Chapter 19
Conducting Interviews
IN THIS CHAPTER
Drumming up interest in the opportunity
Interviewing potential recruits
As wonderful as it would be if people would come to you and ask to join your business, that’s usually not how it happens. In fact, it hardly ever happens that way. I’ve done close to 3,000 parties, and this scenario has only happened to me a handful of times.
In this chapter, you find out how to create interest with your prospects about joining your team, help them discover the opportunity without intimidating them, and interview them to determine whether they would be a good fit.
When you get right down to it, there’s a simple formula for adding people to your team: You create interest by creating desire for your job. You then generate leads by giving information and then following up with an interview.
To be absolutely clear, I don’t mean interview in the sense of a traditional job interview. I mean interview in the truest sense of the word — where you discover information about your prospect and the two of you together determine whether the opportunity is a good match.
Setting the Stage: Creating Interest
In Chapter 18, I discuss how to sprinkle opportunity seeds throughout the event. Opportunity seeds are references to the benefits of being a representative of the direct selling company.
Always offer information to guests three times. First at the opening, then in your recruiting talk, and finally when you’re closing the customer.
Here’s an example of a recruiting talk I’ve done hundreds of times:
- “As I’ve mentioned, now more than ever, people are looking for a fun, flexible way to make some extra income. You’ve seen that my job is quite simple and it’s a lot of fun. Now, many of you may be thinking Wow, an extra $800 a month really would be nice, but I’ve never been in sales. I’ve never done anything like this before. What if I get in? What if I don’t like it? What’s really awesome about our company is they literally give you a chance to give it a try.
- “They give you all the tools you will need and make it easy to get started. So if any one of you would like some additional information to take home with you, please let me know and I will be more than happy to provide it for you.”
When you’ve helped guests have a great time and quickly shared the benefits of the opportunity, people will want the information because it’s a low-risk way to find out more.
You can share this same information online with a post or with your recruiting talk during the live portion of the event and say, “If you’d like more information, please comment below or feel free to private message me.”
You can also create interest online on your social media sites (see Part 4 for more). Videos are a popular way to generate interest because they’re easy and quick to watch and share — plus they give people a really good idea of what your company is all about. People like to do product videos and “unboxing” videos (where you open your kit and show the products), upload them to YouTube, and post links to them on social media and through email.
Whether you offer the opportunity to a room full of guests, online, or via a live video on social media, give very minimal information because too much information can be overwhelming. Don’t share facts about the compensation plan, details on incentive trips, information about the various ranks of leadership the company offers, and so on. When leads hear too much information, self-doubt can creep in — doubt about whether they can hit a qualification in a compensation plan, earn a large number of points for an incentive trip, or recruit a large number of people. Simply let guests know that this opportunity could meet a need they have right now and offer them the information to learn more.
Asking for an Interview
Remember, this is just follow-up. Although you may be nervous about asking for the opportunity to interview the lead, you won’t be using the word interview, and they likely won’t even realize that they’re being interviewed. They’ll just think you’re getting to know them, which is exactly what you’ll be doing: getting to know the lead so you can share the information needed to make an informed decision.
Knowing how to ask
As you hand the information to a guest, even though you’re very excited, you’ll simply say something like this:
“Why don’t you take this information home and look it over, and I’d love to give you a call tomorrow or the next day to see if you have any questions. How does that sound? Okay. Wonderful. Tuesday or Thursday, which one works better for you? Thursday? Awesome. I’ll look forward to chatting with you then.”
When you find prospects online, you need to send them the information digitally. Follow up with these leads as soon as possible — within 12 hours. A good plan is to be prepared with the information in a folder on your desktop or on your phone. Refer to Chapter 18 where I discuss being prepared with this information in one place on your hard drive so you can email it with no delay.
And now your first interview is scheduled. It’s really that simple!
Although it may go against every instinct you have, after confirming the interview time, stop talking and walk away. The reason it’s important to calmly walk away is because the person sitting quietly nearby has been watching, wanting to know whether they should risk asking for the information or whether they’ll be overwhelmed with questions or a hard sell on the opportunity. By making that process low pressure, you just proved that asking for some information on the business is a low-risk question.
Another common way to ask for an interview comes at the close of the event, when you’re sitting with each guest individually to take orders. Part of a full-service checkout is asking, “Are you interested in learning more about the company?” If the lead says yes, simply use the same kind of verbiage to get a follow-up interview scheduled.
Identifying who to ask
There’s a simple answer about who to ask — anyone who shows interest enough to request some additional information.
