The Psychology of Recruiting: Why People Say Yes

Episode Summary

Here's the truth: if the right people aren't joining your team, it's probably not a posting problem—it's a belief problem. And most recruiters don't even know it.

In this episode, Rachael Bodie breaks down the will vs. skill framework—and why the highest-level recruiters aren't just explaining the business, they're building belief. She introduces the BOSS Method, a four-part content strategy designed to attract high-capacity team members by speaking to both logic and emotion. Because your dream recruit isn't scrolling past because she doesn't understand your business—she's scrolling past because she doesn't see herself in it yet.

Why You Should Listen: What You'll Learn

Understand the Will vs. Skill Framework When this is missing, it looks like posting consistently and still not converting—because you're only talking to logic. You'll learn how to identify the two real reasons someone doesn't join (skill and will)—because once you understand this distinction, your entire recruiting strategy shifts.

Use the BOSS Method to Create Content That Actually Converts When this framework is absent, it looks like content that educates but doesn't inspire—and a pipeline that stays cold. You'll learn how to use four specific content types (Behind the Scenes, Other People's Wins, Shift Beliefs, and Your Story) to hit both will and skill—because once you map your content to this system, you start attracting people who are ready to move.

Leverage Social Proof Strategically When this is missing, it looks like sharing only your biggest wins—which can feel aspirational but too far away. You'll learn how to spotlight early results and everyday impact from team members—because when your audience sees people like them winning, they start asking, "Why not me?"

Address Objections Before They're Said Out Loud When you skip this layer, it looks like great one-on-one conversations that still don't close. You'll learn how to take the objections you hear privately and address them publicly in your content—because this one shift has tripled recruiting results for Rachael's clients.

Tell Your Brand Story to Bridge the Gap When this skill is underdeveloped, it looks like showing up without a clear through-line that connects where your ideal recruit is now to what's possible for her. You'll learn how to craft and deliver your before-and-after story—because your life is the proof that it works, and sharing it is one of the most powerful recruiting tools you have.

Resources Mentioned

Free Systems Audit If you're a six-figure direct sales leader and your recruiting isn't producing at the level it should, apply for a free systems audit. You'll get a diagnostic of what's blocking your results and three shifts to move you forward. 👉 https://www.rachaelbodie.com/mini-session

Social Selling Leadership Edit (Free Email Series) Weekly insights on leadership skills for network marketers, recruiting systems, duplication, and sustainable growth. 👉 https://www.rachaelbodie.com/leadership-edit-email

Instagram Daily leadership insights, social selling strategies, and behind-the-scenes mentoring. 👉 https://www.instagram.com/rachaelbodie/?hl=en

Elevate for Social Sellers – Facebook Community A space for social sellers focused on mindset, systems, and sustainable growth. 👉 https://www.facebook.com/groups/elevateforsocialsellers

