Imagine the following scenario:

You’ve recently joined or have been involved with a home business opportunity. In order to get your business off the ground, you need to recruit others . You start your recruiting campaigns (by email, phone calls, online/offline marketing, etc.) and you begin to build your organization. You are initially excited when people join you in your business opportunity, but as time goes on, you discover that some of these people eventually quit and drop out or become inactive.

If this happens, then you have most likely recruited tire-kickers and/or deadbeats into your business. Recruiting these people should be avoided as much as possible because based on my experience, getting them to be active participants is a huge waste of time and energy.

Traits of Tire-Kickers, Non-Interested People, and Deadbeat Referrals

Tire-kickers are generally people who are just fishing for information; they are NOT looking to join any business opportunity, much less yours.

Non-interested people are those who are just not interested in ANY business opportunity. Believe it or not, there are people out there who are truly not interested in making a six-figure income online. They are perfectly happy working at their jobs, providing for their families.

Deadbeats are those who join an opportunity, but for one reason or another simply do nothing with the opportunity. In other words, they may have joined to see if they can reap the benefit of making money online with the expectation that their upline (YOU) will do all the work. Or, they may have joined to take advantage of any “freebies” you have offered as a gift for joining your business.

You May Be Dealing with Potential Tire-Kickers and Deadbeat Referrals If:

1. You spend a significant amount of time trying to “convince” them that your opportunity is not a scam, and it is possible for them to make money. They give you a lackluster or lukewarm response after your presentation.

2. They want to know if you are making any money in your business, and if so, how much. No matter what you tell them, they will not believe you. They may even throw in a negative comment or two.

3. They flat out tell you NO. What does NO mean? It could mean one of the following:

• No, the time is not right; maybe later
  

  The time is not right      photo from http://marketing.vorsight.com

• No, I’m definitely not interested, and will never be interested in the future

If a potential lead tells you “No” after you present your business opportunity, you can ask them why, but don’t press them for an  answer. Technically, it’s none of your business to know why a potential lead says  No to your opportunity. If you are lucky enough to get an answer however, respect that answer. Don’t try to convince them that they are making a mistake, or they don’t understand how “great” your opportunity is.
I have learned to treat others the way I want to be treated.  I do not like to be asked why am I not interested in an opportunity, so I don’t ask why to a referral. Instead, I would ask them for permission to contact them at a later time (ex. 3 months). If they say yes, that tells me that the timing is not right; there is still hope. If they say no, then it’s a dead end; I won’t contact them again.

How do you avoid recruiting these people?

1. Listen to their response after your present your opportunity. If you are seeing them face to face, look to see if their body language matches what they are saying. If you are talking to them by phone, make sure they are giving you positive definitive answers. Otherwise, you may be wasting your time.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I get phone calls from network marketers who seem hell bent on convincing me to join their various business opportunities after I tell them I’m not interested. It doesn’t matter if I tell them that I’m already involved in several opportunities and are not looking to join any more. I have even lied to them saying that I’m already making 10K a month and am quite happy doing so. Many times I have to be rude and just hang up the phone. I think that we as network marketers should listen more and do less talking when it comes to recruiting referrals.

2. Learn how to properly search for and recruit truly interested referrals.   Believe it or not, among the millions of people on this earth, there are people who are looking for good business opportunities. The challenge is that there are no “neon signs'” showing you their exact location. You just have to be diligent in your search to find the right people.
If you want to learn how to improve on your recruiting techniques, may I suggest you try Wealthy Affiliate.  You can join for free to see for yourself what it has to offer you. I’ve been a member for over a month, and I’m learning more and more each day about network marketing as well as effective recruiting techniques.

I do not have all the answers; this is just my personal opinion. Therefore, I would welcome your comments on this topic.  Please feel free to do so and I will respond accordingly. Thank you for reading my post, and I wish you the best of success.

Deidre