It's a Matter of Perspective.

[Rudi Vanhaecke]

Texas and Oklahoma are bitter college football rivals. There's no middle ground.

 

One day a Texas football fan was driving through Oklahoma on his way to another state. (Texas football fans never drive to Oklahoma, they only drive through Oklahoma to get somewhere else.) The Texas football fan stops at an Oklahoma gas station to refuel.

 

A little girl walks by and suddenly is attacked by a vicious pit bull. The dog tears her dress and grabs her arm. The Texas football fan sees the screaming little girl and runs to her rescue. He grabs the pit bull and struggles valiantly. The dog tears into his flesh. Blood streams from his arm and leg. Finally, in a desperate move, the Texas football fan gets the upper hand and kills the pit bull.

 

A reporter for the Oklahoma Times Newspaper watches the drama unfold. After the pit bull is dead he approaches the Texas football fan and says:

 

"Wow! What a hero! This will make great headlines in tomorrow's paper. Let me take your picture and ask a few questions."

 

The Texas football fan wipes the blood off his arm and leg and has his picture taken.

 

"We'll put a great headline and story under your picture in tomorrow's paper," says the reporter. "Maybe, the headline could read, Hero Saves Little Girl. By the way, where are you from?"

 

"From Texas," says the hero.

 

The reporter thought for a moment and replied, "Well, since you're from Texas I guess we could change the headline to read: Man Rescues Child. I can kind of overlook that you're from Texas, but tell me, you at least root for the Oklahoma football team, don't you?"

 

The Texan replied, "No. To tell you the truth, I am a avid Texas football fan."

 

The reporter left to write up the story. The Texan decided to stay around for a day so he could read his headline and story in the next morning's paper.

 

The next morning, the Texas football fan picks up the Oklahoma Times Newspaper and on the front page was the headline:

 

 

 

Man Kills Family Pet!

 

 

 

It's a matter of perspective. Not everyone looks at opportunities and events the same way. While you may think you are offering a tremendous opportunity to a prospect, the prospect may see the presentation as a thinly veiled attempt to take his money.

 

 

 

Empathy: Identification with and understanding of another's feelings, situation, and motives.

 

 

 

Would you like to increase your closing percentage? Use empathy.

 

 

 

Would you like to increase your group's motivation? Use empathy.

 

 

 

Would you like to understand why people respond the way they do? Use empathy.

 

 

 

Great network marketing leaders don't sell, they understand.

 

 

 

When giving a presentation, they try to present the opportunity from the prospect's point of view. If the prospect has experienced a bad situation with high-pressure salesmen, the leader gives advice and options. If the prospect is worried about his daily living expenses, the leader emphasizes the possibility of immediate part-time income. If the prospect is afraid of what his friends will say, the leader shows how the prospect can market to strangers.

 

 

 

To understand how effective empathy can be, imagine if a salesman used empathy to understand your point of view.

 

 

 

Let's say you were a prospect for a network marketing opportunity. You sincerely want a part-time income, but also want quality time with your family. Compare the following two presentations:

 

 

 

 

 

Presentation #1

 

 

 

"You'll just love this network marketing opportunity. You get to go to rallies, trainings, opportunity meetings, conventions, and presentations in prospects' homes and our weekly idea session. I've been in this opportunity for over a year now and I can't think of anything else. I'm doing this business 24 hours a day. You'll love it too. It will become a obsession."

 

 

 

 

 

Presentation #2

 

 

 

"You'll just love this network marketing opportunity. It only takes a few hours of quality time per week. We have many successful leaders who set aside six hours a week for presentations and group building. This leaves them plenty of time to enjoy their family, friends and other activities. network marketing is great because you can set your own hours."

 

 

 

Since your goal was part-time income and quality time, which presentation would appeal to you? It's easy to see that Presentation #2 had empathy while Presentation #1 only showed self-interest.

 

 

 

Empathy works for recruiting presentations, but it works even better when trying to develop network marketing leaders.

 

Let's say you want to develop Mary into your next superstar leader.

 

Why not find out a little about Mary's background? Is she conservative or liberal? Does she want to earn big money fast, or is she willing to build long-term? Does she want an aggressive upline sponsor and an aggressive promotional campaign? What's happening with her personal life? Is her job fulfilling or boring?

 

In other words, find out what Mary really wants and help her achieve it. When the upline leader and the potential leader operate on the same frequency with the same goals and strategy, magic happens. That's why some network marketing leaders can develop leaders and inspire loyalty while other network marketing leaders never seem to get anyone beyond a dependent distributor level.

 

It's just like the Oklahoma Times Newspaper reporter. He saw things completely different. Succeed in network marketing by seeing things through other people's eyes.

 

 

 

Why I retired at the age of 51