"Attraction Marketing Is Non-Sense"
Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 09:26PM Over the last couple of days, I was having an "email conversation" with a guy who had contacted me initially on Facebook. The way he contacted me deserves a special attention. He is involved in network marketing with the Wonderful Company. So, without knowing me, without my knowing him, he decided to ask me "to marry him on the first date". Just look at this:
How does it sound to you? Notice, this is his very first message! His "hi" sounds to me like a greeting from an intimate friend who doesn't need to be called by name. As though he's known me for 50 years. And then he's talking about himself and his wife as though we ate dinner together the night before. And then he jams in his opportunity into the same sentence, and it is full of hype and excitement without a reason. I know where it comes from. I am sure you do, too. I've watched hundreds of those "energizing" videos and listened to the same kind of audios that work like drugs - first you feel high, then miserable and depressed. (Not that I ever used drugs. I read about these symptoms in books). Do you recognize one of the lies Ann Sieg wrote about? "We want to SHARE it with You!" (Exclamation mark). He thought I would spin around on my belly button from extreme joy that he brought to me.
So in order to continue my "research" on how he's going to try to recruit me. I wrote him: "Go ahead!" And he did. He sent me two links to the videos in which a guy conducts his pitch non-stop on how amazing the opportunity is, how much money he makes, how great their comp plan is, how much of their unprecedented products one has to buy to make money, etc. After I watched 1/3 of each 15 minute video (that was enough to get an impression), I wrote the guy back and SHARED my thoughts about his proposal and approach to network marketing. I stupidly thought he would be open to learn something better about how to build a network marketing business by reading "The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing" the link to which I sent him. But to my surprise he not only refused to even open it, he sent me another message expressing all the wrath he was able to pour out on me at the moment:
"Every person makes his/her own choice! My task is to give enough information to make a decision! As far as your site goes, I've seen it before - non-sense!!! Good luck"
So, he got angry that he was not able to recruit me (Look at the number of exclamation marks - he's yelling at me). He refused to accept my suggestion to read "The 7 Lies". His initial excitement evaporated. What's next? The same tactics will repeat over and over again just to cause rejection in people and anger in him. As Seth Godin wrote in his "Permission Marketing", that when people fail their advertising campaign they fire their advertising agency. They blame for failure anyone but themselves. It is our nature: we blame others for our failures, but we praise ourselves when we succeed. Success belongs to us, failure belongs to someone else.
When we fail it is a good time to check what kind of leaders we are. Do we blame someone else, or we try to find the cause of our failure in our own self? Do we try to change anything in our marketing style that does not let us move forward? Or we stubbornly continue to step on the same rake over and over again without ever learning the lesson. One of the qualities of a network marketing leader is the desire to learn new and effective marketing strategies. And it is sad to see how people are being brain-washed by the old-school marketers who practically slam an iron curtain shut between their followers and us.
For me this email exchange has been a good reminder of my being an old-school student when I felt frustration and had no plan of action; and this is an opportunity for me to thank Ann Sieg, Mike Klingler, Mike Dillard, Tom "Big Al" Schreiter, John Reese, Robert Kiyosaki, Robert Allen, and many others who contributed to the makeover of my mindset and my approach to network marketing.
Reader Comments (5)
I think it's funny that we, people who know the 7 Lies, react when we see one of the "old tactics" being used on us! It's so obvious and DOES NOT WORK!
Thanks for the blog. I haven't heard of all of the people you thanked. I'll have to check them out.
Nat
I enjoy reading your material Vlad. You definitely make 'good sense'. I'm so glad that way of thinking is behind me! It's a journey though, we get so excited about 'our deal' that we seriously can't understand why everyone else doesn't get as pumped as we do. This is what tarnished the industry in the past and its only through education with articles like yours that we will avoid making these mistakes online. Thanks, Irene aka Renegade Coach
As you say, Vlad, if someone is experiencing all the success they could possibly want, then maybe the "old way" is best for them. But with a 97% failure rate, it would be wise to at least be OPEN to a different method.
What I love is that you took an everyday experience in your life - the email exchange - and used it to further all of our education.
I also felt validated when you said he asked you to "marry him" on the first date. I won't explain why here, it would be promotional, but contact me through Digg or RU and I'll tell you. Let's just say "Great minds think alike!" LOL
I really enjoyed reading this. Unfortunately, I'm still involved with the "old school" method of recruiting because no one in my upline will support the new way. It feels like such a waste of time to go to meetings and such, now that I know better. I will continue on with attraction marketing because, how could I ever go back exclusively to the old method. My upline will see some day that this is the only method for success for the future of this industry. When I think of all the network marketers out there who are failing, I want to jump up and down and tell them about this new way. It is a business saver.
Great read, thanks.
Michelle Moseley
I can't understand why people get so defensive when you even try to touch their 'holy of holies' - the old school methods. If they are convinced that those methods work (although I doubt it, because it never did for me), why not try others that work, such as attraction marketing? This narrow-mindedness drives me crazy!