Avoid the Pot Holes and Land Mines

Right out of college, I went to work for Xerox Corporation and, thankfully, I did quite well as a sales guy. Seven years into it, I had decided that, because I was a top performer as a Xerox sales person, that I was an all around great businessman. At that time, a number of my California Xerox buddies (we referred to each other as Xeroids), were jumping the Xerox ship and going to work for Coldwell Banker Commercial, a very esteemed nation-wide commercial real estate brokerage firm. The company had recently opened an office in Salt Lake City and cocky as I was, I decided that I was ready for the real big money. After a few weeks of marginal thinking, and without any real due diligence, I resigned from Xerox and took a job at CB.

The training program at the company was made up of a week in Los Angeles where we got the big picture of what we were going to be doing followed by a year of being a “runner”, which is a nice was to say “forced partnering”. I was assigned to work with someone who hardly knew anything more about the business than I did. This person was supposed to teach me all about the business, but it was more of a classic example of the blind leading the blind. But what was more difficult for me by far was I was paid a tad less than $1,000 per month. That was tough. I had three kids, a wife that didn’t work and a house payment of $968 a month. Fortunately I had one year’s worth of living expenses in my Xerox retirement that we used to live on, and we lived as fugally as possible for as long as we could. It was quite a year! I went from a six-figure income (not bad for the mid-1980s) to $9,600 my first year. The second year was a bit better. The third year was just a tad better than the second. My wife finally sat down with me and asked how long I was going to keep this up? I eventually left commercial real estate where I had my butt handed to me on a platter. It was quite humbling. I learned an important lesson – a successful Xerox salesperson does not always make a successful commercial real estate agent. They are radically different businesses, requiring very different skill sets and different networks of people – which is a key ingredient to success in commercial real estate. In commercial real estate it’s as much who you know as what you know.

One of the most painful and predictable failures in retail commercial real estate was when someone who had never been in the restaurant business decided to open some sort of eating establishment. A typical scenario would be a couple who has taken their retirement in a lump sum and instead of buying a franchise, they choose to rent a retail space, lease the equipment and open their dream store, “something that they have always wanted to do.” Often neither of them had ever worked in the restaurant business before. This happened all of the time and sadly, most of the time – like 95% of the time - they lasted maybe a year or so and then closed the doors, losing everything they’d invested. We placed bets on how long they’d stay open. It was quite heartbreaking really. Truth is people shouldn’t ever open a restaurant unless they know what they are doing. There are just too many places where they can screw up.

Now what’s this got to do with direct selling?

Like most businesses, direct selling is a complicated business and it’s amazing how little respect many non-industry people have for the direct selling model. The attitude is similar to mine when I left Xerox. “How hard can it be?” I thought. The reality is, it can be dang hard – especially if you don’t know where the land mines are.

Just what do we mean when we talk about pot holes and land mines?

Just this.

A good analogy is to look at the Direct Selling Industry as a mine field. Setting up a company and running a direct selling business might look like a walk in the park, but there are some dangerous potholes that can sprain an ankle along with a number of land mines that can cripple, maim or kill. Some of the potholes will just cause you to slow down a bit. They might sprain an ankle, but you’ll get by. However, there are bigger and deeper holes that can break a leg or force you to reroute your strategy. Occasionally however, you’ll come across a land mine that will not only slow you down, but can cause serious damage to the business and possibly take it down. Sadly, unless you’ve been around for a while, you could be standing right on a land mine and not know it. You act and BOOM! Arms and legs flying in every direction. Picking up the pieces is painful, difficult and sometimes takes years of effort.

As you read these papers you will see the phrase - LAND MINES. Pay particular attention when you see this warning! It references a hardearned gem, gleaned from multiple, real life experiences that can save you money, energy, frustration, anxiety, relationships and just might possibly save your company. Each of us has spent a bunch of time in the minefield and has learned a bit about where the potholes and the land mines are. I still have my arms and legs, but have come pretty close to losing them a time or two. There is no reason that you need to learn those things by your own experience. Learn them from me. Just because you’ve done well in other businesses doesn’t qualify you to call all the shots in the direct selling company you’re going to open.

There is a learning curve in this business with no short-cuts. No matter how smart you are, or how much education you’ve had, it takes time – often, years to understand the nuances of the business. (We’ve worked with Harvard and Stanford MBA’s who have screwed companies up because they disregarded the experienced counsel of less educated industry experts.) Sometimes the nuances are counter-intuitive. The best thing you can do is surround yourself with industry-experienced people and listen to them, especially when you don’t like what they are saying.Our hope is the information on this website will serve you well, help you stay safe and catapult you and your company to great heights.

If the information helps, when you see at some network marketing function, come up and let us know about it. We can high five each other – assuming we still have our arms and legs!

Here’s to your greatest success!

• Craig Case
• Bob Hipple
• Sterling Chord

Direct Selling Today

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» Avoid the Pot Holes and Land Mines