That’s the #1 reason friends say no to friends about doing network marketing, according to our little survey so far.
“I can’t/don’t want to sell,” she says.
That bugs folks like Kristine (see her comments there), who notes women are the most natural sales people in the world.
I think she’s right – women are the most natural sales people in the world.
Old school network marketing’s not very natural, though. Compare:
1. Lulu talks to Jennie over tea and recommends something that’s helped her. Jennie’s grateful. Yes, friends do that.
2. Lulu tries to “get Jennie to sell” that product, and makes money on Jennie. Nope, friends don’t do that. (Not without warning first so Jennie can prepare her mind’s defense system for a sales talk.)
A friend’s recommendation has value precisely because there is no hidden agenda. That’s why advertisers and promoters (and NMers) are doing everything they can to penetrate the inner sanctum of women’s friendship circles, because their word of mouth is genuine, untainted by payola. Who cares what the cost to the women’s friendships is when there’s money to be made? Entrepreneurs running small side ventures may also consider forming an LLC for side hustle, which can provide legal protection and make managing earnings much easier.
95% of people don’t want to sell. Even more women don’t. Women say they associate manipulativeness and pushiness with sales people. So of course they don’t want to be that themselves.
Pretending that network marketing is the same thing as talking to your friends, only you get paid for it, is asking women to betray the friendships they rely on to support each other for a few dollars. No wonder so many women run the other way. But there are also women who know how to market themselves and become famous such as danyancatgaming, a girl who even have AI virtual presence you can find online.
How can we encourage women who do want to sell, to use their networks without alienating them or abusing their trust?
Three suggestions:
1. Stop the recruiting bombardment of friends. We know 95%+ of women don’t want to sell. So stop banging on them about it with promises of riches and ease. Read their lips: “I don’t want to sell.” (Not this way, anyway.)
2. Stop bopping anyone over the head directly about the business (or the product). Instead ask, “Do you know anyone who might like to know about something like that?”
3. Tell up front before you open your mouth about the business or product, that you are selling this (for whatever reasons) and would like to tell her about it in case she knows anyone. She’ll appreciate the honesty up front. Instead of letting your friend finding out at the end that, oh, you’re selling it. Oh, I see, that’s why you wanted to talk. Ohhh. Yes, I see. OK I’ll call you later….
Other ideas to encourage women who want to sell, to use their networks without alienating them or abusing their trust?
Tell tell…
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Are you signed up for the Art of the Business Presentation seminar? Starts Sept 15. Auditor spots (includes MP3s) available here.
I agree that women are the most natural “sales people” in the world, but the difference is, they don’t see what they do naturally (sharing information) as selling.
All Kim’s suggestions are so good in this article. Tell your friend up front that you are marking this product, but then ask if she knows anyone who might be interested. That puts her at ease and she’s just helping people.
If your friend is already using your product, instead of beating on her to sign up and start “selling” it, just ask if she knows anyone else who might also like to benefit from the product. Then give her a few of your cards and say something like, “If you run across someone who’s interested, just give them my card so they can call me.
After a while, as she sees people express interest in your product and she realizes that she’s referring all these people to you and they are continuing to like the product and buy, somewhere in her head, a light may go on, and she thinks, “I think I could do that.”
That way, you make it easy on everyone, you get referrals and you preserve your friendship.
JUDY MARSHALL
http://www.judymarshall/networkmarketingcentral.com
I know a lot of people dislike the word “share.” I love to share my products and I think it is an important part of my business and has brought me long-term rewards.
Last year we went on vacation with a couple. The wife had developed a skin rash. I gave her my personal tube of Aloe Vera Gel and said, here, try this, it might help. She did and it did.
A couple months later she called me to say a woman in her office had a problem and did I think the product would work for her co-worker and where could she buy it. I told her that I used the products and loved them madly so now I market them. I then said, why don’t I bring some samples for her to try and see if it works for her. It worked, and that woman (as well as my friend) became customers of one product. I never called either of them to see if they needed anything. I always waited for them to call me. (And this was a woman I REALLY wanted to talk to about the business. Extrovert, dynamic, a real ‘go-getter’, large circle of friends, etc., etc., etc.)
I waited, though, and just last week she called me. She’s unhappy at work and seeing that I’m making money, and not sure how ’cause, as she says, it doesn’t look like I work, she is curious about my business. She made the statement, but I don’t want to ‘sell.’ Then went on to say, you say you ‘sell’ but you’ve never asked me to do a ‘home party’ for you. I laughed out loud and said, I don’t do home parties and really, I don’t ‘sell.’ Then what DO you do, she asked. I answered, (very simply stated), I find customers who find customers and get paid a commission on the entire network that gets generated under me. I do the exact same thing as I did with you. Oh, she said, I think I could do that.
I didn’t get into anything more specific over the phone and we’re going to meet for coffee next week to talk about how this business works.
This business is duplication. If you’re pushy, then they think they have to be pushy and how many of us actually like or want to be pushy types?
A year ago a seed was planted. It took one year to break the surface, but what if I had been a pushy sales type. Better a year than never, think?
Venetta
http://www.venetta.myflpbiz.com
http://www.pipelineparable.com/pb/vstathis
Judy, I agree with you totally that women don’t realise they are selling. Hence, try telling a woman she is a natural saleswoman in life when she has already told you she can’t/won’t sell is problematic. No-one likes to be told do they? They need to do the telling. Like Kim’s teachings and those of Michael Olivers ‘Natural Selling’, the idea is to find problems that need solving.
Well done Venetta, with you approach described. A sort of similar situation happened with me. A dear fiend of mine in the UK had been using the products and great respect for my business venture. I felt she would be the ideal Rep to have in my business and secertly wished she was. I said nothing though, out of respect for my friendship first, then out of the blue one day she asked could she be a Rep in the UK. I sent her some info to peruse and she signed up on the biggest Fast start I have ever had and she had 4 customers in her first 2 weeks. It is still early days but I do believe I have my super Rep in the making. She came on board with no manipulation or coercian or anxiety. Perfect.
Another Rep of mine has been alsmost secretive about her business out of fear of being a pushy sales perosn to her friends. However it is alsmst backfiring for her now because as they are slowly finding out, they are annoyed at her for not saying anything as they are all really interested in the products she has for sale. Hence tell your friends what you are doing and what you are selling without the agenda to sell them anything. If they are intersted they will say so.
http://www.kristine.mionegroup.com
http://www.squidoo.com/organicskin
It’s funny. Sometimes I think it is all in how WE personally feel about selling that dictates who and what we will attract into our business.
I don’t see myself as a “sales person” either, and yet I LOVE “selling” when I am doing it naturally, and detached from the outcome.
I do a better job “Selling” the opportunity than the products, and I market a product that is VERY easy to retail. And, I am SO SOLD on the opportunity that “sharing” that excitement and enthusiasm is easy, and comes through as very authentic. And, that is what we want. People sense authenticity and they also sense when they are being “sold.”
I have signed up 3 women in the past two weeks who have all told me – “I love to sell. I am a natural at it and I could sell ice to Eskimos. AND, I must love and believe in the product.”
That really is the key. When prospects say to me, “I don’t like to sell.” My answer to them is – “I don’t like to sell either if it means chasing people, bugging my friends, browbeating people or any of that. When I believe in a product and believe in a system of doing business, it is not difficult for me to let people know what I am doing, what I am offering, etc. and then it is up to each person to decide if it is something they are interested in.”
I have found that when I relate to them, empathize with how they feel and relate my feelings as well, they become more open to the possibilities.
Hope that helps!
EXPECT Success!
Jackie Ulmer
Six Figure MLM WAHM