October 14, 2025 • 17 mins
Here's a question that'll make your head spin: How do you train MLM recruits who have zero sales experience to actually sell instead of just posting on social media and hoping for the best?
That's the question Andrew Osborne from Pittsburgh brought to me. Andrew works in direct selling and network marketing, specifically health and wellness nutrition supplements. Like most MLM leaders, he's frustrated watching new recruits default to the guru-approved strategy of posting on Instagram and waiting for the magic to happen.
Spoiler alert: The magic never happens.
If you're nodding your head right now, you're not alone. The "social media is the new cold calling" myth is one of the most damaging lies being sold to new direct sales representatives today, and it's costing MLM organizations their best potential talent.
The Social Media Trap: When Easy Becomes Impossible
Remember that story in Fanatical Prospecting where I went head-to-head with someone who swore their social media guru had all the answers? I said, "Great, you do yours for a week, I'll do mine for a week, and we'll test it out."
Guess who won?
Here's the brutal truth: Posting on social media feels easy because it lets you keep people at arm's length. You don't have to face rejection. You don't have to interrupt strangers. You don't have to have uncomfortable conversations.
But here's what actually happens. After two months of posting videos that get one view each and zero sales, your recruits quit. They're demoralized, broke, and convinced MLM doesn't work.
The real problem? They were never taught how to actually sell.
Why MLM Sales Training Is Harder Than You Think
When Andrew recruits someone into his network marketing organization, they're making two types of sales: selling the product and recruiting new team members. Most of these people have never sold anything in their lives.
They came from every background imaginable except sales. Something happened in their life that made them say, "I want more." That motivation is critical, but motivation without skill is just frustration wrapped in hope.
The things they need to do are really hard. Nothing in their life has prepared them for what sales prospecting actually requires. They have to sacrifice what they want now (ease and comfort) for what they want most (their goals).
That's why the first question I ask every new recruit is this: What are your top five goals in the next twelve months?
Not company goals. Not team goals. Their goals. Because if they don't want something bad enough to go through the pain of rejection, nothing else matters.
The Only Formula That Actually Works
In MLM, there's one simple formula that works every single time: Go talk with people.
The more people you talk with, the more you recruit. The more product you sell. It's that simple.
Think about it this way. If you had a marketing strategy that could create all your product sales and recruiting automatically, you wouldn't need an MLM. You'd just have an e-commerce business. The reason network marketing exists is because a network of people can spread the word and sell better than online ads.
But here's the problem. Talking with people means getting past your discomfort. It means interrupting a stranger in line at Walmart. It means seeing someone at church who mentions financial problems and saying, "Hey, what if I had a way to help you out?"
Most people would rather post on TikTok than have that conversation.
What to Teach Your MLM Team
If I'm building an MLM sales training program for recruits, here's exactly what I'm teaching them, in this order:
First, teach them how to open conversations. Not pitches. Conversations. With strangers and with people they know. What's the first question they ask? How do they approach someone in line at Walmart? How do they bring up their network marketing business with friends without being weird?
Run drills on this. Practice it until it becomes muscle memory. Because if they can't start the conversation, nothing else matters.
Second, teach them how to listen. Most network marketing reps who actually work up the courage to talk to someone immediately blow it by pitching for five minutes straight. The prospect's eyes glaze over and they walk away.
The secret to sales influence isn't what you say. It's what you hear. Get the other person talking. Ask questions that trigger the self-disclosure loop. Find out what's wrong in their life, what they're frustrated with, where they're feeling stuck.
Third, teach them to build value bridges. Once someone is talking about their problems, your job is to connect where they are to where they want to be using your product or opportunity as the bridge.
Tell stories. Use social proof. "I met someone three weeks ago just like you who told me the same thing. Here's what they did, and here's what their life looks like now."
New recruits don't have their own stories yet, so give them yours. Give them other people's stories. Teach them how to take what someone
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
This is the Sales Gravy Podcast.
Hi. I'm Jeb Blunt, best selling author of
fanatical prospecting, objections, sales EQ, and inked, and
I'm here to help you open more doors,
close bigger deals, and rock your commission check.
This is the Sales Gravy Podcast, and it's
wisdom Wednesday where you drive the agenda. Because
on this segment of the Sales Gravy Podcast,
(00:25):
you bring in the biggest sales challenges, and
Jeb Blunt delivers his best answers.
Those answers, they come straight from the trenches
because Jeb's not just teaching sales, he's out
there prospecting, closing, leading sales teams every single
day. Let's take this next caller.
