BUSINESS BUILDING
Executive Director 9 John Cosentino helped me learn that Melaleuca is either going to be a fit for somebody or not. I didn’t have to show up with this perfectly polished approach. It was okay if I fumbled around and stumbled on my words a little bit. He gave me permission to be me. Your mindset is just as important as the approach itself. So if we stay in alignment with the Mission Statement of truly helping people and allow ourselves to be brutally authentic to who we are, then really good things are going to happen. People say yes to people long before they say yes to the store. So your only job is to show up, be yourself, talk how you talk, and share from your heart even when people tell you no . Noes are part of the game. If somebody tells me no —I thank them. I say, “Thank you for your honesty. Thank you for taking a little bit of time to look at things. I appreciate that. But if it’s cool with you, I’d love to check in from time to time because I know life can throw curveballs, and your circumstances might change. Would that be all right?” And they always say yes . People have changed in the last two years. I am not the same person I was before the pandemic. Maybe there are some things that we can say, some words we can use, some language we can lean on that might help us with improving our approaches right now, considering everyone’s guard is up a little bit. We’ve all been through a lot. What I’m sharing with you today are very important aspects of a successful approach. Keeping these ideas in mind will prove impactful in setting appointments.
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ASK, THEN PAUSE We often ask, “Are you familiar with Melaleuca?” But pausing afterwards is so critical. The pause is where you invite them into the conversation. Where that conversation becomes a dialogue, a two-way street. You have no idea how many times I have made an approach and did all the talking only to realize I was just having a conversation with myself. They never consented to the conversation. They never participated. So the pause after the ask invites them in.
LISTEN Corporate Director 4 Ashley Olive says, “listen more than you talk,” which can be a problem for talkers like me. Make sure you’re paying attention when potential customers talk so you’re getting their concerns and needs written next to their name on your contact list.
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THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
I don’t know how to talk about approaches without addressing the elephant in the room. If there’s anything at all that could be a roadblock in setting the appointment, address it, face it, talk about it. When you do, you take away its power. It’s not the elephant in the room anymore, and you can move on. Maybe you start the conversation like this: “You mentioned something that caught my attention and I wanted to ask you a question.” Or if you’re using social media and talking to somebody you don’t really know at all offline, that’s an elephant in the room. So maybe the approach sounds like this: “Hey, it’s been fun getting to know you. I know we aren’t super close friends, but Facebook has us playing in the same sandbox every day. You mentioned something that caught my attention and I wanted to ask you a question.” Whatever the elephant in the room is, address it and you’ll open up doors.
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MELALEUCA IN YOUR OWN WORDS
Tell them what Melaleuca is in your own words. If you deliver some formal explanation of Melaleuca with all of the bullet points of the company’s credentials, they’re going to think you’re just trying to sell them on it. What is Melaleuca? Say it in your words—in just a couple of sentences. You want them to start connecting the dots so that they’re almost hearing you and thinking about how the company relates to their needs. Everybody is going to say it differently. I tend to say, “Melaleuca is just a store.” (I know Melaleuca is more than just a store. They’re going to learn that too. But I want their
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