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May 9, 2006
Client or IBO
By Drew in A/QMOs
During my involvement with the Quixtar business the majority of my time was focused on contacting new prospects, showing the plan, and registering new IBOs. On occassion I would see a chance to get a new client or member purchasing product. Of course in the midst of getting a new customer I would always attempt to show them the plan to become an IBO. Looking back I wonder why the registration of clients and members was not stressed as much as the registration of new IBOs.
Each week my upline Ruby would hold an accountability conference call, which I always ensured I "qualified" for. On this call we would get some "teaching" from our upline Ruby, and every IBO would go down their list of accountability for the week.
This list would include how many contacts were made, how many appts were set, how many plans were shown, and of course how many IBOs registered. We never discussed how many new clients or members were signed up. The impression given to me was that client and member registration was plan B if you couldn't get them as an IBO.
In terms of running a business shouldn't clients and members be just as important to a Quixtar business as any new IBO registration? Considering that client purchases give an IBO retail profit plus personal PV. And member purchases add to personal PV so it only makes sense that clients and members are a vital part of a profitable Quixtar business.
So, why then do many motivational organizations not stress member/client registration and sales as much as they do IBO registration? Why do the majority of tapes/CDs I'm familiar with discuss business building from an IBO registration standpoint? Why do the majority of speakers I've heard at functions talk about contacting, showing the plan, and IBO registration as their major topics?
Finally, why are so many IBOs taught to try and convert happy members and clients into registered IBOs? I can't help but think that more IBOs would be reporting profits at the end of the year, instead of losses, if they spent an equal amount of time building their client/member base and their IBO structure.
Comments
In terms of importance, Imran hit the nail on the head with the first listed item. This is where 2/3 to 9/10 of the money is made for Emeralds and above.
So the system should spend more time teaching IBOs to properly sell products, instead of selling based on hype. There are products that are good, but an IBO will have issue selling them because they have no experience. The systems don't spend much time teaching selling techniques when it is easier to teach downlines to get more people signed up who will buy to get a $7.50 check back and buy tools in hopes of getting rich.
I myself used to wonder why the focus was on getting people to be prosumers (IBOs) instead of clients/members. (I think I heard, on a CD perhaps, that the member option was only for relatives.) Of course they also mentioned that perhaps they would decide to "build the business" at a later time.
That also bothered me when I found out about the 50PV rule. (No one told me anything about that as I was not given a business compendium when I signed up - if I had been, I would definitely have read it since I enjoy reading anyway.:) You would think that this would be one of the first things my upline told me.) This was because I felt that these "prosumers" could help me fulfill the 50PV m/c rule. Doing so was already hard enough. Not only that, the PV generated from M/C would be mine, all mine.
But I guess it's all about tools.
The first thing you learn as an IBO is, "lead the prospect". Never let them answer no to a question.
GAE - that's the first thing you learn in ANY sales forum/organization.
Drew - In my experience with WWDB the past two years, there has been a major focus on products & merchandising. However, I do agree that there could be more functional teaching on retail sales methods.
I also thought a long time about getting more retail, less ibos.
I pressed my upline to assist me.
I ended up agreeing that the key s in consumption, and that folks may not be able to see themselves selling soap.
but that's bs cause we do a lot of stupid stuff for work, like drive in the snow to get there.
I learned to agree that we dont want to frame our prospect into thinking it's selling, even though most develop that skill set to become successful at showing the plan
but i wanted a way to validate say 300 per ibo
what i found was that using a ck list of items people use and asking 5 clients to support your business by trying 10 created a reliable 15pv off laundry, kitchen, bath
basicly ask mom to change light bulbs
suppliers so you can reach your goal for your lemonade stand.
a second strategy that feels less like do me a favor, but is more proffesional is the B2B catalog
lastly is niche's / pathways
which to me means marketing a brand like nao or selling supplimentation
the system definitely is weak on equiping ibos to sell products
but ibos can overcome this by setting
their own standards
we know the corp wanted 10 clients
back in the day
what if we said to mom, uncle, brother
hey i only need 5 clients to
reach an important goal.
we fail to sell because we are not shown how to create a natural context where it's ok to ask for the biz.
just like we fail to show the plan
not because we cant read a presentation
but because we hesitate to set the appt
what is it?
"it takes a few minutes to explain,
would you like to meet to discuss it?"
Clients / members don't buy tapes / CDs / seminars.
They're not religiously sold to the products.
They argue, and keep finding better product and service, making loyol IBO "negative".
They don't accept crazy prices easily.
They want products to work as much as hyped.
In general, they're tough to handle for IBOs who are usually not professional sales person.
Posted by: Imran | May 10, 2006 5:35 AM