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Get leads…convert leads…that’s “all” there is to it…

Monday, March 19th, 2012

As a home business owner/network marketer there are “only” two things you need to master as far as skill sets go: One – Get leads. Two – convert those leads into profits.
 
Firstly, lead generation: 30+ quality leads per day is your first benchmark, but no need to stop there. The more, the merrier.
 
Whether you are using paid strategies (“direct response”) or “free” ones (content marketing and social networking) it’s essential that you hit the 30 leads/day mark ASAP.
 
Remember, leads are the FUEL for your marketing engine. You require a steady, regular lead flow in order to have consistent customers and, therefore, a profitable home business.
 
(By the way, I’m putting free in quotation marks here because there’s really no such thing as “free traffic”. What you don’t pay for in dollars, you’ll pay for with your time. And what’s more valuable than your time?)
 
Second, converting leads into profits: If you don’t master this, you are in dire straits, my fellow network marketer. Because leads that aren’t converted are of course nothing but an expense…
 
Contrary to a lot of people out there, I don’t believe in calling leads. I believe calling your leads is the perfect way to bring the wrong people into your MLM.
 
Rather than calling your leads, the way to turn them into money in your pockets is to put so much value out there on the Internet that your prospects – the RIGHT individuals – sell themselves on working with you. (This is how I’ve built my entire business. I never have, and never will, call leads.)
 
Articles, press releases, videos, your blog, social media – it all works together to help you gradually build a powerful online presence. You should be working on this every single day, growing your presence on the Internet.
 
The more valuable content you’ve got out there, the more of the leg work will have been done beforehand – before you get Mr or Mrs Prospect on the phone!
 
When you eventually talk, they will already have come to know you, trust you and like you through your online presence, and all you really need to do at this point in order to pull in the sale is say to the word….or words.
 
Such as, “Let’s get you started, shall we?”
 
It’s not even a question. You’re directing them, telling them what to do – simply guiding them along to the sing up form. They’ve already sold themselves on working with you.
 
There’s no “selling” taking place at this point. You’re already PAST that point.
 
So many network marketers get this part wrong. They struggle and push and (let’s be honest here) manipulate…trying to force the sale through. And the more they push, the more the prospect runs in the opposite direction, because they hate being “sold” to.
 
We ALL hate being sold to.
 
So…forget all that.
 
Instead focus on –
 
A) Giving value…MASSIVE value, continously and consistently (as I always say, “learn something, then pass it on”),
 
B) Presenting yourself as that Leader your prospect is looking for,
 
C) Last but not least…take your eyes off yourself and your own needs and instead, truly pay attention to your prospect’s needs and wants. (Trust me, they will be able to tell the difference!)
 
Do this, and you will be on your way to becoming a Master Marketer.
 
 
<----- SHARING IS CARING. If you think this post could benefit others, consider re-tweeting, sharing or "liking" it. Also, as always, feel free to leave me a comment below.

 
 
 
Successfully,
 
 

 
 
More here:
 
Meet me on Facebook
 
Watch me on Youtube
 
Attend My Trainings
 
 
 
 
 

Posted in Attraction marketing, Lead Generation, Marketing Strategies, Sales Psychology, Sponsoring & Recruiting | No Comments »

Dazed, lost and confused…? Here’s what to do when overwhelmed – AND marketing on a shoestring budget

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Knowing what to do next and how to prioritize your priorities as home business owners, well, it can be a challenge for the best of us.
 
The other day one of my very astute “Her Success Blueprint” students, Carmen, left a nice message for me on my Facebook page, asking for some direction with her marketing.
 
I decided to write this message in response to her questions so that it can benefit others, too, who may be wondering the same. For sure, these are common questions that pretty much all new home business owners have!
 
Carmen was basically asking, “What now?” She’s read my eBook, she’s diligently studying the resources in the back of the book, she’s following my daily marketing newsletters…
 
But where does she actually start? What should she DO specifically to get her business up and running?
 
Very important questions! In particular, Carmen was looking for some ideas for a shoe string budget, so let’s look at that now. And let’s see if I can help her – and you – get a bit of a clearer sense of direction. Pin-point the non-negotiables as it were.
 
As you may remember, in “Her Success Blueprint” I talk about the importance of having a 90 day plan…you absolutely must, must, plan ahead. (Go back and reread that part if you need to. It’s in Section III, ‘Your Plan’…then go to Part 2, “Building Your Empire”.)
 
 
CHOOSE YOUR MARKETING STRATEGIES.
 
Next, you need to choose a marketing strategy, or strategies. If you’re on a shoestring budget (say $100-$300 a month), you’ll have to go with the “free” or “low cost” stuff.
 
Some ideas would be: Article or video marketing, blogging or press releases.
 
Choose one or two strategies that you can see yourself getting really passionate about and then seek to become a true expert in that strategy.
 
Say you’ve decided that blogging is “it” for you. Then make it your daily pursuit to consume every webinar, marketing call and course that you can get your hands on on this topic. Eat, breathe and live blogging. Seriously!
 
 
MAKE YOUR CONTENT GO VIRAL.
 
Be sure to utilize TribePRO - truly a “must” if you plan to do any kind of content marketing! But get the paid version, not the free one, because only the paid version lets you automate the process of sharing others’ content (they’ll then do the same for you).
 
