Did you know that you actually need permission from people in order to market to them. This is probably the #1 rule violated by novice network marketers. They market to everyone- permission or not. The unfortunate result is that your friends will start to avoid you. They aren’t avoiding you because your product sucks. They are avoiding you because you didn’t have permission to market to them.What I am about to share I first learned from a personal trainer friend of mine. After he explained it, I started seeing the same concept in book after book I was reading. Imagine you are a personal trainer at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. It is blatantly obvious to you which of your fellow members are terribly out of shape. Conversely, it is blatantly obvious to them from your biceps bulging out of your shirt and your sweatsuit at a business meeting that you are a personal trainer. What happens next?

Recognize that as a personal trainer you do not have permission to simply approach every overweight person you see and assume they want or need your services. Permission is required. You’ll be able to gauge from their response what level of permission you have. Compare these three responses to “Hi, I’m John owner of ABC Training Company on Main Street.”

  1. “Are you in the old Dollar Store building?”
  2. “What a great business to be in. I often wish I could get paid to work out.”
  3. “Nice to meet you. I drive past your gym everyday and have never been inside.”
  4. “Give me your card. My wife has been talking about finding a personal trainer.”

If this was all the information you had about this stranger, ask yourself which ones have given you permission to market? Only the later two responses give you permission to market to the person. If you invite #3 or #4 for a free training session you are inbounds and the gesture is likely to be viewed as welcome. If you invite #1 or #2  for a free session you’ve likely overstepped your bounds and the invitation will be viewed as unwelcome. See the difference?

The lesson for network marketers is to TALK LESS and LISTEN MORE. Learn to ask open ended questions that will yield the information you seek. By listening to the responses you will discover where you have permission to market. These approaches will be welcome approaches and will build friendships. The unwelcome approaches are both unlikely to build business and will quickly get you a reputation as pushy.