Are You Doing the Two-Step or the Mule Scramble?
I’ve been living in the boonies for almost a decade now and I decided it was finally time to learn how to do the two-step and other country/western dances. Being a goal-oriented gal, I immediately signed myself and my husband up for dance class. The first dance they taught was the two-step. The instructor told us that the men led and the ladies followed. He said, “The lady doesn’t take a step until the man gives her a signal to do so.” He explained that this was because the lady had to wait for the man to signal her to step back, turn, swing around, or step forward. If she doesn’t wait for cues from the man, she could take the wrong kind of step and the whole thing falls apart.
As we practiced two-stepping around the floor, I reflected that two-stepping was a lot like good MLM prospecting. In two-stepping, I waited on “my man” to tell me what step to take next. In good MLM prospecting, I wait on my prospect to tell me whether I should take another step forward and invest more time and energy into that person. I always let my prospect tell me how far and how fast to go. It’s a lot more time efficient than the mule scramble, which I’ll talk about in a moment.
Give Your Prospect Homework
A long time ago a member of my upline told me that I should never leave a conversation with a prospect without giving my prospect some “homework.” Now this sounded very strange to me. Here I was, trying to persuade someone to join me in my business, and I was supposed to give this person an assignment? It sounded totally crazy. It also works. The homework assignment, which can be as simple as reading a brochure or looking at a website, is a way for the prospect to give me a signal about their level of interest and level of responsibility. In prospecting MLM business builders, I look for people who are both eager and can follow through on that interest.
The process is simple. If the person I’m talking to seems interested in the business, I usually set up a time for us to talk again, often with my upline. Before I leave the conversation, I say something like, “I’ll give you a call the day before our next appointment to make sure you’ve had time to check out the website, OK? If you haven’t, we’ll reschedule the appointment because I don’t want to waste your time or mine.” This lets the prospect know two things: one, I’m a busy person and I don’t waste time on people who are not both interested and committed; two, the prospect has an easy “out” if they are truly not interested in the business but are afraid to say. You might be surprised at how many people need help expressing disinterest, even if they contacted me in the first place. This form of MLM prospecting lets me do the two-step, where I don’t take a step unless my prospect does, instead of the mule scramble.
What is a Mule Scramble?
Ah, but what is a mule scramble and why would I want to avoid that in MLM prospecting? Good question. A mule scramble is another fixture, like the two-step, in country living. A mule scramble usually takes place at a county fair or during Mule Days and features a bunch of people and their mules running loose in an arena. The goal is for the people to catch their team of mules, harness them up, and hitch them to a wagon in the shortest amount of time. There are usually about six teams (with four mules to a team) competing in the arena. The event is called a scramble for a good reason because, as you can imagine, with all those stubborn mules running loose people have a very hard time chasing them down.
What does a mule scramble have to do with MLM prospecting? Well, I see a lot of people doing the equivalent of the mule scramble as they prospect. Then end up chasing a lot of uninterested prospects around for weeks or months just because the prospect is unwilling to express disinterest. The prospect just keeps offering excuses for not joining the business instead of just saying “I’m not interested.” For many MLMers, anything less than a cold bucket of water in the face means there is still hope. So they keep doing the MLM mule chase instead of the MLM two-step.
Giving your prospect a way to signal interest or disinterest by assigning “homework” can save you a lot of sweat and tears. If a prospect fails to do the homework assignment, then you don’t take the next step forward in the process. You stop and wait. The prospect may never signal you to move forward, or may do so after a short delay. If a prospect doesn’t complete the homework, I’ll either elect to contact them later to see if they have done it or ask the prospect to contact me when they have. Either way, I don’t spend much more effort until I see active effort from the prospect. Good MLM prospecting is like dancing with a good partner. It’s easy, fun, and far from a mule scramble!
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