You may remember Rhonda from my book, a successful consultant in the UK that I trained in my primary business, who built her entire business with free blogging strategies. But, very importantly, she used TribePRO from day one to make her content go viral all over the web.
 
Regardless of what marketing strategy or strategies you go for – paid or free – there are a couple of items that you’ve got to add to your “to do” list:
 
 
NON-NEGOTIABLE #1: YOUR BLOG.
 
1.) You need to have a blog. Even if you aren’t planning to using blogging as a primary marketing strategy, you still need a blog. I’d go so far as to say that your blog is your most valuable asset as a marketer.
 
It’s your home base, the place where your prospects go to learn more about you and how you can help them.
 
You should be posting fresh content on your blog 2-6 times a week. Keep bringing your prospects back to your blog to build trust and credibility. This, as you may remember from my book, is the real purpose of content and social media marketing.
 
As for the blogging platform itself, I highly recommend you go with WordPress.org (“self-hosted”, not free, but not very costly, either, however you will need to outsource the set-up as it is pretty “techy”, and this could cost a little. It’s money well spent, though!)
 
If you simply cannot fit .org into your budget no matter what, then use the free version, WordPress.com. But this really is your last resort because the .org version gives you so many more options as far as layout, look and design goes, and it just looks a lot more professional.
 
But hey, you do what you can and you start where you’re at, right?!
 
 
NON-NEGOTIABLE #2: YOUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.
 
2.) You need to have Facebook fan page (also called “business page”). This is separate from your Facebook profile, and anyone can set this up on Facebook. It’s free by the way.
 
Every business these days has a Facebook fan page, and if you learn how to “work it” you can start generating some free leads this way, too.
 
For more on what your Facbeook fan page should look like and what type of content to post on it (no, it should NOT be about your products or opportunity!), click HERE to read a useful blog post I wrote on the topic.
 
Those two – your blog and your Facebook fan page – are the only “web pages” you need for starters other than the pages in your sales funnel. But you obviously also need to have a sales/marketing funnel as well…
 
 
YOUR MARKETING SYSTEM & SALES FUNNEL.
 
You need a funnel that consists of a lead capture page, sales pages and auto responder messages. For this I highly recommend MLSP - I simply don’t know of a more user friendly system out there.
 
It comes with training, too, which will allow you to dig into various marketing strategies and become a true master at Attraction Marketing and it can be used with any MLM or network marketing opportunity.
 
Note: You’ll need to have your funnel set up and ready to receive leads before you start driving traffic into it!
 
If your marketing strategy of choice is video marketing, then obviously you need a YouTube channel as well (also free).
 
Now…once you’ve made sure you’ve set aside a budget for TribePRO and MLSP, also preferably WordPress.org (if you are going to use blogging as one of your main lead generation strategies, then .org truly is your only option)…
 
…then, if your budget allows it, think about outsourcing some article or press release writing to someone on Odesk or in The Warrior Forum. And if your budget doesn’t allow it…? Yeah, you guessed it. You’ll have to do it yourself.
 
 
HOW TO USE AFFILIATE MARKETING.
 
Carmen also asked about the use of affiliate marketing…another great question. It is very important to start monetize your list with affiliate programs as soon as possible, and I suggest you start by adding affiliate links on your blog – you can have a resource section like I have on mine.
 
You can also have banners on your blog for some of your favorite affiliate products.
 
The other place where I use affiliate marketing is in my auto responder messages.
 
With a marketing platform like MLSP, you will be able to easily add your affiliate links in your MLSP back office so that you instantly start earning commissions on every MLSP member that you bring in when they again go in their back office and purchase any of those same affiliate products!
 
The commissions are then traced back to, and paid out to…YOU! (Do a little money dance, now!)
 
As you set up your MLSP auto responder messages, which are pre-written but which you can personalize over time and at your own pace, the system also automatically inserts your affiliate links into the messages.
 
This is yet another way to monetize your subscribers/leads, and it will save you a lot of time that you don’t have to do this yourself!
 
 
ACTION, ACTION, ACTION.
 
What I’ve described above is exactly what  I did it when I was brand new to online marketing in order to generate quick cash flow.
 
So there, you have it, Carmen and everyone else – those are my own personal recommendations. That’s how I would do it if I were starting out all over again and if I didn’t have much of a marketing budget.
 
Remember, massive, massive, massive action is key – you’ve got to create momentum in your business; you’ve got to get those 30 leads a day.
 
Again, go back and re-read any info in my book pertaining to this subject, and be sure to check out the various links throughout the body of this message!
 
One step at a time, remember, and you will get there… :-)
 
<----- SHARING IS CARING. If you think this post could benefit others, consider re-tweeting, sharing or "liking" it. Also, as always, feel free to leave me a comment below.

 
 
 
Successfully,
 
 

 
 
More here:
 
Meet me on Facebook
 
Watch me on Youtube
 
Work with Me
 
 
 
 
 

Posted in Lead Generation, List Building, Marketing Strategies, Marketing Systems | No Comments »

Just leaked: Notes from my private team training yesterday on Facebook lead generation strategies!

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

To help you out with your Facebook marketing, here are the key points from my private (!) team training yesterday, which was all about generating free leads on Facebook. I know – I’m way cool… ;-)
 
Remember your Facebook fan page is a “business” page…it’s not like your regular Facebook profile which can, and should be, be more personal.
 
BUT your Facebook page should still be about YOU the business person and leader – NOT about your MLM company, your opportunity or products. (Unless the products are your own and unique to you. Even then, promote with caution.)
 
