Shut Up and Get to The Point!

The other day I was finishing my dinner and about to watch the latest episode of 24 when the phone rang. "No problem," I say to myself and quickly pressed the pause button on the Tivo.

I glance down and who's on the phone but Ted - an old high school buddy. Now, this might sound innocuous but, without revealing my age, let's just say I hadn't spoken to Ted in quite some time. In fact, it'd been over ten years since we'd had any contact.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello?

Ted: Geoffrey, hey man, this is Ted, how you been doing?

Me: Fine, and you?

Ted: Great, great - hey, remember when *blah blah blah*...Ted proceeds to talk about the glory days for the next 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting in my chair wanting to watch 24 and thinking, "Will you just shut up and get to the point?"

Eventually Ted says something stops blathering about the past and goes in for the kill:

Ted: Hey, listen, it's great to chat about the past and all. In fact, that's why I called you. I always respected you and wanted your opinion on something.

It's at this point that my MLM radar goes off. Yes, every one of us loves to be told we're respected. We also like to hear how much people love us and how our business acumen is the best thing since Donald Trump.

It is, however, totally out of character for most people. Think about it for a second...when was the last time that you were told by someone that they always respected you and want your opinion. Now, when was the last time that happened and they didn't want something?

Because I'm a kind person, however, I go ahead and say, "Sure Ted - what do you need?"

At this point Ted's thinking, "Woo! I've got a live one here!" He responds, "Well, it's really something we need to sit down and talk about in person. It's kind of a visual thing."

Ding, ding, ding, we've got a winner! There's another statement that should be setting off your MLM radar. Yes, some of these things actually work. I suspect, however, that they work for a very small minority of the people who are successful in MLM.

Let's face it folks, if you want to be successful in MLM you've got to be real. Aren't you going to sound rather weird when you start spouting these phrases to your buddies when you normally call em up and ask their opinion on the phone?

Yes, I know the reasons you're told to not talk to your prospects. You don't understand the opportunity, the products, etc. What it really amounts to is that your upline wants to get the prospect in front of him so he has their full, undivided attention.

If that's the case, why all the blathering about high school or the latest bears game or whatever. Shut up and get to the point! And, for God's sake, please be sincere and don't sound like you're reading a script or are a parrot!