Alright. Next up on the show is Andrew
Osborne from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(00:46):
Andrew, what's going on in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?
Oh, not too much. Trying to hit the
pavement here and knock to some customers.
Very good. What's your question?
So for my business, I'm in the the
direct selling business, MLM business. And, you know,
a lot of times that the the direct
selling gets a bad rap just because of
the way that it's it's naturally played out.
But for me, I'm noticing that
(01:08):
it's a great opportunity for those that want
to test out their sales and get started
in the sales industry. The only issue is
I don't think that it has the proper
training.
Right? A lot of these companies that you
see is just, you know, post on social
media, you know, get your friends to join
this and that sort of thing. And I
loved in your book fanatical prospecting where you
(01:30):
go toe to toe with a similar associate
that says, oh, I found this guru that
says social media is the new way. Right?
And you say, great. You do yours for
a week. I'll do mine for a week,
and we'll we'll test it out. And when
I read that part, I was like,
yes. Exactly. Perfect. That's what I'm looking for.
And so just looking for the basic fundamentals,
when somebody's starting out, what are the basic
(01:51):
fundamentals that they should be looking at?
What's the lead activities that they should be
doing to kind of set them off in
the right path versus just
hosting and praying to go. Because you're MLM,
there's basically two types of sales that your
people are making.
One is a sale of the product itself
and the other is a sale where they're
recruiting other people into the organization. Is that
(02:13):
true? Correct. Yeah.
Imagine having the ultimate competitive advantage.
Imagine every piece of your content attracting ideal
clients to you, not chasing them down. That's
not a dream. It's what's possible with the
right strategy.
And if you haven't heard by now, Jeb
and LinkedIn expert Brynn Tillman have written the
(02:35):
playbook
that will evolve the way you sell. Their
new book, The LinkedIn Edge, is your ultimate
resource for turning LinkedIn into a revenue generating
machine. You'll learn how to prospect with power,
network with a purpose, and build a brand
that attracts clients to you. Not only that,
but they dive into the fundamentals of using
AI so that you won't get left behind.
(02:56):
Don't wait. The LinkedIn edge is on sale
everywhere you buy books.
Okay. Great. Can you just describe the product
that you're selling? So health and wellness products.
We need nutrition supplements.
Okay. Perfect. If you think about the people
that you're bringing into this type of an
industry, they're usually and you say this in
(03:16):
your in your original note to me that
they're not like people that have come from
a sales background, like they've come from every
background in life probably not sales.
And the reason that they got into this
was because somebody recruited them
and something happened in their life where they
said, I want more. I I wanna get
beyond just what I'm doing and be able
(03:36):
to reach a higher level.
And that motivation is important and that's where
where I wanna begin. And I think that's
where you're probably beginning with them and that
is that
excels is really hard. The things that they're
gonna have to do are really hard and
there is nothing in their life that has
prepared them for what they have to
do in sales in order to both grow
(03:57):
their network and grow their product sales.
So
when we have things that are hard, we
have to be able to look over the
horizon
and see something we want more than that
because essentially for them to be successful,
they have to sacrifice what they want now,
which is ease and comfort
for what they want most, which is that
ultimate goal.
So with everybody I recruit or bring onto
(04:18):
my team, the one thing I want to
know is what is it that you want,
and why do you want it, and when
do you want it. I want goals.
And, yeah, I just start, Andrew, with, like,
tell me your top five goals in the
next twelve months, and try to quantify those
goals as much as possible
back to the activities that they're gonna have
to do in order to create the outcomes
(04:40):
that they desire in order to reach that
goal. So for example, you have to talk
to this many people per day in order
to get one recruit in which is gonna
put this person in your network and then
you're gonna have to teach them. And these
people, by the way, they're recruiting people on
their network. They they don't even know how
to teach teach the people that are coming
in their network what to sell. And by
the way, super easy to recruit people by
(05:01):
telling them, like, you can make money easy.
Like, that's easy as the greatest marketing ploy
of all time. Just post some stuff on
Instagram,
be an influencer, and you're gonna sell a
bunch of things, which sounds really good because
we like to see all the people on
TikTok, you know, that are getting 10,000,000 views.
And it gets a little bit disheartening after,
like, two months of posting things when you're
getting, like, one view per video
(05:23):
and nobody's buying from you. So I want
to start with look over the horizon,
what is it that I want now? This
takes discipline.