 
YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE…THE LOOK AND FEEL
 
When it comes to your main photo, use a logo/banner like image rather than just a regular photograph. This logo should have a sharp looking photo of you on it where you have lots of posture, as well as your name and title right below the photo. This visual is VERY important – remember, this is the first thing that people see when they land on your Facebook page!
 
You can create such an image in Adobe Photoshop, or you can have it oursourced to someone on Odesk or Guru.com.
 
Examples of professional sounding titles you can use to describe yourself:
 

  • Internet Entrepreneur
  • Home Business Success Coach
  • Attraction Marketing Expert
  • Video Marketing Diva
  • Social Media Expert

    •  
    The options are endless…
     
    Important: Have an arrow on your logo that points to your links below, directing your page visitor to take action and opt in.
     
    One of the links should take your page visitor to a built-in lead capture page right there on your Facebook page. If you don’t know how to create this capture page yourself (you’ll have to know html code), you can outsource it to someone who does.
     
    Another option is to use one of the professional looking made-for-you lead capture pages that you’ll have access to as an MLSP platinum member. (Opt in here to take a test drive of the MLSP training platform. This is the very marketing system I use to build my own business.)
     
    Also when it comes to your Facebook “wall photos” and “photo albums”, remember that a picture says a thousand words. Lifestyle photos are great, but don’t think the only pictures that work are the ones taken by the pool of a 5 star resort on some tropical island!
     
    Rather, think family, friends, kids, pets, fun, sports, recreation, travel, nature, camping, picnics, parties, social gatherings, industry events you attend, and so on. You want your page visitor to get to know you and your life outside of your business. People connect with and relate to other people, not to companies or opportunities!
     
    Getting a lot of “likes”/”fans” quickly is also essential as this is social proof. It’s essentially “proof” that you are a leader who’s got real value to offer. Someone who’s worth following. Start by asking your existing contacts to “like” your page (don’t be shy!)
     
    Be patient…remember your likes will build over time. We’ve all got to start somewhere…
     
    Got a bit of a marketing budget? Then, consider running Facebook PPC ads, driving your traffic to your built-in Facebook lead capture page AND asking for the like in the ad itself (Facebook won’t charge you if the person just hits “like”, only if they click on your ad).
     
    Some people may not opt in and become a lead at this point but they’ll click “like” and become a fan!
     
    This way they actually help you build your social reputation AND they will start seeing your page updates on their own Facebook home page (this will now begin to happen automatically as a result of them “liking” your page)…
     
    This means you now have the opportunity to continue using Facebook to build a relationship with them and, down the road, you may very well see these people, too – who are “only” fans to start with – become leads, and then paying customers and clients!
     
     
    YOUR FACEBOOK STATUS UPDATES
     
    Consistency is key: Update 3-5 times a day – morning, mid-day and evening. If your status updates aren’t getting a lot of “likes” or comments, don’t get discouraged! Keep it up no matter what!
     
    Be professional, helpful, encouraging, engaging, positive, assertive, confident, genuine, unique, personal, bold, witty, interesting, different, solution oriented, always teaching, serving, training and giving value.
     
    This is Attraction Marketing – you’ve got to be the Leader your prospect is looking for. So whenever you log onto Facebook, put on your leader hat! (I talk much more about this in “Her Success Blueprint”.)
     
    Some ideas for status updates:
     
    1.) Links to your value driven blog posts.
     
    2.) Links to your value driven YouTube videos.
     
    3.) Videos directly uploaded to your Facebook page.
     
    4.) Quotes (Best if your own rather than “famous people’s quotes” – or put your own spin on known quotes).
     
    5.) Industry related news worthy announcements (i.e.: “Did you hear…on ABC News today…home business owners live longer than the rest of the population!”)
     
    6.) Links to valuable, pertinent, interesting information you have come across online (should be relevant to your fan/follower…ask, “how will this help them?”).
     
    I could, for example, share
     

  • An interesting article on Facebook marketing…like this one.
     
  • A funny, thought provoking video on how NOT to promote your MLM opportunity… like this one.
     
  • A valuable free resource for anyone who wants to learn to write better copy…like this one.
  • A great article on how to be more productive…like this one.
     

    •  
    Those are just a few ideas to help get your creative juices flowing. There’s no end to great information on the internet that you can share.
     
    7.) Welcoming new team members (This is a double whammy: it makes your new members feel appreciated PLUS it’s social proof that people are joining you – that you are actually getting results in your business! Like it or not, everyone wants to see “results”.)
     
    8.) Personal ideas/thoughts related to building a business, leading a team, growing as a person etc.
     
    9.) Photo Updates. But don’t upload all your photos at once…upload a couple one day, then a few days later, a few more.
     
    (The reason? Every time you add new photos to an album, these new pictures as well as the link for the particular album show up on your follower’s Facebook home page. This means increased visibility: Someone who missed your uploads the first time, may catch them the second time around!)
     
    10.) Screen shots of your results (Generating lots of leads, ranking on Google, climbing your company leader boards etc.) Again, results “sell”. But doing too much of this can be a bit obnoxious so don’t go overboard with it.
     
    11.) Facebook “Notes” (Facebook has an option called “write a note” – you’ll find a link for this right below your Facebook logo. These posts can be a bit longer than your status updates, and you can add an image to the note, too. Think of it as a mini-blog post.)
     
