What’s Your Presenting Nightmare?
I thought we’d have a little fun on the blog this week…are you up for it?
I’d like to know, “What’s YOUR Presenting Nightmare?” What’s the craziest, most embarrassing, silliest, amazing, oh-my-gosh-I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened thing that’s ever happened to you while you were presenting your MLM product or business opportunity to a prospect?
Did you totally freeze up? Did the prospect get up and leave? Did you have food stuck in your teeth & not know it? Did you plan on having 20 people show up & end up presenting to an empty room?
You know, I made my very first presentation waaay back in 1989. Not only was it the first presentation I had ever done for my network marketing business, it was also my first presentation EVER. And man, was it bad! I was at a “Super Saturday” training event and the woman who was leading the training meeting decided to introduce the audience to some of the new distributors in the group.
She came to the front row and handed me the microphone and I just froze. I stood there looking at the crowd and couldn’t speak a word. Then, the worst happened…I heard chuckling and laughter coming from some of the people in the room. That only made it worse. My mind was blank…I had blown my opportunity.
The woman in charge of the training meeting simply took the microphone from my trembling hand and said, “While he’s thinking about what his name is, let me introduce Rick.”
It was so embarrassing then, but if you know my story you know that I used that embarrassment to fuel me and I eventually not only learned how to make great MLM presentations, I was also able to teach others on my team how to do the same.
I’d like to encourage you to have a little fun with us this week & share YOUR best presenting story. Come on…I KNOW you’ve got some good ones to share!
**There are prizes involved! **
Share your “Presenting Nightmare” story with me, here on the blog. All you have to do is make a comment on this post, include your funny, amazing or embarrassing story & your first name.
The person who submits the BEST Presenting Nightmare story wins a $150+ prize package. You’ll get a copy of my new training program Professional Presenter PLUS an autographed copy of my book, Build It Big and a Brilliant Compensation DVD!!
I’ll be reading your posts daily & encourage you to check back frequently to see what everyone else is sharing. I’ll be announcing the WINNER on Monday May 17, 2010 - So get your story in today!
Have fun!!
May 10th, 2010 at 8:18 am
My Worst Presenting Nightmare!
The MLM company I work with trains us right from day one to be very upfront with people about what you’re inviting them to etc. So one day, a crossline associate asked me if I would travel 90 mins out of town to help him do a presentation to a group of about 30 people. He sweetened the offer by saying that there was going to be a pool party and bbq afterwards. I agreed to help him, as did a few other crossline distributors.
I arrived at the home, and was greeted warmly by the host and shown out to the back yard, where the presentation was to be held. I immediately started introducing myself to the various attendees and started getting to know them a bit.
One fellow I was talking to seemed especially sharp, a real find I thought. As I chatted with this fellow, I learned he was a pretty successful distributor with another MLM company, so I inquired as to why he was looking at another opportunity if he was doing so well. He seemed confused by my question, which confused me!
Unbeknownst to myself, it turned out this entire pool-party/bbq was actually supposed to be a team meeting for this other-company’s nsuccessful distributor’s team and their prospects. When I said that I thought it was a meeting for our company, he got mad, which I don’t blame him for. (I’d have been equally, if not even more upset if the roles had been reversed.) I spent 20 minutes with him, calming him down and assuring him that I and the other leaders there had no idea that this was his meeting for his team, and that we were not trying to be subversively stealing his downline. I apologized on behalf of all our representatives and then quickly let the rest of our people know what was truly going on.
Turns out the fellow hosting this party was a downline member of this now-angry distributor’s, and he had also joined our company. He offered to host this party for his first company thinking it would be cool to then introduce a new opportunity to these same people. He clearly was mistaken!
I was so embarassed at being mislead and that anyone would think that I would be encroaching on their business. That is not how I nor my team and company operate.
Needless to say all the people from our company got up and left, apologizing all the way out the door! It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and instead of being at a pool party/biz meeting, I ended up spending most of it in the car! However I listened to more of Tim Sale’s cd’s on the 90 minute ride back, and turned it into a training event for the people in my car so it turned out to be a good afternoon afterall!
May 10th, 2010 at 8:21 am
Nightmare story:
While making a presentation to a small group, I happened to mention that my juice drink has been helping people sleep. After drinking a sample, a lady promptly fell asleep. Made my point for me.
May 10th, 2010 at 8:24 am
I was sitting in my office chair, headphones on, presenting my opportunity to a young man who seemed quite interested. Often times I sit on the edge of my chair to keep my back straight so I will have better air flow while talking. Well, this day, I attempted to reposition myself on the chair when all of the sudden, while talking, I flipped out of the chair (it had wheels). The cat, my plants, the desk, etc…went flying. Needless to say, the gentleman on the other side stayed on the line…and kept asking, “are you all right, are you all right! I put my headset back on and continued with call…sprained wrist and all. How embarrassing!
May 10th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Well, my “Presenting Nightmare”… there have been a few but this one stands out.
I had watched Power Point presentations and had the program on my computer and was determined to use it. I was one of three speakers called to do a presentation to 50 employees and it was a great opportunity. I knew I had to impress and so what better way than to use Power Point?
I spent a week preparing and was a little surprised how long it was taking me to learn the program but eventually I had a presentation put together: the content wasn’t great but the presentation would look fantastic!
And so proudly, with my ace up my sleeve, I walked into the room. I showed the audience point by point the benefits of my product… but it just didn’t seem to come together at all, not like my previous presentations that were just relaxed, where I was walking across the stage with mic in hand, talking from the heart. In fact, when I sat down I didn’t feel connected with my audience.
The next presenter got up. He also had Power Point… no surprise there. When he turned on the presentation, my eyes just got wider and wider. He had a video of the world turning and an arrow slowly headed to the destination his plane was flying to. Then, to a captivated audience, he had penguins jumping out of the water and landing on the ice; my jaw dropped. But it didn’t stop there, he gave an incredible presentation which left the audience on its feet… something that used to happen to me before my Power Point adventure.
I went home feeling a little dejected but it taught me some very important lessons… it is about being smart with your preparation – making the best use of your limited time, it is thinking what your audience came for and what THEY need to hear and eventually it is about your story and how YOU connect with YOUR audience.
May 10th, 2010 at 8:34 am
One evening after a opportunity presentation, my invited guest spoke up and mentioned to everyone that he would never get involved in something like this. This is a pyramid scheme that doesn’t tell you what’s in the products. And because of omitting any ingredients during the presentation, he told everyone in the room he was being taken for. I was embarrassed because of his loud voice being overheard by everyone.
May 10th, 2010 at 8:37 am
OK – my Presentation Nightmare happened 4 years ago. I was new with my company and had moved to a new area. Two of the ladies that I had met at a Regional training event over heard me saying where I was moving to – it happened to be near them. They ran over and asked if they got a conference room if I would be willing to do the meeting. Well I agreed (but hadn’t done a presentation yet). So I watched a video over and over of this person that had I seen and liked her presentation. I mean I watched this video like 25-30 times to get it nailed down. The time came and I got up to introduce myself – I said “Hello my name is Julie Miller (the lady whose video I watched to learn the presentation)MY name is Alison Feliciano – OOPS! Big embarrassment.
May 10th, 2010 at 9:12 am
My downline was on speaker phone from Vegas and his sister and brother-in-law were in my kitchen. I was presenting to the argumentative brother-in-law while my friend listened in on the phone. I was fairly new and wanted to do what I could for my downline friend. After two hours of distractions, tangents, doubts, arguments and illogical conclusions from the relative I had enough. He went to the bathroom and i told his wife, who is a sweetheart, that we were done and they needed to go. What a toxic bomb!
May 10th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Not much of a big nighmare but this might be familiar to some:
Evening in home business presentation to about 12 people. Middle aged lady in the centre of the room kept contadicting me or making unhelpful comments. Lots of “in my opinion” etc…
I couldn’t look elsewhere or ignore the comments and in the end the audience seemed more interested in my answering her, than the presentation.
What is it with these people, are they just lacking in tact or enjoy being deliberative argumentive?
Either way the evening collapsed and only liven up when she left.
Not a big deal in the scheme of things but left me exhausted!
