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MLM Woman Online MLM Woman Online Issue 44 This 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 44th issue of the MLM Woman Newsletter. This month we feature articles on: How to make sales by sharing not selling   How to make a good impression last   How to create a long-term vision for your business   10 easy ways to spruce up your web site. Enjoy! Linda Locke, Editor MLM Woman "Oh No! I Can't Sell!" By Jackie Ulmer What's that you say? You can't sell? Oh, you must be right, although you are selling me right now! A good friend of mine once said to me, "Life is sales." What a profound statement! Think about it! Life IS sales. We sell all day, every day. We just don't realize or acknowledge the fact that we are selling. Why is that? I believe it is because we have adopted some misguided beliefs regarding selling. The interesting thing to keep in mind is that of higher income earners around the world, a large percentage come from the world of sales. Many from direct selling! When you think about sales, what comes to mind? Chances are, it's the pushy, arrogant, over-zealous, quick-to-the-close type that you've done business with in the past. But, is that truly what Sales is about? I don't think so. True sales is about sharing information. It's about finding out what the other person needs and then meeting that need. It's about creating a win-win situation for everyone. When was the last time you told someone about a great movie, referred a family physician or lavished praise and recommendations on the new restaurant in town? This is sales in its purest form! You perceive a product or service that could possibly meet the need of someone else. (A great place to eat or entertaining movie, etc.) You share the information with someone else, in an effort to meet a need they may have. Your friend either accepts or rejects the suggestion and you both move on about your business. If your friend likes the suggestion and acts on it, you feel a sense of satisfaction. If your friend does not, you just move on, realizing that there was no interest or need at this time. Your friend was not rejecting you. You don't try to overcome objections, attempting to coerce him/her into "buying" what you are offering. You are detached from the outcome. Oh, and either way, you don't get paid. Perhaps this is why it's so easy for you to offer your suggestion. Now, think about using this same process with a product or service that you offer. Think of presenting your business idea to a friend, relative or acquaintance in the same way. Just share the information! See if there is a need to be met by what you are offering. Don't try to sell or overcome objections. Just listen and offer information. If your friend acts on that information and buys your product or service, GREAT! You have met a need and delivered value. Oh, and you get paid! That's okay! If your friend does not choose to act on the information, that's okay, too. You can still go on about your business. You both win, in either case. You aren't selling! You are sharing! And, over time, using this strategy, you will move up into the ranks of the higher income earners around the world! So, what's that you say about not being able to sell? Good, can you just try sharing? -- About the Author Jackie Ulmer, a veteran Home Business Owner, has coached thousands of men and women on starting a successful home business. Her free newsletter provides ongoing tips, resources and options for home businesses. Subscribe by email to: streetsmartwealth-subscribe@egroups.com She can be reached through her web site at http://www.streetsmartwealth.com/ Second Impressions Can Be More Important Than The First By Audrey Okaneko You know the old saying "first impressions can last a life time". Well, I believe that second impressions can be more important than first impressions. I would like to share a couple of stories with you. Two years ago, I found myself looking for a new business opportunity. I knew many people involved with many different opportunites. I began doing some research and found two opportunities that I really liked. The first opportunity, I called the woman, and left a message with her daughter. I called again a few days later and left a message on her answering machine. I never heard back from her. The second opportunity that appealed to me, I sent the girl an email. She phoned me 2 weeks later saying her computer was broken. This did not sit well with me, but ok, things happen, so I called her back within 2 hours of her leaving the phone message. The next time I heard from her was about 3 weeks later with an email apologizing profusely for not contacting me sooner. As you can see in the above 2 scenarios, while I was initially impressed with the people and the companies they represented, my second impression was so bad that I chose not to do business with either of them. Follow up is so important that I believe more time should be spent on the follow up than the initial contact. Follow up is where the trust between you and the interested party begins. If you tell someone you will call Tuesday, then call Tuesday, even if you have to call from a pay phone, or cell phone. Let your contact know that they are important enough for you to follow through with your word. Show them that you will stand by your word no matter what. If you tell a customer you will be there on Monday between 10am and 12 noon, then do whatever it takes to be there on time. No one likes being left waiting. This second impression is going to set the stage for the relationship