     
    INTERACTING WITH YOUR FACEBOOK FANS
     
    It’s essential that you interact on your page with your fans who leave comments on your page. But be self disciplined and develop good work habits as this could become a real vampire of your time.
     
    I recommend you have one or two set times each day when you go on your Facebook page and respond to comments from fans.
     
    And you don’t always need to reply with a written response: Sometimes it’s sufficent to just click “like” below someone’s comment on your page…they’ll then receive a Facebook notification that you “liked” their comment.
     
    It’s much like a nod or a smile: You’re acknowledging that you heard them, that you’re paying attention. And that’s often all it takes to make someone feel appreciated.
     
    As I wrap this up…remember that Facebook is incredibly viral – for good and for bad. Wherever you tread on Facebook, you’re leaving footprints. It is therefore extremely important that you learn the essentials of proper “social media behavior”.
     
    Have a hard time grasping all this? Well, it’s a lot easier when you can interact with me live and in person, see my computer screen and watch me demonstrate some of these strategies described above!
     
    And here’s the GOOD news: Right now, as a special bonus, you’ll get to sit in on a total of eight marketing trainings with me, for free, with your order of my “Her Success Blueprint” eBook. But hurry – space is extremely limited on these private weekly webinars.
     
    If you’re not already subscribed to my list, you can get all the details by going to the “Get Her Success Blueprint” link right below. See you on the inside!
     
    <----- SHARING IS CARING. If you think this post could benefit others, consider re-tweeting, sharing or "liking" it. Also, as always, feel free to leave me a comment below.

     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook
     
    Watch me on Youtube
     
    Attend My Trainings
     
     
     
     
     

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    Posted in Attraction marketing, Lead Generation, Leadership, Marketing Strategies, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment »

    How to stop being a “rookie” and finally make sales in your MLM!

    Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

     
     
    How do you attract people into your home business or MLM when you aren’t yet “successful”? If it’s true – and it is – that success in MLM is all about being the Leader that your prospects are looking for, how do you get them to see you as that Leader while you’re still brand new?
     
    I mean, it’s easy when you got the results…when you’ve got the awards and the screenshots of checks and wire transfers, when you’ve got thousands of followers on Facebook and subscribers on YouTube…but before you get to that point…?
     
    This is often the big “catch-22″ for new distributors: They’ve got to “have results” in order to be able to sponsor people, but at the same time they need to sponsor people to get results in the first place! So what’s poor rookie to do?
     
    Okay, first of all, stop using the word “rookie” (or “newbie”). Remove it, kill it…abolish it from your vocabulary forever. Put a rubber band around your wrist and snap yourself (hard) if you ever use that word about yourself again (or phrases like “if I make money”, “I can’t afford it”, and the likes).
     
    That will remind you to stop demoting yourself and subconsciously programming yourself to believe you aren’t good enough to be a Leader.
     
    So, now that we’re past that hurdle, here’s what you do…three things:
     
    1.) Start building your own brand from Day One. Your internet presence (your blog, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook etc) should be promoting “You the Leader”, NOT your MLM company.
     
    Using your company logo as Facebook avatar, making your Facebook fan page about your company or your products, using the name of your MLM in your email address (i.e. XYZcompanyrocks@gmail.com) – all of that, it’s like carrying a billboard around that reads, “Amateur”.
     
    No. You should be building You Inc. You are your business. You are the Leader.
     
    2.) Commit to excellence. Study your craft. Become ridiculously good at marketing. This is a life long pursuit, and if you truly want to master it, you’ve got to live it, eat it and breathe it ’till you’re obsessed with it.
     
    3.) Take on a role of leadership whenever you interact with your prospects – be it on the phone, in an email, on Facebook or wherever. That you can only do effectively if you’ve got points 1 and 2 down: your internet presence must be personal, not replicated, and you must have something of value to offer your prospect.
     
    You don’t need to know a LOT (yet) but you’ve got to know more than your prospect! You need to have some solution that they have yet to discover. This automatically puts you in a position of authority – you become the advisor, the person they go to for advice.
     
    These three points outline in very simple terms how you look “successful” before you have tangible results. This is exactly what I did when I was brand new in the industry and had yet to make my first sale.
     
    1.) I never promoted my MLM directly. I was always very conscious about building my brand – not my company’s brand. This made me look “strong”, “confident” and “leader like” in the eyes of my prospect.
     
    2.) I applied myself to my craft. I was committed to becoming great at what I do. To my prospects, I looked like a true expert and therefore an authority – even if, in the beginning, I only knew a little more than they did.
     
    3.) I put on my leadership hat whenever I interacted with prospects. And because my internet presence spoke of uniqueness, expertise and transparency, and because I “knew stuff” and was actually in a position to help others, this wasn’t difficult at all.
     
    Guess what happened…? My contacts started paying attention when I gave “recommendations”…when I gave them direction on what to do and what action steps to take, they listened. Because they trusted me, liked me, and respected me.
     
    This is how I started getting leads and customers…and before long, real results. The snowball was rolling. Slowly at first, then faster and faster. And – get this – before I knew it I had the coveted pictures of awards and screenshots of checks and wire transfers…!
     
    That’s “all” there is to achieving success in MLM. In an industry where everyone is just out to “get”, and where people are starved for leadership, seek to offer value and solutions, to give rather than take, and to step up to the plate and be a person of authority.
     
