A Discussion with a Sales Expert

I met with a good friend of mine yesterday, who is a very successful and prominent sales trainer in the Ann Arbor area. On some future date, I would like to share more information with you, about this person - but for now let me keep his identity hidden, and only provide a summary of his advice to me:

* Most professional sales people are not different than the average person in our MLM. That is, they would be no more effective at MLM than the average person doing it the conventional way. This is because of an important factor in the field of adult education: most people do not change as a result of training. It is probably close to the 80-20 concept. Only 20 percent of people in a training program will actually "get it." And of those 20 percent, only 20% will actually change as a result of the training. The good news is that, if we can get good, world class training to ten of our people, one of them will become a star, benefitting everybody.

* Especially with Multi-Level Marketing, use something called the "Reverse Negative" approach. That is, assume that everyone we approach is not going to be interested. Tell them up front, that we do not want to sell them anything, or recruit them into anything we simply want some advice. When people tell us "I hope you do well, but I'm not interested" take them at their word. Now let's give them a chance to follow-through on their statement that they hope we succeed. Ask them for some help. People love giving advice!

My dad made an interesting observation last weekend. He said that most of our friends and family actually hope we fail. They do not want us making a dime in our venture! Now, if we say this we must add that this does not make them bad people, per se. It is just human nature. They do not like us approaching them with our "plan," and if we fail then they will not have to deal with us, and experience tells them that most people fail!

So put it out of your mind that you have much at stake in getting friends and family in. Your growth will come from people you do not even know.

* "Feel it, say it". Don't beat around the bush. Be up front with people and don't play games. Go ahead and say "I want you on my team," especially if that person has some special skill or talent that will benefit your team!

There is such a thing as good selling skills. We do not necessarily get it from our "in-house" training. Let's network to real pros that can help us, and go about building a team of people with skills that will benefit all of us!

What Works, What Doesn't Work

I said a little prayer this morning, before posting today's blog.

I asked God to let people actually read the blog today. Let them reflect on it, and let's finally get a conversation going!!

To put it mildly, there is a lot of "noise" in the Network Marketing world today. You hear jargon like "teachable", "coachable", "get plugged in", "get around successful people", blah, blah, blah.

But I have yet to see conventional methods reach the 80% that simply are not interested in Network Marketing!

We need to get to the 80%. How do we do this?

I find that my upline is not interested in what the market thinks. When someone is not interested, they say "Who cares? Move on and forget about them!"

But when has any successful Marketing program ever operated on the attitude of "who cares"?

I find that my upline wants me to be teachable and coachable. But they are not willing to be teachable and coachable themselves. Yet the smartest companies listen to their market.

I find that they do not believe in continuous improvement. They say "don't fix what's not broken". They are not interested in improvement. Possibly this is because improvement requires a willingness to change, and people hate change.

Please - readers of my blog: help us develop the best Network Marketing organization ever formed. Help us build one that has the highest sign-up rate, and the lowest attrition rate, ever. Help us find new ways to reach new people. Help us become the most creative, innovative, community-focused, most charitable, network marketing organization ever!

I will ask you to begin by considering, and responding to, the following questions:

* If you are on our team; why did you join? And why did others join this particular team, and this particular program?
* What will make it so that you will want to stay involved?
* What do you like best about our organization and upline?
* What do you wish the organization and upline would change?
* Why are people not joining?
* What can we do differently, so that more people will want to join us?

* In short: what works, what doesn't work, and what needs to happen, that isn't happening?

Come on people. Nobody is going to go out and conduct true market studies to help us improve our approach. It is up to us, and the blogging format is an excellent way for us to dialogue.

I look forward to your responses. And if you would like me to tackle any topic on this blog, please just let me know!

Regards,

Gordon

A Change in Direction

A business plan that cannot flex, is worthless.

And now it is time to make some adjustments to mine.

So far, on these blogs, I have gotten zero response, zero comment, zero attention.

Blogs are a waste of time if they do not get people talking. I must be writing about the wrong things. My ideas have no traction. I am on the wrong track.

First, a celebration:

I recently advanced to the first promotion in my business. I can now qualify for larger, and more frequent bonuses. In my business, the people that make the big money must first get to where I am now. It takes 12 people to get you to this point, and I want to personally thank those friends and family that helped me reach this point:

* Mark
* Mom and Dad
* Anne and Paul
* Todd and Sandra
* Gloria
* Rosemary
* Norma and Donny
* Becky
* Kristin
* Geoff
* Tim
* Stephanie

And I should say that half of these people are already on their way to the same promotion I just reached.

