Squirrels, Nuts, and MLM

Have you ever really watched what squirrels do day in and day out? They seem to have an innate sense of what to do in life. They get up early in the morning and forage for nuts until dusk. We multilevel marketers have a lot to learn from the squirrels that we can apply to finding prospects for our MLM businesses.

“But squirrels don’t have to deal with rejection like we do,” you say. To that I reply, “Ah, but they do!” Have you seen squirrels forage for food, hopping from one place to another, digging little holes? They seem to be driven by a positive mental attitude and expectation that they will always find a nut in the very next hole. Often they dig their little holes, stick their little noses into the ground and come up with—nothing! What do they do? They disregard this outcome and optimistically move on to the next spot to dig and explore. This is the same approach we should take when prospecting.

What about rejection after talking with a prospect? Many times a squirrel will find a nut in the ground that he or another squirrel buried earlier. He pulls it out excitedly, sniffs it a few times, chews on it a little bit, and then realizes this nut is not any good any more. Blah! It has been in the ground too long. Now this represents real rejection from the squirrel’s point of view. All of that work hunting, digging, sniffing, and chewing, and for what? A smelly, no good, rotten nut. Bummer!

In network marketing, we are always searching, prospecting in a variety of ways. We often try to contact promising prospects/leads that don’t answer our next phone call or email. They just disappear into the “Prospect Protection Program.”

How many holes does a squirrel have to dig to find a good nut? I don’t know. But I do know they don’t whine, go back to their nest, and quit. They just keep on going day in and day out, constantly looking for that good nut.

Our attitude and outlook should be as positive and optimistic as that of the squirrels in our yards. Day in and day out, we should prospect, talk to leads, and consider each as a unique individual as we determine if they are a good or bad nut. And sometimes we have to place prospects back on the follow-through list when they’re not what we are looking for. The key is to keep taking positive forward action just like our squirrel buddies.