If the thought of developing a full-blown marketing plan for your networking business seems like too much time and trouble for you — here's an idea that's easier and just as effective — developing your own marketing calendar.

Now this isn’t the usual everyday to-do list type of calendar. No, this is one you create specifically for your business marketing.

First, buy one of those large desk calendars with plenty of room for writing. Then, take a colored pen and highlight all the upcoming holidays and any other business special events you want to plan for. Then decide what your marketing plan will be for the upcoming months. Decide on a target date when you’d like to get out an offer to your current customer list to announce an upcoming event or special product offer. For example, you might want to do a postcard mailing featuring some of your specials for the season or an open house you have planned.

After you’ve decided on the target date for the mailing, you can then look at the calendar and mark in the date to start preparing your marketing materials to be ready to mail. Also indicate on your calendar the days when the mailings are likely to reach your customers and then plan to be near the phone on those days and waiting for all those calls to come in.

This is a simple but effective technique that can also be used for publicity and other marketing efforts as well. You’ll be able to see your marketing plan at a glance, boost your sales, and be organized too!

Recently, a subscriber asked for some advice to help her achieve her goal of going full-time in her MLM business in a year’s time. I shared with her some of my thoughts about what it takes to makethe big leap to go full-time. If this is your goal as well in the next year — here’s some things you can do to prepare yourself so you can make that dream into a reality.

Reduce your expenses over the next year. If you have debts -- start a plan to start paying them off right now -- and don’t incur any new debt in the next year. Use this year when you have your salary AND the part-time income to clear the decks and get ready. You also may want to start building up your savings so you’ll have a fall back if you have a down month so you won’t have to worry about how you’ll pay your expenses.

Cultivate and find some real business builders in your MLM business -- and help them achieve their financial goals. Let them know what your plans are and find out what their financial/business goals are for the coming year. This way you can use the synergy from all your goals to propel yourselves forward.

If you don’t belong to a local Leads club or networking club -- join one now. Start to get involved in the club and even volunteer for a leadership position. Networking is one of the best ways I know to increase your business and people that actively give referrals to other members will get referrals in return.

Even though you are still part-time -- treat your business as if it were a full-time business. Focus as much time as you can on your business and don’t get involved with any extra outside activities that would interfere with your business goals.

Linda Locke, Editor

Prospecting - the art of finding customers and recruits - can be a challenge. But by using your imagination, a clear goal, and some marketing techniques you can turn your business from a tiny ant hill into a mighty fortress.

As an independent representative since 1981, I have moved several times and had to re-establish my businesses all over again. I have found the best goal is the simple one: let everyone within a ten-mile radius know what I am selling and about your earnings opportunity.

Here are three of my best ideas for getting the word out:

1. Turn your vehicle into a rolling billboard!

Start out by making posters for your car windows. You can cut out pictures from the catalogs you sell from. Since the sun fades these signs rather quickly, you can make them themed for each season so that you are always “updating” your signs. For instance, feature products for Valentine’s day with your name and telephone number. If your company does not sell holiday- specific merchandise, you can take turns featuring a product. You may want to feature a special sale price. You can use colored markers, fluorescent poster board, glitter paints — whatever gets attention. Make sure to feature your telephone number in large print so that someone driving by can write it down without wrecking their car!

Feeling a little more adventuresome? Call a sign company and have vinyl letters put on your vehicle. It does not ruin the value of your vehicle — vinyl letters come off easily with a hair dryer — yet, the results of this kind of advertising are astounding. I have had people waiting for me when I come out from grocery shopping. Many times I have even found orders under my windshield wipers! So you say that your company is not that well recognized yet? You can change that, especially in your own town. Having the company name, pictures of the products, and your phone number on your vehicle will definitely get people to ask you about the products! Consider having a form of the company name on your license plate. It is an extra fee in most states, but money well spent. One of my recruits has “TRY AVON” on her license plate, and a Princess House friend of mine has “PH LADY” on her plates.

