Heart Selling or Hard Selling: What is the Best Approach in Network Marketing?

I am an art teacher by trade, but; I also own three network marketing businesses. One is an ecommerce business with a strong focus on green, eco-friendly, organic products, the second is centered around health & wellness products and the third is a global telecommunications business. I am currently focusing, during my summer hiatus, on the two businesses in which I have the strongest mentors. One mentor is old school and the other is new school.

A little off the subject, but not altogether unrelated is the fact that I am a self-admitted computer geek. I am a huge proponent of technology integration in the schools. I work closely with the IT Specialist in our school district on interdisciplinary projects which integrate, art, and technology with other academic subjects to generate interest and to hold the attention of our students. I am teaching others on my Network Marketing Teams to prospect utilizing Social Media Marketing, part of the new school of mentorship (but more about that in another post).

I think that the fact that I am a teacher, is both a blessing and a cure in Network Marketing. Ooops! Typo! I said "cure" instead of "curse". Was that purposeful or not? What do you think? Is having teaching ability a curse or a cure in Network Marketing? My old school mentor is a believer in the short, but sweet, get to the meat of the message quickly, with as few words as possible, way of prospecting. For him, being a teacher is a curse. My other mentor, believes in "heart-selling" rather than "hard-selling." She thinks that teaching ability is a cure to that which ails a lot of Network Marketers.

If you establish relationships with your prospects first, you have a better chance of getting them to join your business, because they trust and believe in you. If you are knowledgeable and good at what you do, then your prospects will turn into recruits and will not only believe in you, but will follow you. If your recruits believe in you, there will be a better chance that you will be able to have them duplicate what is necessary for success in any Network Marketing business. If you teach your new recruits slowly and methodically and give them the time, patience and mentoring they deserve, you will motivate them to produce more over the course of time. Heart selling takes more effort and may not be for those who are looking to make those "first 30 days bonuses" or to hit that "first 30 days goal". I know it is important to build a story of success for oneself as quickly as possible, so; I struggle with what is more important. As all of us in this business know, we are ultimately more successful when our team is more successful. There is a lot to be said for hard selling right out of the gate, but; I think you have to choose those prospects carefully. Those that you approach with a hard sell should be seasoned Network Marketers or "A" Players, business people who see an opportunity for what it is right away and can be up and running on their own. They have been there and done that. However, If our new, green recruits are not taught properly, that often leads to frustration and failure. We don't want our new recruits crazily jumping out of the vehicle that is on the road to financial and time freedom, now do we?

It is a little experiment of mine to determine which is the better approach, hard selling or heart selling. Only time will tell. I may have to rely on sound psychology in all of my Network Marketing businesses. If I learn to read people better, I can determine what they need and what approach will work best to get them engaged in the business and how to keep them engaged and motivated for the long haul. Maybe I should enlist the help of world famous poker players Annie Duke and Daniel Negreanu in order to teach me how to be able to read prospects "tells".
What are your thoughts? I would love for those of you who are reading this to share your comments with me. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and learning what makes you tick. Would you be more likely to become engaged in my business if I were to approach you with a hard sell or a heart sell?

Thanks for sharing.

Chrissy