Implement these simple strategies to make sure your communications are crystal clear.
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As a direct selling company executive, you likely spend a lot of time speaking onstage and talking to people. Some of you have also spent time talking to the media. Chances are excellent that you’ve received media training to prepare you for those situations.
During Direct Selling University (DSU), I led a mini media-training workshop for direct selling leaders, incorporating elements of the Spaeth Method, the cornerstone of our client media and communications training.
This approach is designed to help business leaders understand how to reach all their different audiences effectively, by focusing on what you want your audience to hear, believe and remember.
Never, never, never repeat the negative. When you deny the negative, the listener hears just the opposite.
Words Matter
Words stick in people’s minds. If you’re the company spokesperson, whether you’re talking to the media, your independent sales force or employees, whether you’re talking on social channels or in person, what you say and the words you use matter.
It sounds so simple, but it makes a big difference. Yet, this communications rule is often ignored.
Here’s a prime example: The Dallas Mavericks basketball team recently made a gigantic mistake. First, they traded their star player, Luka Doncic, to the Los Angeles Lakers. Second—and worst of all—they underestimated how angry everybody in Dallas would be. In an interview, former Mavs owner Mark Cuban said, “Yeah, you’re going to make mistakes. And, you know, I think the biggest challenge that the Mavs have right now is there’s nobody who’s going to communicate.”
It’s not so much what you do as how you communicate what you do and why you do it. That’s your challenge.
The Influence Model
The Influence Model™ is a key element of Spaeth Training, powered by Sunwest Communications, a copyrighted communications training system developed by Merrie Spaeth, the owner of Spaeth Communications for 30 years and, before that, director of media relations for President Ronald Reagan. I’ve long been a Merrie fan and am now fortunate to count her as a Sunwest Communications colleague.
This technique focuses on the words you choose to ensure your audience leaves remembering what you want them to believe. And that they hear it; they remember it; and they believe it—and ultimately, pass it on.
Who’s Your Audience?
Always ask yourself, who is your target audience? What is your target audience? Is it your independent sales force? Employees? Regulators? The general public? Knowing who you’re talking to and who you’re trying to reach is always key.
How are you connecting with them? There are formal and informal communication networks. Formal networks are those you control: marketing and advertising, the corporate website, presentations and newsletters.
Informal networks are any communications and conversations you don’t control. They are powerful, credible routes for communicating your messages. These include the local, national or global media and verbal encounters like meetings, speeches and person-to-person communication.
Good Word-Bad Word Drill
The Good Word-Bad Word drill is a key component of the Influence Model training.
It is astounding how many experienced communicators forget to use their good words—key, positive words. When leaders forget to use good words, they don’t enlist their audience to truly understand what they’re talking about, to hear, to believe and to remember.
They also forget to avoid using bad words, which have negative connotations.
What are the bad words used to describe direct selling? A pyramid scheme? It’s one of the bad words other people use to disparage our channel. But…have we used it ourselves (and to our detriment)? Yes!
When someone says, “Are you a pyramid scheme?” the response often reflexively repeats the negative. “No, we are not a pyramid scheme.” We tend to pick up and repeat the words we hear.
Bad words, of course, are negative words that you repeat. This is exactly what we’re trying to avoid. Never, never, never repeat the negative. When you deny the negative, the listener hears just the opposite.
DSU attendees used other good and bad words during this exercise.
Some of the most famous examples that illustrate this tenet came out of the mouths of powerful, skilled communicators. Their denial of the negative—repeating bad words in response to questions from the media—live on forever:
- “I am not a crook.” —Richard Nixon
- “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” —Bill Clinton
- “I am not a bully.” —Chris Christie
And there are other less famous but memorable denials:
- “Creepy is as creepy does.” —Joe McGinnis, reporter and Sarah Palin’s neighbor
Is he creepy? Did he move close to Sarah Palin to be creepy—even though he says he didn’t? During an interview with CBS, he repeated the bad word “creepy” multiple times. This example is creepily memorable.
- “Football is not in a crisis.” —Gianni Infantino, FIFA President
During a FIFA press conference, the spokesperson repeated “crisis” five times! Well, when you’re on your phone, and you’re watching this clip, or if you’re a traditional news watcher and you’re making dinner when you hear him say this, you’re going to walk away absolutely thinking, “FIFA is in a crisis.” This is exactly the opposite of what the FIFA president wants you to hear, believe and remember.
These “bad” words are what we remember…and what reporters feature in headlines.
And then there’s the piling on of bad words. Let’s go back to the Mavs’ maligned (to this day) trade of Luka Doncic. A few weeks later, Southwest Airlines announced that their long-standing “bags fly free” policy was ending. A lot of customers were really upset, really disappointed, but they’re loyalists. We love Southwest Airlines.
But then Southwest posts on social media: “Hey, it’s not like we traded Luka, right?”
Wrong!
“Get over it”—that’s what they’re saying. Get over it. It wasn’t that bad.
This communication really backfired in a way the airline didn’t intend.
Enlisting Your Audience
We want to enlist our audiences to pass on the message that we want them to pass on. It sounds so simple. Don’t repeat the negative. Use positive words. Say things that you want people to hear, remember and believe.
But it isn’t easy in practice. Having been on the other side of the camera, I can tell you that when someone asks, “Are you a pyramid scheme?” the first reflexive thing you want to do is say, “No, we are not a pyramid scheme.” It’s not the message we want to pass on to our audience. It’s the exact opposite of what we should do.
As you already know, your first audience is your independent distributors. They are your most important ambassadors, as are your corporate employees.
FedEx has successfully utilized its employees as brand ambassadors. Behind that success is effective communication of the company’s customer service plank, the Purple Promise, I will make every FedEx experience outstanding. FedEx does this intentionally, repeatedly sharing stories about employees demonstrating the Purple Promise.
Many of you already do this with your independent distributors. You accentuate the positive. You tell a story, giving a character a name, someone with a face, a story that your audience will remember, believe and pass on.
If you’re talking to a reporter or an angry distributor who doesn’t like that their favorite product has been discontinued; that you’ve revised the compensation model; or any other change they don’t like, how do we—as leaders—communicate to ensure that our message gets across so that people hear what we want them to hear, remember it and believe it?
The Acknowledgment Technique
First and foremost, you can’t simply ignore the question and move into your positive message. Particularly if somebody is angry, you must acknowledge every single question.
Did you know that there are only three answers to a question? Yes. No. Maybe.
The acknowledgment technique responds to the reporter’s question without being constrained by the question.
Your acknowledgment phrase:
- No, not exactly.
- Yes and no.
- It’s more complicated than that.
Your key message: The response you want to give. Key messages or headlines use good words as the backbone of the response you want to give. Headlines are short, memorable and make a claim. This technique is responsive to the reporter’s question without being constrained by the question.
Acknowledge the question, then proceed to your headline. Lastly, include some key facts or proof points to back up your headline’s claim. Use your good words. And remember, never repeat the negative. Good words rule. Bad words are out.
Crayton Webb owns Dallas-based Sunwest Communications. He led the Mary Kay global corporate communications team for 12 years. Spaeth Training, powered by Sunwest Communications, is a strategic consulting, media and speaker training and crisis communication practice.
From the September/October 2025 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
