There is no U in Attraction Marketing

The following is an article that I posted on Ezine Articles, it has to do with an experience I had earlier on as I was being introduced to Attraction Marketing and the Internet.

I have been following some of the forums this past week, and I thought this may be appropriate given the questions that have been raised lately. Here is my article:

There is no U in Attraction Marketing

Many Network Marketers think that being part of a great company, with an incredible product, and an awesome compensation plan is all they need to be successful. I know. I was one of them.

You can tell who these people are, if you are within earshot of them, they are the ones pitching you their company, product or compensation plan. Every time you talk to them, even if you have expressed your lack of interest in their product, or business opportunity, they keep barraging you.

And there is nothing you can do to stop them, so you do like most people, and you just avoid them at all costs. Have you ever being the poor soul that mentions Network Marketing to someone who just had an encounter with one of these zealous Network Marketers.

Needless to say it ruins it for all of us. If the person hasn't expressed interest on the product or business opportunity, why keep harassing them.

It is not that the company is bad, or that the product is without merit, or even that the compensation plan is unremarkable. The problem is the marketing approach, or lack there of.

If you ask people to list which job they dislike the most, one of them is going to have something to do with sales. The word "Sales" has a bad connotation. Most people define sales as, convincing someone to purchase something that they neither, want or need.

"They want it, but they don't know it yet".

It's the answer I usually get from some of these Network Marketers.

Like I said before, it is the lack of a sound marketing approach that is the problem. If you want people to buy your product you offer them value (information, samples, and testimonials) for them to investigate.

If you want people to join your organization, you must prove yourself valuable to them, without strings attached. I can best illustrate this by sharing an encounter I had this pass week.

I have been working on my Marketing on the Internet, and I have people that contact me, and others that just sign up for my newsletter.

Saturday a week ago I received an email from a gentleman that has been in Network Marketing for over 15 years. In the email he suggested that he would like to chat with me, and maybe become friends. Since we are both professionals in the Network Marketing Industry, I agreed.

After a couple emails, we decided on a time and day for a telephone call. On the schedule day, I got held back on a three-way call, and was not able to call him at the time we agreed. I got to call him 30 minutes latter than agreed, and did not find him then, but he returned my call soon after.

Terry has an organization of 35000 distributors, and he is a member of the million-dollar club with his company. Terry is what I call a heavy weight on the Industry.

After the pleasantries, he asked me about my organization and my marketing strategy. I shared my marketing strategy and my organization structure with him.

He then asked me, if I might be having any problems that he could assist me with.

Remember we are on two different Network Marketing Companies, and we are both aware of that.

He had not pitch me, nor had I pitch him. At no time we talked about products, compensation plans, or company stability.

He went on, for the next 40+ minutes, giving me specific advice to problems that I was encountering, and how he was approaching similar challenges.

He shared extremely valuable advice with me in the time we spent on the phone. Advice, which I was able to put to use the very next day, with the results I was seeking.

I learned a lot from Terry, but maybe the most important lesson was how to unselfishly provide value to the people I meet.

Terry freely shared his knowledge with me, without asking for anything in return.

My impression of Terry is that he is an extremely knowledgeable individual, and that he was more interested on my needs, than what he was going to get out of our interaction.

It is not a wonder that he has an organization 35000 strong...

Update:

Terry and I mantain contac,t he ocassionally send me materials that I can use, and when I run into his work on the internet I bookmark and/or post comments on his articles and blogs...