So we unwrapped a new board game for Christmas and aside from the fun we had, it showed the importance of listening and asking questions. This 2 player game has 3 sets of cards. Each set has 24 different monsters. Each player has a board and receives one set of character cards that are placed on their board standing up facing them. The third set of cards is shuffled and each player draws a card and places it on their board. The object of the game is to find out which monster the other person has by asking a question to which the answer is a “yes” or a “no”. They ask questions in turn to eliminate monsters and through that process of elimination find out who the other players monster is before they find out yours. I had only played the game a few times before I realized how this applied to Network Marketing.

It revealed the importance of asking the right types of questions, questions that let you quickly sort through the monsters to find the right one. Five or six questions and you were done. My daughter seemed to have developed a formula very quickly. The next day we played the best of 5. She won the first 2 and I battled back to win 1. That was the only one, as she quickly extinguished any hopes I had of making a miraculous comeback and won 3 more in a row.

I let her go first, my first lesson; he who goes first is in control. The questions I asked were always in reaction to what she was doing. I was off balance and trying to feel where she was going. She had a formula to her questions; there was a simple pattern that she followed. She asked the same questions and just mixed up the order. She obviously had a plan before she started. So have a plan before you start. Prepare yourself to win.

Here’s a plan to follow. First and foremost have a prospecting plan. What do you need to find out to see if what you have to offer is a good fit for your prospective partner? What type of questions do you need to ask? Are they looking? Do they have desire? What do they want to accomplish? Do they have time necessary to invest in their success? Do they have start up capital?

Life is full of lessons and the more we listen and ask questions the shorter the climb to success for all of us.