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Product vs Program

Business people greeting and handshake

In an average MLM recruitment meeting you are very likely to hear, “Anyone can do this job!” I would say, “That is not so! But given the right tools, training, and leadership many people can sell soap.” (Or anything else that your MLM offers in terms of product line).

Statistics show that big ticket sales are most often made on the fifth through the twelfth contact with the purchasing individual. Attempting to get someone signed up to sell your product is a “big ticket” item. Ill-advised is the consultant who tries to sell the program on the first meeting. Attempting to get someone to buy a bar of soap (product) on the first visit is not nearly so foolish.

You might ask, “Why should I settle for selling a bar of soap when I might get someone interested in the program?”

The odds are much better that you will get the soap sale. And, if the soap is good enough, there will be time to introduce the program later. Many people go into a scarcity mentality at this point. “But if I don’t mention the program, and they like the soap, then someone will come along and sign them up when I’m the one who should get them on my team!”

There is more than enough to go around. If that unfortunate scenario were to happen then there will be others who will sign up for the program with you. It wouldn’t be that difficult for your product client to say, “No, I think I’ll go talk to the person who sold me the product.” If they do not have that kind of loyalty to you then you may not want them on your team anyway.

I met a lady who sold me on my first MLM and, since she was practically family with my in-laws, she showed me her monthly check. It was for $1,200. Initially she just sold me the service—not the program. She was making an extra $1,200 a month, and almost all of that, from people using the MLM service she was offering. I think that she only had one person in her actual downline at that time—but she had many customers using the service. It took very little of her time, and that twelve-hundred-dollar-a-month check happened within months from the time she signed up with the MLM.

Remember, commissions on product or services from MLM’s are pretty good—especially since they have no real overhead in real estate, advertising, or a salaried sales force.

I was in college at the time and that $1,200 sure seemed like a lot of monthly income to me. But when I started going to meetings I got the greed bug. Rather than trying to sell the service myself, I wanted a down-line who would sell the service for me. I had tried to establish a downline but it was very difficult. One of my more discouraging encounters was with a very good salesman (and friend) who told me that he couldn’t sign up to sell the program because his currently low income allowed him to get state funded medical help for his daughter. You can’t really argue with that. And, even though I was selling a service and not a product, the soap company had already turned a lot of people off. So several good friends signed up for the service but they wanted nothing to do with the program.

My meager checks did not keep me enthused for long. The meetings only served to “heap coals on my head.” I was so focused on trying to sell the program that I rarely even attempted to sell “just the service.” The speakers at the meetings were basically training me to “bait and switch.” Get the potential client interested in the service and then sell them the program. More often than not I lost both the sale of the service AND the potential program client.

There is a certain transparent dishonesty with the approach of selling the product and then switching the buyer to the program and I don’t believe that people’s reaction to that is generally positive or that it has changed since the soap company days.

The opportunity which I missed, by trying to sell the program, was a nice monthly check. I also feel that I damaged my credibility with friends and family.

In the long run you want to become known as “that guy (or that gal) who handles all of my XYZ product needs.” This will actually give you great standing within the community—people like to see that kind of stability. As you establish yourself, as your MLM’s representative, people will begin to recommend you to their friends and family and, before you know it, you will be getting a nice check (even if you haven’t yet established a downline).

You can always mention that the program exists. And I do mean for you to tread lightly here. Mention it once during a product introduction meeting and drop it like a hot cake. If they want to know more then they will probably ask you. You can even mention it when you drop product off at their home but do not dwell on it. Otherwise you will come off like a cult member on steroids.

For more info see Timbre Wolf’s author bio

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