Home Page MLM Woman Newsletters MLM Talk Bulletin Board Business Building Books and Tapes Check out Our MLM Distributor Listings Business Classifieds Send A Free Digital Postcard Advertise on MLM Woman Question of the Month! MLM Success Library About Us Feedback

MLM Woman Issue 73 February 2003 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 73rd issue of the MLM Woman Newsletter. This month we feature articles to help you build a prospect and referral list for your business, how to get your prospects to ask the right questions about your business opportunity, how to change your thinking about the Internet environment in 2003, and how to beat your competition by positioning yourself differently in the marketplace. Yours in Success! Linda Locke, Editor MLM Woman Beyond Family and Friends Copyright 2003© by Sandra Maggio All rights reserved If you have ever felt like you have run out of people to talk to about your business - you are not alone. I think we all go through these periods in our MLM careers. The secret is not to get stuck there. The simple answer lies in our contact list. Your contact list, is the lifeblood of your business! This list should be a never - ending list of people who are eager to talk to you, if you build it right. If you look at your company's products or services as a vehicle and enrollments or customers as the fuel that runs the vehicle - you need to make sure there is plenty of reserve fuel to keep it running and in forward motion. There is a saying; "If you are not moving forward - you are moving backward". A growing contact list is the key to moving forward. First of all, we all know the drill, your list needs to be a list of everyone you know and can think of. I mean everyone from family members, friends, neighbors, business associates, professionals, business owners, teachers--to the soccer coach, the dog groomer and the pest control guy! We are not saying you have to contact them - just get them on the list. Their names may help jog your memory for someone you forgot to add. They may also be a good source of referrals. Carry this list with you at all times. Every time you meet someone new, get in the habit of adding their names to your list. So, how do we meet new people to add to our list? One way is really easy, we treat our MLM business like a real business and learn the importance of networking with others. What is networking? It is the building of relationships with others who can help you to connect with their circle of influence. Your circle of influence is the people you know on a first name basis and with whom you have credibility. Studies have shown that each of us has a circle of influence of about 250. How they know this is the average funeral has 250 people in attendance - the idea is to get to them before you die! People also like to do business with and refer business to people they know, like and trust. Wouldn't you rather get a friends opinion about a movie or restaurant than relying on a critic or someone you don't know. If I need a professional, I first contact a friend for a referral rather than scouring the yellow pages. You usually do the same. By learning how to properly cultivate and build relationships that lead to referrals - you can count on a large portion of your contacts to come from this source. Therefore, your list should not only consist of potential customers and business builders but also people who will be a good source of referrals. When we show these referral sources exactly what our company is and what we do--also help them to understand how to identify a Model prospect for you. Have you identified your Model Prospect? I have several ideas of a Model Prospect. How about the college educated, corporately employed new mother on maternity leave. They don't want to go back to work - but they have a lifestyle to maintain. And then there is the corporate employee who breaks free to pursue the dream of his own business--only to go bankrupt a short time later. The Successful Discontents, who finished college with a good job and high hopes to build a satisfying career, only to realize, corporate life isn't what they thought it would be. The retiree, who can't quite live the lifestyle they had planned for, due to stock market uncertainty. The couple that both have to work to provide for their family, yet they can never seem to get ahead. Are you getting the picture? Once you have identified them for yourself it will make it easier for you and others to help you find qualified prospects. So, as they pursue their daily activities they will know if someone they meet or know is a good lead for you. You need to teach them NOT to present your opportunity or your product or service - teach them just to get their contact information and you will do the presenting. This strategy is a key component to expanding your list of contacts. Get to know who comes into contact with your Model prospect. Depending on the product or service you offer this may vary. Some examples of people who are in contact with people might be someone who sells exercise machines, owns a Health Club, is a personal trainer, a dentist, a hygenist, the Drycleaner, the Realtor, the Chiropractor, the Massage therapist, the banker, the accountant and the hairstylist. These are great sources for referrals. Remember, teach your network how to know a good prospect for you, ask for referrals and touch base regularly. The next important strategy for meeting new people is to Position yourself in front of your Model Prospects. Where do your kinds of model prospects hang out? How about the Health club, Golf club, Mom's Morning Out, at the Kids sporting activities and Events. To meet new people Join clubs, Organizations, and Associations such as the Chamber of Commerce in your area. Become a Volunteer, it will make you feel good and you'll meet some great people! Everyone loves a volunteer. Attend seminars to improve yourself, improve your finances, and improve your health. Who is going to be there? Your model prospects! Consider joining or starting a Business Networking group. This consists of a group of people from various businesses and professions who meet weekly or bi-weekly for breakfast or lunch for the purpose of sharing leads. Once again, build relationships and train them