Exerpted from the book Being the Best You Can Be in MLM by John Kalench

There are five ingredients you should incorporate into all your telephone invitations.
Using them will in crease your effectiveness tremendously. They are:

1. "Is this a good time?"
2. Transfer enthusiasm.
3. Compliment your prospect. 
4. Offer a disclaimer.
5. Close your objective.

1. "I'm busy"
2. "I'm not interested"
3. Keeping in Touch
4. Another approach - Ask for advice

Let's talk about each one of them:

So, point one, find out if this is a good time to talk. It's an appreciated courtesy, and more-it makes sure you get the listening you deserve. 

What you say certainly is important. But I believe that how you feel about what you say is the most important thing of all.

You don't have to become an expert about all the facts and features of your product, your company, or your marketing plan to be a powerful communicator. In fact, being that kind of expert may actually block real and effective communication.

Please remember that this is the duplication business. It's far easier to learn to share enthusiasm than to attempt to transfer years of acquired knowledge.

The more excited and enthusiastic you are, the more likely and quickly you'll be successful As I said before, the key to the word enthusiasm is the last four letters. I A S M-I Am Sold Myself. You have to be your own best customer! If you find more and more people aren't interested in your product or opportunity-look first to your own enthusiasm. I'll bet it's begun to wane.

You know, there's an old sales adage that says that when you first start out, you're ninety percent enthusiasm and ten percent knowledge. After a while it changes to ninety percent knowledge and ten percent enthusiasm. Just before that time, either you do something to increase that enthusiasm percentage-or you should start looking for another product or service to work with.

Do you listen any differently to someone who calls you and starts talking about what they want to say, versus someone who calls you and says he or she really values your opinion, because you're such a professional, or be cause you have such a great sense of quality or good taste? It works. 

Allow your prospect to feel there is no obligation in meeting with you. Give your prospect the space to let his or her natural curiosity come to the fore. And let them know this isn't for everybody. That'll get their interest up.

Always come from the assumption that they want what you have to offer. When you do that, more often than not-they will.

Now, let's give an example of how these five ingredients all blend together.

"Hi, Betty, this is John Kalench. Is this a convenient time for us to talk for a couple of minutes? It is? Great! 

"Betty, the reason I'm calling is that I'm so excited about something I just got involved with. I thought of you because of the way people feel about you and respect you. I know you can do extremely well with this.

"Now I can't make any guarantees, Betty. I'm not completely sure this is something that's right for you. What I would like to do is just sit down together for a few minutes and share some ideas. I think you'll see a fantastic opportunity here. I believe you'll see ways we can have a lot of fun with this and how we can make a lot of money together.

"So, I'm buying lunch this week, Betty. Which day is best for you, Tuesday or Thursday?"

Now, that has all of the five ingredients you want in a call. 

I recommend that you prepare a script for the calls you're going to make. Not to sound like a computer-just to write down an outline of those key points: why you're calling her (why Betty is important to you), why it may not be right for her, what you want to do, and finally, give her a choice of when to get together.

With a simple outline script in front of you, you don't have to exert effort to remember what you're going to say. You can focus on transferring your enthusiasm. 

If someone asks you, "What is it?" my strong recommendation is: Tell them. Don't try to avoid that question! 

Tell them the name of the company, the name of the product, and be prepared to give a one- or two-sentence description of what the company does or what the product is, and then go right back into closing your objective. Don't rush this, either. Avoiding the answer or sounding like you wish they'd never asked isn't a good message to communicate.

If you're genuinely enthusiastic, you'll gladly answer and move along to what you really want to talk about. If you're not, your prospect will pick it up for sure. People have a built-in insincerity alarm. It goes off loud and clear when it hears avoidance.

The most valuable quality you have in this industry is your integrity and your word. So when you're asked a question, answer it straight, short and true-and then move forward once again to your objective. 

"Betty, I can definitely appreciate that. I know you're busy. That's one reason why I called you. You're the kind of woman who gets things done. Look, Betty, if you don't see within a matter of twenty or twenty-five minutes something that really excites you, I promise I won't bring it up to you again. So I'm still buying lunch. Which day is best for you, Tuesday or Thursday?"

And if she doesn't see any value after your presentation-don't pressure her.

Keep your word with people.

"Betty, I can appreciate that.Just for my benefit, would you tell me what part of this it is that you're not interested in? Is it the product and the benefits it offers? Is it the business opportunity?"

Now, if they say it's the business opportunity, you can tell them you understand and encourage them to give the product a try, based on the benefits you're excited about along with your money-back guarantee.

However, sometimes a statement like this is a smoke screen for something else. Maybe it's a difficult time for them in their lives. Per haps they are one of the people who's had a problem with a "bad" or inappropriate opportunity in our industry. Whatever it is, do your best to pin down what they're not interested in and why.

If they are flat out not interested at all-fine. Give them room to be that way. Do not pressure them! And always leave an opening to get back in touch.

Get a commitment from this person that they would have no objection with your keeping in touch. Most of the time, a "not interested" response simply means that the timing is not right for them. Nothing succeeds like success-and as you become more successful, they may become more open. The time may be right for them sooner than either of you imagined.

And remember, we're in the sorting business. So... Some Will, Some Won't, So What - NEXT!

Keeping in communication with people is a real key to your success. Many times in the past I've been approached by a distributor when the timing just wasn't right for me. But he or she kept in touch. And often, after a couple months, I was more open to what they had to offer. And it's true, people love to share each other's success. Just hearing about somebody who's doing really well picks me up and makes me smile. Make sure to keep the lines of communication open and share your success with people. It's powerful!

Some experts say that people don't respond until the fourth or fifth contact. I don't know if that's completely accurate, but I do know that persistence and what I call "relentless patience" pays off Again, this is a case of "Just Do It."

Also, always, no matter what the outcome of the call-thank them. Thank them for their opinion, thank them for their support, thank them for their valuable time. Pay them a compliment if you can. This is a surefire way to have them be happy to hear from you the next time you call. 

Simply tell them that you're considering starting or have just started your own business, and you want to show them your product or opportunity and get their opinion. People love to give advice, especially if you elevate them to the position of being an expert on the subject. Chances are, they'll see the value you see in your product and/or opportunity. Now your "expert" just be came your customer or distributor!

I recommend that you prepare one basic phone script for family and close friends, and another for acquaintances and people you don't know that well. You just choose different words for the different categories of prospects.

The sooner you make a friend of that 250-pound, "user-friendly" phone of yours, the sooner you'll be able to use its awesome power to build your business with the greatest success. Make a commitment to call a specific number of prospects per day, per week, per month-and do it! You'll be amazed how light that phone becomes in just a couple of days or weeks. One thing I strongly suggest is to get a phone you really like and enjoy using. They have all kinds of terrific new phones available now.