When it comes to finding potential recruits for your network marketing business, you’ve likely gone through a dry spell or two. Or maybe you’re currently in one. If so then you understand how those dry spells in recruiting can lead to panic, overthinking, and the dreaded hustle cycle. Well – don’t despair fellow social seller, this episode is especially for you.
This week, Kristen is talking about how to overcome your dry spell with a bold approach that could leave you fighting off the onslaught of new leads. She’s not talking about gimmicks or giveaways. No, she’s talking authentic, sustainable growth for both you and your new team.
Listen in as she goes over these key points:
- The different types of recruits and how they approach this industry
- How thoughts around a dry spell can lead to imposter syndrome and self-judgment
- Why thinking $200 a month isn’t enticing enough for new recruits could be causing a block
- The importance of setting expectations from the start instead of selling the business as fast and easy money
- How the language in your messaging might be targeting the wrong type of people
The stories surrounding your thoughts about how you got into a dry spell are just that. Stories. They’re thoughts you choose to have and you can just as easily choose not to have them as well. When you change your focus to target the right kind of people and commit to making it happen, you’ll see that you had the power to change all along. You just had to be bold enough to make the change.
If you’d like to join the launch party for Kristen’s new book, Pivot to Purpose: Leaving the Toxic Hustle Culture Behind, you can click here to get in on the celebration and order your copy today.
Thanks for listening! Do you have a question about network marketing? Kristen can help! Drop your question here, and she just might answer it live on the podcast: https://kristenboss.com/question
Connect with Kristen:
If you’re ready to learn the simple process of running your social selling business online, you have to check out Kristen’s live group coaching program! The Social Selling Academy: www.thesocialsellingacademy.com
Interested in Kristen’s exclusive mastermind for six-figure earners in the network marketing industry? Get all the details and join the waitlist here.
Do you have a business full of customers and almost no builders? You’re in need of a reboot! Learn the three skills you can learn that will completely change your recruitment game. Check it out here.
Transcript for Episode #105 Overcoming the Dry Spell:
Kristen Boss (00:05): Welcome to Purposeful Social Selling with Kristen Boss. I’m your host, Kristen Boss. I’m a mindset and business coach with more than 15 years experience in both the product and service based industries. I believe that social selling is the best business model for people wanting to make an impact while they make serious income. This is the podcast for the social seller, who is tired of feeling inauthentic in their business and desires to find a more purposeful and profitable way of growing their business. In today’s social media landscape. In this podcast, you will learn what it takes to grow a sustainable business through impactful and social marketing. It’s time to ditch the hustle and lead from the heart. Let me show you the new way.
Kristen Boss (00:48): Hey bosses, welcome to another episode of the podcast. Today, we’re going to talk about something that I see happens to a social seller at some point or another in their business, in their journey. And I even say this can happen to if you’re a service provider, if you’re a coach. When I talk about people getting new business builders, it’s no different than a coach signing a new client. So it still kind of translates really well across the board when you’re an entrepreneur and I’m going to call it when you hit a dry spell, particularly with your recruitment. I find that for a lot of social sellers and network marketers, it’s pretty easy for most people to get new customers, get people who buy the product, enjoy the product, but where I see people get stuck in a long, dry spell and tend to have a lot of drama is when it comes to recruitment.
Kristen Boss (01:46): All of a sudden out of nowhere, you know, I’ll be, I’ll ask someone like, okay, what’s happening in your business? And they’ll say like, well, my paycheck has stalled or my paycheck has really gone down. And I say, okay, well tell me a little bit more about that. Why is that? And what they, I’ve noticed is they’re like, well, I, I stopped talking about the business and I’m like, wh why? They’re like, I don’t know. I stopped. I stopped being intentional. I stopped recruiting. And next thing I know is, you know, I’ll ask like, well, how long has it been since you’ve, you’ve had a recruit or brought on a new team member and some people will be like, oh man, it’s like six months. Oh, it’s been nine months. Oh, it’s been three months. It’s been a year. And they’re always surprised when it’s like, oh crap.
