Whether you do a business presentation as a meeting at a hotel, on a conference call, an in-home with a small group of people, or a one-on-one, there's a specific sequence to follow and certain things you should be doing to create an environment that will cause your prospect to say “I want to join you!” Continue reading and I'll share what worked so well for me, that I developed it as part of my MLM training curriculum for the 56,000 people in my downline.



I provide MLM training to thousands of students around the globe. Here's a question one of my students sent via email:

Q. On Tuesday nights some network marketing companies have what is called a business presentation at 7:00pm that last for about an hour. They mostly have representatives present and those reps see a very hype-driven business presentation over and over and over again. So what's the point? If I am suppose to go through the Inviting Formula, sign them up, set up a goal setting session, train them, roll play with them and then help them repeat that process with their prospects, when do I have the time to have a business presentation? That is (to me) only designed to sign people up? And how is that duplicatable? And doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of showing the Brilliant Compensation video? I think that if a person or group had once a week a whole day training on the Inviting Formula that would be more productive. Tim, I believe that you know the real truth on this subject so please share. Your student, Robert.

A. Robert, thank you for your question—it is a very good one.

I will help you understand where a business presentation comes in.

The sequence I recommend to sponsor prospects is as Robert has stated:

1. Follow the steps of the Inviting Formula* to find out what your prospect wants. (If you aren't familiar with the Inviting Formula, I've included the Formula at the end of this article.)

2. Show the prospect the Brilliant Compensation DVD or online movie to handle any and all confusion about network marketing.

3. Meet with the prospect if they are local to get to know them and let them know you really care about helping them get what they want. This is also where you explain your company/product and get them signed up if they're ready. If they're not local then you do this meeting over the phone using a website to "show" them the company and products or use a conference call to let them "hear" about the company and products.

4. Begin their MLM training—teach them the Inviting Formula*.

So in that sequence—where does (could) a business presentation come in? Step number three.

Step number three is the step where you're showing your prospect your MLM business. So whatever your prospect needs to see or hear for them to want to do the business you do. That may be nothing more than you meeting with them personally. It might be them listening to a conference call. It may mean them coming to a business presentation or an in-home presentation. And, it may also mean them flying out to meet with the company officers.

My point is that whatever it takes, you make that happen. If you're fortunate enough to have a local meeting—use it. You will find that some prospects need to see that others are doing it. And they may want to see who those other people are.

When someone (your prospect) doesn't have the ability to evaluate a business on their own—they place their decision in the hands of another or others. So they judge the book by the cover so to speak. A business presentation satisfies this need.

Sometimes after a one-on-one meeting with a prospect, they need something else—so a business presentation serves as more of a confirmation meeting, than an introduction meeting.

As you can read I do feel that meetings have a place; but I don't feel meetings are a requirement. I've known groups that have completely built their business using conference calls or in-homes or one-on-ones.

But, business meetings serve another purpose—they bring "like minded people" together once a week to restore their vision. And for this reason I think business meetings are extremely valuable for consistent growth of an MLM business!

What has happened in network marketing is that leaders have tried and tried to remove EVERYTHING a new distributor has to learn. So they put weekly meetings in place so all a new person has to do is "bring someone to the meeting." This is fine because as you've heard me say over and over "if one can invite well they can put prospects in front of good presenters and good presentation tools."

But where this action fails miserably is when it's said, "All you have to do is bring someone to the meeting." Because as we all know—that's not as easy as it sounds! You have to know how to invite to get people to a meeting.

A business presentation with low attendance demonstrates lack of effective MLM training, specifically invite training. Also, a business presentation with low energy defeats its purpose.

If you EVER want to take a prospect to the meeting—you must contribute to the meetings by being there weekly. Just imagine you get a hot prospect who wants to meet other people who are in the business and you take them to the meeting and there are six or seven people spread throughout the room of 50 chairs; that's not very exciting.

Well, why are there only six or seven people there? Because people think the only time to go to a meeting is when they have a prospect. This is incorrect thinking. For a meeting to have energy and serve the purpose of a business presentation there has to be a LOT of energy. People are the energy!

So if you want to use a meeting you have the responsibility to contribute to that meeting by being there weekly. The exact same thing goes for conference calls too.

In summary, use business presentations (if you have them) to bring your prospects and new representatives to, to confirm that other people are doing the business. But also use them as a place to renew your vision by surrounding yourself with people who have the same vision you have for effective MLM training and the same goal and desire to achieve MLM success.

*Here are the steps to the Inviting Formula:

Step 1. Greet your prospect. The purpose of the greeting is to get your prospect willing to talk freely and openly to you. A proper greeting is way more than an "opening line."

Step 2. Qualify your prospect. The purpose of Qualify is to find out what the prospect needs, wants and doesn't want as it pertains to your business. You cannot truly help someone if you don't know what WILL truly help him or her.

Step 3. Invite your prospect. The purpose of the Invite step is to ask prospects to review information that can help them achieve what they've stated they want (from the Qualify step).

Step 4. Handle Questions/Objections. The purpose of handling Questions/Objections is to help your prospects past what is currently stopping them from attaining what they've stated they want.

Step 5. Close to Action. The Close to Action step's purpose is to conclude or complete what is currently being said or done and then put their want into existence by creating agreeable steps for the future.

Step 6. Follow Up. The purpose of the Follow Up step is to re-contact your prospects and move them towards getting what they want.

You can find out how to put these steps into action by listening to the 7 CD set called “Professional Inviter”, available at the website below.