makemoneyfromhometips.com Blog

Are You Just A Glorified Sales Rep?

July 23, 2008 on 1:37 pm | In Uncategorized |

I really want you to think outside the box with
me on this one.

We know that having sales skills is essential
to success in network marketing and that every
kind of business, really, is in the sales
business.

BUT… if the ONLY thing that you and I sell
people is our mlm opportunity and the company
products, then ALL we are is glorified sales
reps.

Nothing more.

And if all we are is sales reps… then no one
wants to talk with us.

Why?

Because no one gets excited about having to
brainstorm some lame-yet-realistic-sounding
excuses as to why they can’t buy what we’re
pushing… when really they just don’t
have the heart to tell us they couldn’t care
less about us or our “business plan.”

No one likes being backed into a corner where
they’re forced to be rude because you can’t
take a hint.

The problem with being “just” a sales rep is
that it’s outdated.

People don’t have time to listen to yet another
sales pitch.

That doesn’t add any VALUE to their busy lives.
You have to give them more than that if you want
their attention.

Your prospect can go out and join any one of a
hundred different work-from-home deals. Yours
does not stand out as anything special in their
minds.

“But I thought you said we have to learn how to
sell?”

Yes, but understand that the type of selling I’m
talking about and the type of selling most people
think of - the kind their companies teach - are
two completely different things.

Let me ask you a question.

What is it that makes sales hard? I mean really,
why is it so difficult?

It’s having to convince the other person that
they want what you have when really they don’t.

Am I right?

So… if that’s the case… what if the other
person already wants what you have? What if
they’re already looking for it?

Then the “type” of selling you have to do is
completely different. You’re not pitching them,
you’re educating them.

Here’s a little secret for you: The heavy hitters
don’t sell business opportunities.

Why?

Because they know that that’s not what people
are looking for.

In fact, a business opportunity is the last
thing they want to sell!

No joke. That’s not just a tricky play on words.

The way multi level marketing is REALLY done -
the way the gurus who make as much money in a
month as most people make in year do it - is by
putting their opportunity on the back burner and
forgetting about it.

And I’m not talking about retailing your
company’s products either.

There’s something else they sell in order to
build their business that you won’t hear about
from them, your company, or your upline.

During my struggling years of mlm, back when I
was attending every local, regional and national
conference I could, there was something that
always confused me. And I never got the answer
to it until I began studying sales and marketing
from sources other than my company.

There was this one guy, a top dog in our company,
who was a complete mystery to all of us “common
folk.”

We all knew who he was. We all knew that he
drove the most expensive cars of anyone, that he
had the biggest houses and the fanciest suits.
What we didn’t know was how he did it.

And boy did we want to.

Because at the huge national pep rallies, he was
never jumping around on stage sweating up a storm
as if he’d been snorting cocaine for the past
two hours (like all the others were).

And none of us really wanted to do that. None of
us wanted to act like a pack of 1st graders having
a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. We just
gritted our teeth and told ourselves, “If this
is what it takes to get there, then this is what
I’m gonna do.”

But watching this guy, one would get the
impression that he couldn’t have been more
indifferent to all the hype going on around him,
despite the fact that he was making 5 times as
much money as the other leaders.

No matter who we asked though, even our own 6-
figure-earning-upline, we could never figure out
how he did it year after year after year - ‘cuz
he sure as heck wasn’t doing it the way the rest
of us were.

Usually the response was just, “I don’t know.”

But the best answer I ever got was, “He sells
some kind of system. Don’t worry about it though,
he doesn’t do it the company way.”

Well I did worry about it. Because I got sick
of being an evangelist doing it the company way.

So what DO the gurus sell?

How could they sell something other than a
business opportunity and still build a MASSIVE
organization (and make it look easy)?

Later, after I finally reached a level of
success I had never even thought possible before
(sponsoring 20 or more people every month
without breaking a sweat) it all made perfect
sense. I finally understood how that guy in my
previous company did it.

Here are some of the things I realized:

-First and foremost, the heavy hitters only
bothered with the people who were already
looking for what they had.

-Secondly, they understood what people were
really looking for in the first place. And so
they offered more than an opportunity, which was
just one puzzle piece in the overall picture.
They offered their customers something of much
greater value, something their companies could
never provide: Themselves and their expertise.

-They learned about sales and marketing
techniques from sources other than their company.
Because what they were doing was not taught by
any company in the industry.

-They invested in their customers first before
they asked for money or any kind of commitment.
This might sound corny, but it is the formula
that every great marketer has used to build
enormously profitable businesses.

-They gave people a true marketing system with
which to build their business. They gave them
the “how” rather than the “what.”

By doing all this they become more than just
another zealous sales rep peddling their wares.
They set themselves apart from everyone else out
there and by doing so, they attracted people to
them in droves.

The lesson?

Don’t be afraid to go against the grain and
differentiate yourself. Often times this is the
best marketing decision you can make.