There’s an old saying… If you’re in a hole, stop digging!
We networkers are a passionate but irrational group. Passion is wonderful but without common sense, it leads to lots of bad decisions.
And networkers make lots of them because our passion is so deep, strong and real.
Now don’t get your undies in a bunch…everywhere you look you see a lack of common sense.
Next time you’re in a restaurant visit the bathroom and notice where the sign is for ’employees must wash hands’ – ever notice?
It’s over the sink! DUH!
If they can see it, they are washing their hands. It needs to be on the door and in the line of vision when they are relieving themselves.
It’s disheartening to see people pouring money into leads, systems…moving from 1 vendor to the next, spending more money on leads and systems than the product.
What is the core of MLM power? Word of mouth advertising, the most powerful in the world.
Met a gal last week at a convention in Orlando. She’s spent close to $3000 in the last 8 months on advertising in a ‘word of mouth’ business. Good grief.
Strong belief, passionate, no quit in this gal.
Asked her one simple question… Make that two.
The Two Questions
1. Why are you buying leads and systems to generate leads?
“I’ve exhausted my warm market.”
2. If your friends, relatives, and acquaintances didn’t like to hear what you had to say, why do you think strangers will like it any better?
Wide-eye shock. An ‘aha’ moment, if you will.
10 seconds, no kidding, pass…she says, “I gotta sit down.”
She goes on a little rant, berating herself a tad at first, then works herself up to a real “How could I be so dumb?” tirade.
Asked her if she ever heard that it’s a good idea to stop digging if you find yourself in a hole.
“That supposed to be funny?” she asks, curtly. “I’m sorry,” she says…and she means it.
I tell her I know, but that she has to get over being mad at herself. I tell her she’s been hustled by the best, it’s what the ‘magic bullet’ sites do…and, I gotta admit, they are good at it, at least with passionate. irrational people. And that really does describe us, eh?
Then she asked me a great question. Really.
The Question
“How did I get so far off track. I mean how do those magic systems and sites get people like me so far off track?”
“They “get” your focus off the main thing,” I tell her.
The main thing is to keep the main thing…because it’s the main thing.  Talking to people, skillfully, about your business who are not in your business.
If we spend 80% of our time we dedicate to our business on the main thing instead of leads, systems, compensation plans, etc., we’ll do just fine as long as we know about the biggest lie in network marketing.
“Which is?” she asks.
“You just have to find the right people.”
“Really?”
What do we really, in the end, offer people?
- More money
- More time
- Lower taxes through the home-based tax benefits.
She agrees.
Think everyone wants those 3 things?
She agrees.
If everyone wants those 3 things and you are offering them, the question is not how to find the right people. If people want, most people anyway, those 3 things, shouldn’t most people say ‘yes’ to looking?
The Main Thing
We had a great conversation, shared a couple of network marketing skills with her. She let me know Thursday, 3 days after the event she was attending, that she had 5 good people in the pipeline and had already sponsored someone.
I asked her why she thought the turn-around was so quick.
“I’m keeping the main thing the main thing, talking to people about my business.”
See, once we focus on what we are supposed to be doing, and we ditch the biggest lie in MLM, we improve.
If we take the time to learn some networking skills and stay focused on the main thing 80% of the time with ourselves and our teams, there is really no limit to how far we can go.
The two really cool things about what you just read are
1. It’s a true story and 2. You already know if you keep first things first, good things happen.
What was the skill? I’ll be releasing a free 3 part video series, Go90Grow on Thursday.
believe
mark januszewski
Thank You Mark for what you do , cant wait for the Go90Grow videos
Vasi
Hey Mark,
Great story. I myself have spent a lot of money with programs that at the end convinced me they did not work. The truth is that people that we know, people that we want to know and people that we attack are just like us. So if you talked yourself into this MLM program then you can talk to people you meet and know just like you did to yourself. Believe and they believe.
Peace,
Iggy
Zeek Squad Guru
Miami Lakes, Florida
Great Stuff Mark –
Most people that opt into lead forms are looking for a JOB to do at home… Not a business. The Go90Grow system is what I personally promote to my team.
Thanks again for all you and Davene do for us.
BTW: I am not on Marks Team for his Primary MLM Business.
Oh damn, it’s Thursday here in NYC already; I look forward to the next post!
Reality hurts sometimes, but it keep us humble and focus. Thanks so much for your story. I am going back to basics using your training.
[…] network marketing success.Focusing on the basics will bring you successLike my friend and mentor Mark J always says, it’s important to “keep the main thing, the main thing.” Simple […]
I really loved that story. It really is true that most people want those 3 things.
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