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Social Selling Leadership Podcast, the show for six-figure network marketers ready to scale with alignment and simple systems. I'm your host, Rachel Bode, network marketing expert and industry veteran. Each week you'll learn the strategies and systems top leaders use to enroll high-quality recruits, create duplication in their downline, and lead with confidence. Let's dive in. Welcome back to the show. I had the most incredible weekend. I had the privilege of uh keynoting at an annual convention for a large company. Um, I also got to do some breakout sessions. And you know, there's nothing like immersive events. I just love all the sidebar conversations and was training with leaders all weekend, and the pattern I kept seeing was exactly what I want to talk with you about today. So if you have ever sat down to talk about the business and you're thinking, I don't know what to post to recruit, or why aren't the right people joining my team? Because I got this question again and again uh over the weekend. This episode is going to shift the way you think about marketing the business opportunity completely. Because the truth, most network marketers miss, what's blocking your future team member from saying yes is not necessarily that they need more information. A lot of times people hesitate because of lack of belief. Belief in themselves, belief in the business opportunity, and sometimes belief in you as a mentor. So I put this into a framework I call will versus skill. So I want you to think about it like this. There are only two reasons someone doesn't join you. It's a skill issue where they don't understand how it works, or it's a will issue. And will can be broken down to desire and belief. Either they don't have the desire to do it, which you know you can't really generate that, or most importantly, they don't have the belief they can do it. And most network marketers, they just show up and they focus on skill. So when they're talking about the business, when they're recruiting, when they're marketing, they're focused on the skill category. That's what most people think recruiting is about. And what skill, what that sounds like, it means your ideal team member is thinking, I don't actually understand how this business works, or I don't know if I can earn money doing this, or uh, I don't know how to do this alongside my busy life. So, because of that, naturally, uh, network marketers create content that focuses on explaining the process, right? How you can help them and what you do day-to-day, or breaking down the compensation plan. And of course, that information matters, but here's the problem: this is where everyone con everyone's content lives. So when you look out there and you look at how most people are marketing the opportunity, it's in the skill bucket. But the highest level recruiters, many of my clients, they don't just solve for skill, they solve for will. And that is through belief shifting content. Because your dream team member, when she is watching you, she's silently asking, Will this work for me? Do I think I can actually do this? Can she help me? Are you the mentor who's gonna help me get there? And is this the right company or the right vehicle? So if your content is only explaining how, you're only speaking to logic. And that's really important because decisions like this, especially to join a business, are made emotionally. Remember how the think, feel, accent, or works. We have a sentence in our brain, a story, a thought that generates an emotion, a feeling, and a feeling is what drives action, how we show up. So you want to think about creating content that generates emotions like hope, curiosity, inspiration, um, confidence. And this is the psychology of recruiting. That's why you can have great information and clear systems and even proven results, and still not be converting ideal team members. And that's because belief hasn't been built. So I want to give you a real-life example of my own life of what this looks like. So there is a creator I follow, her name is Lindsay Marie, and she's the founder of Towerhouse Women. And I have followed her for a long time. I really love for inspirational quotes that she shares. So I was just like a casual consumer of her content. So I liked it, I followed along. You know, I wasn't fully bought in, but then she posted something that really shifted it for me. So she went through a divorce, I think about a year ago, and she posted this reel. It was almost like an audition tape showing up to share what she was looking for in a partner. And I remember thinking, whoa, that is really, it's really ballsy. It's really bold. But it wasn't even that post that got me. So she posted that, and the very next day, she shared this follow-up. And in the video, she said, you know what? I had this breakthrough in showing up to share that audition video. She said, I realize I don't like to be seen trying. And she talked about the resistance that she felt, how uncomfortable it was to show up publicly, call your shot, and go after something that she wanted, right? And risk failing in front of people. And that it hit me, you guys, it resonated so deeply because I realized I still have that in me. Even at this level, even after all the success, building two businesses at seven figures, all the wines at work, all the certifications, all the time being mentored by John Maxwell, there's still a part of me that didn't want to be seen, fully seen, trying. There's still that part of me. And so that's the work that I'm doing right now. In that moment, something shifted for me. And I thought, wow, like this woman, she inspires me. So a few weeks later, she posted about her live event in Arizona. And you know what? I bought a ticket. I didn't hesitate. And not only did I buy one for myself, but I bought one for my sister. Then I upgraded us both to VIP. So I spent, I don't know, something like four grain. Not including first class airburger two, by the way. So we're gonna make a girls' weekend out of it, but listen, not because I needed more information on her or not. Because in that moment, I trusted her. I saw myself in her and I was inspired by who she was being. This is the power of will-based content. Okay, and the same principle applies for recruiting. So if you want to attract go-getters, ambitious builders, you need content that addresses both will and skill. So don't worry if you're thinking, how do I do this? I have a framework for you. Um, I'm calling it the boss method, B-O-S-S. This works for content on your feed or in your stories, and it's an acronym for four different types of content that are gonna hit both on will and skill. So the first B is behind the scenes, and behind the scenes can be a combo of will and skill. But this is where you're gonna show how your business works, right? An overview of what you do, right? Here's what we do, here's what it looks like, here's how we earn, here's our comic commission structure, our team bonuses, here's what my mentorship looks like. You know, it's a 30-day plan and there's calls and support. Uh, it may sound like what to expect, you know, what happens next when you say yes. And this is really all about removing confusion because you're showing them what they'll be doing, but then how you'll be supporting them. So this is gonna build belief in you as the mentor. The O stands for other people's whims. Okay, and this is will. This is all about social proof, but done strategically. So there's something uh in psychology called the bandwagon effect. You've probably heard of it, right? Like jumping on the bandwagon, but the whole premise here is that when people see other people doing something or getting results, they're more likely to jump on the bandwagon. So when you're show, you're showcasing other people's results, not just your success, this helps you to recruit. And that's because for a lot of you, your success can feel too far away.

