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MLM Woman Issue 100
May 2005This FREE monthly newsletter is made possible by our advertisers and customers. We thank them for their support!
From the Desk of the Editor
Welcome to the 100th issue of the MLM Woman Newsletter. This month we feature articles on how to get 80% of your prospects to call you back, the top online press release writing mistakes to avoid, how to advertise with flyers, and the top 5 steps to reducing financial stress.
Enjoy!
Linda Locke, Editor MLM Woman
Home Based Business Prospecting:
How to Get 80% of Prospects
To Call You Back
By Debbi Bressler
There is nothing more discouraging than following up with prospects who don't answer the phone, don't return your calls, or simply "hide out". Learn a simple two-part method to have up to 80% of your prospects calling you back. Your chasing days are over!
If you are a representative for a home based business opportunity, and you'd like to learn how I get 80% of my prospects to call me back, read on….
One of the most discouraging parts of running a home based business opportunity is following up with prospects.
Now, by following up, I don’t mean dumping their name into an autoresponder. I’m talking about someone you’ve talked to on the phone, who has promised to take some sort of action in your sales process, and whom you are following up to see what they think.
Only second to "Where can I get good leads?" is this issue.
Would you be shocked to know that it’s YOUR fault?
Let’s think about this. You talk to someone on the phone and make a date to follow up with them. Let’s call that Day 1.
Day 1 – you call – no answer. You leave a message.
Day 2 – you call – no answer. You don’t leave a message (but they have Caller ID so they know you called anyway).
Day 4 – you call again – no answer.
Day 6 – you call again – Their spouse tells you they aren’t home.
Day 9 – you call again at a different time. No answer; leave a message.
Day 12 – you call. Their 4–year-old says they are there. You hear voices in the background and then the kid comes back on the phone to say that they only thought mom or dad was home, but it’s really a babysitter....
...and on and on and on.
Imagine you are the prospect. If someone told you that, as part of your business you had to call people endlessly until they changed their phone number, would this be something you would want to do?
If you call someone day after day after day, what thoughts do you think they have about your level of success? Do you appear to have more business than you can handle… or do you appear desperate for a sale?
What if you could spend your day taking your prospects’ phone calls instead?
This is a simple two-step process:
STEP 1: Work with good material. Have you ever compared clothing from a discount store to that of a high fashion designer? Though the design might be similar, you can tell the difference in quality at a glance.
Same with leads. If you are working with poor quality leads, your job is a lot harder because you have to do a ton of sorting.
And if you’re getting questions like, "Which one are you?", then you do not have a high quality lead source. Either find one or learn how to create your own.
STEP 2: Give them a reason to call you back. Have you ever been to a web site and seen an offer for a free report and something else to entice you to opt-in to the owner’s list? They’ve found that simply saying "sign up for my newsletter" isn’t enough.
Remember, people are always asking "What’s in it for me?"
Offer them something of value IF they call you back before a certain time. And, it's important that you stand firm on your offer. For instance, if you send someone to a 30-minute live call at 8PM, you get their agreement to call you as soon as they get off the call. If they call you the next day, the deal is off. If you are sending them to your web site, have them commit to when they will review it and set a cut-off time for them to call you back.
Make it clear that you'll provide them with this resource whether they are interested in your offer or not… as long as they call you back at the agreed upon time. Because your time is worth something, wouldn't you rather have someone call me back and tell me "no", then to spend the rest of your life trying to chase them down?
You can offer a Special Report, an ebook, or a piece of software. There are many valuable products or services you can provide which cost you nothing. Just make sure it has a high perceived value to them. For instance, I use a tool that is similar to one selling for $14.95 a month on the Internet. My prospects can use it for personal or business use. And it costs me nothing.
Best of all, it causes 80% of prospects to call me back!
Start putting this two-part formula to the test and I'm confident you'll see your call back rate soar.
©2005 Debbi Bressler – ProfitCoaches.com
About the Author
Debbi Bressler is the Editor of
The Home Business Review Magazine and has been an entrepreneur,
consultant, coach and speaker since 1990. Visit Debbi's site at
http://the-home-business-review.com
or get her Success Pack at successpack@getresponse.com
Top
5 Online Press Release Writing Mistakes to Avoid
Copyright 2005 Ted Kushner
Did you know that using online press releases is one of the most powerful ways for almost instantly driving hundreds or even thousands of potential targeted customers to your new product, web site or newsletter?
Within hours of having your press release distributed over the Internet your press release could be picked up by some of the major online news networks like Google News and Yahoo News.
And then within days or just a few weeks they will begin to show up in the natural search engine results of the major search engines.
Nowhere can you achieve so much publicity for so little effort. But let me explain what I mean by 'so little effort'.
Even though press releases are a powerful marketing tool that everyone should be using as one of their marketing methods you need to do a little research before just whipping one up.
As someone who uses press releases quite often in marketing of new products and web sites I have seen and learned how to avoid some common errors in writing my press releases.
