Should you try to sell that MLM to your aunt and uncle?

There’s been a lot of discussion about this lately. All MLM’s encourage you to first reach out to your “warm market” of friends and family to sell them on whatever you’re doing first. The reason for this is that studies show if someone doesn’t make at least $500 in their first month, they’ll likely give up and never do anything with it. It’s the first successes that can mean the make or break difference to a person.

The problem with it, is doing that really creeps most people out. It’s the one thing I hear the most “I don’t want to be told to sell this to friends and family”. If done wrong, it can alienate people from the people closest to them. I heard one couple that does Amway/Quixtar (I hear they’re switching back to calling it Amway since nobody knew what the heck a Quixtar is) isn’t even invited to family events anymore. They took every reunion or holiday gathering as the chance to do a sales presentation, now nobody wants them to come over because they’ll pitch Amway.

There’s no cut and dried answer to this. It depends on the product, and also the person you know as to whether it’s a good idea. The soft approach is best though. If the product makes and affordable gift, then sending those without mention of the business is best. If they like the product, then they’ll tell you. If it’s a friend or business associate, there’s a plan to scope them out without pitching it. Ask their opinion and tell them you won’t make a sales pitch, but you just started a new business and want to get a reality check, and will they look it over and say what they honestly think. If it’s a business they like and want to get into doing, they’ll tell you. Everyone likes being asked their opinion on things, so it’s an easy chance to show it to them without pressure.

Another reason why MLM’s all teach to go friends and family first, is because they make the most loyal customers. If you’re getting a service or autoship from your aunt or brother, it’s much less likely you’ll cancel than if it was a from a stranger. The answer really depends on the products you’re selling, it’s something everyone will have to decide for themselves, but I’d go the soft route in any case.

When it comes to a business opportunity, I don’t believe you can sell someone on it and them being successful. You have to show it to them, and it either makes sense to them or it doesn’t. A jazzy, high pressure presentation may get them to sign up, but if they just got caught up in the sales pitch, that’s not going to last long with most people. I’m in a popular MLM business (but one you’ve likely never heard of) and I’ve seen it happen.

The people on my team that are really doing well, I could tell it about them when they signed up that they were going to make money at it. That’s why I don’t do sales pitches. If you do, you’ll end up with just a recruitment mill and be lucky to break even on the advertising. It goes off into another topic entirely, and that’s keywords that get people with ambition, instead of a “sucker list” of people who will buy into something but never do anything with it. By that I mean the dreamers, newsletter junkies, or people in such a bad financial situation they’ll fall for anything. I’ll do a future article on that topic, because there’s a real psychology to it.

Anyway I just wanted to chime in on the subject. The advantage to an MLM (if you make it) is to have an army of people all making you a little. It has to be all about the product, one that they won’t get tired of (that’s why I won’t do ones like energy bars or juices). I like Snickers,  but I couldn’t eat one every day no matter how good they taste. It can’t be trendy, and the company itself has to be really stable if you want your residual checks to keep coming for years down the road. I wouldn’t ignore your warm market, but I’d ask their opinion, or send the product as a gift. Show it, don’t pitch it.