I’ve learned many valuable lessons from Mike Dillard. One lesson that really stands out from his book Magnetic Sponsoring is the importance of getting people to contact you first about your products or business opportunity, rather than you contacting people first.
This lesson took me several years to really understand, but I live by it now.
The moral of the story is that it’s much better to have three to ten people call YOU every day requesting more information about your products or business opportunity than it is for you to go out and call 100 leads.
Does that make sense?
What you really want to do is be the welcomed guest, not the uninvited pest.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone call you who was excited to talk to you and learn more about what you had to offer? Wouldn’t that be better than getting hung up on or shouted at?
You see, when people call you, they have already identified themselves as a good lead and they are typically pre-sold on what you have to offer.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have called you to begin with.
Your job is simply to answer their questions and help them finalize their decision to get started.
When people call you first, you are in the driver’s seat. You are the one in control of the conversation. You are the one with posture.
I believe that whoever initiates a conversation loses. In other words, whoever initiates a conversation puts the other person in control. It’s not a bad thing, just reality.
This doesn’t just apply to network marketing either. I think it applies to any selling situation. I can’t think of one business that wouldn’t want qualified prospects calling them to learn more about what they have to offer.
How to Do It
Assuming you agree with me, and I hope you do, the real question boils down to “how do I get people to contact me first?” How do I find people interested in what I have to offer?
Knowing how to do that can completely change your life (and business/finances).
The only way to make this happen is to market and position yourself. It’s doesn’t necessarily have to be PAID advertising, but more than likely it will be.
Some people also use attraction marketing. That’s what I do. You simply position yourself as an expert and attract people to you. I do it by blogging and podcasting.
For most people, advertising is the best route. I like paid advertising because you can work smart and scale your efforts. You can find qualified people who chase you, rather than you chasing prospects.
The Two Step Selling Process
The best way to get people to contact you first is to use a two step selling process (read my post about how to do that). This is when you focus on lead generation, instead of making sales or recruiting. You get leads, have a good automated follow up system and wait for people to call you.
Some people will call you right away. Others might need to hear from you 10-20 times before they are ready to buy or get involved. Some folks will never get involved or call you. It all comes down to timing and everyone’s situation is different.
As long as you keep generating new leads every day and build up your pipeline with prospects, you will continuously find new customers and distributors.
I use Aweber to automate this process in my own business. It makes my life much simpler, since all follow ups are done automatically.
To use the two step selling process effectively, you want to offer something for free, such as a free report, consultation, eBook, video, sample, or something else with a high perceive value.
Assuming your giveaway is good, many people will see the value that you offer and want to do business with you.
Some of the people who request the free information will contact you to learn more. All you have to do is answer their questions and help them get started.
Here are a few things you could do to get people to contact you:
1. Send out a monthly newsletter. Include a section that talks about your business opportunity and offers your phone number for people to call you.
2. Mail out some postcards. Offer a free DVD or CD.
3. Advertise online. Create a banner ad or solo ad that promotes something for free.
4. Create some Facebook ads. Leverage the large social media site to generate leads.
5. Make some YouTube videos. Create 100-200 educational YouTube videos promoting your free e-course.
6. Be a guest writer on someone else’s blog or website and leverage their traffic (if you want to guest post here, just contact me).
And the list goes on!
Now, as you are doing all these things DO NOT mention your business opportunity!
Promote something free and make sure that free item explains your business opportunity for you. Let your tools do the selling for you.
After people get this free item from, and like what they read, hear or see, your phone will ring steadily and people will join your team WITHOUT you having to convince them.
Final Thoughts
Just remember, it’s much better to have five people call you a day than it is for you to call 100 people a day. When people call you first, you are in the driver’s seat and your business will be much easier to build.
What are your thoughts? Does this concept make sense to you? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Sincerely,
Chuck Holmes
Network Marketing Professional (21+ years)
Top Recruiter & Top Rep
mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
I love the pre-sold approach. I don’t care how self confident you are, if you are making cold calls all day and about 1% of those people are receptive, sooner or later that is going to make you feel at least a little poorly. Consider all of the people who didn’t even bother to answer their phones, and what a waste of time! Anything that gets potential customers to call you is good. The free offers are wonderful: who can resist those.
Life can be so much easier if potential customers are contacting us instead of having to do it the other way. I have learned much from you and I find that you have used this style for quite some time.
I have found that trying multiple types of advertising is the key. Try a new style and keep track of the response. It also helps to make changes at times so people can see something new and different.
If we use quality content to advertise, people will contact us. We just have to stay persistent and keep doing it.
Great post Chuck.
I’m a big fan of this method. It makes it so you don’t have to sell. You just answer questions since the folks calling you are already pre-sold.
Greg,
You make a great point about being versatile in your advertising. There are different types of people who respond to different types of things. I have found in my own business that the younger generation is more apt to respond to social media forms of advertising well as more mature individuals tend to respond more to newsletters and postcards. Keeping it fresh and keeping it consistent will surely get you where you want to be.