Kristen Boss (02:32): How did it get this long? And that’s what I’m going to call the recruitment dry spell. And I think it happens to everyone at some point or another in their journey. And it happens truthfully at all phases and all seasons of business. I’ve seen happen to six-figure earners, seven-figure earners, people that you know, are in the earlier phases of their business. When they’re making maybe a thousand dollars a month, $5,000 a month. It’s very, there are different times where I see people suddenly land in this dry spell of recruitment. And, and what’s interesting is what I notice is when that happens, suddenly they notice like I haven’t recruited in a long time and that’s when stories come up and they start judging themselves for like being in this lull, being in this dry spot where they think, oh, no, I’m a bad leader. Or I don’t know what I’m doing.
Kristen Boss (03:26): And then my favorite, what I’ve noticed people do is when they’ve had a dry spell, they start telling themselves the story. I don’t know how to do this anymore. I don’t know how to recruit. I don’t know how to talk about the business. And because they feel like they’re suffering in their own business, then they start to feel like they’re an imposter in their business. Now they’re thinking, well, I can’t talk about the business because I’m not successful right now. I’m kind of a joke. I I’m failing. How can I talk about a business that I’m failing at? So they kind of stay in this place where they’re like, okay, because I feel like I’m failing. I’m not talking about the business. And because I’m not talking about the business, I’m not onboarding new team members. And because I’m not onboarding new team members, I’m in a dry spell in my business.
Kristen Boss (04:13): And because I’m going to dry spell in my business, I’m judging myself like notice how it’s this ongoing cycle. And what’s so interesting is it always is from the story you tell yourself. And the number one thing I see is people tell themselves, I don’t know how to recruit. I don’t know how to have the conversations. It feels awkward. I’m like, well, how do you get a customer? And they’re able to say, well, what, yeah. I talk about the product. I talk about why I love it. I talk about those things. I’m like, okay, literally selling the business is no different than selling a product. A product is something you can hold in your hands and use, it feels more tangible. Whereas selling a business is intangible. And I think a lot of people because it’s intangible, they have a hard time wrapping their minds around how do I sell something that is intangible?
Kristen Boss (05:09): How do I sell something that they can’t hold that they can’t touch? And a lot of people have drama like, well, how do I sell something? And I can’t guarantee the result, or I, you know, what if I tell them that they can make this money and then they come and then, you know, they don’t make the money. Then I look bad. Now I can’t talk about recruitment. Like there’s so much drama when it comes to selling the business because there are so many stories I see people choose to have when it comes to recruitment and team building, where they think like, oh, I have to, you know, I think a, a huge hangup people have is they think, I don’t know how to help somebody have success. And every time I ask like, well, what does that mean? What does success mean to you? And what’s interesting is a lot of people think like, well, I don’t know how to get them to making $2,000 a month, $3,000 a month.
Kristen Boss (06:03): And oftentimes I, I ask like, well, are you making that right now? They’re like, no. And I said, okay, well, do you think that someone would join the business to make what you’re making right now, a hundred dollars a month or $200 a month? Like most people are interested in affiliate links just to enjoy products. They love for free. Like, do not underestimate how many people would openly talk about a product they already enjoy in order to have the perk of an enjoying free product and not paying for it. But we tend to think people only want a really, you know, flashy business where they’re making hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars, literally overnight, you have to learn to market across the entire spectrum of what people want. There are some people that are like, I want to be a really casual buyer. I want to be like an affiliate buyer.
Kristen Boss (07:04): And the affiliate buyer is somebody who, you know, shares their affiliate link socially casually, and just shares it on, on a whim. Like they’re not, they’re not overly attached. They’re like, yeah, I’m going to share it. I’m going to talk about it. And if I happen to get, you know, a discount on my products, that’s great. I’m just going to call that, you know, the happy go. Lucky. Like they’re a happy customer. That’s happy to have an affiliate link, but they’re not really interested in growing a business. But even those people are amazing to have on your team because they are still, moving the product they’re still bringing conversation. And you don’t know if someone who’s just a happy affiliate, doesn’t have, you don’t know if they have someone in their network that they would attract where that person’s like, well, I want the business. And now they’ve brought that person into your ecosystem that you can develop and train to grow a business.
Kristen Boss (08:01): You just never, no. Remember this is network marketing. Anytime you get a new customer or a new brand partner, it’s not just about, you’re not acquiring that one person you’re acquiring the potential of their network as well, but you only acquire their network when you serve them. Well, you only acquire their network when you are worthy of them feeling like I feel confident. I trust you to talk about this product, to talk about this business with my network now. So now we’ve talked about like, okay, there’s the happy affiliate person. And then we’re going to just call it like the slow burn. But is this builder the person that’s like, okay, maybe they’ve never done network marketing before, but they’re very open to the idea of making one a hundred to $500 a month? And honestly, that’s 80% of the industry, 80% of the industry.
