A PITCH-PERFECT PITCH: Telling Your Prospects What They want to Hear

Whether you’re an entrepreneur trying to start a brick-and-mortar business or making a career in MLM or direct sales, knowing how to present your business to prospects is essential. From a pithy “elevator pitch” to a full-blown sales presentation, here are some tips that will help you perfect your pitch: 

• Watch yourself – What do you look like when you’re presenting? As silly as it might feel, take the time to do your presentation to yourself in the mirror, or record yourself and then watch the footage. How can you improve your story? Where can you tighten it, and what merits expansion? Also, what quirks do you notice that should be smoothed out? Watch for a plethora of “uh” and “um” that can indicate nervousness.
• Tackle the timing – Timing is everything, especially when presenting information. Set a timer and then see how long it takes you to get through your story. Are you spending too much time on background but not giving time for the benefits and other critical components? Practice is the only way to prevent this and get it just right.
• Anticipate the Q&A – Try to think like your audience. What are their concerns? What are the problems your product or service can solve? How much of a priority is it? Get specific. By thinking through both what they will ask and how you can answer, you’ll be able to curb the chances of being caught off guard while drafting and tightening your answers to be firm and decisive.
• Dress for the occasion – A professional appearance can go a long way in tipping the opinion of a fence-sitter. All of those little things matter for first appearances, so dress cleanly and appropriately, smile, stand up straight, be polite and punctual, and so on. You never get to make a first impression twice, so make the most of the opportunity.

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Effectively Responding to Negativity

If you’re in direct sales, chances are you’ve received skeptic responses from friends or family upon starting your home-based business. Starting any business will have its challenges, but how can you respond to the naysayers and forge ahead to make your MLM or direct sales venture a success? Here are a few common challenges and how to respond positively: 

• “Why are you selling THAT?” – Haters gonna hate, as the saying goes. What matters is that you know why your product or solution works. You made an informed decision to join the ranks of its sales force, after all. Make an “elevator pitch” – the rundown on your product, market, and why you believe in it enough to make it your career in 15-30 seconds (the amount of time you’d have with someone in an elevator). Be sure to avoid emotional sales pitches, sticking instead in its facts and benefits. Practice it until you can prattle it off naturally and sincerely, letting your enthusiasm and passion shine through.
• “You can’t actually make a living selling XYZ, can you?” – Most MLM companies now prohibit the “get rich quick!” messaging of old  - which is just as well, since that labeling gave the industry a bad name. But does that mean you can’t make a living in it? Absolutely not! Direct sales takes a lot of hard work and drive, but there are hundreds if not thousands of representatives out there in direct sales and MLM companies who make full-time pay (and more) through selling products and recruiting team members. Chances are they’re a lot like you – willing to take the initiative and take on a job filled with flexibility and possibilities.
• “Is that a sustainable business model?” – It’s no secret that growing a direct sales business requires a lot of work. However, if you make a plan and stick with it, devoting mapped-out portions of your day or week to the various aspects of running a business (finances, marketing, etc. besides straight selling), you should see your business grow quickly. Remember to reinvest the immediate cash flow from products into supplies, ads, and, eventually, recruiting and additional team members. These will all serve to broaden your cash flow from beyond sales revenue – and your net income will increase, too.

 
Starting any business has its obstacles to challenge, but in the MLM industry, you’re in good company. Focus on the solution to face those challenges, combating them with confidence and knowledge, and you’ll find success in the long run.