May 10th, 2010 at 9:30 am
One evening I was doing a presentation to a middle age lady. I was finding it difficult to get her to look at me. She kept looking down or away. I would ask her questions and she would smile and her face would turn red. After about twenty minutes, I know that she was not getting anything out of the presentation. Final I ask her point blank if she was having a problem with my way of presenting the material. Her reply was I don’t know I cannot concentrate because your fly in your trousers is open and I keep hoping nothing falls out. Needless to say, I got up left the room zipped the fly and called it a night. By the way, she would not answer any of my calls.
May 10th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Hi Tim
as any rookie in the network marketing industry, I do not know how to give a good presentation, so I invited my friends to a presentation in a room of a hotel, where they occur regularly, I gave them the right direction, but not I gave them, references to the salon, as it only gave presentation of the company at that place, only that day, there was another network marketing company that started sessions in the same hotel, same hours, only different salon, when my friends arrive at that same time I was in the bathroom, and they only tell the reception that have been invited to a presentation of a network marketing company, and they the other company’s pass to his salon, and I did not see coming as I went to my house. I call them the next day and they told me that if they had attended, only that they didnt seen me, and they already filled out the application for registration, I was surprised when they said they had entered the presentation of another company, I learned that I should never assume things and I have to give all the details on the invitation and if I had given the presentation that I would not have happened.
May 10th, 2010 at 10:00 am
I guess my worst nightmare presentation took place long before I got into Network Marketing.
I had made an appointment for a presentation of software called AutoCAD with two engineers at a company that made submarines down in the south of Sweden back in 1984 or 1985.
I brought my IBM XT with it’s small 12″ Monitor and went to the plant to see these 2 guys.
I got a bit confused when they said that I should do the presentation in there big auditorium but thought OK they didn’t have any other free room for this event.
I was occupied setting up the PC and to make sure everything was running OK. Turned around and Ooops, over 100 Engineers was sitting there waiting for the Grand Presentation…
I totally froze for some 5 minutes, couldn’t say a word. Then I started to think, what am I doing here and how am I gonna get out of the situation.
To demonstrate the software on a 12″ monitor for more than 100 people was out of the question so I had to grab a big peace of paper and try to make a clear presentation on what they could win by using PC Based Computer Aided Design rather than using the old Mainframe systems.
The first 5 – 10 minutes was a bit shaky but then I realized, well it was not my fault and I just had to make the best out of the situation. The rest of the presentation went pretty OK even if I couldn’t use my prepared presentation which I had done more then 100 times before for small groups.
Even if it at that time was a real horror situation at the end they did buy 5 system from us.
May 10th, 2010 at 10:06 am
~I returned to the back of the room after finishing the first half of a presentation to sit with my upline. This was one of my first presentations on stage with a group of about 300 guests. Content, I sat and waited for feedback only to learn that I had been doing a two-step (like in an old hip hop video), had been holding the mic against my chin, and had not finished my portion of the presentation. I had only completed some of it, forgot the rest, and left the remaining statistics for the guest speaker! My upline had been holding up a large paper with the number “5″ on it from the back of the room. In my mind I thought I had 5 minutes to complete my portion of the presentation, when actually the “5″ was what was next in sequence if I had remembered that I had not finished. oops
May 10th, 2010 at 10:12 am
My first language is french so i will do my best in english.
Nigntmare story:
One evening after a opportunity presentation, when my invited guest discover the compagnie, she was almost running out of my house telling me she had an article that said there was a problem with the products. I was very supprise and i asked her if she could show me this article. I never heard from this person. I find this really funny.
May 10th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Tim:
I’m probably not the only one to have invited 20 people, and no one showed.
I’m also probably not the only who held a BOM (business opportunity meeting) where the “key prospect” walked out as soon as they learned “you can make money doing this!”.
My “Presenting Nightmare”, the craziest, most embarrassing, silliest, amazing, oh-my-gosh-I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened moment during presenting went something like this.
I had invited a lead who later revealed he was a “Motivational Speaker!” Great! (I could see the dollar signs $$$ cha-ching $$$…) I’ll invite the person to “motivate” our group! After our group was in “I’m motivated” mode – we’ll give them the ol’ one-two knock’em out BEST PRESENTATION ever!
The night came to present, we had a gi-normous crowd! My introduction for the guest speaker landed great applause! As the speaker approached the podium, you could feel the excitement… Then it happened! He began to speak… oh-my-gosh-I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened!!! My “Presenting Nightmare” now was in living color, breathing in my very presence, etched in the colorful ageless portal of time!
The “Motivational Speaker” was speaking in mono-tones! Mono tones mind you. Not just that, but babbling on and on about who knows what! He had no content that I could recollect. I was totally deflated, embarrassed, you name it! I sunk in my chair hoping no-one would feel my embarrassment.
Wow, what a lesson! I will for-ever be grateful for that timeless portal event. If I ever invite someone to speak, I’d best see them in action first!
Thanks Tim for the encouragement! Your a great teacher.
L e s
May 10th, 2010 at 11:09 am
This nightmare was for worse my husband! I was called up on stage to receive an award and at that moment my husband arrived in the room, having come from home to join me. I made a point of calling him up on stage with me to receive the award, saying how I owed much of my sucess to his support. When he very reluctantly joined me I couldn’t understand why he was standing on one leg like a stork with one foot tucked behind his other leg! What an impression!
Once back in our seats I discovered that the reason for his tardiness was a blackout at our house and while dressing in the dark he had put on one black shoe and one brown! He spent the rest of the evening hiding behind chairs and plant pots trying to disguise his mistake! It was like something out of a Pink Panther movie!
May 10th, 2010 at 11:10 am
I was new at the MLM business and having success with home presentation.
This was my third at home. At the first two I had one person sign up at each event. I was feeling confident. I had invited two couples and a single woman. Everyone showed-up.
The presentation went smoothly when I asked what do you like they all loved something about the product. Then I said how about the earning potential how about making money could you use some extra money they all said yes. I am so excited I may have a home run. Get ready for this they didn’t want to make any extra money they were all on social security disability.
Well I said I believe you can earn an extra $6000. per year on SSDI they didn’t want to risk loosing there benefits. Go figure.
May 10th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I used to work a crazy shift while employed for a casino, so sometimes I did some odd timed meetings. I agreed to meet one lady at 11:30 pm at Dennys to share the opportunity with her. Things seemed to be going ok, but periodically her cell would ring, she would look at the number say she didnt recognize it and not answer it. Finally we got up to leave and when we walked outside her car had been badly vandalized (4 cut tires as well as scatches on the sides). About that time several police cars came screaming into the parking lot and running inside the Denny’s (they had received a call that it was being robbed). After discovering that it was a fake call, they noticed the lady I had shown the opportunity to and immediately said, “_____, what are you doing in town, I told you my last 4 homicides that I have investigated were domestic violence, and if you didnt get out of town you were going to be the next one.” The whole time I am standing there in shock that they knew her and trying to put the pieces together. It turns out her ex was out on $400,000 bond awaiting trial for things done to her. I offered to give her a ride home when the police said that they were taking her somewhere else to try to protect her. The officer asked me if I had a cell phone with me, and then told me if anyone followed me to call 911 and not to stop until the police caught up with me. He then looked at me and said, “be careful that guy is CRAZY.” I got on the freeway and got going about 110 MPH, saw no one behind me, but then got off at an exit and sat in an empty bank parking lot for a few minutes to make sure no one was chasing me, and then went home…it was about 2am by now.
Two days later the event made the newspaper when they had recaptured the man after a 30 mile high speed chase which just happened to end at the casino I worked for, with a swat team on the roof of the casino surrounding the parking lot and little utility building he had hid in. There was a picture of the man in the newspaper, he was strapped to a gurney while being carted away by a few policemen, and it looked like he was screaming at them. The article mentioned that he had vandalized her automobile while at Denny’s on Monday, and that the judge had rescinded his bail and reissued a warrant for hie arrest.
Then a few months later I get a subpoena and had to go testify about the whole thing.
I never saw the woman again in my life, and no, I did not sponsor her.
What a disaster!
