Hard Sell

I am not a very happy camper.

Last month I took a young business friend to a networking meeting with the idea that she might like to check out the group for membership. At this meeting business cards are exchanged with the idea of two parties meeting later to get to know each other better.

I didn't see which cards my friend received and she happily scheduled two networking appointments. She said, "This is great!"

I saw her just the other day. She has decided not to join the group right now. Seems like the dreaded multi-level marketing husband and wife team were one appointment and the other appointment kept her waiting for 45 minutes. The MLM people kept trying to get her to buy for two hours until she finally said she had to go. All during this time she kept telling them that she was not interested. But they kept bangin' away at her. Both appointments had nothing really directly to do with the group, but they did reflect back on the group. Badly.

I don't know what I am going to do about the MLM people. The other person had already demonstrated to me his loser mentality, so as far as I was concerned he was a non-entity. But I will tell you that from now on, any of my guests will be shielded from the MLM team. They will not get a chance to ruin the opportunity of a new member just because of their selfish ways.

Why don't the old fashioned MLMers get it? We don't like their hard-sell pitch.

To Sell or Not?

There are two types of marketers out there.

One is an in your face, "buy from me" type and the other is the "let me see how I might help you" type.

Both are right.

Both are wrong.

It just depends.

Mainly on the situation.

When you have an appointment where the prospect wants to find out if he needs your "stuff," it is so very appropriate to sell. And don't forget to close the sale.

When you have just met someone, it is less grating if you don't sell. That includes networking events. In fact, if you sell in these situations, people will talk about you behind your back and you'll see a lot of their backs as they run away from you.

But if you are in a selling situation and just sit there shooting the breeze, that is equally off-base. The prospect will feel that you are wasting his time.

Ya' have to walk a fine line. Ya' have to know what is expected of you. Ya' have to watch body language.

Selling is not networking. Networking should not be selling. Both must be done appropriately.

Rule of Thumb:

If you have just met the person and you really don't know their situation, you can't sell because you don't know if they need your stuff or want to do business with you. Keep your brochures in your pocket. Take time to develop the relationship and in doing so, you'll probably find out if they want and need what you do.

Thoughts on this?