Job Security? Maybe It's Time to Look at Network Marketing

George Karl, formerly of the Denver Nuggets

Lionel Hollins, formerly of the Memphis Grizzlies

The NBA has an interesting record on job security. The NBA’s 30 teams have 13 new coaches this year. 

•  Vinny Del Negro got fired by the Los Angeles Clippers after leading the team to a franchise record for victories.
• Lionel Hollins got fired by the Memphis Grizzlies after leading the team to a franchise record for victories and the Western Conference  finals.
•  George Karl got fired by the Denver Nuggets after leading the team to a franchise record for victories and a ninth straight playoff performance.  And this is a team without stars in a star-driven league.

Of course, these are extreme examples – it’s the sports world after all. But in today’s world even excellent job performance does not guarantee a job.   

Unless you hire yourself and open your own business.Many who hire themselves are in network marketing. Does that sound too odd? It shouldn’t. The total sales in network marketing last year were $167 billion.  That’s the equivalent of the sales for the NFL, music industry, video gaming industry, and the movie industry COMBINED. The network marketing industry paid out $65 billion to its distributors.  Sweet!

Maybe being your own boss isn’t such a bad idea after all.

For more information about a network marketing opportunity, check out www.meetchuckmacdonald.com.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die is a book by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, published by Random House in 2007.

The concept of this book intrigued me. We want our ideas to stick.  The pastor wants his sermon to stick with his flock.  The teacher wants her instructions to stick with her pupils. And the business person wants his product to stick with his potential customers.

So what’s the secret?  Authors Chip and Dan Heath dig into research and bring up some data-driven treasures.

Here’s guidelines for an idea to be sticky

·         Simplicity

·         Unexpectedness

·         Concreteness

·         Credibility

·         Emotions

·         Stories

Two examples of how the stickiness concept works.

The Centers for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) discovered that a typical medium-sized bag of popcorn bought at a movie theater contained 37 grams of saturated fat. The recommended daily consumption is 20 grams. An interesting fact, but dry, academic.  Definitely not “sticky.” CSPI needed a way to communicate the information about the excessive amount of saturated fat.

Here’s how they presented their message at a press conference. A single medium-sized bag of movie popcorn contained more artery-clogging fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings combined.

The message was an immediate sensation and was featured on CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN.  It also made the front pages of a number of newspapers.  The presentation was very sticky.

Hollywood is where stickiness is practiced with big budgets.  Those who make their pitch to the studios have to come up with something concise. It can’t just be a sound bite.  It must be sticky to get the studios to loosen their purse strings.  They often do it by associating their idea with another familiar idea.  Here’s a couple of sticky pitches that worked.

“Speed” -- “Die Hard” on a bus.

“13 Going on 30” -- “Big” for girls

“Alien” -- “Jaws” on a spaceship.

Got it?  Now go make your pitch, your presentation, your sales call a sticky one.

One More Minute with Daniel Pink

Reading Daniel Pink is like reading the Bible. I have to stop every couple of pages and think long and hard about what I just read and how I can make it stick in my thinking and life.

Pink cites Michael Pantalon, a research scientist at Yale School of Medicine, as a leading authority on “motivational interviewing.” His technique seeks to spark behavioral change by tapping people’s inner drives. For example, try to motivate your daughter to study for an important upcoming test.

Question 1: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how ready are you to study?”

After she answers, you ask another question.

Question 2: Why didn’t you pick a lower number?

The question catches her off guard. (So much better than a yes-no question.) She moves from defending her current actions to articulating her personal motives for studying, which increases the chances she actually will.

Questions like this show that a jolt of the unfamiliar can jar us out of the ruts in our thinking into new patterns that might produce new and better results.

In the old days, sales people provided access to information for their clients. Now virtually all the information is available on the internet. Today in sales, sales people prove their usefulness to clients when they curate the information available. Studies show that we encounter about 100,000 words per day – advertisements, emails, blogs, Facebook posts, twitter, text messages, conversations at home, TV shows, mailings, etc. The key job of the sales person today is helping clients wade through the mass of material and help them select what’s relevant and what’s not.