I must now help the above, while I go about making the money that will enable me to help others and achieve my dreams.

I want to do music, ministry, and teach elementary-aged children. I want to influence positive reforms in society. I want to make things right for my kids, that have endured a divorce and less-than-perfect home arrangement these past few years.

So, let me just pause for today. I am seeking new information for this blog. I am not sure what to write about. But with new realities, come the need for new direction.

Number Nine: Their First Level

One of my most urgent goals, is to make sure every member of my team is off to a good start. To me this is most measurable by looking at how many do they have on their first level. I think that the optimal number of first level people, is three.

Starting with those closest to me, I want to see my downline get to three each, as soon as possible.

This is one of my most important criteria. You do not have to do anything, (except for my other criteria), other than need a person placed in your first level, for me to help you by putting people there (when I can).

Number Eight: My Eighth Level

We are down to the five most important criteria in my MLM placement decisions. Including today, the next five posts are the ones that have the greatest impact on my decisions on where to place people that I personally sign up into an MLM.

The most important level, to me, is my 8th level. This is because, statistically, MLM lines rarely grow beyond the 7th level. I want to break the odds, and therefore, I want an 8th level that is healthy, strong, and permanent. I do not want attrition at this level.

So absent all the other criteria, if I can place someone on my 9th level (thus helping the 8th) I will. And, sometimes, this 9th level placement does very little to help me in the short term. But I do not want attrition, and I want an 8th level that is happy.

A happy 8th level also helps my 2nd-7th levels. It also is important that my 2nd-7th levels do not drop out. I may have a happy person on the 8th level. So, if someone in my 2nd-7th drops out, it moves my 8th up to the 7th level. Everybody in my organization thus has a responsibility to many others!

The argument is made, that "these things collapse of their own weight". Maybe so, for most people. But I will take care of my 8th level people in other ways.

Soon, I will announce a savings program, which will provide funds to people on my 8th level. I have not worked out the details yet, but it will be a resource for 8th level people that struggle in recruiting for a period of time. It may be funds for college, major medical funds, or perhaps even help people pay off their debts. When I get in a position to start the fund, I will get input from my 8th level people, on how to structure it.

Number Seven: Be Responsive

It is important, in all things in life, never to let someone else take advantage of you. I can see, by looking over my criteria for MLM placement, that it would be easy for someone to get my help, while being generally rude and disrespectul to me as a person.

In truth, it is possible for someone that hates me, to get my help. It would make me happy occasionally to help people like this.

But I have to have some controls over this scenario, so my 7th criterion is, that you must be responsive to me, and others on my team. I should say, however, that this does not extend to my upline. They may treat the upline however they want, and this will not affect my view of them or their value to our team. It is simply a tenet of my organizational philosophy, for years now: I will automatically trust those below me, more than those above me. I am the servant of my downline, not of my upline. Those above me, vis-a-vis their relationship to me and my downline, are responsible for establishing their own best practices that motivate and help their downline.

I hope that people in my downline will return phone calls and emails. I would like them to show some interest in my ideas, and those of others on our team. I would expect them to ask for help, in matters within and without the purview of our MLM.

A downline person that does not respond to me, not only effects his or her own chances of being helped negatively, but likewise impacts everyone in his or her own respective downline. I need "clearance" from the person at the top, before communicating further down. When you do not communicate with me, you are also hurting people on your team.

Some of the more important values that I will model and promote, in my organization as it grows, are openness, respect, harmony, and sharing of information. This is best manifested by being responsive. I ask everyone on our team, to treat all the others on it, as though they were your boss, or most important customer, in a traditional job.

Number Six: Another Selfish Criterion

Moving up the line, of where I will place people in my Network Marketing business, we find the next most important criterion to be a selfish one.

I will look at which positions will best help me advance to the next promotional level. This criterion will tend to help those closest to me in the organizational chart.

In the case of the present NM program, this means that I am more likely to place new reps under people that are on my 4th level, and above, (there are presently 11 of them, of which two get no consideration at all, due to them notifying me that they intended to quit. Of course I am not going to help these people!)