Moms Network

Patience is a virtue. This cliché is the essence of running a work at home business. Impatience can breed failure if you aren’t careful. One of the most important areas in which patience is needed, is realizing that YOUR time schedule and your potential CLIENT’s or RECRUIT’s time schedule may be totally off synch from each other. Whether you are looking at recruiting someone for your business opportunity or attempting to sell your product/service to someone, you need to realize that these contacts and potentials aren’t as anxious about your business as you are. Don’t get caught up in your own time table that you disregard and in essence toss out contacts that could very well be the best people for your business.

A prime example is for those who are promoting a business opportunity and want to recruit new representatives or consultants. While it is exciting to be able to get people signed up right away, you need to realize that these individuals most likely do not have the same urgency that you do. For example, if you work off of leads that either you collect or you purchase, some people may not fill out all the questions, such as their phone number. Don’t write off the people who don’t leave phone numbers. Over the many years of working with moms who are in search of work at home businesses, I have found that sometimes online; people are very leery about giving out too much personal information such as a phone number.

You should still follow up with them via email, sending some information for them to be able to peruse at their leisure, and ask about connecting with them via phone. Keep them in your contact list and reconnect with them. People are at different stages on their quest for working at home. While some are ready to jump in right away, someone may be “just curious” and “just looking” right now. Never rush to judgment on your contacts or leads. If someone is just starting out, they may be collecting info on 10 – 30 companies and don’t want 10 – 30 different people calling them on the phone. They may feel that they might be put on the spot or pressured by being on the phone with someone they don’t know. So, by building even a small relationship via email – that can put the person at ease to then eventually want to speak with you via phone.

If you sell a product, there WILL be many people that impulse buy or know specifically what they want while shopping around, but there are also a large percentage of people who need to see your name and product over and over to let it sink in with them and let them gain trust in your name and business. It is one thing to have friends and family and people from networking circles you are involved in becoming your customers, but the real key to your success is when you are able to turn virtual strangers into customers, and hopefully into repeat customers for years to come. Again, don’t discount the people who make initial contact with you, whether it be seeing your products in a store, at a trade show, or sending you an email with a question. These are all potential customers who may just need to be kept in the loop and feel like they are learning more about you and your products before making a decision. Not everyone will be in need of what your business has to offer at this moment in time. They may be ready to make a purchasing decision 3 months from now, but as stated above with business opportunities, they may be simply searching, browsing and collecting information on their options prior to making a final decision.

Don’t shoot your business in the foot by discounting people because they are not where YOU want them to be right now in their decision process. You may even find that the people, who take their time and research thoroughly before coming to a decision, will end up being the best customers or hardest workers on your team.

Cyndi Webb is the Founder and President of Moms Network – an organization dedicated to the promotion and success of Moms in business. Since 1997 she has promoted and worked with thousands of work at home moms in coaching and guiding them in how to help grow their businesses. Over the years Moms Network has evolved to include more than 15 websites offering free resources to moms from all walks of life, the Connecting @ Home print magazine and the annual Celebrating Moms Expo which attracts thousands of moms in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Cyndi makes her home in Minnesota with her husband and two children.

Tags: direct sales, Work at Home

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