Forums

[Larry Beacham Contribution Level: 2]

I have an unfortunate story to tell about a situation that took place between a rep from a well known opportunity and me while I was at a local coffee shop, that pushes this reality further away.

A guy wandered up to my table yesterday to inquire if I knew where a local auto parts store was located because he needed help with his car battery. Attempting to be helpful, I googled local auto parts stores and located one within 2 miles from the coffee shop. We engaged in a brief conversation, and from the way he was asking me questions, my “network marketer radar” perked up.

He handed me his business card, and based on the content on the card and the overly simplified layout, I could tell it was one of those cheap, “free” card services. I guess that’s not that big of a deal, but on his card he had only his name, email and a number that was not local – even though he said he lives and works here.

So out of curiosity, I ask him for his website and that’s when the games began. First, he gives me this long URL, which was a replicate site that looked like it was something my 10 year old put together. Next, I couldn’t actually get on to the site because it required a username and password (he forgot that about his own site apparently). Once I got passed all that, there was this video that went in circles about his opportunity.

I asked him directly, “what is the name of your company,” to which he replied “XYZ enterprises.” I was a bit irritated with this response, because I could tell he was being evasive, so I asked it a different way: “What’s the name of the network marketing company you represent?” That’s a pretty straight forward question, right? Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of an answer to this one either. He told me the name of some sort of team that he was on instead of answering my question.

I googled the so-called company (or team) that he was part of, and discovered by looking at the related ads that his team was part of a well known and quite reputable network marketing company.

For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just come forth with the company he was representing, and dismiss with all the lies, deception and misinformation. To add insult to injury, he mentioned how well he was doing in this company (which I didn’t ask for), but what he didn’t know is that I was a rep in this particular company and I know how the pay plan works. In a word, he’s broke.

Here’s the point to this story. If you’ve ever seen the action movie “Blade” starring Wesley Snipes, you’ll appreciate what I’m about to say. Blade is a vampire who hates vampires! He dedicated his life to terminating all vampires by slaying them. I think that’s hilarious because it illustrates exactly how I feel. I’m a network marketer who hates network marketers like this guy, and I make it my business to try and “slay” them whenever I come across any.

I attempted to educate this dude on the errors of his ways by offering him some guidance on what has helped me to turn my business around. What was his response? He actually admitted that I was right, but since I wasn’t in his company or his mentor he wasn’t going to listen to me. That’s like coming across a doctor who can clearly see you are sick and then offers a treatment for it, but you refuse because the doctor himself doesn’t have the ailment.

If you are someone practicing this “curiosity” approach to building your business, do us all a favor and get the hell out of network marketing. This industry deserves respect and if you can’t act like a professional, the go work at the corner Carry-Out and allow the rest of us who know better to do what we do best. What do you think about this issue? Please comment and share your story or experience.

Larry Beacham
4-Star Executive With Numis Network
http://www.LarryBeacham.com
614-516-9906

Marketing Skills Are The Only Cure For Not Having Reps, Not Playing The “Prospecting Lottery” With Random People. If That Makes Sense To You, I Recommend This Resource: http://www.StonecoldMillionaire.com

[Jordan Schultz Company: Numis Network Contribution Level: 3]

Pure Foolishness Larry... unfortunately as frustrating as this may be, the industry as a whole still requires the 97% of people who are not making much money to be as successful as it is. The same way that the world requires there to be the wealthy elite and the un-wealthy to go round.

Never the less, it is amazing that someone can see and believe that something else will work to fix their problem, but they choose not to do so because they don't like change. It is because people like this that there will probably always remain only 3% of people who actually make decent money in the network marketing industry.

Continue doing what you do Larry and you'll change the people's lives that actually want to be changed.

I truly enjoy hearing what you have to say whenever I can! Thanks.

[Michael Stead Company: Fortune Hi Tech Marketing Contribution Level: 3]

Lol I'm sorry but when I hear stories like this I just have to laugh. I guarantee that this guy thought he was being so smooth to and I can picture everything that you described in your story because I have been in a similar situation myself.

I remember one time I was doing some grocery shopping and I was in one of the aisles and I'm a pretty friendly person so if I catch eye contact with someone I generally say hello. Well on that day I wish I didn't because the guy I said hello to was definitely following that 3ft rule that traditional network marketing teaches people to do.

Literally within a couple of minutes of talking to this guy, he tried to convince me that my company was total crap and that I wasn't going to go anywhere and that his team was "the team" to be on. I inquired to which company he was with and after doing some research about his company, I found that his company was not a network marketing company at all but a legitimate pyramid scheme lol!

