Lulu’s a tough prospect for Tom. Because Lulu “BELIEVES that she can’t or shouldn’t do network marketing.”
But in his newsletter today, Tom says no problem.
“We can instantly change [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”][her] point of view by saying:
‘Most people do network marketing every day,
but they just don’t get paid for it.’
“Then we can explain how everyone recommends and promotes
things every day, and we just choose to get paid for it
instead of doing it for free.”
Tom says that Lulu, upon hearing this, will change her thinking:
“Hmmm, there are two types of people in the world.
Those who collect a network marketing check every
month, and those who don’t. Which group do I want
to be in?”
Then he happily concludes:
“We have effectively changed the prospects’ point of view.
Now the prospects believe that they are already networking,
so we can skip that entire part of our presentation.”
-Tom (Big Al) Schreiter’s newsletter of 5.29.06
Many people tell this story to their prospects. And many prospects buy it, especially those inexperienced in business or needing some extra income.
It’s at least half true, isn’t it? We do recommend and promote stuff to each other.
So why not make money doing something you do everyday?
Our friend Lulu buys that story and signs up. She gets her product package, and a few days later calls you, her friend, to get together at Starbucks.
Over lattes, Lulu tells you about this new weight loss product she found out about. You want to lose a few, so you ask, “Great, so where do I get this and how much is it?”
She tells you she’s selling it.
Oh.
How do you feel now about all the nice things she said about it? Or about the get together for coffee?
A little used? Perhaps uneasy because now you’re on the spot as her friend – do you buy or not buy from her?
Lulu senses this, and offers the product at her cost. Or maybe offers it free.
(How many of you have offered your friends your products at your cost?)
She doesn’t want you to feel manipulated, because she knows you didn’t know you were being sold. So she forgoes her profit or gives it to you to preserve the moment and the relationship.
Friends don’t usually sell to each other. Yes, they recommend things, but not because they’re selling them. When this comes out, both people feel it, and it reduces the value of the recommendation to that of a sales person. Plus it puts pressure on the friend to buy, because it is your friend after all.
Next time, how do you think you’ll respond when Lulu has something new to tell you about?
And what about Lulu? Think she’ll make that next call as easily as she did this one?
She came in believing that she could make money doing something she does everyday: recommend and promote things, as Tom says.
But isn’t this just half the story? Like putting the extra red and fat strawberries on top and the not-as-good ones undeerneath? No one can see those until after they get home, and by then it’s too late (or too much trouble) to go back. But will you buy those strawberries from that store next time? How do you feel about those people now?
If Lulu came to you for advice today, what would you tell her to do next time out (assuming she’s willing to try again.)
Usse the Comments below, OK? There are thousands of reps in this situation. How would you help them, assuming it’s not too late?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
This is funny. I have been reading and listening to many of your products the last few months. I also happen to get “Big Al’s” Newsletter. As a testimony to your teachings, when I read “Big Al’s” newsletter today, I immediately had the same thoughts you talk about here. Furthermore, I can’t believe that anyone out there is so easily persuaded by such “tactics”. And do we really want to change someone’s thinking. How about finding the ones that see life the way you do already.
Indeed. Maybe people who use these tactics seek out people that are this easily swayed. You know, to get that first order. Pretty sad commentary on the quality of the people Tom seems to look for.
I know this is not the ‘what would you tell her to do next time out’ type of comment requested – though it’s relevant to Jeff’s comments of ‘I can’t believe that anyone out there is so easily persuaded by such tactics’ and ‘do we really want to change someone’s thinking?’.
And as K has since commented whilst I was writing, it’s also in-line with her remark of ‘the quality of the people Tom seems to look for’.
To me the Schreiter clip is a typical example of the MLM Nonsense [hhhmmm… still available as a .com – better race out and grab that one for an appropriately-branded ‘debunk this’ project] perpetuated and gleefully swallowed by… ‘the low renters’.
It’s been a little while since that remark was current, so let’s air it to set perspective…
Most NM-ers aren’t cynical coldly manipulative types who’re totally mercenary and will push whatever offers a payoff. Instead, they’re genuinely decent people wanting to make a difference in their life – easier and more satisfying work which pays better.
