Search the Community

Do you remember the old phrase “this ___________ (fill in the blank with the product of your choice) practically sells itself” ? It has many useful applications - like a salesman bragging about how good his product is – to a sales manager giving a pep talk to the new recruits of his sales force. If it was that easy – then everyone should succeed at selling it. Like in the old commercial of the guy who is a natural at sales but his selling skills are not needed with this product – all he has to do is mention the name of the car and a customer swoops in and – $ ding $ - sold! I don’t know how many times I’ve been in way-meetings geared to outreach, getting a class together, moving “the word”, witnessing, etc. that more or less said the same thing in any number of clever ways. But one of the differences between selling a name brand car and snake oil (like PFAL, WAP, and any other maximum-amount-of-bull$hit-in-a-minimum-amount-of-time class) is that one is a reliable form of transportation and the other takes you for a ride…or if you prefer the savvy consumer translation: the car actually does work based on a good design of real working parts…whereas snake oil is a fraudulent liniment that does not have snake extract in it; it has come to refer to any product with questionable or unverifiable quality or benefit. I’m the farthest thing from ever wanting to be a salesman. I prefer to work with tools and fix stuff. Years ago, I was young…naïve…idealistic…and was actively searching for something – just didn’t know what it was I was looking for…I was checking out eastern religions, ESP, Edgar Cayce – but when I saw “enables you to separate truth from error” (one of the fantastic claims on the back of the green PFAL sign-up card) my heart said “sold!”…My searching was over…pass the syllabus and praise the snake oil mill. I joined The Way International because I believed that all their fantastic claims and promises were true. It’s a funny thing though…I spent 12 years spinning my wheels chasing after elusive pipe dreams – always trying to convince myself and others that all of TWI’s fantastic claims and promises of benefits were for real. I want to add a side note here that sort of relates to how I use to view PFAL. Not too long ago I found a fascinating observation made by author Daniel Klein in “Every Time I find the Meaning of Life, They Change It”, page 3: “But in recent Western philosophy, the how-to-live question has pretty much taken a backseat to the question of epistemology (How can we know what is real and true?) and logic (What are the necessary principles of reason and rational discourse?).” I use to think of PFAL as an all-in-one package…like a one-stop-shop - - I understood it to be something that answered the how-to-live question, how I could know what is real, and it would all be logical and make sense from any angle. it was supposed to solve the how to live more than abundantly question…it was supposed to enable me to separate truth from error …it was supposed to show me how to increase the power of God in my life…it was supposed to bring me to the place that I know that I know that I know… The problem with PFAL, WAP, or whatever classes they push - is that age old problem of snake oil - questionable and unverifiable in quality and benefit ....so promoters have to make a lot of empty promises and claims that the product cannot fulfill...and here's how the scam is perpetuated - we do whatever suckers do when they really buy into the product, by investing more time, money and resources...we don't want to admit we've been duped...no, we're too smart for that...besides our leaders tell us if we would simply believe in the greatness of what's in this class or that class we'd have no problem getting others interested in it...the class would literally sell itself...folks would hear how much we think we're enriched by the class and they'd want to think like that too. yeah that's the ticket - talk it up big! ...so we keep telling ourselves we've got to get our believing up...be positive in our attitude...make sure we're confessing positive things... study the class materials more...keep our minds immersed in it...master it! our hope is in keeping at it so diligently - someday all that effort will payoff...I mean how smart is that? To deny the obvious - that it doesn't work...we're just fooling ourselves...it's also known as self-deception - and I'm sorry to say it but sometimes we can be so good at that. self-deception is the fine art of rationalizing away the relevance, significance, or importance of opposing evidence and logical argument...so I ask you - how's that more than abundant life working out for you? Is the lifestyle of a way-believer everything they said it was? TWI is lucky there's no lemon law for classes that have no practical value. If you buy a new car and it keeps breaking down most states have lemon laws to protect the consumer - and you can get your money back, get a different car, or whatever the state deems is a fair way to handle it...honestly, where are all the benefits you're supposed to have received from taking the classes? what kind of results have you seen by applying what you've learned in the classes? …Oh, by the way, this post is not about revealing TWI's formula for snake oil. You can read about that in lots of other threads in the About The Way forum. No, these are tips on selling snake oil for all you reluctant sales reps out there (folks still involved with The Way International). Ready for the first tip? You have to convince yourself that the __________ (fill in the blank with your choice of the maximum-amount-of-bull$hit-in-a-minimum-amount-of-time class) sells itself…you have to be sold on the idea that it sells itself. You MUST BELIEVE IN IT. You MUST BELIEVE IT REALLY WORKS. And remember a person convinced against their will just needed more time at the Snake Oil Mill (fyi – it’s in Ohio). Here’s a few more tips on how to sell yourself on the value of snake oil which an unspecified number of people claim actually work – figuratively speaking, of course: Visualize what success will look like – believing images of victory – picture Eve closing the sale of snake oil to the Serpent. Positive affirmations – say it again and again…say it this time like you mean it. Here’s some examples: Be the snake oil; I and my snake oil are one. Oil for one and one for oil. Walk out on your believing…literally…if you don’t believe in snake oil then leave…and don’t come back until you do. Do a word study of “and” while at the same time substituting the words “snake oil” in every occurrence; for example, Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven snake oil the earth.