to network for you. The secret to getting leads is to give leads first. Meet more people by walking and talking. Did you know that 99% of us recruit by Accident? Imagine as you went about your daily business, errands and activities that you had a recruit on purpose attitude. Prospects are everywhere. In line at the bank, at the grocery store, the post office, the gym, the coffee shop or deli, and the doctors office. A simple smile, comment or compliment can all bridge to a conversation. These conversational openers are very effective for getting dialog going with anyone. As the conversation progresses there are three great questions to keep in mind and use. "So, what do you do for a living? How long have you been doing that? Do you like what you do?" Their answers will provide vital information to help you, if you decide to approach them about your opportunity, product or service. Complimenting someone on a service they provided or always provide is another way to solicit a conversation that can lead to an approach. A comment like "You are great at what you do - you would be great in my business!" Or," Have you ever thought of doing something alongside what you are doing to make extra income?" After you have complimented them, it's hard to answer no, but often they will ask "What do you do?" I tell them "I have a marketing business - why don't we meet for coffee this week and I'll show you exactly what I do." Get their card or information and follow up with them as soon as possible. I don't give them a business card at this time, as I don't want them to prejudge what I have to offer. If they insist on knowing more I will use the following with great success: I Show People How To . . . Add to their income without jeopardizing their full time job. Work alongside their children with their own home-based business. Diversify their business income, with residual income. Add to their household income without interfering with family time. Start their own home-based business without any risk. Each approach is directed towards their specific needs, or according to the things they shared with me in conversation. These are good approaches for potential business builders. If your approach or conversation leads to the opportunity to show your product or service, a good response for a potential customer might be something like: I Show People How To . . . Meet their Health and Wellness goals with a line of products that deliver results! Acquire huge savings on their Long and distance and cellular services Save up to 50% on all their family's dental care services with a unique Dental Plan that is offered exclusively through our company. Make gourmet, easy to prepare meals in 30 minutes or less, with our exclusive time tested recipes, condiments and kitchen products. It is appropriate to give them a business card in this situation, but I always get their number to follow up with them. Never count on them following up with you. The key to success here is to make sure you follow up! Many times I have enrolled someone who had been approached before but the person had not followed up. Don't let them slip through your fingers. The possibilities are endless for expanding your list of contacts, I have only scratched the surface--so I hope these few ideas can give you a good start. Good luck and remember, nothing happens unless you make it happen! About the Author Sandra is President of Sandra Maggio Inc. A Personal Coach, Trainer, Speaker and Consultant - Sandra comes with a solid background of 12 years full time in the Network Marketing Industry. Her Leadership qualities, Communication skills, Hands on field experience and Successful Track Record -- offer her clients the opportunity to Learn the skills they will need to Win in MLM, from someone who has done so herself. Sandra resides in sunny Palm Harbor, Florida with her Husband and two young children. To contact Sandra: email her at: sandramaggio@mail.com Are You Asking The Right Questions? By Audrey Okaneko One of the most common suggestions given to folks considering a home business opportunity is to ask questions. This is excellent advice, however knowing what questions to ask is equally important. One of the most popular questions I am asked is "what company are you with?". This is my first example of a question possibly not being a "right" question. Let's say I tell you I "am with" Mary Kay, or Discovery Toys or Amway. What you now know is that I sell toys, cosmetics, or cleaning products. I'm not sure this is really the information you were after. In each of these 3 companies, I can find you high money earners, and I can find you low money earners. In each of these 3 companies, I can find you ethical sales representatives and I can find you unethical sales representatives. What I too often see is someone turn down a company affiliation based on one or even two distributors experiences. It is easy to fall into the trap of assuming that all business owners/reps/distributors with each of these companies conduct their businesses in the same way or employ the same marketing methods. This is especially a potential problem with older, well known companies, that have been around long enough, or become large enough, to have a degree of name recognition. In such cases, either a "good" or a "bad" association may have little bearing on the viability of the actual opportunity. All 3 companies mentioned above have high company sales volume, and even pay about the same in commissions. There is a flip side to the above. If you've just recently heard on the news or read in the paper that a company is under investigation for illegal activity, then yes, company affiliation can be relevant. The next question I'm often asked is "how much do you earn?". I think most times the real question being asked is what the income potential for the asker is, and also what it will take to achieve personal monetary goals. There is nothing wrong with saying to someone, "I wish to earn $1000 per month, how can I do that?". This is a very clear question that can be broken down and answered by someone talking to you about a business. Income claims is not what one should look for here. Understanding the volume needed to obtain the desired income should be the focus. What are some other "right" questions? A