For the post:
“Want to recruit 8 out of 10 people?”
He sells training programs to networkers, like I do, and thought the post was too negative.
“Motivate people to do it,” he wrote me, “and let the natural order of things weed them out…”
Motivate people to do it. (Buy the program, buy into the deal, etc.)
If that is someone’s marketing goal, it would explain the uber-hype and big promises in the sales pitches for most self-help and mlm training programs, and for network marketing itself by its leaders and salespeople. You know…
“Want to recruit 8 out of 10 people?
“Find only hitters who will do $100,000 per year…”
“If I could show you a way to make $5,000-10,000/mo working 5-7 hours a week, would you be interested?”
“It’s easy, anyone can do it.”
“Everyone will want the product. It sells itself.”
Etc…
These pitches have motivated plenty of people to buy into whatever’s being offered.
Now, says my friend, marketing’s goal must be to “motivate them to do it” because, how do we know who will succeed? Hey, we’re giving everyone a chance at the American dream with [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][our mlm or training program], who are you do decide who will succeed or not?
So we should motivate them to buy the program or buy into the deal, and “let the natural order of things weed them out…”
And so the ticket-to-success sales go on.
He has a point. I know he does.
What bothers me is this: no one tells the buyers, sometimes giddy with hopes and dreams, the rules of the game or the probabilities of success, before they buy their tickets or before the game starts. Most pitches (and those marketing them) not only hide the truth, they make promises and offer up images that are patently false (product sells itself, recruit 8 out of 10, etc.) – to motivate them to buy in. Only much later, when it’s too late and they’re in knee deep or more, do they find out what they got into.
Is that a good thing?
There’s a name for purposely keeping information back from those who don’t know – sins of information…
“It is common,” write the Freakonomics authors, “for one party to a transaction to have better information than another party.” This is typically used to the disadvantage of the novice.
This situation leads to many crimes which the authors describe as “sins of information. Most of them involved an expert or a gang of experts, promoting false information or hiding true information…”
Do we really have to lead with half truths or worse?
Can you picture the caravans? Tens of thousands of folks in our field moving on, their tickets-to-success used up, mostly women, the losers in this game. Broke in spirit or pocketbook, they blame themselves. Because of course, they keep seeing those promises and hearing the rare big success story repeated over and over, so they’ve concluded “It must be me.”
That seems wrong to me.
Am I too sensitive about our marketing rhetoric?
Or are we (who market ‘tickets to success’) just too chicken to ask for people who are up for a challenge – perhaps because there are fewer of them?
People who want to OVERCOME to achieve, who want to amount to something, who want to be somebody and learn how to survive the many obstacles, including discouragement and ridicule, that are bound to come on anyone’s journey to finding (and doing) something meaningful in their lives?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
A wise mentor of mine said, if you have to “close” someone to get into your deal, you will have to close them every month to stay in. Wouldn’t we rather call the name of someone who wants what we have and they “stick” than to have to re-recruit someone who is “just looking”?
This is exactly why I direct anyone looking at my business to my website to make sure they know what they are getting into BEFORE they sign.
This is exactly why I prefer to work with people who are familiar with the concept of network marketing.
This is exactly why I don’t like to use a “get them on a call and SLAM them into the deal” approach.
Roxanne
What he doesn’t realize is that is exactly the kind of hype that keeps good people out of network marketing.
I know, because I avoided network marketing for 15 years after I saw some good people spend three years chasing their dreams right into massive debt.
But their sponsor kept telling them, “Invest in yourself!” So, off they went on the cruises and to the seminars. And they bought all the books and tapes. But the “natural order of things” prevailed.
Could you imagine if franchises used that approach? What if McDonalds let anyone with $1000 open up a store and then let the “natural order of things” weed people out. How many stores would you see going out of business? And then how many really good people would want to open up a McDonalds after seeing 95% go out of business?
— Walter (from Appleton, WI)
Walter@NMC
http://www.NuOpportunity.com
Kim:
You are hitting serious nerves and egos with your postings….
GOOD FOR YOU!
You are putting many on the defensive but they need to hear what you are saying.
Why not be upfront and truthful about the facts when you do ads? People can still be motivated – but with the truth behind them. I did not know that when people are told the truth they lose motivation…hmmmm …odd concept.
In law there is the concept of an unconscionable contract – much like the “sins of information.” I think this is why Federal agencies are often proposing regulations to rein in network marketing. Like most law, definitions and circumstances are not always clear or have what is called a bright line….but within network marketing some are pushing the boundaries of what is legal, ethical and/or in the public interest…..
So keep hitting those nerves…they need it ☺
Lynn
grow older better
Kim,
I figured this was coming and I let it go by last time, but this time I just couldn’t. I had to share our team experience with you.
We have used many lead/marketing programs over the years including the sizzle card system. When we did it, we did it as a team, so it included the very top bananas all the way down to the newbies. So I consider that a fair test.
In this case, we all spent a lot of money on this system several years ago and worked at it wholeheartedly to make it work because we believed we had finally found the ticket to our success. It failed.
I say IT failed because we did everything we were told to do to achieved our guaranteed success. We listened to all the training and conference calls, we bought the sizzle cards, we handed out thousands of them and nothing happened. It didn’t matter whether it was the top banana or the newbies – nobody got anything of value from it. In fact, you wouldn’t believe the calls I did get. They didn’t have $25 to get started!
The system may be different now, but I have heard the same thing from other networkers more recently.