Kristen Boss (08:55):
Most people just want to close some income gap where it’s either, they’re either paying for childcare. They’re paying, you know, for the extra grocery bill or the dance classes. Like most people do not come to this business model saying like, I want to make six figures a year. They’re actually looking to just close an income, come gap in some small way in their home. And if you don’t think a hundred dollars or $300 is anything to talk about or write home about what’s happening is you’re not going to promote a business where someone would gladly join you to make a hundred to $200 a month. And that person would be thrilled to make that money. But because you are not like, because you don’t think that’s anything significant, you’re not talking to those people about the business. Cause you’re like, eh, I mean, I guess a hundred dollars is great.
Kristen Boss (09:47):
I guess $200 is great. I’m like, no, you have to talk to those people too. And of course, then there are the people that want to join this business because they are looking to make income from home. They are looking for a job. And I think there was this trend in network marketing for a while. That’s really done a disservice to how I see people talking about the business, because for so long, what happened was we, I saw people knock having people having a job. Like it was like network marketing is the best. Nobody wants to work. A J O B come work, come do network marketing, come do social selling. And, and we were talking about it. Like, it wasn’t a job. Like it was fun, fast money. And there is such thing as fun, fast money work is work and it’s still a job.
Kristen Boss (10:45): But what happens is if, if you start talking to people that hate their job and don’t want to work and they don’t want to feel like they, they don’t want to put the effort in. They’re like, ah, I’m just tired of being at my job. And you’re marketing, like who wants to be at a job, come and do this instead. But then they come over and they realize, oh, in order for me to make real money, I actually have to work this like a job. And that’s when people quit, cause they join. And they’re like, they think, yeah, fast that’s fun money. And then they realize, wait, hold on. I actually have to put time in. I have to clock in, I have to have business hours and I need to work this as if it were an actual job. And that’s when most people become disenfranchised. Not because the business model doesn’t work, but because they were not sold the work of the business model.
Kristen Boss (11:38): Hear that again? It is not because the business model doesn’t work it’s because most people are not sold the work it takes to have success in the business model. And you have to be really aware and you’re marketing. Like, are you, are you talking about it as like monetizing your scroll? You’re just scrolling online. All you got to do is post up a link and people come running and people pay you. It’s not that simple. And honestly, for a small percentage of people, they can post a link and get customers. They can just do pure attraction marketing. And I think it’s really important to, to say this caveat, you have to earn, you have to have massive trust built with your audience in order to just rely on attraction marketing, to do all the selling for you and who attraction marketing like in its purest sense.
Kristen Boss (12:34): If you’re like, all I do is talk about a product and people come running and I don’t have to engage or connect or pursue anybody. And don’t, you know, I don’t want you to break out in hives cause you hear me saying engage, connect and pursue. It’s just about you being relational and social on a social platform, not talking about you, just, you know, going on a spam Fest and DMing a ton of people. But this concept of attraction marketing, this idea of like, I can just post a link and people come running. That truly is for people that have an established brand. They have a highly bought in and highly engaged audience that typically that they have worked with for a long time, which is why when you have an audience that trusts you and follows you and you’ve been giving them value for long periods of time, then yes, you can drop affiliate links and you can make money.
Kristen Boss (13:31): It can feel like easier money at the time. But I just think it’s important to know like that is earned. You have to put in a lot, put a lot of value out there in order for your audience to purchase from you without needing to be in conversations. But if you don’t have a big audience, if you don’t have a lot of trust built with your audience, you do need to be social. You do, you engage, you do need to initiate conversations while also being very clear, very direct with your marketing and your selling, and consistent in your stories. Now you might have a lot of questions. Like what does that look like? And how do I do that? I teach this in-depth step by step by step, by step inside the social selling academy. I teach this, I teach warm market. I teach how to sell to your warm market and then how to build your cold market and warm them up, nurture that audience and sell to them the overtime.
