Do Your Own Presentations, Damnit!

This might ‘seem‘ to fly in the face of some of the things that are taught in the network marketing industry, but if you take a bit of a closer look, you’ll see that it might just be a part of the missing key to unlocking the growth in your business that you’re looking for.

Sometimes I talk to people who seem to be doing everything that it takes to build a team – they’re marketing, prospecting, handing out audios, sending people to videos, and otherwise putting a lot of energy out into the marketplace, but no one is joining their team.

Usually, when I ask a few questions, what I find is that the rep is in an area where they don’t have a strong local leader, and they’re not focused on getting people to large group live events online, either.

(Sorry folks – you’ve got to do group presentations if you want to build a network – online or offline, I don’t care, but they must be done – recorded videos just don’t have the same effect on people as live events.)

There’s a phenomenon in life called ‘social proof‘ that helps determine the belief systems of groups of people.  Essentially – the more people seem to rally around a cause, believe in it, and take action – the easier it is to get new people to believe in it, too.

(herein lies the cause of the phenomenon where the masses rush into an opportunity after it’s mostly gone – as in the case of real estate with the boom and bust in the last 10 years, etc – throughout history)

One of the best ways to create ‘predictable’ social proof that exists is live events – whether it’s a Webinar with several hundred people, a local event with 20-30 people, or even a small group presentation with 4-6 people will create the ‘pull’ that you’re looking for to help people cross over that bridge where they want to join you in your business.

I was thinking about this the other day – and I still haven’t ever met a leader in the Network Marketing industry with a large organization that doesn’t do regular group presentations or trainings.

The reason is, because YOU doing a presentation to a group gives you the extra ‘pull’ you need as a leader to draw people over that belief thresh-hold.

When I first started marketing online, one of the first things that I did was get an account with GoToMeeting and immediately, within my first week, I was doing group presentations 3-5 times per week with small groups of 10-15 people.

(As a side note – there are about 1000 cheaper, better options now than GoToMeeting – there’s been a conferencing boom in the last six months and you can do fairly large, cheap events for about $10 per month with a variety of services)

Eventually, I got busy with other things, and scaled down my personal presenting to one or two big events per week – and I started doing a weekly marketing training on Monday nights.

What happens is, as someone goes through the sales cycle – they need to get into an environment where they can ‘get it.‘

Most of the time distributors try and tell people everything about the business before they’re in an environment where they can actually see the whole story – then, rather than doing a presentation, they blurt out nonsensical, unorganized data to try and get a person in.

The problem with that, is that if someone hears too much about the story before they attend an event or look at an online video – or even listen to an audio, they won’t do it unless they’re VERY interested.

There’s a saying that says ‘say less to more people‘ – just remember, get MORE people to attend live events, see online presentations, listen to audio CD’s, and if you want to be recognized as a leader and attract good people in depth in your team – do a live presentation for yourself of somewhere downline in your team AT LEAST once a week – regardless of what else you’re promoting.

David Wood
“Online Marketing Maverick“

P.S.   As a side note, I’ve been teaching people to do their own group presentations once a week for almost six months, and it’s astonishing how few people actually do it – and how the few who do are ALWAYS the people who make the most money.  If you take a group of say – 500 people and teach them all the same thing, only about 10 of them will actually do it (about 2-3%).

The funny thing is, it’s 2 or 3% of a distributor force that make 98% of the income, and in life – 2-3% of the population controls 98% of the worlds wealth.

MOST of the time, someone will do anything to avoid the pain of action – but I would contend that it’s much more painful to live a mediocre life.  As I’m writing this article, I’m looking out over the ocean in Costa Rica.
Now, you might not want to abandon ‘civilized’ nonsense corporate America in favor of a vagabond life – but as goes the saying:

“You’ve got to do what others won’t, so you can have what others can’t” – unknown

For me, having what I wanted meant living the dream in a 3rd world country, doing what I want all day – and helping people reach their goals all over the world while I indulge my senses in the surreal ecstasy of life.

I guess that 98% of the population just doesn’t want nice stuff.

Lol. (kidding) – BUT, it makes me wonder.  Give me your thoughts.

Comments

JosephMiranda, June 17 2012, 10:00

Love this! David Wood = Greatness!!!!

pacman, June 17 2012, 11:00

Spot on with this write-up, I really suppose this website wants rather more consideration. I’ll in all probability be again to learn way more, thanks for that info.

Hans Schoff, June 17 2012, 12:00

Dave, you’re right, it’s all about the presentations! You can market all day and all night but if you’re not talking to people and actively – daily – doing live presentations, whether in person or over the internet, you are leaving TONS of money on the table!

Tristan Richards, June 17 2012, 13:00

You are a legend in the making David. The things you are doing and sharing are incredible… Thanks

Jack Foley, June 17 2012, 14:00

So Dave when is your next webinar showing your tips and tricks on how to do live presentations..?

Naji, June 17 2012, 15:00

WOW! David that was a really nice article. I guess there is a good reason why 2% of the world leads 98% world.

David Emil Lombard, June 17 2012, 16:00

Dave, you consistently deliver some of the best value online and cut out all the fluff. This is the real stuff. Group presentations are absolutely the one area that I require to up my consistency of, BIG TIME. This post actually brought this back into the forefront of my mind and I thought of someone whom I was planning to collaborate with. We’ll be at our New Year leadership kick off and this will be a leading topic to discuss. Thanks again man!

Lawrence Wheeler, June 17 2012, 17:00

David you are always right on point. I asked my dad the other day why there aren’t more people rich in this world and he said to me “People are scared of the Responsibility that comes with it son”. He was right people will not step up and push themselves to the limit because of Fear, Fear of failure even, Fear of success. Keep writing David, I have learned so much from you and I’m changing my life with your teachings. Thank You!

Jamie Bennett, June 17 2012, 18:00

Hey David, that’s one of the first things I did when I started…. getting people live on the phone and I had more buy-in from that than just sending people to videos. I have since stopped and you’ve reminded me just how important those events are… Thanks

Bruce Cagle, June 17 2012, 19:00

Thanks David, It is true, people want to associate and follow leaders. Not followers. If someone wants to build a big business, there is no way around it, you have to do your own presentations. And if you’re a good leader you will force, YES FORCE your budding leaders to do their own also. Once they find out that they can do it, watch out, you are on your way to FREEDOM. Bruce

Angel, June 17 2012, 20:00

Will this be recorded?

Lucas Fernández, July 17 2024, 10:00

Great advice, David! I’ve started doing my own presentations and noticed a significant increase in engagement and team growth. It’s amazing how much more effective live events are compared to recorded videos. Thanks for the push!

Alina Volkov, July 17 2024, 11:00

Thanks for sharing this, David. I always thought recorded videos would be enough, but after reading this, I’m convinced to try live presentations. Do you have any tips for someone who’s never done it before?

Marcos Pereira, July 17 2024, 12:00

This makes so much sense! I’ve been struggling to get my team to grow, and I think this might be the missing piece. Excited to start implementing live presentations weekly.

Isabella Rossi, July 17 2024, 13:00

Thank you, David, for always providing such valuable insights. Live presentations have always intimidated me, but your article has inspired me to give it a go. I’ll start with small group presentations and see how it goes.