71: Gloria MacDonald Teaches How To Get Leads On LinkedIn... - a podcast by Steve Larsen: Automated Downline Recruiting

Steve Larsen: What's going on everyone, this is Steve Larsen, and you're listening to Secret MLM Hacks radio and I've got a very special interview and a very special guest to bring on today for the show.
So go ahead and stay tuned. We'll cue the intro, grab a pen and paper and sit tight.
So here's the real mystery. How do real MLMers like us read and cheat and only bug family members and friends. If you 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 blaring question, and this podcast will give you the answer. My name is Steve Larsen and welcome to Secret MLM Hacks radio.
Hi, what's going on everyone. Hey, I'm really excited for today. You guys have a very special treat. I have just been so incredibly impressed with this person. I have actually been watching closely, from am distance. Seeing everything that's been going on. You guys know my take, in the MLM space. I truly believe that MLM nowadays is broken for the way we get it. We get it, and it's not set up correctly. Or there's so many things we got to do in order to actually still be successful with it. And it's not an aspect that's really taught by uplines. And that's not something that ... I'm not anti up line, I'm not anti the man. I'm not anti those things. But it's just the reality.
And from a distance, I started watching who the who was. Of all the other people who believe the same thing. And there's more ways to do it. And hey, the Internet's here, and why do we use that. Various things. And we ran across this amazing woman. Gloria MacDonald. MacDonald. Gloria MacDonald, and I'm so excited to have her on today. She is an expert, a pro in the MLM space, using LinkedIn, using various tools and things across the internet. Very honored to have her here today.
And thank you so much for being here.

GloriaMacDonald: Oh Steven, absolutely my pleasure. I'm thrilled and delighted to be here.

Steve Larsen: This is awesome. Very, very excited. Could you ... You have a lot of success now, right. And you're doing all these great things. And I know you've done things with huge players. Was it always that way?

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, yeah. I came out of my mother's womb at the age of two. I was three level diamond in Amway. No.

Steve Larsen: You saying you've always been successful, wow.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, always. And I've never had any struggles at all, you know. Yeah, right.
Let me tell you another story. Let me tell you the true story.

Steve Larsen: Sounds good.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah. So I started in Amway, in 1979. So right off the top, Steve, and I hate to do this to you, but I have to correct you on something that I've heard you say. With great respect for what you've done. But I heard you say that [inaudible 00:02:43] hasn't changed since the 1990s. And I'm sorry, but it hasn't changed since the 1970s.

Steve Larsen: I will take your correction.

GloriaMacDonald: I don't fault you for not knowing that, because you wouldn't have been around in the 1970s. I was.

Steve Larsen: That's funny.

GloriaMacDonald: So it's mind boggling to me. Because people are still doing today, and network marketing companies today are still teaching and training exactly what I was taught in 1979 before the internet existed. Before personal computers existed. You know, there was no such thing as a personal computer. Cell phones didn't exist. I hate to think about what a dinosaur I am. But none of this stuff existed that exist today, that is so powerful that enables us to build our networking businesses in a much more effective and efficient way.
And still, network marketing companies are still teaching, and uplines are still teaching, make your list of a hundred people. [inaudible 00:03:57] market. It's like, good god really? You know? Really.
So, I went through all the struggles. I've done everything everyone else has done. Done my list of a hundred people too many times. I was an overachiever. So I did, you know, a hundred and fifty people, or two hundred people.

Steve Larsen: Sure, yeah.

GloriaMacDonald: You know, I-

Steve Larsen: What happened from that? Was there a moment where you're like, wait a second.

GloriaMacDonald: Well, yeah. What happened from that, was just like everybody else. I got so much rejection. And I burned through my one market. And then, especially back when I started, then what on earth what do you do? You couldn't hop on Facebook or LinkedIn, or whatever. Because those things didn't exist. So you had to be out and about, strike up conversations with total strangers in the grocery store. You know.

Steve Larsen: Yeah.

GloriaMacDonald: And really networking meetings like we know them today didn't exist in 1979 either. So it was tough. It was grueling. Anyway, and the interesting thing, what I know now that I didn't know then, was all of that old school technique ... And don't get me wrong. Obviously there have been people who have built huge businesses using all those old school techniques. And that's great, and that's wonderful. But why would we still be using that today?

Steve Larsen: Right.

GloriaMacDonald: When there are far more efficient and effective ways. And the biggest thing about those old school ways, is that they work completely against the way our brains work. They go completely against our human physiology, biology, chemistry, psychology, and you know, our brains job is to keep us safe and protect us.
So every time we start to feel any kind of rejection, our brain is literally saying, "Don't go there, don't do that. It's not safe. Rejection's not good. No, no, no, no, no."
So why would you put yourself in a position where you're working against your biology, when there are all kinds of ways today where you can work with your biology, and you don't have to ... I mean, literally, you can do rejection-free recruiting. You know that, you're doing it.

