With the exception of two verses in the 20th chapter of Proverbs, I didn’t find much to blog about this 20th day of August. Instead, allow me to “vent” about two separate incidents that happened this week involving deceptive come-ons.
“Bad, bad,” says the buyer,
then goes away and boasts. (Prov 20:14, NRSV)
I get a chuckle every time I read this 14th verse of Proverbs 20. It is so true. We all want to enter into win-win negotiations, so making the seller feel good about a transaction is simply good business.
At the same time, there can be too much deception. I received a phone call earlier this week from a woman I met several years ago at a public speaking seminar. After a brief amount of small talk, she asked me, “Are you open to additional income opportunities?” After I replied truthfully in the affirmative, she explained that she was having someone make a presentation at her home the following evening and asked whether I would be interested in attending. Having heard this particular nebulous pitch on numerous occasions before, I asked her, “Is this XYZ?” (I’m obscuring the actual three-letter acronym, in case any of my readers are actively engaged in “XYZ” and love it.) To my surprise she told me she didn’t know. I found this odd, since it seems to me that she would know. Nevertheless, I gracefully bowed out.
Friends, I’m all for learning about income opportunities. At the very least, they’ll make it into my book, Demystifying Prosperity™. All I ask is that you be up-front with the business opportunity you’re promoting. I am. I never withhold any information about my primary network marketing company. It’s either a good fit for you or it isn’t. My being secretive about the details isn’t going to change that.
The next day I received an email about a system that would help me generate leads into my primary business. This is a good thing. I feel very strongly about my primary network marketing opportunity, and I’m interested in learning about any ways to help promote it. Several emails, phone calls, and webinars later, I still don’t know the exact details about this “system” (something involving a pizza box) that will generate me $497 or $1497 or $3497 per person I sucker into it.
Folks, I want to promote my primary business, not some “system” that causes people to shell out significant money simply to further the system itself. I told the gentleman my concerns, and he said he could share with me more specific information about what exactly would come with my financial outlay. I asked him to email me links to the websites in question. To my amazement, he told me he would not. Instead, he asked me to phone him when I got back home (he called me on my cell phone while I was out running errands). Once I was back at my computer, he would then email me the links. He explained that spam filters mean that his emails often do not get delivered, and that I needed to be at my computer to verify that I received the email.
I’m sorry, B____, but you lost this sale. He has already successfully emailed, me, meaning that his email address has already been whitelisted. This is pure manipulation.
Folks, if you’re promoting a legitimate opportunity, there is no need for such deceptive practices. Be up-front with your prospects. Answer their questions. Send them to websites where they can learn more information. When I signed up with my company, I did my due diligence … and I liked what I found out. My ideal prospect would be someone just like me, someone who does his or her due diligence, someone who asks all the appropriate questions, someone who signs up only after ensuring that this is indeed the right opportunity. That’s the sort of person who will run with this opportunity all the way to the top.
I suppose the opposite extreme is someone who reveals too much:
A gossip reveals secrets;
therefore do not associate with a babbler. (Prov 20:19, NRSV)
I met with a woman yesterday morning for the purpose of learning more about her businesses and telling her about mine. She definitely had the gift of gab. Not only did she “vomit” information about her businesses on me, she felt the need to interject periodically while I had the floor. This is not the way to win friends and influence people. As I mentioned in a recent post, we have two ears and one mouth. Let’s all learn to use them proportionately.
Happy networking! Feel free to share your joys and tribulations below.
