Is It Ever Good to Lie to a MLM Prospect?

A recent meeting with a prospect had me thinking how easy it would be to mislead and outright lie to someone in order to make yourself look like a better network marketer.

I met with a fellow in a coffee shop and had a very good meeting with him. He was intrigued with the MLM opportunity, but like many others had certain questions. One question he posed to me, which surprisingly is not one asked by many people, led me to write this article.

He asked me how may people I had on my downline. I can certainly understand why he asked that question. He wanted to know how successful I was. I would tend to think that the more people on my team, the more successful I would be in his eyes. If my downline consisted of only a few people, then to him, the MLM opportunity would become less appealing. He could not be further from reality in thinking like this, but he does not know the network marketing business and his thoughts would be the same as the majority of the population.

During all my MLM training, this topic never came up. I recall my immediate upline discussing it casually with me and giving me some pointers, but it was not a major area of concern. I think this topic is extremely important and should be discussed with every member of your team. The main reason for this is because their credibility will be tested and you want your team member to say the right thing.

Personally, I never want any member of my team to lie to a prospect nor would I want them to mislead them. However, there are certain things that you can say to a prospect without being specific and it is by no means misleading them.

Let's face it, when someone is new to the network marketing industry, obviously they will not have a huge downline. Sometimes people get off to a very slow start and it could be months before they have several people on their team. Your prospect will only hear the total number of people and will not be interested in the explanation. So how do you avoid stating a specific fact without sounding like you are hiding something.

The way I do it is this. I never tell anyone how many people I have on my team. I also never tell anyone how much money I make. People's reaction to the figures you tell them will be subjective. You may think that the number of team members is high, but they may not. The same holds true for your income. A prospect may expect you to be making thousands of dollars right away so no matter what you tell them, it may not be good enough.

Another reason I do not tell them anything is because if they do not duplicate what I did then they may feel that they have failed. Even if their results are good, it may not be good enough in their eyes because they fell short of my results.

I explain to my prospects that I never divulge my income, the size of my team or how many people I have personally sponsored for the reasons I explained above. I further explain that results are based on the amount of work that a person is willing to put into the system. I add that anyone can become very successful in network marketing industry, but stress that results are never guaranteed. I do not want to mislead anyone to believe that certain income or results will be automatic.

I do tell them the level that I have attained with the company and have placed myself in a position to earn "x" amount of income. The figure you insert depends on your company's compensation plan. I tell them that I have built a team of quality people and I am now helping them to build their own teams. I tell them that I have started building my residual income which will allow me to reach my goals in the next "x" amount of time.

There are certainly different ways you can re word what I said, but I think you get the point. These comments are by no means misleading because you are simply stating what the opportunity has done and will do for you. If a person persists and still wants to know specific numbers, then I would forget about that person because they do not understand the opportunity or the MLM industry.

I hope this information will help when you encounter someone wanting to know what you earn or hoe many people you have on your team.

Network Marketing Amusement Park

There are always ups and downs in the network marketing business, and a day I had this week truly sums that up.

One day this week, I met with a potential customer and also a MLM prospect. The customer with whom I met was a relative of mine. The meeting had taken a while to transpire, but eventually we were able to find a day that was convenient for both of us.

This meeting took a lot longer than what I had planned. That in itself was not a bad thing, but it did take my mind off things for a while to the point that I had forgotten about the meeting with the prospect. Luckily that prospect phoned me to confirm the appointment or else it would have been a missed opportunity.

So at the end of the two hour meeting with my relative there came some good and bad news. The bad news was that I left without having secured a sale. The good news was that they were open to becoming a customer, but needed to obtain some information first. In addition, they were interested in more services that what we had originally discussed on the telephone. So over all, although the sale was not made, it was a very good encounter so I left the home in a very good mood.

So I immediately contacted the prospect and arranged a time to meet at a local coffee shop. The meeting went reasonably well. He was interested in the opportunity but not to the degree that he was willing to sign up right away. It was agreed that he would strongly ponder the possibility to attend a company presentation. Our chat lasted for about one hour. I left the coffee shop again in a good mood. This prospect had some potential and he had not shown any disinterest in the business.

My happiness quickly turned to shock and then anger as I walked toward my vehicle in the parking lot. The entire rear bumper was dangling from the car. Someone had backed into my vehicle and failed to remain at the scene. I couldn't believe it. My thought ran from having to drive the vehicle in this condition for the rest of the day, having to attend a police station to report the accident and then having to deal with the expense of the repair.

One thought that came to mind as well and I have to be honest about it, is that I would not have been in this predicament if that prospect had not contacted me to confirm our meeting. I realize that this thought is very unprofessional and I felt bad afterward.

The only consolation to this whole incident is that the prospect called me the next day actually inquiring about a friend of his becoming a customer and also added that he will be calling me to confirm his attendance to a company presentation.

The network marketing industry has always been a "roller coater" ride, but never did I expect it to also be a "bumper" car ride as well.

If You Are Going To Be in Network Marketing, You Must INVITE, INVITE and INVITE!

I am still very much amazed at the number of people who become involved in the MLM industry who are unable or unwilling to speak to people. Why become involved in the first place if you have reservations, apprehension or fear in this area.

I understand completely that not everyone has the desire and/or ability to communicate with others especially when it pertains to the sensitive issue of inviting a friend or family member to hear about a business opportunity. This industry is not for everyone.

But, what I do not understand is why become involved if there exists a concern about speaking to people. I know in my business, myself, my upline, my down line, everyone who presents, makes it perfectly clear that the main criteria to enter into the Network Marketing industry is to speak to people. And I know that I say outright as do others, if you can't or won't talk to people, please do everyone and especially yourself, a favour and do not get involved.

Despite our best effort in trying to filter out people who do not want to do this, they still become involved nonetheless. I have dealt with people who have said outright to me that they have no problems whatsoever in contacting people, speaking to them, and inviting them to events. But, when I ask them how many people they have spoken to, the number can fit into one hand.

I know that the people I work with do not expect everyone to be able to present the opportunity to others in any format unless they so desire. But, we do expect people to invite others to see the opportunity in whatever setting can be arranged. Those settings can be in a 1 on 1 format, 2 on 1 format, home meeting, or company presentation.

I cannot stress to you enough the importance of speaking to people and inviting them to see the opportunity. There is no other logical way to present the opportunity to others. How do you expect someone to become involved if they can't see what the business is all about.

You must get beyond that fear and apprehension of speaking to people. I think more so it is the fear of being rejected. I recently had a young lady say to me that she did not want to become involved in the business because she feared that she would lose her friends if they became upset with her about the opportunity. I did not agree with her thinking, but at the end of the day, she had concerns about dealing with people and as such she did not want to become involved with the industry. It is better that I found that out beforehand instead of realizing it afterwards. The problem is, there are many people who feel the same as this young lady, but they still become involved an never express their concerns until it is too late.

Make no mistake about it, the MLM industry involves interacting with others, whether they be your friends, family, co workers, neighbours and/or strangers. The methods you can use to speak to these people are many, but you have to speak to them and invite them to see the opportunity. If you can't or won't do this then do not get involved .

If you can perfect one thing in this business, then do so by learning everything you can about approaching people, piquing their interest and especially inviting them to see the opportunity. If you can invite one person a day to see the business, you will become successful. Get out there and INVITE!!