    “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want”. This famous Zig Ziglar quote, in the context of what I just shared in this post, becomes not only a possibility but a certainty.
     
     
     
    <----- SHARING IS CARING. If you think this post on how to achieve success in MLM could benefit others, consider re-tweeting, sharing or "liking" it. Also, as always, feel free to leave me a comment below.

     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook
     
    Watch me on Youtube
     
    Learn to market like a PRO
     
     
     
     
     

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    Posted in Attraction marketing, Lead Generation, Leadership, Mindset, Social Media Marketing, Sponsoring & Recruiting | No Comments »

    Are Facebook fan pages silly?

    Friday, December 30th, 2011

     
     
    Isn’t it too soon for me to create a Facebook fan page?
     
    Occasionally, I’ll get that question from one of my students. It’s really more of an objection. “Nobody knows who I am,” the argument goes. “I’m not a top earner yet. I’m not an expert. I’d feel silly having a fan page.”
     
    Of course, what they’re really saying is that they’re afraid to step outside of their comfort zone.
     
    I was in the same boat for a long time, believe me. The idea of having a fan page on Facebook before I had significant results made me cringe: Wouldn’t that just look foolish? Why would “little me” need a fan page?
     
    What I now realize, is this: It is your task as a marketer to make your future customers aware that you exist. A fan page is one of the best ways to do just that. Present yourself as a leader worthy of being followed, and you will soon start to attract a following.
     
    Knowing what I know now, I would have created a Facebook fan page from the get-go and not have waited as long. Because when you have a fan page, you get “likes”, and “likes” are social proof.
     
    Even if your page just sits there and you’re not actually advertising it by creating Facebook ads, even if you’re collecting a “like” only once in a blue moon, you’re still slowly building a following!
     
    In a few months this fan base may have built to a couple hundred. And at some point you’ll start driving traffic to your page with Facebook ads, which will help collect “likes” much more quickly.
     
    When you have built up your fan base to a few hundred, it’s time to add a plug-in to your blog for social proof – like I have on my blog here, down to the right.
     
    When your blog visitors see proof that all these other people like you, they’ll be more inclined to like you, too – and to opt in on your blog and become a lead in your funnel.
     
    Because everyone wants to work with and buy from those that they know, like and trust!
     
    At this point you may even be a successful marketer and people now know who you are! And – get this – for an industry leader, having a fan page is pretty much required!
     
    But while most other emerging leaders would now just be starting from scratch, building their fan base on Facebook after they’re recognized, you, on the other hand, are ahead of the game!
     
    You’ve been building your fan base for months, anticipating your breakthrough! You saw the bigger picture.
     
    Focus on giving value. Speak with posture and authority. Offer help and solutions. Be entertaining, think outside-of-the-box, and be outspoken, but in a way that is attractive.
     
    Remember, people see you as you see yourself. Instead of claiming that you’re “not an expert yet” and therefore should wait to create a fan page, commit to raising the bar on yourself and to working as hard as you can on becoming an expert as soon as possible.
     
    This naturally becomes easier the more knowledge you gain. However, chances are you already know more about marketing than 90% of your peers out there who aren’t as committed as you are to their self education!
     
    Because if you weren’t committed, you wouldn’t be reading this blog post, right?! ;)
     
     
     
    <----- P.S: If you enjoyed this post, feel free to re-tweet, share or "like" it...or leave me a comment below!

     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook
     
    Watch me on Youtube
     
    Learn to market like a PRO
     
     
     
     
     

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Lead Generation, List Building, Marketing Strategies, Social Media Marketing | 4 Comments »

    To call your leads, or not call your leads…that’s the question.

    Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

     
    This is a follow-up to a post that I wrote recently on this topic.
     
    The question is whether or not you as a home business owner should be calling your leads…
     
    I used to call my leads when I was new at marketing. I don’t anymore – but that’s not because, as I became successful, I turned into a snob.
     
    It’s because I’ve learned the secret of leverage.
     
    Can you increase your conversions by calling your leads? Absolutely.
     
    Will you have to deal with a lot of tire kickers when calling your leads? Absolutely.
     
    Knowing this – that calling your leads can increase your conversions but that you’ll also have to deal with heaps of people who aren’t right for your business – you simply have to weigh the pros against the cons and see which way the scales tip.
     
    It’s one thing when you’re new and have a limited number of leads. At this stage I believe everyone should be calling their leads.
     
    But when you’re driving a lot of traffic, when you’re producing 50, 100 or more leads per day, it makes no sense to spend all day on the phone talking to people who, for the most part, are “just curious”.
     
    Rather, what you want to do as your lead flow increases, is to introduce some sort of a “filter” into your sales funnel.
     
    It could be an application…a survey…an evaluation done by an assistant…some hoop that your prospects have to jump through in order to qualify for your time.
     
    I don’t care how serious you say you are – I only care about your actions.
     
    Words mean nothing, but demonstrate to me that you’re serious and I’ll be happy to give you of my time.
     
    To build a successful home business that continues to thrive, you need to generate massive amount of traffic and leads. And that part you need to automate as much as possible.
     
    As you get new customers and distributors, that’s when you start taking a personal interest in the people…that’s when you give, support, help, coach, mentor and train.
     
    And also..isn’t it really a WIN-WIN situation?
     
    I mean, isn’t it better for you as well, my new distributor or customer…that instead of spending my time and energy talking to leads, I’m spending it with YOU, someone who’s demonstrated that they’re serious and put their money where their mouth is?
     
