your prospect doesn’t get excited about your opportunity.  No
matter what you say, they don’t seem to see what you see.  Or maybe
your new recruit doesn’t have any urgency in building his business.
You call him day after day, offering to help and encouraging him
to set up some appointments- and nothing happens. 

All these things can cause frustration and conflict & it’s easy
to get discouraged.  You may even feel like giving up.

But somehow you’ve got to press forward.  It’s all about developing
an understanding of what goes on inside ourselves and other people. 
If you know and understand HOW people work- how they think, where
they’re “coming from”, what their challenges are - then you can
accomplish great things!  It takes a little wisdom to know what to
say and when to say it.  But if we learn how, we can make a
valuable difference in other people’s lives.

Having good people skills means knowing when to be firm and when
to be gentle with people.  It’s not always about making the other
person feel warm & fuzzy.  Sometimes the honest truth is the only
thing that will help someone. 

When you have a new recruit who says he wants success in his business,
yet his actions speak the opposite, it wouldn’t help him a bit for you
to make excuses for him.  “Well, he’s tired because he works a full-time
job” or “He’s having a lot of family issues right now”.  All those are
excuses.  Life continues to go on and none of us can make circumstances
perfect in order to focus on building our business.  We must make the
choice to focus on our business in the middle of the chaos of our lives.

We need skills in both directions when it comes to dealing with people.
We need to know when to be soft and reassuring, and when to be firm
yet encouraging. 

It’s so essential that we learn to get along with people.  More
opportunitiy is lost because relationships fail than for any other
reason.  You may have a ton of knowledge about your products or the
compensation plan- but if you can’t relate to or get along with the
people on your team, you’re sunk.

Over the next few weeks my goal is to help you become a dynamic
people person!  I’ve got some practical tips for you that I believe
will really help you on your path to success in your business. 

Stay tuned & I’ll see you next week!

Welcome back to another edition of the Monday Minute.  I hope you’ve
enjoyed the last few weeks and gotten a lot of good tips to use when
overcoming objections, stalls and put-offs with your prospects.

This week, as promised, I’m going to share some of the most common
objections and stalls you’ll hear and give you the specific responses
I use to overcome them.
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Objection 1:  “This sounds like one of those pyramid schemes”

I know this objection well because it was the objection I first
used when I looked at the business almost 20 years ago. I didn’t
understand the legitimacy of the industry and immediately discounted
the financial potential it had to offer me.

My ignorance and pride almost got in the way of me earning millions
of dollars.  I’m extremely thankful my sponsor had done his homework
because he knew exactly how to handle my initial objections and was
able to take me through the process of skeptic to believer like a
real pro.  

Let’s say your prospects name is Tom.  You’ve just shown Tom the
presentation, and you’re in the middle of explaining the compensation
plan when he raises the pyramid objection.

“You know, I don’t think this is for me because it looks like one of
those pyramid deals.  I can’t participate in any business that in any
way would jeopardize my credibility.  I don’t do pyramids.”  

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Sound familiar?  Okay, let’s go through the 6 step process I described
over the last few weeks. Step one, you listen closely without interrupting. 
Step two is to validate him by repeating his objection either word for
word or by paraphrasing and ask if there is more.
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It may go something like this, “Tom, what I am hearing you say is your
reputation and credibility is far more important to you than any amount
of money you could earn as a result of being in this business and you
wouldn’t ever jeopardize it for anything in the world?  Is there more?” 
Tom responds with, “No, that’s it”

Next is step three:  Feel felt and realize.  It goes something like
this, “Tom, I really appreciate how you feel because when I first
looked at this business, I didn’t want to put my reputation and
credibility on the line either.  I like to make my decisions based
on solid facts and not false assumptions so I researched the industry.
And what I found or what I realized was that pyramids are illegal and
people go to jail for running illegal pyramid schemes.   The real
pyramids are in Egypt.  As I did my research I found that the industry
has a fifty-year positive track record of growth with almost 100 billion
dollars in worldwide sales. I learned that there were publicly traded
companies like the multi-billion dollar conglomerate Citi-Group
participating in the industry. Gillett and The Sara Lee companies are
all in the industry. In fact, I learned that Billionaire Warren Buffet
owns a network marketing company.  Tom, I knew that these publicly traded
companies would not stake their reputation in an illegal pyramid scam. 
When I realized these facts I knew I was dealing with a high integrity
and legitimate industry.” 

