Treat your Company as your Friend
Network marketing has plenty of naysayers and garners attacks on a daily basis. A Google search of any direct selling company hardly ever fails to include results that claim that it’s a “scam” or a “hoax” or some other variation thereof.
These claims are mostly unfair assumptions and hasty generalisations made after hearing of some instances where a company is not doing so well or that people behind it have made certain decisions that failed in some way.
It may seem difficult for you to stand by your company during these times and you may find yourself feeling disheartened by the struggles it might face. But understand that as a true network marketer, these are the very times that you must support your company even more by helping it and all the people who are part of it get back on track.
How do I rise to the challenge?
The trick is to think of your company as your friend. Your friend is a person who supports you in your path towards happiness, is there for you in times of need and helps you become a better person. In the same light, your company is there to help you gain success in your career and, in the process, your personal growth.
And we give both our friends and company the same amount of support and loyalty in return.
So when you think of your company as your friend, think of it as a person who sometimes experiences troubles, too. And just like any person, one mistake or failure does not immediately mean the company is the bad guy that should never be trusted again.
What should you do, then?
This article by direct selling consultant Jennifer Fong lists three simple things:
- Understand that no company is perfect.
- Don’t be a vulture.
- Don’t help the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of naysayers.
Number 1 is easy enough to understand. A company, like a person striving for success (such as yourself), does the very best to become one that is recognised and praised as a prime business organisation that is able to keep its sales force and customers as happy as possible. But there are times when things don’t turn out quite the way they planned and you have to realise that these imperfections are perfectly normal.
When you understand this and make it a point to always go back to the reason you love being part of this company in the first place—much like you would remind yourself of how good a person your friend truly is and how much you care about them and cherish all the time you’ve shared—you should be able to loosen up on the judgment and in turn channel your energy into supporting your company through the tough times instead.
On not becoming a vulture: Be a friend to the network marketing industry as a whole by NOT fanning the flames that might damage another company further in order to poach your competition’s representatives. You may think that tainting the name of a rival company would do your own company good, but it only really damages the name of ALL network marketing companies in the long run.
Finally, for number 3, many of you might not be aware that the more you respond to a particular [online] attack on your company or the industry—even if it is in defense of your company or the industry—the more it is that you bring awareness to the negative comments that these attackers are spreading. This is because every response to a negative post boosts the search engine rankings of that very post; this means, when someone Googles your company, the chances of that person seeing that very negative post about your company becomes higher.
As a friend, if you want a person you believe in to advance in their career, the best way to go about it is to refer your friend to others by highlighting that person’s accomplishments and noble deeds to boost their good name. So instead of fueling the power of those negative posts that vultures make about your company, it is much better to fill the social web with good news about it for more people to see.
This advice basically boils down to one thing, be a decent person. Remember that companies are essentially made up of people from various walks of life and that these people depend on the success of the company in order to lead their own lives as well. By being true to our companies and helping them continue to rise despite the negativity that keeps lurking in every corner, we are not only aiding the stable growth and prosperity of the network marketing industry, we also ensure that our companies continue to make a wonderful difference in more and more people’s lives.