In their quest for this they often suspend rational judgment and allow themselves to ‘become a little too enthusiastic about stuff that really doesn’t merit it’… and hence deliver over-the-top presentations suitable only for like-minded others – and which are often totally ignored/rejected by almost everybody else.
There’s a not-often-enough-quoted remark from Macleod – ‘the market for something to believe in is infinite’. It’s absolutely on-the-money for much of NM – where second-rate stuff is peddled with alarming regularity and incompetence… with an at-times wilful disregard for sensible commercial awareness and common decency.
And this is the ground upon which stride the Schreiters, Sales, Johnsons et al of the world – willingly encouraging folk to consume stuff that in many cases simply won’t work for them personally. It’s this that often leads ordinary folk to be tagged as ‘low rent’.
‘They’re’ able to do their stuff naturally and successfully – which is why they’re where they are – exploiting the market – and we’re hanging-out left-of-center trying to make sense of it all and wondering ‘hhhmm, if I try that will it propel me to the next level?’.
Sure, some of it is sensible and works well. And much of it ain’t. Some is coldly manipulative. To me, Schrieter’s example perfectly encapusulates the short-changing of NM – that deliberate dumbing-down to appeal to a low-end and gullible audience – which leads ‘those outside the business’ to laugh rather than listen.
The ‘trick’ here is simple… ENGAGE BRAIN AND ACT. We’re all blessed with a little thinking-laboratory on top of our neck. Pity too many of us don’t use it enough. We don’t have to swallow the nonsense.
On Jeff’s second remark of ‘do we really want to change someone’s thinking?’ my view is ‘yes – if appropriate and mutally beneficial’. This business is of course ‘selling’ disguised as ‘marketing’ – which of itself requires the gentle shifting of mindsets:
——–
When we hear the word ‘sell’ we think of pushy tactics, car salesmen, tele-canvassing at dinner etc. What if we switch a couple letters… SELL->HELP and refocus on ‘if and how we might help people instead of selling to them’?
If what you’re selling meets a real need, you’ve a right and obligation to pursue appropriate engagement – which means introducing your stuff to others whom you’ve pre-identified as likely being able to benefit from your stuff’. And, if you’ve not undertaken such pre-identification and are simply ‘regarding everyone as a prospect’… then shame on you for swallowing more MLM Nonsense (Brooke, I think, is the most common proponent of the ‘bother everyone’ school of thought.
——–
This ‘everyone is a prospect’ remark is relevant to K’s remark of ‘the quality of the people Tom seems to look for’. Most NM-ers aren’t trained – and don’t really care – to prospect sensibly and go after everybody and anybody.
Having swallowed the ‘we’re helping people enrich their life’ guff, in their enthusiasm the unprofessional/amateur NM-er becomes closed to anything other than that which attracted them and their desire is to go shout it from the rooftops. When it doesn’t work, they shout louder to more people – whom they then blame for ‘not getting it’. Then they quit.
We need better training.
On the issue of ‘If Lulu came to you for advice today’, I’d tell her exactly what I tell all my clients [I’m not a NM-er, I provide business advice & support].
—–
… as an essential foundation of effectively developing your enterprise, step back and take an objective look at what you’re doing – consider what others are likely to think of your pitch and, if necessary, structure it to be something to which they can immediately relate – which might not be the reason ‘you bought it’.
…be aware of comercial principle & practice and conduct yourself accordingly. And ethically.
—–
Is there anything wrong in selling to friends? I suggest no – provided you’re open, upfront and honest.
This is a tough situation because I think you need to approach different people differently. It’s a matter of being able to read people and know how to steer a conversation. Some people will be better candidates if you come right out and share with them that you are selling something. Others will respond better if you introduce them slowly.
Either way, I think you need to come from the perspective of being able to solve problems for the person you are talking with. When you learn what their “problems” are, you can share your solution. If it is done in an effective manner, then the whole conversation won’t have sounded like a sales pitch.
Picking-up on Nicole’s point…
Maybe I’m even dumber than I realise. I see nothing ‘tough’ about it.
And ‘you need to approach different people differently’? Really? When did honesty cease to be a universal currency?
