Shall We Dump The "Fake It Till You Make It"
Recruiting Routine?
Author: Kim Klaver

How often have we heard it spouted from the front of the room?

"Fake it till you make it."

Over the last 15 years, I've known countless guys who, upon
hearing this mantra, have begged, borrowed and stolen money to
buy their Armani suits, shoes and belts (whose expensive
buckles they are often seen fondling in front of the room).

Some have bought cars totally outside their budgets so they
could be seen arriving in style. And of course, they imply
clearly that these wonderful toys were the fruits of the
business they were promoting.

Has this mantra gone too far?

It's one thing to do whatever you have to so that YOU feel good
(and if buying that Armani suit, shoes or belt does it, well
then do it.)

But if it's all borrowed money that bought it, or if it came
from another source, and NOT from the business you are
promoting, is it right to pretend these success symbols came
from your business? You know, so as to entice folks to come
into the business with you?

Isn't that false pretenses?

In a previous post here, ("Don't Believe the Hype (He Says
That's What It Is)" May 28, I reported what a well known
entertainment promoter said in his deposition (he was being
sued by the people who bought his company based on his
misrepresentations).

Mr. Simmons wanted to give a good impression to those who were
about to put up their money and time to buy his company, so he
wanted the business to "look good" to them.

"Here's how you develop an image for a company," he says in the
deposition. "You give out false statements to mislead the public
so they will then increase in their mind the value of your
company." He explained the difference between his statement on
CNBC that his company had done $350 million in sales when in
fact it had done $14.3 million like this:

The $350 million "accurately reflected my optimism - or my
brand position statement - a good brand positioning statement."
And he adds, "I was hoping it would sound good - I was hoping
that maybe by that year the gross numbers were there, I don't
know."

Would you buy anything from this man?

Cut back to us in network marketing.

How would you feel about coming in to a business based on
seeing such "success" flaunted as what they "got", and later
find out they hadn't earned a dime - that the "success" they
showed you was part of that person's "fake it till you make it"
strategy? And you bought in, thinking that it would be easy,
too, like it was for our faker?

Do you agree that we should dump the faker philosophy as a
recruiting tool?

Perhaps women haven't used it as much as the boys, since they
don't tend to brag. But if you do use it, I suggest wiping it
from your speaking repertoire. Period.

Evolved males: Dump it.

It's just lying, isn't it? And worse, it's cruel and unusual
seduction of some unsuspecting woman (or guy) who needs to
believe in something real, and who doesn't have any way of
knowing that your story is fake, until it's too late and
they've spent their money - and usually more than they can
afford.

Would YOU knowingly buy from a faker?

Is that any way to promote goodwill or good word of mouth in
our industry?

We can do better, can't we?

About The Author: Kim Klaver is Harvard & Stanford educated.
Her 20 years experience in network marketing have resulted in a
popular blog, http://KimKlaverBlogs.com, a podcast,
http://YourGreatThing.com and a giant resource site,
http://BananaMarketing.com