May 10th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
It was a 10yrs back story. I went to give my mlm business presentation to one of my downlines prsopect. As i started, i made a statement” you cannot earn this much money any other business except mlm”, thats it. The gentlemen came upto me and slapped me on my face. I was like shattered and wondering why did he slapped me? He said infact he used foul langauge and said i am already earning that much money in my business and you say i cannot make it without mlm? etc
The very next moment as i came out of the house, i decided to not do mlm business anymore. I gave up. Since then i never dared to do mlm till now.
I recently started mlm business AGAIN in march/2010. But i am still scared of it. I always pray god that never make me meet such prospects again.
May 10th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
The nightmare was not for me but for a older couple on my fifth or sixth level in one of my lines when I was doing Amway in the late 80′s. Man and wife were very exited about the business. I did already one succesful presentation in their living room and promised to come again about a week later.
Tuesdaynight at about 08.30, I get a call from that couple, asking me
why I was late, they had two couples in their living room waiting since 08.00 for a presentation. I replied that my calender said I had an appointment with them on thursday, two days later.
We never figured out who made the mistake, but that was irrelevant, more important was a solution for this problem, as I lived more than ninety minutes driving time from their home.
Two possibilities, I could jump into my car and arrive at about 10 o’clock or we had to ask those people to come again on thursday. As neither of the two solutions pleased the hosts, I suddenly remembered that their sponsor, who was already more than six months in the business, recently bought a whiteboard with the intention of doing presentations for him and his group. As he lived only five minutes walking distance from them, I called him and convinced him this was the perfect timing for his “maiden” presentation.
The next day I get a rather disturbed call from the male host.
What’s happened?
The sponsor did the meeting, quite adequatly I suppose, as he already was more than six months in the business and had seen the presentation on more than several dozens of occasions.
But when he came to the point were we gave an example in figures of what you can earn in the business he said: “well, that’s what you can earn in this business, at least, that’s what they tell us, because I’m already more than half a year in the business and I still have to make my first penny”.
None of the two couples joined, the hosting couple was furious and eventually dropped out themselves a few weeks later.
May 10th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
My MLM Presenting horror story:
Prior to my MLM experience, I had always been deathly afraid of public speaking. I would be nervous simply reciting aloud a passage from a book during an English class, let alone speak in front of a crowd. I am also known as someone that is prone to sweating.
My first experience in my MLM company presenting had a combination of all of the above. I presented in a house meeting with a crowd of around 15 with my mentor sitting in the back. The room was stuffy with the summer heat, and the presentation stage was positioned right below a large headlight. Conveniently, when presenting, the radiating light was only a few inches away from my head.
Although I knew the slides well, my nervousness kicked in, and I struggled to stumble through the presentation and deliver the opportunity. One part of the presentation involves asking a member of the audience to look at the credentials of our company product in a credible book. By the time I reached this part, sweat was already running down my face, and my shirt was stuck with sweat onto my back. As I approached the guest with the book and leaned in to show him the credentials, I watched as my sweat ran off my nose and almost hit his shoes.
Luckily, no one was caught in my wave of nervousness, and I eventually finished the presentation. Practice does calm nerves, and I have since then improved, especially with the help of Professional Presenter.
P.S. Great meeting you at Regional Convention Mr. Sales!
May 10th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
a network marketing newbee, my first real full on presentation, nice conference room, small group of old colleagues of mine, i could deal with a stutter here and there and knew i could offset the blunders with my charming personality and they would be a kind audience, uh, BIG NO, not only was i in total shock and unable to explain exactly the benefits of the product, i had to have my one downline that was present finish it off for me. my downline had signed up when my upline had done the presentation. how’s that? stumping in front of your prospects and your downline. i am now reviewing professional inviter, read brilliant compensation and looking forward to professional presenter. PREPARE PREPARE PREPARE no matter who, what, where, why and how you are presenting it to, this world is far too small. thank you tim sales, our whole group is studying your work, my upline has been in network marketing for 12 years and he reminds us to listen to your dvds and how fortunate we are to have your audios, he’s actually been telling people about your work if you noticed alot of recent hawaii orders, he also gave your dvd to our founder, Verdis Norton (fortune 50) at a recent dinner. imagine that!!!
May 10th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Until today, I can’t forget this ‘nightmarish’ incident where I was trying to promote the products of my MLM company in a tent in a bushland, at a new age camping site in New South Wales, Australia, during the Christmas vacation last near. I was enthusiastically sharing the organic food supplements esp. the healthy coffee and tea to about 8 or 9 people who came to my session. They were indeed very interested in the products and some very pulling out their money to buy the products, when all of a sudden, a guy with long hair .. appeared and started interrupting the session, telling others in the group how they can actually buy the raw mushroom in the herb shops (which was NOT true!)and derive the same benefits as drinking the coffee or tea, at a much cheaper price.. That was the END of my closing of sales… as people put away their money and walked away from me… I was truly and utterly shocked by how ONE SINGLE hostile member in a group of total strangers who were potential consumers, got me ZERO sales for the day! The lesson I learnt, keep the numbers really small in such introductory meetings as that I can handle the objections or negative responses in a timely and appropriate manner…
May 10th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Hi
I am from INDIA. I AM DOING NETWORK MARKETING FOR LAST FOUR YEAR. I AM GETTING VERY FRUIT FULL RESULT. I AM HAVING TEAM OF MORE THEN SIXTY THOUSAND PEOPLE IN INDIA .DIRECT SELLING GAVE ME EVERY THING IN MY LIFE. MR TIM I RESPECT YOUR FEELING ABOUT NETWORK MARKETING. AND YOUR HARD WORK WHICH HELP ONE TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL IN NETWORK MARKETING IN WORLD.I AM NOT HAVING WORD WHICH CAN GIVE U REWARD FOR YOUR HARD WORK WHICH YOU HAVE DONE IN PAST YEARS FOR GROWTH OF NETWORK MARKETING .WITH GIVING YOUR EDUCATION MATERIAL TO OTHERS.HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON..
May 10th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
There is this pastor of a local church that I went to give my opportunity.I also intended to ask him for a chance to do a presentation to church members one sunday afternoon after the normal church activities.When I got there,even before I could enter the office I was already sweating and at first hesitated.I later gathered some energy and got in.By then,I was only 2weeks old in the MLM industry.I had not very well mastered the presentation which was my main worry.I started my presentation,but even before I could finish,the pastor stopped me when I started talking of huge amounts of income.He said “Devil,you cannot just come and bring devil worshiping in the house of God”.Just this statement almost made me to go unconscious.Its something I didn’t expect.Remember I was very new to MLM and so I was shocked and thought that the pastor was right and that I had already been introduced to devil worshiping unknowingly by a guy who claimed to be a friend.I hated myself at the moment.The church is next to a police station and so he called the police.He now looked like a mad man and told them of how this young idiot want to bring devils to the church,I was pushed to the station.Luckily,when I got to the station,and told to explain why I dared do this, the police boss of the station knew MLM,as I came to learn later and so he came to understand what I was talking about.Furthermore he was in the business and with the company I was in.The problem was that he was not in the station at the moment and so I had to be thrown to the cells for 4hrs until the time he came back.He took his time explained to the pastor that it is something that is real.I ran out of MLM for a whole year just because of this bad day since I got very much scared.Know I just regret why I ran away
May 11th, 2010 at 7:14 am
Much the same as Jim Moore,I like to think that I am one of the more professional presenters in our community ,for an International MLM company,always being adequately prepared ,meeting prospects before the meeting to have some sort of idea of the “mix” of attendees,etc.Mingling again after the presentation to help newbies if neccessary, and generally trying to to things as I have learnt from your articles ,as well as from other well known professional speakers.
On a particular evening I was doing a presentation of approx 45 min.to about 60 guests, and had gone thru all the dress checks and pre meeting checks ,done the mingling thing and subsequently done the presentation.
Apparently very successfully,as the evening was filled with laughter and a fairly high percentage of signups.I will never know what part of the whole evening the success could be attributed to ,as when I got home I found to my horror that I too, had spent the entire evening in a fairly well tailored suit with my fly open ,a situation that was only pointed out to me by my wife as I arrived home from the venue.
No one has ever mentioned it ,so I have no idea wether it was noticed or not –I just cringe when I think of it and needless to say it will NOT happen again!
