More About Recruiting
I was waiting at a traffic signal today when an Army Recruiter vehicle made a left turn in front of me. It got me thinking about all the different types of organizations and businesses that recruit people. Colleges, sports teams, and even retail stores and restaurants are constantly looking for new people to join their ranks. The military is also great example – with a volunteer army, it’s constantly necessary to educate people about the opportunities the military offers and encourage interested individuals to sign on. Some will say yes, but most will say no. For some who say yes, it’s an opportunity to build self confidence. For others, it’s a way to earn money for college, or it may just sound like an exciting adventure. Once recruited, some will drop out after the first day of boot camp. Others will make a career out of it. Some will be criticized by their families for signing up. Others will become the heroes of their hometowns. The motivations are many, as are the ways to define success.
I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this – try inserting “direct seller” into any of the scenarios above. There are a lot of similarities. Unfortunately, the recruiting techniques of some more passionate direct sellers have become the stuff of legends, sometimes becoming fodder for late-night variety shows, but in the end resulting in a public that has a lot of preconceived notions about direct selling and recruiting.
But the truth of the matter is that recruiting is important to almost every type of business. Turnover requires bringing on new people on a regular basis, and there is a natural hierarchy in any business where a few people at the top manage progressively larger numbers of people below them (and are rewarded accordingly). But, in the end, no business can be successful, regardless of the number of “recruits,” without the sale of products and services. As a result, the emphasis on selling versus recruiting must be balanced.
It’s likely that at some point everyone will be approached with a direct selling opportunity. The opportunity may sound intriguing, or you may not be interested right now (never say never). Either way, just be straight with the person who’s trying to recruit you – don’t be afraid to say no, but also keep in mind that they are approaching you because they like what they do and as a friend, neighbor, colleague, etc. want you to be involved too. If you say no, don’t be surprised if they continue to try to convince you, and know that they’ll probably try again later. Can you imagine if consumer products companies ran one ad for a product and then never tried again? Or if colleges sent only one marketing brochure to their top prospects?
And sellers, if someone says no, accept it and consider trying again later if it’s appropriate. It’s not worth your time or effort to recruit people who aren’t really interested because they’re not likely to be successful. Let the person know that you respect their decision, but if they change their mind, you would love to have them on your team. The next person you meet might say yes and become the next star seller – imagine if you had wasted your time on someone who would only resent you and the opportunity later. Plus, remember that your friends and neighbors are that, first and foremost. Don’t risk your relationships when you have a whole world of potential customers out there – it’s just a matter of meeting them.
So, the Army recruiter I saw this morning was probably on his way to a high school or community event. He probably talked with dozens of people about signing up. Maybe one or two will ultimately do so. It’s possible, but not likely, that one of those people will one day be a five-star general. But either way, the recruiter will probably be out again tomorrow, doing the same thing again. Along the way, it’s likely that he’ll run into a direct seller. They’ll certainly have lots of stories to share with each other. Who knows, maybe that army recruiter will decide to earn a little extra money by selling financial services, pet products, personal care products or any of a multitude of products and services sold through direct selling.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Amy…
You’ve made a very good assessment of recruiting. Recruitment for good causes, or even to fill that position behind the cash register at the local fast food restaurant is fine. Recruitment that is to convince someone to buy overpriced products and mostly repetitive books and recordings in hope of realizing an unrealistic dream of rock star wealth is not so ideal.
Sure, some people succeed to some level of success in MLM after many years of self sacrifice, but all this comes at a cost of time, money, and many times family and friends.
Stop and consider how many more recruits are killed in action than become a four star general? Becoming that hometown hero may also require sacrificing ones life. Obviously there are things worth sacrificing for (your country) and then there are things not worth the sacrifice (unrealistic MLM dreams).
Becoming a pin level success usually requires a tremendous amount of sacrifice. More time to spend with the family may not really be in the cards. A more realistic view of Direct Selling is called for and is what I believe Amy is trying to promote with this blog.
Showing, demonstrating, and selling products and services is the key to profitability in the short and long term. Many distributors sacrifice the short term profit potential in hopes of the long term dream of success that they were sold on by a recruiter. Is it any wonder that recruitment becomes king while selling becomes jester.
