Is it better to build your business by leading with your product or service or is it better to build your business through leading with your business opportunity?
This is a question that surfaces constantly. I wrote and posted this a year ago but I know I have many new subscribers since then who may not have seen this one, so I have made a few tweaks and re-posted, because this is valuable insight. New information is in italics.
Recognize that what matters most is that you open the door of your business to others. The only way for people to know you have something that might be beneficial for them is for you to tell them. This is like opening your door everyday much like you would if you had a storefront. The lead is essentially the door.
If your goal is to build a serious income, full-time to six-figures or more, then building through the opportunity is absolutely the best way. The difference between the two is essentially addition versus multiplication. Building through the product is adding and building through the opportunity is multiplying.
But don’t you need customers? If everyone is promoting the opportunity, then who is selling the product? Of course, you need and you want, to have customers and plenty of them.
Anyone who is actively presenting their opportunity will develop a customer base through this process. I am of course assuming that you have a solid product or service as the backbone of your opportunity. This is essential for a long term successful business anyway. The product or the service is what provides the opportunity. Volume is what you are paid on and true residual style income comes from repeat volume. Products and services people use over and over regardless of the opportunity.
Anyone who is actively presenting their opportunity will develop a customer base
So then intuitively it would immediately seem that searching for customers is the smart thing to do. It IS a smart thing to do, but the smartest way to do it, from a big business perspective is to find them in the process of building your team. Think about it.
Every person you present the opportunity to is going to also learn about your products or service at the same time. They have to. It is part of your story. It’s what makes your opportunity viable. The decision to participate in the opportunity is a much bigger decision than the decision to be a customer. People make customer decisions all the time.
A viable product or service means that a high percentage of people either need it or desire it (again, assuming high quality). So a high percentage of the people who also need or want an opportunity, also are interested naturally in your product or service. You will find that many of your best customers come from presenting the opportunity, after which the prospect says something like this “I’m not sure I’m ready to do the business but I’d like to know more about that product.”
You will find that many of your best customers come from presenting the opportunity
Certainly there will be some people that are natural and immediate customer fits for your product/service based on what you know about them. This is especially smart in the close circle of influence. This portion of your list is the smallest and represents the bulls eye on the archery target of my list developing activity. It usually includes the first 32 list, which is a concept I learned from Gabi Steiner (one of the biggest earners in the industry) several years ago. In this portion of the list you know a lot about the people and the easiest and most natural door to open is what they most care about which is often related to your product or service. Think of it this way. If someone has a leaky roof, don’t talk to them about painting the house or sealing the driveway or doing some landscaping. Help them with the roof first and then they will be wide open to whatever else you have to offer that matters to them. Go ahead and present the product/service to them. But for the big picture, focus on presenting the opportunity and the customers will come. Remember, in our business, you don’t need a thousand personal customers. 15-20 is usually fine, although most top builders have many more because? Yup, they have presented the business so much they naturally have more customers.
One caveat to this is the person who has no self-confidence at all. They can grow their belief in themselves and the process through customer acquisition first. Products and services aren’t subjective. If you believe in it, then it doesn’t matter if someone else doesn’t. So someone can develop a customer base, grow some confidence, create a small income stream, and now they have demonstrated to themselves that they can build a business. Now that they have added, they are ready to take the personal growth step of multiplying.
I promise you that if you diligently put your opportunity in front of three people a day, and do this for the next year, you will have all the customers you need.
Have a question you’d like answered? Or a topic you’d like me to address? Email me at tburrier@gmail.com and let me know!
