Have you ever heard yourself telling a newbie:
“You just have to get customers.”
“Just get three who get three…”
“All you have to do is talk to your friends and family…”
Just… and all you have to do is… diminish the importance of whatever comes next.
Getting customers or reps is a big deal, isn’t it? Don’t 95% of the folks drop out because they can’t do that? Talking to friends – or anyone else – is not as easy as it sounds either.
Say those things without the belittling verbiage: you have to get customers; talk to your friends and family. Etc.
“Just” and “all you have to do is” give new reps the wrong expectations about what’s coming.
How can we inspire anyone if we minimize the hardest things we do?
Kim,
The top two challenges for most network marketers are:
1) Finding people who want to build the business
2) Finding new customers
Yes, I thing most of us have minimized the difficulty, but I will have to say I doubt the majority of us new better.
I know that exact verbage was what was taught to me when I was new. It felt uncomfortable then and now.
It came from a “red” personality who was immune to the word “no”. That was what worked for them and it’s the way they taught the program.
I now know better and try teach to the person and allow them to do what works best for them.
Brenda Bunney
http://MLMSuccessBunney.com
http://BrendaBunneyMLM.com
brendabunney@yahoo.com
Kim,
I would like to add “try” to the list. We either DO IT or we don’t. I know confidence is one of the things you teach.
Lisa Dingel
http://MammaLisa.com
Yikes. . .busted! I bet I’ve used the words “just find customers”, thinking I was “just” describing our premier activity, since our distributors are almost always customers who have loved the product madly. But I will never say “just” again, thank you!
Actually, Kim, you asked us a while back to let you know if there are any companies that don’t advertise their business opportunity on the home and affiliate sites, and mine is one that does not — prospective customers see only product information. I really like this, since in a previous business I used to hear, “I won’t have to sell these products just because I buy them, will I??” — There are still so many gun-shy people out there remembering Old School intimidations, sigh. . .but we know they’re relaxing fast with all these New School approaches happening, thanks to you! 🙂
Dianne
Wow. It’s amazing how powerful a few simple words can be. You are so right on, Kim. What we say in this business is critical.
I am afraid that before K2, I was guilty as charged. Thankfully, you came along and changed all that. Now I tell the truth. NM may not be the easiest, but it is the best business model out there.
Thanks Kim.
Marti
We do need to teach with confidence that the business can be done. Getting away from the old school ways of training our new associates that things are easy, just do this and this to make thousands will help insure their success and ours. We need to portray from the beginning that they are building a business just like the corner store it takes hard work, persistance, and patience.
Team work is a huge part of the business. Newbies need to be trained, encouraged, and even helped. It doesn’t do us any good to work so hard for a new associate only to watch them fail in two months.
Nancy Carlson
http://www.perfectmombusiness.com
Instead of:
“All you need to do is . . . “
How about:
“If you do these things consistently over time . . .”
And “these things” are inviting people to try the product and inviting people to listen to the opportunity.
Do you think you could do that if we showed you how?
🙂
— Walter Reade (from Appleton, WI)
Walter@NMC
http://www.NuOpportunity.com
I find that the more direct I am with people, the clearer the picture I paint of the ‘job’ to be done, the better off we all are.
There’s nothing worse than that feeling you get after you’ve brought someone into your business, but you KNOW that they’re coming in with expectations that are off base. And when we drag them in, with easy banter and promises of a bright tomorrow, with no effort and no work…well, we all know where it goes!
We drag them kicking and screaming every step of the way!
And, we end up doing the whole industry a disservice…because each person who’s mislead is one more voice who categorizes us as ‘one of those things’ that ‘doesn’t work’.
Seems to me that the job of our generation of networkers is to legitimize the industry, bring a little respect to the table…and it starts with us respecting the folks we’re speaking to.
Tripp Hanson
http://4all2win.com
Kim, you’re dead on, as usual! What we’re taught to do, and consequently blindly pass on to hapless prospects, reminds me of a Steve Martin routine. I’ll paraphrase it to the best of my memory here. He begins with the ear-grabber, “How to Make a Million Dollars…and Never Pay Taxes.” Of course, he has our undivided attention. “First…” he says, and he says it very fast, in the best minimizing manner possible, “…get a million dollars…NEXT…” and he rushes right into this, “when the IRS says you didn’t pay your taxes on this million dollars, you tell them two simple words, and it works every time–‘I forgot. I forgot that if you make a million dollars, you have to pay taxes on it.” From absurdity to absurdity, the comedy is based upon that very slick salesmanship we loathe, know is not accurate and yet find ourselves doing. Why? I think it’s because we’re not thoroughly persuaded ourselves of the viability of the opportunity, AND we’re so desperate for recruits we want to cast a very wide net and catch everything. Well, that’s not wise, on so many levels. One coerced associate who’s too lazy or simply emotionally unfit for the hard perseverence necessary for NWM is going to be unhappy, and unhappy folks talk–LOUDLY. That muddies the water for all of us. Just like marriage, weight loss, physical fitness and anything else worthwhile, becoming successful in NWM is going to take some hard sweat and tears… hopefully not too much blood. ;D
Oh boy, I hear people in my company saying that all the time. In fact their company literature uses those words. My upline though is very common sense and she knows (as I do) there is no “just” about it. This is hard work and it is business. I think if you don’t come into the business knowing that, you receive a very rude shock. It is the exception rather than the rule that you can “just” invite a few people to your home and “viola”, they order everything you have. Even people higher up in my line interview new business builders as if they were who they really are, potential business owners. I think it is time for our businesses to be real and transparent. We’ll have a lot more customers and more successful business owners if we do.
