Reverse Prospecting in Your MLM Business

I just heard the coined phrase reverse prospecting for the first time yesterday (on a YouTube video).  Although I had never heard it called that before, I’ve been using this concept in my network marketing business for several years now, with much success.

If I had to put it in my own words, I would define reverse prospecting as:

Reverse prospecting is simply the process of marketing to people and businesses who market to you.

A Typical Day in the Real World

Let’s just think about the average person’s day for a moment.

You wake up, get dressed and read the newspaper before going to work. The newspaper is filled with classified ads, paid reviews and advertisements.

On your way to work you drive by 27 different billboards, all with different marketing messages. In addition, you listen to 30-minutes of your favorite radio station and hear several advertisements.

During your day at work, you spend 4-hours on the internet, and without realizing it, you have been exposed to hundreds, even thousands of different marketing messages. During your other four hours you talk to people on the phone, talk with co-workers, and listen to the radio quietly in your office; you get exposed to another 75 marketing messages.

When you get home, you check the mail. You get postcards, circulars, and coupons from different companies with something to sell you. Gotta love that junk mail!

After dinner, you watch television. Every 7-minutes you see 3 to 6 commercials, all promoting a different marketing message. You even know the jingles.

This is just a short breakdown of a typical person’s day. If I had to guess, I’d bet the average person sees 5,000 to 10,000 marketing messages per day, maybe even more than that.

Reverse Prospecting in Action

Here are some simple examples to get you thinking about how you can use reverse marketing to grow your own business.

• Someone you do business with gives you their business card, or does work for you, or sells you something. You send them a nice hand-written note thanking them and you enclose your business card in the mailing.
• You have a catchy email signature that goes out with all of your emails.
• You receive a piece of advertising in the mail, so you send them one of your postcards.
• You see a classified ad in the newspaper and you mail them one of your marketing pieces (if it is relevant).
• You buy something from a telemarketer because it was a great sales experience, and you needed what they were selling. You tell the telemarketer at the end of the conversation something like this:

Joe, you are a great telemarketer. Our conversation was enjoyable and fun. You made the buying process very smooth. If you ever decide to change careers or want more out of life, do yourself a favor and email me or visit my website. You are exactly the type of person I am looking for to help me expand my business.

The Key to Success with Reverse Prospecting

There are several keys to success with reverse prospecting.

1. First off, make sure the other person is part of your target market. If they’re not, you are wasting your time offering them your products, services or opportunity.
2. Next, get creative and find a way to be different, so you stand out in the crowd. Be bold. Be funny. Be unique.
3. Be genuine. Be a professional. Never use hype or shady tactics.
4. Become more aware of the marketing messages you are exposed to (more opportunities)
5. Make it a goal to connect with 5-10 new prospects per day via reverse prospecting.

Reverse Prospecting in MLM via Attraction Marketing

Here’s another definition of reverse prospecting.

Getting prospects to seek you out, rather than you chasing, bugging or annoying people to buy what you are offering.

Some people might call this process attraction marketing. I learned about this powerful concept from Mike Dillard.

This is simply the process of creating value via CONTENT to educate, serve and help people in your target market solve their problems.You take on the role as trusted adviser. You are the welcomed guest, not the uninvited pest. As a result, people know you, like you and trust you and want to do business with you.

This is my goal with my blog. I create content via videos, blogging, podcasts, and online articles to educate people in my target market (network marketing). These people get value from what I share with them and start to like, know and trust me. Some of these people reach out to me and want to buy my products or join my team.

You could take the same approach in your network marketing business. It works!

Reverse Prospecting in Your MLM Business: Additional Ideas

Here are some additional things you can do to succeed with reverse prospecting in your MLM Business.

# 1: You get a spam email message about a new business opportunity. You could reply back with a short response telling them you are happy with what you are doing and provide a link to your opportunity.

# 2: You get an unsolicited private message on Facebook. Respond back to the person thanking them for contacting you, but tell them that you are very happy with your opportunity, because it’s different than most other opportunities.

# 3: You get a postcard in the mail pitching you on the next hottest ground floor opportunity. You send a postcard in the mail back to that person talking about your opportunity.

# 4: A network marketer calls you to tell you about their opportunity. You thank them for reaching out, but let them know your company is the best thing you have ever seen.

# 5: You get a text message from someone you know or don’t know. They talk about their business opportunity. You simply reply back telling them you have found the best opportunity in the history of our industry.

# 6: You get a credit card offer in the mail with a prepaid envelope. You put your drop card in the envelope and mail it back!

Just get creative with your reverse prospecting efforts. Always be a professional. Be polite, have posture and let the person know that you LOVE what you are doing. Your enthusiasm and confidence will shine through, and some of these folks will WANT to work with you.

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is that reverse prospecting in your MLM Business is a simple and effective way to get endless leads for your business. If you respond to some of the marketing messages you are exposed to every single day  with your own offer, you will get more leads and potentially make more sales.

You should also use attraction marketing in your business whenever possible. Start building your online presence while you build your network marketing business face-to-face. That way you can potentially have hundreds of different pieces of content on the internet within the next 12-months, that works for you on complete auto-pilot.

What are your thoughts about reverse prospecting in your MLM Business? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,






Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com

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