great question to ask is "how will I market?" I have over the years heard an assortment of answers to this question. One answer is that you'll create a list of family and friends and contact them. I personally don't agree with this method, however many think this system works fine. If you feel this is a good starting system, then let's think long term. Once you run out of family and friends, then how will you market? Sometimes picking a business that you like, say McDonalds, or Walmart, or Pepsi, can help you visualize yourself being that business owner. None of these businesses built their business relying on family and friends. Another answer you might receive when asking about marketing will be one of automation. I've heard folks speak of elaborate autoresponder systems, and high tech automated websites. As you consider this option, put yourself in the shoes of the person being marketed to. How likely are you to do business with a machine? If you personally are not likely to do business with an automated system, then this might not be the right marketing system for you to use in your own business. Along these lines, another great question to ask is what you personally will have to do consistently on a day to day or month to month basis to meet your business goals? Maybe your question is on a short term and long term business plan? When I seek advice on any topic, whether business, parenting, or even gardening, I prefer to speak to those who have been around a while. I was most definitely new in business at one time, so I would defer a lot to my mentors. I think asking the business background and number of years in business of those you'll be working with can give you some idea of who you'll be working with. Working with someone new can be fun for both of you, however the question then becomes do the two of you have a mentor you can both rely on that has business knowledge? Another question I feel is important, is "how is money made"?. Money in a business is earned through the legitimate sales of real products and services. If money is made through books, training's, tapes or even recruiting others, this is cause for a red flag to go up. If you ask, "How is money made", the answer should be "from the sales of products and/or services". Also, keep in mind that it's not just the amount of money you earn, it's how much you get to keep, and this is where expenses come in. Depending on the marketing approaches you use in your business plan, those expenses can be anywhere from virtually nothing to several hundred dollars per week/month. Keep in mind that the amount of expenses does not equate to success, but it can have a tremendous impact on your profitability as well as how effectively you can duplicate those methods within your network. With this in mind, asking "are there any monthly fees I'll be required to pay" can shed quite a bit of useful information to aid you in making your decision. By asking the right questions, it becomes easier to make a good business decision; one that can lead you into the future. About the Author Audrey has worked from home since 1983. She is a Community Leader at both iVillage and AOL, and, for the past two years, she has moderated an online community at Yahoo Groups. Through her involvement in these communities she tries to help others who are interested in learning the rewards and pitfalls of running a home business and who may benefit from the knowledge she has gained over many years of practical experience. She can be reached at ihavsnoopy@aol.com Everything Changes - Eventually (c) 2003 by Anita Foley Everything changes - eventually. We all know this, yet it is often difficult to accept change when it happens. Since you really can't fight it (it's gonna happen anyway) what you need to do is make adjustments that will allow you to deal effectively with the change. Change for the change, so to speak. A while ago, a friend of mine sent me this quote by Jimmy Dean -- "I cannot change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." Excellent advice. In life, and in business, you want to continue moving toward your goals, even when unexpected changes put obstacles in your way. Don't let them throw you off course, and don't let them cause you to give up. Learn ways around the obstacles - change your plan, change your methods, change your direction, if necessary! Lot's of things changed on the Internet in 2002. Every eZine publisher would agree with me that the process of sending out our newsletters was a lot different at the beginning of 2002 than at the end of the year. Every online business owner would agree that the process of marketing and promoting a business was also a lot different at the end of 2002 than at the beginning. What happened? What changed? What can you do about it? I think the major change that occurred was the sheer volume of new people getting online. This caused many of the problems that already existed to mushroom and become more widespread. Viruses and hackers have been around a long time, but it seems they multiplied like crazed rabbits in 2002. My anti-virus program kicked in a lot more than usual. And one virus even managed to get through and put my PC (and my business!) out of commission for several days. The self-appointed anti-spam advocates were out in force in 2002. These same people who watch commercials on TV and accept advertising in their postal mail boxes without question, refuse to simply use the delete key on their email. Spam filtering became prevalent and resulted in major changes to online advertising. The dishonest found ways to keep cheating and continue spamming, so the anti-spam folks didn't solve anything. They are still getting unwanted email, only now they're getting it from all the scammers and porn sites instead of the legitimate business owners. The people conducting an honest online business wasted money on advertising methods that worked in the past, but which are now totally useless. The scandals flourished both online and off, and the skeptics said, "I told you so!" Many people lost their jobs in 2002 and turned to the Internet to start a home-based business. The scammers and cheaters were ready and waiting with open arms. These new netpreneurs were ripped off by scams, hoaxes, and get-rich-quick