MLM
Woman Issue 54
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From the Desk
of the Editor
Welcome to the 54th issue of the MLM Woman Newsletter.
This month we feature articles to help you get inspired, break through
the prospecting barriers, overcome information overload and use postcards
to drive traffic to your website.
I lot of people believe that summer is a slow time
for the MLM business, but that's no reason you should slow down your
marketing efforts. Steady, consistent actions are the key to success.
Remember the old Aesop's fable of the Tortoise and the Hare? The Hare
started off fast, got tired and gave up. But the Tortoise started
off slowly, and kept on going -- step by step -- until he crossed
the finish line in triumph.
If you set yourself daily or weekly goals in your
business and stick to accomplishing them day in and day out, you will
find yourself in the winner's circle too!
Here's some success habits to help you on your path
to success:
Four
Success Habits
Here’s 4 habits to cultivate that
will help keep you on the road to success.
Success Habit No. 1
- Don’t
let anything stop you from achieving your business goals.
It’s easy to come up with excuses
for why you aren’t doing as well as you'd like. You don’t have enough
time to book another party or to create your downline newsletter or
contact another prospect - what with your family commitments, your
full-time or part-time job, and social events. But the real truth
of the matter is that you DO have control over your life and your
time, and if you make your business a top priority you WILL be successful.
Success Habit No. 2
- Write Down Your Goals.
It’s been proven over and over
that people who write down their goals, achieve more. You need to
know where you’re going before you can get there. But just writing
down your goals isn’t enough, you have to remind yourself of them
daily. So write them down and read them every day. Stick them on post-it
notes and put them on your bathroom mirror, inside your car. Write
them on 3 x 5 cards and read them throughout the day whenever you
have a spare moment.
Success Habit No. 3
- Practice Effective Time Management.
Time is easy to waste, but if
you get in the habit of practicing time management you can save your
energy for the things you really want to do. Make a list of your daily
activities and how much time you spend on them. Eliminate the obvious
time wasters like watching TV, chatting on the phone, or volunteering
too much. Devote your time and energy to what is important to you.
Don’t let others use up your valuable time.
Success Habit No. 4
- Keep An Open Mind and Take Risks.
Sometimes we are resistant to
new ideas and ways of doing things. You might think to yourself —
that’s OK for her, but I can’t possibly do that. But the truth of
the matter is that you really CAN do new things, if you TRY. So what
if you aren’t successful at first. Just keep on going and do it again.
Keeping an open mind and taking risks by trying something new helps
you grow personally and professionally. Invest in yourself by taking
a training course, reading a new MLM book, or trying a new prospecting
technique.
Practice these 4 habits on a daily
basis. If you slip up, that’s OK, just get right back on track the
next day. Have fun and dare to try something new!
Linda Locke, Editor
MLM Woman
Why I Chose
MLM Over
My Own Small Business
By Suzanne Miley
I have always been an independent sort. I am often
proud of this fact, but this trait has also kicked my butt at times.
Let me give you some examples. Maybe you can avoid some of my pain.
I became a computer programmer when I was 19 years old.
Over a period of 17 years, I got promoted, started making good money,
and had the respect of many of my peers. Nothing that unusual - millions
of people have done the same in all kinds of fields.
Then, I became bored. Let me tell you, boredom is a
VERY dangerous thing for me. I decided to go into marketing the services
of computer programmers and get away from the daily grind of programming
myself. I thought about starting my own company, but instead I took
a job with a small, growing consulting company owned by a woman about
my age. Things were great at first. I was learning new things, I wasn't
bored, and I started making great commission checks.
I watched her try to do almost everything in the company
herself. She worked a ton of hours and paid herself very little. She
plowed almost all of the revenue back into her company. She took everything
that happened with the company personally. She was ecstatic when we
got a new client or exceeded a financial goal. She was in the dumps
if we lost a client or a consultant quit. It was as if she made no
distinction between her as a person and her company.
Well, I was SO smart that I decided I would NEVER have
my own consulting business. I deserved a life! So, I just kept on
selling services and watching my commission checks get fatter and
fatter.
You know the saying "all good things must come to an
end"? My gravy train came to a halt over a six month period I now
refer to as my six months in hell. Apparently, if you work in your
own business for 7 years and you've sacrificed your money, free time
and sanity, you're apt to do some illogical things. Like turn on your
number one salesperson (yes, that was me) and torture her on a daily
basis.
