Here is a scenario that is probably familiar to almost anyone who is in network marketing or direct selling.

You buy a lead that is supposed to be someone who is interested in the type of business opportunity you have to offer or in the types of products you sell. Then when you call them you get nowhere. And a lot of the time the prospect denies ever having asked for information about a business or about the products.

Its frustrating because you are sitting there with all the information in front of you to show that they had asked for information. It is likely that you not only have their name, address and telephone number but you also have the IP address of their computer. What went wrong?

It is a fact that when you make a telephone sales call to a prospect the first 3 to 6 seconds after they answer the phone will determine the success of the call. To put it another way, you have between 3 to 6 seconds to establish yourself as someone that this prospect is interested in talking with.

The only way that will happen is for you to say something that stimulates them. If it is a business opportunity lead you must tell them that their financial dreams can be fulfilled by your business opportunity and you must do it in a way that is believable. It you are selling a product you must give them a major benefit of your product--that is what it will do for them personally.

If they don't get the idea that there is something in this for them in the first 6 seconds there is not much you can do to kindle enough interest to make it a successful call for you.

You can be assured that in the first 6 seconds they do not care one iota about what the business has been able to do for you. In the first 6 seconds they are not interested in any testimonials from happy customers no matter how sincere they are.

What's In It For Me?

Picture that sign in the middle of your prospect's forehead because that is what he or she is thinking. If you answer that question in the first 6 seconds you have a good chance of having a successful call.

Probably the most common and fatal mistake made is to talk about what the prospect did to come to your attention. This is true for people who walk onto a car sales lot, or into a retail store or who answer your telephone call.

The car salesman who says, "I want to sell you a car because you walked onto the lot," is not going to sell a lot of cars. The Television salesman who says, "you should buy this television because you walked into the store," is not going to sell a lot of TVs.

And the network marketer or direct sales person who opens by telling a prospect, "you must want to join my program because you filled out a form on the Internet," is not going to get a lot of recruits.

The direct sales person who thinks they simply can take an order because they have the lead information in front of them is not going to sell a lot of product.

Here is an approach that works for anyone who uses it all the time. The reason to use it all the time is because then it becomes a natural part of your conversation.

Hello, Mr. Prospect, I'm calling because I'd like to share an idea that has made a lot of money for people like you and I. Do you have a couple of minutes to listen right now?

This approach tends to put them at ease because you are sharing an idea instead of trying to sell them. If they like the idea they will buy instead of you selling it. Then it puts them into a group they want to be in--a group of people who have made a lot of money. And finally you are only asking for a couple of minutes and most people have a couple of minutes. If they talk longer it is because they want to keep on talking to you and not because you need more time to talk to them.