A "23 Club" experience

Merry Lynn and N had an interesting experience today.  N and J are doing the "23 Club" this week.  N had scheduled an appointment to present the JUS product and business opportunity to an individual, allowing a full two hours before the next appointment.  It turned out that the prospect was very interested in JUS and the business opportunity it offered.   The presentation extended from the expected forty five minutes to an hour to two hours, eventually concluding more than four hours later.

In retrospect, we realized several things.

1. You can't really predict how a given JUS presentation is going to go or how long it will take.  So you are better off allowing some extra time for the presentation.  This will give you more time to get to know one another and develop that kinship and trust without which you are just two ships passing in the night -- without much chance of impacting anyone.  It also gives you more time in case the prospect turns out to be very interested and asks lots of questions. 
   In this particular case, Merry Lynn and N conversed with the prospect for well over an hour about a wide range of subjects, none of which had anything remotely to do with JUS.  But this gave them all a chance to get to know each other better and to develop a genuine level of friendship and trust.  And mutual trust is critical to success in any relationship, business or personal.
2. The "23 Club" is about learning how to effectively share JUS with other people.  It is not about following some severely abbreviated format for presenting JUS in a limited time to a zillion people.  Just because you are required to present JUS to twenty-three different people doesn't mean you should give every one of those prospects "short shrift" by limiting the time you are willing to spend with each one of them.
   
3. If you invite a prospect to a JUS presentation with the promise that it will take only a very short period of time, you are effectively telling the prospect "This opportunity is not worth your time."  Here is what will run through the mind of the prospect: "If this were something the presenter really valued and believed in, they would not feel like they had to cheapen it to get me to listen to them".
4. A very short JUS presentation is just about the right duration to present JUS to someone who is totally disinterested in the product.  But it is completely inadequate to present the JUS opportunity to someone who is interested.
   
5. If someone is not willing to commit more than a few minutes of their time to hear about JUS, it suggests they are probably not really "looking".  It has been said, we are "Looking for people who are looking".  By promising that your presentation will take only a few minutes, you are creating a filter that will tend to attract the people who are not open to a new opportunity, while at the same time discouraging people who are really and truly looking for an answer.
   
6. When I first got into network marketing, I was looking for an opportunity to earn more money to help with our financial situation.  I would have been extremely disappointed if the presenters only gave me a brief synopsis of the opportunity.  I wanted the meeting to go on as long as possible so I could absorb every last detail about the opportunity.  I wanted to believe in the product and the opportunity.  I wanted the presenters to convince me that this was a good opportunity.  So if the presenters had given a quick and shallow presentation, I would have concluded that this was not a serious opportunity because they were not taking it seriously themselves.  And I would have kept right on looking for a better opportunity.
7. It is highly unlikely that a very brief presentation would have resulted in a new enrollment, much less a commitment to enter the opportunity at the top business-builder entry level.  Usually people want a little more information to substantiate the opportunity before they are willing to make a substantial commitment of themselves, their time, and their money.  It doesn't take a prospect long at all to make a decision.  But even when they have made a decision in their mind, they still want and need supporting information to validate their decision and give them a certain comfort level about it. 
   Of course you need to be careful not to talk so much that you "talk them into it and then talk them right out of it again".  Every person is different, so you need to be alert to when they genuinely want more information (this will be obvious because they will keep on asking you questions) versus your own need to "dump" everything you know on them.