    The home business industry is a wonderful industry, but if you don’t have automation, leverage and time management in your business, then you’ll die the death of exhaustion.
     
    And if you have to kill yourself to achieve your dreams, THEN what’s it all for?
     
    I’m just askin’…
     
     
     
    <----- P.S: If you enjoyed this post, feel free to re-tweet, share or "like" it...or leave me a comment below!

     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook
     
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    Automate Your Business
     
     
     
     
     

    Posted in Lead Generation, Marketing Systems, Mindset, Sponsoring & Recruiting, Time Management | 1 Comment »

    Leads are not your problem

    Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

     
    Whenever I do one-on-one coaching with my reps, I don’t just ask them to give me an account of how many leads they are producing daily, from which traffic sources, and at what conversion rates…
     
    I also ask for a list of all their various websites, social media profiles and links so that I can see what they’ve got “going on” online.
     
    You see, I have found this to be a very effective way to “take the temperature” on someone’s business.
     
    Often a consultant will come to our coaching session with the notion that they aren’t generating enough leads, then leave 30 minutes later with the understanding that the lack of leads isn’t really their problem.
     
    I find that most network marketers or online business owners fall into one of two categories:
     
    GROUP 1: They spend too much time on polishing their internet presence and not enough time on generating leads.
     
    Their blog has to look “just right”…same thing with their auto responder emails…desing of their Youtube channel…Facebook profile…the list goes on. They never really get going with their lead generation – they keep getting ready to get ready.
     
    These are the perfectionists among us. Only a small percentage of MLM’ers falls into this category.
     
    GROUP 2: Most network marketers belong in this group. They’ve heard how imperative lead generation is to their business, and so this is where they spend all their time and energy.
     
    “What do I need all the bells and whistles for?” they ask. ‘Bells and whistles’ as in photos on their blog (if they even have a blog), design, header, background, color schemes, free offers, videos and so on.
     
    Rather, they settle for the most basic website they can find, upload a not-so-professional-looking photo to their Facebook and their Youtube, and then they’re done. Or so they think.
     
    Off to study another lead generation strategy.
     
    Here’s why neither of these two approaches work:
     
    Having a fantastic looking blog (or Youtube Channel, Twitter background etc) but not driving consistent, quality traffic to it is like having a beautiful store front that no one sees.
     
    You may take great pride in your ownership of that store…you may stand outside and look over at your store, feeling all pumped up about it, but if you don’t know how to draw customers to your store, you just aren’t going to become very profitable…
     
    On the other hand, learning to generate leads but devoting little to no time to building your Internet and social media presence is like spending a fortune on advertising and sending heaps of customers to your store….but when your customers arrive, they see a bland looking, shabby, old building with empty display windows, no store front sign…no nothing.
     
    Why would they be inclined to enter your store, let alone buy anything from you?
     
    The solutions lies somewhere in the middle. Because successful marketing is about two things: 1.) driving leads, and 2.) turning those leads into shoppers who put money back into your pockets.
     
    Building your Internet presence (creating and maintaining a blog, distributing articles, videos, press releases, and posting in forums and on social networks) is a process. It takes time. And it will never be “perfect”.
     
    But it must not be neglected.
     
    If you don’t have a real Internet and social media presence, you don’t exist. Not in the world of online marketing.
     
    If, when your prospects google your name (and they will!), no search results come up because you don’t have any content out there…
     
    If, when they click on the link in your email signature and get taken to your blog and find very little value and that nothing has been posted in months…
     
    If in your photo, you look untrustworthy or nervous or depressed, or your videos are shot in a run-down apartment with no furniture (and all the while you’re giving them advice on how to make a fortune online!!)…your prospects won’t grow to like you, trust you and respect you…
     
    And if they don’t like you, trust you and respect you, they sure as heck won’t want to buy from you or join you in your MLM!
     
    The answer is to work on both the front end and the back end of your marketing: Learn to generate some traffic and how to convert this into profits…then more traffic into more profits…
     
    Master lead generation but at the same time build your internet presence bit by bit.
     
    Front end, back end.
     
    Drive traffic, convert traffic. Drive more traffic, convert more traffic.
     
    That’s how you not only build a successful business, but – most importantly – build it on a solid foundation…
     
     
    <----- PS: Feel free to re-tweet, share or "like" this post if you think it can be of help to others...and/or leave me a comment below!

     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook
     
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    Attend my Trainings
     
     
     
     
     

    Tags: , , , ,
    Posted in Attraction marketing, Lead Generation, List Building, Social Media Marketing, Sponsoring & Recruiting | 1 Comment »

    Is it okay NOT to call your leads? (Why callling your leads may, in fact, make you LESS profitable.)

    Thursday, June 16th, 2011

     
    I just got off a training call conducted by a respected, successful industry leader, and was surprised to learn that he in fact calls all his leads.
     
    He joked, “You better call all your leads or you can be sure they will opt in to my list, and I will call them…and sign them up!”
     
    That remark really got me thinking.
     
    That you’ll generally see a higher conversion rate if you connect with your prospects on the phone as opposed to leaving the whole follow up to your auto responders (automated emails) can hardly be disputed.
     
    Some people just won’t sign up for anything unless they get to speak to a “real person” first.
     
    But is calling your leads always what’s most profitable?
     