Discipline in this means sacrificing what you want
now for what you almost start there. And
that's true for everybody and I would do
that like if even in like a traditional
b2b environment, I'm always gonna sit down with
my reps and say, tell me what you
(05:44):
want so that I'm focusing on what they
want versus on some numbers that don't really
mean anything. So all the numbers have to
tie back to what they want because if
they don't want that thing bad enough, doesn't
make a difference what you do, they're not
gonna go through the pain because
this is pain.
Now why is it pain? Because the problem
for them is at the emotional level, they
(06:05):
have to face rejection
Because in your world, like an MLM,
there's a one simple formula that works.
Go talk with people. Because in MLM, the
more people you talk with, the more you're
gonna recruit, the more product you're gonna sell.
Pretty simple. And we're not gonna be able
to change that. Like, there's no marketing ploy
that could change that because think about it.
(06:26):
If you had a marketing ploy
that would create all the product sales and
all the recruiting,
you wouldn't actually have an MLM, you would
have a business that just sold e commerce.
So the reason why we have a network
of people is because that network of people
can get the word out
and sell the product better than online. When
(06:46):
we think about it that way, like, it's
talking with people. But talking with people means
that you have to get past your discomfort
of interrupting a stranger in line at Walmart
Or you see someone at church and they're
telling you they got some, you know, financial
problems and, like, in that moment going, hey,
you know, what if I had a way
to help you out? We have to begin
with that so that at the base level
(07:07):
what I'm teaching them is how to go
have conversations with other people. And the beautiful
thing about your world is that essentially everybody's
a prospect. You're selling health and nutrition products.
Okay? So everybody needs health and nutrition, especially
at my age, we think about all the
time. Right? So you have that number one
thing and everybody out there
could potentially
(07:29):
sell it to someone in their family or
their group or people they know. So everyone
out there is a potential recruit. Everyone out
there can use your product. So you have
this, like, 300,000,000
person
prospecting
pipeline out there that you can go after,
but the hard thing is go talk to
people. That's why we spend time on Instagram
or TikTok or Facebook or LinkedIn talking about
(07:50):
it because that allows us to put other
people at arm's length. So number one is
a focus on talking with people. We can
call it fanatical prospecting, but in your world,
it's literally
having conversations with as many people as you
can every single day.
Now,
in doing that, you've got to help them
get past
getting told no. And they're gonna get told
(08:12):
no a lot. Like, they're gonna say, you're
gonna hear, is this an MLM? Well, yeah.
I don't want anything to do with it.
I mean, that they're gonna hear those type
of things.
So the next step is when you're talking
with people, you gotta get over that hump,
go have a conversation, So teach them what
question to ask or how to approach people.
And I wanna run drills on that. Like
like, seriously, you're sitting in line at Walmart
(08:32):
waiting to check out, and I don't know
if you've noticed the lines at Walmart. They
only have one cash register open most of
the time, so there's usually people in line.
So you strike up a conversation with someone,
how do you go from hello, how are
you doing to there? So I I couldn't
help but notice that that's a really nice
shirt you have on or where did you
get those shoes or whatever it is, you've
got to work through that process with them,
(08:53):
teaching them how to to engage in a
conversation. And by the way, you wanna teach
them how to engage in a conversation with
strangers and engage in a conversation with people
they know. What's the first question they ask?
How do they approach it? How do they
get past that initial,
I don't know what to say, you know,
the thing inside of them to scream and
run as fast as you can. Don't do
(09:13):
this. But teach them how to do that.
That would be number one. Number two is,
once they engage in the conversation,
you have to teach them how to listen.
Because you've probably noticed this that you've got
a lot of people in your team that
you bring on
that if you can get them to go
talk with people,
that's pretty much all they do. Like, they
interrupt the person and then they pitch for
(09:33):
five minutes and the person's eyes roll back
in their head, they're bored and they walk
off. Right? So they talk them out of
even having a conversation with you. So the
next step, like this is core basic is
once you get the person talking, how do
you keep them talking? So if you go
into my book, Sales EQ,
there's a section in the book that talks
(09:53):
about the self disclosure loop and how to
trigger that. You wanna teach them that technique.
Right? How do you ask questions to get
the other person talking?
And by the way, this is true for
take for example, missionaries.
Like, if you're a Mormon missionary because the
Mormons are, like, famous for sending people out
in the street talking with people. I mean,
essentially, you're gonna go talk to people about,
you know, coming over to their faith. If
(10:14):
you go to the front door and knock
on the door and you spend five minutes
talking about Jesus,
most people slam the door in your face.