Avoiding these errors can mean the difference in driving a few hundred visitors to your new web site or product to receiving thousands of targeted hits for the same amount of effort.
So what are these mistakes? And how do you avoid them?
Mistake #1- Not focusing on a main theme.
You need to determine what the key purpose of your press release will be about. You don't want to target multiple items in the same release.
If you just released 10 new software products this week you don't want to write about all of them at one time, pick one and focus on it and get your audience excited about it.
Once their curiosity is peaked they will click on your link to get additional information and that is what you want.. You can always do multiple releases for each product.
Mistake #2- Not researching the keywords you want to target before hand.
You want to do a little keyword research based on the concept of your press release. Why would you want to do keyword research for a press release? Because you need to optimize your press release so that it will rank high in the natural search engine results once it gets picked up by Google, MSN or Yahoo.
I normally target a keyword that has a decent amount of monthly searches but has little to moderate competition from highly optimized web sites.
You can determine this by doing a search on Google and seeing how many web sites are competing for the same term. You also want to see if the keyword is being used in the title and if the web site(s) have the term in their top level domain name.
By targeting the keywords that are moderately popular but don't have many competing web sites that are not highly optimized for your keyword you will stand a greater chance of ranking in the top ten search engine results once your press release gets indexed.
Mistake #3- Not creating a compelling headline.
Just like an article or sales letter you need to create a catchy title to grab your reader's attention. Since press releases are normally only displayed for a short period of time when they are first released you need to get the most bang for your efforts.
Look at the following title which one grabs your attention the most?
"Bad Breath Resources at Bad-Breath-Cures.com" or
"Proven Little Known Secrets for Curing Bad Breath Fast at Bad-Breath-Cures.com"
I also always use my main keyword in the title. As your title will become the key factor in your rankings in the search engines.
Mistake #4- Not formatting your press release correctly.
Writing press releases is not rocket science. But you do need to take some time in formatting your release correctly so that you stand a chance of being picked up by the various news and web site outlets.
How careful you format your press release can determine your PR score with some press release services like PRWeb. The higher your PR score the greater chance of you being picked up by some of the leading news outlets.
For additional information how to correctly format your press releases go to: http://www.prweb.com/pressreleasetips.php#template
Mistake #5- Using the wrong press release services.
You want the most coverage but at a reasonable price. Using the wrong service could cost your hundreds or thousands of wasted dollars.
Here are some of the press release services I have used and found to be effective:
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/index.html
http://www.webwire.com/default.asp
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/
While there are some free services out there I've found that paying a small fee to a few online press release services can afford you a wider coverage then using one who charges you a hefty fee just to submit your release for you.
By paying a small fee you get to track your stats online and target additional industries and groups giving you a wider coverage for your press release then if you went the free route.
So by using press releases effectively you can learn how to add this handy little technique in your marketing arsenal to drive tons of highly targeted traffic to any program or web site you choose in a matter of no time.
About the Author
Ted Kushner of AffiliateRevenueSources.com
can show you the powerful benefits of writing press releases for promoting
any product, service or affiliate program. Learn how you too can get
multiple top ten positions in Google using press releases at:
http://www.affiliaterevenuesources.com/powerful-press-releases.htm
How to Advertise
with Flyers
© Terri Seymour of www.seymourproducts.com
When you first start out on your business venture, money
is usually tight but you still need to advertise. One of the most
affordable, yet very effective, ways to begin your advertising campaign
is with flyers. Flyers are simply full page ads that are distributed
directly to your potential customers. There are several ways in which
they can be distributed.
You can either make the flyers yourself or have them made professionally,
which might not be in the budget. ;-) There are several points to
remember when designing your flyer, just as in writing ads or any
other sales copy.
1. You want your flyer to get people's attention, so don't just use
your boring, standard white paper. Use bright, alive and cheerful
colors to bring out the message you are trying to convey.
2. The flyer's purpose is to sell, not to let everyone know your name.
The flyer is not a business card. On the flyer, you want to highlight
your problem solving product/service.
For example: Ants a problem in your house? We can get rid of them
in just a few hours. No more problem!
3. Use incentives and/or closing dates to get people to act NOW!
Call NOW and get 10% Off our Regular Price! 1-800-ANT-B-Gone
4. Adding a few testimonials to the flyer can also be very effective.
Highlight comments of past satisfied customers. List your qualifications
as well, making sure to set yourself apart from other similar companies.
5. Another good idea is to encourage referrals. Having a statement
such as, "If you are not in need of our product or service, please
pass this along to someone who is." You might be pleasantly surprised
at how many customers this one line can bring in!
6. Don't forget about the back of your flyer. Take advantage of this
space as well. List some of your specials, sales, more testimonials,
incentives, etc.
7. Do not stop at one try. You MUST follow-up!
8. Test your flyers as well. Use different incentives, headlines,
paper colors and see which ones get the best response.
9. Distribute your flyers in targeted areas. If you offer a business
opportunity, try distributing them at the unemployment office. If
you offer weight loss products, visit the local gyms and exercise
studios.
