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UPC Newsletters>
Steps to Conducting Powerful Presentations
October 9, 2004
By now, you know that building a network in UPC is a fabulous way to make a wonderful income, help the people you care about, build residual income plus ownership and security . But all this will mean nothing if you can’t convey it to your prospects. No matter what your prospect is only interested in one thing: How will this benefit me? You can talk about website pro, UPC's stability and million-dollar sales all day long, but if you don’t relate them to terms of benefits to your prospect — they are not going to be interested. However, establish the benefits of your business with your prospects and you will turn them into affiliates. You must lead with the benefits, then substantiate with features. It sounds so simple that you probably think you already do that. The odds are that you don’t. If you’re like most affiliates — you are talking entirely about features. What do I mean by that? It means you tell people things like: We’re a debt-free, 2 1/2 year-old company. Our websites are the best. I made $$$$$ my first month. I am a stockholder. If you think about it, you’ll notice that all of these phrases are about you, your products or your company. That means they’re features. Remember, we want to talk about benefits and benefits are always about the prospect. Find out how much time your prospect has to devote to a business. Is their free time in the evenings or in the daytime and do they have family obligations to work around? How much money would they be willing to invest in a business and what would they like to get out of it? Listen. Really listen to the answers and you will know what benefits UPC has that they is looking for. By learning these things in the pre-approach stage — you’ll be better able to key in on the appropriate benefits when it comes time to make your presentation. The Five Steps to Successful, Effective Presentations. I believe there are five critical areas that need to be addressed in every presentation: Prospect benefits (This is where you do the dream-building.) Affiliate Marketing (How it works and why it’s credible.) Company (Why UPC is the best fit for the prospect.) Product (Why Website Pro is the best on the planet. The support structure (The systems, training and help you will provide the prospect.) Let’s look at each of them in turn. For the first step of your presentation, begin with the benefits. If you’ve done your job in the listening department, you’ll know what kind of lifestyle benefits your prospect is looking for. For instance, if your prospect is a housewife with child-rearing responsibilities, you may want to stress the flexible hours and the chance for her to work from home. If your prospect were a businessman making good money, but killing himself with a grueling, 90-hour work week, you’d present the quality time and residual income benefits and ownership. Mention all the benefits of the UPC lifestyle you can think of, but pay particular attention to the ones that fit the desires your prospect expressed earlier. What we’re doing here is opening with the benefits to ensure we have the prospect’s attention. There are some key benefits that you should mention in every presentation. They are the: unlimited income potential; great tax advantages; travel opportunities; ability to choose the people you work with; FREE and minimum start-up costs; Ownership: and, the opportunity to become successful while you empower others. This is probably the most critical point of any presentation — the dream-building. To understand why, it is worth a look at what causes people to make buying decisions. Most people base their buying decisions on emotion, and justify them by logic. An example. After I got my first Cadillac, I was amazed with its styling, performance, and the high I got from driving it. Since it was a Escalde ESV. I told myself is was a good investment, because they held their value well. Of course, that’s just what I told myself. The reality was I wanted it purely for emotional reasons. I felt great when people looked at me in it. I justified buying it with logic, but the logic was not the real reason I bought it. This is no different than people who vote for a political candidate because he “looks nice” or buy a car from a salesman they like. The woman who accepts a marriage proposal may think she’s doing it because she believes that her future husband will be a good provider and father, etc. — but, she won’t really make that decision on those grounds. She will do it because of the passion, love and excitement she feels for him. Now, apply this to UPC. Most people who join will not do so because it looks like the sensible, logical way to build financial security for their future. They will join because they want to be able to travel with friends, buy a big house, get new cars, receive recognition from their peers and have a lot of fun doing it. For most of these people, these won’t be new concepts, but things they dreamed about when they were younger. Most of the people you prospect will have forgotten or given up on their dreams. To excite them about the business, you must reawaken these dreams. Probably no function is more important to the presentation than this dream-building. For many prospects, it will be the first time they’ve thought about their dreams in years. Once you rekindle this spark, you’ll often find it results in a bonfire of excited expectations. And, because your prospects are hearing about your opportunity at the same time they’re seriously thinking about living their dreams again — they’ll be motivated to action. Here’s an effective little activity I’ve woven into my presentations in the past. Near the beginning of your presentation, ask your prospects to think of five things they would like to do, have or become if money was no object. After you’ve show the income potential — ask them if there’s anything on their list they could have or do with the income you just showed them. There invariably is. This helps them make a direct, emotional connection between the things they want and how to get them in UPC. Properly done, this can be a powerful tool during the dream-building segment of your presentation. The other thing you must do in this first step is make sure your prospect realizes that the current economic model we’re living under is broken. It doesn’t work anymore and any prospect who thinks it does is likely to end up poor and dependent. Some of the things I’d point out to them include: The distribution system of jobbers, wholesalers, middlemen and retailers is wasteful and doesn’t serve the consumer. Major corporations are laying off tens of thousands of employees. The secret to true financial independence is working for yourself. Half a million jobs a year are eliminated by technology, never to be replaced. Most jobs are built on trading more hours to get more income — the “trading-time-for- money