    Now before you accuse me of speaking with a forked tongue, hear me out:
     
    I believe that every network marketer needs to earn the right NOT to call their leads. Until you get to the point where you’re producing 50 leads a day, or $10 000 a month in revenue, you need to call your leads.
     
    Otherwise you’re leaving serious money on the table. Otherwise you aren’t maximizing your chances of seeing those leads convert to sales. (Not to forget, otherwise a certain industry leader will call your leads!)
     
    At that stage in your business it’s not really an option: You gotta get your elbows greased. And you gotta learn to become comfortable talking to people.
     
    But if you’re of the opinion that a person should always call their leads no matter what (as the leader insisted on his training) – even when they’ve established themselves in the industry and built a big downline – then you’re basically saying, “don’t scale your business”, “limit your income”.
     
    Because calling leads and talking to prospects takes a heck of a lot of time.
     
    And even if you work every waking hour of the day, your day still only has 24 hours.
     
    What I’m saying is that if your business is set up so that in order to sign distributors and move product, you have to call every single person who leaves their name and phone number on your web site, then you can’t produce an unlimited amount of leads.
     
    You can only generate as many leads as you can work it into your schedule to call.
     
    And even with cool software like Phone Burner, which helps you with your dials, it’s still you that’s got to engage in the conversation once that prospect picks up the phone. And you are still only one person.
     
    And you still have only 24 hours in your day.
     
    Which means that when you’ve generated a certain number of leads, you’ll have to stop. Because that’s all you can handle.
     
    Now since the number of sales a person will see is in direct proportion to how many leads they produce, limiting your lead flow means limiting your profits.
     
    So what’s the solution, then?
     
    You need to find a way to handle massive amounts of traffic, leads and prospects. One way to do this (the only way I know of) is to use an online marketing system.
     
    A system that consists of landing pages, sales pages and auto responder messages.
     
    A system that does the telling and selling, sorting and filtering for you, so that you don’t have to.
     
    So that you only need to spend time talking to the individuals who have gone through a qualification process online and in essence proven that they are serious.
     
    And the beauty of an online marketing system is that it works for you 24/7. Because the Internet, of course, never sleeps.
     
    Which means you won’t have to limit your lead flow.
     
    There are of course many, many network marketers who have built successful businesses without using a marketing system. Who are doing it the traditional way, making the phone calls and doing the one-on-one meetings.
     
    I’m not saying that they’re wrong. There are many ways to build a network marketing business. I’m not saying that mine is the only right way.
     
    I’m sure you can reach five-figures a month without using a system…and if $10K/month is all you’re after, and you also don’t mind calling leads, then great!
     
    But if you want to reach a multiple five-figure, even six-figure, monthly income and at the same time have a life (i.e. you are not chained to the phone)…the answer is to automate your business as much as possible.
     
    Ultimately it’s a matter of how you prefer to work your business, and of the size of your income goals.
     
    I just thought it was a bit ironic when on his training call, the leader claimed you are leaving money on the table if you aren’t calling your leads:
     
    It made me wonder if perhaps HE wasn’t the one leaving money on the table by having to limit his lead flow, and therefore also his profits.
     
     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook
     
    Watch me on Youtube
     
    Get “Her Success Blueprint”
     
     
     
     
     PS: Agree? Disagree? Feel free to re-tweet this post and/or to leave me a comment below!
     
     
     
     

    Posted in Lead Generation, Marketing Strategies, Marketing Systems, Sponsoring & Recruiting, Time Management | 3 Comments »

    Should you follow up with leads who “unsubscribe”…?

    Friday, June 10th, 2011

    One of the questions I was asked on yesterday’s “All Access Q&A” – a call I conduct on a regular basis for our PRO community – was whether you may contact a person who unsubscribes from your list, or if that will be considered SPAM.
     
    The short answer is “no”, you may not contact them (perhaps there are exceptions, I don’t know, but why risk it?)…you would be violating their rights if you do, and they they may even report you… (Believe me, people are petty enough to do that.)
     
    More importantly though – and I said this to the caller – you need to ask yourself why you want to contact someone who has let you know they are not interested.
     
    That’s chasing. That’s approaching your business with a mindset of poverty or scarcity. That’s NOT how you build a successful, thriving business.
     
    This is also why you need to generate massive amounts of leads. Then, you don’t get emotionally attached to the outcome.
     
    It’s almost impossible, though, not to get emotionally attached if you aren’t producing sufficient leads!
     
    If you’re not generating enough leads, you’ll find yourself thinking about whether a particular person is going to come in. You find yourself entertaining thoughts like, “I though he would have joined by now. He said he was going to get his start-up kit this week.”
     
    Maybe you’re even thinking about what products they’re likely to buy, the dollar amount this is going to put in your pocket, and how this will help fund your marketing for the following month.
     
    The problem is you haven’t even made the entry level sale yet!
     
    Never, ever, ever, ever become emotionally attached to the outcome of a business deal. You will soon become mentally exhausted!
     
    Not only that, but your prospects will sense your neediness. You will not come across as a professional.
     
    So, back to my caller and her question: It’s not so much about whether she should be contacting the person who unsubscribed – the real question is, why would she want to in the first place?
     
    The person is not interested, for crying out loud!
     
    My caller should be focusing her time and energy on driving more traffic. Much more traffic! 30, 50, 100+ leads a day.
     