schemes, and many more skeptics were created. It became almost impossible to convince anyone that YOUR product just might be legitimate. Here it is, the beginning of 2003. What do you do now? How can you continue to follow your dream of working from home in your PJ's? Do you throw in the towel and hide in the closet? Or, worse yet, do you go back to the wonderful world of the 9-5 rat race? I think not. You simply have to find a way to deal with all the changes. You need to be prepared for the new obstacles that are sure to crop up in the future. One thing you'll definitely have to do is change our beliefs if you've been misguided by some of the online "gurus". These same people have lost a lot of money in 2002 just like everyone else, yet they continue to pitch their crap to all the inexperienced newcomers. If you were lead to believe that you could: put up a web site and peddle any fool program and get rich while you sleep send out a newsletter and have all your subscribers buy everything you sell send bulk email to anyone and everyone without getting into trouble buy a list of leads who will break down your door to join your program join a forced matrix that builds your downline for free and make money without doing a darn thing YOU need to CHANGE your beliefs! And, if you believed the Internet was a great marketplace that leveled the playing field for EVERYONE, you need to change that belief. The Internet does level the playing field, but only for those willing to do the work, do their due diligence, and do an honest business. Those willing to make the adjustments to deal with the changes will survive. Everyone else will fail or quit. YOU need to CHANGE your approach. What works now? I believe it is the same thing that has worked for business owners since the dawn of time - DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP with your customer. It's simple: if they don't know you, they can't trust you; and if they don't trust you, they won't buy from you. As a business owner here are two things to do immediately: 1. Take the time to talk to people, find out what they want, find out what they need, and then offer it. Provide a way for your customers to talk to you. 2. Establish trust by having your name and phone number on your site. If it looks like you're hiding something, people will not do business with you. It's a whole new world out there in cyber business land. Everything has changed. Gone are the days of putting up an anonymous web site and pulling in tons of cash (if they ever really existed). Gone are the days of networking only by email. Gone are the days of signing up for free and making money while you sleep. Don't get discouraged, don't give up, just make the changes necessary to reach your goals. About the Author Anita Foley of http://www.wealth-happens.com publishes Wealth Happens EZine, a weekly newsletter providing MBA for serious netpreneurs who want to make money from home. What's MBA? Subscribe and find out! subezine@wealth-happens.com 3 Ways To Beat Your Competition Copyright 2003 Bob Leduc You will always have competitors. You cannot control their activity. But you can minimize their impact on your business. Here are 3 ways you can position yourself to generate sales with little or no competition. 1. Use Unconventional Marketing Methods Most businesses use the same marketing methods as their competitors. Adapt some unconventional marketing methods to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Your unique marketing will attract more attention and get more sales. For example, most online businesses only use online marketing methods to generate traffic to their website. By including some offline marketing, they can bypass the heavy competition online and produce more traffic - and more sales. Tip: Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. Postcards are inexpensive and easy to use. Most recipients will read a brief message on a postcard. 2. Uncover Overlooked Markets You cannot avoid competition when you market to the same prospects as your competitors. Look for some new niche markets you and your competitors overlooked. You may uncover a market you can dominate with little or no competition. Revise your ads, web pages and other sales messages so they appeal specifically to the unique interests and needs of prospects in your new niche market. For example, I recently spoke with a network marketer who singled out the following 3 niche markets. She customized her sales approach for each market to emphasize a different major benefit. * Stay at home moms: emphasizes the advantages of working part-time at home. * Corporate employees: emphasizes the opportunity to escape the corporate environment and build your own business. * Retirees: emphasizes the benefits of generating extra income without schedules or supervision. 3. Establish Yourself As A Specialist One of the most effective ways to beat your competition is to establish yourself as a specialist in a narrowly defined area of your business. Prospective customers perceive a specialist as an expert in their field - someone with special insight who can to help them in a specific area. You do not have to abandon your current marketing to establish yourself as a specialist. Just select a unique product you offer or a service you perform especially well and emphasize it in your marketing. Include testimonials from customers and endorsements from other experts to prove you are one of the best. Tip: A service business that specializes can often charge a higher fee. Customers or clients expect to pay more for specialized service. Some will even consider your higher fee as evidence you are the ultimate expert. You will have competitors as long as you are in business. But these 3 ways of positioning yourself will minimize their impact and allow you to generate sales with little or no competition. About the Author Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses just like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more information: Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards" Phone: 702-658-1707 after 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV Back to the MLM Woman Newsletter Index We want your feedback! Send e-mail comments to Linda at: regent@west.net Copyright 2003, Regent Press