trap.” You want to make a clear contrast between the futility of working in the broken economic system and the compelling benefits of UPC. Here’s the most important part. Never attack your prospect’s situation. This automatically closes their mind and makes them defensive. Let’s say you meet Bob at a party, and ask him what he does for a living. He replies that he works for ABC Company. You say, “Oh, I bet that’s tough. I hear they’ve laid off a bunch of people; sales are down ...” He’s going to go into defense mode, even if he hates his job. It’s human nature. He’ll reply, “No, I haven’t been laid off; my boss loves me. I’m a hard worker; they appreciate me ...” Now, on the other hand, suppose you say something like, “Oh, ABC Company. That must be a great place to work ...” He’ll probably reply, “Great place, my eye! They just laid off 500 people; the benefits are being cut back ...” You want your prospect to come to their own conclusion that their current job is not going to take them where they wants to go and that UPC is their best bet. This doesn’t necessarily have to happen in their first look at UPC. In fact, it may be better if it gradually comes to them over the course of seeing the presentation a few times. Actually, I like to leave out most of the broken economic model information the first time I share our story with a prospect. This ensures two things: The prospect doesn’t think I’m attacking their position. Their second presentation will be a more powerful event than their first. This “first look” is actually just step one in the enrolling “process.”) For now, just know that you don’t want to attack what a prospect is doing currently. You want to show them there’s a better way and let them draw their own conclusions about their current plight of quiet desperation. If something’s negative — use yourself as the example. Ex: “After 17 years with XYZ Company, I was downsized.” If something is positive, use the prospect as the example. Ex: “When you reach Stockholder, you’ll become a Owner.” This is also usually the point where you tell your own story — why you got involved. What you want to do here is lay out, in a compelling fashion, the factors that drove you to a affiliate business with UPC. I always talk about my life as a automechanic, working 12 to 14 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week. Regardless of what field you’re in — you can usually relate stories of a lifestyle controlled by your income, and an income controlled by the time you spend working. Most people start their careers at the bottom of the pay scale, and then pay their dues working for raises until they reach age 35 or 40. Around this time, they’re at about the highest level they’re going to reach in life. When they reach this zenith, they’re still in debt, and their spouse is probably working too. They’re paying someone else to raise their kids, and probably don’t like what they do. If they own their own traditional business — more than likely, the business owns them. To the extent that your story mirrors this — share your experience in the presentation. By telling your story, many prospects will identify with your story. This helps them make the connection with the next part of your presentation — how UPC can be a conduit to where they really want to go. This is the point to start sharing the advantages, or presenting a simplified version of your compensation plan. Please note that I said simplified — and by this, I mean VERY simplified, not a 90-minute recital of percentages, titles. You have only two objectives in this step. First, you want to demonstrate how exponential growth unfolds. Your prospect needs to understand the general concept of how the business works — not all the specifics of our compensation plan. And, second, you want to show that UPC is the means by which they can get the lifestyle benefits you talked about when you were dream-building. As you explain how the money works in UPC, you can tie it to the benefits the prospect will receive. I’m partial to Quick Start presentation (http://upctraining.com) when I show the Phase 1 with 4 Affiliated Partners I ask the prospect for names to put in those spots. For example, “Tell me the names of four people you know who are looking for extra money, more free time or both?” Then, write down the names they give you. Then, of course, you continue the process, showing duplication in Phase 2. Each Affiliated Partner on the way to Stockholder and show the prospect how this grows exponentially. Then, at each phase, give the prospect a breakdown of the type of money they can earn by having an organization producing the same. Designing the presentation to use is an exact science. I like to build the presentation so it takes the prospect to about a $50,000- or $60,000-a-year income, plus stock. I find this to be the most effective for the following reasons: If you show massive incomes, like $20,000 or $40,000 a month, a large number of prospects, will have just lose their belief that this is something they can do. “Average People,” who’ve been earning $350 a week or less for the last decade — can’t imagine in their wildest dreams pulling down a $20,000-a-month check. They’ll just assume your program is for “other people” and begin to tune out the rest of your presentation. If you show a $50,000- or $60,000-a-year, part-time income, this is enticing to average people — yet, believable enough for them to put themselves in the picture. Meanwhile, the more sophisticated, professional types will also be attracted. They are smart enough to mentally continue the duplication process and imagine the possibilities. Even though they may be earning $250,000 a year — they are painfully aware of how much time they must trade for that money. They will be quick to figure out that they could replace that income in UPC with a lot less time. More importantly, they will be enticed by the residual income possibilities and ownership. Next, you must establish why the prospect should join UPC. After all, there are dozens of marketing companies out there. Your prospect will want to know why UPC is the best for him. UPC has benefits of ownership, building a stack ect.. Use UPCs websites. Don’t stress the features of UPC — stress the benefits to your prospects. Don’t say, “We’ve had 2 1/2 years of steady, stable growth.” Say, “You’ll be building a business with security. Our 2 1/2 track record …” Don’t say, “We spend millions of dollars on our software.” Tell them, “You will feel proud working with UPC, because of the first class, professional materials you have to work with.” Just as you do in the overall presentation — you want to consider the features of working with UPC, and translate them into benefits to the prospect. Talk about conventions, newsletters, conference calls, regional training, and the other aspects of UPC’s affiliate support services, and how they can help your prospect build their business. The next thing you want to do in your