The very first line of my commercial site states: ‘You want a better business, I want your money… it’s a fair trade’.
I’m simply not interested in deals where someone has to be persuaded, convinced and sold – and tell folk to use their own best judgment rather than expect me to pitch.
This is a process that begins with proactively offering all relevant info – full disclosure from the get-go. Anything less will come back and ass-bite when you least expect it.
Besides, WTF is wrong with selling stuff? Is it really something about which we should be uneasy and hence resort to subterfuge?
And, on the issue of >When you learn what their ‘problems’ are, you can share your solution…
Is that pulled from volume 2 or 3 of The Book of Self Importance? Most sales aren’t made because someone has a problem. Whatever happened to folk simply buying stuff because they want to?
I believe that if it is all said upfront one doesn’t have to ever back peddle. You may have to start over but tell Lulu the truth.
Using what Kim teaches has helped get me away from the low rent feeling.
I liked the product so much that I decided to make it available to people who might not know about it. Just Like me. Friends love honesty upfront.
Thanks Kim
To reply to gulliver…
So are you saying that unless someone is as in-your-face as you are, they can’t make money? I don’t think that is what you mean to say.
I’m not by any means suggesting that you can’t be honest with people. But I certainly feel that you can approach people differently. Some people respond better under different circumstances. If you don’t see that, you may be missing a whole boat load of potential people. Perhaps that doesn’t matter to you, in which case that’s fine. But to suggest selling is as simple as coming right out and saying, “I’m selling this to you and I’m sure you want to buy it so let’s just make a deal” is a little overzealous in my opinion.
But hey, the best part of this business is you can do whatever works for you!
Nicole… if you read rather than simply react to my comment, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
The remark from Roger also highlights the point, which for avoidance of doubt, is simply that too much of NM – and most commerce – is needlessly and damagingly contrived.
In developing gambits to manipulate the process to our benefit we lose the opportunity for genuinely productive interaction based on total honesty and mutual respect.
Interestingly – or not – your ‘hey, the best part of this business is you can do whatever works for you!’ is exactly the remark I received from Schreiter’s organisation when questioning the validity of a specific tip which I considered more likely to lead the prospect, on hearing it, to punch the speaker in the head rather than sign-on to their busop.
An interesting finding on what it takes to be a star is that someone has to first LOVE what they’re doing, or selling, or LOVE madly the reason they’re doing whatever they’re doing, in order to get really good at it. Loving it madly the only way people will do all the deliberate practice required to GET REALLY GOOD.
When you come to someone and tell them what you’re marketing and why, if they can see your genuine enthusiasme for the business, or the product, as a member of a community of such folks, e.g. someone who knows nutrition really matters, and lives it, who’s not just a peddler of such stuff who doesn’t look or live it beyond the desire for the sale, you have much more credibility and likely, will get an ear.
It’s the obvious doing and saying ‘whatever you have to to make the sale’ that people are turning a deaf ear to. Savvy folks have had it with shallow tactics.
What would I tell Lulu? asks Kim.
What comes out loud and clear to me is that we, as leaders, should make sure Lulu is aware right from her very first minute in the business of the difference between recommending between friends, and network marketing.
Because what causes the problem is, I think, that Lulu just doesn’t understand the importance of making it clear that she is selling, right from the beginning.
So when she brings it up AFTER the recommending, rather than before, she just doesn’t understand why the dynamics change, as we know they do.
It is up to us to make sure she knows this, and knows how to make clear that she is selling, BEFORE she starts recommending.
Then she has a good chance of making sales, and starting on the path to success, rather than becoming another failure statistic (and maybe never knowing why.)
By the way Kim, before you posted this, I had already commented on Tom’s newsletter in another forum (Greatest Networker) -I’ve been hearing this mantra for years, and it has never rung true with me.
There, I asked John Milton Fogg, that Great people-connector, if he could arrange to interview you and Tom together.
John passed my request to Tom, and received no reply, but was told by another that Tom has been asked before to talk about this subject.
He has always refused to discuss it, saying “everyone has an opinion”.
And whilst that is true, if this really is just an opinion, and not a teaching founded on experience, then maybe those who listen to him should be aware of that.