I won't bore you with all the gory details, but suffice
it to say, I was going to have to work someplace else. I had signed
a non-compete agreement, so I couldn't own or work in a similar business.
And, remember I was WAY too smart to start my own company.
Or not. Maybe the six months in hell caused me to shed
some brain cells. Or maybe my butt-kickin' independent streak got
activated. In any case, I decided to start my own consulting business
catering to small businesses. But, I was SO smart (are you noticing
a pattern here?) that I would NEVER make the same mistakes as my old
boss. Which for the most part, I didn't. I made all NEW mistakes.
Like, taking on a partner that I didn't know very well (that mistake
drained my retirement savings account). Or, hiring people (I was too
smart to try to do everything myself, you see) I couldn't afford and
then not being able to make payroll.
OK. Now that you've heard how NOT to run a small business,
let's jump forward to today. After two and a half years of having
my own business, I've quit actively growing it. Why, you ask? Because
I found something better. It's called Network Marketing. Let me explain.
In my own small business, I had to figure out how to
do everything. There was no mentor or team or system. I had to create
my own system. Now, don't get me wrong. I've read a lot of books,
talked to the Small Business Administration, and met and talked with
countless other entrepreneurs. And, I've learned a lot. But, it would
literally take years to develop myself and my company into a well-oiled
profit machine. Remember my old boss? She didn't really "make it"
until she'd been in business for 5 years.
Contrast that with Network Marketing. There are existing
products, mentors, teams and systems. And, they already work! You
don't have to reinvent the wheel. All you have to do is find the best
company and upline and do exactly what they have done. Duh! I try
not to think about how wealthy I'd be if I would have chosen Network
Marketing at the age of 19! I told you an independent streak can be
a bad thing.
Not to say that you don't have to work many hours in
Network Marketing. You do.
Or that you'll be a millionaire in 90 days. You won't.
But, having an existing, proven system in place is what drives profits.
It's as simple as that. Why do you think franchises like McDonalds
are so popular? It's the system, stupid.
So, in closing, I'd like to urge you to do a couple
of things. First, watch out for that independent streak. Harness the
good aspects of this character trait, but don't try to be the Lone
Ranger. Actually, the Lone Ranger had Tonto, didn't he? Hmmm, maybe
there is something to be said for this teamwork thing. And secondly,
don't try to reinvent the wheel. Find a successful, proven system
and lock into it. Is it really smart to spend 5+ years of your life
developing a system when there are already so many good ones out there?
Copyright 2001 Suzanne Miley, All Rights
Reserved
About the Author
Suzanne Miley is a Network Marketer that loves to
work with and help other like minded people. She can be reached via
E-mail at theprez@omnicybertech.com
Are You Interviewing
Your Prospects?
By Audrey Okaneko
There is nothing more exciting than someone contacting
us to inquire about our business. We get so excited in fact that
sometimes we forget that what we are really doing is conducting
an interview to see if our business is right for the prospect.
Back in the 80's when I started in network marketing,
the philosophy was to sign up anyone who had a pulse. I remember
some days I signed up 22 people in one day. I also remember thinking
to myself, "how on earth will this person ever make it?"
I'll share one of my most memorable experiences with
you. A girl called me, she had seen my flyer somewhere in town.
I scheduled the interview for the following day. Now I knew from
the address that this section of town was not the most desirable
in our city, but hey, she had two things going in her favor, a pulse
and an interest. When I arrived, the house smelled from beer, cigarettes
and just general trash, I was thinking, she still had a pulse and
she still had an interest. As I was scanning the house looking for
a place to sit, she suggested we go into her bedroom, as it was
clean and private. Knowing she had a pulse and an interest I followed
her. After entereing her room, she dead bolted the door. I truly
was scared at this point. I was very unsure what I had walked into.
She explained that the folks she lived with were drug dealers and
that all sorts of folks came in and out of her home thus the deadbolt.
Well we made it through the sign up process, but I swore I would
never put myself through that again. As I'm sure you have guessed,
she never contributed anything to my organization.
After that experience I began more carefully screening
those who expressed an interest in my business. I was actually beginning
to interview those who contacted me. Through an initial interview
I was able to determine who qualified for a 2nd interview, an appointment
for me to come speak with them.
If the interview was taking place on the phone, I would
have a blank piece of paper where I could jot down the answers.
If the interview was in person, I would tell the person that I was
going to be asking some questions and jotting down the answers.
