63: An Arsenal Of Story... - a podcast by Steve Larsen: Automated Downline Recruiting

Steve: Hey. What's going on? This is Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Secret MLM Hacks Radio. Oh yeah! So, here's the real mystery. How do real MLMers like us who didn't cheat and only bugged family members and friends who wanna grow a profitable home business, how do we recruit A-players into our down lines and create extra incomes, yet still have plenty of time for the rest of our lives? That's the glaring question, and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Secret MLM Hacks Radio.
What's going on guys? Hey. Hope you're doing fantastic. It's been so nuts. We've been going around, I've been traveling like crazy. I just hired a full-time support person, employee/assistant/he's a buddy of mine actually. We built one of my first successful Funnels together ever while we were in college. Our paths have recrossed, and I'm super excited. He's actually moving up here. I'm in Boise, Idaho. I'm actually from Denver, but [ClickFunnels 00:01:04] headquarters is here in Boise, which is why I'm here. That's who I was working for, obviously full-time for quite a while.
Anyway, he's moving up here. I've been traveling. I've traveled the last two weeks in a row. I got two weeks of no traveling, and then another week of traveling again, and it's just been crazy. But, it's been so fun you know. To see this, it's been fun to see the people who are having success with our program. Obviously, this is a Secret MLM Hacks Radio. The actual program is Secret MLM Hacks though. I'm sure you guys know that. It's been fun to see the progress and the success stories from people who are actually inside the program and loving it, and it's been really interesting.
You know, there's something that happened I just wanted to share with you guys. I think it's a powerful lesson. It's powerful enough that it will certainly affect your wallet and how fat it gets. Okay? And, how quickly it gets chunky. We all want fat wallets, not fat bellies, obviously! So, I was out in ... where were we? We were in Dallas going all over the place, can't remember where I am sometimes. But, we were in Dallas. And, we were over in Dallas and I was speaking at my MLM's event. It was a lot of fun. It was 1000 people in the room. I think it was about 1000.
I spoke, and it was awesome. It was awesome to share what I am doing with my people. Obviously, it's grabbed the attention of a lot of the leaders in my MLM, of course. That's one of those things that I always let everyone know, it's like; look, when you start doing the things that I'm teaching inside of MLM, you are most likely gonna be one of the only people doing it inside of your MLM, which is awesome. That doesn't mean let's go break rules; break your MLM's policies and stuff like that.
There are certain ... you take what I'm sharing, you do the aspects you can do, and you run with it. I obviously have gained a little bit of eyeballs for my MLM, looking at what I'm doing and being like; oh man! What is this kid doing? So, I was able to go present what it is. And, they were like; holy crap! That's what you do? It's like; yeah, yep! It's been really fun to go around and share, because I kinda kept it under wraps for a little while just to prove that it worked. I wanted to make sure that it was being successful, and not just me, that other people also being successful with it before I go and I start touting it around a little bit; sharing what it is that I'm doing with the rest of my MLM.
We are finally in that spot now. We're getting a lot of attention, which is exciting. Something interesting happened though. I was on stage. I was speaking. I was teaching. I was sharing what I was doing. I was teaching them how to do that kind of stuff, and this really interesting thing happened. This happens most of the time that I speak in front of groups. Here's what happens. I go up. I tell my story where I came from. If you guys have ever joined any of our web classes at all, you've heard me tell a story of how I actually started this whole thing.
So, I start telling this same story so they all know who I am. And then, I dive in and start teaching some stuff. And about maybe a third of the room, I noticed starts to check out. I was like; huh! And you can feel that as a speaker. If you've ever spoken on a stage before, you can tell when the audience is with you versus you just monologuing. I hate the feeling that they think I'm monologuing. So, I try to be extremely engaging throughout. I'm high energy. I tell stories. I share tactics, and I make them laugh. I like to play with emotions a lot, because then it's more fun to watch a speaker that's more dynamic. I try and practice that actively. I'm not saying that I'm the best at it, but I practice it.