But if you go to the front door
and you ask them questions about themselves, you
get them talking about what's wrong in their
life or where they may have some
frustration
or where they may be feeling down, that
opens the door to having a conversation about
(10:35):
how you can solve that problem. And so
in your world, right, if you're sitting down
with people, if you think about the people
that you're gonna recruit, the people that you're
gonna recruit are people who have had some
trigger in their life
that said to them, where I am is
not okay anymore. Like, there's something happening there.
So if you can bring that to the
surface,
then you can build a bridge
(10:56):
from where they are to where they wanna
be and use your product as a way
of helping them get there. Your business, like
your self contained business, as a way to
get them there. And most of your people
don't know how to do that because they've
really never done that. So it's like they
wanna be able to do that and then
you wanna teach them how to use social
proof, like to be able to tell the
story not only themselves but other people. You
(11:16):
know, Andrew, there was someone that I met
three weeks ago just like you, someone I
met six months ago just like you, told
me the same thing and here's what they
did and here's what their life is like
now. Just that story, they need to be
able to tell those stories.
Your new people, you gotta give them the
stories because they don't have them. So they're
asking questions, getting the person to talk, right,
and then
(11:37):
building what we would call a value bridge
that closes the gap between where the person
is now and where they wanna be. By
the way, the same thing with health and
nutrition.
When you're having a conversation with people, they
have pain, they feel bad, they're tired, they've
got brain fog, their their, you know, their
body's not working the way they want it
to work. If I can get the person
talking to me about that, it's easier to
(11:59):
bridge the gap by saying, you know, a
lot of people tell me the same thing
and this is why this product will work
for you because it does this, this, this,
and this. But if I just pitch at
you, I don't know that. So as as
you're teaching people,
what you're basically teaching them is influence,
is derived from what you hear not what
you say. So I have to get you
(12:19):
telling me what's happening with you first,
then I take that information
and I create a value bridge that helps
you close that gap.
And what I'm essentially doing is I'm taking
the story that somebody told me
and I'm telling their story back to them
in the context of how I can help
them.
(12:40):
And it's powerful. Like it it absolutely rocks
their world when you do that and that's
how you sell. And most people don't get
that because they didn't come from selling,
they came from another world and in that
world the only thing that they've ever seen
is the character of a salesperson, like this
cartoon of a salesperson
who is a person who has the gift
(13:00):
of gab.
But the truth is is that it's the
people who listen
who are the best salespeople out there. So
if you take those two things, right, I
I need to teach them how to
open conversations, engage in conversations with other people.
I gotta get past the fear. Getting past
the fear means I need to know what
I want. Right? Because you're never gonna do
that. Well, you're never gonna cross that line
(13:22):
and face that rejection if there's not something
over the horizon that you want more
than escaping the potential to be rejected or
turned turned her off. If you don't have
that, you're not gonna do it. Okay? The
next thing is, what do you say to
get people into the conversation or what do
you ask to get people in the conversation,
both strangers
and people that you know,
(13:42):
both in recruiting and a product sales process
or situation?
And then finally,
once you get them in the conversation,
what is it you ask, not what you
say, that gets them talking?
And then the advanced skill is listening to
what they say
and then giving that back to them,
their story back to them in the form
of how you can help them. That's how
(14:04):
you close the deal. And then, essentially, at
that point, you're teaching them how to ask.
Like, you've got to ask to move them
forward. And I've got a book called Objections,
and this has just been like, theoretical prospecting
selling to objections. This is gratuitous book plugs,
but I've got a book called objections and
that would be a really good book for
your team because in objections we talk about
from the very get go that
(14:26):
asking is the most important discipline in sales
because if you don't ask you don't get.
But asking doesn't mean we just go ask
everybody, it means that you have to set
yourself up so that you can ask and
then you can reduce the number of objections
you're getting. But that's that's how I see
it in your world, Andrew, if that makes
sense. Yeah. Definitely. It, it it clearly listed
it out and, again, everything you're saying was,
(14:46):
like, spot on.
So, yeah, just having those conversations.
Well, like you said,
getting past the fear, knowing what they want,
have the conversations,
and then training them how to ask and
listen
so that we can build that bridge. Yeah.
And and just recognizing that and I think
you said this really, eloquently in your note
(15:06):
to me, but just
recognizing that we have to have some grace
for these folks because
they didn't come in from they didn't come
from a sales background. So they're starting from
scratch, they just don't know what to do.
