Years ago, a friend and I went to observe a training session given in San Francisco by a nutritional network marketing company. Over 500 people were there. Everyone was a rep.
This was a training on their health supplements. We’d gone because my friend, with a nutritional practice, was considering offering the line to her clients. I’ll never forget what she said to me five minutes after we walked in:
“Kim, these people don’t look healthy to me. They’re mostly overweight, they look tired, their skin doesn’t have a healthy glow. Why would anyone follow their advice on health supplements when they look so unhealthy themselves?”
Does your health really matter to you? Or do you just sell health supplements?
Does the environment really matter to you? Or do you just sell non-toxic cleaning products?
Does your long term business success really matter to you? Or are you just looking for the next recruit?
Remember, it shows.
WOW – talk about judging people by looks. Maybe lots of these people were new and just getting started. I know I’ve been with my company for a year. During the past 6 months I’ve lost over 60 pounds. BUT…I still weigh well over 200 pounds. So this person would look at me, make a judgement and walk away from my advice. Imagine what they would be missing out on.
If I had read this a year ago, I would have dropped out of network marketing because I was well over 300 pounds and did not look or feel healthy.
The world needs to learn to stop judging people based on their looks. Maybe these people looked a lot better than they did a few months before.
Never judge based on what you see. Judge based on what you hear and know. I work with a lot of people and I get emails every day thanking me for my help and thanking me for making a difference in people’s lives. THEY aren’t judging me based on what I look like. They are judging me based on what I do to help them.
Please, to anyone reading this that may not be the “perfect” size or in the “perfect” health, don’t give up on your dreams because of judgemental people like the person in this story. If people are going to judge you based on your looks and not hear your story and where you were before, YOU DON’T NEED THEM.
My good friend, Art Jonak, told me just a month or so ago, THESE ARE NOT PEOPLE YOU WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH. Anyone who is going to judge you based on your looks is not someone who you need. There are lots of people just like this in the world. They judge based on superficial things. Don’t let them steal your dreams.
Roxanne Green
I laughed when I read this. The first convention I went to with a company I used to be with, I was amazed at the people who were so unhealthy. The food they ate scared me. We had a walk the next morning and only about 30 people out of 500+ showed up. It helps to walk the walk. It talks more than you do. See ya in the gym.
What if the Doctor said “You don’t LOOK sick to me, go home?” I am really annoyed by people who think that the American Model look is any kind of indication of whether one is healthy or not. The fact is, I have seen and talked to many who would pass the “look healthy” test who have terrible numbers when the stress and blood tests were run. Many are jogging around the block on drugs that will eventually destroy their livers if taken long enough! I am thankful that none of us are God because only He can judge the heart but men and women will always make judgements based on external appearances. I would rather be a little on the “thick” side than live a life like Anna Nichole Smith did, destroying herself so she could “look good” in her coffin! I understand where that person was coming from but has she ever thought about the fact that many of those people could have flown halfway around the world to sleep in a strange bed and could have been up all night visiting with Leaders in the company they haven’t seen in person for a year or more? That is the whole point of attending those conventions anyway! They can sleep when they fly home! I think she was judging the people rather than the product she was there to learn about. When the average doctor only lives to be 56.6 years old, who has room to point a finger at distributors who may have only been in the business for a few months? Maybe they haven’t had time for the products to take effect yet. It’s a good thing that this business is open to “whosoever will” because if it were a beauty contest, where would we be? Did that “friend” ever make a decision on any products to offer her clients or was that just a convenient excuse to get out of making a decision that could have positively affected the future of her clients? Perhaps she should have done her due diligence on the products, the company, and the financial status of the company and or it’s owners. Were the owners people of integrity, etc…
If you don’t have something nice to say or write, say and write nothing at all…. that’s what I am learning. What we dwell on, we bring closer. Our group works on that daily.
Let’s take a good, hard, long look, at what we see in the mirror and work really hard on that, and what is going on in our head and hearts. Think, feel, and work on that.
After all, it’s NONE of my business what other people think of me. What IS important, is what I think of myself.
Judging me doesn’t effect me. But it’s toxic to you. Did you know that?
