Here’s a story that will give you an insight into the crucial difference between MLM sales and traditional sales.
A man dies and goes to someplace between heaven and hell to learn his fate. The angels tell him that he’s mostly been good all his life, so he’s going to get eternal life in heaven.
However, some minor sins committed over a lifetime make it necessary to give him a brief tour of hell before the eternal heaven.
So they take him to hell first. It turns out to be built like a magnificent palace, guarded by angels. Inside, there’s this large hall with an enormous circular banquet table in the middle.
In the middle of this table, there’s a large basin of fragrant steaming porridge. Around the table are seated sinners of various descriptions, who share two similarities.
All of them are ravenously hungry, and all of them have an extremely long spoon tied to their hands, with which they can reach the bowl and pick up porridge, but cannot bring it close enough to their mouths to eat. That is their fate to sit in front of great food and be hungry forever.
Then they take him to heaven. At first he thinks they’ve brought him back to the same place, for it is the same garden and same palace, the angels guarding the gates. Even the hall, the banquet table and the porridge pot are the same.
Also seated around it are a host of saved (and hungry) souls, long spoon tied to their hands. The only difference from hell is that after picking up the heavenly food, they aren’t trying to bring it around to their own lips.
Rather, each soul is feeding the one sitting opposite to him across the table. And everyone is eating happily.
There is the crucial difference between traditional sales and MLM. In world of traditional sales is a world of cutthroat competition. Everyone is on the lookout for himself. Taking care of number one is the top priority.
Your success depends on how many rivals you can eliminate in how short a time. Big fish eats small fish. Big fish is eaten by a whale. And so on.
In MLM, you don’t work against anyone. Instead, you work with them. You work for people, and have people working for you. Their success is your success, so you make sure that they succeed.
It’s all about creating down lines composed of lively workers who can generate profit for you. And you show them how to generate that profit. It’s a matter of cooperation, not competition.
Naturally, the skills you need to develop for this line of business are quite different from those needed in traditional sales organizations. Social communication skills receive premiums.
You don’t use your cunning to find out the weak points of your rivals and then try to destroy them with that. Rather, you cover the weak points of your co-workers with your own skills and do it for your own sake.
If you’re coming from a traditional sales company and want to flourish in MLM, you had better find out about this crucial distinction quickly before you sabotage yourself with your old techniques.
