Are you new to Network Marketing?

If you are, then one of the first things your sponsor or upline has probably already told you is that you will need to create a prospect list. I explain the reasons why you need to create a list of at least 100 names in another article I've written, called "Your #1 Secret Weapon".

Once you have written your prospect list, it's time to start approaching the people on your list with your business opportunity. Many people feel that you should just start calling the names on your list.

I have a different point of view. In my experience, I have found that once you have created your prospect list, it's time to do some "classifying."

It's important to understand that by classifying your prospect list, I am not talking about pre-judging, or pre-qualifying people for your business opportunity.

You should not prejudge people, as there is no way you can predict who is going to seize your network marketing business opportunity and use it to transform their lives for the better and who is going to do absolutely nothing with it, despite having shown all the signs of being a potential "hot" prospect.

Also, do not pre-qualify the people on your list. This happens AFTER you have presented them your business opportunity. People will then qualify themselves "in" or "out" of your business. Your job is simply to present them with information, then allow them to make an informed decision as to whether your business opportunity is right for them or not.

Classifying the people on your prospect list is different. You are looking for people that you believe are worth approaching first, because you instinctively feel that they make a great contribution to the growth of your network marketing team.

You will want to classify the people on your prospect list in terms of criteria such as:

Location - Can you drive out to meet them within, say, 45 mins to one hour? Or do they live interstate or overseas?

Character - Are they positive and open to new ideas? Are they coachable and can they follow a system? Are they people who take immediate action when they recognize an opportunity? Do they have a large circle of influence? Asking these questions will help you identify potentially good business partners.

Remember that, as the CEO of your own organization, you will want to recruit the very best team you possibly can find. Classifying your contact list will help you identify other individuals who share your values. I recommend building your "dream" network marketing team with people who have the qualities that you strive for and admire.

Other Criteria - Are there people in your prospect list who are currently involved in another Network Marketing company, or who have previous experience building a multi-level marketing business? This can either be a good thing, as they may already be open to the concept of Network Marketing, or not so good, if they received poor training and experienced lack of upline support in the past and now are carrying some negative feelings or misconceptions about the Network Marketing industry.

The same thing applies to approaching professional salespeople. Some sales-trained professionals may be open to the idea of Network Marketing once they realize that multi-level marketing organizations create their sales volume based on a lot of people using and recommending a little bit of product each, and some may not get the point of Network Marketing at all, preferring instead to continue earning sales commissions through the addition of their individual sales, instead of via the multiplication and leverage of a team of people working together!