Lisa
I agree with everything you have said Roxanne re judging people by their looks especially overweight people.
And, you know, I am one who sings your praises.
Having said that…if I were interested in a product for energy I would not buy from someone who had no energy and who didn’t look and appear to be healthy. Not thin or beautiful or smart or young but HEALTHY.And so if I were at that meeting where all the people appeared to be tired I WOULD wonder and think,”If the product’s so great, why isnt it working for THEM?”.
AND I would not buy.
First appearances are important to me but I try to see what else appears IF I have the chance.I am perceptive and I see what “feel” I get from the person. Sometimes the one appearance is all they get.
And that is unfortunate but that’s what happens much of the time in life and in business.
If the person is new in the business, then when she tells her story that needs to be in there that she is looking for that to help her and she isn’t “there” yet.
Also, I wouldnt get into a business with someone who didnt have good lifeforce. And there must be enthusiasm. Real, not the “fake it ’til you make it” kind.That’s evident to most folks now.
I sell nutritional stuff because I am interested in what I think is good for me and makes me feel good, provides my body with what it needs to give me good healthy and the energy I need to live the good life.
I would be selling something else if I didnt feel that way aobut my product.
I LOVE IT MADLY because I KNOW and can FEEL what it’s done for me.
I agree 100% with Melinda – NO one is perfect, even if a person uses the products they sell, doesn’t mean every area and facet of their lives is going to be perfect. I sell nutritional products and I DON’T necessarily eat alfalfa sprouts when I travel to conventions and conferences!
To complement Roxanne’s post:
Judging and making a decision may
be two different things.
I am of the opinion that people
should base their decision on
what they see more than what
they hear from a sales person.
Of couse a brand new rep for a
nutritional co who’s 100lb
overweight may have a challenge
looking like Matthew McCaunauhey
the first week.
BUT if the product works and they
loos just 10lbs, they’ll FEEL that
even though we won’t SEE it and
that feeling with translate in
a genuine testimonial (if you
follow Kim’s instrucitons) that
will be far more powerful than
their looks.
Another point is PROGRESS. Usually
people don’t buy on the first
exposure. so if every week the
person gets 5bls off. After a
couple months with appropriate
‘staying in touch’ and outreach
even the ones who laughed at them
the first week will come around.
(doesn’t mean they’ll buy).
I think also that we should be careful not to slam door behind
us when someone says no or doen’t
show interest. With consistency
and persistence we’ll attract
more people to look at what we’re
doing.
Warmest regards,
Yves
http://www.NoPainMoGain.com
oh my… thank you Roxanne…
when I read that blog my heart sank… straight away I thought I haven’t got a hope being accepted in the wellness industry! Thanks for your perspective Rox.
Just as well I chose a non-health product to market! But that attitude explains why some of my downline are struggling, people do perceive your success on whether you look the part.
I take the point… we need to work on our “lifeforce”!
I want to clarify what I posted a bit ago.
What I said referred to what people are SELLING not on who they ARE.
In my Ex….If I am looking to BUY something to help me with energy I wont buy from someone more tired than I, etc.
Of course. what is INSIDE is WHO we ARE .
The Law of attraction says who I AM goes out and brings to me LIKE people.
Isnt that we are trying to do in our New School NM businesses?
Thanks
Mary
Just for the record, I am very physically fit and work out 6 days a week at my local YMCA. I do a Power Waves class in the deep end for one hour 4-6 times a week followed by lap swimming for another hour and lift weights 3 times a week. I am the only one in the pool using webbed gloves and fins on my feet for added resistance and push others to go all out and give their maximum best while they’re in the class. My instructors have all gotten on my liquid nutritional supplement program because they all know I am pushing 50 and kicking behinds in the water that are half my age and SIZE! There’s nothing lacking in my “lifeforce” because greater is He Who lives in me than he who is in the world. It is to Him that all the glory and honor belong. I do however find it amazing that people will blindly take the advice of a doctor who doesn’t look healthy, smokes, drinks excessively or takes drugs to the point of abuse, but won’t listen to sound nutritional advice or principles when it slaps them in the face! Or should I say “splashes” them in the face…;-)I think you all are great here and I love the supportive atmosphere between the different companies too. Keep up the good work Kim!