As soon as you consider sharing the opportunity with someone, your brain will immediately tell you all the reasons why they wouldn’t want to enjoy the benefits of being an independent representative:
- Doesn’t need the money
- Too busy as a (fill in the blank)
- Doesn’t really know anyone
- Would never do this business
But the truth is that it’s impossible to know what is going on in someone’s mind and heart. There’s no way to predict what will motivate someone to consider going into this business. So it’s important not to prejudge anyone.
Interviewing a Potential Recruit: Phase 1
An interview has two phases. The first phase is the follow-up, which I discuss in this section. (I discuss the second phase in the section, “Interviewing Your New Team Member: Phase 2,” later in this chapter.) Your potential recruit usually won’t even recognize that you’re interviewing them, which means, if all goes as planned, they’ll be relaxed and won’t be nervous.
Conducting the interview in three steps
Follow up with a person who accepted some information on becoming a consultant. You conduct this casual interview by phone or video conferencing. Here are the three steps to this short interview:
Ask whether there are any unanswered questions after reading over the information.
So many people don’t know what to say, so they resort to talking about themselves and, generally, share too much information. Sometimes, you can even talk someone out of joining. When you focus on what the lead’s questions are and what benefits they’re looking for, you’re addressing the lead’s interest, not your own.
Ask what grabbed the lead’s attention as to how this business could be beneficial.
Stay focused on what’s important to the lead, not what’s important to you. Here’s an example of how I lost a good lead: I was so excited that I went on and on about how much I loved the incentive trips and how easy it was to earn them. She ended up not joining. When I asked her why, she was afraid to fly and knew she’d be able to earn the trip and then wouldn’t be able to go, and that was too much pressure.Ask how ready the lead is, on a scale from 1 to 10, to get started.
One means I’m not ready to get started, and 10 means I’m ready to sign up right now. For a response ranging from 2 to 4, ask, “What are some of your concerns?” If they replied with a 5 to 8, say, “Okay, what is holding you back and how can I get you to a 10?”
Handling indecision
A potential recruit may be on the fence and have difficulty making a decision about the business. When that’s the case, offer the win/win option of having a decider party or event. A decider event is simply an event the lead hosts, and at the end of the event, they decide whether they want the earnings and the host credit or just the host credit. If they decide they want the earnings, then that evening the lead signs up as a consultant online, and you help enter the evening’s orders as their first event. If the lead decides not to join, they’ll walk away with free credit and half-priced items — a win/win for sure.
For network marketers that aren’t interested in joining the business but are still interested in the product, suggest signing up as a preferred customer or on an autoship subscription where they may receive a discount on the product.
Really, this first interview phase is all about getting someone to closure and to making a decision to give the business a try.
Understanding what “no” really means
As a direct seller, you’ll hear no. And you’ll most likely hear it often. Get used to it. But here’s something important to understand: No doesn’t mean I don’t like you or I don’t ever want to join a business like this. No means Not right now. After all, the lead did have a spark of interest.
Right now, your lead isn’t ready or might not have the confidence to move forward. The timing isn’t right. People’s lives are always changing. Stay friendly and in touch because one day circumstances may be different, and the timing may be perfect.
In my experience, a new rep will hear “yes” just once for every ten times they offer the opportunity. This rate will improve to two or three in ten as they gain more experience. I tell you these numbers for two reasons:
- So you’re not surprised when you don’t hear yes more frequently
- So that when you set a goal of bringing three team members aboard, you’re mentally prepared that, statistically, you’ll give information about 30 times
That’s also why this first phase of the interview is just a simple scheduled phone call or video conference. Making 30 phone calls is easy and doesn’t require an inordinate investment of your time. If the number 30 seems overwhelming to you, remember that you won’t be scheduling these interviews all at one time. More like in groupings of three to six, using the Power Hour system (see Chapter 5) — unless you happen to hand out 30 information packs in one week, which is absolutely amazing — and you’d be well on your way to quicker success than most people have ever dreamed.
Remember, your lead is likely a good customer, so treat them like one. Often, as trust develops, they may become your next team member.
Interviewing Your New Team Member: Phase 2
After your new recruit has signed, you should immediately schedule the second phase of the interview. The second phase is a discovery of what the new recruit wants out of the business. For example, say something like this:
“Lisa, I’m so excited that we’ll be on the same team! There are a few things you’ll need to know, so let’s plan a quick chat. It’ll take about 30 minutes, and I’d like to schedule that as soon as possible. We can jump on the phone, but I’d like to send you a Zoom link. Does that work?”