May 11th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
I’ve had presentations go bad with distractions and such but the I think the most embarrassed I was was when I was giving a presentation for a business partner about 4 hours from home. We met the evening before at dinner and spent a very relaxing evening getting acquainted. The presentation was set for the next day. Everything was going very smooth until about half way through the presentation I began experiencing some tummy discomfort, you know the kind that can make your eyes cross and your face turn green. Oh great! I remembered then I had forgotten to take my vitamin packet the night before with the probiotic in it. This is a bad thing for IBS sufferers and should be avoided by all means. Just about the time the second wave of discomfort rocked my world, I asked my business partner to stand in for a moment while I was excused myself. As she was trying to muster an explanation why she couldn’t do this, I sternly looked her in the eye and asked her to just read the pages. She knew then I was serious about something. About 10 minutes later I emerged a new person and was able to continue. Everyone was of course was concerned so embarrassingly, I disclosed a history of always knowing where the nearest restroom is parked, but how my life has changed since having the probiotics in it. Although it was most embarrassing to me it turned out to be okay – they like the vitamins too!
May 12th, 2010 at 1:05 am
When the wife is gone the kids are out to play.
My wife was out of town doing an enlyten meeting and we normally did our local meetings together in my office conference room. It was agreat place because it help about 60, had a built=in white board and projector. Very professional. Even better it had a back room with a TV for my 3 young kids to watch while we did our meetings. The week my wife was gone was challenging to say the least with 3 small kids by myself and a meeting to do all by myself.
I started out behind just trying the to get the kids ready and once we got to the office, they seemed a bit restless. We call that fighting amongst themselves in our house. I got the TV on and some toys for them to play with and by the time I hit the can before the meeting, 35 people had shown up. I came dressed professionally, jacket and all and the meeting started on-time. So far so good until my 6 year old son came hollering into the meeting right after I had told everyone to shut their cell phone down. Can you feel my pain yet? Of course, I froze. When I cam to my senses, I ran out of the room and sure enough they were playing soccer in the back room. Where in the world did they get the soccer ball, I do not know. Regardless my son had belted my 3 year old in the nose and blood was everywhere. To the bathroom we go with her older sister to get it stopped but we took a little detour back to the meeting. “Sorry folks for the delay. Try the product it is great”. Luckily I had some on the table.
After the chaos, kids nose intact, I headed back to the meeting. Only 2 people had left and 20 minutes behind as I gave the remainder of my presentation with blood all over my best light blue shirt.
May 12th, 2010 at 8:14 am
In a past life I was a consultant for a scrapbook company. I drove four towns over to give a presentation/workshop in someone’s home. When I got there, the hostess had about 8 guests, which was very good…and at least 20 young children that two husbands were supposed to be watching in the next room. Throughout the presentation/workshop, the kids were racing in and out (husbands were watching the game), grabbing scrapbook supplies, putting stickers everywhere, and the women attending the presentation didn’t even seem to notice the nightmare they were creating. The 1-1/2 hour presentation/workshop turned in to 4 hours, my supplies were destroyed, and my nerves on edge. On a positive note, the women were all excited about scrapbooking and had long lists of products they wanted to order–so I was thinking at least the chaos was worth it. I went to the kitchen table to meet with each person individually and write up orders…when a woman sat down next to me and told each person that her sister had signed up to become a consultant for this particular company a couple days before and it would really help her out if they waited and placed their orders with her. I was speechless. I couldn’t believe the nerve she had. And what surprised me even more was that the women all folded up their orders and went to the snack table. One elderly woman did take pity on me and placed an order…for a $3 pencil. I drove home in tears.
May 12th, 2010 at 8:31 am
Early in our career we would go out late at night and put “drop card” on car door-window. One night, my parents kept the kids and we decided to drive 2 hours to Melbourne, Florida to spend the entire night doing this. Well, I’ll never forget… We were at a hospital going about our normal routine…it was about 2am in the morning… and out of nowhere speeds in a white 4 Door car with about 6 guys piled in it. They nearly hit my wife and I with the car… slammed the breaks and jumped out yelling and screaming “Why did you do it? Why? Why?” and charging at us with a bats and clubs… my wife ran to the hospital lobby and I tried to get away… but these boys could run! Two them tackled me and I was litterally fighting for my life… and just as I remember wrestling on the pavement and breaking free…right as one was getting ready to slug the bat over my head… sirens went off…two police officers drew guns… on all of us… “Hands on your head” they yelled. Long story short… it took over an hour to convince the officers that “We were NOT the same people that I guess threw a whiskey bottle at their car a few hours earlier” It was crazy! I mean, I get jumped.. and then nearly go to jail for something insane acuzation!! Needless to say, I vowed the whole way home NEVER to put to put out flyer/cards at night… Espeacially in MELBOURNE!! LOL – Wade Schings – FL
May 12th, 2010 at 8:41 am
I thought I had qualified the prospect. They seemed really interested so I decided to take the next step in presenting my business opportunity which was to introduce the prospect via a telephone call to my upline, an Ambassador no less, and they hung up in the middle of the Ambassador’s presentation. Then, after all that, they proceeded to send me emails from a less than appropriate email address…
May 12th, 2010 at 8:54 am
I invited my warm market to my home for a skin care presentation. All was going well until I showed a company video. My guests stopped listening and started tearing apart how one of the woman on the video looked (i.e. “she doesn’t look like she’s worked a day in her life”, “she’s naturally thin and beautiful so any skin care product would look great on her”, etc.). I handled their objections the best I could by providing whatever background info I knew about her since she is also a very successful leader in our organization. However, nothing satisfied them and their final objection was that she was “not believable because she didn’t look like a normal woman!” OMG!
May 12th, 2010 at 9:04 am
My story is rather uneventful compared to some of these! I think the late night presenter at Denny’s takes it. lol
May 12th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Good morning Tim. I have to admit this is new for me. I have been in the mlm industry for about 2.5 years. Upon purchasing my first leads, I made my first call. What a disaster!!! I had the gentleman on the phone and froze within the first 20 seconds of my presentation. The gentleman starting laughing and said “You are new to this, aren’t you?” I of course admitted to him that he was my very first call ever and that I was nervous. His response was to just start over and GO FOR IT!! I had to laugh. So I started over (a bit more relaxed than the first time) and completed my presentation. He told me I did a great job (after the fact..lol) and that he was going to look at the free information I sent to him. Nothing ever came out of it but I will always remember him and his response and encouragement. I use this story to help my downline first have a laugh and then see how simple it can be. I want to thank you for all your tips and help which have in return helped me to improve and become a much better speaker at least over the phone :)
May 12th, 2010 at 9:51 am
At that time, we didn’t have car. In fact, I didn’t at this time, we had no money. We would walk with a folder, it’s massive, cause it was a presentation board. Me, and my wife.
We always work together and she’s awesome. My soul mate.
Sometimes the walk was 20 minutes and 20 minutes back home. Sometimes, it was one hour and one hour back. And sometimes, which happened often, it was 2 and a half hour walk and 2 and half hour back.
One day, I made an appointment with a young man, who was training to be a pilot. He qualified on phone, was lively, and said, and he’d like to see the plan.
The moment we stepped out of the house, it poured and man did it pour. Now, I could have called to cancel but we like to keep promises.
So for four hours, we walked, it was pouring down. We’d move from one bus shelter to another. Sometimes the bus shelters were really far. We’d keep going and it really went crazy. I couldn’t even see properly because my eyes was stinking from the water.
And my wife was trying to not get into some of those puddles.
By the time we arrived at the prospect door, my suit and jacket was drenched. My wife hair was a mess and the umbrella was just dead. It broke from the hard breeze.
I knocked on door. They prospect’s mum opened the door and I explained who we are, and why am I here briefly.
She replied, “Ooh. He’s gone to London.”
So we walked back home, four hours. This time down hill.
It still poured and just when we arrived home, it stopped. Yeah, when I arrive it lets up on me.
When I arrived home, I looked at my wife as she tried to dry her hair, and I realised something I took for granted.
Here I have not just a wife, not just a friend but a leader. The one who walk through year for four hours there and back, without a complaint or anger, or upset or moaning.
One of the stories I’ll share to our kids oneday.
May 12th, 2010 at 10:35 am
That was heartwarming Adam – thanks so much for sharing your remarkable story. Walking hours with a whiteboard to make a presentation DEFINITLY shows committment!