unknown 8:01

Right?

SPEAKER_00 8:02

So when you're only sharing you're a six-figure earner, seven-figure earner, that is aspirational, but it can be too far away for some people. Now, don't worry, we want to share that too. We'll get to that in a minute. But instead, you want to show people like them winning, right? So early results, real life impact, um, screenshots from team members of what they're using their checks for. You know, it's great that we're doing these building dream homes, but what about the small things? Why working at groceries or paying for, you know, travel sports? This is where your ideal team member starts to shift and think, huh, you know what? Why not me? I can do what these people are doing. Okay, the first S is for shift beliefs. And this is will. And I want you to think about your content should be overcoming objections. And this is the layer so many people skip. In fact, one of my clients, we one of the things we've been focusing on is she has been, she went from recruiting slump, she's been recruiting like crazy now. But a big shift she made is the objections she was uh getting privately on one-on-one conversations and calls, she started addressing publicly. So what you need to do is you have to address the objections that maybe they haven't even said out loud yet. But you've heard before, right? I'm not good at social media, or I'm not a salesperson. I don't want to be salesy. Or if you're in health and wellness, someone may say, Well, I can't do that. I'm not my goal weight, I don't look like you, or I don't look, you know, what I don't look like what I think you should look like. Guys, this is where real conversion happens. And my client who I just mentioned, who made this shift by you know, uh publicly speaking to objections in her stories, she has three X for recruiting in the past two months. So this is huge. Okay, the last S. The last S is for your story, and that is because you are your avatar, you are your dream team member, right? You are perfectly positioned to serve the woman you once were in all the different iterations and all the different versions of you. And, you know, to be honest, this is one of the ways of that I had so much success in my network marketing business because I was showing up and I was recruiting up because I was, you know, working for John Maxwell for 14 years. I was a corporate working professional. So I showed up in that identity and I spoke to those women who were super successful but were burned out. So I recruited doctors and dentists and engineers and who else? Um, nurse practitioners, people in corporate, because I was speaking to that version of her, which was a version of me. So in this type of content, you want to help people see that you get it because you've been there. You want to help them see themselves in your story. So I call this sharing your brand story, and this is one of the most valuable skills you can cultivate. And by the way, this is a skill that you want to practice and you want to teach your team to practice. You want them to know what do you say when someone asks, what do you do? And sometimes you just you can shorten it and it can be super quick, and other times you can lengthen it and you can make it longer. But such an important skill, learning how to present your story. So again, I call it your brand story, and I probably need to do a whole nother podcast episode on this, but just in a couple quick, you know, high-level bullet points. Your brand story is essentially where you were before.

