Archive for the ‘Lead Generation’ Category

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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:
 
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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
 
 
 
 
 

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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
 
Watch me on Youtube
 
Get “Her Success Blueprint”
 
 
 
 
 

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
 
Watch me on Youtube
 
Get “Her Success Blueprint”
 
 
 
 
 

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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!
 
 
 
 

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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 »

20 *hot* marketing tips that make THE difference in your business in 2011

Friday, January 14th, 2011

 
Here are some simple, tried-and-true tips that can help you boost your results in 2011. They are based on a list I put together for my own team members recently, but I modified it slightly and posted it here, hoping it could benefit others as well.
 
These ideas all spring from my own experiences of what has made the greatest difference in my success as an Internet marketer.
 
I recommended you pick a handful of them and start implementing them in your business today. Let me know which ones you commit to: feel free to leave me a comment below!
 
 
1. Connect with two or three people on your team or perhaps in some online networking community that you belong to: touch base often, hold each other accountable. Staying in close connection with other like-minded individuals can make ALL the difference during challenging times in your business.
 
2. Plan your marketing budget (however big or small) for the next 6 months and stick with it no matter what: What are you going to be spending on your marketing per month for the next 6 months to build your business to momentum?
 
This marketing budget is not based on whether or not you make sales in your business – it’s funding coming from other income sources. But any profits your make in your business should be added to this budget.
 
3. Opt in to the email list of one or two successful leaders in the industry that you feel you resonate with: Follow them closely, see how they market themselves as leaders, and model yourself after them (-model, not copy).
 
4. Bookmark CopyBlogger.com and use it whenever you need inspiration for headlines, subject lines for emails, and other copy. It’s free, and it’s a fabulous place to start learning some basic copy writing.
 
5. Mark your calendar for your company’s next marketing event and commit to being there. There is simply no substitute for live events, and you can’t even begin to grasp what I mean until you actually attend one. You come back as a changed person, and when you change, your business changes.
 
6. Add one more hour to your workday: That’s six extra hours a week; 24 extra hours per month. Then, ask yourself what sacrifices you need to make in order for this to happen.
 
7. Become more deliberate about how you spend your time: Plan your weekly schedule – I recommend using an online calendar and writing down specifically what you will be working on each and every day of the week, blocking out 1,2 or 3 hour blocks of time.
 
8. Become more consistent about “working your list”, using promos, free offers & bonuses, conducting online webinars for your subscribers, etc, as a way of giving value, building trust & credibility and prompting your prospects to take action more quickly.
 
9. Learn to leverage & recycle all your content: Here is a youtube video I did where I explain how to do this.
 
10. Start personalizing your email auto responders. You’ll find some helpful training tutorials for this as well on my youtube channel.
 
11. Pick one direct response marketing strategy and master it to perfection: focus on that one strategy only; learn everything there is to learn about it.
 
12. Unsubscribe to all those email lists that you never should have gotten on in the first place, which are doing nothing but filling up your inbox.
 
13. Start calling your leads. NOT calling your leads is a right you have to earn, and unless you’re generating 30 or more leads a day consistently and/or making $10K a month, you haven’t earned that right yet.
 
14. Commit to doing keyword research for everything you write and publish: if you aren’t using keywords properly in all your online marketing, you are going to get buried in the Internet graveyard where no one will find you.
 
15. Become crystal clear on your “why”. Why do you do what you do? Where are you going? If you don’t know where you are going, why would anyone else want to follow you?
 
16. Every day, focus on profit producing activities. There are only 2 of them: Marketing, and talking to people. In other words, driving and converting traffic.
 
17. Consider getting a screen capture software such as Camtasia, and start shooting video tutorials where you teach and train on specific marketing strategies.
 
Post these to your youtube channel, and also, use a video distribution tool such as Traffic Geyser to blast your videos all over the net. Video tutorials are incredibly effective in attracting high quality prospects. They make you look like an expert in the eyes of your viewers, too. ;-)
 
18. It is never too soon to start creating your own unique offer: an ebook, a video series, a live webinar course, a pdf file or another type of report… There’s probably nothing more powerful you can do as a marketer in order to establish yourself as an authority and to build your brand.
 