Over the years I have had folks on the phone not wish to be interviewed
and that's perfectly ok. We hang up. This is not the business for
them. In person, I've never had anyone object to me wanting to know
about them and even taking notes.
There are 3 things I want to know about my prospect:
1. I wanted to know about their job history. Where
have they worked, what were their responsibilities, how long did
they stay at the job (s)? I would ask "tell me about your past job
history"
2. I wanted to know about their families. I also wanted
to know where they lived. House or apartment? Single? Kids? Sometimes
you can hear children in the background, so I ask "are those your
kids?" I'll then ask how many and what their ages are. Sometimes
a prospect will say "my husband works 3rd shift", or "my wife and
I were talking last night", so in listening to what your prospect
volunteers to you, you may get answers without ever asking a question.
3. I want to know what they expect to get out of the
business. Some folks are looking for supplemental income, some for
full time careers. Some folks wish to earn $100 per month play money,
some wish to earn a few thousand a month, to get out of debt. A
simple "tell me your expectation about the business" will get you
some of these answers.
By asking the above questions, you will find out quite
a bit about your prospect. This business is not for everyone. Why
waste your time or theirs if this is not a match? By asking questions,
by learning what someone expects out of the business, your prospect
is actually making a commitment to you.
If they tell you they want $1000 per month, you can
then explain to them what it will take to earn that much. One of
two things will happen, they will agree to the steps to make it
happen, or they will tell you no. If they tell you no, then explain
what it will take to earn 1/2 of that, or $500 per month. Again,
one of two things will happen, either they will agree to take the
steps to make it happen or they will tell you no.
By interviewing your prospects you are establishing
from the beginning what the future will bring.
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.helpingmomsstayhome.com/audrey.
You can write to her at IHavSnoopy@aol.com
How
to Overcome the Fear of Prospecting in 30 Days
By Jason Bietsch
What is prospecting?
When most people hear that word they cringe in fear
and think:
Pain.
"I can't sell!"
"I'm afraid to pick up the phone because what if they
say NO!"
The laundry list of excuses can go on and on. You must
learn to love the word "No" because prospecting is this
MA = MR
Which means, massive action equals massive results!
You must be willing to sift and sort through the dirt
and rock to find a few nuggets of gold. You must be willing to go
through massive numbers to get the massive results.
How? Leads, leads, and more leads. You have to have
more leads that you can handle.
Why?
This puts you in lead Prosperity Consciousness. The
more leads you have, the less attached you are to the outcome of your
prospecting efforts.
The less leads you have, the more attached you get to
your prospect. Thus, putting you into lead Poverty Consciousness.
You start to choke those few leads that you do have, to death.
You start to think, "I really need to make a sale."
As soon as you get into "need" mode, your prospects
can sense that. Then you get into chase mode.
What happens when you chase your prospects?
That's right! They run. You cannot afford to get emotionally
attached to your Prospects. Just like you can't get attached to whatever
failures you may have experienced in the past. Preparation is the
key to prospecting. You will have to create the action to get the
results you desire. The biggest challenge most people are faced with
is fear of the telephone. That receiver can weigh 150 lbs. And the
pain of calling a prospect can sometimes be unbearable.
Just think about this.
The more calls you make, the more checks you bank.
So, here is a quick and simple plan to follow for the
next 30 days to, what I call, "cure your phone fear."
Start out making one call the first day. Then add another
call the next day and so on.
Example:
Day 1 - make 1 call
Day 2 - make 2 calls
Day 3 - make 3 calls…
After 30 days you will be up to 30 calls a day. Which
I can probably safely say, that's more calls than 98% of all networkers
make in a single week!
At the same time you'll overcome your phone fear by
creating a new skill for success.
Prospecting.
Eventually, you will be making 50 to 100 calls a day
without breaking a sweat. (Some people think that is excessive, those
are usually the people who aren't making any money in this business.)
You will also never fear the word "No" again. This will
assist you in becoming emotionally detached from the outcome because
you know you have plenty of people to talk to.
That is massive action.
That is when you start to get closer to your promise
land. And you did it in 30 days.
You are in the business of collecting decisions. The
more "No's" you collect, the more "Yes's" you get!
Remember, if you don't prospect, you don't get checks.
It's as simple as that.
