More Isn't Always More
Over thirty years ago I walked into a 4-week intensive German class not even knowing that the word "Gesundheit" was a German word. Obviously I knew nothing about the German language.
The teacher I had for those 4 weeks was truly extraordinary. Her name was Dr. Pflanz.
Dr. Pflanz only spoke German during class, but it was easy to understand and make progress because of the method she used.
She didn't worry about teaching us a lot of words or phrases.
Instead, she taught us how to use fewer words extremely well.
She kept everything very simple, which made the German language seem simple.
At the end of those 4 weeks of class with her, I traveled to San Francisco for a weekend vacation and unexpectedly met a few Germans one night on the Wharf.
I had no trouble speaking German to them and they asked me how long I had been studying the language.
When I told them 4 weeks, they laughed. They said (in German), "You mean 4 years." I was able to tell them, "No, I mean 4 weeks."
I was then able to explain to them the method that Dr. Pflanz used, but I didn't need to bother explaining how effective it was, since I was explaining everything in German.
Sometimes More Isn't Better
A number of years later I was an assistant teacher in the German department at a different University.
The textbook my students had to use was complicated.
In the very first lesson they were introduced to tenses that Dr. Pflanz deliberately avoided teaching, until her students had 4 semesters under their belts!
Dr. Planz showed us how to effectively communicate without piling on tons of extra details that would only overwhelm and confuse us!
I quickly saw that MORE is not always better.
Sometimes... it's just more.
Have you ever noticed how true that is in your business?
You might recall a time when you met with someone to show them your business opportunity...
You didn't expect to be with that person longer than an hour but he/she kept asking question after question.
Of course you walked away thinking that the person was incredibly interested, but in the end he/she never joined you in the business.
Or you might remember recruiting people who went on and on telling you about all the people they knew and all the things they were going to do. And then... interestingly... they never did anything in the business.
See?
More isn't always better. Sometimes it's just more.
The more you talk, the more likely you are to talk your prospects out of joining you in the business.
The more new recruits promise, the more likely they are to feel too afraid to take any action.
In the past couple of months I've looked at numerous different coaching programs and membership sites. Many of them seem to focus on the "more" principle.
But here's the thing...
When I go out and speak at different events, what I discover is that the thing direct sellers and network marketers want the most is to ask me specific questions about their business...
....what to do if this happens or when that happens, and how to do this or how to overcome that.
For example...
If you're trying to understand why a particular friend started acting strange ever since you told them about your business, you may feel like you won't be able to keep your friend and stay in your business.
Why? Because you can't see the whole picture. Right now you can only see things from your point of view.
This is where coaching can make a significant difference.
Interestingly enough, however, private coaching can easily fall into the "more" department.
Certainly private coaching can cost far more than you might be able or willing to invest, and in addition to that, the more time you have to talk, the greater your tendency to focus on unnecessary details that get in the way of you getting the coaching you need to move forward.
Once again, more can just end up being more instead of being better.
Knowing all of that, I decided to start a new group coaching program that avoids the "more is just more" syndrome.
You can learn about it here:
http://www.tammystanley.com/magnitudecoaching
Seize the Day!
Tammy
