Garden State and MLM
I don’t know if they ever saw the Garden State movie. There is one scene in particular that hits me in the gut every time I watch it. Zach Braff’s character, Andrew Largeman, meets an old acquaintance from high school, Karl, who works at the hardware store.
Shortly after they catch up, Karl starts offering Largeman and his girlfriend some kind of opportunity in the middle of the store. Karl was pitching in this REALLY cheesy way that is not only annoying but repulsive. “Why is it always the losers who get caught up in pyramid schemes?” says a boy. That really hurts!
Although you may never have seen this movie, I know you have experienced it first hand, as the pitcher or the pitcher.
I have. I was that pitcher. The person people run from.
My upline taught me at the time to “leave no men behind.” Everyone is a potential recruit, so I recruited everyone. Forget about self-promotion, dignity, reason. Just go out and recruit.
My business never took off. I was lucky enough to recruit a few close friends and my business grew by a few, but I had never actually made any real money.
I had to supplement my living expenses with a part-time job at Togo’s. At the time, he was throwing over the meat counter. IT IS NOT A JOKE.
From that experience, I have acquired some ideas. People didn’t join my business because I was tough or had their throats cut. I would say that people in the mortgage industry or Wall Street are the same, if not tougher and more unforgiving, than people in the network marketing industry. How come your profession seems so much more “upper class”?
The main reason people didn’t join my business is because of ME. I didn’t want to admit it, but they didn’t want to live like me, going around town recruiting at the mall.
They see that I was following a system that failed many others before me, but I did not have the courage to oppose the system. They see that I was a sheep among wolves, waiting to be eaten.
Well, to summarize, I learned to be a wolf. I learned to stop launching the juice, the business and I began to brand myself. I know that I have accumulated enough knowledge and experience to make someone new to this industry to avoid all the pitfalls of traditional MLM.
The formula for success is simple: an attraction marketing system and a good lead funnel. The leaders of your company know it. They are almost in a state of perpetual lead generation in their business. Whatever they do, people listen because they are being promoted by their downline, sideline, even those who are in another company, because they have a brand that distinguishes itself from the company they represent.
Don’t be like Karl, who offers opportunities wherever he goes. Create a lead funnel using an attraction marketing system for QUALIFIED recruits to seek you out for guidance and sponsorship. There are some turnkey lead generation funnels already set up for you online, and you really don’t have to be a tech-savvy to take advantage of them.