About the Author
Jason Bietsch is the publisher of the "Prospecting
Secrets Revealed!" training newsletter. He also shows people how to
get thousands of FREE pre-qualified leads every single month! You
can get more Prospecting Secrets every week by subscribing FREE. Send
a blank email to: ProspectingSecretsRevealed@InfoGeneratorPro.com
Are You Guilty
Of Being An "Information Overload" Junkie?
By Mary Holzrichter
If you're like me, perhaps you've been on the Internet
for less than a year. For those first few months, you pretty much
just surf around absolutely dumbfounded by all the information available
in cyberspace. Wow! After a while, you actually feel yourself becoming
addicted, and you can feel yourself being transformed into (Oh, no!)
a "Mouse Potato".
Since you love this Internet thing so much, you decide
you may as well earn some money while maneuvering that mouse. What
a great idea! My own home business!
You join as many freelance "work at home" job sites
as possible, sending out your resume to all of them, and hoping that
you'll land that perfect administrative-type job. Well, it appears
that those jobs are few and far between. For every job opening, there
are literally thousands of applicants. Unless you're a transcriptionist,
have website design or techie skills of some sort, they are next to
impossible to land.
So, it's on to a new quest!
By now you are definitely determined to make money on
the Internet. So you go into a manic search for the perfect affiliate
program. After an exhaustive length of time and a few bad judgments,
you settle on one or two that you feel are right for you and that
you believe in.
Onward!
In the meantime, you have it in your head that you need
a website. When promoting your affiliate program, you suddenly start
noticing thousands of ads for information on internet marketing. Many
of the ads are for marketing newsletters. Oh, my, look at all this
information. So you start signing up for just about every newsletter.
Hm-mmm! How to design a website, how to work the search engines, how
to get your ad to 600,000+ per day, how to write effective ads, how
not to write ads, how to make your website sticky, how to publish
your own newsletter, how to be one of the 5% who make it through the
first year, how to not be one of the 95% who don't make it through
the first year, how to use autoresponders to run your follow-ups,
how to keep from having your ISP shut down by people yelling "SPAM"
at you, how to handle customer relations, how to do viral marketing,
how to brand your business, how to go about campaign marketing, how
to produce website traffic, and the list goes on and on.
And I ended up spending most of my time reading them.
Sure, I learned a lot, but I don't even have a website yet!
Uh-Oh! Now look what has happened! You've got mountains
of printed out information on every imaginable subject, your bookmarks
are overloaded, your email folders are bulging, AND you find you're
not using any of it because you've got SO much, you've forgotten about
any of it specifically. I won't even mention all those "had-to-have"
eBooks. The heaps of paper are piled so high that it has become an
insurmountable task to go through them, and the bookmarks have strange
titles which don't ring a bell, some of the emailed newsletters are
still setting where you put them to read more in-depth later, and
you get to the point where you wonder,
"What the hell am I doing?"
Sometimes you get so frustrated, you just want to drown
it all out in a flood of tears!
Time Out!
Has your mind become paralyzed? Have you lost all sense
of priorities? Have you entered the "cyberland of no return"?
No, I don't think so. There's still hope.
I realize I've painted myself into a corner. I have
to leap over the wet paint to get out of this predicament. I'm going
about this all backwards. I should only be gathering that information
which I need for building my website. The rest of the information
can wait until I reach that point.
And, YES, I'm an "information overload" junkie.
Here's what I'm going to do.
1. Unsubscribe to any newsletters, no matter how good
they are, and face the fact that maybe I don't NEED that particular
information yet. When I do, I can re-subscribe. Anyway, I hope they'll
let me do so!
2. Get rid of all those bookmarks. Only keep the ones
I recognize and use.
3. Clean out my email. If I haven't read it after six
months I'm never going to.
4. Read only those eBooks I've downloaded that are relevant
to the actual building of a website. The other ones can just set there
and wait. Delete the ones I'll never use.
5. Actually, start physically building my website.
Concentrate ONLY on building my website. Stop just thinking about
it, and DO it! I can always change it as I go along. No one says it
has to be the greatest thing since sliced bread!
6. I MUST get organized. My computer room looks like
a tornado went through it. When someone comments, "How do you FIND
anything?" my reply is, "As long as no one touches anything, I know
exactly where everything is". And I "usually" do. But since I'm going
to "clean house", I think I'll give the organization bit a try. Who
knows, maybe I'll like it. I'll keep the printed material that is
relevant to my needs, punch holes in it, and put it in binders. The
rest goes in the car trunk to the recycling center.
