Network Marketing- Third Party Call Effectiveness

There are two circles in network marketing- those who like the third party calls and those who think they are a flat waste of time. Today we are going to look at both sides of the coin and then you can decide which stance to take.

First off, what is a third party call?

A third party call is when you are talking to your prospect and you bring in a third person (hence the name) to talk to that person. The purpose of bringing in the third party is to introduce them as an expert in your business, one who knows the answer to all of the questions. It is also to give you and your business validation in hopes to bridge the gap and create trust sooner.

The good points.

The newbie. Let's face it, everyone at some point is making their first phone call in their network marketing business. Shaking like a leaf, not knowing what to say, they miraculously get a person qualified and on to the website and more information. But now it is time for the questions about the pay plan and the system. Here is where most newbies drop the ball because they either don't know enough or think they don't know enough.

Enter the expert. By introducing the expert at this point, it is enabling even a day one network marketer to move forward in their business. That third party can come in, answer the questions, close the sale, and edify the new team member.

The validator. With the number of network marketing businesses out there, many people are hesitant to either believe that a caller is in a real business and that the business is not a scam. They have been to a million websites and have heard pitch after pitch. Introducing a third person into the mix after your prospect has shown a significant interest gives the business more validation.

The believer. One of the main things that pushes people over the edge when making a decision on whether to join a business is their belief that they too can make it work. The third party call helps them to see that there is a unified front, the there is teamwork in place, and that they are not going to thrown to the wolves after they spend their money. That may be the deciding factor for some.

The bad points.

The crutch. Sometimes when people know that they have the third party call to fall back on they do not ever develop the skills that they need to close the sale themselves. They know that there is someone there to get the job done for them so they shy away from learning the important tool of closing. This in turn makes them an ineffective leader as they then cannot assist their team members by being the third party expert.

The time waster. When first starting out in network marketing it never fails that the first ten or twenty people that a newbie talks to who shows the slightest bit of interest is going to be "the next big one." It takes a learning to understand what people are really saying. So leaders who make themselves available for third party calls end up wasting a lot of time on calls for people who they know are tire kickers from the first five seconds. This then takes productive time away from them.

The interrupter. The whole purpose of the third party call is to bring in an "expert" making the prospects feel important and more comfortable with what they are hearing. The interrupter negates that by cutting off the expert, disqualifying their answers, and stepping all over the top of them. In the end the expert looks like a fool and the whole call is a waste of time.

It has to be done correctly.

The bottom line is that in choosing whether or not to do third party calls you have to decide how involved you want to be. Your team is going to emulate how you do things, therefore if you bring them into your network marketing business by way of a third party call it will be expected for you to do that for them.

Third party calls when done correctly can be very powerful. It does take a certain amount of training and explaining with your team members for it to work the way that it should. Here are a few tips to follow if you decide that you want to include third party calls in your business.

Create a strong expectation management with your team
Have a protocol to follow when doing a third party call
Make sure your team knows whats edification is and how to use it
Head off the crutches, the time wasters, and the interrupter before the even start
Know a little about the prospect that you are talking to- it helps build a connection

If you don't decide to do third party calls make sure you have other tools in place to validate yourself and your network marketing business. Many successful networkers have never done a third party call- you have to follow what is comfortable for you.

To comment on the article above or to read others by Jen Patton go to her blog Tips From A Network Marketer. This article was originally published at http://tipsfromanetworkmarketer.com/2008/12/10/network-marketing-third-party-call-effectiveness

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