May 12th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Good afternoon Tim,
My Story is a bit unusual to say the least. I had been building a decent downline for about a year when I sponsored a few team mates located in the outskirts of Long Island. On Memorial day weekend I Flew up to do a presentation for what I was told would be 50 people. I spent my last dime to do this and was really on the verge of brokeness mentally. When I got to the airport in West Islip I was not met as was the original intention by my team mates. (this should have been the first red flag)
After finally contacting the business partner I was given my hotel arrangements by him. It turned out tyo be the local motel in which what appeared to be the construction worker fun zoo for a night of drunken debauchary to say the least. Paper thin walls and 24hr adult movies blaring through the walls. All the while still believing I was on a mission so I dealt with it.
FInally five hours later my business partners show up and welcome me to NY. After 10 mins of chat they inform me they forgot that it was a holdiay and they had parties to go to and thanks for flying down but the meeting is cancelled. Good by and have a nice weekend. Oddly enough it didnt stop there. The next morning I had a 6:30 flight. Being from FLorida I had no winter clothes just a dress suit and dress shoes. The leather sole bottom Johnston Murphy type shoes.
When it was time to go to the airport there was no taxis available for a minimum of an hour and my partners decided not to pick me up as promised and I had no cash to merit the taxi anyway. SO I did what any Good Floridian would do . I walked in the snow for 3 miles to the airport. I only slipped on the ice twice and I pray no one took a picture of me when it happened. This was by far the worst experience I ever had working in the network marketing industy. I will say its taught me to be ever so cautious before traveling all over.
May 12th, 2010 at 10:56 am
I had a presentation planed and I told everyone that I had one of the top leaders comming to personaly help me present. I called everyone, I was a new distributor and the day of the presentation my upline and top income earner called me and said he was not comming… panic… I had never done a presentation I promoted he top leader comming just for me… I started dialing everyone I knew and no one was able to help. Then about one hour before the presentation a brand new distributor offed to come and help. I had rented a room in the local hotel and had about 25 people show up. I felt humiliated as I had told everyone how with this company you could get even the top leaders out to help you, then I ended up with someone who was new like me!
May 12th, 2010 at 11:05 am
About 12 years ago I met my prospect in a restaurant after telephone qualifying him, he was very knowledgeable about nwm and I thought I had a super prospect. Throughout the presentation he was so interested, almost mesmerized. I was excited at this attention to my presentation. I had reached the compensation plan section when he got up, reached across the table and proceeded to move downwards towards me – and planted a big kiss on my mouth – in the middle of the restaurant! Needless to say he was far more interested in me than my business opportunity. Neither was I dressed in a provocative manner, nor do I come across that way, and I was totally mortified.
May 12th, 2010 at 11:07 am
I have been a distributor for 10 years and very embarressed to say, I have never done a presenation. I have always depended upon group presentations in my local area. Now that is something that you should not be proud of. I also dont have any active distributors in my downline. The only ones I have are ones that I personally bought in. I love the company I work with and love the products. I now vow to make my first presentations and actively build my downline.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I have a few stories that will fit this description, but I think the one that takes tha cake is my try to start up a downline in the Netherlands.
I had met a guy from Holland over the internet, and had spoken quite a bit about the MLM industry with him. We were both not really making it, but had jumped both feet in with this new company (Risk Free Profit) and was trying to build a downline.
Since I had more info on the company than my friend and partner, I was going to visit him, in the Netherlands to give a presentation.
Instead of flying there, I decided to drive down there. What I didn’t realize at the time of departure was that it would be a litle more than 12 hours of driving.
I starterd out in fine shape, and everything went well. Suddenly, a good way down in Germany, the traffic stodd still. The highway was blocked, due to a possible bomb in the road, combined with major road works.
My car didn’t have a very good cooling system, so it overheated a few times. I had to get off, but so had a lot of other people decided.
Also, I didn’t have a GPS navigation system, so I drove the wrong way a couple of times and went into towns that I shouldn’t.
Long story short, it took me a LOT more time to get to the presentation than I’d anticipated, and at the time of arrival, some of the guests had left, and after 12 hours of driving, I was giving a presentation to two people, who never bothered to sign up.
The next day I could take my car and return back home to Denmark.
I thought that everything was fine, but crossing the “storebaelt bridge” with the speed of 160 km/h a seagull hit my windshield, which in turn slammed into, and broke into millions of pieces, the window in the passenger side of my car.
I got to the toll both on the bridge and they provided me with a plastic bag and some duck-tape to cover the window. It didn’t help much, just until the next gas station 7 km. further along the way.
I got home eventually, but my next trip to the netherlands will be by plane ;-)
May 12th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
I have just started out with my business and we had our first meeting scheduled at our house and we had our mentor doing it for us. Because we are being trained on how to do this first and about 1hr before the meeting had to start my mentor called me and said that he had been stuck in traffic. There was an accident on the motorway and they said it would take 2hrs to clear. Well I was so shocked and I panicked because I had not idea on how to do this. I was not even prepared for this. He then said he would have to give me a quick lesson on what to do and how to do it. Well to say the lease I did it, it was very stressful and at that time I wished had your Professional Presenter then. The outcome of the meeting was not has good as I wished it would be so getting you training material would mean the world to me. So that I am not in a situation like this again. Thanks for all you material Tim God Bless from the bottom of my heart. You have changed my world.
May 12th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
One of my crazier presentations…I had set up a presentation with a customer who was going to invite a bunch of other people. I kept checking in with her in the time leading up to the date, all seemed to be going well. On the day of the presentation, as I’m heading home to get my supplies and head over to her place, she calls. Yes, it’s still on but just one little problem…no electricity. She thought it might come on soon but no guarantees, what did I want to do? I tried to think fast, how could we do it? Part of the presentation was on my computer. I figured we could run that on battery and asked if she had candles and flashlights. She said she had candles so I said let’s go ahead and do it.
When I stopped at home I grabbed my husbands huge flashlight that can stand on end. I get there and there are five children running around, little chaotic. (I did ask if they could go somewhere else for a bit). I get down to the area that we are doing things and it was pretty dim and she had like 4 little candles going…not very much light (and it was only getting darker as the night went on). To preserve the battery on the flashlight, I waited as long as possible to use that. Then to top it off, instead of having the crowd there that she promised, there was one other person plus her mother. Which maybe was a blessing. So…I hand out the brochures, which were rather difficult to read, stood the flashlight on it’s end so the light reflected off the ceiling and did my presentation. I could barely see to pack up afterwards and get up the steps (the battery on the flashlight was done. They enjoyed the presentation but that was just crazy :-)
May 12th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I am a stay-at-home mom with small children and a MLM business. When I was new in my business I drove 60 minutes to visit a mutual friend to share about our products and business opportunity. It was a playdate/lunch date/ business op. I was getting to know her and connect as a mom. After an hour or so of watching our 2 year olds play together in basement, I was gearing up to make a transition to talk about my MLM, and to share how it could be a huge blessing to their finances. I had just finished nursing my 3 month old baby and my friend asked if she could hold her. The baby immediately projectile vomited right down my friends V-neck wool sweater. It was not a little spit up, but a lot of vomit. She kept saying “that’s ok..I am a mom, It happens… ” true, but now it was nearly impossible to transition to the business. I made a lame attempt, but I still couldn’t get the sight of my baby vomitting all over my prospect. Needless to say, my friend did not sign up, and did not purchase any products.
May 12th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
All the stories were inspirational but I think the winner should be Adam, I was so touch upon reading his story. How fortunate to have a spouse that not only understand your passion but at the same time being passionate about it too. I believe that all this ‘misfortune’ presentation event serves as a lesson for all of us to continue improve our presentation skill, all the obstacle in our business is suppose to make us stronger than weaken us! bravo.
Thanks Tim for your excellent works for the industry!!