Plus, with your own offer 100% of the profits go back into your pocket!
 
19. Become consistent about tracking your traffic. Because how can you know what marketing strategies are working for you if you don’t know what traffic sources are producing for you and which are not?
 
20. Consider outsourcing some of your work: Use odesk.com, guru.com, or the warriorforum, to hire some helping hands – whether it is to write articles, create banners, build a blog, or whatever.
 
Outsourcing – which does not have to be expensive by the way – can be a life line during those times when you feel especially overwhelmed. As a wise person said, “Do what you do best, then outsource the rest.”
 
 
 
PS: Let me know about your progress… Perhaps you have already implemented one or more of these strategies and have seen a big difference in your business and your life? If so, be sure to leave me a comment right below! Also, as always, if you think this post can be of help to others, feel free to retweet it.

 
 
 
 

Successfully,
 
 

 
 
More here:
 
Meet me on Facebook 
Watch me on Youtube 
Get “Her Success Blueprint”
 
 
 
 

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Posted in Attraction marketing, Copywriting, Lead Generation, Leadership, List Building, Marketing Strategies, Mindset, Social Media Marketing, Sponsoring & Recruiting, Time Management | 2 Comments »

Got Leads?

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Everyone’s always complaining that they aren’t generating enough leads for their online businesses…
 
So am I taking issue with that? Isn’t lead generation important?
 
Well, of course it is. Leads, as all of us marketers know, are the fuel for our marketing engines.
 
However…lead generation means nothing if you don’t know how to convert those leads into customers and sales for your MLM business!
 
 
 

The Two Skill Sets You Must Master To Succeed With Internet Marketing


Successful online marketing is about TWO things.
 
1. Generate leads.
 
2. Get the leads to convert into sales.
 
Miss one of the two, and you’re DONE. You’ll soon find yourself buried in the Internet graveyard, with wasted time and ad dollars left as your only legacy.
 
Okay. So how do you best go about each of the two? 1. Generating MLM leads, and 2. Getting the leads to convert into sales?
 
Well, in order to generate sufficient leads for your online business, you’ll want to use some form of direct response marketing.
 
Examples of direct response strategies would be pay-per-click — either on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or (the very latest) Facebook PPC.
 
Another example would be paid media. My favorite paid media method is banner ads, which by the way, you can do quite inexpensively and generate heaps of leads with very quickly.
 
 
 

How To Get A Flood Of Targeted Leads For Your MLM Business


We call the above methods “direct response” because you are simply responding to your prospective customers’ needs.
 
They are already out there actively looking for you. Not by name, obviously, but they are typing in actual keywords that pertain to your offer. Or at the very least they are on a web site reading about something pertinent to your offer.
 
And voila, there you are with your banner or text ad, announcing that “Here it is. Here is the answer to all your troubles.”
 
Do you see how powerful that is? You are simply placing yourself in front of those who are already looking for what you have to offer!
 
And the following you can write down in red, highlight and underline: As a new marketer, you must have some sort of direct response marketing strategy in place to produce sufficient leads for your internet marketing business.
 
Social media marketing or content advertising just ain’t gonna do it. You aren’t consistently going to generate 30+ leads a day for your online business writing articles or press releases, shooting videos, or interacting with people on Twitter.
 
(Sorry if I’m stepping on someone’s toes here, but I’m just saying it as it is.)
 
And 30 highly targeted MLM leads per day is the very least that you require in order to see consistent growth in your business.
 
 
 

Are You Just Wasting Your Time With Social Media? Here’s How To Do It Right…


So, then, is there any use at all in social media? In shooting videos, and writing articles and blog posts?
 
Much in every way. But it’s probably not what you have been led to believe.
 
What these strategies are primarily meant to do, is help convert your traffic into customers and reps/members for your MLM business.
 
When your prospects google your name (which people do, believe me!), you’ll want them to actually find something. Something of value. Some content that you have created (or outsourced), which helps builds trust and establish you as an expert. A leader.
 
Because – and this really is Attraction Marketing 101 – we all prefer to buy from and work with those that we like, trust, and whose opinions we value.
 
And your task is to make your prospects feel that way about you!
 