So after a few systems and a lot of dollars later, we came to the conclusion that many of these companies promise great things and fail to deliver.
So we went back to the old-fashioned way of building a networking business – building relationships – the way we all achieved our success in the beginning. And guess what? It still works!
I know that these systems work for some people, but I have found it is an exception rather than the rule. And the companies know that too. Therefore, when a company makes these promises that anyone can do it and achieve great success, it is the same as reps making these promises to their newbies in NWM. It is dishonest and it ruins the reputation of this industry as a whole.
So if they want to market their programs, that is fine, but tell the truth when they do. Tell us what it really takes to be successful with the program so we can decide based on the facts. We know there is no magic bullet but we expect it to at least work reasonably well. At least better than what we are doing now. Of course, if they told the truth, how would they make the sale?
That is why I am so grateful for what you have done for us here. This takes us back to the roots of network marketing – building relationships. It gives us a place to attract the kind of people we are looking for without the gimmicks. No hype – no promises – no problems. I have been a member since the beginning and we get far more than we pay for – and it increases in value every day. Now that is something to be proud of! What a wonderful world – and industry – this could be if everyone did the same.
Michelle
http://michelle.networkmarketingcentral.com
http://dreamtrips.networkmarketingcentral.com
http://nonisuccess.networkmarketingcentral.com
Re: “That seems wrong to me.” That’s because it IS wrong.
Re: “Am I too sensitive to our marketing rhetoric?”
Rephrased…”Am I too sensitive to being lied to?”
Another term for “sins of information” is “an omission lie”, and it IS a lie, and is unethical and immoral by any reasonable standard. The trainer who wants to promo to everyone is guilty of immoral behaviour not because he opens the door for all, but because he leaves out important details, information that hurts the other party. In business anyone who gets discovered doing so gets blackballed by the ethical business community, and deservedly so.
glennjaffas@prepaidlegal.com
“Sins of information”. I have always said I cannot act on information or use it to make a decision if I dont have it! This marketer seems as though he is afraid to give people the informaton they really need to make an intelligent and thoughtful decision regarding what they want or need before they “sign up” for whatever he has to sell. The sale seems to be the only thing he cares about.I think it is dishonest for anyone in a position of trust to “motivate” someone to do/buy something you are not sure would serve them. When people trust us, I believe they are trusting us to be honest to them and share all the information we might have about something…and then WE have all this info and WE can decide if it is for us.
This is EXACTLY why I have given up recruiting, at least for now. I can’t reconcile the two to make it work for me. Basically, we’re selling lottery tickets without giving people the odds. It’s impossble not to look at the successful ones and feel you must to blame when you don’t succeed.
I take others failures very personally when it happens. I want to know where I failed them. That’s harder to live with than just being customer focused. Thanks for helping me keep my sanity, and moral compass on target.
Cynthia Newcomb
It has other names beside “sins of information” and “sins of omission”.
They include more accurate and telling names like:
Deceptive conduct
Misrepresentation
Fraud
Unconscionable conduct
There are still others that I won’t write in a public forum, but are even more accurate and descriptive.
Sadly, it’s usually males who use them, and usually experienced professional sellers. And women who compete with males in the professional world.
Integrity, honesty, absence of guile, directness and transparency may not attract those with an agenda that’s essentially win-lose, but do we really want them in our downlines?
Do we want termites in our timber homes? Rats in our rafters?
Right things for right reasons is the only guaranteed way to achieve genuine, long-term success through any kind of business relationships.
John
There are so many factors involved in success that prove that hype does not help very many people succeed!
Your product definitely must be unique in the marketplace and timing is everything!
I am not sure where I stand with network marketing as I have been in enough to be moderately successful and am now going bankrupt…I wish the network marketing track record were better and, at the same time, I am glad to see people want who sincerely want to improve its image. Perhaps then I will re-consider an honest Networking company…
Some marketers don’t believe that people will buy their products without the hype. Isn’t that just like saying that people don’t have the guts to make a decision based on the facts.
This is why people fail, they don’t get the correct information, support and training to help them succeed.
The biggest threat to success is being told you have a business of your own and now you are your own boss.
What does that mean to most people?
Do they really understand? I didn’t but I do now. So now it’s back to the school of MLM. Learn my craft, understand that there’s a process. A process that involves business as well as personal development. 2-5 years, 2-5 years. Go to work consistently, persistently, raise people up. Help them get educated and help them grow.
People are so tired of hype (lies). All of these post validate the “New School of Network Marketing” concept – especially the “NO PROMISES, NO PROBLEM” part.
Nice piece of writing, Kim. I am impressed.
You just keep right on going Kim.
Like others have said: this is the drivel that gives our industry a bad name.
Honesty and one customer at the time is the only way as far as I am concerned.
Ever try to fly
without an engine?
Wings alone won’t do it.
We BOUGHT into motivation,
without “honest numbers” support.
Until… Kim and NMC.
Gratefully,
Carolyn
Here’s what gets me in the deal, honesty brutal and without hype. I’m a big girl, that doesn’t want or need a bunch of fairy tales. I want the truth and nothing but the truth without pressure of if you don’t act now the opportunity is off the table. There’s a reason many mlm companies and training companies have lousy reputations among people and ultimately it makes a thousand time more difficult to give people the vision of working for themselves and earning a wonderful residual income in the process. I can’t say I’ve made money yet but like the kid in the room full of horse manure I know there’s got to be a pony in here somehwere.
Sandy Tubb