There are several ways you can distribute your flyers, once you have
designed them and printed them out.
Post your flyers on Public Bulletin Boards found in grocery stores,
community centers, banks, post offices, laundromats, etc.
Hand them out outside of targeted buildings such as stores, unemployment
office, restaurants, etc. Never push your flyers on anyone. If they
hand it back, smile and accept it back. Do not block doorways or sidewalks!
If handing flyers out in stores, malls, etc., be sure and get permission.
Parades and other public events are great places to hand out flyers.
Do not engage in conversation, just smile and offer the flyers. If
they do not take it, move on.
You can also distribute your flyers door-to-door. Leave the flyers
on the doorknob, not in mailboxes!
Talk with apartment building owners, real estate offices. People just
moving into the area are always in need of this type of information.
Check with your town's ordinances. Leaving flyers on people's cars
might not be allowed in your city. Be sure and know all local laws
before starting your flyer campaign!
About the Author
Find tons
more tips, information and articles at http://www.SeymourProducts.com
Terri Seymour and her husband Terry also offer a no-cost, non-MLM
home business opportunity. They strive to help you build a successful
home business. Take advantage of the tips, support, resources, and
more for your home & business.
The Top 5 Steps to…
Reduce Financial Stress
By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
http://www.quantum-self.com
© 2005 All Rights Reserved.
Money may not be the “root of all evil,” but it is often the root of tremendous personal, business and relationship stress in today’s world. People divorce over it. Businesses collapse due to poor management of it. And entire societies collapse due to poor distribution of it.
Our most recent website poll revealed that over 50% of our readers and
visitors are dealing with financial stress in one form of another. Whatever
the cause -- stress is stress. And our commitment is to bring you the
best possible stress management strategies and tools. So … here are
five financial strategies to help you take charge of your financial world.
They may seem simple or even old-fashioned, but they work!
Step 1. Develop Positive “Money Awareness”
The first step in enhancing your financial health is to build your money
awareness: Where does it come from? What are you spending it on? How much
do you save?
Many, many people simply “ignore” how money flows through their life. They don’t budget -- or they simply assume that money is, and will continue to be, a “problem.” This actually ensures that it will continue to be a problem.
If you want more money in your life, you absolutely need to avoid being fearful about any lack of money. Remember -- what we focus on actually builds stronger neural circuits in our physical brain. Focusing on lack simply creates additional stress. And stress prevents the clear, focused thinking you need to bring more money into your life.
Consider making a commitment to become more aware of money in a positive way. Begin to think of it as a resource to be managed and used wisely, and you will find you have more money available than you thought you had.
Step 2. Adopt Abundance Consciousness
In spite of how we were programmed as children, money is neither “the
root of all evil,” nor the ultimate source of happiness. Money is
really just energy -- a tool that can be squandered or ignored, or can
be used to build a comfortable lifestyle.
It’s OK to desire a more comfortable, successful lifestyle. Having more abundance in your life begins by wanting it! Examine your attitude toward money, financial health, and prosperity. Money will not come to you if you have a rejecting or fearful attitude toward it.
Some people end up creating money-challenged lifestyles because they refuse to be responsible for how they handle their money. This can be corrected by simply changing how they manage their relationship with their money.
Step 3. Develop a Spending Strategy
If you want increased prosperity and abundance, it’s important to
learn to handle your money more effectively. This starts with spending
less than you make. This simple (but often ignored) truth gets many people
into debt over their heads.
Here’s a corrective strategy that can work wonders and will immediately reduce your financial stress: Cut back your spending by 20 to 25%. Take a careful look at your life, and you’ll find this IS possible. Pack a lunch, stop eating out, get a video instead of going to the movie house, repair things rather than just trashing them, and just plain live simpler!
It’s essential that you track your cash flow, and take control of your spending. Create a budget and stick to it! If you’re living on your credit cards, something has to change. You’re racing down a dead-end street, and might need some professional help.
Step 4. Develop a Savings Strategy
Most financial experts recommend that you “pay yourself first”
by saving a minimum of 10% of your income. But the amount you save is
not as important as developing the habit of saving!
Even if you can only save 1% of your earnings just do it! And once you commit to your savings strategy, stick to it every payday.
Step 5. Develop an Investment Plan
While you are building up your savings, commit some time to learning about
investing. Many community colleges have courses on stocks, real estate,
commercial property, starting a small business, and even investing in
coins or collectibles.
Discover what interests you and go for it. But remember, you’ll always do best if you follow your own natural interests (people have made fortunes in everything even comic book trading).
The big goal is to learn to get your money working for you, so you don’t have to work for it! And to achieve that goal, get your mind amped up to generate prosperity and abundance mind power!
About the Author
Come visit the exciting Self Discovery Community. Discover the most interesting,
unusual, stimulating and creative methods of self discovery on the web
today! Free sizzling weekly ezine, and the web's first Brain Gym ezone.
http://www.quantum-self.com
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