MLM recruits are certainly not easy to find these days and closing the deal with one isn’t an easy task – particularly when your downline has the closing and you don’t. Have you taught them all they needs to know to close the deal and to stave off the rejection? Have you taught them how to prepare themselves for one? Most of us don’t either, yet we depend on them to build the marketers that are providing for our market. How can we help them to expand their skills so they are able to close a deal that will benefit us both? One method which works admirably well to teach each of the MLM recruits is the cross-over approach to marketing. Rather than applying the hard sell, which does tend to make people suspicious and might will have them backing away with an eye to the nearest door; this method lets them effectively talk themselves into closing a deal with you and helping you in your own business. Let’s face it. Getting rid of the suspicions of a genuine skeptic isn’t an easy task either, which is what makes a close so challenging. Here is what happens in a cross-over. The chosen recruit states “I think I like this method of selling. I’d be interested in learning more about the opportunity.” You reply “That’s really very surprising to me. Based on what we’ve talked about, I would have bet that you would not have any real interest in this business. Have I missed something somewhere?” Rather than moving into the close and pushing gently toward it, you permitted the prospect to make the final decision and essentially at their own will. They are closing the deal for you rather than being pushed into something they have no interest in. You haven’t hit them with a hard sell and you haven’t compromised your principles. You have closed on an MLM recruit who may work a lot harder because they feel that the decision to become your downline was entirely their own. Help them along the way in their own business as well. When you coach them, offer tips on how they might create leads for new recruits as well as how to close the deal with those currently interested. No matter how you slice it, some deals just aren’t going to close. Teach your downlines how to deal with that possibility and how to be both gracious and professional when it happens. It will make you both look a lot better in the long run.