Today is Thursday. Every Thursday I begin my day with a 7:00 a.m. Networking Group meeting in Dearborn. Woooo Hoooo! I love networking at dawn! Not really. But it's good for business, so I do it. Well, today I was invited to attend a competing networking group's meeting right after my normal meeting. I stopped in out of curiosity. They also have their meeting at the local coffee shop where I usually go to do email right after my meeting. I was going to be there anyway.
There were only five people there; they are trying to begin a new chapter here in Dearborn. Right away, and several times during the meeting, this group talked disparagingly about the group to which I already belong. My groups has 32 members. I received enough referrals in my first two visits to pay for five years of membership dues. They picked a bad strategy for trying to win me to their group.
I explained that I already belong to this other group and as a part of my membership agreement, I cannot belong to another group like it (the group works if you belong to because you all loyally refer business to one another). They just kept pushing. I'm a really easy going guy, but it kinda made me angry. I felt like I was getting Amway'ed. Some of you know what I mean by that. During my nine years at FranklinCovey , I frequently had Amway distributors try to recruit me, especially when they learned that I attended a large church. Bottom Line: I was reminded that graciously taking no for an answer is the way to go when I'm selling my business. I may not win the sale, but I maintain my reputation. In the long run, that has to be good for business.
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"Pushy" selling techniques rarely work. When you become an experienced consumer, I would say they are the biggest deterent to buying.
Putting down or bad mouthing the competition never works either... just don't let the Democrats know that.
By the way, you may want to let the coffee shop you go to know that there is no info on where they are in Dearborn, though I am guessing it is somewhere on Michigan Ave.
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