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!