Recruiter money hype – you know I love to hate it.
1. Are the money driven reps still in control?
2. The day I left my brain on the train
3. What’s the biggest lie about network marketing?
However (gasp), there is a good side to it:
Hype gets people started.
It doesn’t sustain them judging by the 95% drop out rate, but it starts them.
It started me. I couldn’t get the business out of my mind after I saw that cute former waiter making close to $90k/mo. I mean, if he could do it, I could too, couldn’t I?
When I studied the business model and realized how it could in fact be done, I was hooked.
It took me five tries to make it big. (Read: Five times I bought the big initial order. Each time my then-sponsor made a fat bonus.)
And there’s the rub.
Many start. Few finish. That’s why they call sales a numbers game,
If many people don’t start, how will even a few finish?
It isn’t the recruiters’ fault that so many people flake after they buy into the dream, is it?
Interesting dilemma. What can we do to make it better?
Post your thoughts in the Comments below.
If you work with your new people and train them, and assure them that there is someone to help them, then some of them will not drop out. There will always be those who are either looking for a free ride, or are so naive as to think that all they have to do is join, and some how magically, mysteriously they will get paid.
Kim,
This post is timely because 3 days ago I sent this e-mail message to you:
Am I saying too much? Should I only bring up sensitive issues IF I’m specifically asked about them?
I am a Mary Kay consultant. I want to build a Sales Team using your methods and model of sales integrity:
For my Mary Kay business this means that I:
1.)Don’t frontload my new Consultants, encouraging women to buy huge starter inventory packages of up to $4800
2.)Tell new Consultants that they WILL indeed be selling products and that the business of selling is
challenging and has ups and downs.
4.) Not over-exaggerate their income earning potential, make promises or present over blown hype as facts -or- “MK is the best opportunity for women today”)
5.) Not assume that every woman should be a MK Consultant
Because of some of these practices there has developed a whole subculture of burned ex- MK consultant bloggers, Here is just one example: http://marykaysucks.wordpress.com. Sadly, some of what they has validity
I’ve been told by my upline: “That I am too negative, that I’m overthinking, that I’m telling my potential recruits too much, that I’m not thinking big enough or with abundance etc. “, you get the drift. To be honest with you, I used to say and do all those things before I had your training.. But now I’m building much slower and I’m seeing people whiz path me.
Is my upline correct?
P.S.- I do alot of recruiting presentations in groups of 5-10. I give a brief presentation and then encourage and answer questions. I call them “No- Hype/ No Spin MK Career Information Sessions. My upline attended one and had a fit because I answered questions by not committing “lies of omission”.
No, Kim, I don’t believe the drop out rate is the recruiter’s fault – we’ve had previous discussions about whether entrepreneurs are made or born. No one can motivate you, only inspire and support. I think the following you have is a good indication of that – many, many people who stay, though not where they thought they’d be by now.
If we present the options to someone, give them what they need to make the best decision for them (and support that decision), show the potential along with what it takes, and realize that not everyone thinks like we do or will have MLM as their main goal, why would we ever ask if we are “doing this right”? In reference to yesterday’s post, on Palm Days, let’s “be” first, then do, and for sure, close the darn office and shut off the mental shatter. Your suggestion of going somewhere, maybe a networking event, with the goal only to have fun and not say one word about what you do might find us attracting more interest than anything we’ve ever spoken.
Along with your book, the other “first step tool” I use is the DVD The Secret (www.thesecret.tv). Both speak to self-responsibility and how we attract or repell everything in our world.
Ms. Mary Kay:
You are the one who has to live with yourself, so use standards and ethics you would want used with you, by someone else.
I will post a response to this dilemma tomorrow, but for now, let people know that MANY TRY TO MAKE IT, because they need it, but FEW actually do make it. For lots of reasons.
It’s like the Marines or any group others want to join. the standards for the Marines or the NBA or the professional ball teams are very high, and the one thing the leaders of ALL those groups tell their recruits is: Many of you won’t make it. This is not as easy as it looks. (words to that effect, you know).
That’s the part our industry sweeps under the run in an attempt to get those initial orders to pay the rent.
Start people with smaller orders. Whatever is wrong with that? The business is for them to see what they can earn, not for the upline to push large orders so they can earn the one time fees, and then the products sits in someone’s garage.
🙁
Stay the course. Do your own meetings. Don’t be negative towards your upline. You can each do it your own way.
OK?
I couldn’t agree with Kim more. I believe that when you are in the process of getting someone started in your business. You must first sit down and figure out their goals, as well as, the amount of time (realistically!) they are willing to put into their business. And then figure out the best starting order based on “their” blueprint for success. This is not a cookie cutter business. Each individual has their own goals and time limitations.
As a former Mary Kay consultant and one of the “burnt”… and yes I did work the business diligently for three years. I still ended up with product that my sponsor ordered for me that I could not even give away. So PLEASE make sure you are starting people with product they can sell right away!
Best Wishes!
http://www.nataliebettermann.myarbonne.com