Business Opportunity Recruiting Tips – Advice from a Recruiter!

Why you should take my advice:

I was a Recruiter for 11 years. For the first 4 years I ran a Staffing Agency in Seattle and we placed applicants from Receptionists and Office Assistants to Engineers & Attorneys. I contacted Employers, procured ‘job orders’ to try and place applicants that I interviewed, referenced, tested, etc. The next 7 years I owned my own National Legal Staffing business and placed mostly Paralegals, Legal Secretaries and Attorney’s in small, mid-size and large Law Firms around the country.

I’ve interviewed every kind of person you can think of and have dealt with every personality type there is. If I can deal with attorneys then I can deal with anyone right?  I can immediately size up someone and figure out how to talk to them because of my experience. I can confidently say that I’m right 95% of the time. Every once in a while I’m completely off… hey, everyone has a bad day right?

The following information can be used in any Direct Selling Business Opportunity.   I am with Scentsy Wickless Candles but I could just as easily use these techniques in any work-at-home business model for recruiting purposes.

Just a note:  When I say Recruiting I don’t necessarily mean getting a new Recruit to join your team.  You may just be recruiting a new Customer, recruiting someone who will refer customers to you or a recruit to join your team.  The real goal is to make sure that everyone knows what you do and that you are not going to push your business down their throat!

Wanna Recruit? Have fun doing it!

I play a game I like to call “I’m not telling” when talking to people. What this means is, I refuse to tell people anything about what I do until they ask me.

How many times have you told people what you do, how you do it, the history of your company, why they should join, how much they can make, why you think they’d be great at it, etc.? Do they look eager to hear more or do they look like they have one foot out the door or even slam the proverbial door in your face?  Do you care so much about getting recruits that you forget about other peoples needs, wants and desires?  This is why I think most people have a hard time recruiting in their business.

How to play the game:

  1. When meeting someone for the first time, or even a fairly new acquaintance, find out about THEM.  If you meet them at your kids’ school ask them about their kids, how many, what grades, how long they’ve been in the area, etc.  You get my drift.
  2. Under NO circumstance should you offer any information about yourself, your family or your business unless they ask you a specific question.
  3. Once they’ve asked you a question immediately deflect the attention off of yourself and put the focus back on them.  Don’t drill them with questions but find out about them.  Do they have siblings or family in the area, what does their spouse do for a living, etc.
  4. Go in for the ASK question… Ask them what THEY do for a living.  Even if they don’t have a job, are a stay at home parent, etc. they WILL ASK YOU what YOU do for a living.  Then, and only then, can you tell them a LITTLE about what you do.

Here’s a sample conversation that I might have with someone new to my children’s school:

ME:  Hi, My name is Wendy.  I don’t think we’ve met yet.
THEM:  My name is Theresa.  We’re new here.
ME:  Oh, where did you move from?
THEM: Arizona.  My husband just got a position with Boeing (right up the street so this is a pretty common answer).
ME:  Wow, that must’ve been a big move.  How many kids do you have here in the school?
THEM: We have a 2nd and 4th grader and a 7th grader – at the middle school.  How many kids do you have here?
ME:  We have a 3rd grader and we also have a 7th grader at the middle school – our daughter.  Is your 7th grader a boy or girl?  Maybe they have some classes together?

…find out about each other and show that you are genuinely interested in her.  If nothing else, you’ve now met someone new and found out that you have kids in the same grade who may or may not end up being friends.

skip ahead a bit…

ME: So, your husband works at Boeing, what do you do?
THEM:  Oh, I’m a homemaker now.  What do you and your husband do?
ME: My husband is an Internet Marketer and we own a candle business.
THEM:  A candle business…that sound interesting.  What kind of candles…do you make them yourselves?

I’ve won the game at this point!   I’ve gotten HER to ask me what I do and now she’s curious AND asking more questions.  Now, I can tell her that I’m an Independent Consultant with Scentsy and then very briefly tell her what I do.

Feel them out and figure out what your approach should be!

Now that you’ve got her asking you questions, use the knowledge you gained from your conversation, to figure out your approach. Don’t abuse this opportunity.  Don’t puke information all over her…she’ll run away.  If you aren’t already intuitive to people’s body language then practice, practice, practice until you start figuring people out.

With the above scenario, I would most likely offer to give her a Free Sample – I mean, who doesn’t like freebies?  I always carry them around with me.  Again, I’d only do this if she started asking me about my candle business.  If she didn’t ask any questions wouldn’t it be weird to just dig in my purse and give her a sample and try to talk to her about the business opportunity?