With so much of our business done online, a video conference call is likely to be the preferred choice. It’s like an in-person meeting where you both can see each other’s personality and energy and get to know each other better. Being able to have a face-to-face interview allows you to bond and cultivate a friendship. Showing the recruit that this business is flexible will allow them to see how simple it really can be.
Whether over the phone or via Zoom, email them a couple of things to prepare for the interview, including the following:
- Ask them to bring a calendar and a notebook.
- Include a goal sheet (where they write down their goals, how many days they want to work, how much income they want to make, and so on). Chapter 5 discusses how to set goals.
- Prepare any questions you’ll ask them, including possible dates for their launch event, and provide a sheet for outlining their contact list.
Leading the meeting: What to say
When you begin, smile warmly and let the recruit know how happy you are to have them on the team. Stick to the following steps during this meeting:
Start by getting to know the recruit.
Ask about the recruit and their family, where they’ve lived and worked, and what they enjoy. Doing so will relax them because everyone is comfortable telling their own story. While they’re sharing, you’re learning what you have in common, which creates a good feeling and engenders trust. (“My uncle is also from Syracuse!” “Reading is my favorite hobby, too!”)
Steer the conversation to find out what the recruit’s why is without actually asking that (possibly intimidating) question.
Alternate asking questions and offering your answers. Say things like, “What drew you to this company? For me it was …” and, “What do you hope to gain from this experience?” These questions get you talking about the company and why they joined.
Ask to see the goal sheet you asked them to bring.
You can find out how much they want to work, how much they want to make, and whether the two of those things are in line.
What often happens is that people want to make $1,000 a month, but they only want to work one day a week. Using a goal sheet can help the recruit key into what is reasonable by clearly spelling out their goals and making a plan to achieve them. When you find out how much money they want to earn, find out what they plan to do with that income — go on a trip, pay off a car loan, get rid of credit card debt? Knowing this information can help you discover what the recruit’s why, or purpose, really is and will help you later coach them to success.
One of the biggest reasons people leave direct sales is because their expectations and goals don’t match. You need to tell the recruit to adjust how much they want to earn or how much they want to work. People leave because they never earned the $1,000 but the truth is that they never worked enough to make that income.
Starting training
The last part of this interview is actually the beginning of training. During this part, you’ll give your new team member simple tasks they can accomplish immediately:
- Schedule a launch event. Have them set a date for their first event. Depending on the company you’re with, this may be called a launch party, grand opening, or debut, or something along these lines. You also want to explain to them what a back-up launch is and why it’s important. See Chapter 7 for a lot more on launch events.
- Assist creating a booking/customer lead notebook. You’ll help them begin creating a contact list to use for inviting people to the initial launch or for identifying people who may be interested in the product. Make sure you explain why inviting people from all aspects of their life and not just family and close friends is important. Chapter 7 provides more on this.
- Determine business hours. With their planner in hand, ask whether there are any regularly scheduled family or career commitments, such as Little League practice on Tuesdays. Make sure those days are in their planner for the next few months. Then ask your new team member which days they want to have events on and emphasize the benefits of circling those days in the planner, explaining that by having a regular schedule, this business is much easier and more fun.
- Explain company programs. Go over your company’s 90-day new consultant rewards program (this may be called different things depending on your company, for example Fast Start, Great Start, Jump Start, or Heart Start). No matter what it’s called, it usually rewards three levels of accomplishment. Help your new team member set a few goals for achieving the first level — but don’t overwhelm them by planning out the entire first 90 days of their business. Network marketers and social sellers often have set times for Zoom meetings that offer training or review the opportunity — get these on their calendars.
- Explain the important of bringing a friend. This is one of the most important things you need to do — talk to your new team member about a friend who they think would enjoy the business too. Explain that asking a friend to join not only helps with earning the rewards of the 90-day starter program, but it also makes the business fun. Having a friend join gives the new team member someone to bounce ideas off of, share experiences with, and celebrate achievements together.
- Mention the company’s virtual office. If they don’t have their website set up, assist them with doing so. Sharing a navigation sheet of information may be helpful so they know what’s important to look for and where to find it. People say the incredible amount of information in a company’s virtual office can be so overwhelming and intimidating that many decide the business isn’t for them before they even get started. Make sure you let your new team member know that you can schedule a second call to go over how to put an order in and other such logistics. If the company has a “new consultant training center,” then direct them to that area of training first.
The best part about this meeting is that you’ve begun building a relationship that includes personal trust and professional respect. The second-best thing is that using this system makes the interview and the new relationship easy.