Incoming Sales Pitch
Read More: I recently sent out a message to my list that was titled "Incoming Sales Pitch". I sent it partly as a test to see if it would get opened, but mainly because I am a little sick of folks preying on others by disguising their sales pitches as friendship/help/coaching offers.
And I admit I was definitely worried by the content of the message. Although people generally respond well to the information I send them, it's not a guaranteed thing! (shocking I know, lol)
So I confess to being more than pleasantly surprised when, not only did most of my readers open the message, but the feedback I've recieved has been overwhelmingly positive. Not a single negative reaction! Does this mean everyone 'got it'? Is it just that those who viewed it negatively couldn't be bothered to reply or even hit the unsubscribe button?
Anyway, now that my curiosity is raised, decided I would post it here. Not only to see what my Better Networker friends think of it (and to find out if they still want to be my BN friends), but also I've included just one of the replies I've recieved, which goes to prove my point that being honest with people is definitely the right way to do business.
Hi,
Before I say anything else, let me just put your mind at rest - there isn't a sales pitch in sight. You can continue reading safe in the knowledge that your money can stay firmly entrenched in your pocket!
Not so with most of the reading you probably find yourself wading through. And quite frankly, that's the reason for this message today. Do you recognise a 'sales pitch' when it's made? Really? Because there seems to be an ever growing trend of disguising sales pitches as something completely different.
And I'm not just talking about wrapping them up in a well put together sales package, that pulls all your emotional triggers, pushes all your instinctual buttons, and renders you paralysed until you've hit the 'buy now' button. That at least is honest salesmanship.
But there's a growing trend among the ever increasing number of social networking sites for sales pitches to be disguised as 'let me be your friend'. And because social networking is recieving such a huge plug these days, people are falling for it.
To be honest, some of the rhetoric I've seen is nothing short of vomit inducing (there's my British tact at work). I have no problem with people wanting to help me, especially those who are willing to do so for free (and yes, believe it or not there are people who do that), but I know and so should you, that the reason for helping is to hopefully make some money at the end of the day.
If that shocks or offends you, I'm sorry and before you go tearing off to the unsubscribe link at the bottom, let me explain.
We all do things that reward us personally. The reward may be emotional, physical, financial, whatever... it doesn't matter. What matters is that the payoff for doing it is greater than the pain of not doing it. So if your best friend really wants to go see a movie that you know you are going to hate, but they really want you to go with them, chances are you're gonna go. Why? Because the 'reward' of being a good friend is greater than the pain of sitting through a movie you don't like.
And if you're in the business of trying to make money on the Internet, then you know how important it is to be a good friend to the people you connect with. So helping folks out for free is a great reward in and of itself. And it is exactly what you should be doing, passing on information that is valuable and will help others in whatever capacity you can.
But at the end of the day, if you're trying to kid people that you are not out to make money, then you are plain outright lying to them and that is something that friends just don't do to each other. In the same way, that I wouldn't recommend you buy something unless I thought it was good for you, I'm not going to refrain from recommending something just because I'm supposed to be 'helping you for free'.
And I'd hope you'd take my advice either way. To be honest, sometimes what really gets my blood boiling is when I advise someone not to buy into a particular product because they're not really in a position to benefit from it fully, and they do it anyway. Then they try to blame me when they can't use it, or it doesn't work for them the way it did for me, or they claim they've been 'scammed'. Well, blow me down with a cotton picking feather! Try listening next time.
The bottom line is in being honest, with yourself and with the people you come into contact with. Be very careful who you choose to connect with in your Internet dealings. And watch out for the 'incoming sales pitch' that is posted to your guestbook or your profile under the guise of 'let me be your friend'.
If you've read this far and still want to be among my friends, (knowing full well that at some point I may recommend you to products that I think will be of use to you and that will pay me money should you take up those recommendations), then thanks. I'm pleased to count you as a friend and rest assured, as a friend, I'll never recommend something I don't think is valuable and beneficial to you.
To Friendship
Susan
P.S. If you want to know why I would add folks to my friends list on any social network, check out the latest post at Sans Money Secret
Okay, that was the message. Here's just one of the replies I recieved back to my inbox.
So what do you think? Still want to be my friend? Are you rushing to remove me from your BN contact list? Or do you agree that 'honesty is the best policy'?
Susan
Views: 311 | 
Comments: 5 Limited time offer: Learn how to apply social media to your marketing plan in just 7 minutes a day.