    Leads are just leads. They put in their name and email on your website…so what? There’s no commitment from a lead. 95% of your prospects will never join you in your primary business anyway. (Yup, those are the industry stats.)
     
    And that’s exactly why you need heaps and heaps and heaps of leads.
     
    See, when you have consistent traffic flow, and you’ve worked out your metrics, and you know how to close sales and upgrade your distributors, it doesn’t concern you AT ALL that people unsubscribe from your list.
     
    You know it’s just a sorting process anyway, and you’re working your business with a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity: You know there’s no lack of qualified prospects.
     
    You’re not trying to please everyone – you’re just looking for a few select individuals. The right individuals.
     
    When you convey this through your marketing, and on the phone with people, you come across as that leader your prospects are looking for. And they sign up with you, because everyone’s looking for a leader (Attraction Marketing 101).
     
    Becoming a successful marketer is about two things: 1. Developing the skill set of driving and converting traffic, and 2. Developing the mindset of a leader.
     
    That’s “all” there’s to it.
     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook
     
    Watch me on Youtube
     
    Get “Her Success Blueprint”
     
     
     
     
     PS: Agree? Disagree? Feel free to re-tweet this post and/or to leave me a comment below!
     
     
     
     

    Tags: , , , , ,
    Posted in Attraction marketing, Lead Generation, Leadership, Mindset, Sales Psychology | 4 Comments »

    Marketing strategies vs. marketing budgets…some helpful pointers

    Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

     
    I recently conducted a Q&A call for PRO, the online community of entrepreneurs that I belong to, and one of the new members asked if I could post something on my blog about marketing budgets vs. strategies.
     
    So here we go – here are my recommendations:
     
     
    $500 – $1000+ /month: Primary strategy for traffic generation is direct response: Google or Bing, even Twitter or Youtube Pay-per-click (not to be confused with social networking on these same platforms). Set out to become a master at one direct response strategy.
     
    Combine this with content marketing (articles, blog posts, press releases): Content marketing will help build trust and credibility for you with your prospects, and thus, help turn traffic and leads into sales and profits.
     
    Depending on how much time you are going to be able to invest into your business and where your strengths are, I would consider outsourcing some if not all of your content marketing.
     
    This doesn’t have to be expensive by the way – use Odesk.com, Guru.com or the Warrior Forum. These all have some very reasonable outsourcing options.
     
     
    $100 – $500 /month: There are a couple of different schools of thought on what is the best way to spend a smaller startup budget… One has it you should always invest it in direct response – for two reasons:
     
    1. You learn best in the trenches – even if you don’t generate any profits at first, your skill set will improve…and
     
    2. It is very possible that you’ll be able to generate some traffic even with a limited marketing budget, get a sale or two, and now, suddenly you are in profit and have money you can reinvest into your marketing…and then you just continue to build this way…
     
    The other school of thought says that if you don’t have a decent marketing budget to spend on pay per click, it’s better to hold off, or you’ll simply find yourself starting something that you won’t be able to keep up if your limited marketing budget doesn’t produce any sales for you…
     
    Because when that money is gone, it’s gone.
     
    Better to invest your limited marketing funds into content marketing, they say: get as many keyword targeted articles and press releases outsourced and published as you possible can. Do a bunch of videos.
     
    When you run out of money, that content will still remain on the world wide web, help build your online presence and likely also produce traffic for you over time.
     
    (My personal note: The downside is that content marketing is nothing like direct response when it comes to producing massive amounts of traffic quickly and consistently. Whereas direct response traffic flows, content traffic comes in sprinkles and trickles.)
     
     
    $0-$100 / month: If you are on a shoestring budget, you are going to have to focus on “free” content marketing for a while.
     
    (I put “free” in quotation marks because there really isn’t such a thing as “free traffic”: What you lack in andvertising funds, you will have to make up for in time…and seriously, what is more valuable than your time?)
     
    As soon as you have generated some profits through these “free” methods, you’ll want to put what you earned right back into your marketing budget.
     
    I tell my new consultants that for the first 90-180 days they should be prepared to put 100% of what they make right back into their business…yes, on top of their existing marketing budget.
     
    And that’s regardless of whether they are starting out with free or paid strategies.
     
    You see, one of the worst mistakes you can make as a new marketer, is to lose momentum. It’s always bad to lose momentum but it’s especially bad in the beginning.
     
    You don’t want to get started and then have to stop because you didn’t plan ahead properly and ran out of marketing funds – that’s a mistake a lot of new marketers make.
     
    I strongly recommend that you plan your advertising budget for the next six months.
     
    Ask yourself, “what can I commit to spending per month over the next six months…money that I have coming in from other sources, not profits from my business (since I don’t know how quickly these will be coming in) but other funding. Funding I can rely on 100% for my marketing, and which will go toward building my business no matter what…?”
     
    It’s no different than paying your mortgage or your car insurance every month. The money is there because it has to be. It’s in your budget; it’s a necessity.
     
    That’s how you want to look at the funding of your business, too. Even if the amount you can spend in the beginning is very small.
     
    Hope this helps!
     
     
     
    Successfully,
     
     

     
     
    More here:
     
    Meet me on Facebook 
    Watch me on Youtube 
    Get “Her Success Blueprint”
     
     
     
     
     PS: If you enjoyed this post, feel free to re-tweet it and/or to leave me a comment below!
     
     
     
     

    Posted in Lead Generation, Marketing Strategies | No Comments »

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