Steve Larsen: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Now, the first time I heard you say that, I was like, dancing up and down, screaming. Because I was like, yes, yes, someone else! Okay, absolutely. You talk about, it's literally against a lot of the way our chemical make up is put together.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah.

Steve Larsen: Which is true. Could you talk a little bit more about that, and what you mean about that? Because that's fascinating. I'm pretty confident most people have no idea about this.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, I mean seriously, the way our brain works, the job our brain is to keep us safe, and conserve energy. That's the primary job of our brain. And it goes back to millions and millions of years of evolutionary psychology, where literally we had to conserve energy in case a tiger or lion jumped out of the jungle at us, and attacked us. We had to be ready to just fight, or flee.

Steve Larsen: Right.

GloriaMacDonald: And so we had to conserve energy, and we had to be very very very aware of what was going on around us to protect us.

Steve Larsen: Yeah.

GloriaMacDonald: And so, even though we're not facing lions and tigers today, in that same way, our brain's job is still to protect us and to conserve energy to keep us safe. And so literally anything that feels uncomfortable to us, the brain recognizes that and says, "No, danger zone, danger zone." It literally tries to shut us down.
So rejection's not comfortable for anybody, unless you work really, really, really hard against your brain. But the problem is, the vast, vast, vast majority of people just can't do it. They physically can not do it. They physically cannot re-wire their brain to go against human biology. And they can't re-wire their brain to say, "Nope, doesn't matter. I don't care about being safe." Because we need to be safe.
So yeah, it goes against-

Steve Larsen: I mean, you're literally saying that MLM is going against the way our bodies are built. What do you doing different? When did you realize that, and the new thing you learn. Like, oh my gosh, there's this whole other way. I don't need to be doing it this way. How do I become more in harmony with my body, and the way my body is made up to be successful in MLM?

GloriaMacDonald: Great question. It was just within the last four or five years, that I had this huge uh huh, as I studied the brain more and more. And I studied the brain a lot, because it's fascinating, I believe. It's really important to understand how the human brain and the human body work to be successful, and to understand what's going on in your prospects brain. Because it's not just you, it's your prospect, right.

Steve Larsen: Right.

GloriaMacDonald: Your prospect brain is going through the same thing, and it's saying, "No, no, no, no. This doesn't sound like I'm going to be good at this. This doesn't sound like I'm going to succeed at this." So their brain is taking that too, because their brain's job is to make sure they don't fail.
So yeah, it's just over the past four or five years I've really started understanding a whole lot more about how the brain worked. It's like, oh my gosh. Wow, all this prospecting and recruiting stuff the way I've been taught over the last 35 years really doesn't work with the brain.
I mean, I knew it was tough. I knew it was tough for the vast majority of people. And I knew that somehow or other, I just trudged forward and did it. But I knew most people couldn't. But I didn't understand exactly why. I thought, well people just don't have enough stick to it ness. They just don't, all the stuff we heard. Their Why isn't big enough. Oh, you know. They just don't have enough guts, whatever it is.
But it's much, much, much more scientific than that.

Steve Larsen: It's not just that.

GloriaMacDonald: Pardon?

Steve Larsen: It's usually not just, hey I'm lazy. I don't really want success.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah.

Steve Larsen: [inaudible 00:10:41].

GloriaMacDonald: Exactly, exactly. And then it was really just in the last two years, that I figured out the technology piece of okay. So, you know, it was two years ago I heard about this attraction marketing thing. But okay, what's that. That sounds kind of interesting. And realized, my gosh, traction marketing, the beauty of traction marketing is that it's not working perfectly with the brand. That's why it works. Because it takes out the whole rejection thing.
And then you know, I started mucking around on Facebook, and had some initial success. But then Facebook algorithms changed and started going crazy and stuff like that. So my ads weren't working, and all that kind of stuff.

Steve Larsen: Thank you, Zuckerberg.

GloriaMacDonald: Pardon?

Steve Larsen: Thank you, Zuckerberg.

GloriaMacDonald: Yes, exactly, yeah. And again, not to say that there aren't people out there that aren't having success with Facebook ads. But I think it's extremely. So Steven, if any of your listeners are listening today, and who are listening today are actually just trying to start off with Facebook ads, I think the message people need to hear, are look. If you're just starting off today, it's going to cost you a wack load of money if you don't already have a huge following.

Steve Larsen: Yeah.