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Five Steps to Success

Is success merely a matter of chance? More often than not, those who seem to have all the luck have created their success by upping their opportunities. The best leaders are those who lead by example, and their track records tend to be filled with successes resulting directly from hard work and focus. Although talents and drive have their place in the accomplishment equation, don’t discount these five factors anyone can implement to increase their success: 

• Spell out specifics – When working toward a goal, go into detail about what you want to accomplish. Having a definite, tangible end to reach leads to a higher rate of success than a vague idea. Are you more likely to improve your health by setting out to “eat right and exercise” or to “work out three times a week, eat 1,500 calories a day, and stop eating after 8 p.m.”? Definite boundaries help you gauge whether or not you’re actually approaching that goal.
• Be optimistic AND realistic – Making things happen takes hard work and positive thinking. While you should imagine your possibilities beyond your boundaries, remember to also be realistic. What will it take to reach that end goal? It will take tenacity and time, planning and persistence. Mapping out the journey in your mind first, including potential obstacles, will help you find the strength to push forward when discouragement comes.
• Challenge your willpower – Think of willpower and self-discipline like a muscle or a foreign language: use it or lose it! The more you exercise self-control, the stronger it grows, and the easier it becomes to do so. Flexing your willpower muscle can be as simple as choosing one healthy habit you’d rather not do, like working out daily or giving up a favorite indulgence, if only for a set amount of time (e.g. no dessert for a month). Will that simple sacrifice change your world? Not necessarily – but will the impact of setting an improving goal and accomplishing it make a difference? Absolutely! Conquering small challenges builds the confidence necessary to tackle major obstacles.
• Practice patience – Remember to be patient with yourself. Don’t throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater if you fall short early on. Chalk it up to experience and keep pursuing your goal with this added wisdom. Being able to step past setbacks with an eye fixed on the end prize is integral to long-term success.
• Break through your barriers – Improvement should be focused on bettering your best. Many of us impose false limits on our own possibilities, thinking that our intelligence, personality, or looks are set and unchangeable. However, research shows that fixed ability is a fallacy. Reach your fullest potential by embracing your ability to change and grow. When you focus on getting better as opposed to being good at something, then you’re able to enjoy the journey, not just the destination.

 
As you focus on how to increase what you can control, you’ll be able to increase your opportunities to succeed. By gaining into what you’ve done right – and wrong – in the past, you’ll be able to lead by example and inspire others to achieve past their self-imposed limits.

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Managing Expectations: Are You Communicating Effectively?

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw 

Communicating effectively is one of the most important skills to develop in business. While there are several reasons why, one of the most important from a leadership perspective is to be able to adequately manage expectations – in other words, you must be able to help those you manage understand what to expect from any given scenario, from timelines to structure and protocol. By managing expectations, you are then able to stave off conflicts before they spring up.  

How can you communicate more effectively to help manage expectations?

• Define expectations: Conflicts and frustration often arise from a lack of information. When initiating a project, be sure to help team members understand why the project is needed, what the plan is for addressing that need, and how you intend to execute that plan. As you set out to make the project happen, look for ways to build camaraderie and trust. A little goes a long way in creating connections among those who will rely upon one another’s skills and abilities to make a project become reality. Also, don’t overlook establishing expectations among your customers. Communicating with them that a much-requested product or service is in the works, along with periodic updates on progress, will do wonders for building buzz and assuring customers that their requests aren’t falling on deaf ears.
• Explain the problem: It’s rare that a project – or anything in life, for that matter – will go according to plan. Consequently, you’ll have to redefine expectations and give updates on progress throughout the life of a project. While it can be intimidating to report that a project will be delayed, it’s better to communicate that up front than to let the initial timeline expectations linger unchanged. Of course, that said, reporting a delay should come only after your team has exhausted all options to make up lost time and get the project back on track.
• Offer a solution: While it’s important to explain why a project is facing a setback, it’s even more important to follow up immediately with a solution of how you plan to amend the disruption. It shows thoroughness, proactivity, and accountability – all traits that merit respect. Be sure to answer the question “What’s in it for me?” as you present the solution to a specific audience, whether it be internal team members or customers. Addressing the needs of a specific audience will resonate better than general information to which they cannot easily connect.

 
Clear and continued communication is vital to keeping all of your shareholders informed on a project’s progress. By managing their expectations, you’ll be able to reduce or eliminate frustration and confusion – which, in turn, will reduce how much emotional energy they bring into their interactions with you on the subject. This serves to reduce the risk of potential conflicts, creating an environment of collaboration and understanding.

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