Success in selling may lead to the higher levels of accomplishment later without the heartbreak of longterm loss. There is nothing wrong with dreams, except when they are unrealistic and require many more years of self sacrifice than what your optimistic recruiter said. If one of the things your recruiter says is “selling is not really required” I would be very wary of that particular opportunity!
If selling is your thing, and freedom to choose your own hours is important, direct selling may be for you. A company that emphasizes selling over recruitment may be the best fit for you. To only consider the first recruitment offer made, may not be in your best interests. The title of this blog is “Direct Selling 411” not “Direct Recruiting 411”.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Your username indicates to me that you might have had a bad experience with MLM in the past; and think that that experience defines what MLM was, is and always will be. Most of what I see in your comments seems to validate what I have stated previously: that lack of proper education and coaching, or the refusal to accept proper coaching, is the root of most frustration and lack of understanding in this industry. To state that “selling” is the key to success validates my point. For example, there are people who are who have jobs recruiting for franchisees for say, Starbuck’s or McDonalds. I do not believe that those people would say that the “selling” coffee or burgers. Marketing, whether it is traditional or multi-level is simply a way to move product. Multi-level or Referral Marketing, when done correctly, is simply a more efficient way to do so. In addition, there is a trend in marketing to buy goods on the recommendation of someone that you know and trust. Your aversion to the MLM business model seems to have been molded by observation of those who have a poor grasp of what is required of a good network marketer; and are duplicating their lack of understanding.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Pete…
You make some good points. People do make buying decisions based on favorable recommendations of other people. Many bloggers use this approach to drive visitors to click on an advertiser’s link and buy something. Successful selling is successful convincing.
Successful recruiting can be viewed as successful selling, if not directly of a product, but of an idea, concept, or plan. People recruited may be asked to adopt or believe in an entire “mindset” of things which foster cult thinking in the believer. For instance:
“Never question your up line.”
“Tools are optional, but so is success.”
“Fake it until you make it.”
“A job makes you a jackass of the boss.”
“Job really means Just Over Broke.”
“99% product loyalty is 100% product disloyalty.”
I could extend this list further but you should get the idea.
These are all motivational “tape speak” ideas that when believed lead to cult thinking that is not much different than the programming recruits in other more obvious cults and sects are exposed to.
Blind adherence to a motivational organization, a training system, up line distributor, charismatic kingpin, tapes, books and company propaganda fosters cult-like behavior. One is taught to disregard the negative and brand non believers of the dream losers. I say all this because you question my choice of user name. Since certain direct selling businesses incorporate cult ideology into their training systems, I incorporate the word cult into my user name.
You insist that folks who aren’t successful in MLM lack this very same cult-like education and coaching. It is exactly this education which makes the company owners and tool kingpins wealthy, while the distributors do the recruiting, purchase the products and buy the tools. The first two groups get wealthy at the expense of the last group, the distributor/consumer. I know that Amy and I disagree on this issue.
The best chance a distributor has to not remain in a negative cash flow in this relationship and to actually turn a profit is to retail product to real customers.
There exists a chance for long term pin level success, but this may come after many years of hard recruitment work and replacement of people who quit along the way. Even then, success may not include all the private aircraft, mansions, luxury motor cars and the Robin Leach inspired lifestyles of the rich and famous which new recruits are commonly exposed to during recruitment.
Pete, it not so much that I am negative, I just want there to be a balanced view expressed of these opportunities, one a recruit will not receive solely from his or her recruiter. There may be upsides as Amy and the DSA promote, but there are also downsides that I promote. An educated consumer and prospect exposed to both the good and bad should not complain that they weren’t exposed to the downside as well as the upside later on whether they succeed as hoped or quit in disgust as many do. Even then, they have been taught to blame themselves, not the opportunity. A cult like “end-game” so to speak.
In the direct selling industry, there are many more ex-distributors than there are current distributors, all with their own stories to tell. Good luck to you Pete, and good luck to you and your Blog Amy.
Pete, I invite you to comment on my blog. Possibly our discussion would fit better there than here. Just click on my user name.