May 12th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
I had a great opportunity to do a presentation at a private-pay retirement living center. My husband was not able to help me set up that morning, so I was late getting set up, late getting started, there were technical difficulties getting the video to play, and all the folks were old and kept dozing off. I had figured the best person to do a testimonial for this group was a pastor from Alabama. I had a set of speakers to attach to my cell phone to amplify him, and the speakers wouldn’t work. I was trying to turn up the volume on the speaker phone to compensate, but to no avail, and the pastor kept going on and on and I couldn’t interrupt him without being rude. When I was packing up, I discovered that my cell phone was on vibrate, which kept the speakers from working! What a bad morning! It did end on a bright spot. One really nice couple bought a box of product and has called back again to order another box. There was a silver lining. (:
May 12th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
My “Nightmare Presentation” was bad enough when it happened; and was worse when I found out what happened after it was over.
Years ago, when I first got into mlm, I had a job delivering mail to companies and taking their mail to the post office. I became acquainted with the receptionist of one of the companies on my route and told her about my new mlm business. Eventually, after a few conversations, we agreed that I would make a presentation to some guests at her home.
At the appointed time, I arrived to make my presentation to about a dozen people, including two or three couples, and answered a few questions that I thought were just “polite enquiries,” more than real “tell me more” questions.
When I finished my presentation, I folded up my board & easel and packed everything to take to my car. I had planned to return, and I told the hostess that I would be right back. However, while I was putting my stuff in the trunk of my car, I started seriously thinking, “They were just pulling my leg. Nobody’s really interested. They’re just here to party” (It was a Friday evening.)So while thinking these dumb thoughts, I convinced myself that I might as well leave. I actually got into my car and DROVE HOME.
The following Monday, when I saw the hostess of the presentation, she asked me what happened. People had been waiting for me. They had more questions.
That was when I realized that I had failed myself, and maybe them too, by leaving when I did. I might have been able to do some business if I had not run out.
It goes without saying that I was never able to redo that presentation and make it right.
Travis Watson
May 12th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Hi Tim,
I have two ‘presentation nightmares’ to tell you about.
First: I was only about 1 or 2 months in the business. I was 22 years old and I was working with my dad in the business. In my town there was an opportunity meeting going on every Monday by a leader from out of town. So every Monday we would take our guests there.
So i had singed a new distributor and told her to bring 5 guests on Monday’s meeting, which she did and my dad and I had also 2 guests. 30 minutes before the meeting was set to start the leader from out of town wasn’t there so I called him and he told me that he wouldn’t come because it was a bank holiday.
So I decided to to the meeting with my dad to these 7 guests and one downline. We sat them at a round table, I got up and start showing them the business from a pitchbook (we didn’t have any computers then). This was my first presentation. The funny part was when I turned the speech to my dad who would do the 2nd part of the presentation.
My second ‘nightmare’ was when I was conducting an opportunity meeting in an office I had rented with my team. I had a small group of about 8 people and there where about 12 guests in the meeting. We had a great presentation, with testimonials and big, fancy words from me and when I finished the presentation I told the guest, “Ok now you can talk to the person who invited you in this presentation. Thank you and goodnight” and immediately everyone got up at the same time and left the office. It was like they had planned it. It was tragic and funny at the same time. My distributors where looking at me wondering what had just happend. I told my distributors that next time we should lock the door :-D – we all started laughing!
Theodore from Greece
May 13th, 2010 at 3:51 am
My best presenting nightmare was when I was chosen to give a presentation to a member of Skepsis ry (organised group of skeptical people in Finland). I tried to start the presentation, but the guy in front of me started to talk about his own opinions about our business. And he didn’t stop for half an hour! But his last sentence was the best: “But after all, I don’t know anything about your industry.” I was so amazed that i just thanked him for the time and left the guy there sitting by himself. :D
May 13th, 2010 at 5:53 am
My experience is not a horror story on the business presentation side but, rather on the retail side – one that I call When the 3 Ring Circus Comes to Town.
Our network marketing company offers nutritional and technology products. I had a customer that was interested in trying our Air Purifier and our process included bringing the unit over to the customer, making a presentation and a demo right in their home.
When I arrived and entered the home, I was greeted by 8 dogs of various sizes (small, medium and large). The owner attempted, the emphasis being on attempted, to get control over the dogs with absolutely no avail. I set up my Air Purifier and started into the presentation and the 3 ring circus started with all of the doggy hoopla, psycho babble and unbelievable one of a kind flying gymnastics.
All 8 dogs started to run around, bounce off chairs & sofas, spin around, bark, grab my presentation material and basically do whatever they wanted to do. All the time a voice in my head kept telling me – Now Dave maintain your composure, keep on talking, the only way out of here is to get through the presentation and demo.
I did not stop, I kept going for 20 minutes, at one point I opened my carrying case where I would bring out the Air Purifier and as quick as I took out the purifier, boom, one of the small dogs jumped right into the case followed by all the other small dogs using my carrying case as a trampoline.
Somehow, I managed to get through the presentation by making up my mind to get it done, and all that self talk in my head while outlasting the circus no matter was going around me. The good news is that I made the sale and got a referral that also made a purchase.
Boy was I drained & spent on my ride home.
David Scharikin
May 13th, 2010 at 8:41 am
I guess everyone should have a story or two to share even if it may not qualify to win the prize. It’s so much fun to read about the different stories of mlmers around the world.
My worst presentation nightmare occurred 4 months after i had signed up in a network marketing company in Nigeria. I had fixed an appointment to do a 1-on-1 presentation with the man in his house. We started the presentation right on time and had spent about 15 minutes when the man’s wife walks in drunk. Apparently, she wasn’t aware that there was going to be something like that in their home. So she stares at me for about 30 seconds and screams: “What the ?>#@ is going on here?” I pause for a second and calmly reply that i was introducing a wonderful business opportunity and concept to her husband that had a lot of benefits. She looks at me and speaking with a drunks drawl, slowly says: “I need my husband now, i need him now, and you or any other son of a $#@# is not going to spoil my fun.” Before i know what is happening, she yanks the button off her shirt, and before her husband could jump at her to hold her, she pulls off her bra. Goes on her knees and grabs Mr Prospects very firmly on his manhood and screams, are you going to leave or are you going to stand there and look at us doing our thing?
Needless to say, i just packed up my stuff and left the scene.
That’s one experience i’ll never forget all my life
May 13th, 2010 at 8:41 am
I’ve always been taught that ‘fortune is in the follow-up’, so after presenting my business to a prospect who seemed to be well qualified and certainly interested… I was determined not to let him go without a firm decision.
However, after a few days of my follow-up calls going through to voice-mail, I decided to use an alternative contact number that I found for the prospect.
The call was answered by my prospects wife, who was 10 months pregnant at the time, with this guys twins. She who informed me that my prospect had been arrested and charged with the murder of her best friend, and the attempted burning of the body at a local beauty spot.
He was later convicted and is currently serving a life sentence.
Turns out the murder took place on the very day of my original presentation to him – though I have no idea if it was before or after he committed his crime.
This really shook me up for a while! Not that I felt in any personal danger, but just the thought of having been so close to someone who could do such bad things, but give not hint of any of it.
May 13th, 2010 at 11:30 am
I went with a new representative to do a presentation. The husband and wife lived in an upstairs apartment. They talked and I ask questions and they were talking freely. We laughed together and they very clearly were looking for more free time and money. They had 3 beautiful children. The husbands brother took the children in the other room, and I stepped to the computer to start a short presentation. The Husbands father lived down stairs and came upstairs to see what was going on. When the husband told him he was looking into a in home business the father started the negative pyramid talk and they proceeded to defend the business before they had even seen the presentation. On and On and On What a hoot. I just sat and watched in disbelief wondering what should I do. Finally, I let them know I only had a few more minutes before I needed to leave and the father left. It was amazing to watch this couple talk themselves into the business before they had even seen the presentation. Amazing!
May 13th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
On my way to a demo I was hit by a car! I was walking on the pavement, a car comes from a parking space, and I went flying and screaming into the road. I got up, very shaken and in pain. The driver wanted to drive me to the hospital, but I said “NO, I have 8 people waiting for me!” My hip was sore and my knee was very painful and swollen, but no serious injury.
Got to the demo, had a successful product demo with fantastic result, but before we got to the purchase, the hostess started talking about my other product line. The group got totally confused with too much info, I understandably wasn’t in my best mental state, and the evening ended with ONE puny sale of a product worth about 30 usd. And I never got another sale from them either. Worst part is that some of them would have been great prospects.