And so, I'm speaking. I was teaching. And I can feel that a third to maybe half of the room starts to get disconnected from what I'm doing. I was like; huh, interesting. I know that what I'm teaching is amazing, because it's actually working. That was the thought that start to hit my head really fast; I was like; I need to switch my story. I gotta change the story. I gotta reach out to ... okay. And, this really fast that hit me, I'm losing, I change story. Boom! I go, I launch into this other story, and it re-engages part of the room again.
When you're speaking in front of a lot of people like that, you gotta be, you know. Bear with me a little bit. You feel like; Steven have never spoken from a stage like that, that's fine. The same thing happens. I've gone through in this podcast. If this is the first episode you've ever heard of mine, please go back and listen, because you guys know. I dive deep into what causes belief. If I can change the way someone sees the world through their beliefs, it is way easy to sell to somebody. I don't have to do hard sales. I don't have to do hard closing. Very little amounts of that compared to what the rest of the industry has to do, which is part of the reason my stuff works so well.
You'll start to develop this sixth sense as you get better at storytelling. As you get better at what it is, you'll start to develop this sixth sense where you're like; I can feel that you're not with me. You'll start to get that feeling. You ever told a story to somebody, or you explain something that's really interesting? You know it's absolutely incredible, and at the end their like; huh! And that's the only interaction you get from; their like; huh! And you're like; did you not hear me? Maybe you didn't hear me. You tell them again, and they're like; oh, yeah. No, I heard you! That's cool. You're like; how are you not freaking out right now? That's crazy! Have you ever been in that scenario before?
It's because you didn't tell the story well enough. You told the facts instead of the emotions. That's one of the major keys to being a good storyteller, is being able to tell part of the emotions and help them feel the emotions that you felt. You bring them on the same state that you are in, in the middle of that story. Does that make sense? That's what you're trying to do. And so, I realized when I was on stage and I was speaking, I realized that about half the room was freaking out super excited. And then, there was another half of the room, a third to a half of the room, that was kind of checking out. I was like; I've gotta ... aw crap! What's a story? It happened real fast in my head.
I was like; what's a story that I can tell very quickly to be able to grab and resinate with that part of the room better? Luckily, because I tell a lot of stories, I was able to reach down into my pocket of stories and grab one that I knew would resinate with them. [Boosh 00:07:44], and blast it out there. I broke from my script pretty hard in several places. When I realized that what I had prepared was resinating well with this one group, bit of a younger group, and more of an internet savvy group. Just being honest. And, maybe a little bit more of the older people or generations, people who may not be as internet tech-savvy. Remember, I'm not a coder or programmer. I'm just putting the other systems that already exist. That's what I teach you how to do in some of the programs.
But, I was like; man, I gotta pull some stories out real fast. Bam! So, I can just interact with them. I did really fast off the cuff. Boom! I start breaking from my script, and it totally worked. I had both demographics. I'm trying to be sensitive here. You guys understand what I'm saying, right? You guys understand what I'm getting at. I had both demographics now resinating with me. I felt the difference. It was very interesting. It's something that happens to me every time speak. It's something that happens to me even when I podcast. It's something that, when I first started podcasting, telling stories, and teaching this stuff, you know what I mean? Being in these courses, I can tell if I'm getting out in the weeds.
I can tell when I'm going way off the edge. And, I'm like; crap! I gotta drop a story. I gotta do this. Funny enough, when I go straight to tactics, and I start saying; yeah, here's the tactics. I always lose everyone. Even though it's what everyone always thinks they want, if I don't wrap it in a story, they don't remember it anyway. There has to be a story wrapped around it, or else no one remembers the tactic anyway. It has to be some kind of emotional quick response, even if it's a really brief. That's what makes facts stick. They stick with the glue of story. And tactics and all that too.