Don’t appear desperate…even if you are!

To be truly successful in Direct Sales you need to recruit. It’s that simple. To achieve financial freedom and the kind of wealth that is attainable in a business opportunity you MUST Recruit and build a Team.  This is something that you need to practice.  Recruiting doesn’t come easy to most people.  This can make people desperate.  When you are desperate you take everyone but yourself out of the equation.  You push so hard to get what you what you want that you aren’t thinking of anyone but yourself.  Desperation is unattractive.  People can see that you don’t care about them – they know that you want something from them.  When you approach people with sincerity and with a desire to help them and take yourself out of the equation…they will be more open to you.

What if you’re shy? What if you don’t know a lot of people? What if the people you know are broke? What if, what if, what if? Whatever your issue is, if you want to be successful, you’ll figure out a way around it! Here are some ideas that might help you:

  1. Excitement.  This is the #1 tip I can give you.  Your excitement about what you’re doing, the joy you have for your product/company, your happiness, etc. will be contagious.  People will even ask you why you’re so happy…
  2. Talk to everyone.  Obviously the “I’m not Telling” game won’t with with people you already know – friends an family.  As an example, I’d tell everyone I know that I just started a candle business and give them a sample and a catalog to show them how cool they are.  Then, feel each person out.  I’m going to be more forward with people I know than with strangers that I just am talking to for the first time.  If people don’t know I have a business how can I sell or recruit?  I can’t!  It’d be like opening a restaurant and never unlocking the doors or putting up the ‘open’ sign.  That’s a surefire way to fail.
  3. Networking Groups:  There are Networking Groups you can join. Search the internet to find one in your area.  You want to join these groups to meet other reps who you can learn from and perhaps even join up to do bazaars and help refer people to each other.  Don’t try recruiting these people.
  4. Practice Talking:  Practice talking to your grocer, bank teller, hair dresser, etc. and play my little game.  Follow your money – the places you spend your money.  You obviously know what those people do for a living and you should be able to tell them what you do.  Build relationships with people and your business will expand.  When you find out if someone doesn’t like their job you can then tell them how much you love what you do and see if they’d be interested.  If someone says that they are having problems with money tell them that you can help them make a few hundred dollars, or more, a month doing what you do, etc.   The more you talk to people the more you become bulletproof.
  5. Become Bulletproof:  This means that you have an answer for every excuse or question.  If someone doesn’t have enough money to Join Scentsy, I ask them what they are doing to change their financial situation – will they still be broke next month?  If they have one party that adds up to at least $500 in sales then they could join for $99, become a consultant and I would put that party under them then…their first commission check would be $100 which would pay them back for the cost of joining.  Find out ways of making your Opportunity Work for each person.  If someone just wants product for themselves then I would tell them that they could have one party a month, get some product here and there for free or discounted and then…they’d still make commissions in addition.  Anyone can do one party a month!

Truly, recruiting isn’t just about getting every person you meet to Join your team.  You want everyone to at least be a customer or refer customers.  A lot of recruits come from people who love your products – your customers.

Hopefully some of these tips will help you with your business.  We are very successful with recruiting in our Scentsy business and our downline, when using the techniques we teach them, are becoming strong recruiters too.

Make sure to always be yourself.  Don’t over sell yourself or your product/company.  Be sincere and always think about how you can help others.  If you follow my advice you will start recruiting naturally.  Good luck to you and whatever business you are involved in.

To find out more about the Scentsy Business Opportunity go to www.TheSafestCandles.com

Wendy

6 thoughts on “Business Opportunity Recruiting Tips – Advice from a Recruiter!

  • Kay Dighans

    Hey, Shawn! This is an AWESOME article! Katie had shared the link with me but I’ve been so busy that I’m just now getting a chance to read your article! Thank you so much for sharing it with me – I’m intending to share it with my team, as well, if that’s OK with you. Please let me know! Thanks again –
    Big hugs!
    Kay

    • Hi Kay,

      This is Wendy…I wrote the post and run the blog – Shawn handles our website. 😉 Glad you liked it! I actually wrote it because of some other consultants I saw list, on the FB Scentsy Success page, that they were having recruiting issues but not with sales. Please feel free to share with anyone you’d like as that was my intention. I hope all is well with you, your family and your team! See ya in Texas! Wendy

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