Mar
1
Why Reading Other People’s Success Stories Is A Bad Idea…
Filed Under Year Of Original Content, informed decision, mindset
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...I don’t know about you, but in all the years I’ve been observing the network marketing and internet marketing worlds I must have read thousands of stories about how the author was in dire straits just a few short months ago, and now is pulling down a gazillion dollars a day doing very little, and how easy it is for you to do the same.
Now I don’t know how many of these are totally true, or mostly true or even a total pack of lies. But I do know I’ve had different emotional reactions to them. I know from my conversations in recent months with many others in the industry, that I’m not alone in this observation.
There were times when I felt truly inspired – there are some wonderful stories out there, even if they’re not true. And stories like these made me reflect on my own situation and want to do something about it.
Yet in one sense reading these stories is a bad idea. Let me tell you how & why, and let you make your own mind up.
Personally I think there’s always something to be learned – just so long as I continue to make informed decisions – not always easy, as we’ll shortly see!
As you read their story, you begin to identify with the situation and the author, or at least bits of the story and perhaps a few characteristics of the author. Why? Because you recognise parts of your own history and self in there… And for the author, their salvation comes in the form of some actions built around some great system or method they came across, and you know what? YOU could also do this – none of the actions are particularly difficult or costly…
As you read on (and some of these really do go on… and on….) you find yourself feeling more and more compelled to sign up for what ever they’re offering, or at least, to find out more with their free report… And so you do – you might even think the $97/$67/$47/$27/$7 price they charge (or even $997!) is good value for money, and you reach for your credit card…
By the way, what is it with all these prices ending in ‘7’?!
But your decision will, according to recent research, be an emotional one, untempered by too much logic, despite you having the perfect logic for your actions… You can get the deeper details in several places, though for an easier read I point you to Robert Ciadini’s work…
Cialdini, a bit of a whiz on psychology and influence (he has letters after his name and everything, and writes accessible books… go see “Influence: Science & Practice” http://bit.ly/xM3Gf) suggests 6 ‘weapons of influence’. Once you’re familiar with them you’ll never look at a sales letter page the same way again… I hope!
Oh, the thing to note with all of this is that this influencing stuff happens at a deep level – you respond in these ways almost without thinking… powerful (and scary!) or what?
- Weapon #1 – reciprocation – you can get a whole bunch of freebies from the author, who has just seemingly told you how to change your life – so you reciprocate – by signing up…
- Weapon #2 – commitment & consistency – people tend to honour a commitment – you make a commitment when you sign up… so you probably do look at the video/free report etc
- Weapon #3 – social proof – people will do things they see others doing – the testimonials on the sites show people signing up and buying in… the conformity factor increases the liklihood that you too will sign up…
- Weapon #4 – authority – using authoritative phrasing & tones, citing testimonials as being from ‘experts’ or showing how the programme is just like (named) experts, some of whom you may even have heard of…
- Weapon #5 – liking – people are more easily persuaded by people they like – a heart-warming story, a familiar, welcoming style or writing/talking style (video/audio more prevalent now) – this is the “s/he’s one of us, so it must be OK…” effect…
- Weapon #6 – scarcity – limited seats/packs/being one of a few out of millions… or time limiting before price rises etc – sound familiar?
Now imagine the overall effect of 2 or more of these working together…! Yup, you’ll be VERY influenced to do buying/signing up etc.
A well-crafted sales page takes time, effort etc, and is effective, whether to system being sold is what what you need or not – and that’s my point..
And so you end up making an unbalanced decision – mostly emotional, with a little logic… but not enough I’d suggest…
But is it the right solution for YOU? How can you know without looking in to ‘this’ more, including the offering & your unique situation? What are your strengths? What time, money and energy can you invest in this offering you’ve just signed up for? What expectations do you subconsciously have and aren’t aware of, at least until you fail to meet them…? If you want to know where MLM depression/demotivation comes from, this last aspect is a BIG factor…
All of this together is why, in my humble opinion, reading too many of these stories is a bad idea. It doesn’t mean the story is ‘pants’, or the offering is ‘pants’ – it just might not be for you.
So before you decide, before you commit, just check back with yourself if this is the right thing for you to be doing now, and if it’s not, but you still want to do it, come up with an action plan to get you in position to take this forward when you ARE ready for it.
Happy story-reading!!
Cheers
Martin
Trackback URI
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.