7. I'll even make a schedule for myself such as an alloted
time to read the ezines I'll continue to subscribe to. An amount of
time to work on my website. An amount of time to place ads. An amount
of time to read email and respond. Oh, and only certain times to hit
that "get new messages" button.
Hopefully, once I've "cleaned house", I can get rolling
"forward" instead of "backwards" with a cleared-out mind.
No more "information overload" for me. I've recovered!
About the Author
Mary Holzrichter, The Newbie Club The Most Respected
PC And Internet Learning Site On The Web! http://newbieclub.com?abcs
e-mail: holzrob3@naspa.net
Harness The
Marketing
Power of Postcards
By
Robert Imbriale, Internet Marketing Expert
Do you dream of dramatically increasing the number
of people who come to your web site? Do you tend to limit yourself
only to Internet-based promotions?
I want to share a little secret with you about how you
can use a regular old postcard to build traffic to your web site by
the thousands in almost no time at all!
Now before you go out of the room screaming, just listen
for just a moment. This past month, I have been using postcards with
my clients and they have added literally thousands of names to their
client lists! That's right, and they did it by using little 3x5 inch
postcards that are sent via regular old snail-mail!
I realize that this is not new technology, and that
it may not even be all that sexy, but what I do know is that it REALLY
WORKS! And the results are nothing shy of amazing, if you know how
to make the most of this powerful medium.
Are you curious to learn how? Read on because I am going
to tell you and then I'll share a few secrets to postcard marketing
that will explode your response rate!
Postcards work because more people read them. . .and
they are read more often because there is no envelope to open. Everybody
will look at a brightly colored postcard when it arrives in the mail.
So the first thing to know is that you always use brightly colored
postcards.
I prefer sunshine yellow for my postcards. Start with
a powerful offer. I like to offer a FREE E-BOOK. So I put the words
"FREE E-BOOK" in big bold letters across the top of the postcard.
Yes, it's fine to be bold! Remember, your goal is to capture attention,
so use the biggest, boldest type face you can get! Under that bold
headline, I'll generally provide a little more info about the value
of the Free E-book. It may look like this:
"You can GET RICH on the Internet! Learn how in a powerful
FREE E-Book by Expert Internet Marketer, Robert Imbriale. Claim your
FREE copy of this eye-opening E-Book now! Go to http://www.ultimatewealth.com"
That's it. I will not put any more copy on the postcard.
I may include a graphic of the cover of the e-book, but nothing else.
It's possible to say too much, so you're better off saying less, and
getting more response because the prospect is now curious and will
come to your web site to find out more!
All I want to do is get the prospect to RESPOND by going
to my web site. So I give them enough information to get them curious
and then let them come to my site to get the whole story.
You could also run a contest and use the words, "You
Could Win" along the top of your postcard. I tested this headline
a few weeks ago for one of my clients, (http://www.welburngourdfarm.com)
and the results were amazing! In just a few short days, they had received
thousands of visits to their site because of this one little postcard!
Your postcard must simply attract attention and then send the reader
to your web site. NEVER try to SELL off the postcard!
There is simply not enough room to convince a prospect
to make a purchasing decision. And I know that your natural temptation
is to try and tell them about EVERYTHING that you have to offer. DON'T
DO IT! Stay focused, keep it short and you'll see thousands of people
on your web site in just days!
Get your list together, (or rent a list from a list
broker) print your labels, place a mere 21-cent postage stamp on each
postcard and drop them off at your nearest Post Office. There is not
that much to this form of promotion, and it will be well worth your
efforts, if you follow the simple guidelines I've just outlined for
you.
My very first online marketing promotion was a postcard
mailing that I used to promote my very first online marketing venture
in 1989. At the time I invested less than $200 to print and mail my
postcards and made over $5,000.00 in sales!
The good news is that postcards are just as profitable
today as they were then! So, go get some postcards made up, bring
them to your local printer and get a few thousand copies made. In
days, you'll see a nice jump in traffic to your web site - and your
profits!
About the Author
Robert Imbriale is an internationally known Internet
Marketing Expert who has helped sell well over $100 Million in products
and services over the Internet. He is the author of several books,
including his latest, "Internet Marketing Secrets" which you can get
for free by going to http://www.ultimatewealth.com.
Robert can be reached via e-mail at robert@ultimatewealth.com
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Copyright 2001, Regent Press
http://www.mlmwoman.com
