I’d be better at MLM if I lied
(Warning: this post may trigger you) I’ve been ‘selling’ an MLM product, but it has not been very successful. But I think I’d be better at MLM if I lied—like everyone else.
The problem
I love the products that I sell, I really do. But I can’t convince people to buy it every month because it’s quite expensive.
I’ve attended training and whatnot. They told me all this inspirational stuff, and that I should create a vision board and things like that. Apparently, that helps sales in a struggling economy. Then I’m like: “cool bro but understand my situation”.
The people I call friends are not any more financially stable than I am. Also, if I can’t sell the products, how can I convince someone else to start selling them?
Again, the products are expensive. Luckily, with this MLM I don’t have to keep stock, so I’m literally not losing anything by being a seller and not being able to sell. In fact, the only reason I haven’t deregistered as a seller is that I get a discount on the products—that I want to continue using, anyway.
The approach so far
At this point, I buy products for people on my account and they just pay me back the cost price (so they save on shipping). Obviously, I’m not making any money.
The products that I ‘sell’ are health-based products; supplements and stuff like that. I’ve given a couple of people samples to try, and said that if they didn’t like it, they could just say so.
All the people who tried it liked it but just said that it’s too expensive to buy. Then was like, “yeah, I totally get that”, and then left it at that.
I think I should have been more aggressive, but I’m more of a ‘let’s cut the bullshit’ kind of person. Also, I don’t want to lie to people.
And I think that’s why I haven’t had any success with MLM. The products are great (for me, best pre-workout ever), but they will not change your life necessarily. They also definitely will not cure you of any illnesses, and I’m not going to pretend like they will.
I should just lie and say stuff like “this could be the first day of the rest of your life” (whatever that means). Or say that “this will cure (insert name of your medical condition)”. But I don’t, and I won’t, because that’s not who I am.
Lastly
So, if you’re having great success with an MLM (without lying to customers) and thinking “This bitch is just jealous”, then you are right. Why wouldn’t I be jealous of someone making a ton of money?
What do you think of MLMs? Are you involved in one? How has it been?
Michelle
P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.
Helen
Thanks for this honest post about being an MLM seller. Many times I have been tempted to sell MLM products but never did because of the initial start up cost. I think it’s outrageous to have to buy or pay a fee in order to get involved with the business. And then to be successful, you have to be pretty aggressive. You can’t just give in & say ok when a customer says no. You have to keep expounding on the benefits, maybe not telling a lie, but telling half-truths or being very vague. And you have to be a very good sales person. Some people are just naturally gifted at this; others aren’t. I personally don’t feel comfortable persuading people to use their hard earned money to buy products that are pretty expensive.
Another issue with MLM is that the market is pretty overly saturated. There are simply too many MLM businesses out there. It’s hard to sell your products when there is someone else out there doing the same. That means that you’ve got to be the best, cultivate relationships with as many people as possible so they will buy from you and only you and not that other person who is selling MLM and also offering free cookies. 🙂 Maybe if there weren’t so many people involved in MLM then it would be a lot easier. But if there weren’t, then it probably wouldn’t be an MLM business in the first place…
May I ask, which MLM business are you partaking in? You should post your link in the blog post, in case someone wants to buy from you. 🙂
That Michelle Person
I agree with you. You certainly need a specific kind of personality – good people and marketing skills. I don’t have those unfortunately.
I’m involved with Mannatech. I like their products but it’s hard to sell in South Africa, because it’s expensive due to our weak currency.
Helen
Well, maybe you will have better luck in Australia 🙂
Rachel
I’ve tried MLM. Would never again.
I lost a lot of money and time.
That Michelle Person
I’m sorry to hear that. What happened?
Richard
I don’t have much experience with MLMs, other than having people try to sell me things, but I get what you mean about not being able to lie to get the sale. I see so many people getting ripped off by obvious scams and I think: Wow, I could make some good money doing this. But I can’t bring myself to do it, to lie to people, lead them on, just to get some money out of their pockets. I hope you can find a way to improve sales without having to resort to things that make you uncomfortable.
That Michelle Person
Luckily you have not been cheated out of money. I’m also fortunate that I don’t have to keep stock, I just order on behalf of customers.
I don’t think all MLMs are bad but they have a bad reputation.