I had an interesting experience today. I lead a team of talented people who manage a chain of retail shops in the auto industry, and I had to tackle a compliance issue with one of our staffs. The staff doesn’t wear safety shoes at work, which is a serious safety hazard. He claims that he is more comfortable in flip-flops! This has been going on for a few months now. Initially I used verbal advice and warnings, which obviously had no impact. So today I had to resort to a written warning with an ultimatum. This whole incident got me thinking as to why some people take action and some don’t. What is it that I must do to get this guy to see what I am seeing? In this case, my staff chose not to wear shoes, even after repeated attempts to correct the situation. That’s when I remembered the teachings of Napoleon Hill, which all of a sudden flashed in my mind.

Napoleon Hill said, “No man, apart from the insane, takes any sort of action without a motive”. So if we need someone to take a specific action then it becomes imperative that we provide a sufficient motive. This especially applies in the field of sales and the Network Marketing industry. Many networkers struggle to recruit people because of this very reason. They fail to plant a sufficient motive in the minds of the buyer, to ensure a sale.

And what are the 9 basic motives?

They are:

Emotion of Love,
Emotion of Sex,
Desire for Material Gain,
Desire for Self-Preservation,
Desire for freedom of body and mind,
Desire for self-expression and recognition,
Desire for life after death,
Desire for revenge and
Emotion of Fear.

Among the 9 motives, the first 7 are positive and last 2 are negative.

In the business world, especially in Network Marketing industry, the most powerful of motives is the Desire for Material/Financial Gain. If you are struggling to recruit people in your organization, then I would suggest you take a look at your presentation and see whether or not you address this particular motive ‘Desire for Financial Gain’ strongly. If not, then probably that’s why you are not striking the success note.

There is wonderful Japanese proverb: ‘When you buy a vase cheap, look for the flaw; when a man offers favors, look for the motive’. Remember the meaning behind this proverb and you will realize that you need to focus on the ‘motive’ and not the offer, whether it is business or life.

God bless.

John Bino
ParentsINCorporated
“Empowering people to increase their value to society”