Rare Webinar Exposes the One Investment the Top 1% Are Betting on During the Coming Economic Collapse...
I Agree that Honesty is the Best Policy...
Hi Susan,
This is beautifully written. This blog entry is reaching me at a good moment. I've been putting together an auto-email series and I'm to the point of putting a product offer in front of them. Your blog post has reaffirmed the part of me that is over trying to be "pretty" with a passive product recommendation, and simply putting my product offer in plain language. Period.
Also, you touched a point that I've been thinking about regards to being "friends." You wrote, "I have no problem with people wanting to help me, especially those who are willing to do so for free (and yes, believe it or not there are people who do that), but I know and so should you, that the reason for helping is to hopefully make some money at the end of the day." I couldn't agree more.
I've received plenty of free help, and I've paid for some help too. Likewise, I've given plenty of free help and I've charged for my help. Here's my question for you (as it's one I've been struggling with lately) - How much free help is too much free help? Where do you draw the line, especially if the person you are helping has also contributed to the 'you help me, I help you' dynamic of the relationship. Cutting off communication could sever a key contact, or ally that in the future could be beneficial for business.
Thank you for inspiring these thoughts and providing a good example of a relationship building-tell it like it is email you send to your lists.
Good question
How much is too much? Personally I think there's too many variables in there Eric.
How much of your time is being devoted to 'one' person? Is it stopping you from working your own business, or helping larger groups? Are you confusing 'helping' with 'doing?
Apart from anything else, if you doing the work instead of teaching them how to do it, you are doing people a great disservice because you are preventing them from growing and learning and they will never be able to stand on their own two feet.
With the best will in the world, and as unpopular as it sounds, you cannot devote all your time to helping people on an invidivual basis for free. That doesnt' leave you any time to work on your own business. Once you get a few hundred e-mails coming in asking for advice on different subjects, how the heck are you going to find the time to respond to each of them personally?
With regard to the 'you help me, I help you' - I have recieved (and still do) a lot of help from my friends here on BN. Sometimes, as in the case of "The Insider Report", that even included 'doing the doing', where several of them wrote a chapter for me, and did it with no thought of getting anything back (thanks guys). Would I still send them an affiliate link to a product that I thought they would benefit from? Yes, and because they're my friends, (and if they agreed it would help them), they'd probably buy via that link, as I would if they did the same.
I don't think you can put a limit on how much help you are willing to give for free, but the people you are helping have to realise that at the end of the day, you are running a business. I would like to say I wouldn't cut off communication with anyone, but I have deleted people from my list who regularly don't open my messages or don't bother checking out the information if they have opened them.
The way I look at it is that I pay good money to iContact to be able to send what I think is good stuff to people and I don't charge them for doing so. If they don't want to use the help I give, then I'm not going to pay to keep giving it. Regardless of the fact that at some point in the future they may suddenly decide to open a message that does contain a recommendation. Which probably explains why I'm not yet a millionaire!
I'm still in
I still want to be your friend Susan.
I think anyone involved in an MLM would be cogniscant with the fact that people in their upline are making recommendations to them that will ultimately result in the upline receiving a payment. When you have respect for that person and the value they have given, you don't have a problem with that as you want to give back. I have been to your sites and others and while clicking on the sponsored links, have thought to myself that I hope this is helping generate some revenue for the site owner.
I would hope that as you traipse around the net and find products & services that may be of interest to the rest of us needing a leg up that you will report back and receive some compensation for your time.
BTW-there isn't a spell checker on here anywhere is there? I note you and I spell "receive" differently but lots of folks appear to have become quite reliant on their word processor checking for them. Having to quickly reread the post in preview is probably a good thing though!
I'm still in...
Susan,
I like offers from my friends... I dispise offers from stranger... even if it's the same offer! I don't mind getting stuff recommended to me. Theres some peoples email I open regardless of if there selling something today or not. Others I delete whether they are selling something or not without even opening it.
Malika
Magnetic Sponsoring and Building-On-A-Budget for dummies? Learn Attraction Marketing click-by-click www.recessionproofincome.com InterNetwork Marketing = www.GetPaidToProspectOnline.com
Glad to see no mad rush to
Glad to see no mad rush to remove me from anyone's friend list. Thanks folks. : )
I confess I'm still surprised that I didn't recieve any more negativity from this message. But then I guess you can't really get knocked for being honest.