The ultimate pitch for an era of short attention spans begins with one word and doesn’t go any further. What is that one word that describes your business? Attention spans aren’t merely shrinking, they’re nearly disappearing. Pink says, “The only way to be heard is to push brevity to its breaking point.” He continues,  “When anybody thinks of you, they utter that word.” Nowadays only the brutally simple ideas get through.

Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human, p. 146-161

Potential Counts More Than Accomplishment?

How can that be?  Daniel Pink’s engaging book “To Sell is Human” discusses this topic, citing research from a 2012 publication by Jayson Jia of Stanford and Michael Norton of the Harvard Business School.

The natural inclination says the way to go is to focus on the deals done, divisions turned around and awards collected. However, the authors suggest emphasizing potential.

The researchers tested this by testing NBA general managers who were evaluating two players and how much to pay them. The first basketball player was an experienced athlete with outstanding statistics who had been in the league for five seasons.  On the other side was a rookie (no NBA experience) who had the potential to product similar results.

The veteran player was offered a salary of over $4 million for his sixth year.

But, the general managers said they would expect to pay more than $5 million for the rookie in his sixth season.  Potential was rewarded over past performance.

In another test, researchers tested the Facebook ads for two comedians. Half the ads said, “Kevin Shea could be the next big thing.”  The other ad said that Kevin Shea “is the next big thing.” The first ad, emphasizing potential,  generated  far more click throughs and likes than the second.

The scholars commented on the research saying, “The potential to be good at something can be preferred over actually being good at that very same thing.”

Pink concludes from the researcher’s position, “People often find potential more interesting than accomplishment because it’s more uncertain. The uncertainty can lead people to think more deeply about the person they’re evaluating.  This more intensive processing can generate more and better reasons why the person is a good choice.”

Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human, p. 140-141.

America the Beautiful By Ben Carson, professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore

Dr. Ben Carson grew up in inner city Detroit and Boston.  His father deserted the family, so his mother, who had just a third grade education, had to work two and three jobs to support the family. As an African-American, Carson’s observations about America, the value of hard work and his own place in society are insightful.

He starts off his book by writing:

Does America have flaws? Absolutely.  We’ve made our share of mistakes and then some.  But in spite of our missteps, our nation’s history shows that out of our darkest periods, we have responded time and time again to work toward “liberty and justice for all.”  One of America’s most respected legacies is indeed that of rebelling for change.

Carson comments about the American system of government and how far we have strayed from the founding fathers’ blueprints. Carson’s thoughts about the Bible, the church, Jesus Christ and America’s Judeo-Christian heritage, frames his observations.  He gave an example of the conflict between political correctness and religious freedoms when he was invited to give the keynote address at the 1997 Presidential Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. He was told NOT to mention the name of Jesus Christ, which he thought a strange request for a prayer breakfast.  He finished his speech by discussing his philosophy for success in life, which includes his strong faith in God and in His Savior Jesus Christ. Carson received a standing ovation after the address and only one negative response for using the name of Jesus Christ.

The highlight of the book was his chapter called “Is Health Care Right?” Having spent decades in the medical profession, he used many examples of waste, red tape, and layers of bureaucracy that needlessly compromise medical care. Most of these activities do nothing to improve patient care and instead  add billions to the cost of health care in America. Carson is a pragmatic person with practical solutions.  Hold on to your hat for some of them because his ideas would turn health care in America upside down.  Or maybe right side up.  Read and enjoy.

After many critiques of what needs fixing  in our country, Carson closes the book with a stirring call to action for his beloved country.  

 “We can no longer be passive because the Judeo-Christian way of life in America is at stake.  We need not be ashamed of our faith, and we certainly should not allow those who believe differently to change who we are in order to be politically correct. We should never compromise our belief system. It is time to set aside political correctness and replace it with the bold values and principles that founded our nation and caused it to race to the pinnacle of the world faster than any other nation in history. It is time to stop apologizing and to start leading, because the world is desperately in need of fair and ethical leadership. ”