These are just as important, if not more so than body language at times, when attempting to find the pertinent identifiers that will shed light on the absolute truth in the situation or person being investigated.
So I apologize upfront if this might seem nitpicky, but this is so ingrained in me from my 15 years in this career, it's impossible to shut off.
But my main point to bring this up is not to be so small minded focused, but rather to challenge every single person in this industry to improve their language and word choice. I'd say about 99% of you are completely unaware you even say these things which is 100% understandable.
But to me, it's no excuse. You can easily become a more conscious, better communicator and be more careful with your word choice.
I say this for one reason and one reason only (which is the main point of bringing all this up) To improve our industry 100% in the next year, and keep continuing that improvement in various ways over the years.
Our words dictate how this industry is viewed and perceived by outsiders. Those outsiders are folks who either know nothing about it, or have had a taste of it either indirectly (heard about it) or directly (been in it before).
Let's not fool ourselves. The MLM industry has more negative out there than positive. But the shift is happening to reverse this with some of the awesome folks like Dillard, et al, but it constantly needs to be tended to, as we can't afford to loose the ground we have made already - which to me is significant progress since I had my first 2 network marketing companies in 1999-02.
One of my goals this time around in this industry model, is to be one of the initiators (amongst many) of truly transforming this industry so it can have a much more positive perception in the public eyes, and never be negatively viewed again.
I would like to see it viewed just the way Social Enterprises, or Small Businesses, or other Entrepreneurs are so well respected in our societies and see it matched as an equal in terms of a solid, sustainable and a valid business structure. The Ultimate Ideal goal is to erase all negative about this industry model.
Yes, big challenge I know. But I believe it can happen. And I believe it can start right here - with all you awesome folks! So that is why I have posted this Challenge for 2012 here first before anywhere else in my writings and interaction with my network. The change begins with each of us (as you all know). How we speak and act as we talk or write about this business or just in life as entrepreneurs and how we influence and lead others greatly impacts each person's perception of this business model/this industry.
I know for a fact, each of our lives and the speed at which our business grows, or the depths to which it can grow would be a lot easier, if we got rid of some of this not so great language when we are interacting with others in business or life.
So, I challenge every single Network Marketer out there to stop being so lax with these words, and work during the year 2012 to eliminate them entirely from your vocabulary, speech patterns and written words.
Here is the start of some of the words, phrases, etc that are the very things that leave a bad taste in the mouth to many - simple because you actually insult their intelligence when you use them. I know that is not your intent, but that is what you are doing. Their internal, intuitive smarts kicks into gear and instantly put a guard up to you and this industry.
So let's remove that guard over the course of 2012 and start using a thesaurus and your creative mind to think of better, more powerful, meaningful, truthful words that will naturally resonate with so many and make them more at ease and most likely, more curious.
Do you see how this will make all our lives easier as we pursue this business? They will be this way (more at ease, more curious) because the authentic word choice becomes the bigger message they hear, not the ill chosen word or words you use that completely unauthenticate yourself and this business (the words that leave the reader or listener saying "yeah, right")
I am sure none of these words or phrases will surprise you - but I know there is a lot more. This was just a starter to get you thinking. Let's keep adding/posting to this list here.
1. "the secret to" ( we all know there is no secret, stop trying to insult people and make them think there is)
2. "hidden"
3. "to be honest with you" (this is a biggy most will have to work on) It's essentially saying that everything you said prior to this phrase, was a lie. People already presume you are being honest with them - so you can bag the phrase. It's cheesy and this is actually the #1 indicator in my previous investigation profession that led us to find where the untruth statements were. Investigator's Tip: before people tell a lie, they tend to use a lot of words - get wordy - to try to confuse or distract the listener. Sometimes they try to act a certain way to make you believe they are more good or honest than they are (ex: cleaning a table before they tell a lie or go do something unethical) so you get thrown off by their actions vs their next set of words or next action
4. "truth be told" - akin to the above. Truth should always be told. No reason to preface it
5. "make no mistake" (you also hear this in politics a lot) They made no mistake - so why are you accusing them of even doing so? It's essentially insinuating that they have. A 3 word empty phrase statement that gives 0 impact to the words you say after it. In fact, it actually lessons the impact of the words you say after it. Bag it entirely.
6. "honestly" - again, see above statements that are close to this word
7. "you can make" - actually, you have no idea what they can make until you work with them or until they actually make anything. What business person (small business) hires someone with this phrase? When you bring someone into your team, you essentially are hiring them. Try this: 'the opportunity for what you can earn is tied directly to your effort and knowledge" or "the opportunity for what you can earn to accumulate a steady income and build wealth is limitless, it's not capped like in a job"
8. "magic" (ex: magic formula ) - there is no such thing as magic outside of a show - it doesn't exist in business -so leave it out
9. "scam" there are many times I search google and the highest results are links to things informing you if xx company is a scam. network marketing is usually stated some where either in the title or in the description. or mlm is. Whether you realize this or not - you are hurting the industry if you are some of the ones using those words or writing those reviews, or using these words within the same body of language or text. Essentially what happens is word association.
You have no idea if they will ever click the link to find out, let's say, the company is not a scam. But, just the fact that this company's name or the words MLM or the words Network Marketing are in the same title line or 2 sentence description, associates this industry and/or that company with the word scam in the reader's eyes. So even if this person has no interest in getting involved in this industry or if a person was interested in getting involved in this industry, that would throw up huge guards and possible turn an awesome person away. We need to stop referring to our industry as having scams or being scams. Those companies have long been weeded out over the years. The federal regulations for this have become quite heavy, so the ones that could possibly be, will eventually get found out anyway.
Not to mention, none of us - those in the industry speaking or writing about our industry or company ARE involved in a scam company - so there should be no reason we bring it up. Again, small businesses, other entrepreneurs, large corporations - they are never even thinking of this word when they are talking or writing about business.
We need to go about this differently. We need to educate the public simply by no longer using the word!The more it disappears in our industry language or written word, the more it dissapears from the public's mindset.
ex: writing something like: "xx company isn't a scam" in a title just for you to get higher ratings on the search engine hurts the industry for you and all us so much more. No matter what business you are in, we are really all in this together.
10. "the key" - or any version of this (" a key") seek the thesaurus, get creative. It's so overused, it's like the word secret. The world is numb to these words, just like free. Additionally, it is never just one thing to make a business work or to be successful, or to do anything. It is always a combination of things. Using this phrase is a bit deceptive. It leads people to believe this is all you need to know to be successful, or to master xx, or whathave you and that is simply never true.
I welcome to NOT see or hear ANY of these words in adds, headlines, product names or anywhere else throughout this industry's written and verbal words by the end of 2012.
A Gigantic Goal, I know
But I think you might just be in for this type of personal challenge to improve our industry Ya in? Let me know! ps: If you think about it, would you really want to work with a person or have someone in your team who would believe you when you say "the secret to" or whathave you? I know I wouldn't.
pps: when I was 1st in network marketing over a decade ago, by the time I was leaving, the word free was considered spam. The only way you could even use this word and not get booted from ad places, search engines, etc. was if you wrote it like this F*ee or some version of that. Seems they let this go over time, as I was surprised to see it floating around so much online in this network marketing/internet marketing arena.
Final ps: You never hear small businesses, entrepreneurs, social enterprises using these words in their marketing or verbage, etc. If we want to be perceived as 100% legit, or perceived equal to them, we need to get more serious about our language. More disciplined. This is a business, not a hype filled empty word scam. Lets keep it professional.
Looking forward to hearing your Yes to this goal!
Jaxi