After you have paraphrased the objection, asked if there’s more, used
feel, felt, realized, I want you to immediately go to step four -   find
the reason for the objection by  isolating it, which might go something
like this “Tom, now that you know this new information what part of the
pyramid question concerns you most?” 

Tom will either be satisfied with your response to his objection, in which
case you skip step 5,  the solution, and go directly to step 6 and ask
Tom for a commitment to join your business.  If Tom wants documentation
to support what you just said to him, then make sure you have the
information in form or articles, books, or websites ready to provide him.

Once you’ve offered the solution in step five, go to step Six and ask Tom
to join your team so he can  start to earn more money to eliminate his
debts and to start enjoying a better quality of life he and his  deserve.

Here is an example of step 6, “Tom  based on what you learned, are you
now prepared to make a commitment to join our team, so you can position
yourself to earn a serious six figure income, while helping a lot of
people in the process?  

Here’s another good objection:

Objection 2:  “I’m not a sales person.”

You might say something like this, “I know how you feel, I used to feel
the exact same way. Until I realized that the majority of the highly
successful people in this business have absolutely no sales background.” 

Objection 3: “I don’t have any money.”

Now this is one you will get a lot so you better know how to answer
it. Since money is always a sensitive issue, let me suggest the following:  

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When someone tells you they don’t have any money to get started, here is
what I want you to do.  I want you to propose to them this question. 
“Peter, if you were mistakenly arrested and you were put into jail and
for you to get out of jail all you had to do is post a $500.00 bond,
what would you do or who would you call?”
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And more often than not Peter would mention the name of the person
they would call.  At that point, I would hand them the telephone and
say, “Make the call.” 

Now this is a pretty aggressive approach, but let’s face it, $500 is
not a fortune and if someone does not have $500 to investment in a
business they are excited about then this is pretty good indication they
need the business.  
 
Objection 4:  “I know people that got involved in network marketing and
quit, they didn’t make any money. ”

Your one line response could go something like this.  “Everyone knows
someone that dropped out of high school, does that mean kids should stop
going to school?” 

Objection 5:  “This sounds to good to be true?”

Your response is, “It might sound that way, but while people are telling
us it’s too good to be true, people like you and me are making fortunes.”

That’s it for this week’s newsletter!  We’ve covered a lot of information
over the past few weeks and I hope you’re feeling more like a Pro in this
industry. 

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to teach you the art of overcoming
objections, stalls and put-offs and I look forward to seeing you next
week for another edition of the Monday Minute!

Last week, we started discussing the details of my 6-step formula
to overcoming objections, stalls and put-offs.  I went through
the first 3 steps in detail and shared with you some really
specific ways to use the “Feel, Felt and Realize” formula to
connect stronger with your prospects.

Let’s go over the final 3 steps today…and at the end, I’m going
to give you some homework!

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My 6-Step-Formula for overcoming objections:

>> Step 4:  Learn the reason for the objection 

The first objection a prospect gives you is usually not the REAL reason
they’ve objected.  The real reason lies underneath, and you’ll connect
with your prospect on a much stronger level if you discover what the
REAL reason for the objection is. 

When finding the reason for the objection you should always isolate
the objection first.  If you remember last week, we talked about your
hypothetical prospect named Sally.  Sally said she needed to “think
about it”.  So, in Sally’s case, isolating her objection it might go
something like this:

“Sally, just so I can better understand, what part of the business is
it you need to think about most?  Is it the more money you will be
earning in your own business?   Or is it the integrity of the company
or the industry… or is it the quality of the products?      

At this point you are just looking for the reason why she wants to
think about it by asking her to help you understand what exactly she
wants to think about.

Whatever answer Sally gives you, always reply with something positive
like,  “Great” or “thank you” or “I see” and go directly to step number
five.   Provide her with the answer or the solution to her dilemma or
objections. For example, Sally may respond with, “I need more time to
think about if the business is for me.”

You respond with, “Great Sally. Is it ok if I provide you with information
that will help you better determine if the business is for you or not?”

If Sally objection is genuine, then she’ll welcome any information from
you to help her decide. 

At this point what I recommend you do is provide Sally with the a list
of 3 or 4 people with similar concerns to those of Sally whom have become
successful with your company or in the industry.  People identify with
other peoples success stories. 

If Sally’s question is about the credibility of the company or the
industry then provide her with that specific information to put her
mind at ease.   This might sound over simplistic-and it is!  Don’t
over complicate the simple.   Provide the answers to your prospects
questions and ask them to join your team or purchase your products.

