"They've taped the Secrets" by Doug Wead

“After interviews with thousand of leaders and research into hundreds of networks, one comes to this conclusion: The rate of growth is directly related to the number of teaching and motivational tapes their distributors move.”
- Mitch Sala

Let’s take the Pelican Principle one step further. The easiest and most effective way to import “hunter pelicans” is through the distribution of cassette tapes. Tapes help define the networking industry and teach people how to build an organization. Tapes inspire home and thus provide some of the “group support” which is part of the formula.

Of course, bringing in your own mentor in the flesh is much better. If he or she happens to be the very one who recruited you into the business, your “hunter pelican” is probably anxious to help anyway. But if he or she is someone further back in your recruitment lineage and someone who is really talented, that person’s schedule may not always be open.

There are also expenses to consider. There may be airline tickets, motel rooms, and meals. Presumably, your coach is going to make some money off this enterprise. You want that. If not, the partnership won’t last very long anyway. Even so, the price of bringing him or her into your city costs somebody something. For the price of an airline ticket alone one could buy a hundred cassette tapes. Just stop and consider what that means.

First, cassette tapes provide the knowledge you need to have to be successful in your business. Don’t be naïve. People haven’t built billion dollar sales organizations accidentally. As unorganized and amateur as the world of network marketing may appear to a professional real estate agent or insurance salesman, this unique industry has its own set of rules. As in any other enterprise, some things work, others don’t. And it’s the odd rules, the one that you don’t follow because they don’t make sense to you, that will cost you. A constant flow of tapes will keep you attuned to the changing nuances of the recruitment and network building process. Secondly, cassettes provide the inspiration to keep you going. Now keep in mind, most of the tapes supplied from the networks themselves are amateur stuff. A speaker may contradict himself in the middle of the same sentence. Good. This is probably just the kind of material you want. Remember, you are not trying to learn how to be a professional speaker but rather how to build your network. You want “hunter pelicans” to teach you their way. You may have to work a little to determine what they are trying to say, sometimes you may have to read between the lines, but this is raw, amateur, stream-of consciousness material is exactly what you need.
Sometimes the material includes inspiring rags-to-riches stories. Others presume “to teach.” But even a poor speech keeps you linked to the spirit and attitude of the hunter pelican flock. More about the importance of that later.

And finally, cassette tapes are the best way to delegate the work of building a network. There are tapes to prospect new recruits. Is she a doctor? There is tape for her. Is he a flight attendant? There is another tape that will inspire him. There are tapes to sell them on your business. Tapes to teach them how to recruit others. Tapes to troubleshoot particular problems. Tapes that will double the sales of a particular product your network is selling. There are even tapes to teach about the importance of tapes.

The point is this. Hundreds of cassettes can do much more to build your network than you could ever do one-on-one by yourself. While you’re sleeping, they are still recruiting. While you’re at your job working all day, they are out there teaching your newly-recruited distributors how to build their own networks. Used wisely, one inexpensive cassette can teach hundreds of different people. Don’t give it away, loan it to a friend and then go get it back. Keep recycling the tape through the neighborhood or among friends and new people you meet. Eventually, somebody will say, “That’s interesting, tell me more.” Now you’ve got somebody ready for your second tape.

Mitch Sala used exactly this formula to build an international network of almost a hundred thousand distributors. “Stay busy,” he advises. “Don’t stop and hover over your prospects to see if they are going to ‘hatch.’ Let the cassettes do their job.”

Of course, some people will ignore your tapes. But you guessed it. There are even cassette tapes to teach you how to get them to listen. Where do you all of these wonderful “worker bee” cassette tapes? Most networking businesses have catalogs available or can recommend companies that sell them. If they don’t you probably have the wrong company. Building a network will be tedious and slow one-on-one business.

At this point, let me add a word of caution. In some parts of the world, motivational tape sales are discourages for legal reasons. There are countries in which information of any kind is carefully controlled by the government. In other cases, the network marketing industry is new and still defining itself. The concern is that large network marketers are making their money off tape sales, rather than the products that the company is publicly announcing for sale.

And secondly, in some countries laws prohibit a network from selling tape to its own distributors because regulators feel that is violates restraint of trade laws. To put it in layman language, they are concerned that you have a closes market, that you have a “monopoly” on sales to your own network. Good grief, you say. I build the network. Others can sell tapes to it but I cannot? Thankfully, the government agencies in most countries agree with you, but if you are in a country that prohibits sales, don’t pout about it. There are outside companies that will sell you tapes. Leave the world of politics and government regulation to others. Stay focused. You want to build a network. And cassette tapes are the quickest way.