presentation is to introduce Website Pro. You may be accustomed to starting with your products at the beginning of the presentation. Many people advocate selling products first, then coming in the back door with the business opportunity. As you know, I am totally opposed to this. We have found that by doing this, you are scaring away non-sales types, and may be losing a large percentage of your best potential affiliates. The top people in this business are not great salespeople, but rather are great teachers and trainers. Your presentation should show the whole picture — products, lifestyle and opportunity. This will make it easy for the prospect to decide where their interest is. If they are interested in simply being a customer, they will tell you so. But, never prejudge anyone. Now, you may be wondering, how can anyone start the business without first having a product experience? Easy. If you’ve done your presentation properly — they’ll assume the products work as you describe them. They’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. (This is another example of the advantage of working with their warm market.) And, every reputable company I know has a 100 percent product satisfaction guarantee and so does UPC. Your prospect has nothing to lose and everything to gain. It’s ironic, but one of the main causes of slow growth in an organization is having too much product knowledge. Or, more specifically, assaulting your prospect with it. Affiliates are actually talking their way out of the business. It’s just not necessary to update your prospect on every use, application and result obtained on your product since the first one. Does a car salesman demonstrate the side view mirrors, describe every part of the engine, and give you a history of the auto industry since Henry Ford? Or does he simply let you test drive the car? I see “information overload” particularly rampant in every segment of the industry. Instead of giving presentations, affiliates are giving three-hour website lectures. Prospects — overwhelmed by this vast quantity of knowledge in one sitting — correctly determine that they could probably never learn all this information. Based upon this initial impression, they never seriously consider themselves able to do the business. The best you can hope for is a product customer. In this case, your desire to be thorough and professional is making you poor and lonely! I believe the biggest challenge facing UPC today is that most don’t really understand the distinction between sales training and duplication. I’ve been hired over the years to help companies that sales are not increasing, even though their distributors have been trained by some of the world’s foremost sales trainers. Of course, all these sales trainers have taught positive mental attitude, mirroring, modeling, closing techniques, and the three-foot rule. And, of course, being non-sales types, most distributors don’t perform most of these actions, or they are not congruent when they do perform them. So, in either event, these procedures don’t work for them. This is not to say that most sales trainers are bad or that what they teach is not good. I imagine that these things work in sales. But, of course, many of those things don’t duplicate in building a network. This is usually the point where I’m brought in. My message is simply this: Good marketing is just a case of identifying qualified prospects — then giving them the information they need to make the correct decision for themselves. True marketing — with integrity — has nothing to do with closing, convincing or “selling.” You must control the process. You must give the right information and you must give it in manageable doses that the prospect can digest. But, ultimately, the prospect must determine whether your product, service or opportunity is right for them. A presentation should be viewed in its proper context. It is simply one step (a very important one) in this information-giving process. Having said all that, let’s go back to the website segment in your presentation... When you talk about websites, give a general overview. Don’t go into a detailed, benefit-by-benefit description. We’ve seen affiliates go into 45-minute descriptions of every individual benefit and how to use them,— then wonder why their prospect ended up in a coma. Give an overview of your website benefits, and then just pick one or two of your favorite benefits to talk about. Here again, stress the benefits to your prospect. Don’t just say, “These websites are unique and exclusive.” Say, “These websites are unique and exclusive, so your customers can only get them from you. You’ll make residual income for years to come.” The final part of your presentation is where you show your support structure. This is where you show your prospect all the ways you will help them succeed. Let them know they are joining a winning team. Show them all the training programs, meetings, enrolling tools and company materials available to train them. Tell them about the other stockholders in UPC, and explain how they will be helping them build their business. This is the time to sell you. No matter how great UPC and products look, unless your prospects see you as a benefit, they aren’t going to be interested. Stress your personal commitment to their success, and show them exactly how they could get started right now. Every successful presentation will include all of these five main elements. I don’t think the order is critical, as long as the five components are always included — with the exception of the dream-building and benefits. If you don’t begin with the benefits, it’s unlikely you’ll have your prospect’s attention through the rest of the presentation. Believe it or not, most people will not get involved with your program because UPC has the best website builder on the planet. People will get involved because they want a better lifestyle and they believe they can attain it with you in UPC. Obviously, UPC is credible and Website Pro is the best. I don’t mean to denigrate those things, but people don’t buy Ferraris because they have rack and pinion steering and radial tires. They buy them because they want to go fast and look cool. Looking cool is the benefit; the rack and pinion steering is the feature. Do not take this to mean that our products are not important — they are critical to your long-term success. In order to have real success, you and your people must be product-centered. But, this is done through use and education and this takes place after the enrolling process. By presenting the opportunity with this approach, you will show the entire picture and give your prospect the information their needs to make the success decision. You can also bring in people who wouldn’t otherwise give your program a second look. Show your prospect the benefits they will get, and you will have the constant benefit of new affiliates in your network. 
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