This December I have been testing two related theories of mine to see if they are true… and I have concluded that my theories are VERY true!
- People Have Money
- Perceived Value Is An Important Key To Success
This month I drove throughout the Dallas / Ft. Worth area hunting down two top commodities this Christmas season – The Nintendo Wii (which cost $249) and The Sony PlayStation 3 (which cost $499). I found a couple of each and sold them on ebay.
Both of the Nintendo Wii’s sold for about $600, and the PS3’s sold for a little more than $800. Aside from making a tidy little profit 🙂 , this proved my theories to be true. In fact, one of my Nintendo Wii auctions had over 900 people stumbling over themselves within 18 an hour period wanting to buy it.
Theory #1 – People Have Money – True
Application: I hear distributors complaining all the time that people do not have money. It doesn’t matter if it costs $99, $499, or $1299 to join your network marketing company, people continue to say they don’t have the money to join your program.
This is simply not true. I believe that the vast majority of people have the money, or have direct access to the money with a credit card. If they really wanted to join your program, they certainly have the money to do it. If people are willing to throw around $600 for a $249 product, they certainly have the money to join your program.
If you are believing the 95% of the people who say they don’t have the money, then you just bought their excuse, not their truth.
So, what’s the problem?
Theory #2 – Perceived Value Is An Important Key To Success – True
Why are people paying more than twice the amount for an item they could potentially buy at the store – with a little perseverence? Aside from a few other issues (scarcity, peer pressure, etc.), they see Value. They perceive the value of the Nintendo Wii to be greater than $249, and are willing to fork out the cash.
In other words, what I hold in my hand is of greater value than the cash they hold in their hand.
I strongly believe that one of the MAJOR reasons most people use the excuse that they don’t have the money to join your program is not because it is true or a reality, rather it is based on perception.
In other words, the prospect perceives that what you hold in your hand is of lesser value than the cash they hold in their hand. And, as long as that is what a their perception is, they will hold on to their cash.
Application: One of your top goals to reverse this is to have your prospect perceive that what you hold in your hand is of much greater value than the cash they have in their hand.
There are different ways to do this, but as long as it is YOU telling the prospect why YOUR opportunity is so great, value perception will usually be low. So, you need to be using 3rd party resources (magazines, videos, credible web sites, etc. ) which allows others to tell how great your opportunity is.
For example, one of the reasons my Nintendo Wii auctions closed for $50 more than most other auctions was a 3rd party video I found on YouTube.com. Watch this video link below and tell me you don’t love the Wii!!!
While 3rd party resources are not the end, it is a huge start to building VALUE in what you are doing. The more value the prospect perceives you hold in your hand, the less money will ever be an issue when it comes time for them to join. And that is a proven theory.
One Final Important Thought
In the same way you hear people say they don’t have the money to join your network marketing business, I hear the same thing that people don’t have money to buy leads… especially the higher quality leads.
This is not true either.
What people are really telling me is they don’t perceive the value of our leads to be greater than the cash they have in their hand. While I can understand this position, I also know there is another important factor to take into consideration, and that is this:
Most people’s perceived value comes from their level of belief… namely their belief that they have what it takes to succeed.
In other words,
- great leads + poor belief = failure
- bad leads + poor belief = big failure
- bad leads + strong belief = success
- great leads + strong belief = big success
You see, I take partial blame for not building up enough value in my leads. But, that is why we put up and About Us page on our site, and Testimonials on our site… to add some 3rd party credibility. But, I believe that the value in using MLM Leads to build your network marketing business is also directly tied into your perceived value of your own ability to work the leads, and turn leads into new distributors.
This was not meant to be a lecture, rather to prove my two theories:
- People Have Money
- Perceived Value Is An Important Key To Success
When Perceived Value increases, so does the understanding that #1 is correct too. Others will perceive greater value when you use 3rd party sources, and you increase your belief level in your company, your product, and yourself.