How to Use Social Media to Find Great Recruits for Your Business

So many well meaning direct sellers try to recruit everyone with a pulse. Why? Well it’s in the training we get. Offer the opportunity to everyone! Don’t pre-judge! You never know who needs it. And to an extent, I can see how this is important. After all, we tend to err on the other extreme, afraid to tell ANYONE about the opportunity in fear of being “pushy.”

But an unfortunate outcome of this strategy is that we convince people to do the business, and then we have to convince them every day to keep at it. Every setback becomes OUR fault. And ultimately it makes the recruiter exhausted (so their time is not spent effectively) and it causes the recruit, when they finally quit (which they will) to have a negative impression of our industry.

I think the time has come to do this differently.

Social media helps us with this. There are millions and millions of people online. You can’t realistically present the opportunity to all of them. So why not find the ones who are the BEST prospects?

How can you tell?

Listen to their conversations and what they post on their social networks
Search on keywords and get Google or SocialMention.com Alerts on phrases people looking for business opportunities might use (such as “out of work” or “need money”).
Provide content through a blog or your own status updates related to a home-based business. See who engages with the content.
Frequent online forums related to people that want to start businesses (do a Google search for those related to your product line and business.) See who has the business sense to be successful, and build a relationship.

Now remember, it’s NEVER appropriate to blast your recruiting messages out through general status updates. Instead, focus on building relationships with individuals, learning about what is important to them, and then individually presenting those aspects of the opportunity that will be most appealing to them.

If you haven’t yet created a profile of your IDEAL recruit, you should! This is probably someone with drive, who needs money, and has business skills. After all, if you can reach ANYONE, wouldn’t you want to find the ideal?

It’s time to be done with desperate recruiting. Let’s start focusing our efforts on the people that want to do this business, and watch your income soar!

What do you think? What tips would you give someone who wants to recruit online?

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Kristy Pool

June 28, 2010 | 5:57 pm

Excellent article. That is how I feel when I think about recruiting, I want people on my team who I won’t have to drag along. I am just starting out, so hopefully I can find driven people!

Diane Aksten

June 28, 2010 | 2:19 pm

Jennifer: I absolutely could not agree more!!!

During these times of economic instability and uncertainty for many families, I believe there are a large group of people searching for a way to make some extra money or change careers, either by choice or by necessity. As a business builder, I believe my time is better spent working with people who have a genuine interest in building a home based business, rather than chasing people who have absolutely no interest in my business or direct sales.

I’ve always said, “If you have to talk someone into joining your business, you’ll have to talk them into building their business from that point forward”.

Yusuf C

June 28, 2010 | 2:14 pm

I totally agree with you. The majority of the people are not into the opportunity mind set. From my experience it’s easier to share a product or service than the opportunity. But when the service makes sense to my prospect & is she/he is highly interested then I share the opportunity. Overall I love your 4 tips on how to look for one