Thanks,
Deb
Kim,
I totally agree. I was recruited into MLM by the “just” and “all you have to do is” method. I felt belittled and put down when it didn’t come easy for me. It was humiliating. Made me feel like a dummy, even though I was at the top of my profession in another career.
I also agree with Lisa’s “try” comment. We either do it or we don’t. “Try” usually means we are not committed.
Teresa
I can hear those phrases echoing in my ears. “Just”…”all you have to do”….”try”… I heard them and I said them. Before I knew better. Now I am building a better person in me and a better group of people to work with me because they will not hear those phrases from me. Learn fast. Learn slow. Keep the end goal in mind. Stay focused and get a good coach and mentor to help you stay the course and get where you want to be.
From Kim: “Just… and all you have to do is… diminish the importance of whatever comes next.
”
snip
“Say those things without the belittling verbiage: you have to get customers; talk to your friends and family. Etc.
“Just” and “all you have to do is” give new reps the wrong expectations about what’s coming.
How can we inspire anyone if we minimize the hardest things we do?”
My reply:
I have a *thing* about the word ‘get.’ To me it implies coercion maybe even desperation. “Somehow tonight I’m going to get ____(whatever).” KWIM?
I also prefer to say ‘we’, as in “To create an income, we have to attract customers.” Network marketing touts “Be in business for yourself but not by yourself” right? So I want the people I sponsor to know that I’ll work with them.
Then I ask them what they like to do, what they are good at, what really gets them excited about the day? I want to know what they care about and be able to brainstorm ways to make business building fun for them.
On Kim’s call last night she talked about volunteering to do something we love to do as a way to meet more people. Like give a free class locally on something we’re really good at. And how that’s a perfectly fine way to prospect so long as we are genuine in our desire to share our talents, and help others, not just there to *get* people.
Eventually someone will ask “So what else do you do?” which is our opening to use some more of Kim’s training to let them know.
“I market a product for people with joint and wrist pain like I had, but who don’t want drugs or surgery. So if you know of anyone like that would you let me know?” Then without missing a beat, get off the subject and back what you’re there to teach. (genius credit to Kim:)
As far as: How can we inspire anyone if we minimize the hardest things we do?
When there is a disconnect between what we say and what we know, it may not be spoken but it is present in our conversations with prospects and reps just the same. I think people can be motivated enough to take action (sign-up) by a high-energy person who appears to have what they want. This happened to me actually so “been there done that” as they say.
But inspiration comes from feeling connected to and in-tune with another person on a deeper level. And from there, lots of good things can happen for everyone.
Kim is all about this, which is simply being real. Being yourself and knowing that is a valid starting point. I changed that from “good enough” which is what I originally wrote, because personal growth is inevitable side-effect of being a network marketer.
Be well,
Tracy
~~~
Tracy Austin
Thanks for the good comments all.
Lisa – the word “try” is something people tell us about what THEY’ll do (or try to do)…”I’ll try…”
The words ‘just’ and ‘all you have to do is’ refer to how we present to someone else something THEY have to do.
I agree though that when I hear “I’ll try” I pretty much write whatever it is, off.
Tracy,
I really enjoyed your response.
The word ‘get’ bothers me also. Obviously, that word in our current language has negative connotations associated with it. If you and I have the reaction we do, I think it’s a reasonable assumption that many other people do too.
You had a great line, “To create an income, we have to attract customers.” Some great use of language: ‘create’, ‘we’, and ‘attract’. If you don’t mind, I’m going to borrow these words from you. Of course, I’ll return them when I’m done with them.
Michael Whatley
I agree with you kim that what they told us do get your 3 and then help them get their 3. It wasn’t about getting customer or build your confident up to do the business, that why I thank you some much for teaching us the real truth about network marketing.
When someone spoke to me about the business boy did I fall for those words. I was so upset. It took me almost one year to realize that I had to go to school to learn network marketing from the experts. I have spent alot of money but now I know what it takes. It also takes doing what you learn. I am shy and so is my husband. It has been a real struggle talking to strangers. What is helping me is that I joined the Chamber of Commerce and started attending the monthyly functions. It helped me get up the nerve. What was great was these people are all in business also and they understand so they are all so nice to me. My husband has been listening to Todd Falcone and it has taken him forever to finally make a call. He did it and said, he was so nervous. He did say that most people are very nice. He is going to do it everyday and eventually it will become easy. I wish my upline would have given me some help. Forget that. But I know what to tell my recruits when I get some. I will care about them.
I cannot thank Kim enough for opening my eyes. Thanks Kim.
“Tell the Unvarnished Truth, All the Time… or take a Long Hike.”
[Borrowed from Tom Peters – with whom more people in NM should acquaint themselves.]