Do you feel awkward talking about your business? If you do, you’re not alone. Many business leaders, especially network marketers, may not feel completely comfortable talking about their business. Sure, let’s talk about it if asked; however, they may feel awkward bringing up their business in conversation. Unfortunately, many people won’t know what you’re doing or what you’re up to unless you talk about it. And, they won’t know that you’re in business if you don’t mention it in conversation. Many network marketers think that people know everything about them. Although you may mention your business on Facebook or other social media, many people won’t remember unless you talk to them about it. It doesn’t have to be an awkward experience. With practice, it can be easy and natural to bring your business up in conversation.

Why necessary to talk about business

If you don’t talk about your business, people won’t know what you do. It’s impossible to grow your business if you don’t grow your network. And, it’s impossible to grow your network if you don’t talk about your business. People around you want to see you succeed in your business endeavors. However, they can’t help you if they don’t know what you do. 

So, let them in on what you do and how you can help them. Ideally, you should talk about your business in every conversation you have, if the opportunity allows. Think about the flow of the average conversation. After you exchange greetings, you ask how one another is doing. When it’s your turn to share, this is a natural opportunity for you to talk about your business. They want to know what’s going on in your life so tell them. You can explain what you do, why you got into the business, and how you love to help and serve people.

Now, you may not have time to mention all of this; however, just mentioning that you enjoy helping and serving people in your business is enough to let them know what you do. They may be intrigued and ask more questions, allowing you the opportunity to delve further into your business. If they do ask questions and seem genuinely interested, be sure to follow up with them at a later date with more information and to check-in. check-in if they seem to only have polite interest, that’s okay too. You may wish to follow up with them at some point in the future. You never know; they may end up introducing you to a ton of people in their network.

Why do we feel awkward?

Many network marketers feel awkward talking about their businesses because they’re not used to doing so. Perhaps they were taught that it’s rude to talk about yourself too much in conversation. Or they may assume that because they post about their businesses on social media that the other person they’re talking to will know exactly what they’re up to. 

Network marketing has had a terrible reputation in the past for being self-serving; that is, many network marketers were only focused on making the sale, they weren’t focused on building relationships. When we focus on building relationships and having conversations with others, we naturally want to ask them questions and keep the focus on them in the conversation. However, given the natural flow of conversation, it’s normal for attention to turn to us and what we’re up to. 

Many network marketers feel weird taking this opportunity to talk about their businesses. They don’t want to seem salesy or like they’re just trying to make the sale. After all, that is what traditional network marketers were up to; feigning interest to get the other person to buy. When your focus is on building relationships, you are attuned to what the other person is thinking or feeling. You don’t want them to think you’re only talking to them for the sale, nor do you want them to feel like they’re a sales mark. 

Practice makes perfect

The double-edged sword is that the other person isn’t going to know what you’re up to if you don’t talk about your business. The good news is there are ways to talk about your business without looking like a traditional salesperson. What’s the secret? Scripts. We’ve developed scripts to help you get the conversation started with existing customers and prospects so that it is much easier and more natural to talk about your business. These scripts offer a proven framework in which to talk about your business without sounding awkward or like a pushy salesperson. The key is to practice them until they become natural to you.

Many network marketers will memorize them and repeat them verbatim until they get comfortable adjusting them to fit their needs. Other network marketers will review the scripts and adjust them on the spot to sound more natural to the way they speak. Both ways are correct; it all depends on what you’re comfortable with. The most important thing is to practice them so that you become more comfortable talking about your business with anyone. The scripts are designed to make it easy to discuss your business.

Invite

Once you’re comfortable talking about your business, the next step is to offer an invitation to join you along your business journey. This involves failing out the conversation to see if they’re interested. If they’re asking a lot of questions and seem interested, then this is the opportunity to explain more of what you do and extend an invitation to join your team. 

Although not everyone you speak to about your business will be interested in network marketing, some may be. It’s important to understand that just mentioning the opportunity once isn’t enough to prompt everyone to join your team right away. It often takes more than seven discussions to prompt someone to act. In the meantime, you can be sure they’ll be thinking about it. Offering an invitation is a script on its own, one that also takes practice. 

Many network marketers may not feel comfortable offering the opportunity. However, they must do so to grow their businesses. So, just as talking about your business takes practice, so does presenting an opportunity to join your business. Practice these scripts as much as you can, especially in front of a mirror. This will allow you to feel more comfortable using them in conversation.

Once you offer the invitation, be sure to get their contact information, if you don’t have it already, so you can add it to your network. If they seem very interested, be sure to follow up with them right away. Even if they only seem lukewarm about it, make an appointment to follow up with them again. Remember that it takes several follow-ups before a person may make a decision. You may have to follow up with them five or six times until they decide to join your team. This is normal.

If they don’t seem interested, still get their contact information. Ask them if there’s anyone that they know that they can introduce you to who would be interested in the services you provide. Although they may not become team members or customers, they may know someone in their own networks would be interested. Asking for the introduction still allows them to participate in your business, even if indirectly.

Follow up

This is the most critical part. The follow-up. To this point, you’ve done all this work talking about your business with everyone that you know. However, this is where many network marketers fail because they don’t follow up with the people who they’ve discussed their business with. Follow-up is crucial if you want to build and grow a strong network marketing business.

One of the biggest reasons people don’t follow up is they don’t want to seem like a pest. They figure that they’ve already mentioned the business and if the other person was that interested then they would reach out. However, this isn’t always the case. We all lead busy lives. As a result, we often forget to do things that we had intended to do. This includes reaching out to take advantage of opportunities. You may have experienced this before you became a network marketer. How long after being offered the opportunity did it take you to become a network marketer?

Many of us did not join right away. It took following up several times in order for you to join. The people you invite are the same. They need time to think about it. However, by following up with them consistently, you show that you care and you help to build a rapport with them. If after following up several times they say that they are not interested, then thank them for their time and ask if there’s anyone else that they know would be interested in the opportunity. This also allows you to follow up with them in the future to see if they have thought of someone. All along you are building the relationship, which is the most important part of this. 

Teamzy makes it easy to talk about your business 

Teamzy makes it easy to follow up with everyone in your network. Once you connect with them, you can set appointments to follow up with them in the future. If they have a question or concern or comment, Teamzy makes it easy to reconnect with them. Additionally, Teamzy features scripts proven to help you build relationships with the people in your network and start the conversation. Whether you’re reconnecting after a while or want to talk about your business, we have the scripts we can use to make it easy and less awkward. Click here to learn more.