Remember to focus on the process, not the outcome.  The faster you
can resolve your prospects dilemma or objection the faster you can get
to a yes or a no. 

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The last thing you want to do is to make someone do something they
don’t want to do, right?   You are much better off with a prospect
giving you a NO early in the process than to have them string you
along for days or weeks with maybes. Remember, when you redirect your
thinking to 7 out of 10 NO’S means 30% success then you are well on
your way to earning a fortune in this industry. 
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>> Step 6:  Ask for a commitment

It’s time to ask Sally for a decision.  If you have properly gone
through the previous 5 steps then step 6 should be relatively easy. 
The number one problem 95% of new distributors face in the Network
Marketing industry is they fail to ask for a commitment. They fail to
ask for a decision… to ask for the order.

It goes something like this: “Sally, based on the new information
you’ve learned are you now ready to join our team? Or benefit from
our terrific product?” 

Another example is: “Sally, Based on this new information are you
now ready to enjoy the piece of mind that will come as a result of
earning an extra $1000.00 a month by getting started today?” 

Or, “Sally, Are you beginning to see why so many sharp people are
joining the company to achieve financial peace of mind?”  

Now, to wrap up this series- I have a homework assignment for you.

Don’t be casual about completing it because it’s very important
to your success. I want you to come up with 5 reasons why people
should join your company and 5 reasons why people should purchase
your product or service. 

Then I want you to write them down on a piece of paper or 3 x 5
index card and memorize them.  This is going to help you tremendously
when it comes to asking your prospect for the commitment.

Most people simply don’t understand the industry much less
appreciate the limitless power behind the leveraging factor of
network marketing.  Why? Because most people have been conditioned
to get up in the morning, go to work, put in their eight, ten or
12 hour days and their mindset is to trade one unit of time for
one unit of money.  

Their paradigm, their belief system will often not allow them to
explore anything other than what they are accustomed to.  People
often fear what they do not understand.  So, it is very important
that you are professional when answering objections. Don’t be casual,
get serious about learning these communication skills  and you
will start to earn the serious money that this industry has to offer. 

Next week I’ve got a bonus for you- I’m going to give you my
specific answers to some of the most common objections, stalls
& put-offs. 

Make it a great week!

Last week I introduced you to the first 3 steps in my 6-step formula
for overcoming objections, stalls and put-offs in your business.  I
shared with you why it’s so important to keep an attitude of harmony
and not become defensive when an objection is thrown your way. 

I also shared with you the “Feel, felt & found” strategy, which
you’ve probably heard about before, but it’s so effective it’s
important that you know how to use it and put it into practice.

This week I want to put these first 3 strategies in the 6-step
formula together in a real world example so you can think about
objections you commonly hear in your business, put this formula
into practice and see some real results!

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Let’s use the example of a prospect who says, “I want to think about it.” 

If you’ve been building an organization for any length of time at
all then I’m sure you’ve had to deal with this objection, many times.

Your prospects’ name is Sally, and you’ve just asked her to make a
commitment to join your team.  Her response is, “I’m not ready to make
that decision quite yet John, I want to think about it some more.” 

Well, here’s your plan. 

>> First, make you sure you listen to Sally’s objection carefully and
without interrupting her.  Second, validate her by repeating her
objection back to her, “Sally what I’m hearing you say is, you’re
really not sure if you want to join the company based on the information
you’ve received. Am I right? Sally, is there more?”

At this point Sally might give you a second objection, like, “Yes
there is more, I don’t really think I’m a good sales person”.   When
there are additional objections, what you want to do is embrace the
second objection just like you did the first one by repeating it to
her and making sure to ask if there is more at least one time!   Most
of the times your prospect will simply say, “No that’s it” and they
will appreciate that you heard them out.

Remember, in this step you want to embrace the objection. In Sally’s
case, when you asked if there was more you found out that maybe the
first objection was not the real one but rather it was the second  
objection that was the real one.  

>> Next, you are going to use feel, felt, realize to handle the objection. 

“Sally, I can really appreciate how you feel, Did you know I felt the
exact same way when I first looked at the business.  I just wasn’t
sure if the business was for me or not. And I didn’t feel comfortable
 making a relative quick decision at first.  But, what I realized was
once I got to know the people in the business I found that there were
so many people less talented than me, who were a lot busier in their
lives than I was and they were earning over a $1000 per month part
time. This is when I realized it wasn’t the speed of  my decision that
really counted but the accuracy of my decision that was most important.
Does this make sense to you Sally?”    

