Why Are We Teaching Direct Sellers to Share Rather Than Sell?

In direct sales and network marketing, you'll see most companies teach their consultants to "share" the products and opportunity rather than teaching them sales techniques. Why is that? Most likely because they know the consultants will be more comfortable sharing rather than selling. Sharing is something we do all the time and doesn't require any special skills. Selling on the other hand, involves numerous skill sets to be really good at it.The truth is, most people who start a direct sales business have little experience with sales and marketing. This is one of the reasons the failure rate is so high. You're told that if you love the products, you can't help it but share with everyone you know, and your enthusiasm will make others want to buy too. But getting others to buy isn't as simple as just sharing the products. There's no doubt that you need to be enthusiastic about your products and business opportunity, but there's a big difference between sharing and selling. Direct sales and network marketing is a sales and marketing job and it takes work to learn the right set of skills to do well in this business.There's a difference between sharing and selling. If I tell someone that I love to shop at Trader Joe's, I'm sharing because I'm not being compensated. But if I tell them about my company's amazing skin care products, I'm sharing with the intention of selling, so my motives are completely biased. Sharing and selling is not the same.Why do you suppose people are uncomfortable even when they're told to "share" their love for the products? Because deep down they know they're selling. If they're just sharing, they wouldn't feel uncomfortable doing it, because we share our favorite restaurants, movies, and things all the time. But when we're told to share the products and opportunity we're representing, the dynamics completely change because we know we're getting paid to tell others about our business.Instead of telling consultants that don't sell, but share, tell them it's a sales job. If you want to become a top notch distributor then you will need to learn all the necessary skills to excel at this business. Sales professionals are trained extensively on how to sell- not how to share. The selling cycle is complex and there are a ton of skills required before the actual selling can even begin. Selling is much more than just saying: hey would you like to buy our best selling eye cream, or we've got the best compensation plan? Experienced direct sellers and network marketers know that selling takes time such as sifting through prospects, asking open-ended questions to pre-qualify their prospects, and evaluating their prospects to see if they're really interested. You don't have a prospect until someone has an interest in your product and is willing to pay for it.So let's be honest: direct sales or network marketing, is a sales job and it takes work if you're planning on making a good income as a consultant. Mastering sales and marketing takes people years and years to learn and top distributors never stop learning. The next time you have the urge to share your products, remind yourself that you're in the business of selling, and if you're still using the sharing tactic with little success, it's time to pick up some books and learn the art of selling and marketing.Last time I checked, I couldn't find a book on how to share but there are plenty on how to sell and market your business.