Invitation Scripts Setting an Appointment by Text Messaging (Document 8 of 11) This document explains a simple technique to help you acquire 5 appointments to have a conversation about your business. As you recall from the Fast Start series, you were given an assignment: Secure 5 appointments to review your business opportunity; confirm them the day before. Prospecting, recruiting and effective sponsoring are the core activities of building a successful network marketing organization. The first step is prospecting. Prospecting involves two primary activities: building your prospect list and inviting your prospects to review your business. You started the list-building process during previous assignments in Fast Start. You should have at least 17 names written on your Prospect List. If you haven t completed those assignments, please do so before continuing. Now it s time to actually build your business. Let s set your first 5 appointments. Traditionally, you d be instructed to pull out your contact list and start dialing the phone. You d be told to say something like, Hi[name], I only have a couple seconds before I have to run out the door. But I have something I d like to discuss with you. When can we get together for 15 or 30 minutes? Using the telephone has been the lynchpin of network marketing for decades. But that s changed. Landlines are headed for extinction and everyone screens there calls. How many times have you called someone and gotten voicemail? How often does the person you re calling even answer the phone? Even email is rarely opened. Today, a large and growing percentage of people communicate by text messaging. 1
That s actually great news for the network marketing profession and you re about to discover why. People are terrified of making phone calls. That s one of the primary reasons so many people fail immediately in network marketing. So, instead of making phone calls to set appointments, let s send simple text messages instead. Here s how it works: This is the invitation stage of the process. The only objective is to set an appointment. You do NOT want to explain the business, product, company or anything else related to network marketing or your business during the invitation process. Preparation 1) Pull out the Prospecting List you ve been creating during the Fast Start process. 2) Locate the 7 people who are not related to you, but that you previously identified as people you would like to work with in your business 3) You are ready to start Concept In the next 15 minutes you are going to send a simple message to each of the 7 people and ask to meet with them. You ll wait for a response. When they reply, you ll send another text message giving them a heads up that you have something you d like to run by them and confirm the appointment. The day before the appointment, you ll send another text to confirm the meeting. Then you will meet that person and have a conversation. The Process Step 1: Look at your Prospecting List. Send one of the following messages (or something similar) to each of the 7 people you identified as someone you d like to work with: Hey, what's your schedule look like next week. I'd like to get together with you. Get together for coffee next week? What's your schedule look like? Can we meet at Peet's for a cup of coffee? Can we get together at lunch? 2
Free for breakfast this week? What's your schedule look like on Saturday? I'd like to get together with you. Don t worry about the exact text. There's really not a right message. Step 2: Wait for a response. When they respond with something positive, reply with a message similar to one of the following to give them an idea what it s about and that the meeting isn t entirely social: Great, I have something I'd like to run by you. Great, I have an idea I'd like to get your opinion on.. Great, I have a project I'm working on I'd like to share with you. Great, I have an idea that I think you might find interesting. Of course, the message should also confirm the date, time and place where you will be meeting. If the response is something like an objection, perhaps something like, I'd love to get together with you, as long as it's not [your company, mlm, network marketing] you should still respond and get together. Text something like one of the following: All I want to do is get together. I'm not trying to sign you up for anything. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'd just like to get together for [coffee]. Relax, I just want to get together. We don't have to talk about any of that stuff. But remember that when you meet, you have to back off your agenda entirely and just get together and have a conversation. Step 3: Meet and Share. The whole idea is to have more conversations. Keep it simple. Don t try to sell. Just have a conversation. During the conversation, they ll probably ask you about your business or how things are going. Or, when you sense the time is right during the normal course of conversation, start the conversation about your business (but keep it conversational; it s not a presentation). You can start with something like: Here's the product I wanted to talk to you about... 3
Here's what's going on... This is what I m so excited about Here's the video I wanted you to see... Here's this magazine I wanted to share with you... Just have a conversation. Tell them why you're excited about your business and let the conversation play out naturally. Remember, this shouldn t be a big formal thing. Just have a conversation. The more conversations you have, the more results you will get. If the person you re meeting with raised some sort of objection during the text invitation process, like described above, just meet and have a conversation. If there's an opportunity during the conversation to bring up the objection... go ahead and bring it up. Say something like, "Hey you brought that network marketing thing up, what was that all about? Are you worried about network marketing? Do you feel like I've been pushing too hard? Be honest. Be genuine. Be sincere. Just find out what s bugging them. Don t tell them about your business or product, unless THEY ask. Just have a human conversation. Recruiting can be a long game. Tracking Keep track of your results. Record your progress on the following: Date and time Date and time first Did you set a What was the result Name message sent response received meeting? of the meeting? 4
Recap: 1) Begin the process by texting a simple message to the 7 names you identified. 2) When you complete the 7 names, continue the process by starting at A in your contact list. 3) Continue the process described above until you have at least 5 confirmed appointments. 4) Record your results in the chart above. 5) The day before your appointment, confirm the time and place with the person your meeting with via a simple text message. Congratulations! 5