Steve the Owl's Blog

One of the best things I have ever heard someone say about business was a very simple statement by Dee Hock, the founder of Visa. He called it his “Ph.D. in Leadership, Short Course.” Here is the full version of the “short course”:

“Make a careful list of things done to you that you abhorred. Don’t do them to others, ever. Make another list of things done to you that you loved. Do them for others, always.”

I think that this is something that far too many people miss whenever they start working in network marketing. I know that I literally have a lot of my friends who stopped answering my phone calls for the longest time because they knew that I was supposed to call them about my business proposal. Ultimately, I know that the only thing that such tactics have really helped me with are helping me to overcome my fear of rejection when it comes to business. Admittedly, this is a very important skill to have, but is this the way you want to do it?

Another example of things that one should never do is say that an offer is free, with no hidden costs (including shipping) or obligation, only to tell someone of the hidden shipping costs when claiming the free gift. I know that I got an e-mail a few days ago that sounded very promising, and I was told “no shipping or hidden costs.” Then, the operator just would not take no for an answer when I said that I wanted to wait until another time to take the trial, which would have had shipping costs. In my frustration, I pointed out that the ad said “no shipping or hidden costs,” her reply was, “Marketing did that, not me.” Do you think you would try the “free trial” in those circumstances? I know I didn’t.

Instead, we need to respect our friends and our prospective customers/downline. If we treat people fairly and follow the advice of Dee Hock, we will earn the trust of others, and this is what people want whenever they join a business. Remember this: people know that you are getting money if you sign them up to do your business. Therefore, no matter how close friends you are, they are going to know that this is not quite the same relationship as it would be if you were giving a testimonial for something where you are not compensated. If you treat your friend shabbily in your business dealings, you may reach a point where, not only do you not have someone in your business, but you have also lost a friend.

This means, above all, tell the truth in your business dealings. People will respect you if you do. If your business opportunity or your product is something that someone is just not interested in, that’s ok. Don’t tell them some false claim in order to bring them into the business. After all, there are times when “no” really means “not now.” This is not an invitation to pester someone endlessly, but a reminder that you want to leave your doors open to your business. If you follow Dee Hock’s advice, you will not only build a strong business, but you become a stronger person.

Tags: Dee Hock, ethics, Golden Rule, leadership

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 20th, 2010 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.