So, anyway, it's really fascinating. The only thing I want to drop to you guys is, if you've been telling people about your MLM. First off, you gotta ask a lot of questions about them. They gotta feel like you're interested in them as a human being; you're not just there to pitch them your stuff. But when you get to a place where you feel like; aw man, I really wanna hear about your thing. Tell a story. Don't just jump right in. Whether it's your MLM's story of how the MLM came about, or if your story of how you chose. You should definitely tell that story; the story of why you decided to get in. There's a story behind it. It's not because the comp plan. You did not get in your MLM because they had a great product. What was the story? What was going on in your life? You tell that story.
If you're telling that story and you're not getting a response, number one, you're probably telling facts, not emotions. So, get better at telling emotions. And then number two though, you might have to change the story. Does that make sense? That's what I had to do on stage. I was like; huh! I switched the story real fast, and I ... these are like arrows in your quiver. You don't let them all out at once. I'm not telling every story at the same time. But, I reached back, and I was like; you know what will be good for this? [Cwoo 00:10:46]! I pulled the arrow out, I stretched it back, I launched that one, and I see the reaction. And it worked. It was really, really cool.
Because of that, afterwards, I had a ton of people from one crowd that I knew who was with me, and then another crowd that I knew I had a harder time getting with me at first, both crowds came up. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's all I'm trying to teach you guys. That's the literally entire purpose of this episode. But, that does not come without you repeatedly telling your stories over and over. You will start to feel people's response. I don't how else to describe it. It's the weirdest thing. You'll start to feel their response. You'll start to feel how it is that they are accepting what it is that you're saying. Does that make sense?
Every single time that you go out and you tell a story, or you are challenging somebody's belief, there's this scale of believability that they're starting to go through. They're starting to say; yeah, no. I can totally see how what you're saying is true. That's one side of the spectrum. Or, on the other side of the spectrum is; dude, that's not true at all. There's no way that's true at all. That's total garbage. That's crap! Does that make sense?
There's this scale. It's the believability-to-complete-crap scale. Back and forth. That's what they're trying to do. They're starting to look at your story and go; that's complete garbage! It's like, if you see an advertisement, and the story says; I lost 475 pounds eating nothing but a grape for three years. You're gonna look at that and be like; oh, that story sucks! That's probably not what you're gonna say, but your thought on the believability-to-total garbage scale. Yeah, I totally believe that, versus total garbage. You're gonna be on the garbage side. You're gonna be like; that's terrible!
And, I can tell that the story ... all the stories that I tell are true. Although, I could tell that how I was telling it. I could tell that the elements I was tossing in was not resinating in the current story I telling on stage. I had to switch it out. Boom! So, if you are not feeling like you're connecting well enough with people, continue to write out the major story lines that have happened in your life, and how it applies, and how you can teach with them your MLM opportunity to other people. Does that make sense? Go and actually write down. I've totally done that.
You write down all these story lines, tons of headlines, lots of them. That's half of how I come up with these podcast episodes you guys. I go, and I start writing a story; cool thing going on in my life, interesting thing going on in my life, controversial thing going on in my life. Does that makes sense? I start writing down all these different things that is going on in my life, and that is how I actually get out there and resinate with people so that they are in a place to receive the fact that I wanna draw to. So that they are in a place to receive the nugget; by doing that, that's how they get into a place to understand your comp plan. In a place to understand, otherwise, you're literally throwing ... it's like taking a squirt gun and trying to put out a forest fire. It's not really gonna work. Does that make sense?
You need to be in place to receive it; any new thing into your life. You do that by first getting someone in the same state that you were in when you were in the middle of that story. In order to be able to do that, you gotta be able to tell emotions, not facts. So, get good at telling anyway. I feel like I'm talking in a circle now, but I hope you understand the point of what I'm saying here. Get good at the storytelling thing. I've said it before on this podcast. I know I'm saying it again right now. The reason why is just to illustrate exactly what I went through. I had to pull an different arrow from my quiver, launch it out there, and see their reaction.