I think one of the points Kim was making (correct me if I’m wrong, Kim) is, are we walking our talk? One of the problems with our industry is people misrepresenting their products and themselves. So many sales people just sell a product because they think money can be made, not because they love and/or use the product. This is one reason we don’t trust sales people. We find out (usually after the sale) the salesperson doesn’t even use the product/service he just sold us.
You walk into a BMW dealership and the salesman spends hours selling you on all quality of BMW. He tells you that he moved over to selling BMWs from another brand 2 years ago because of the quality of BMW. You buy one. Then, as you are waiting on your paperwork to be completed, you see Sam Salesman driving off in a Lexus. Now what thoughts are flying through your mind?
Our little friend here who made the comment about the people not looking healthy may have done so because she has been lied to by so many sales people in the past. She is skeptical and when what she sees doesn’t match the picture in her mind, alarms go off and the defenses go online. I am not defending her. I am just trying to discover why she, and many others, make such judgments and comments.
If you and I consistently walk our talk, people will come to see us as honest and ethical sales people. It will take time. We will run across those who seem judgmental, but maybe they are just battle scarred. Be patient. Be understanding. Be consistent. Be caring.
Talk about a post to get passions running high!
No matter what the product is we sell, we are selling ourselves as much as the product.
Here is my take on what was presented:
I meet Judy and Jane both selling brand A Nutritionals. Judy is heavyset but, vibrant and full of energy and very excited about how her life has changed in such a short time since taking these supplements. Jane, on the other hand, is “model” perfect thin, says in rote, “These make me feel great.” Big yawn and no smile. Guess what? I would buy from Judy in a heart beat. The personality and passion displayed is what I want for myself. I want to be happy and feel good. Talking to Jane does not make me feel good.
It seems Kim’s point above all was to truly be a product of your product and to have a passion for it. Otherwise you are going to have a tough time retailing or building a business.
So, no we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, so to speak, but first impressions count.
Laura Kane
A thousand years ago I was part of the “Macrobiotic” communnity centered in Boston, Mass. It was a health practice that claimed to (and did in fact) “cure” many very serious diseases. Problem was… most of its adherents looked like they haunted houses for a living. That turned many, many people who could have benefitted greatly OFF!
So, their fault for being so judgemental…?
Sure, but if you’re a marketer of health and wellness and you look like sh.., shame on ya’.
And Roxanne, I can understand how people judging you has been an issue in the past… please, look at it standing in their shoes. Wearing a big silk sash that reads, “60 pounds down, only 60 to go!” may be a tad tacky for you… but the people around you would have to keep a sharp eye out so as not to be trampled by all the (weight-challenged:-) folks rushing up to ask you “How?”
The reason publishers spend money on designing book covers is because those covers make people buy books….
Question for Melinda,
Where did you get the statistic that doctors have an average life span of 56.6 years? I’d like to read more about that and would like the citation.
Thanks!
Mark
PS–This is actually what I perceive as being a big problem in our industry. Statistics are thrown around with no regard for source and, for the most part, the person using the statistic doesn’t know where the statistic came from. I realize that, as a professional scientist, I am much more tuned in to this kind of thing, but citations really do make what you are saying more credible. Just my $0.02.
Thanks for all the good comments!
The question my friend asked was,
“Why would anyone follow their advice on health supplements when they look so unhealthy themselves?”
If you have made progress in your health but aren’t there yet, let someone know immediately you’ve already lost 50 pounds, or that you’re now able to get out of bed and couldn’t before, or that you’re now walking a mile a day and couldn’t before…
That will help explain why you’re marketing the products as well.
Good sales people are often looked to as advisors, so whether we like it or not, if there is a mismatch between the words the seller says and the behavior and person we see, it will not be good for the seller.
People who don’t know the seller will react much like Mary writes in her comments. The book “Blink” was all about how we ALL make instant judgements about people in the first few seconds we meet or read them.
