Affiliates reside in that vise being squeezed between marketing and sales – you know that middle part that binds the two verbs together. Prospects view you as a shark circling for the kill – we‘ve all heard the jokes. Companies view you as the go-fer – one of many who pound the pavement selling their wares.
Some smarty coined the phrase that in sales, "everything is fair game". Actually it's quite unfair; tilting unfairly in your favor or someone else's. So -- are you going to play the game to win? If you are here's your first lesson: winning this game is not a onetime event; it's a daily challenge. And the key to your success is learning how to melt sales resistance like butter.
Daily challenge? Melt sales resistance like butter? Only 5% ever make SuperAffiliate status? Uh-uh… we‘ll pass on this one.Multi-Level Marketing Programs:
When someone says MLM, I think about Admiral James Stockdale, highest ranking officer in the Hanoi Hilton in Viet Nam as written by author Thomas Barnett. Stockdale spent eight years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi and was tortured numerous times by his captors. Four of his eight years were in solitary.
Mr. Barnett writes: "Stockdale tells the story of the optimists who never survived their time in Hanoi simply because they clung far too much to their dreams of release and in doing so couldn't handle the brutal realities of what it took to survive day to day."
He goes on to explain how they clung to the hope that they'd be home by the next holiday. When that day came and went, their spirit sank to a new depth. Over time, they died because their courage had been done in by the reality of their present circumstances.
Stockdale believed that while you must always believe that you will prevail in the end, it should not be confused with current reality, whatever that might be.Suddenly, I paralleled Stockdale's theory with MLMers; the extreme optimist. We are prime targets for zealous salespeople who promise residual slam dunks to starry-eyed prospects. While the result won't be unspeakable torture in our quest for wealth, it's sad to realize that ninety-five percent of us will fail simply because we never anticipated the obstacles.
If we are what we think, then most of us walk into a competitive program with "success" stamped on our forehead. We've already witnessed our sponsor turning his bank account into a "cash machine" - it can't be that hard, right? And when you think about it, today a million bucks seems more like a living wage than a small fortune.