General

Are you trying to convert the heathen?

“How come they won’t buy?” she asked.

Some consultants blame you and your presentation. Got this in an email the other day:

MLMU’s Biz Tip of the Day #105
There are no bad leads. There are only bad presentations.
Think about it.
Hilton Johnson, MLMCoach

Others, with whom I agree much more, suggest that you may not be talking to someone who shares the same degree of passion for your thing (product or business) as you do. Here’s more on it from our friends at Passionate Users.

The big question: How do you find people with your leanings, your worldview, or passion for your product or business to begin with? You know, in your lifetime?

Instead of spending your days trying to convert the heathen. And there’s a heathen for everything someone else loves.

heathen: 1. the unconverted. (to your passion 🙂 – KK)

About the author

Kim Klaver

4 Comments

  • The best way to find someone with your passion is to just ask. I have listened to myself and others rattle on and on about our business, our products and services, our “great opportunity” to make zillions of dollars and only until recently did it dawn on me to ask a simple question: “Are you interested in …?” It doesn’t seem to be a difficult thing to do, but in this age of recruiting evangelism too many of us are rushed out of our senses to stop and think, much less listen to the people we’re calling (or ourselves). I used to make 1000 calls a month prospecting. I’d talk with 200 to 300 people each month and spiel my pitch at them without thinking. It was automatic. Plus, I had to get this call over so I could move to the next one. It’s a variation on the old “throw it against the wall and see which ones stick” ploy from marketing.

    Now, we need to think before we speak, ask permission and find out what people really want. As to how we find those people with our same passion, well, you have to ask. It may not be the most efficient or the fastest way to do it, but I will guarantee that you’ll find the 1 out of 100 more frequently than we do now. And, you won’t have to make 1000 phone calls a month to do it.

    These folks aren’t wondering around wearing signs that say “Looking for a home-based business,” or “Need a product that …”
    You have to search them out and find those who will do it because they love it. This may seem like a strange analogy, but perhaps America’s greatest military leader, Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. was incredibly successful because he loved war. To him it was man’s greatest achievement. “God help me, I do love it so,” Patton said. When our passions reach that intensity, not only will we find those people we’re looking for, they will find us.

  • Would that we had more people in our industry, or anywhere, who could say from their soul, about ANYTHING,

    “God help me, I do love it so,” as Patton said.

  • Lacking appropriate personal knowledge, I’m not sure where I stand with regard to Hilton’s stuff… and whether his ‘Attraction Selling – versus persuasion, manipulation or hype’ really stacks up.

    A refeshing contrast to the ‘think and grow rich’ line peddled by the positive thinkers, he’s of course absolutely right with:
    —–
    Network Marketing is a numbers business. The more people you see and talk to, the more money you make. And the quality of the people you see and the quality of what you say to them will make you even more money.

    Your success is dependent upon having an organized system of generating qualified prospects and then giving them a compelling business presentation.
    —–

    But to say: ‘There are no bad leads’ is just nonsense (and perhaps of the variety intended to sell his support services). There are some/many for whom ‘compelling presentation’ just won’t do it – they really ain’t interested and no amount of persuasion will work.

    On the question of ‘how do you find people with your [view/passion]’… well, that’s a part of ‘networking’ and ‘marketing’ – perhaps the two biggest gaps in the barrage of stuff that’s foisted upon associates/distributors.

    More eloquently than I could put it, I recall Ty Tribble saying something like: ‘Most Network Marketers have two failings – they don’t network and they don’t market’. If we could master those, we’d have a far easier (and more financially rewarding) passage.

  • Well, Hilton – I, for one, HAVE thought about it – quite a lot, actually. And? You’re full of it on this one, sorry.

    My proof? The first 13 people who joined my business six years ago. Talk about a bad presentation! Holy moly – that was me! Talking out the side of my head, only a vague idea of how we made money, nothing to relay but what? How much I loved this company’s products.

    Oooohhh…Hilton – did ya hear me? Nothing but how much I loved my company’s products.

    Bad presentation, my behind! Six years later, more than half of those 13 are still with me.

    I know now (FOR SURE) that I didn’t start giving bad presentations until I’d been trained right out of remembering. Remembering what? HOW MUCH I LOVE MY COMPANY’S PRODUCTS. Which, by the way, is THE reason I’m still with them and likely always will be.

    You’ve only got it half right, Hilton – if there are no bad leads, then there are surely no bad presentations, either. Just mismatches.

    YOU think about it, Hilton.

Leave a Comment