May 13th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I think the worst scenario to anyone would be talk about something that he/she doesn’t know very well, in front of someone that knows the subject better in such a manner, that he/she doesn’t have arguments to discuss! And that is a Nightmare. And it’s even worse when you think you know and you really know nothing :(
May 13th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
My friend and I were getting an early start on Saturday morning with the goal of talking to five people about our opportunity. Our very first appointment at an apartment complex around nine AM.
As we approached the building we noticed an apartment with just the screen door open and a large black Lab staring barking at us. My friend was in an unusual mood, and just for fun, he started barking at the dog. He must of spoken the correct dog language— or the wrong one— since the dog backed up and made a flying leap at us breaking the screen door in half and coming full speed right at my partner!
We both had notebooks full of distributor aps and product literature and as the dog jumped at my partner head on, my friend managed to stick his presentation folder in the dog’s mouth and wrestle him to the ground. They rolled around and around on the lawn with my partner punching at the dog to get him off. Papers were flying everywhere and all the neighbors were coming out to see the show.
The wrestling match went on for several minutes before the dog’s owner came out and finally pulled the big black Lab off my partner. Several people were picking up my partners papers, which were all over the place, and a number of them started reading the promotional literature. People were asking us questions about our products and opportunity from up on the balcony!
We ended up getting four new distributors from that one apartment complex— all because my partner was attacked by that dog!
I doubt this method of prospecting is very duplicatable, but it worked real well for us that day. And, no, we haven’t tried it since.
May 14th, 2010 at 5:48 am
Nightmare Presentation:
I went to introduce a product to a Bank Manager in his office. Upon just sitting down, I asked “Sir, do u jog every morning” then all of a sudden what I heard next was “get out of my office”. I tried to explain the importance of what I wanted to share with him but to no avail. I thanked him and left in embarassment. But I never lost hope and am now more motivated than ever.
May 14th, 2010 at 8:26 am
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to get up in front of 50 people and do a testimonial. I have been up in front of others before but not with a microphone. I was nervous but thought this will be easy because I don’t have to talk load at least. When I started talking I was holding the microphone so close to my mouth as I was telling the story, the audience really started laughing.It sounded load but I got nervous and just kept talking so close and someone finally had to come up and show me to place the microphone lower.
I really felt like a dumbhead but everyone said my testimonial was great and I am not sure if they were just saying that to make me feel better!
May 14th, 2010 at 8:41 am
I am honoured to have a great Nightmare Presentation story! I was about one year into my network marketing business and I flew down to meet a new associate near Modesto, California (I live in Vancouver,BC). She didn’t have much support around her but was very committed to succeeding. One of the presentations she had arranged was for the prayer breakfast group at her church. So, we bought muffins and cheese, rounded up a TV that I could hook my laptop to, set up coffee and all the tables and then went to the prayer meeting (4:30am on a Saturday morning!). About 25 people of all ages stayed around and ate every crumb and listened politely to my 30 minute presentation. The pastor, who was clearly in charge, expressed serious interest, as did a couple of other people. We were to follow up with phone calls that evening and the next day after the afternoon church service.
I duly made the phone calls later that Saturday and wasn’t successful at reaching anyone because they were all still at the church. It turns out there was an upheaval in the church leadership that day and the congregation split in two over a serious issue. My new distributor found out the next day that she was on the opposite side of that issue to the pastor but we went to the afternoon service anyway.
Imagine my shock when the pastor stood up in the pulpit and denounced me and my company and my temerity at approaching them all and misleading them about health issues (my company manufactures nutritionals). He went on and on and I could feel my new associate just shrinking in horror and embarrassment. I know my face was red but in my mind I was thinking “Just wait ’til I get back home and tell the rest of the team – what a great story!! Anything will seem easy after this!”
(The sad thing is that my new, very-much-wanting-to-change-her-life associate was totally humiliated and crushed by this experience and never regained her self-conofidence)
May 14th, 2010 at 8:53 am
My nightmare presentation was my first one.
I was pretty new to MLM and had just opened up to the idea of doing the business which of course included presenting to prospects.
Since I was going to school (TOEFL for internationallly trained professionals) and our teacher was encouraging each one of us to make a short presentation, I thought I’d jump on the chance.
There were approximately 20 people in the audience- my classmates including my husband. I rememeber being nervous and still recall even what I was wearing…
There was a flip chart I meant to use and started doing that but completely forgot about it once I was in the flow…
I rememeber seing my teacher looking weird as if she was not approving of the topic I’ve chosen, asking me questions, which I’m not even sure
how I answered…
Instead of 30 minutes presenation it turned out that I was taking too long (like 50 minutes or so… I wanted to tell them evth. and how
great the company and the products are :)))
So, our teacher had to interrupt me…which was quite embarassing to me.
After we came back home my husband showed me 4 pages of criticism, in other words the mistakes I’ve made in his opinion…
I was completely destroyed…:)))))) as you can imagine…
BUT as they say, you never know … what’s once perceived bad could eventually turn out to be a good thing.
To summerize, after this presentation I got a new Associate, good amount of product orders and everybody’s attention. Until then noone knew what I was doing…
Still… I will never forget how confused and down I felt after this presentation.
May 14th, 2010 at 9:02 am
One of my team members asked me to do a presentation for some of her elderly friends, and I agreed. When I arrived at the destination, I was a bit surprised to see that these folks were well advanced in age. Most of them were in their 80s. Many of them had been getting terrific results with our product, and several of them were eager to show off their newly acquired skills. For example, one gentleman was now walking without his cane. Another lady demonstrated her ability to raise her arm above her head, a fete that she claimed had been impossible a week before.
Not to be outdone, a skinny little lady sitting in a rocking chair in the corner exclaimed, “Watch this if you want to see something spectacular!” She promptly crossed her legs with a smirk and yelled, “See, what did I tell you! I haven’t crossed my legs in months!”
The movie COCOON came to mind.
When the presentation was over, one little lady called Joan bounced out of her seat and announced that she was ready to enroll and then others began to find their place behind her. I spent awhile trying to help these extremely slow-moving octogenarians get their paper work filled out. Just when we were finished, my team member came back in the room and said, “No, Joan, you don’t need to do that. You are already enrolled!”
Joan said, “Oh, I am? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” said my friend. “You have been using this product for several months.”
“Oh, well, that’s nice,” Joan sighed with relief. “No wonder I feel so good.”
May 14th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Out of contest, because this isn’t a nightmare at all, but a funny story anyway, proving that with Network Marketing you move in all kind of circles.
One of my downline distributors asked me to do a 1 on 1 presentation for him in the home of a “very promising” prospect. Normally I don’t do presentations for someone when he’s not there himself, and I don’t remember why did it on this occasion.
The prospect still lived with his parents in a quite beautiful house. He was a very polite, clean cut, well-dressed young man, who introduced himself as the vice-chairman of an association, well known to me, for shopkeepers and small businesses, soon to become chairman.
He offered me coffee, which I accepted and told me he had heard from Amway, but didn’t know exactly what it was. This meeting happened in 1989 (I don’t do Amway anymore). He proceeded telling me that he wanted to investigate that method of doing business a little bit closer and write an article about it in their next edition of their magazine.
Suddenly I got very careful in what I was going to say, as I already experienced this kind of business people were not very friendly towards MLM. I didn’t want to be the guilty party for a negative article in the press.
“So, you didn’t invite me out of interest to do the business yourself?”, I asked him. “No,no, just information for my article.”
Then I gave him the phone number of Amway Belgium, advising him to ask for the person in charge of relations with the press.
“Ok”, he replied, “but certainly you can give some information as well?”
“Of course”, I told him, ” but I’m not gonna do it cause this is not my job, my job is interviewing new recruits”
“What a strange man you are”, he replied again. I told him he was absolutely right on that, thanked him for the coffee and left.
Now, in 2010, that man is prime minister of the Flemish governement, I wonder if he still remembers me.
May 14th, 2010 at 9:47 am
At a restaurant I made a presentation wearing a black suit. I came out of the restroom (where I often spend time before a presentation)directly to the podium. I made the entire presentation with my WHITE SHIRT TAIL sticking out through my fly. It was not that just my “barn door” was open, my WHITE shirt was sticking straight out, VERY VISIBLE. No one bothered to tell me, including my significant other!….Doing better now.
