Whether you are new to network marketing or have been in the business for awhile, no doubt you will hear someone tell you that they don’t think MLM will work, or they think MLM is not a real business. This MLM training tip is based on years of experience and teaching 56,000 distributors how to confidently answer this question. Continue reading so you too, can easily get a prospect to agree they can succeed in network marketing.

Here is Shai’s question, submitted October 18, 2007.

Hey Tim,

My name is Shai and I’m from Israel. In Pro. Inviter you teach to ask people who have an MLM objection the question: “Do you think MLM by itself works”? and you teach us what to do if they say, “YES” or, “I DON’T KNOW,” but how do you handle it if they say, “NO,” and why?

Hello Shai,

Thank you for your excellent question. Let me back up for the benefit of all readers and give a little more information, then I’ll answer your question.

Let’s pretend I’m talking with a prospect and they ask, “Is this MLM?” I reply, “Yes, what do you know about MLM?” They respond negatively.

Here’s some MLM training pointers on how to handle this objection. To handle this objection effectively you should follow the Objection Handling Remedy that is outlined in Professional Inviter, as well as in the last several newsletters and monthly free conference calls. I will not repeat the details of the Objection Handling Remedy here as it’s been written and spoken several times recently. I’ll just use the remedy below so you can see how to handle this objection.

1. Listen through the objection. The more you can get them to talk about their MLM experience the better. As I’ve stated in other MLM training tips, listening is key. Listen very carefully because they will probably mention THE issue that’s really bugging them. You’ll also probably hear them talk around the subject or task they couldn’t do.

2. Confirm your understanding of what the ACTUAL objection is. Many times people fail at handling objections because they handle the wrong objection – therefore their prospect is still sitting with the objection. The “pyramid” objection is not the same as the “MLM doesn’t work” objection. They are both “MLM” objections, but you must make sure you understand that prospect’s exact objection. So if someone tells me how awful MLM is (step 1) but I never really hear their actual objection then I would ask, “So what was your bad experience, specifically?” To that he replies, “It doesn’t work!”

Make the question or objection valid to the prospect. “I understand your concern on this. Of course you wouldn’t want to do something that doesn’t work.”

Handle or facilitate handling. Alright Shai, here’s where I will answer your question directly. Because you didn’t give me any more information in your question, I’ll answer it in the two different ways I’ve seen it. Shai, you may think that I’m not answering your specific question – but I am. Sometimes if you ask the question, “do you think MLM by itself works?” too early – then they will shut down and say no. But that’s not their true answer.

When someone has the MLM objection “it doesn’t work” then what you have to do first is try to find out “what about MLM doesn’t work?” (from their view of course). It could be something they’ve read or they’ve tried it and couldn’t make it work. There is a big difference in these two responses – and how you handle it. So you can ask, “Are you speaking from personal experience or is this someone else’s experience?”

From someone else’s experience: If it’s something they’ve read or someone else’s experience then they are an observer and do not have a working knowledge. Therefore you need to give them facts. The facts are, there are 49.9 million people in direct sales that sell 89.2 billion in sales. There are 475,000 new distributors join each week. Then gently, not sarcastically ask, “What part of MLM do you feel doesn’t work?

You see, if it’s someone else’s experience or something they’ve read, you can not ask them “Does it, as an industry work?” prior to giving them facts, because they will just repeat what they’ve read or heard!! So they will say to you, “No, it doesn’t work.”

From their own experience: If in helping them with their objection they tell you that they personally had a bad experience, ask them to tell you their bad experience. “What happened?” When they tell you, listen for clues of lack of training. You can even ask, “What were you not able to do?” Or, “What did they fail to train you how to do?” When you can finally get them to reveal this to you – then and only then can you ask them the question “Does MLM by itself, as an industry work?” Then, “What do you feel it takes for a person to make it work?” If they give you a “type” of person that MLM works for – then ask them, “How is that person different than you?” What they tell you is what YOU WILL HAVE TO TRAIN THEM HOW TO DO!

If they tell you “No, it doesn’t work” after you’ve given them the facts, then you conclude the conversation and move on.

Someone who can not see that 89 billion dollars worth of products are moving to consumers, doesn’t want to see it. They don’t want it to be true, although it is. Why don’t they want it to be true? Because they don’t want to fail or fail again. They would prefer to blame it on the industry rather than that there is simply something that they failed to learn how to do.

When the first super microscope was first introduced, scientists looked through it at a piece of steel and saw that steel was actually moving! Many scientists could not accept that to be true – even though it was true and they were looking at it. Same thing occurred when a telescope revealed that there were more planets, many more than scientists had thought before. It’s nothing new for people to not see what’s in front of them. You just can’t build a business off of people who can’t see what’s in front of them.

Thank you for your question Shai, I hope that by following this MLM training tip you will now master how to handle this objection.

Tim Sales

Tim Sales helps network marketers gain the skills necessary to be successful in MLM. His MLM training is based on his personal success of building a downline of 56,000 people. Instantly access Tim’s free MLM training and learn the steps to achieve success at http://www.firstclassmlmtools.com/MLM-Training-W13.aspx.

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