So, is there really a secret to prospecting? Umm yeah…there is!

I have found a way to get people to come to you, ready to join you or buy what you have to offer, rejection free, instead of wasting your time having to chase them about your business.

I will go over more of that in a bit, but before I do, let me share with you how I stumbled upon this secret.

Once I entered the network marketing space, I dove deep into entrepreneurship, deep in personal development, and was experiencing more struggle and hardship in my life than I had ever experienced before.

The good news…my story actually has a happy ending!

My journey, however, was not without falling down multiple times, embarrassing moments, and more prospecting no-no’s than I care to share.

I’m pretty sure you can relate….

Hopefully, my friends, family and strangers who I attempted to prospect in the past have long since forgotten the things I did. Yikes!

Your social media prospecting and recruiting strategies might be ruining your business. But I can help you change that!

There is a right way and a wrong way to prospect, and doing it the wrong way (which is actually called spamming) can ruin your business and your reputation.

Here is one perfect example of how NOT to prospect. Does this message below look familiar? Maybe like something you have been taught to send out to mass amounts of people daily? This is an ACTUAL message that I sent someone early in my business. Yikes! What a mouthful.

Have you ever sent messages like this and ultimately been ignored or rejected? If so, I promise that there is a better way! Keep reading.

Let me give you an idea of a few more of the embarrassing prospecting tactics I attempted, so you can literally laugh out loud…

Have you ever tried to prospect your waiter because she was super positive, friendly, and outgoing? Oh yea! Embarrassing. I HAVE.

Have you ever invited friends over for dinner or game night and very un-smoothly transitioned to showing the plan and/or products to a very annoyed audience? I HAVE.

Have you ever friend requested someone you haven’t spoken to in 10+ years, and then shortly after messaged them to “catch up”… then told them how great they’d be at your business? Yup, sadly, this has happened too.

I made a lot of people annoyed and ruined a couple relationships.

I seriously needed some guidance…Like I said personal growth!

The point is, I’m about to cast some heavy stones at some net-workers, so I just wanted to first let ya’ll know that I have made mistakes too… but that doesn’t mean we should be going easy on those that are committing some MAJOR prospecting mistakes on Social Media and online.

Those people who are committing mistakes OFFLINE are lucky, because there is no record.

Unfortunately today…

The Internet Never Forgets and It’s Ruining It for Everyone Else

I once heard that success in business is all about ‘time’ and ‘place’. As a professional marketer, I would add ‘message’ to the equation as well.

Unfortunately, network marketers today are being taught online prospecting methods, which include the wrong message, at the wrong time, and most definitely in all the wrong places!

Here’s the truth:

There is a VERY fine line between prospecting on social media and spamming people!

I’m sorry to say that most network marketers have been turned into human spam bots by their upline and company leaders…

‘Disposable distributors’ tasked with the job of spreading the word about their company’s products or opportunity, at the expense of the individual’s reputation and risking the suspension of their social media accounts.

Here are some more examples of the WRONG WAY to prospect online below. These are just some of the poor attempts at prospecting that I receive every day from people trying to prospect me…

The WRONG Way to Prospect and Recruit

Successful entrepreneurs eventually learn the true secret to success, and it becomes the foundation upon which their entire prospecting, recruiting and business building strategy is founded.

The screenshots above are weak prospecting attempts from people who haven’t yet figured out that building a business is not about tricking people or finding the right copy/paste Facebook messages to send to strangers (but that’s what we are taught!)

It’s about actually caring about people, becoming a person of value, and being someone uniquely positioned to help someone with their problems.

That last one is critical… “uniquely positioned to help someone with their problems.”

Any average Joe can copy and paste a message into the Private Message function on Facebook.

So, what sets you apart from the rest of the desperate reps hitting people’s inboxes with their new “ground floor” opportunities or life changing products?

Now, this doesn’t mean prospecting online doesn’t work.

I know some very skilled recruiters who are excellent at online prospecting, but just like offline prospecting, they’ve devoted the time and effort to learn this very difficult skill and have mastered it.