And if you don't know what to do,
how in the world would you know how
to do the right thing? It takes a
mentor and a coach like you to bring
them along and invest in them.
(15:26):
Exactly. Yes.
Awesome. Well, hey, man. Thank you so much.
And maybe, right, this is another plug, but
maybe, like, as you build your team and
grow your team, you're gonna go, we should
take all of our team to the outbound
conference
in Las Vegas
coming up in 2026.
Like, that would be, like, the next best
step for all your people once they get
super successful.
(15:46):
Definitely. Definitely. Andrew, thank you so much for
joining me on the Sales Gary podcast. Alright?
Stay in touch with me and let me
know how things are going. Alright. Will do,
Jim. Thank you very much. Thank
you.
If you've got a question for the show,
go to salesgravy.com/ask.
That's salesgravy.com/ask
and submit the form. One of our producers
will reach right out to you and schedule
(16:08):
your session. If you're chasing results the hard
way, here's a quick tip. Andrew's question spotlighted
a common trap,
posting and praying instead of prospecting with a
purpose. If you're in direct selling or in
any kind of selling, the fastest path to
pipeline is conversations,
not content.
Here's the play. Remember,
know your why so you'll do the hard
(16:29):
things when you don't feel like doing them.
Open more conversations
with strangers and with the warm network that
you have on social media using simple icebreakers
and a short question that gets them talking.
Listen for the problem, then build a value
bridge from where they are and where they
want to be using brief social proof stories
to make it all real. Ask for the
(16:50):
next step because if you don't ask, you
don't get. Make this your daily discipline.
Set a target for real conversations, real two
way conversations, and hit that target every day.
Conversations create momentum, and momentum fills the pipeline.
A full pipeline gives you confidence,
and confident sellers win. And remember, when it's
(17:11):
the end of the day,
when you're just tired, and you wanna go
home, and you wanna call it quits,
pick up the phone and make one more
call. This is Jeblen Junior, and we'll catch
you next time on the Sales Gravy Podcast.
This is the Sales Gravy Podcast.
Hi. I'm Jeb Blunt, best selling author of
fanatical prospecting, objections, sales EQ, and inked, and
I'm here to help you open more doors,
close bigger deals, and rock your commission check.
This is the Sales Gravy Podcast, and it's
wisdom Wednesday where you drive the agenda. Because
on this segment of the Sales Gravy Podcast,
(00:25):
you bring in the biggest sales challenges, and
Jeb Blunt delivers his best answers.
Those answers, they come straight from the trenches
because Jeb's not just teaching sales, he's out
there prospecting, closing, leading sales teams every single
day. Let's take this next caller.
Alright. Next up on the show is Andrew
Osborne from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(00:46):
Andrew, what's going on in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?
Oh, not too much. Trying to hit the
pavement here and knock to some customers.
Very good. What's your question?
So for my business, I'm in the the
direct selling business, MLM business. And, you know,
a lot of times that the the direct
selling gets a bad rap just because of
the way that it's it's naturally played out.
But for me, I'm noticing that
(01:08):
it's a great opportunity for those that want
to test out their sales and get started
in the sales industry. The only issue is
I don't think that it has the proper
training.
Right? A lot of these companies that you
see is just, you know, post on social
media, you know, get your friends to join
this and that sort of thing. And I
loved in your book fanatical prospecting where you
(01:30):
go toe to toe with a similar associate
that says, oh, I found this guru that
says social media is the new way. Right?
And you say, great. You do yours for
a week. I'll do mine for a week,
and we'll we'll test it out. And when
I read that part, I was like,
yes. Exactly. Perfect. That's what I'm looking for.
And so just looking for the basic fundamentals,
when somebody's starting out, what are the basic
(01:51):
fundamentals that they should be looking at?
What's the lead activities that they should be
doing to kind of set them off in
the right path versus just
hosting and praying to go. Because you're MLM,
there's basically two types of sales that your
people are making.
One is a sale of the product itself
and the other is a sale where they're
recruiting other people into the organization. Is that
(02:13):
true? Correct. Yeah.
Imagine having the ultimate competitive advantage.
Imagine every piece of your content attracting ideal
clients to you, not chasing them down. That's
not a dream. It's what's possible with the
right strategy.
And if you haven't heard by now, Jeb
and LinkedIn expert Brynn Tillman have written the
(02:35):
playbook
that will evolve the way you sell. Their
new book, The LinkedIn Edge, is your ultimate
resource for turning LinkedIn into a revenue generating
machine. You'll learn how to prospect with power,
network with a purpose, and build a brand
that attracts clients to you. Not only that,
but they dive into the fundamentals of using
AI so that you won't get left behind.
