Kim Klaver, John Fogg and I have been going round and round about the objection "I don’t Have Time". Allow me to get you up to speed:

John wrote:

Me: "Boy (sorry…) girl… do I understand that one. May I ask you a trick question."

She:  "What kind of ‘trick’ question?"

Me:  "It’ll be pretty obvious. I’m not devious enough. So, may I ask?"

She: "Sure."

Me: "If you knew (without a doubt) that six months from now you’d be
earning at least $1000 a month from your network marketing business…
would you be able to make the time?"

She: [Silence.]

Me: "I told you it was a trick question."

She; [Laughing] "Yes you did. Well… (thanks for asking) yes, of course, I would have the time."

Me: "So… can we speak about your doubt?"

She: "Sure… please."

And another prospect is transformed in to business-building butterfly.

Kim posted her thoughts here and here.

I posted some comments suggesting that there is no need for the trick question and that it was cheesey and shiester-esque. I’m guessing that Fogg didn’t care much for that because he used the term dribble three times and fool twice (I think) in his response.

First let me say that I don’t remember the last time that I got this as an objection. I am not trying to brag here, but it doesn’t come up.  By the time people get to me, they are asking for change.

I should also mention that John Fogg and I speak occasionally and I am pretty sure that he would say that he likes me and I would tell you that I like him.  We don’t have to agree on everything to be friends. John has some great resources on his blog and I am a regular reader.

So, the fool (that’s me) will now "dribble" out (get it? Tribble –
Dribble? heheheh) several  questions that could be asked of
Fogg’s prospect that are more suited for the Bill Gouldd-less Network
Marketing in the 21st Century.

A potential business partner says:

"I don’t have time"

Now here is what I would say…

"What makes you say that?"

But that is really getting ahead of the situation.  Before that kind of question would even come up (hopefully) you would have talked about what is important to the other person.

So if that question came up, you might say…

"Let me ask you this, if you had more time in your life, what would you do with it?"

You should know about a persons goals and dreams before any sort of "I just don’t have the time" objection comes up.

So if I know of some specific goals I might ask…

"You mentioned that you would really like to (fill in the blank…volunteer more time, take more vacations, spend more time with kids, etc) do you feel like you will have the time to do those things if you do not initiate some type of change in your life?"

Do you see where I am going?  You don’t need the implied income claim (If you knew (without a doubt)…$1,000). Even if you say that is it a trick question, it is really? 

On the other hand, if you indeed helped people make $1,000 a month within 6 months, why not 3-way them in and let the other person tell them all about it, you and your help.

In that case you might say:

"I understand how you feel about time, in fact, I have a friend who had the same type of question when we started working together…can you hold on for a second?"

(3-way in your $1,000 earner) and then introduce them to each other and ask your $1,000 earner to share his story…

No claims and no mess.