If that’s the strategy you want to deploy, you need to do it right, or else!

But if you’re still a little fuzzy on whether you are a spammer or not, here’s a guide of sorts…

Top 5 Warning Signs That Your Prospecting Efforts are Actually SPAM

1) Your first private message to a stranger on social media includes a link to join your opportunity.

2) You’re being flashy with money or posting your “amazing” comp plan, and telling everyone how easy it is to make money.

3) You post links to your opportunity or website in the comments section of other people’s social media posts.

4) You compulsively want to talk about your company or products, without anyone asking you to share.

Finally… this one is the most important one…

5) You engage in interactions online, with a hidden agenda, hoping to transition the topic to something that would get people interested in your opportunity, without caring about knowing the other person.

This last one for me is a BIG one but could also be controversial.

After all, #5 is the very definition of prospecting (online or offline), which even when done right… can still feel awkward, result in people getting angry at you, and is very unleveraged, which is why I eventually decided to stop prospecting all together.

But here’s the interesting thing…

“When I Stopped Prospecting People, My Business Started Growing!”

I can’t tell you how relieved and at peace I felt, when I once again, was able to go out with friends, visit a family member’s home, or be in a public place without having to think about prospecting anyone. Seriously, think about it. How would that feel to you?

Just enjoying being normal again was incredible. After years of being taught that “everyone was a prospect” and approaching every conversation with a hidden agenda, I was free!!

That’s because it wasn’t until I STOPPED prospecting, that my business actually started growing!

Weird, right?

At this point, you may be asking, “then how the heck did your business grow?”

Well before I answer that, I have to say that there are people who are very skilled prospectors and recruiters who completely disregard the issues I mentioned above.

They knowingly and without shame, approach every interaction with a stranger as a prospecting opportunity.

Getting yelled at or cursed out by prospects is no big deal, as long as some people say ‘yes.’

The problem with prospecting in general, as it’s normally taught, is that the mindset going in is still about what YOU want people to see, and about manipulating people into doing what YOU want them to do.

In other words, it’s about YOU, not them. I didn’t like the way that felt, but still did it for a little while… until I found a better way.

Now, I am not trying to come off high and mighty about all this prospecting stuff, because I’m not.

If it came down to feeding my family with ‘stone-cold’ prospecting tactics or my family starving, I choose stone-cold prospecting every time, without remorse.

But the reason I was able to quit prospecting was because, with the help of some extraordinary mentors, I eventually discovered an online recruiting strategy, which…

Enabled me to passively generate interested leads, customers and new reps – even when I was out having fun with friends and family.

Hence, why I didn’t have to worry about prospecting them! Is this starting to make sense?

Rather than spending hours spamming or private messaging people on social media, I learned how to legitimately get Facebook and other social media platforms to actually help me attract the people who are most interested in what I have to offer, using their ads platform! (i.e. going legit!)

In fact, every day I wake up to new emails alerting me about new leads, and to an inbox full of notifications for new customers, new team members, and commissions I earned while sleeping!

This strategy is called attraction marketing which is an internet marketing strategy designed for net-workers and people in direct sales!

You see, if your business depends on you being on social media, sending private messages or commenting on people’s posts all day, you are NOT doing internet marketing… despite what you may have been led to believe.

Online Prospecting and Internet Marketing are NOT the same thing!

Internet Marketing is a passive strategy, which works, even when you are not.

Now if traditional prospecting online or offline is your thing and you want to stick to that, by all means, go for it.

There are many top trainers and earners in the industry that focus on cold market recruiting skills…

(And interestingly enough, they do ‘attraction marketing’ too!)

For me, there was simply a certain way I wanted to live my life and that was more important.

I would much rather make a ton of money in my business first and then have my friends and family beg me to tell them more about it.

It’s much more effective than begging my friends and family to join a business which isn’t making any money.

Which would you prefer?

I think I may know your answer…

Until next time,

Sadaf Pearl