Confessions of a network marketeer

That's right.. it's not a typo.. I am speaking about a "MARKETEER".. a network marketeer..

A species that I thought had gone extinct. From the first starry eyed Day-dreamer I met during my first year in college to some of the high-fliers the trade, I have tried to gauge what has been the intrinsic motivation and how many of them were mere casualties of cognitive dissonance in a state of denial.

Most are as clearly brainwashed as a jehadi going for any suicide bomb mission, but some manage to show sign of intelligent life still remaining in them. From pure disdain to the understanding that that there is nothing unethical about the faster preying upon the slower and the clever looting the dumb, I have seen a great deal of change in my thinking itself.

On one hand, an absolute of lack of any credible risk taking ability in me has always made a fan of some of these people. On the other, I have always been handicapped by the analyzing mind that evaluated the success rate of any such opportunity with due skepticism as I saw my friends, relatives and complete strangers jump into the fray with varying degrees of success.

Today was a typical experience, where I sought to challenge the basics of network marketing with a person who has been a star in the field. (He showed me his income statements as proofs!!!) I wanted to share some interesting things that came out during my discussion with him.

1- It's not a chain. It's a network.
It started off from my analogy to a chain reaction. It took me 30 mins to make him confess that, a critical mass is required for him to continue in business and effectively he just earned from the initial membership fees of people joining the network. The product is the network (people joining it) and not the physical product they apparently seem to sell.

2- Everyone can succeed in this line. It's the effort we put in.
It's all about attitude and will power. Tell me more about that..As if there are not millions in India who want/will/wish to be like Aishwarya or Sachin. There are at least a finite number of intrinsic and an infinite number of extrinsic factors that lead to the success of any person in any line. This is no different. (Reminds me of the Camel Story) Not every one is suitable but you still want all those starry eyed dumbos to join because you earn off them!!!

I am now thinking if I should go into all the details of our discussion!!
But I have a confession to make. Selling is not easy. It means stepping out of your skin, successfully assessing the person across the table and connecting with him. You can spend lakhs and get a Management degree like some dumbos like me do or dabble in something like this early enough in you life. This is also a way to grind yourself in people skills.

I admire this 26 year old guy who had the guts to reason it out with me for 3hrs, simply because he could hold on so long and more because he has learned (because of his experience in this) how be a patient listener, how to negotiate on topics, how to be convincing, appear confident and how to give ground without losing face. All this that my MBA did not teach me and I have been trying to inculcate over all these years!!!!

PS: This post makes me happy because I seem to be coming out of the rut I was getting into...may I continue to meet such interesting people and they spur me to react..