between you and your contact. Following up and following through will show your contact that you are dependable, and reliable, two very important qualities in our very competitive society. When you are happy with someone's service and dependability, you are much more apt to refer your circle of influence to them. Another part of second impressions, is making yourself available. I would like to share with you a portion of an email I received from someone I was looking into doing business with: "I basically am unavailable on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2:30 till midnite. Early in the day is fine. Also, Mondays I am unavailable from noon till about 6:00. Early in the day is fine. Tuesday is not good for me. Wednesday I am flexible/open all day. Please pick a time that works for you. Let me know, and I will call you." The hours she was free to do business were so unappealing to me, that I took my business elsewhere. If you want people to do business with you, then make yourself available to do business. Second impressions are more than just follow up and follow through, they are your opportunity to show your contact why doing business with you is a good choice. The next time you tell someone you will call or come over, don't make excuses, just do it!! About the Author Audrey Okaneko has been in network marketing for 17 years and has won numerous trips and awards for her accomplishments. She can be visited at http://www.shining-stars.com You can write to her at IHavSnoopy@aol.com The Visionary Entrepreneur By Elena Fawkner Copyright 1999 What is your vision for your business? Where do you see it being, in one, five, ten years? We all start our businesses with a vision of what our life will be like as an entrepreneur. If you left paid employment to establish and run your own home-based business, before you took that step you first envisioned what it would be like to work from home. Perhaps you thought of the convenience of not having to commute to and from the office every day; the comfort of working within your own environment; the flexibility of setting your own hours; the rewards of being home with your children. This vision was obviously compelling enough to motivate you to do whatever it took to break the bonds of corporate servitude and set you on a path of self-determination and independence. Congratulations. You are officially an entrepreneur. Now what? You have achieved your vision of convenience, comfort, flexibility and family life. What are you envisioning now for the future of your business? Making the break and starting your own home-based business is an important step and represents a significant change in your life and your lifestyle. But it is only the first of many steps you will take along the road to success in your business. Just as your vision of working from home motivated and propelled you towards your objective, so too will the vision you have for what comes next propel you towards ever bigger and greater achievements. Do you have a vision for your next step? If not, how will you know what you are working towards? How will you know when you get there? How will you know if you will EVER get there? Visions, or dreams, are what your subconscious acts upon to create your reality. Visions can be both positive and negative. If you envision yourself in ten years time as a supremely successful businessperson (and you must also visualize all of the trappings of success so that "success", whatever that means for you, is a tangible, clearly defined thing), and you believe in the deepest part of your being that you will be successful, then your mind will subconsciously seek out ways to bring that vision to life. Equally, if you envision yourself in ten years time doing pretty much what you're doing now, then you can be pretty confident that that's EXACTLY where you will end up. So, ask yourself, where do I want to be in ten years? What do I need to do within the next five years to bring me closer to my vision? What do I need to do within the next year to bring me closer to where I need to be in five years if I am to achieve my ten year vision? What do I need to do within the next six months, one month, one week, today, NOW? This, of course, is classic goal-setting process. You've heard, over and over again, that you need to set goals in your life. To fail to set and achieve goals is to fail to achieve anything. The focus of this article though is on the crucial importance vision plays in the future success of your business. It is only when you have a vision in mind that you can even have the starting point you need to begin to think about setting the goals that will get you there. So, how do you go about constructing a vision that is compelling enough to continue to motivate you through the inevitable ups and downs of the lifecycle of a business, that gets you up and moving every morning, that continually challenges you to find new and better ways of doing things? You may be saying at this point, well, I know I want to work from home and make enough money to live the kind of life I want. But have you really sat down and thought, long and hard, about exactly what kind of life you DO want? What limitations do you place on your own thinking? Do you believe there is a limit to the amount of wealth you can create for yourself within the next ten years? Do you think in terms of $100,000 a year? If so, why not $500,000 a year? Why not $1,000,000? What if the sky was the limit? What if you had a completely blank page with no limits? What if you could create, from scratch, EXACTLY the life you