Take Attraction Marketing & Add a small dash of ‘hope’!

The Background
When I was teaching counselling to my Masters students, one of my favourite concepts to teach was hope with a small ‘h’.  I would like to share this concept with you, as it seems to me that there is a lovely fit with Attraction Marketing. 

The Concept of hope with a small ‘h’
Yvonne Dolan first conceived of this concept after counselling clients who had experienced major trauma in their lives.  Examples of such traumatic circumstances could be a tsunami, an earthquake, the violent or sudden death of a family member or friend, a bushfire, etc.

What Yvonne realized was that trying to generate Hope with a capital ‘H’, however well meaning, was less than helpful for the survivor at such critical times.  For example, making statements such as “you are a strong person, you will get through this” or “it’s all part of God’s Plan” or “time will heal”.

Yvonne discovered that what was most helpful to people at such times was hope with a small ‘h’, since it may be all the person can do to think ahead for the next hour or the next 24 hours.

The Technique of 'Hope Implicit Questions'
In these situations, Yvonne gradually developed the technique of asking what she calls ‘hope implicit questions’.  So, for example, if someone had just lost a loved one or had lost their home, she might ask them “what do you need to get you through tonight and how can I best support you?”  This is a respectful question that acknowledges that the person knows what they need.  Furthermore, this question implies to the other that she believe that they will make it through the night, thus generating hope with a small ‘h’.  And finally, it demonstrates that she wants to be of service to them.

And sometimes it might just be appropriate to 'till the soil', or 'build a nest', in which hope with a small ‘h’ can take root, or start to feel secure, and slowly start to grow.

The Concept Applied to Network Marketing
You can probably see where I am going here! 

It seems to me that the ‘old school’ way of doing network marketing used lots of tactics to push ‘Hope’ with a capital ‘H’.  New distributors were told that everyone was a ‘potential customer’: family, friends, neighbours, co-workers, the bank teller, the waitperson and on and on.  All you had to do was go out and “share” and you would see your networking empire grow – three, plus three, plus three, ad infinitum.  What happened?  In far too many cases High Hopes were quickly dashed.

Network marketing ‘experts’ generated these High Hopes by promoting unrealistic expectations.  For example, that anyone can do it.  And for those whose hopes were dashed, well, that was their personal failure, due to their ‘lack’ in some vital area of personal growth, such as ‘belief’ in themself.

The approach of ‘new school’ Attraction Marketing, on the other hand, is more attuned to the concept of hope with a small ‘h’, because practitioners come from a giving and respectful space. They don’t push their products or business opportunities onto people who may have no desire to hear about them.  And when they are approached by someone who has been attracted to them, they don’t presume to know where that person is coming from at that moment or, indeed, exactly what manner of support they might need or want. 

Adapting Hope Implicit Questions to Network Marketing
The following are two examples of hope implicit questions that you might find useful as a network (attraction) marketer.

During an initial conversation you might ask:

•    “What can I tell you first that would be most helpful to you?”

This question implicitly offers hope (with a small ‘h’) to the other person that they will be getting some information that will be of value to them.  It implies that there is more than one way that they can be helped, but you are not going to overwhelm them initially.  It also respectfully acknowledges that the person has at least some inkling of what they want or need and that you want to be supportive of them, not directive or overwhelming them with a deluge of information that’s all about what you want them to hear.

If you have someone in your team who feels ‘stuck’, you might like to use the following simple question:

•    “How can I support you to overcome this challenge (block, hurdle)?”

In asking this question you imply that they can overcome the challenge and that you are there to support them achieve this outcome.  This question also invites the person to explore their solutions to the challenge, rather than you jumping in first up with what you think is the answer.

So there you have it, my first offering to the Betternetworker community!  I do hope that in some small way you have found the article to be of value.  This is my first ever network marketing article, so I really welcome your thoughts and feedback :-)

‘Newbie’ Kisane