Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Have I Brought Value To The Market Place

It has been two weeks that I've parked myself at the corner between Burger King and the Putra LRT station handing out flyers. By now I'm a common sight. In the beginning, people took my flyers with curiosity. Some even smiled ironically while accepting my 'hand-outs'. I used to do 1,000 flyers in under two hours. These days it'll be good if I can do 500 in the same amount of time. I try to make eye contact as I distribute these flyers but strange to say, many and I mean many, as they approach me , literally look away.Some even avoid coming into contact with me. It is as if I could her them say, 'Oh no not that guy again'. Some, look at me, accept my flyers, gives me a pitiful smile and off they go and do what ever they do....daily.
One morning, an elderly lady selling nasi-lemak, mee goreng, nasi goreng and mineral water with her son approached me and asked in perfect English. 'What's that r you giving every morning?' My reply was crisp. 'Its nutritious food..Health product'. 'Oh' she said. But I knew she didn't have the foggiest idea what it was all about.
After that morning, I did not see them for two days. When they returned the third day, she approached me ( I didn't ask her) and told me that her son was ill and had to be taken to the doctor. Apparently 2 years ago, her son, who helps her every morning, met with an accident. The injury to his head often send him into depression and has affected his thinking quite a bit.
I felt pity for both of them. For the son, 'cos at such an early age, in his mid-20s, faces a bleak future. And for Elizabeth, that's her name, she still has to care for her boy whom by now, normally, should be taking care of her. At that moment I had one of my products with me, A Herbal TeaMix. I took it and gave it to Elizabeth and told her to give this to her son every morning and have him consume it at least 3x a day. I was disappointed to discover after a couple of days her son refuses to take the tea. Not even Elizabeth nor anyone in her family. As I pondered, only two things came to mind why they refused to drink that tea even when it was given free. 1) They were ignorant of the value and power of this product. 2) They thought that it was a ploy to get them to buy my products.
I learnt something valuable from this episode.
1. My sincerity was not felt by them. Thus I may have to check my motives.
2. People will never appreciate anything if they do not SEE the value that thing has for them..be it a product, service or opportunity. If they see THE VALUE, they will chase after it with everything they have till they get it.
So it may be my fault. I did not show Elizabeth what a valuable product I have. Worst, I have not yet brought my value to the market place. Sad, yes. Its something I have to constantly work on. But I'll always remember
Mark Hughes, the founder of HERBALIFE saying, 'Give your best today, and tomorrow do a little better than today'. That's why Mark Hughes, who started Herbalife selling nutritious shakes from the booth of his car at the corner of a street, has made Herbalife, now a public listed company on the NYSE, a USD3 Billion company.
I'm going to do my best today and tomorrow I'll do a little better than today.

4 comments:

Shanghai Fish said...

Syabas Tony Syabas !!!Seize the day man !!! and Happy Chinese New Year to you and your family !

zorro said...

Tony, dont lose heart. Malaysians are not used to being given flyers. They are wary of anything new or out of the ordinary. Malaysians still have grid-lock mindsets. If for a moment you doubt yourself, you have wasted those hours doing your thing. But most of all, Malaysians have been flooded with a plethora of direct-selling and pyramid scams. But if you keep at it sincerely, and from the heart, you will get results. Allow me to paraphrase Mark Huges: Today was good, tomorrow gotta be better. I read this every morning when I wake up and before I go to bed. Its on my bathroom mirror. I still need to motivate myself every day. You'll get there Tony if you have faith in yourself. Stay your course.

Anonymous said...

I cannot believe you are using other people for you own benefits. Stop pretending to be an angel and just say you started this site to promote herbalife. I'm not against the product itself, but the manner you slyly trying to market it. This applies to all MLM I encounter. Well, if you are being sincere, then please accept my apologies, but I sure did not feel any of your sincerity.

cheers...

tony -stand-up philosopher said...

anonymous,
Is it wrong to share what one has benefited from other people? Am I making use of Robin Sharma, Might be your favourite author too, if I mention him and how his book affected my life and the decisions I make now?
And I DO NOT sell products via my blog. Its against Herbalife rules. You see, I think you may have been 'burnt' by some of your friends in MLM. That does not mean you know ALL about MLM. And obviously you do not know anything about Herbalife. Whatever preconcieved ideas you might have about Herbalife does not alter the fact that it has changed my life, my family's life and the lives of millions of people around the world. AND I WANT TO SHARE IT ON MY BLOG.
Anonymous, you navigated into my blog. I welcome your comments. But who gave you the divine right to be judge, jury and excutioner about what I write? Comments I welcome but accusations, make sure you are right.