(02:56):
Don't wait. The LinkedIn edge is on sale
everywhere you buy books.
Okay. Great. Can you just describe the product
that you're selling? So health and wellness products.
We need nutrition supplements.
Okay. Perfect. If you think about the people
that you're bringing into this type of an
industry, they're usually and you say this in
(03:16):
your in your original note to me that
they're not like people that have come from
a sales background, like they've come from every
background in life probably not sales.
And the reason that they got into this
was because somebody recruited them
and something happened in their life where they
said, I want more. I I wanna get
beyond just what I'm doing and be able
(03:36):
to reach a higher level.
And that motivation is important and that's where
where I wanna begin. And I think that's
where you're probably beginning with them and that
is that
excels is really hard. The things that they're
gonna have to do are really hard and
there is nothing in their life that has
prepared them for what they have to
do in sales in order to both grow
(03:57):
their network and grow their product sales.
So
when we have things that are hard, we
have to be able to look over the
horizon
and see something we want more than that
because essentially for them to be successful,
they have to sacrifice what they want now,
which is ease and comfort
for what they want most, which is that
ultimate goal.
So with everybody I recruit or bring onto
(04:18):
my team, the one thing I want to
know is what is it that you want,
and why do you want it, and when
do you want it. I want goals.
And, yeah, I just start, Andrew, with, like,
tell me your top five goals in the
next twelve months, and try to quantify those
goals as much as possible
back to the activities that they're gonna have
to do in order to create the outcomes
(04:40):
that they desire in order to reach that
goal. So for example, you have to talk
to this many people per day in order
to get one recruit in which is gonna
put this person in your network and then
you're gonna have to teach them. And these
people, by the way, they're recruiting people on
their network. They they don't even know how
to teach teach the people that are coming
in their network what to sell. And by
the way, super easy to recruit people by
(05:01):
telling them, like, you can make money easy.
Like, that's easy as the greatest marketing ploy
of all time. Just post some stuff on
Instagram,
be an influencer, and you're gonna sell a
bunch of things, which sounds really good because
we like to see all the people on
TikTok, you know, that are getting 10,000,000 views.
And it gets a little bit disheartening after,
like, two months of posting things when you're
getting, like, one view per video
(05:23):
and nobody's buying from you. So I want
to start with look over the horizon,
what is it that I want now? This
takes discipline.
Discipline in this means sacrificing what you want
now for what you almost start there. And
that's true for everybody and I would do
that like if even in like a traditional
b2b environment, I'm always gonna sit down with
my reps and say, tell me what you
(05:44):
want so that I'm focusing on what they
want versus on some numbers that don't really
mean anything. So all the numbers have to
tie back to what they want because if
they don't want that thing bad enough, doesn't
make a difference what you do, they're not
gonna go through the pain because
this is pain.
Now why is it pain? Because the problem
for them is at the emotional level, they
(06:05):
have to face rejection
Because in your world, like an MLM,
there's a one simple formula that works.
Go talk with people. Because in MLM, the
more people you talk with, the more you're
gonna recruit, the more product you're gonna sell.
Pretty simple. And we're not gonna be able
to change that. Like, there's no marketing ploy
that could change that because think about it.
(06:26):
If you had a marketing ploy
that would create all the product sales and
all the recruiting,
you wouldn't actually have an MLM, you would
have a business that just sold e commerce.
So the reason why we have a network
of people is because that network of people
can get the word out
and sell the product better than online. When
(06:46):
we think about it that way, like, it's
talking with people. But talking with people means
that you have to get past your discomfort
of interrupting a stranger in line at Walmart
Or you see someone at church and they're
telling you they got some, you know, financial
problems and, like, in that moment going, hey,
you know, what if I had a way
to help you out? We have to begin
with that so that at the base level
(07:07):
what I'm teaching them is how to go
have conversations with other people. And the beautiful
thing about your world is that essentially everybody's
a prospect. You're selling health and nutrition products.
Okay? So everybody needs health and nutrition, especially
at my age, we think about all the
time. Right? So you have that number one
thing and everybody out there
could potentially
(07:29):
sell it to someone in their family or
their group or people they know. So everyone
out there is a potential recruit. Everyone out
there can use your product. So you have
this, like, 300,000,000
person
prospecting
pipeline out there that you can go after,
but the hard thing is go talk to
people. That's why we spend time on Instagram
or TikTok or Facebook or LinkedIn talking about
(07:50):
it because that allows us to put other
people at arm's length. So number one is
a focus on talking with people. We can
call it fanatical prospecting, but in your world,
it's literally
having conversations with as many people as you
can every single day.