 
 

If You Don’t Want To Wait Months To Make Money In Your MLM…


The added benefit of content advertising and social media marketing (although not their main purpose) is that they, over time, also serve to generate quality traffic for your MLM or internet marketing business.
 
But yes, it does take time. “Time” as in, well…likely several months.
 
And my guess is that you probably don’t want to wait months to make money in network marketing!
 
Therefore, my advice to you is to pick a direct response marketing strategy that fits your budget and your overall marketing plan, so that you can get the lead flow you need from early on.
 
And at the same time, start to work on building trust and establishing credibility through your online presence by consistently publishing new content and making yourself known on the social networks.

 
 
 

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!
 
 
 
 

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Posted in Lead Generation, List Building, Marketing Strategies, Marketing Systems, Social Media Marketing, Sponsoring & Recruiting | 1 Comment »

Who’s business are you building anyway?

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Most of the time, when a person unsubscribes from one of my email-lists, their reason for doing so, (as stated in the “comment” section of the unsubscribe email) is usually, “not interested”, “not relevant”, “too many emails”, or “no time”…or something similar.
 
But the other day I received an “unsubscribe” comment, which was, if not unusual, at least a little different. And it inspired me to write this blog post.
 
This particular subscriber decided to opt out from receiving any more information because, as she herself put it, it “breaches {name of MLM company}’s policies”.
 
Now, I’m obviously not writing this to promote my own business, or to argue the fact that the training, system and tools that I offer are generic and should therefore be able to be used to market any MLM opportunity, without significant issues.
 
Although true, that is not my point here…
 
Here is the real issue… And it’s actually best addressed with a question:
 
“Who’s business are you building anyway?”
 
You may think you are building your business but if your leadership restricts you from using a generic marketing system to promote your MLM – a system that does not only NOT hurt your company’s brand in any way, shape or form, but has in fact the potential to rapidly grow your current business and boost your sales…
 
…if your company’s policies have it that you may only use their training, their methods, and their tools – well, then I want to argue that you don’t actually own your business AT ALL: You are an employee of your company, catering to their will, however unreasonable it may be.
 
And that’s the problem, I think, with so many MLM distributors today… Because they haven’t been taught to market properly (not their fault, may I add), they have no real skills, no value in and of themselves. They are expendable.
 
And of course the leadership knows this. One distributor comes, another goes. Big deal.
 
If you do something – heaven forbid – that your leadership disapproves of…if you, even unknowingly, breach one of their policies, and they decide to kick you out (which I’ve seen happen on more than one occasion), well, then you have to start all over again, from scratch.
 
You’ll have to start with a new MLM company, new products, a new compensation plan, and building an entirely new customer base.
 
In fact, you can’t even take your leads, customers or members – considered you have some left – with you to your new company! Do you realize how much money that means leaving on the table?!
 
It is my conviction that most MLM distributors are led to believe that they are business owners when they really aren’t.
 
Most people grow up with such a herd mentality and are so accustomed to following rules and taking orders that they mistake the little bit of freedom they acquire as MLM distributors for full business ownership.
 
Which, of course, it is not.
 
You only own your business when you have value in and of yourself, as a marketer. When you have acquired skills that are in demand in the market place – which makes people seek you out and want to work with you.
 
And that means you know:
 
1.) how to generate traffic to your web sites at will, and
 
2.) how to convert that traffic into sales at increasingly higher profits (ROI).
 
When you have learned these skills, you will be in demand.
 
Then you won’t have to rely on someone else to supply you with leads (the life blood of your business). Because you’ll be able to produce them yourself. Which means you are, in fact, in control.
 
And then you can take your expertise, your know-how, anywhere at any time, and create results. For yourself, and for others.
 
Now you are independent.
 
Now, suddenly, you are indispensable.
 
So, then…what do you do if you find that using a generic marketing system, tools and training to build your MLM business “breaches” your current company’s policies?
 
Easy.
 
You resign. You go learn the skills that will make YOU sought after in the market place. So that you can set your own rules…and write your own pay check. For life.
 
And then you’ll truly be working for yourself and building your own business, not that of someone else.

 
 
 

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!
 
 
 

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

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