What did I do here?  I gave Sally a reason to join instead of a reason
to wait, didn’t I? That reason was that the accuracy of my decision was
far more important than the speed. I also included other reasons like,
money and talent. 

I hope the first half of this 6-step strategy has already helped you. 
Next week we’ll move onto steps 4, 5, and 6.  See you then!

Last week I gave you an overview of the 6 step formula I use to
overcome objections, stalls and put-offs.  We discussed how these
objections can pop up at any time in the prospecting and recruiting
process.  It’s not always as cut & dry as “I don’t have the money”. 

You can face objections all through the recruiting process…from
someone putting you off to take a look at your opportunity, to a
prospect cancelling at the last minute, to someone telling you
your business must be a scam. 

The 6-step Formula for overcoming them can be used at anytime
during the recruiting process.  Today we’re going to go over
the first 3 steps…let’s get started!

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>> Step 1: Listen to the objection carefully, and don’t interrupt. 

Let’s review some of the more common objections you will be getting:   
 
“I’m too busy, I don’t have the time”
“I don’t have the money right now to get in your business”
“I don’t think it’s for me”
“I don’t know how to sell”
“It sounds like one of those pyramid deals”

Regardless of the objection you are presented with, always listen
to the objection carefully and don’t interrupt . It’s important that
you don’t just sit there, waiting for your turn to talk. Really
listen to what your prospect is saying so you get a feel if
their first objection is the real reason for the putt-off or is
there a different and more legitimate reason behind it. 

Remember, your focus should be on the process NOT the outcome. 
So your goal is to find out what exactly it is your prospect
has issues with. You can’t provide a solution to a problem
if you don’t know the problem, can you?   So listen carefully!

>> Step 2:  Validate

Appreciate their objection by repeating it to them, either by
paraphrasing the meaning or repeating it back exactly as they
told you.  People want to know they’ve been heard, and what
they had to say didn’t fall on deaf ears.  To accomplish this
I have found that all you have to do it to repeat what they said.

If you are an Oprah fan you’ll notice that she has clearly
developed the art of validating her guest.    When you embrace
the objection you will also be showing your prospect a great
sign of respect.   Don’t forget to ask if there is more they’d
like to say. I’ll give you a good example of this later on.

>>  Step 3:  Feel, felt and realized (or found) 

This strategy is an oldie, but a goodie. I’ve been using it for
years and it’s extremely effective when handling objections.    

Let’s start with FEEL: It goes something like this.  “I understand
why you feel that way Jim,” or “I can see why you would feel the
way you do Mary” .    What you are doing here is embracing their
objection. This is very important in creating harmony.    

You can also use words like appreciate. For example, “Jim, I
can appreciate why you’re feeling the way you do, or “Mary, I
can appreciate what you are saying and why you feel the way you do.”  

What you want to establish with  feel, felt, realized is harmony
and this accomplished by embracing the objection. 

Now let’s discuss part two- “Felt”: this is all about empathy. 
“I felt the same way myself.”  This is when you share your personal
experience relating to your prospects objection. Here you are
indirectly communicating to your prospect that it’s ok to feel
the way they do because you at some point felt the same way.  

This is where you find common ground with your prospect.  You’re
identifying with them at their level.

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Now, if you don’t have a personal experience that relates with your
prospect’s objection then I strongly suggest   you share the experience
of someone in your business that has a similar experience as your
prospect. How do you do this? Do your homework. Get to know who is
successful with your company and learn their personal story. People
like to hear other peoples success stories because they can identify
with them.
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The key in these first two steps is to listen and validate. This
eliminates  “conflict thinking”  that puts your prospects on the
defensive. Create harmony, learn to first understand and then to
be understood. I can’t emphasize how important this point is. 

This final part is the “realized” or the “found” part.  It’s when
you turn the conversation around 180 degrees.  This is where you
address their specific objection with a specific response that would
make them feel better about their objection and therefore correct
any of their misconceptions or beliefs.

When you use the phrase, “until I Realized” it gives you permission
to educate your prospect that you too were misinformed or didn’t
understand what was being offered. But now that you have this new
factual information it made you feel better about your concerns.  

For example, if you feel that your prospect does not understand
the compensation plan, they’re misinformed about the network
marketing industry, or maybe they may have some significant
self-esteem issues, then you address their specific concern. 
 
That’s it for this week.  Next week I’m going to put these first
3 strategies together and give you a real life example…so stay
tuned & until then, have a great week!