Now,
in doing that, you've got to help them
get past
getting told no. And they're gonna get told
(08:12):
no a lot. Like, they're gonna say, you're
gonna hear, is this an MLM? Well, yeah.
I don't want anything to do with it.
I mean, that they're gonna hear those type
of things.
So the next step is when you're talking
with people, you gotta get over that hump,
go have a conversation, So teach them what
question to ask or how to approach people.
And I wanna run drills on that. Like
like, seriously, you're sitting in line at Walmart
(08:32):
waiting to check out, and I don't know
if you've noticed the lines at Walmart. They
only have one cash register open most of
the time, so there's usually people in line.
So you strike up a conversation with someone,
how do you go from hello, how are
you doing to there? So I I couldn't
help but notice that that's a really nice
shirt you have on or where did you
get those shoes or whatever it is, you've
got to work through that process with them,
(08:53):
teaching them how to to engage in a
conversation. And by the way, you wanna teach
them how to engage in a conversation with
strangers and engage in a conversation with people
they know. What's the first question they ask?
How do they approach it? How do they
get past that initial,
I don't know what to say, you know,
the thing inside of them to scream and
run as fast as you can. Don't do
(09:13):
this. But teach them how to do that.
That would be number one. Number two is,
once they engage in the conversation,
you have to teach them how to listen.
Because you've probably noticed this that you've got
a lot of people in your team that
you bring on
that if you can get them to go
talk with people,
that's pretty much all they do. Like, they
interrupt the person and then they pitch for
(09:33):
five minutes and the person's eyes roll back
in their head, they're bored and they walk
off. Right? So they talk them out of
even having a conversation with you. So the
next step, like this is core basic is
once you get the person talking, how do
you keep them talking? So if you go
into my book, Sales EQ,
there's a section in the book that talks
(09:53):
about the self disclosure loop and how to
trigger that. You wanna teach them that technique.
Right? How do you ask questions to get
the other person talking?
And by the way, this is true for
take for example, missionaries.
Like, if you're a Mormon missionary because the
Mormons are, like, famous for sending people out
in the street talking with people. I mean,
essentially, you're gonna go talk to people about,
you know, coming over to their faith. If
(10:14):
you go to the front door and knock
on the door and you spend five minutes
talking about Jesus,
most people slam the door in your face.
But if you go to the front door
and you ask them questions about themselves, you
get them talking about what's wrong in their
life or where they may have some
frustration
or where they may be feeling down, that
opens the door to having a conversation about
(10:35):
how you can solve that problem. And so
in your world, right, if you're sitting down
with people, if you think about the people
that you're gonna recruit, the people that you're
gonna recruit are people who have had some
trigger in their life
that said to them, where I am is
not okay anymore. Like, there's something happening there.
So if you can bring that to the
surface,
then you can build a bridge
(10:56):
from where they are to where they wanna
be and use your product as a way
of helping them get there. Your business, like
your self contained business, as a way to
get them there. And most of your people
don't know how to do that because they've
really never done that. So it's like they
wanna be able to do that and then
you wanna teach them how to use social
proof, like to be able to tell the
story not only themselves but other people. You
(11:16):
know, Andrew, there was someone that I met
three weeks ago just like you, someone I
met six months ago just like you, told
me the same thing and here's what they
did and here's what their life is like
now. Just that story, they need to be
able to tell those stories.
Your new people, you gotta give them the
stories because they don't have them. So they're
asking questions, getting the person to talk, right,
and then
(11:37):
building what we would call a value bridge
that closes the gap between where the person
is now and where they wanna be. By
the way, the same thing with health and
nutrition.
When you're having a conversation with people, they
have pain, they feel bad, they're tired, they've
got brain fog, their their, you know, their
body's not working the way they want it
to work. If I can get the person
talking to me about that, it's easier to
(11:59):
bridge the gap by saying, you know, a
lot of people tell me the same thing
and this is why this product will work
for you because it does this, this, this,
and this. But if I just pitch at
you, I don't know that. So as as
you're teaching people,
what you're basically teaching them is influence,
is derived from what you hear not what
you say. So I have to get you
(12:19):
telling me what's happening with you first,
then I take that information
and I create a value bridge that helps
you close that gap.