Sincerely, John Ahrens
May 14th, 2010 at 9:55 am
See nightmare above
May 14th, 2010 at 11:22 am
The strangest experience I ever had in Networking took place after I had driven 200KMS (120Miles ) out of my way to do a presentation ( while in Amyway)for a person at the request of one of my distributors. The person was supose to have several guest for my presentation. I had a business partner with me & I picked up another friend along the way. This friend had fallen the night before and beat up his top lip so he would have to hold it if he laughed. We arrived at the home where the presentation was supose to be and the guy came out to meet me DRUNK. He said come on in and bring in your bottle!! I and my Partner & friend decided to go in anyway just in case there were some sensible guests there. My partner was wearing a pair Sandals and had gotten them wet in the Grass as he was walking around the kitchen his Sandals were squeeking. I was irritated with the host whom I knew slightly & he in turn began to put some unsavory words at me which a Caged bird( not a Partott ) began to repeat!! F–@*@*@@ Albert F—@**@@* Albert. My partner with his squeakey Sandels was pacing the floor and My friend was holding his Top lip while trying not to laugh.
Out of the wash room came another Drunk guest and went to sit on the Chair and missed. While setting on the floor with is baseball Cap on sideways he was asking ” What do I have to do next” to which I replied ” Sober Up”. And I was out of there.
May 14th, 2010 at 11:37 am
My story is not so much a nightmare as it is perplexing. As I was sitting at my desk on the phone, I was hosting a live training presentation for my team. The prospect was in the middle of sharing her excitement and enthusiasm about the opportunity and mentioned the timing was so perfect and wasn’t it funny how things fell into place at dismal times. All of a sudden the 4′ wide clock that hung over my desk came crashing down, hit my desk and flew over my head and onto the floor. The terrible noise was heard over the phone and the prospect inquired if I was ok. After sharing what had just happened we both couldn’t help laughing and wondering if higher powers weren’t some how lurking and responsible for the timing of the presentation. It turned out to be a great opportunity to demonstrate to the team how to handle distractions and get right back on track.
May 14th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Mine was when I unintentionally spat on the face of a prospect during a one on one presenation from excessive talking… After that not only did he switched of his phone he actually changed his number and I don’t know where he is.
BIG UPS FOR ADAM!
May 14th, 2010 at 11:52 am
I was so happy to have scheduled an appointment with a male prospect who responded to my advertisement. He called from a pay phone to say he was nearby and I estimated that it would take him 5-minutes to reach my location. Well I waited an entire hour before I realized that he was not going to show up. I called his home and his sister picked up the phone and told her that her brother was supposed to meet with me and he got lost. So the sister and I started a rapport on the phone and I invited her instead to show our comp plan to. I was excited that she was excited about the opportunity instead of her brother and I started thinking how great it was that I didn’t get the brother into our plan but I would happily share how the sister signed up instead. The next day needless to say the sister didn’t show up for the appointment either. But I didn’t wait an entire hour to wait for her. I waited 10-minutes and left and I began to sing my song of financial freedom bells ringing in my heart. It is my way of disciplining my disappointments.
May 14th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Although I have never personally had what I would term a nightmare presentation, one of my mentors, who is one of the leaders of my company today, told a story of a presentation he had in the early days of his business which is hilarious.
In those early days, the company was not well known and there was no real system yet, so there were few prospects that actually were presented to. One day, my mentor and his partner were elated that a well dressed lady came into their store front office and wanted to know more about the products, etc. Pat, my mentor, sat her down, offered her a drink, and then proceeded to take her through ALL the details of the products, the business, how the business got started, how you could become a distributor, the compensation plan, the works. As he tells it, 5 hours into the presentation she suddenly keeled over backwards, out of her chair, legs spread straight up wide in the air. In horror, he looked at his partner and said, “Oh my gosh, we’ve killed her.”
Remember, I said, today he is one of the highest paid leaders in our company. If he could do it, we can do it!
May 14th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Shortly after I joined my mlm company, a friend invited me over to give a presentation on my new business. She said her husband would be out for a while. When I got there, she first showed me their home, and then insisted on making some tea for me. Trying to be polite, I drank my tea as we chatted. Once I started my presentation, I talked way too much. She showed me a basket of all the supplements her husband was taking. Soon her husband came in with their son-in-law and grandson, and they had to have snacks too. I stopped, though I was just half way finished. Finally we got back to it, and her husband joined in. They were polite, but obviously not interested. With all of the talking and visiting, I had really lost tack of the time. When I finally left for home, I realized I had been there for 3 and a half hours, but I felt encouraged anyway that I would be able to do this. Sadder but wiser, I resolved to spend much more time practicing my presentation, and learn to stay focused in the future.
May 14th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
…So, I’m making a group presentation and I see a man sitting in the front row who looks very familiar. I stop mid-sentence and ask him if we had ever met. He quietly stated that we had not. I was so sure that he and I had crossed paths that after a few more minutes into my presentation I paused and said “Are you 100% certain we’ve never met?” “No.” he said, rather sheepishly. Being absolutely certain that he was mistaken I thought I’d try and jog his memory by asking “Sir, what kind of work are you involved in?” With that, he rose from his chair and with a facial expression as to say “Ok, buddy, YOU asked for it.” he then loudly exclaimed “I’M THE OWNER OF A CHAIN OF ADULT BOOKSTORES AND STRIP CLUBS.” Did I mention that my wife was sitting in the seat to his left?
May 14th, 2010 at 5:55 pm
I am new in network marketing. Two months before I came across in meeting a women who speaks other language. She came with a person who can speak in English. So when I am presenting about the product and he translates. She thought that since my company works on wellness, she might get the product either as a charity or low price. I do not know why she expected a lot in discount. Finally when I tell her the price. She stood up and started to tell for the translator holding her waist, changing her voice, and repeating what I said before in her language, she made fun of me. The women is very fat and big, she moves her waist side ways, Her facial expression was so funny.I asked my self is that how I said my presentation? I tried to control my emotion I want to laugh loud. Thanks to God after saying that she left the room without seeing back to me, leaving me and the translator in the room. That night I tried to think how she expressed me, she said ‘Mee Meee, Mee, Hem….’ After that I changed my way of presentation in clarifying thing by asking some questions before I proceed to the main presentation.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
I rember when i was in the middle of my presentation i made a lot of exciting stories about motivation. And there were 20 clients interested to listen to the opportunity and they were so happy about it. When i hit the climax of the presentation they were so serious in listening of my parable. I saw a small jar as my visual in presenting, suddenly the cover of this jar fell into the ground infront of my audience and the whole room fill with laughter. “THE SILENCE WAS BROKEN”
May 15th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Enjoyed reading all the stories, some a little scary, but I learned a lot.
May 17th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Hi Tim, my nightmare is small compared to some of the stories I read.I have experinced the freeze zone of being speechless when asked “what do you do?” or “what is your product”. I felt embrassed because I though I was the only one that went through that freeze mode(at that time). I have been in mlm for several years now ,it is good to know that we all go through defeat at some time or another.I have gained a better view of committment and dedication to my business by reading some of those e mails above. I”ve also invited twenty or more people to a home presentation and know one showed. I said it was wrong timimg,it was mothers day week end. Thank God I had a business to invite them to.Looking foward to growing my business to the next level of success. Good idea you had.
August 24th, 2010 at 4:48 am
my nightmare presentation when i invite a reffered person to a one on one presentation , the presentation went very well and the fellow just loved the business and gave me the money to sign him up,i took the money and waited and said to myself lets check this guy may be he will refuse tommorow, but after one day he came up to me with his familly (8 men with guns and gernades) they gave me this talk , either you gave us the money back or we blow your house over you and your familly heads too .
so quickly i just gave them the money back and since then i never did a presentation since.
i cant discribe the fear i had that night , sorry for that
by the way i live in baghdad/IRAQ.
thanks tim for giving me the chance to share my story
April 28th, 2011 at 10:20 pm
Wow. These are some great stories. It helps when we see that we’re not the only distributors “sweating in trenches.” MLM is work, but it’s work that offers satisfaction at many levels. May not be for “everyone” but definitely effects “anyone” who gets involved in a way that no other business can. Hat’s off to everybody who took the time to share their experiences.