So if you’re a work in progress, like Roxanne, let your prospective customers know how far you’ve come. That will help change their perception AND maybe even inspire them to buy, so they can change, too.
P.S. My friend didn’t buy the line, despite staying on after her initial comments for the 3 hours of product sessions.
“progress not perfection”
Kim’s questions help me, again, focus on my “inside,”
being reminded in a searching way: that is what unveils outside,
from me.
Another heart question in my mind: as I judge another to be judgmental…who is also engaging in that activity…?
Carolyn
I do agree about walking the talk but there is still what I call work in progress. I like papercraft and that’s what got me into TLC but I didn’t expect to be a wonderful scrapbook designer or cardmaker straight away. I think products will sell themselves when people feel that they can get to their goal, but it won’t be like everyone else. So if I want to lose weight I know that product X might help me but I won’t turn into an adonis, again someone who is just starting papercrafting might not understand all the techniques but I hope any rep from any company will suggest the best product(s) to start someone with…
We need to give our potential customers credit as well, I always find the over enthusiastic are the ones that run out of steam and won’t buy : the perplexed ones will ask questions but will stick around with repeat purchases.
Such great comments. I liked that Kim re-iterated her friend’s comment, because I think it was taken out of context.
It IS about walking your talk. If I sold nutritional product A and yet, I was exhausted, filled my body with junk food, and looked malnurished, then who is going to take my input about nutritional products seriously?
Bottom line, walk your talk.
~Jhanna
The old adage “Never Judge a Book By It’s Cover” should hold true. However, remember “Dress for Success”? Whatever motivational book/CD, etc., etc., we read “appearance” is always the first on the list. In the business world we also learn that the most important person in our business is the “receptionist” or the “first impression” person our customer comes in contact with. Should it be important … maybe not … but it is important in the world we live. My upline sponsor is a nutritionist and has five degrees. Her appearance, though, is that of cleaning lady. One of the girls in my downline IS a cleaning lady and is always neatly groomed and dressed. I prefer to take the “cleaning lady” with me to meetings. Does appearance make a difference … YES … A new recruit cannot see our “Company” … the office building, etc., etc. We are the “mirrors” of our respective companies. We are the “first impression” our recruits have of the company we promote and if we want these people to get the impression that our company is serious … then we should look serious.
I had one of my down line, a number of years ago, say to me, “Peggy you won’t do well with your business until you lose your weight.”
How’s that for encouragement?
And, at that time, our company did not even have a weight management proponent. (It does now.)
I do not call our products ‘dietary supplements’. That would – and does – cause confusion on the ‘diet’ word. I refer to our products as ‘nutritional supplements’ which goes to supporting health and wellness.
I am slowly winning the weight battle and I am still finding customers who want to support their well being and want better health.
Joel Wallach on his CD “Have You Heard?” talks about how he ticked off the medical community with his original cassette tape in 1994, “Dead Doctor’s Don’t Lie”. As a result of that offense, they decided to do their own 5 year study. In 1994 Wallach said Doctors live to be 58 years old even though the statistic was actually 57.6, he rounded it up to give them the benefit of the doubt. Well, in 2000, they concluded their own research study and came up with the figure 56.0 years as the average life expectancy of a doctor. But the funny thing is how Wallach laughs when he says he missed it by 2 years! So, Mark if you would like to hear it for yourself, get a copy of “Have You Heard?” by Dr. Joel Wallach. By the way, the average lifespan back then was 75 years for the average couch potato but now that figure has dropped down to 70! Another great website for research is http://www.mercola.com. There you will find “Severe Doctor Shortage by 2020 May Increase US Lifespan”. I won’t bore you with any more statistics here but that’s a good start on answering your question about where I got my information. Thanks for asking.
P.S. Joel Wallach happens to be very sharp on stating the studies and statistical information on his CD too and has personally put his money where his mouth is by holding the FDA’s feet to the fire in regard to making legitimate medical claims concerning mineral supplementation and preventing/curing disease! We should support his efforts if we are in the nutritional supplement industry.
P.P.S. I just recently heard another one of Wallach’s CDs called “Deadly Recipe”. It’s great too!