And what I'm essentially doing is I'm taking
the story that somebody told me
and I'm telling their story back to them
in the context of how I can help
them.
(12:40):
And it's powerful. Like it it absolutely rocks
their world when you do that and that's
how you sell. And most people don't get
that because they didn't come from selling,
they came from another world and in that
world the only thing that they've ever seen
is the character of a salesperson, like this
cartoon of a salesperson
who is a person who has the gift
(13:00):
of gab.
But the truth is is that it's the
people who listen
who are the best salespeople out there. So
if you take those two things, right, I
I need to teach them how to
open conversations, engage in conversations with other people.
I gotta get past the fear. Getting past
the fear means I need to know what
I want. Right? Because you're never gonna do
that. Well, you're never gonna cross that line
(13:22):
and face that rejection if there's not something
over the horizon that you want more
than escaping the potential to be rejected or
turned turned her off. If you don't have
that, you're not gonna do it. Okay? The
next thing is, what do you say to
get people into the conversation or what do
you ask to get people in the conversation,
both strangers
and people that you know,
(13:42):
both in recruiting and a product sales process
or situation?
And then finally,
once you get them in the conversation,
what is it you ask, not what you
say, that gets them talking?
And then the advanced skill is listening to
what they say
and then giving that back to them,
their story back to them in the form
of how you can help them. That's how
(14:04):
you close the deal. And then, essentially, at
that point, you're teaching them how to ask.
Like, you've got to ask to move them
forward. And I've got a book called Objections,
and this has just been like, theoretical prospecting
selling to objections. This is gratuitous book plugs,
but I've got a book called objections and
that would be a really good book for
your team because in objections we talk about
from the very get go that
(14:26):
asking is the most important discipline in sales
because if you don't ask you don't get.
But asking doesn't mean we just go ask
everybody, it means that you have to set
yourself up so that you can ask and
then you can reduce the number of objections
you're getting. But that's that's how I see
it in your world, Andrew, if that makes
sense. Yeah. Definitely. It, it it clearly listed
it out and, again, everything you're saying was,
(14:46):
like, spot on.
So, yeah, just having those conversations.
Well, like you said,
getting past the fear, knowing what they want,
have the conversations,
and then training them how to ask and
listen
so that we can build that bridge. Yeah.
And and just recognizing that and I think
you said this really, eloquently in your note
(15:06):
to me, but just
recognizing that we have to have some grace
for these folks because
they didn't come in from they didn't come
from a sales background. So they're starting from
scratch, they just don't know what to do.
And if you don't know what to do,
how in the world would you know how
to do the right thing? It takes a
mentor and a coach like you to bring
them along and invest in them.
(15:26):
Exactly. Yes.
Awesome. Well, hey, man. Thank you so much.
And maybe, right, this is another plug, but
maybe, like, as you build your team and
grow your team, you're gonna go, we should
take all of our team to the outbound
conference
in Las Vegas
coming up in 2026.
Like, that would be, like, the next best
step for all your people once they get
super successful.
(15:46):
Definitely. Definitely. Andrew, thank you so much for
joining me on the Sales Gary podcast. Alright?
Stay in touch with me and let me
know how things are going. Alright. Will do,
Jim. Thank you very much. Thank
you.
If you've got a question for the show,
go to salesgravy.com/ask.
That's salesgravy.com/ask
and submit the form. One of our producers
will reach right out to you and schedule
(16:08):
your session. If you're chasing results the hard
way, here's a quick tip. Andrew's question spotlighted
a common trap,
posting and praying instead of prospecting with a
purpose. If you're in direct selling or in
any kind of selling, the fastest path to
pipeline is conversations,
not content.
Here's the play. Remember,
know your why so you'll do the hard
(16:29):
things when you don't feel like doing them.
Open more conversations
with strangers and with the warm network that
you have on social media using simple icebreakers
and a short question that gets them talking.
Listen for the problem, then build a value
bridge from where they are and where they
want to be using brief social proof stories
to make it all real. Ask for the
(16:50):
next step because if you don't ask, you
don't get. Make this your daily discipline.
Set a target for real conversations, real two
way conversations, and hit that target every day.
Conversations create momentum, and momentum fills the pipeline.
A full pipeline gives you confidence,
and confident sellers win. And remember, when it's
(17:11):
the end of the day,
when you're just tired, and you wanna go
home, and you wanna call it quits,
pick up the phone and make one more
call. This is Jeblen Junior, and we'll catch
you next time on the Sales Gravy Podcast.
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