Kristen Boss (14:29): Anytime you are in your cold market, you have to play the long game because they don’t people, someone that’s brand new to you. That’s never consumed a thing. You have done content-wise in their life. There’s no trust built. So it takes time for them to trust you, to like you, and feel like, okay, I feel like I know enough of this person to try this product and to spend money. And you literally, I think it takes like if you are being incredibly consistent and you’re adding solid value to your audience and you’re making consistent offers, it roughly takes three to six months to convert a very cold lead into a customer. You have to be putting out dynamite value to a cold market. Now the best way to accelerate trust with a cold market is to be engaging and be relational with your followers.
Kristen Boss (15:26): Comment back, comment on their comment back when they’re commenting on stuff, go on their content, tell them what you appreciate. Ask open-ended questions, engage in their stories, but be a sincere human. Like if, if this is, if you’re, you know, engaging with people, you’re like, I have nothing in common with this person. You really need to check in with that. Because if, if you don’t have anything in common with that follower, it’s going to be harder to build trust with that follower. So this has been a little bit of a tangent, but I feel like it’s important to know like this recruitment dry spell it’s because of all these stories that I see people have with regards to recruitment and they think like, I don’t know how to do this anymore. And they don’t know how to speak to the full spectrum of potential builders that are in the audience.
Kristen Boss (16:15): Remember there’s the affiliate builder. That’s like you know, I’m just going to casually share a link. There’s going to be this slow builder. That’s like, okay, I’m new to this. It’s going to take me some time and it’s going to be a learning curve. And they’re probably going to be slow going to figure it out and build the confidence. And then there’s going to be, you’re really hungry. Go-Getter that’s like, okay, I want to work this like a job I want to clock in. I want to show up. I feel a real need in my life to, you know, work this business model and bring money home. You have to be able to speak to this full spectrum in your audience. But I see people when they’re talking about recruitment either. They’re just not talking about it confidently at all. They’ve just stopped talking about the business opportunity because they’re like, well, I’m struggling in my own business.
Kristen Boss (17:02): So they feel inauthentic talking about business where it’s like, listen, you can be a work in progress. You can be a business builder slowly, figuring it out, putting one foot and the other and you can still be qualified to help somebody take their next right step today. Like you have to think whatever result you have in your business, if you’re making a hundred dollars a month, you are qualified and able to help somebody else make a hundred dollars a month. It’s not rocket science, but I think people overcomplicate it in their minds and they come up with a lot of stories of why they can’t talk about their business and they make it. They make it all about them. Like, well, here’s why I’m not good. And I’m not a good leader. And what if I pour my time into somebody they join. And you know, I pour all this time into them and they quit 30 days later.
Kristen Boss (17:54): I’m like, yeah, guess what? It happens. Listen, in network marketing, the bar of entry is low. The standard for success is high, which means a lot of people are going to come to this business model and say, yeah, yeah, I want it. Yep. I want to do it. I want to work. But listen, talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. Anybody can, anybody can say, yeah, I want to make money online. But very few people are willing to say, okay, I’m willing to learn a new skill. I’m willing to put myself out there. I’m willing to learn how to sell. I’m willing to learn how to market so that, I can be a valuable person online and make money online. But most people at like I keep saying talk is cheap. A lot of people look for the easy button. I would just encourage you. Don’t sell the easy button, sell a good day’s work, sell a business model that when you work, you’re not.
Kristen Boss (18:51): And I think some people are afraid of like scaring people off talking about work. Do you know who you’re going to scare off as the wrong people? You’re going to scare off the people that want the easy button you’re going to scare off the people that probably would’ve come to you and said, this sounds so great. I’m so in. And then two weeks later, they’re like, you know what? I’m really busy. I don’t have time for this. You, this is really hard. I really thought I, I made, I made like two posts and nobody came running. I don’t think this is for me. Listen, you want to scare those people off. You don’t want those people. And if you don’t want those people, don’t market to people who want fast, easy money market to people who are diligent hard workers who desires connecting with people who desire, serving people who love showing up on social media market to the right people.
Kristen Boss (19:38): And when you market to the right people, you scare off the people who aren’t a good fit, but you have to be bold enough to talk about the business. Listen, this is like an amazing free recruitment training that you needed today. If you want to get out of your dry spell, you got to start talking, show up powerfully, bring urgency to the conversation and say, here’s why it’s a great day for you to start your business today. Not six months from now, not a year from now, not when your kids are off to college, not when your firstborns out of diapers, not when you’re done with maturity leave right now today. But this is where I see people. They’re kind of like very casual and they’re selling like, Hey, I’m doing this thing. And you know, there’s no pressure. I never pressure anybody to do this with me and me.
