Yesterday, out of the blue, I got a call from some salesman in Michigan. Nice guy, I enjoyed the chatter. He was friendly enough, listened to me blather when I thought it was someone else, and even laughed at the noisy background in my office since I work from home. As the conversation went on, he was promising me the moon, and giving me a curiosity pitch.

Now, I grew up on Amway, and I dont mind telling you, I sold soap, I bought groceries with money earned from selling soap, and I sponsored people into the business to sell soap. It wasnt a secret, and I didnt have a problem telling my friends I had available the best soap on the market. It irritated the daylights out of me when some new guy on the block came in and started talking to my people using the curiosity approach.

The salesman from Michigan wasnt selling soap, but his lame curiosity approach hit me like a load of bricks. I made the phone call out of curiosity, but at no point during the call was I interested in purchasing his product, and particularly NOT when I found out I would be lining his pocket with $1,000 while purchasing a product for $1,499 to learn how to pull in a candidate and line my own pocket with a $1,000 sale. Uhhh something wrong here? Before my prospect has made a dime, I just ripped him for a thousand dollars. Theres a better way.

Whatever product I sell, whether it be soap, Amway still makes the best laundry products in the world, or some other product, my objective is NOT to make a mint on a few customers, but rather to provide a quality product at a reasonable price and show my client how to do the same thing. If my prospect is interested in making money, I will show him how to have confidence in the product and sell the product, outright.

Curiosity has an appeal, but I believe it makes more enemies than friends. If you have a product you are proud of what are you waiting for? TELL The World!

If you cant make your millions selling your product at a reasonable price, I can assure you, you wont make them a thousand dollars at a whack. Oh, sure you may make a few thousand may even make a million once. But how many thousand people do you really think are out there that will buy into the same game plan?

Be reasonable, sell your product for reasonable prices, have some quality in the package, and make a reasonable profit. Once the word gets out, youll sell more. And each person didnt have to come up with a weeks salary (or more) to buy into your game plan.

Yes, you can make a million dollars on the phone. You can do it one call at a time, or you can do it with conference calling features. My point is do it in a way that builds integrity. Dont use the curiosity approach to ad-nauseum; youll kill more prospects than you sell.

Jan Verhoeff

Somewhere between college and life, Jan began to focus on other people. Her intense need to feel accomplishment in her life drove her to finding a deeper contentment than just existing in the hoot 'n holler of southeastern Colorado. While the beauty of the prairie never escaped her eye for color and beauty, the intensity of her desire kept her moving ever onward.

Summers in Michigan and Tennessee brought her closer to something, but it wasn't until much later, as an adult, mother of four that she began to understand that her need for accomplishment included sharing what she had learned along the way. It also meant that her talent for painting the dream and writing her thoughts had a lot to do with her accomplishments.

She began to focus on actually writing down her thoughts and ideas in journals, revealing her prayer thoughts and life events. Bits of paper became treasures of memory, and a notebook became an outlet of hope and a step of faith. Jan put her thoughts on paper, and began to publish them, where she found opportunity, including various magazines, trade journals, and local publications. Her interests in business and new enterprise became a resounding outlet for her talent, and wisdom for those who sought it. Jan's interest in business development became her trademark, resulting in her first book publication in !992, "Building a Business: From Scratch". This 22 page booklet was published by a local printer in a vertical brochure format, selling more than a thousand copies nation wide. It has resurfaced in college classes as the basis for college term papers, graduate thesis, and research documents for small business courses over the past 13 years.

Seeking more diverse outlets for her talents, Jan most recently has written several short stories published in various books, including: "Stories for the Trail" with the Lamar Writer's Group, "Prickly Points of Life" a combination poetry/short story collection of Jan's work, and "Coffee Clatter" a bound collection of written works originally published in a newsletter published by her daughter, Brenna, as a Sophomore Year Project when she was homeschooling at Buchanan Academy.

More recently her work is available in a newsletter she publishes weekly via email, and various blogs listed on the right side of this page.

You may contact Jan at: janverhoeff@yahoo.com