In the book Think And Grow Rich we hear the story of the successful insurance man who says he found success because he persisted in the sale after his prospects said no.
Of course, this is one form of persistence BUT, it’s not the only form and if you do this wrong, you’ll cause your prospect to not only hate network marketing – but maybe you as well.
In my own journey to success from home, for the most part, I’ve followed a different model of persistence.
I sort and sift to find those who are open.
If someone is not open -I do what I can to nourish the relationship and move on.
I don’t stay on that person like a pit bull with a bone in its mouth.
I persist to the next one, and the next one and the next one.
To me, that’s a form of persistence that is far more palatable and leaves people, for the most part, with good feelings toward me and the networking profession.
That’s not to say I never go back to someone who’s told me ‘no’, I do – I just do it in a different way than the annoying recruiters.
Example 1: Send people value via an email list – all the while gently inviting again and again over time.
Or – Example 2: when I do go back to someone who’s told me no via a 1 on 1 connection – I try to do it in such a way that the person knows I care about them, their life, their wishes and their goals MORE than I care about them joining my thing.
Reverse those 2 and people will feel it.
When people feel like your #1 goal is to recruit them – and ‘oh by the way, sure you care about them too’ – relationships are damaged.
The other thing to be aware of is to have the good sense to know that there are times when someone says no – they mean it – and they are just not a fit at all for what we’re doing in the networking space.
There are those people and the more we hound them to join – the more damage we do to relationships and the public perception of network marketers.
Persistence squared.
Choose wisely.