The Biggest Detractors Of Network Marketing
Posted by: Bob Firestone under Business Development
The profession of network marketing is so close to reaching the recognition that it deserves. There is one last group of people who need to be converted to see the industry in a positive light. This group is not the media, the government regulators, politicians, or the people who call it one of those pyramid things. No the group that needs to change their minds is existing network marketers.
Have you ever talked sh!t about another company company to a prospect? Have you ever suggested that other companies and their management is only out to steal from your prospect? Do these tactics ever help you actually sell anything? No.
When you badmouth another company you are badmouthing the industry and your company at the same time. Do you think your prospect trusts that if you say your competition companies X, Y & Z are bad companies that they are going to think great this is the one. No what is going through their mind is why do I want to be in an industry that is full of crooks.
Trying to destroy the reputation of your competitor might work in some businesses and politics but not in network marketing.
What you can do is compare products and companies with out being negative. Look at this recreation of a conversation I had with a prospect when he mentioned another company (this isn’t word for word but it is pretty close and some changes have been made to (poorly) hide the company I was talking about)…
Prospect: I have been hearing a lot about company M recently.
Me: There are a lot of people right now marketing their products and there are definitely people who like it. I looked at them before joining and there are some big differences that I believe make our products and opportunity superior. M is most know for having the acai berry. Our core nutrition product has acai, noni a fruit from the South Pacific, gogi, pomegranate and has ECE kelp extract the next generation of super anti-oxidant. ECE anti-oxidant stays in your system working for up to 24X longer than acai berry. In one bottle you are getting a lot more than just acai.
With the economy the way it is value is a big concern and being able to give people a large bang for their buck is important. Theirs comes in a very nice looking 25 oz bottle and costs about $40; ours is 32 oz for $22.50. So you get almost 30% more product for about half the price. It is a bigger bottle of a better product and less money. Would you agree that is a big difference in value?
P: Yes it is. Being half the price do you make a lot less?
M: The compensation plans are very similar in structure. Before joining I took a pencil and paper to the numbers and did a couple of side by side comparisons. We came out ahead. The difference is how much of each dollar gets paid out as commission. Of every dollar that is brought 60% is paid out to the field compared to their 50%. We are able to do this because we have less middlemen on the supply side.
I never resorted to playing them as bad guys or selling modern day snake oil. I highlighted the differences and framed the conversation in a way that made me, my product and my opportunity the better choice without having to compromise my integrity.