GloriaMacDonald: So the people who are making Facebook ads work, are the people that started four, five years ago, and already had followings of 50 thousand, 60 thousand, whatever. Before all the algorithms started changing like crazy. And even they are experiencing an increase in advertising cost. But it still is worth it to them.
But I think it's really tough for the person that's starting out today. So I just thought, this is not a recipe for success. So I started fooling around on LinkedIn. And it was like, oh my gosh.

Steve Larsen: Now, what made you choose LinkedIn? If I could just interrupt you. Sorry about that. I mean, LinkedIn is usually not the place people think of, you know. What made you go there?

GloriaMacDonald: Well, I'd had a presence on LinkedIn from a previous business. Not much. I had, oh I don't know, a thousand, 12 hundred connections on LinkedIn. I fooled around with Linkedin a little bit, but not in the same way at all. And I don't know, Twitter, I thought, really? How much can you do with a hundred and twenty four characters, or whatever it was at that point. Because it was [inaudible 00:13:16] than it is now.

Steve Larsen: I think we're grounded at 180 now.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah. And Twitter's just not my thing. And again, there are people making money on Twitter. They are. Not me.
And I fooled around a little bit with Instagram, but I couldn't figure out how Instagram was going to work for me. And again, people are making money on Instagram, but that's not the platform I cracked. So I just, I don't know. LinkedIn just made sense to me, it felt comfortable to me. And when I thought about it, I thought, wait a second. LinkedIn is where a whole bunch of professionals are. And in fact, the average LinkedIn user has twice the buying power that the average online user.
So it's a more professional ... I say LinkedIn really isn't a social media platform. It's really a business platform. So the beauty of LinkedIn is that you can get right down to business.

Steve Larsen: You don't expect that.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, you don't have to be what I call fake social. You know.

Steve Larsen: That's awesome.

GloriaMacDonald: So yeah.

Steve Larsen: That's awesome. So you went, oh man, something's messed up there. Eventually, you left the tactics. And just so everyone's clear, we're not bashing on any MLM, just the actual tactics. They're so weird. And you go, you're like, what about this LinkedIn thing.
What made LinkedIn work so well? I tell you what, if I see someone else posting on social media of them, a selfie in a gym. You know, saying, "I'm working from home today." And you're like, you just started this. You know, it can get a little frustrating. How is your approach so different so that we're not offending those parts of the brain. We're actually attracting people the right way.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, great question. So first of all, it starts with really targeting people you know who are already open and interested in what you have to offer. It's not just the old three foot rule, anybody who comes within three feet. Or anybody who calls, or anybody who breathes. You know ...

Steve Larsen: [inaudible 00:15:34].

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, yeah. It's not that. It's really understanding who your target market is, and figuring out how to exactly find them. This is true for any platform. It doesn't matter whether it's LinkedIn, or Facebook, whatever. The whole basis of being able to work with the brain, is knowing who's already open to and interested in what you have to offer. And then being able to have highly targeted messages to those people.
So that when you actually end up on the phone with them, or in a zoom call with them or whatever, you're not going to get any rejection. So I say to people, look, my day is filled with conversations like you and I have right now. When I'm talking to people who are already totally sold on network marketing, they already believe in that. They struggled. The vast majority of them struggled. And they feel like, oh they can just figure out the secret. If I could just get the one thing to work, then I'd be a millionaire.
As you and I both know, it's not that easy. Nothing is that easy, it's a business, and you have to treat it like a business. It doesn't mean 100 percent of people are going to buy from you, or join your team. But there's no rejection. There's no beating your head against the wall trying to talk someone into the idea that network marketing isn't a scam or a pyramid scheme or whatever. So it works with the brain.
And you know, there are millions and millions and millions, and millions and millions and millions of network marketers on LinkedIn, but they're not using it.

Steve Larsen: So they're sold on the concept of network marketing, they just don't know how to apply it anymore. Especially in today's internet saturated world. Everyone's far more shut off a little bit, and ...
So how do you ... When do you know that you're ... Because here's how I imagine it, right. Someone comes in, and you kind of start sizing them up. Not to say you skip the relationship, which you don't obviously. But you're sizing them up, and trying to see, hey, is this person someone I can attract to me, in starting up a conversation. What are the signs that you know you're taking to somebody who's already in an MLM, who's already ... Without being, feeling like you're being pushy?

GloriaMacDonald: Well for me, it's really simple. They have it on their LinkedIn profile.

Steve Larsen: Got you.

