build rapport

Here’s one of the Rank Makers Trainings that leaders want to share with their team.

In this training, I share the 2 very common mistakes that most network marketers make when they are trying to build rapport.

2 Mistakes Network Marketers Make When Trying To Build Rapport

We pulled this training from our Rank Makers Private Group where I go live every day with a training and an action step. Click Here To Learn More.

What do most network marketers do that aren’t getting very much results? They tiptoe through the tulips.

They patty cake and ask all kinds of questions FOREVER. Either never actually asking the question of, “Are you open to take a look at my product, service, or opportunity?”

Or just taking months to get there, or weeks of back and forth. “How’s the kids? Oh, they look lovely. Is Tim still working at the blah blah blah? Oh, great.” 

All this small talk. All this pitter-patter and are tiptoeing through the tulips, right?

So, when they finally pop the question, it doesn’t work. Because there are two problems.

2 Reasons You Should Get To The Point

1. People Know That You Are Patty Caking Them

If you’ve done this, you’ve experienced it.

If you’re patty caking (making small talk forever), when you start hitting them with questions immediately they’re like, “Okay, what is it that you want? What’s your goal here?”

And they may not say that to you. But I guarantee you most, most people are thinking it.

If you take all that time and then you finally pop the question, it negates all that work you did.

It’s like, “Hey, were you asking me all these questions just to hit me with your business? Just to hit me with your product, service, or opportunity?”

We know most people appreciate you getting to the point and you not playing patty cake and tiptoeing through the tulips for weeks or months or 50 questions.

Birthday Card Analogy

So the analogy for you here is if you received a birthday card from someone. So let’s say you get a birthday card and you’re like, “Oh. Awe, that’s so nice. That’s so nice of little Kimmy to think of me.”

And so you open it up and there’s a sales sheet in there. “Hey, I thought of you. Which one you want? You want two cases, four cases, or six? Credit card, Social Security number.”

You’re like, “What the hell?”

It negates the good intention. So you building rapport forever, then popping the question, it negates the good intention for most people.

[mashtweet tweet=”If you are building rapport forever, then popping the question… it may negate the good intention.” quote=”If you are building rapport forever, then popping the question… it may negate the good intention.”]

2. It’s Not Duplicatable

When we started teaching this we’ve had more people say they get way better results by being blunt and to the point.

The second reason is it’s not duplicatable.

There are fewer people that have the personality and charisma to carry on small talk than not.

I’ll tell you right now, I’m not good at small talk. Now, some of you are just rockstars. You walk into the room and kind of flutter in there and you’re the center of attention. You rock it out. Good for you. That’s awesome. You’re just not as duplicatable as an introvert.

It’s not duplicatable.

You spending forever having small talk and you chitchatting them, sending them brownies, visiting little Timmy playing softball. Doing all that stuff is not very duplicatable because most people don’t come into network marketing because they just have an abundance of time.

“You know what? I have so much time. Sure, I’ll throw some at network marketing. Why not?”

NO. Most people are busy out of their minds. They’re trying to make the kids breakfast while something’s falling over, right?

They’re busy. They have a lack of time, not an abundance of time.

So you taking forever to get to the point, they take it as, “Oh, that’s what I have to do? I don’t know if I have the time, man. I don’t know if I have time to bake brownies and visit softball games and ask 52 different questions over a six week period. Don’t know if I have time.”

Stop Using Old Tactics

The old school Ford Form of building long term rapport, should not be used on social media.

Now if I meet someone out and about, not as strict. So might I ask a few questions, a handful of questions to someone I’m meeting face to face? Maybe.

I’m not going to walk up to a stranger at a grocery store and say, “Hey, I’d love to get to know you but would you be open to take a look at my products?”

I’m going to spend a little bit more time there face to face. A little different.

And that’s where the whole Ford form comes from and social media people studying 1940s tactics and applying it to social media, because it doesn’t take a lot of brainpower to do that, right? To say, “Hey, this is what’s always been taught, so let’s just teach this.”

It’s kind of like there’s so many lines in network marketing that are just ridiculous like, “If I could cut your hair over the phone I would.” It’s nonsense. Stop using nonsense things. Start thinking more about psychology than clever sayings.

Social Media & Rapport

When you hit them with rapport on social media and then finally pop the question,  a lot of them are going to say, “Oh, you were building rapport with me this whole time?”

It negates all that work you did.

What if you reached out to people and you said, and if it’s someone that you know and you say, “Hey, long time no talk. I’d love to catch up with you soon. But hey, I’m just curious. Would you be at all open to take a look at my product, my service, or my opportunity?”

Whatever you want to lead with, and again, “Love to catch up with you, but would you be able to take a look at it? I really like it, a lot of my friends are liking it, and if you’d like to check it out, totally cool. If not, no big deal.” Now pay attention. Pay attention. Here’s a key maneuver.

So, let’s say they say no. “No, I’m really not looking.”

“Okay, cool. No problem. Hey, how’s the kids?”

So, now the person isn’t thinking, “What is it that they want? What is it that they want? Ah, here’s what they want.”

They think, “Wow, they were straightforward with me. They asked me what I wanted right away. Boy, I think I could do that.”

Care after they tell you no.

On social media, get to the point. And if they say no, still say, “Hey, cool. No problem. Hey, I see that you’re an engineer.”

Then you want to roll into Ford form, go for it. Go for it. And it will be way more powerful, because they already know what you’re up to.

They’ve already shot it down, but you care enough to connect with them. Guess what. They may end up referring you people. They may end up turning it around and saying, “You know what? Man, you’re so cool. Tell me more about this.”

But if you do it the opposite way (like most amateur networkers do),“How are you today? How long you been a blah blah blah …” If you do it the other way, you run the risk of being non-duplicatable. You run the risk of them being suspicious and saying, “Oh, okay. Great. Thanks. Thanks for peppering me with the 20 questions first and then telling me what you actually wanted.”

Again, this video was pulled from our Rank Makers Private Group. If you like this training, you may consider getting on the Rank Makers Waitlist.

Did you find that helpful?

Let me know what you think in the comments below. And, feel free to share this with your teammates.

More Resources For You:

How To Attract The Right People To Build Your Network Marketing Team

Why People Will Join You If You Are Brand New

29 Sources of Leads so you never run out of people to talk to again.

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Ray Higdon’s Network Marketing Blog
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