My First Real Marketing Success In MLM by David Ledoux
I wrote the title to this article, and then froze. I had a brain block. I sat
numbly staring at the keyboard. What WAS my first real identifiable success at
this business?
After nearly 16 years, things get kind of fuzzy. I remember standing in a
snow bank in February 1988 handing out hand made fliers with a picture of a 380
pound woman wearing Spandex shorts sitting on a Lifecycle. But I don't remember
an overwhelming success rate.
But then it hit me. I DO remember a key incident that really built my
confidence, made me some money and got me rolling. I'm kind of excited to share
it with you.
The year was 1991. The country was in the midst of a sobering recession,
housing prices were slumping, and a group of young guys from Dublin were rocking
the airwaves as U2. None of us realized that a golden era of growth for MLM was
upon us.
I was trying to sell plastic water filters for $250 a pop. I saw people on
stage at our meeting making $15,000 a month and I was starving. I HAD to do
something, and fast.
One day in March, I was sitting in our training center, chatting with the
secretary before the 7:30 meeting, hoping my guest would show. I paid $50 a
month in dues in order to bring guests to the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
meetings. Sitting near the phone was a pink pad with forms used to take phone
messages. I ripped one off and started doodling.
Also on her desk was an old Burke Hedges training manual from a course he
called "The Blitz Kit". I flipped through it and read the section
using postcards to generate leads. In Canada, we don't have a special postcard
rate, so most of the local leaders never promoted them. One of his postcard
examples was kind of cool, so I jazzed it up a bit on the back of the pink pad
paper.
In my handwritten chicken-scratch it read:
"Your business card came across my desk and I wanted to touch base. I
own a rapidly growing business here in Toronto. If I could double your current
income in 10 hours a week without changing what you're currently doing, would
you set aside 15 minutes to learn how? Give me a call. David Ledoux"
I stuck it in my pocket and forgot all about it. My guest never showed for
the meeting, I sat there AGAIN by myself and went home that night determined to
make SOMETHING happen.
As I hung up my one good suit that night, I found the pink paper. For some
reason, I wrote out another 50 of them that night, then popped them into little
note envelopes and mailed them to a stack of business cards that I had pulled
off a bulletin board at a supply shop.
About 4 days later, I got 7 phone calls from the 50 notes. One of them worked
for the Atomic Energy of Canada as an engineer. He came to one of our meetings,
liked what he saw, and did over $7000 in business his first month, netting me
about $1100!
In April, I did over $25,000 in my group using primarily those notes.
Everyday, I would write 20 of them and mail them out. They got the phone to
ring....
Looking back, that first little bit of success with those notes really
boosted my confidence in MLM and changed me forever.
I appreciate you!
David Ledoux
