Love Forty

by John Passmore

By now you will have noticed in this blog the phenomenon of “momentum”. People talk a lot about “momentum” in Network Marketing. It’s a buzzword.

And if you look back to previous posts you will see it in action. For instance I might have spent half an hour calling electricians off the internet and talked to three. By late afternoon, I might be fretting that I was still three short of my daily target of six.

And then, because of the effort I had put in during the morning – the priming of the pump… or, as some would have it, the “momentum”… three electricians would call me back between five and six and all would want to hear what I had to say.

So I assumed that was what was going to happen today. Today was always going to be a challenge. Tamsin had taken Number Two Son to Wimbledon and so I knew that from 3.15 onwards, I would be juggling children (not just my own but three belonging to a friend whose husband demanded her presence at a corporate dinner in London) and the whole thing was going to be rounded off with the school concert.

There was also a lot of “real life” getting in the way: Calls to solicitors, accountants… all that stuff.

And as it went on, I became more and more aware that I still hadn’t talked to anyone at all – or at least not about what really mattered to my long-term future.

So after lunch, I turned away from the List of Things To Do, typed “electricians Needham Market” into Google and started calling.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m looking for an electrician –not for the usual reason. Let me explain: I’m in business like you and I have several colleagues who are electricians but they make an extra income alongside their electrical business. Would you like me to tell you what they do? It takes about 30 seconds.”

And do you know what? I have never, ever, had anyone say they don’t want to hear it. I’ve had plenty listen and say no it’s not for them. But that’s fine. Also I’ve never had anyone complain that I’ve cold-called them or wasted their time – not one.

So today I talked to three and when I asked the third one if he was interested he said: “I should say so. It sounds a brilliant idea.”

And then it was off to school, feeling rather aware that although I had left a handful of messages, I was still woefully short of my target. I looked around the playground. This can be a difficult judgement. You don’t want to get a reputation as a Network Marketing bore but on the other hand everyone needs to know what you’ve got.

I saw a man I didn’t know wearing an ID badge on a string around his neck. We have BT’s huge research centre just down the road and they all wear those badges, so I went up and said: “Is that a BT badge you’ve got there.”

It turned out not. He worked at the Police Headquarters.

Light bulbs flashed on. Bells started ringing: “You’re with the police! I’ve got to tell you about this. I’ve got so many colleagues with the police, you wouldn’t believe it. In a minute I’m going to get you to watch a DVD and your challenge will be to count the number of people who say: “I was a police officer for 15 years…

“Tell me, d’you want to make some money?”

And guess what, he’s got the DVD to look at – and I’ve got his name, his address and his phone number.

I was still two short, of course. But I went home confident that at least a couple of people would ring me back – or the opportunity would arise during the interval at the school concert…

But somehow it didn’t.

And if you look back through the three weeks or so that I’ve been writing this blog, you’ll see that this is the first day that I didn’t get my six.

So what does this tell you? We’re all human? You don’t win them all?

What I like to think it tells you is that it’s not the end of the world - and tomorrow is another day…