Dont Always Tell Them Its Free
| Category: Free Services | Date: 2002-11-14 |
At one time joining any Network Marketing company meant paying a fee. Today however, Network Marketing is blessed to have some excellent free to join companies. In the beginning most free companies left a great deal to be desired. Fortunately that has changed and there are many free to join opportunities that rival even established leaders in our industry. It is only fitting therefore that people in quality free to join companies are quite proud of being a free opportunity. It is also true that free is one of if not the most powerful words in marketing and advertising today.
The use of free often has two key weaknesses though. Number one is people instinctively look for the catch. Of course the only catch is you must work to make money. Still you want your prospect to be "open" to your presentation not looking for a catch. Number two is people often feel you "get what you pay for". If it cost nothing then you must get nothing. In truth a free business is not really free you must feed it with work. You time has value and that is your investment even if you dont spend any money on leads and other marketing and advertising you still must invest valuable time.
So exactly how can you make the free aspect of an opportunity even more attractive then it already is? Do what most people selling something for money do. Save the
price till the end or at least the middle of the presentation. Now a lot of the online marketing is best served by telling people up front it is free to get their attention but if you know you can get some interest with out using the word free do it.
Think about infomercials selling their various widgets. They show how much money the widget will save you, how great the widget is and how you will benefit from owning it long before they give you the price. Why do you think that is? The reason is because while viewing the presentation you will find a price you feel the widget is worth in your own mind. Marketing research has shown a very high number of people who form a price higher in their mind then the actual price will then buy the product. They do this because they feel they are definitely getting their moneys worth.
Now consider this technique for prospecting folks for Network Marketing with a free to join company. Lets say you are visiting a friend and you say "hey Joe I have my
own web site would you like to see it". Now why would Joe ever say no to this? There is no good reason to say no. So Joe logs on to the net and you show him your products and how you sell them. Then you show him how your business works and how you get paid to help others. By now Joe is a bit on the defense he knows you are going to ask him if he wants in. Knowing this you say the magic words to ask him
to get involved in a non-threatening manner. "So Joe whet do you think about this?"
Joe will tell you what he thinks good or bad because you have given him an out. Even if he is a skeptic he will still be a little less defensive because you asked for an opinion not a sign up. At some point he will ask the magic words. "How much does this cost?" Now you simply say "oh nothing of course why should you pay a company for the privilege of selling its products".
I will tell you what is going to happen, Joe no matter how unsure he is will take a good look at your business. He might not join but he will look at it and evaluate it.
That should be any Network Marketers goal to get the prospect to evaluate the company not to get them to join. You are there to help people who want a business not to convince them they do. You job is to open them to the possibility so they can make an informed decision.
Now I am going to tell you why Joe will take a good look. He will because no matter how sure he was that there was a catch during your explanation he formed a price the
business was worth in his mind. At a minimum he formed a number he thought you would ask him for and your price "zero" is bound to be less then that amount. There are certain times to go ahead and tell Joe it is free. You ask him to look and he says no. Saying, "hey this is free" may open him up enough for him to take a look. Another time would be if during the presentation he gets "the look". You know the look that says I am holding onto my wallet you arent getting my money. The perfect time would be if Joe says, "OK just tell me how much it is to get involved". You can be sure Joe has a figure firmly in his mind and beyond that you should always give a true answer to any question.
None of this is written stone. You must decide when to use this approach and how to adapt it to each individual situation and person. This technique will not be 100%
effective but it will dramatically increase the number of folks who fairly evaluate your business. That inherently will dramatically increase number of quality partners that
will choose to join you.
Jack Spirko
Copyright © 2002
All Rights Reserved
Jack Spirko
Jack Spirko has lived for years by the motto "the customer comes first". Having reached the top in Corporate America he is currently building an incredibly successful group with Cognigen Networks. You can email him at or visit his web site:
jack@networkmarketingtruth.net
http://www.networkmarketingtruth.net
The use of free often has two key weaknesses though. Number one is people instinctively look for the catch. Of course the only catch is you must work to make money. Still you want your prospect to be "open" to your presentation not looking for a catch. Number two is people often feel you "get what you pay for". If it cost nothing then you must get nothing. In truth a free business is not really free you must feed it with work. You time has value and that is your investment even if you dont spend any money on leads and other marketing and advertising you still must invest valuable time.
So exactly how can you make the free aspect of an opportunity even more attractive then it already is? Do what most people selling something for money do. Save the
price till the end or at least the middle of the presentation. Now a lot of the online marketing is best served by telling people up front it is free to get their attention but if you know you can get some interest with out using the word free do it.
Think about infomercials selling their various widgets. They show how much money the widget will save you, how great the widget is and how you will benefit from owning it long before they give you the price. Why do you think that is? The reason is because while viewing the presentation you will find a price you feel the widget is worth in your own mind. Marketing research has shown a very high number of people who form a price higher in their mind then the actual price will then buy the product. They do this because they feel they are definitely getting their moneys worth.
Now consider this technique for prospecting folks for Network Marketing with a free to join company. Lets say you are visiting a friend and you say "hey Joe I have my
own web site would you like to see it". Now why would Joe ever say no to this? There is no good reason to say no. So Joe logs on to the net and you show him your products and how you sell them. Then you show him how your business works and how you get paid to help others. By now Joe is a bit on the defense he knows you are going to ask him if he wants in. Knowing this you say the magic words to ask him
to get involved in a non-threatening manner. "So Joe whet do you think about this?"
Joe will tell you what he thinks good or bad because you have given him an out. Even if he is a skeptic he will still be a little less defensive because you asked for an opinion not a sign up. At some point he will ask the magic words. "How much does this cost?" Now you simply say "oh nothing of course why should you pay a company for the privilege of selling its products".
I will tell you what is going to happen, Joe no matter how unsure he is will take a good look at your business. He might not join but he will look at it and evaluate it.
That should be any Network Marketers goal to get the prospect to evaluate the company not to get them to join. You are there to help people who want a business not to convince them they do. You job is to open them to the possibility so they can make an informed decision.
Now I am going to tell you why Joe will take a good look. He will because no matter how sure he was that there was a catch during your explanation he formed a price the
business was worth in his mind. At a minimum he formed a number he thought you would ask him for and your price "zero" is bound to be less then that amount. There are certain times to go ahead and tell Joe it is free. You ask him to look and he says no. Saying, "hey this is free" may open him up enough for him to take a look. Another time would be if during the presentation he gets "the look". You know the look that says I am holding onto my wallet you arent getting my money. The perfect time would be if Joe says, "OK just tell me how much it is to get involved". You can be sure Joe has a figure firmly in his mind and beyond that you should always give a true answer to any question.
None of this is written stone. You must decide when to use this approach and how to adapt it to each individual situation and person. This technique will not be 100%
effective but it will dramatically increase the number of folks who fairly evaluate your business. That inherently will dramatically increase number of quality partners that
will choose to join you.
Jack Spirko
Copyright © 2002
All Rights Reserved
Jack Spirko
Jack Spirko has lived for years by the motto "the customer comes first". Having reached the top in Corporate America he is currently building an incredibly successful group with Cognigen Networks. You can email him at or visit his web site:
jack@networkmarketingtruth.net
http://www.networkmarketingtruth.net
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