unknown 11:40

Right?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Where were you before? What were all the things you were thinking? What was happening in your life? What were the results that you had that you didn't want? So, what was life like before you said yes? What hesitations did you have? What were your objections? That's a great way to overcome objections and say, hey, I get it. I didn't have a social media following too, right? I thought that too. So it's it's your before, and then the turning point, you said yes, and then what is life like now? Right? What is life, what what are uh how do you think differently? How do you get to show up differently? What new results do you have? Physically, financially, emotionally, uh, travel. This is a great place to tell stories. For example, uh, for me, one of my turning points in deciding to say yes to this. Well, aside from the fact I was working, you know, 50 plus hours a week, traveling internationally, commuting 90 minutes each day, and I had a three and four-year-old. So I was just missing out on my kids' lives, and it was just, it was a lot. And um, and my my keynote this week, and I was talking, I told my story, and I was talking about how pretty much every starting on Saturday, I would have the Sunday scaries, and I would like break down on Sunday night. But this is the thing that pushed me over the edge. So my daughter, Lily, she was graduating kindergarten, and they here in the South, they did this little alphabet musical where each kid got a different letter and they had to dress up, and she was so excited. She was practicing with me. Lizzie the lizard for Lily. She got the L. And about, I think it was about a week before, we were working a huge deal. Um, I was responsible for building out leadership development programs for Fortune 500s, and I had to fly to Charlotte. I was working with Hendrick Automotive Group, one of my largest clients. My boss was like, need you to go to this meeting. And I'm like, Well, this is my daughter's kindergarten graduation. And they said, We're sorry, but we need you to go. And in that moment, I was like, hell no, never doing this again. I have to do it now, but I'm gonna I need to create a life where I'm not missing out on the most important moments of my kids' lives. And I really did miss out on their first three to four years because I was constantly working. And that's what network marketing did for me. It created true freedom. So for me to share my story now, it's like I can't imagine my life without this opportunity in this life-changing industry. So, this type of content, you guys, your story, it bridges the gap between where they are and what they think is possible. Your life is an example of what's possible. So, most network marketers, they show up and they talk about the business opportunity, thinking, if I just explain it better, more people are gonna join. Or if I just talk about it more. And that's not necessarily the case. Because high-level recruiting, the top recruiters, it's not just about more information, it's about building belief, showing them who they can become. Because your dream team member isn't asking, do I get this? She's asking, can I do this? Do I see myself in this? Can I trust this person? So when people aren't joining you, I want you to ask yourself, are they stuck because they need more clarity on the process? Which it could be true. Or probably, are they stuck because they don't feel certain it's for them? Because your content should answer both. Because if you want to recruit your ideal team members, you need to master will-based content and skill-based content. So go look at your last 10 pieces of content. I do this with my clients when I do content audits for all of them. Ask yourself honestly: am I only teaching how? Am I only talking about skill? Or am I actually speaking to belief? Because this one shift changes everything about who you attract. And here's what I want you to sit with. I want you to sit with this tension. That dream team member, that dream recruit, she's not scrolling past because she doesn't understand your business. She's scrolling past because she doesn't see herself in it yet. So you can keep posting and hoping, right? Posting and praying, the right people find you. Or you can get intentional about creating the content that actually converts dream team members. So here's what I want to leave you with. If you're a six-figure direct sales leader and you know your recruiting isn't producing at the level that it should be, this is exactly the work that I do. Not just motivation or not things or strategy that you already know, which is, let's be honest, all over the place. There's so much information out there. So many people are confused about even how to show up. We get into the actual systems, the content, the messaging, the belief gaps, and we identify what's creating the block. We actually co-create a simple content strategy together. So I want to invite you to apply for a free systems audit. Again, if you are at that six-figure level, so you can go to the show notes, use the link there. What we'll do in that call is we'll look at your current recruiting approach. We'll do a diagnostic to pinpoint exactly what's blocking it, and we'll map out three shifts that will move you forward. Because you already know how to work hard. This is about making sure the right people can finally see what you're building and want. Okay, we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the Social Selling Leadership Podcast. If today's episode resonated, be sure to follow the show so you never miss an episode. If you want to go deeper into what I teach here, join my free email series, the social selling leadership at edit. It's where I share all my best tools and strategies. Just head to the show notes for the link and all the details. I'll see you next time.