Ready for the “over the edge” idea? I bought a light up sign for the roof of my van that used to belong to a pizza delivery restaurant. I peeled off the word “pizza” and added my company name in vinyl letters — it is the talk of the town! By the way, vinyl letters at the hardware or office supply store are very inexpensive (ranging from 50 cents per letter on up depending upon size). Consider having it professionally done if the lettering is to be very large or if you have a lot of letters to put on.

2. Don’t leave your house without wearing your company name!

Do you remember how Laverne on Laverne and Shirley always had a letter “L” on all her shirts? All my shirts have “Avon” on them! Many of them I did myself with paint art from the arts and crafts store. On some shirts I used puff paints, some sparkle paints. If your writing is not wonderful, consider using a stencil. Many good iron on letters are also available. It does not matter if the company name is well known — people will ask you about it when you have it prominently displayed.

You can also wear company supplied buttons and pins. I have a red jacket that I have EVERY award pin that I have ever won pinned on —it does look a little “wild”. But, every time I wear it, people always want to know what the pins mean, what I had to do to get each pin, etc. I always wear my red jacket when I am traveling to and from the company conventions — and I always get customers and recruits from talking about my pins.

(Here’s another tip to use with a jacket: I keep my right hand jacket pocket filled with my business cards to give to everyone I talk to, and I have my left hand jacket pocket empty to put cards in that I get from all the people I talk to, so I can follow up with them!)

You can also wear hats with your company name or carry a tote bag with the company name on the side. Make sure you always bring lots of brochures/catalogs and company literature with you — people WILL ask you!!

Ready for the wild idea? You can buy necklace and bracelets with letters that have your company name on them. Many companies offer these types of jewelry and feature people’s first names on them. Just request your company name instead. You’ll be surprised at how many people will notice!

Now for the “over the edge” idea: name your children or pets after your products! My Princess House girlfriend named her daughter “Crystal” — my Mom named her cat “Night Magic — after the cologne!

3. Leave a catalog, literature, or business card everywhere you go!

When I go to the shopping mall, the first place I visit is the ladies room — I leave a catalog with a recruiting flyer on the sink near the mirror and on the tank in each stall! I give catalogs to everyone I meet: the grocery clerk, the baker, the butcher, the laundry attendant, the drive-thru window person, the bank teller, the gas station attendant, the toll booth attendant — you would not believe how many opportunities you pass up each day to get your message out!

Feeling bashful today — simply say “This is for you!” and hand them your catalog. To cut down on my catalog expenses, I often use outdated catalogs for this type of prospecting — and I have stickers put on the front that say “Call for current prices and product availability.” This way they get my name, address, and phone number and a sneak peek at our product line. I have my friends in my company save their outdated catalogs for this reason.

I also leave stacks of catalogs at the entrances to grocery stores and in laundromats. Dentist’s offices, doctor’s offices and any other place where people must sit and wait are excellent places for you to leave your information. Ever leave your catalog with the tip at a restaurant? I had special business cards made up that read “YOUR SERVICE WAS EXCELLENT! If you are ever looking for a job, please give me a call! Lisa Wilber, Avon Recruiting Specialist, 1-800-258-1815.” You will be surprised how well these cards work. I try and hand them to the prospect personally with a tip — the impact lasts longer. I always add “I wanted to make sure you knew how much I appreciated your service today!

With this idea you need to set goals for yourself. Example: I will hand out 20 catalogs today. I will hang up 10 posters on bulletin boards today. Be consistent and don’t be discouraged by an occasional “No”.

Ready for the wild idea?

Spend the day driving through bank drive thrus in town and simply put in your catalog, sample, and business card — and drive off! Believe it or not, this works!

Now, let’s go over the edge: next time you are held up in traffic at a traffic jam, jump out of the car and hand a catalog to the person in the car ahead of you! (Yes, I actually know someone who does this!)

Whether you use these ideas or change them to fit your goals — make sure you take action towards your goals today. Remember my favorite saying: “The only place that SUCCESS comes before WORK is in the dictionary!”