Kristen Boss (20:25): Like, this is seriously how I see some of you sell, Hey, I’m doing this thing. But we don’t sell. We never sell. We only share, I just talk about what I love. And I just do it in the nooks and crannies of my day. And I just kind of fit it in my life. And you know, it just allows me. I monetize my scroll and you know, it’s, it’s just no pressure. And it’s just so fun. And it’s great. Now the problem, but again, there’s no pressure. So if you have any questions or, you know, if maybe you want to explore, if maybe this is the thing for you, it might not be for you. And that’s okay. But if maybe you want to explore it, then reach out to me, notice how that’s not compelling at all. And the person that they’re actually marketing to is like, Hey, do you want something?
Kristen Boss (21:11): That’s kind of like when you have time when it fits in your day when maybe you’re scrolling when maybe you have nothing better to do. And maybe if you’re interested, maybe you could check this out. Notice how all of that language in that pitch was speaking to a non-committal person that only wants to make money when it’s convenient and easy. You have to notice the language and the words you are using. And you’re selling. This is why in the social selling academy. I have an entire section called copywriting where I teach my students. Like there certain language that you need to use to speak to the right people. There are certain words that you need to say that translate and help someone understand what is involved like selling is a language, and some of y’all are just terrified of selling. You just think, oh my gosh, I can’t sell selling’s bad.
Kristen Boss (22:07): I’m like selling is a wonderful thing. And you’re going to hear me say it over and over again because selling is serving at the deepest level. You’re offering people a solution for a problem. They’re actively seeking a solution for. I’m going to say that too. When you’re talking about business, talk to people who are actively looking for a solution to their finance is, or to other parts of their life that you know, your business model can serve, like, get your belief on board, and stop telling yourself, I don’t know how to do this. It’s easy to sell a customer. And I don’t know how to have a builder. Yes, you do. It’s a simple conversation that starts with your belief and what you’re offering people. And when you come to people with belief, when you come to them with conviction, when you come to them with confidence, they buy that from you.
Kristen Boss (22:59): So if you want to know how to get out of your dry spell commit, like literally commit to talking about the business every day for the next 10 days. Talk about it, boldly. Talk about it, unapologetically. Talk about it confidently and talk to the right people and talk to the full spectrum of potential builders in your audience. I guarantee if you were to do this while you were also engaging in meaningful connections online, you would have your next recruit in the next 10 days. I know that because when I coach a Stu, literally I just coached a student on this two days ago, I coached her. I said, listen, this is what I want you to do. We got really clear on her stories. Like this is the story you’re telling yourself. And this is why, and this is how we clean this up.
Kristen Boss (23:48): And I told her, I’m like, listen, if you clean this up, you could double your paycheck in the next 45 days. And she’s like, you think so? I’m like, I know. So, and what’s crazy is like, not even 24 hours after her coaching, she posted the Social Selling Academy. She’s like, okay, it’s magic. The coaching actually works. I did what you said. I have a brand new business partner and a new customer within 24 hours of that coaching and making a decisive offer. And she followed the steps. I gave her. She used the materials inside the academy and she followed through with the coaching. She literally had her next brand partner and her next customer within 24 hours that are available for you now also like, listen, if you do this, if you do this 10-day challenge to yourself and you get a recruit, we want to hear about it, message us. You can message my team. You can go into the show notes. You can even take a screenshot of this podcast and tell me, I want to celebrate. You see this as a free training. Look, you didn’t even need to join the academy to get that training today because I want you to get out of the Dr. Spell. And I want you to see just how simple and approachable it is to bring in your next best teammate. We’ll catch you in the next episode.
Kristen Boss (25:03): That wraps up today’s episode. Hey, if you loved today’s show, I would love for you to take a minute and give a rating with a review. If you desire to elevate the social selling industry, that means we need more people listening to this message so that they can know it can be done a different way. And if you are ready to join me, it’s time for you to step into the Social Selling Academy, where I give you all the tools, training, and support to help you realize your goals. In the Academy, you get weekly live coaching so that you are never lost or stuck in confusion. Whether you are new in the business or have been in the industry for a while this is the premier coaching program for the modern network marketer. Go to www.thesocialsellingacademy.com to learn more.