GloriaMacDonald: So I target them because they said on their LinkedIn profile, that they're with ABC company. Or they've got the words Network Marketing in the profile, whatever. So it is very easy to find network marketers on LinkedIn. It's a piece of cake to find network marketers on LinkedIn.
And the beauty of what I teach, Steven, is it's free. Now, people say, oh you can't scale when it's free. And there is a certain amount of truth to that. But only a certain amount. And you know, my whole goal is to help people make money. Because as you and I know, there's so many people that, they've got a dream. They want to be able to send their kids to college. They want to be able to take vacations. They want to be able to pay off their debt. They want to be able to take care of their aging parents, whatever their dream is.
And they can see that it's worked for other people in network marketing. But it hasn't worked for them yet. So I want to help people make money. So I am all about ... Sure, you can go spend a hundred thousand dollars a month on Facebook ads, if you've got the deep pockets. But how many people do, you know.
So I'm all about starting right where the person's at, and helping them right where they're at. So if you don't have deep pockets, if you're struggling to make ends meet, and you really want to build your network marketing business, then you can start off absolutely for free on LinkedIn. You don't even have to pay for a LinkedIn subscription.
And you know, I'm into this now ... Well, it'll be 11 months that I launched my first LinkedIn thing. So I started one thing that I launched in August last year. So right now, I'm going to do it right around, say the 20th or so, of August.
So I'm 11 months into this, and I have not paid a dime for LinkedIn advertising. Not a dime. And I've made multiple six figures in the last 11 months.

Steve Larsen: That's amazing.

GloriaMacDonald: All on Linkedin.

Steve Larsen: That's fascinating. Now, is there things that you got to be aware of? I know on Facebook you got to be aware of a few things with [inaudible 00:20:28] marketing, and MLM on Facebook. Is LinkedIn the same?

GloriaMacDonald: No, LinkedIn is open to you just using the words network marketing, MLM. They're absolutely open to it, it's a business platform, and people are there to talk about business. And network marketing is a business. So, you know.

Steve Larsen: That's awesome.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah. And, I will say, Steven, that one of the things I see all the time, and it drives me bonkers, is ... And I even see this with people who are trainers. Network marketing trainers. And they've got training programs on LinkedIn. And what they're doing, is they're teaching people how to do Facebook on Linkedin. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Steve Larsen: Different platform.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, it's a different platform. It's a business platform. In fact, just yesterday, I was having a conversation with somebody, and she was sending messages to connections on LinkedIn. She said, "But nobody's messaging me back." And I said, "They don't." They don't.
This is not Facebook, it's not about being fake social. It's not about being, oh how's your day going today? Oh, you know, here's the color of my new toenail polish. Oh, this is what I had for lunch. No, this is business. This is not about having, you know, just mindless dribble conversations on messenger.

Steve Larsen: Oh, thank you.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah. Stop it, guys. Stop it. And it drives me bananas when I see people putting all the motivational inspirational quotes up on LinkedIn. Now, I am all about motivation and inspiration. I'm all about it. So here's the analogy I use. If you were an accountant, and you're going in to meet a prospective client, would you go in with a binder full of motivational, inspirational quotes to show your new perspective client? No!

Steve Larsen: If they were a poster store, maybe.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, but no, you're an accountant.

Steve Larsen: Yeah, no.

GloriaMacDonald: You're going to go in with a photo album of your family and what they did last weekend, or the picnic you had. It's like, no, guys. This is business. This is not Facebook. And I see network marketers doing it all the time. It's like, stop it.

Steve Larsen: Yeah, it comes off kind of weird. I heard somebody say, you got to match the content with the context of the platform. So it's like-

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah.

Steve Larsen: Totally, totally different feel on LinkedIn. That's not what that's for.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, absolutely.

Steve Larsen: So let's say you identify somebody. How do you approach that person on LinkedIn, without coming across like that? You said, they're not going to message you back. But how do you get their attention?

GloriaMacDonald: Well, I always lead with value. It's all about leading with value, it's literally about attracting people to you, because they're really interested in what you have to offer. So I send people an invitation to connect. Very simply, you don't have many characters anyway, you're limited to 300, and you can't put links in the initial message. So I send invitations saying, "Hey, I see you're with ABC company, I'd love to connect with you. Looking forward to it, thanks, Gloria." Super simple, right.

Steve Larsen: Yeah.

GloriaMacDonald: Right. And then when they connect with me, I send them a message saying, "Hey, thanks for connecting," I don't remember the exact wording, but it's something like, "I've found LinkedIn to be a super powerful place to build network marketing business. And here's a link to my free guide for four steps to power prospecting on LinkedIn."

Steve Larsen: Cool. So you give them some value, and you know you're talking to an MLMer, a network-

GloriaMacDonald: Exactly.

