by Tom "Big Al" Schreiter
I only had 30 minutes during this conference training call, just enough time to irritate the listeners by telling them that their presentations were useless.
They protested by saying their prospects were different. Their prospects make the final decision to join their business based upon ... (and this is funny) ... FACTS!
So I challenged them about some of the killer facts they had about their business. Here are some of the facts and my comments:
* "We are the 17th largest MLM company in the world." - Gee, if size mattered, why wouldn't the prospect join one of the 16 companies larger than you?
* "We are the 37th fastest growing company in the INC 500 list." - Wow. Why should I take a slow grower like you when I could pick an even faster grower? I've got 36 better candidates to choose from.
* "Our product is patented." - Let's see. About a few million other products are patented, too. And most patents require an investment of a couple hundred dollars to get the paperwork. Not too impressive.
* "We pay out a full 50% in our compensation plan." - Well, if I should make a decision based upon percentage payout of a compensation plan, then maybe I should join one of the hundreds of programs that pay out more than 50%.
* "We are a 17-year-old debt-free company." - If length of time was the decision factor, shouldn't I join a company that is older than yours? And wouldn't debt-free mean that your accounting department didn't know how to use leverage to lower its costs? Ouch.
* "Our chief scientist taught at a prestigious medical school." - This sounds more like my scientist can beat up your scientist. So should I join a company who has a better scientist who got some cool awards, or maybe a Nobel Prize?
* "Our management team has 84 years of combined networking experience." - Well, I have 60 years of dieting experience, and that doesn't make me thin. So are you telling me that I should join a different company who has a management team with more than 84 years' networking experience?
* "Our secret ingredient has more antioxidants than their secret ingredient." - So if I join your company, and I find another company that has 2 more units of antioxidants, then I will have to quit your company and join them?
Okay, starting to see a pattern yet? I am sure you get the point. It is not the facts in our presentation that affect our prospects' decisions.
Stop using presentations to get prospects to make decisions. Instead, learn the skills of how to close and how to do our business instead of living in some fantasy world where we think that facts make a difference.
As a wise man once said, "Figure it out."
Posts
How about: 99% of our company's distributors have not made a profit.
ReplyDeleteOr: About 80% of distributors quit in the first year.
Why are these facts left out?
Because only a few rise to the top does not mean network marketing does not work. Only a few rise to the top in any business, corporation or organization. That is the way it is. Those who work and focus will reap their rewards. I wonder if this person was ever in a networking marketing company and speaks from experience?
DeleteThat's true in almost anything; sports, business, writing, medicine, accounting or law. We don't discourage kids from trying out or playing high school sports because the facts state that they won't become Olympic athletes. If a person accepts a challenge, from that point on it's up to them to make it work or not work.
DeleteWhen did I ever write anything about rising to the top? I wrote "99% of our company's distributors have not made a profit". In other words, only 1% of distributors "made a profit". That's worse than any other industry in the world.
DeleteInstead of spending $29.95 on a starter kit and $200 to activate your first business center after joining USANA, people would more than double their chances of making a profit by putting that $230 on a single number on the roulette table, which would pay out around $8000.
Facts do matter and there is a reason important facts about loss rates are left out of distributor recruiting presentations. Tell all your prospects that 99% of distributors don't make a profit. I bet nobody would join if you did.
I tried two network marketing companies before USANA and failed at both. I was not ready, I did not focus and I did not succeed. When I changed, I succeeded. Simple formula!
ReplyDeleteFacts may not matter but truth is important - not true that 99% of people do not make a profit in network marketing. Define profit. People are building an asset of residual income. In my experience, people who aren't earning income are people who do nothing. They don't even have business cards. They don't take the time to learn the skills. Any business is going to fail if you don't learn the skills and put some time and effort into it.
ReplyDelete