Needless to say, I didn't get involved and within a few weeks that company was dismantled. It just goes to show you though how outdated traditional network marketing tactics are and that some people really do need a wake up call.

Great story though my friend! Really put a smile on my face today.

See you at the top,
Michael Stead

[Julieanne van Zyl Company: Vemma Nutrition Company Contribution Level: 2]

I don't think it's worth wasting time on people who conduct their business that way. He was probably very new and perhaps his mentor is new also. When he's ready to learn another way, "the teacher" will appear for him to learn from.

In the meantime, if you set an example of professionalism, people will respect that, and many of them will follow your example.

[Timothy Norton Company: AdzZoo Contribution Level: 3]

Larry,

I met a sharp guy at a networking event a couple of months ago and I told him that I do affiliate marketing and internet marketing for small to medium sized businesses and he gave me a business card that had something generic on it like "XYZ International" and just his phone number. He told me that he did something similar for big businesses and wanted to know if I might want to partner up for a project. We stayed in touch and he invited me to a meeting and led me to believe that it was going to be more of a mastermind group to brainstorm ideas about how I might be able to help them incorporate the online marketing techniques I use into their business.

It turned out to be an Amway Global business opportunity presentation. Every time I asked him about it leading up to the event he was very evasive and vague. This should have been a warning sign but even though I have been in network marketing for a little while I had never experienced this level of secrecy and evasiveness. I actually went into the meeting and sat through the entire presentation just out of pure curiosity. I was a little ticked off because I had been tricked into attending but it taught me an important lesson about everything I should avoid doing in this business. It was also very encouraging because there were about 100 people packed into that little room which means that there are a lot of people out there right now who are looking for something. If you can offer them something real in which they can make a day job quitting income without having to have hundreds or thousands of people in their downline that they don't have to trick someone else into looking at then you can dominate.

By the way, great post, Larry.

Tim

[Peter Fuller Company: AdzZoo Contribution Level: 3]

wanted to know if I might want to partner up for a project

At the end of the meeting I would have been very tempted to stand up and tell my story about how I got to the meeting, emphasizing the poor recruiting practices of my inviter, and then end with "if you want to know how to recruit better here is my card"

[Timothy Norton Company: AdzZoo Contribution Level: 3]

Peter,

It is funny that you say that because just after posting that reply it occurred to me that should have passed out some cards with the same tag line in my forum signature and my website address.

I do want to emphasize that I blame that particular individual and not Amway global. About two weeks ago I went to an appointment with a business owner where I presented what I do for small businesses. He was on a time crunch and I just happened to ask him where it was that he needed to go and he told me that he was going to an Amway Global overview meeting and he asked if I would like to attend to see what it was all about. I really had no interest in joining but I attended just to see if it was going to be any different. To my surprise it was quite different. The speaker announced right away that the presentation was about Amway Global and the gentleman who invited me was very upfront in telling me what it was all about. I guess this goes to show that there are deceptive people and very honest people in almost every opportunity.

Tim

[Yasser Khan Company: Wealth Masters International Contribution Level: 1]

Yup I agree with Timothy Norton in that there are deceptive and honest ppl in MLM.
I myself had plenty of such 'encounters' and usually the very first thing that set the alarm bells ringing is their evasiveness, in not answering the questions directly to their fidgety body language. And all too often, they resort to shooting down their competitors within the same industry. Even the distributors of reputable companies do that!

[Ginny Toll Contribution Level: 2]

WOW!! Compared to all of you, I'm relatively new to network marketing and I couldn't believe all the stories all of you had written about your experiences. I can't believe that there are still people out there who are so sneaky about the whole industry. No wonder people think it's a "pyramid" scheme...lol. You guys really opened up my eyes as to what is going on out there. UNBELIEVABLE! Thanks for sharing your stories about all your experiences!
Good luck to everyone in their businesses!!

[Walt Laurel Company: YTB Travel Network Contribution Level: 1]

I was speaking with an associate of mine about a very similar situation. For the life of me, I find it difficult to fathom why someone would feel the need to hide what company they represent. What I ultimately see as the root cause is poor training and lack of mentorship. If there's a little voice in your head that tells you ..."I better not tell the person that it's network marketing or company X", then, you must not feel proud of the company you represent.

To those "mentors and trainers" (I use those terms very loosley here...) who are teaching your representatives to behave in that way, you're leading these poor sheep to slaughter...(end rant!)

Network marketing all goes back to relationships and people helping people....Why can't we just keep it that simple !

Walt Laurel