Lisa Wilber has been selling and recruiting for Avon Products, Inc. for 14 years and is currently a Senior Executive Unit Leader in Avon's MLM program with 1995 downline retail sales topping $1.9 million. You can reach her by phone at 1-800-258-1815 or FAX 603-529-1816 or by mail at 174 S. Stark Hwy.# 17, Weare, NH 03281 or e-mail at LWilber@aol.com.

According to Dr. Doris L. McCoy, Ph.D, author of MegaTraits: 12 Traits of Successful People, here are the characteristics shared by the more than 1,000 people she interviewed.

1. They enjoy their work - they work with total involvement which enables them to shut out everything else.

2. They have a positive mental attitude and plenty of self-confidence - they never doubt their ability to achieve.

3. They use negative experiences to discover their latent strengths.

4. They’re decisive, disciplined goal setters. They have a clear idea of what they want in life.

5. They have integrity and help others to succeed.

6. They’re persistent.

7. They take risks - when they make mistakes, they tend to shrug them off.

8. They’ve developed above-average communications and problem solving skills.

9. They surround themselves with competent, reliable people.

10. They’re healthy and tend to have high energy levels - they schedule time to “renew” themselves often.

11. They believe in a higher power than themselves.

12. They have a sense of purpose and a desire to contribute something back to society. No matter how busy they are, successful people are always willing to give of themselves. AND you don’t need a high IQ to be successful!

1. USE LISTS
I read every list that comes along. I’m always checking to see how so-and-so’s list of 10 suggestions compares to another so-and-so’s list. This love of lists is not something extraordinary. In fact, most of us love lists. Lists catch our attention and make us want to read or listen further. Think about it. The 100 Top Singles of the Year. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Lists. Even the Ten Commandments. Use lists in your marketing copy to enhance their effectiveness.

2. BE SPECIFIC
Specific information makes our mouths water, metaphorically speaking. Now, if you tell me we are going to eat a sandwich for lunch, I will only be mildly interested. BUT, if you tell me that it is a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich on toasted Brownberry Bread with organic green lettuce, freshly picked tomatoes, and special turkey bacon, I’ll be right over even though I’m normally a vegetarian!

3. BE CLEAR
Many times this is easier said than done. It is important to step back and solicit an independent judgment of our copy to see if it is truly clear for the reader. Sometimes we get so caught up in our love of the subject that we assume other people know more than they do. I once had an teacher who forced us to write seven one-page essays. He said that it was infinitely better for us to know how to write one page clearly than to write pages and pages of information that talked around the subject.

4. BE POSITIVE
I think this is especially important for our network marketing ventures because it is too easy to focus on what is wrong with other companies and define ourselves by what we are not. We should focus on who we are and what we do and frame our descriptions in the positive. We don’t need to cut down everybody else’s opportunity to be successful!

5. USE PRESENT TENSE
Copy in the present tense is always current. Using the present tense involves the reader TODAY.

6. EMBRACE SIMPLICITY
Embracing simplicity does not mean being simple-minded. We live in a hectic world on information overload. We don’t need to add more confusion with marketing copy! Marketing copy is not the time to be “cute” with writing. If you want to try something different, write some poetry. The product or business is the key and the writing should be direct, simple and to-the- point so that it doesn’t detract from the offer at hand.

7. KNOW YOUR READER
Of course, this is so obvious that sometimes we forget about it. The demographic group we are focusing on may change the slant of the marketing piece.

8. SELL THE BENEFIT
This is key in network marketing. People buy and people join an organization because they see it fulfilling a need for THEM, not us. It is our job to help find and explain that need. To be successful, we must focus on the benefits of our product or organization. Our copy should be very YOU-oriented!

Diane Hanson is a full-time freelance writer and network marketer, representing Life Plus. She collects lists for effective marketing, networking, and writing, and is an organizationaholic! You can reach her online at kitty@bitstream.net, phone at 612-257-5008, FAX 612-257- 8534, or mail at PO Box 667, Lindstrom, MN 55045.