would choose if it was yours simply for the taking? Think about that. You can have ANYTHING you want! Make a list. Want $10,000,000 in the bank? Write it down. Want a happy marriage? Write that down too. Want a PhD? Add that to the list. Want to donate $500,000 to your favorite charity? That goes on the list. Go through every area of your life and write down the highest ambition you can think of for each area. When you have finished your life plan, and this may take you several days or even weeks, brainstorm for ideas how you can leverage your business to bring you closer to your vision. (You will, of course, also need to think about non-business ways for those objectives that have nothing to do with your business.) If one of your goals is to make $1,000,000 a year, then obviously you need to think about how you can generate more income from your business. Write down as many ideas as you can think of for the next five minutes. Then prioritize them on efficiency principles. What will give you the best return for your efforts bearing in mind your overall vision? Express them as objectives. Within what timeframe could you reasonably expect to achieve this objective? What steps do you need to take between now and then to achieve your objective? These are your sub-goals. Write them down and allocate achievement dates next to them. Do this with all of the elements that make up your vision. Now take your list of objectives and sub-goals and work them back in time. If one of your objectives is to be independently wealthy in ten years time, one of your major sub-goals may be to take your company public within five years. What steps do you have to take between now and then to be in a position to float your business in five years time? Work all of your objectives back like this. You should end up with five year goals, one year goals, six month goals, one month goals, one week goals and, finally, a daily to-do list. Once you have mapped out a plan for your vision to this level of detail, you will find that literally every task you perform in your day to day life is geared toward the attainment of your vision. You WILL achieve your vision. It is inevitable. Our lives are a function of our deepest beliefs about ourselves and our world. The key to "success" and "happiness" in life is to create a positive vision of what that means to YOU. A word of caution, though. Make sure your vision is truly what you want because you WILL get it. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. About the Author Elena Fawkner is editor of the award-winning weekly ezine, A Home-Based Business Online, a down-to-earth publication containing practical home-based and online business ideas, telecommuting job listings, original articles, free e-books and much more. She also runs the A Home-Based Business Online website at http://www.fawkner.com. You can subscribe to her newsletter at the site. Top 10 EASY Ways to Spruce Up Your Web Site Copyright © 1999 by Kate Schultz 1. ADD SOME NEWS - http://www.isyndicate.com You can easily integrate headline links into your site with Isyndicate Express. Choosing from the wide variety of content available, you can serve up headline news, sports, health advice or daily horoscopes. 2. ADD A MAILING LIST - http://www.topica.com Get a buzz going on your site with your own mailing list. Start your own mailing list using Topica's FREE and easy to use management tools. 3. GET A CHECK UP - http://www.netmechanic.com Use these free maintenance tools to check your links, check your HTML coding, reduce GIFs, check your load time and browser compatibility. 4. ADD A SEARCH TOOL - http://www.freefind.com Now you can add search capabilities to your site without having to know how to spell CGI. It's easy to set up and they'll email the HTML to paste into your Web page. 5. ADD YOUR OWN WEB EMAIL SERVICE - http://www.zzn.com Take about 15 minutes and get your own Email Service. ZZN(sm) lets you offer free E-mail addresses on your Web site. Easy to setup and customizable. 6. PUT YOURSELF ON THE MAP - http://www.mapquest.com MapFree is a FREE service from Mapquest.com. You may use up to 25 map GIF images on your Web site. Show your customers how to get to your business with a map on your site. 7. ANALYSE YOUR TRAFFIC - http://www.hitbox.com Add the leading Web Site analysis tool to your site. Get access to over 400 real-time stats on your site. Hitbox makes it easy to get all the information you need on your site's traffic. 8. TONS OF STUFF - http://www.hyperbanner.net Three categories (Promote, Enhance and E-Commerce) of web site enhancements. Add games, searches, banner exchange, affiliate programs, site stats and much more. 9. ADD A QUIZLET - http://www.beseen.com A great tool to find out what your visitors really think. Fully customizable and FREE, Quizlet is easy to install and requires NO programming. 10. ADD A REFERRAL SERVICE - http://www.letemknow.com A referral form that is easy to set up. You don't need to know a thing about CGI scripts, and you can have it up and running at your web site in minutes. Take advantage of this high tech way to add word of mouth advertising to your site. About the Author Kate Schultz is the Publisher of E-ZineZ: the E-Zine about E-Zines. Visit E-ZineZ at http://www.e-zinez.com for how-to help for your email newsletter. To subscribe send an email to mailto:e-zinez@oaknetpub.com with SUBSCRIBE in the BODY. Go back to the top of the page Back to the MLMWoman Newsletter Index We want your feedback! Send e-mail comments to Linda at: regent@west.net Copyright 2000, Regent Press http://www.mlmwoman.com