I've done it enough times, and I've done it from enough stages that, that arrow stuck real well. And then, I had the other part of the room that I could feel was not with me. The way I could feel it was, their eyes go down. They suddenly stop making eye contact. When I say something, there's no; Oo, ah, hey! You know like when you're launching fireworks on the Fourth of July? Oo, ah, you know what I mean? When someone's with you, they're looking at you. Does that make sense? I hate it when people are like; aw!
Have you ever been in a room with someone in a meeting, and they're looking down at their phone, and you're talking right at'em? They're like; go ahead, I'm listening. There's no real connection happening, right? If you're really being prolific in what it is that you're saying to somebody, if your story's really captivating enough, they will put the freaking phone down. They will make you a priority in their life. If they are not, your story is not captivating enough. You've gotta get better at telling it. That's all I'm trying to say. Practice it. Practice with several different story lines, because you will feel. You will sense. There will be physical actions in their body language that tell you; hey, I'm not with you.
They will be telling you that, but not verbally. They'll be doing it with their body language, with their eyes and their mannerisms. Whether or not they're connecting with you, whether or not there's little; hmm, ah, uh, oh really, huh! Right? It's a great book called The Definitive Book of Body Language. It teaches that if somebody's feet are pointed away from you, it says that their head is wishing that they were away from you also. That makes sense? If someone's feet are facing you, have you ever tried to stop somebody who's walking somewhere already? You try and stop somebody, and their feet continued, and they continued to point the direction they were going.
What's your natural inclination? To let them continue going, right? It's the same thing when you're fact-to-face, and you're speaking with somebody. They're face-to-face with you. It's the weirdest thing. It's true though. Pay attention to that. Watch the direction people's feet ... if their feet ... The foot points where the body wants to go. It's the same thing when you're face-to-face. If they're looking at you, if they're looking down, if they're sideways, like; oh. Their body languages are slouching, or they're sitting up. They're leaning forward. They're engaging. Their eyes are getting big. They're going; woo, ha, uh, really, mm, right? They're making all the little noises.
They're with you the whole way, they clap, or they're excited. It's easy to see when someone's with you. It's easy to see when someone does not wanna be around you. It's easy to see. On the internet, the way I do it is when people are engaging with me. If it's a chat box or a lot of different ways. I'll continue to ask a lot of trial closes, things like that to make sure that they are with me as I'm saying it. You'll begin to feel how your stories are being received. That's the only thing I'm trying to help you guys understand.
So, anyways, continue to look through the different storylines. Make sure your storylines are being received, and understand that when you're saying your story, it's not a one story fits all method. As you put out your major story of how you got on the MLM, or if you tell your origin stories. As you tell it emotionally, not with fact, start to feel if it's being received. If you feel like you are not being received, you are most likely, and number one, are not telling with enough emotion. Or, number two, you're telling the wrong story. Does that make sense?
The third option is, you might just be telling the wrong person your story. The story might be great. It's your job to feel out what those scenarios are. Does that make sense? It's not like a catch-all for those things. Gotta be good at telling with emotion. You gotta be good at telling the story. You might have to switch up the story. Number three, though, you actually might be saying it to the wrong person. And you know what? That's fine. If you've heard my story, and you don't resinate with that, there are others who will hear it and run to me. Does that make sense?
So, don't get discouraged if you're like; aw man, I keep doing this thing Steven. No one, uh! Don't worry about it. That's totally fine. Just keep practicing telling the stories. That's why I encourage everybody to start publishing. Everybody just start publishing. I don't care if it's a podcast you start doing, a blog, whatever it is. Just be consistent. And, within a year, you'll be shocked at the traction you've made and the amount of following that you create. It's very fascinating. But, it gives you a platform to practice this stuff. Alright guys, thanks so much. I will talk to you later. Bye.
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