Steve Larsen: Wow.

GloriaMacDonald: Yep. So it's all about [inaudible 00:24:26], just like you're doing, Steven.

Steve Larsen: Yeah. Now so, you go, you leave them with value. And what are two steps you tell anybody. The first two things you need to go do in order to get started?

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, the first thing is to set up your LinkedIn profile very, very differently than what you ever thought. So most people think of LinkedIn as really an online listing. Get rid of all that crap. Use LinkedIn ... Use your profile page as a sales and marketing machine.
So I literally have sales coming in, seven days a week, while I'm sleeping. While I'm doing other things, you know. Because it's all automated.
Now at the end of the day, you have to talk to people. Sure, you can do things to get people really, really qualified, which is what I highly recommend, that you keep qualifying, qualifying, qualifying. So that you're only speaking to people who have raised their hand multiple times, saying, "Yes, I'm interested, yes I'm interested, Yes I'm interested." And then, at that point, you get on the phone or zoom with them, or whatever, and talk to them about your opportunity.
But it's all about using automation to pre-qualify people, so you're not wasting time talking to people who aren't open to, and interested in what you have to offer. So you really are only doing rejection-free prospecting and recruiting.
So take everything off your profile page that has anything to do with where you worked, what year you worked there, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And just because the LinkedIn field might say company name, you don't have to put company name in there. I put the title of one of my [inaudible 00:26:24] in there.

Steve Larsen: Oh, I love it.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, I put four steps to power prospecting. Free gift. You know, that's the company name. Location, we don't care about location. We're-

Steve Larsen: Internet.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, internet. It's the internet.

Steve Larsen: Everywhere.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah. You know? So, just because it says location, doesn't mean you have to put location in there. Put a link, put a link to where they can get the [inaudible 00:26:51] or put a link to your online calendar, or whatever it is. But give people a way to connect with you.
Now, links on your profile page on Linkedin, are not live. You have to copy and paste them. You know, LinkedIn, like everything else, is trying to keep people on the platform. But that's okay. I still put, "Copy and paste this link."
And yeah, so use your profile page as a sales and marketing tool. And I would also say, don't put anything on your profile page about your network marketing company.

Steve Larsen: Amen, oh my gosh, amen.

GloriaMacDonald: Yup, take all that stuff off there, and lead with value. So, what is it that you have to offer your target audience, free information that will help your target audience with whatever their paying points are.

Steve Larsen: Wow. Okay, okay. So step one, drastically treat that profile page completely different from most likely pretty much all of us are. Not totally different though.

GloriaMacDonald: [inaudible 00:28:05].

Steve Larsen: And two, what would be the second thing you'd have people go do?

GloriaMacDonald: Then, be very targeted in terms of who you are inviting to connect with you. And who's invitations, when people send you an invitation to connect with them. I only accept invitations from people who are in my specific target market. I do not accept invitations from people who are not in my target market.

Steve Larsen: I accept everybody. Uh-oh.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, I wouldn't do that.

Steve Larsen: I don't even get on it that much. I'm totally going to get on this thing now.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, well you better, Steven.

Steve Larsen: Yeah, that's awesome.

GloriaMacDonald: I mean, seriously. Linkedin is an absolutely untapped gold mine for network marketers. It's an untapped gold mine.

Steve Larsen: Wow. Okay, okay, profile. Step two, get real targeted on who you allow, and don't allow. And who you're going for, and don't go for.

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah.

Steve Larsen: And then step three, is probably go buy your course, yeah?

GloriaMacDonald: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you could do that.

Steve Larsen: I appreciate you being on here and sharing everything. Everyone, you said it's GloriaMacDonald.com? Go to?

GloriaMacDonald: Yes. Yeah, so M-A-C for MacDonald. Gloria MacDonald dot com. Or you can find me on LinkedIn. Gloria MacDonald. And I'm in Toronto, Canada. But Gloria MacDonald. Or on Facebook, Gloria MacDonald.

Steve Larsen: Oh my gosh. Well, we appreciate you taking the time. This has been absolutely amazing. And frankly, this is the kind of stuff I just feel like, no one really ... You know, this is disruptive information, everybody. I hope that you take time to sit down and actually re-listen to this, and write down the steps she just said. Because that's very powerful, and come back. You owe Gloria a huge testimonial when you made your millions, as well.

GloriaMacDonald: Thanks, Steven. It was great to be here with you today.

Steve Larsen: Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Oh, isn't Gloria awesome? You can't learn that stuff anywhere else. Hey, kick a thank you over to Gloria, and check out Secret MLM hacks, by going to Gloria is awesome dot com. Again, that's Gloria is awesome dot com.

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