The Network Marketing Blog

In last month’s edition of the company magazine I wrote a piece entitled “Yes, I think I’ve got the hang of it now…”

Every quarter they ask some of the Top Achievers to offer something inspiring and it was my turn – and I agonised a good deal about what to say. I thought it would be different to explain how easy it becomes when you have the right attitude… how liberating it is when you really didn’t care whether people join or not.

I even said: “People beat a path to my door.”

And I just knew that one day these words would come back and bite me.

On Wednesday they did.

I had been out after lunch to see the people I had met on the Friday and they sat politely and listened  and then said: “It all looks too good to be true.”

A lot of people say this. But this couple had said it several times until eventually I explained that not everybody joined; that there would always be people who thought it was too good to be true – and that was fine because we’re only looking for happy, smiley people who want to save money…

“You’ve got my number,” I said as I packed up my things. I even gave them a stack of cards in case they knew anyone who might like to try it out and report back to them in case it did turn out to be true…

And I went straight down to my corner of the car park with my prize draw  forms. In Network Marketing the answer to everything – to every “No” and every disappointment is always “more activity”.

You can see what happened below – but you can’t see the whole story.

It was a quiet afternoon but the very first person agreed to go in for the draw – and wanted to know what it was all about… and then decided to change her mind and asked for the form back!

The second wanted me to ring her at 7.30 in the evening – and three days later I’ve just looked at the form again and discovered that I didn’t.

Even the last entry doesn’t tell the full story. After 28 minutes and talking to 44 people I still didn’t have my appointment.

Of course I know that on average I will get one appointment every half hour – and after the “too good to be true” episode, then the Law of Averages  (or at the very least some sort of Natural Justice) should demand that I get one in the last two minutes. And do you know that’s exactly what happened – and not just any appointment – but one with a single Mum who is currently working at three part-time jobs and making less money than she did with two this time last year.

So for the past three days I have been going around with a smug smile, congratulating myself and looking forward to meeting her again on Tuesday.

But that was until I sat down this morning to write this up.

Now, what you don’t know is that I keep a second – secret – record of these encounters. There has to be a secret version because that one has the names on it – and I need the names so I can work out which ones join. And when I came to fill in this name, I couldn’t find the form anywhere. Oh, I had it in my planner all right but that was no good because the address was still on the form. That’s what leaving it three days can do: I should have come home and logged it instantly. I searched the planner. I searched the recycling bin…

Nothing! Finally – since the answer to all things in Network Marketing is more activity – I determined to go down to the car park again (even though it’s Saturday) and get another appointment. I even started to write this – and began with the headline “Aaaah!”

But at the very last minute, it turned out the total for the number of people was wrong and there’s always some “green” person to pick me up on these things, so I dived back into the recycling – and there, would you believe it, was the form: Name, address… everything.

Everything except the note which I had been looking for – the one word: “Appt”.

I can only think that because it was the end of my half an hour and I didn’t prepare another form, then I didn’t complete the last one either.

I’m still going to stick to the headline, though: The last hour has been nightmare. And as with all nightmares, we have to ask the question: “What’s the best thing to come out of all this?”

The best thing is that I’ve now realised I need a section in the Cold-Market Academy presentation about getting organised, doing your filing promptly – all that boring stuff.

… and by the way, with three weeks to go, the Academy’s first training course is sold out. If you would like to come but missed it, leave your name on the “wait list” and I’ll let you know about the next one. Just click the tab at the top.