The Secret To Winning Negotiation For Network Marketing

When I first started my network marketing business, I had a real fear of approaching people to join the business. Other people called it the "Fear of Cold Calling" and there was an element of truth to that. Everyone has a streak of xenophobia in them, that fear of the strange or alien, and if you are outside your comfort zone, EVERYTHING seems strange and alien.

This phobia was confusing to me at first as I was sure that I liked meeting people, and loved talking to them. My problem was more a fear of rejection of my business ides - and once I figured out the issues, I was able to go a long way to fixing them.

My mentor instructs on small business strategies. He believes we can break every personal interaction down to basic components, and work out scenarios where the outcomes are optimised, without creating further unresolvable problems for any of the involved parties. Necessarily these strategies must incorporate all parties needs, if they can be ascertained.

If this process is followed, and there is no bias in the assessment, strategies that will be acceptable to all parties should be freely negotiable, without the pressure of unmet aspirations. This will empower everyone involved and relax the natural barriers to co-operation.

If this sounds complex, don't panic. Techniques are available to help set the strategies. I use a chart which some will recognise as a Ben Franklin to identify the various factors at play.

Initially, I write down what I want from the interaction of the parties. I list my goals, my potential emotions, and work out what i expect from the other party, my expectations. This is not always easy, but with practice the process becomes automatic. The hard part is the emotions which drive our decisions - we need to be careful and anticipate all possible permutations.

Next comes the tricky part. I try to think of the other party or parties' goals and expectations. The the even trickier part I try to imagine what thieir emotions might be during our interaction.

A possible scenario could be a call to a lead to discover what their intentions are for an application to start up in my business.

I want to find out if they are going to fill in an application - if they are to help them do so; if the aren't ready to do so, I would want them to stay on as a newsletter subscriber.

I would be excited if they do want to go with the business, afraid that they would not want to and disappointed should they show no interest at all.

My positive expectation is that my lead will complete the application, the negative that they are not interested at all, and should they not be ready to submit the application, I would expect that they would stay on the list. I expect they will avoid money decisions, will be suspicious and could even be hostile and rude.

The other parties goals may be to find out what I am selling, and to NOT spend money. They will fear that I will persuade them to buy something they don't want or need, to rip them off or disadvantage them. There could be an element of excitement about the opportunity. They expect me to be "pushy" and sell themon my business. they are expecting to say No!

By deliberately, consciously predicting these behaviours I am able to plan for them, and could use surprise or other tactics to break them away from their (probably unrealised) expectations so that we can partake of a negotiation based on mutual respect and acceptance of the other parties' goals emotions and expectations..