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How to Get Leads to Contact You

September 21, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

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Creative Commons License photo credit: TheMarque

Wouldn't it be nice to not have to use any of the old methods of generating leads? You know the ones that make you feel awkward such as cold calling, the "3-foot rule" (where you pitch your business to anyone within 3 feet of you), or using the prospect list with only your friends and family making the list?

There is a better way to get leads to come to you. It's all about marketing on the web or more commonly referred to as internet marketing. If you have no clue how to start, it isn't that difficult. Yes, you may need to outsource certain aspects such as web developing if you have never put up a web site, otherwise, most other marketing is easy.

Why Leads Should Seek You Out

The huge benefit of leads seeking you out is that they will be targeted. If they have discovered you and contacted you, that typically means that they have found you online and have an interest in what you are doing. That is a targeted lead and many marketers pay for those leads through other forms of advertising. Using internet marketing and staying consistent can have leads like that contacting you at least several times a week or more. The best part it, most online marketing is free.

Ways to Market Your Business Online

Blog - This is probably one of the first things I recommend to people. You can have a blog up and running fast and updating them often will surely get you traffic in the long term. There are some SEO (search engine optimization) techniques that go along with a blog. For the most part if you use your keyword(s) in your blog post titles, you will begin to get some traffic. There are plenty of blogs out there that blog about blogging that you can learn the basics from. Just don't get too caught up in reading and not doing. Free blogs to start with are WordPress and Blogger.

Web site - Thanks to WordPress, you can have a static web site and a blog all-in-one. However, if you don't want to blog, at least have a web site up which talks about you and your business. It is nice to have a place to refer people back to when they want more information. It is especially important to brand yourself since network marketing is about working with people. Your leads will want to know more about you.

Video - Marketing with video can do wonders for your business. Just like blogging, you will want to create informative videos. You don't need fancy video cameras and microphones. Use a web cam or a flip cam to get started. What you have to say is more important than video quality when you're starting out. You can always upgrade later. Post on video sharing sites like YouTube, Viddler, Vimeo, etc.

Articles and Guest Posting - Writing articles has helped me a lot in terms of marketing. There are good article directories out there that will work well as long as you adhere to their terms and do not write spammy articles. Articles work well if you use your keyword(s) in the article's title. You can also request to guest post on a related web site. Your article will need to be helpful or most people will not let you post.

If you do some or all of the above on a regular basis, you will begin to have people contacting you. Not every lead will join your network but you will still learn what methods are bringing you more leads and you can increase your efforts in those areas.

Leads for Network Marketers

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Dealing with Rejection in Network Marketing

September 10, 2009 in Marketing | 1 comment

One thing I am learning really fast about network marketing is to develop a thick skin. I'm sure this holds true for any business but with network marketing, you really have to be strong in mind with the types of people you may come across. When you are prospecting, the average person will probably not be interested in what you have to say. Some people have heard of network marketing and due to their impressions about it, will assume that you are trying to con them.

Why Thick Skin Helps

Developing a thick skin simply means that you need to be mentally tough to make it in this business. It is in our nature to want people to like us and like what we have to offer. Therefore, when faced with rejection, some of us tend ot take it personally.

When I first started marketing, I would create newsletters that would go out every once in awhile to people on my list. Some people stayed and some people would unsubscribe. I would get the unsubscribe notifications sent to my email. The first thing I would think was, "what did I do wrong? They must not like what I am sending." I immediately went into the "poor me" mindset wondering how anyone wouldn't like me and my newsletter.

Looking back that was completely silly! I unsubscribe from newsletters all the time - primarily to cut down on email in my inbox. I learned to stop taking every little thing so personally. I also filter out all unsubscribe notifications so I do not receive them in my inbox.

Another example is when I would talk to motivated prospects over the phone and they never sign up the way they said they would. Again, I wondered where I went wrong when the conversation went so well. If you're in network marketing, you will face plenty of that. This is where mental toughness comes in. It makes you learn not to take things personal and to move on. That is what I do anytime I am facing rejection - move on!

Becoming Mentally Prepared

You can develop a tough mindset that will prevent you from feeling sorry for yourself when rejection hits. If you're in network marketing long enough, trust me, you will be hit with enough rejection to make you wonder if it is even worth it. Being mentally tough can help you stick to it and continue to run your business.

Realize rejection will happen - It's a part of any business so come to terms with the fact that you will deal with rejection. Nothing is going to change that so get used to it.

Rejection can make you stronger - You will have people that blow you off and some that will even laugh at your opportunity. Use that negativity to work in your favor. Let it be the fuel you need to keep going every day and reach success.

Change your perception - 90% of the time when you're rejected, it's not you. Most people don't want to try anything new. They don't care about securing their future or owning their own business. Next time you're rejected, take a look at the prospect. They were probably not a good fit for the business to begin with.

Have you faced a lot of rejection in this business or other business in general? How have you dealt with it?

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Are You Doing Too Much Convincing?

September 7, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

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Creative Commons License photo credit: mattymatt

Are you experiencing a lot of rejection when presenting your business opportunity? How about prospects who say they are going to sign-up under you but never do? As a new marketer, I am still finding it difficult to not oversell my business. It is easy to blame yourself and wonder what you are doing wrong. I think this is a mistake because a lot of times, it has more to do with the prospect rather than your marketing technique.

Too Much Convincing May Mean Your Prospect is Not Qualified

Before you go blaming yourself and wondering why you are experiencing a lot rejection, you may want to take a look at the types of prospects you are talking to. A qualified prospect will already have an interest in your opportunity. Whatever their reason why, they should be seeking you out and wanting to learn more.

A non-qualified prospect tends to be someone who requires much more convincing. If you find yourself overselling your opportunity, this is a good sign that this person is not interested and will likely reject your presentation. They may even say they will sign-up with you just to get rid of you and then refuse to respond to your follow-ups.

I have learned that you shouldn't have to try so hard in closing a prospect. The presentation portion of your business should be left to third party tools such as video presentations, live presentations, webinars, web sites, 3-way conference calls with your sponsor, etc. Now, I can't say for certain that doing it this way will achieve better results.

I am still experimenting with various techniques myself. However, it does makes some sense as a new marketer to try not and pitch your opportunity too much when there are tools available that can present the information much better until you learn the ropes.

Generating Better Qualified Leads

You can help avoid having to convince people to consider your opportunity by getting as targeted as you can when producing leads. Most new marketers will target folks who desire to work from home (which is fine,) but if you can target niches within your industry, it may take less convincing as you are offering something that they are looking for anyway.

Another thing that helps is by letting prospects come after you. This can be achieved with personal web sites, using blogs, and writing articles (guest posts on blogs, article marketing.)

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How to Market Your Business Around Company Restrictions

September 2, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

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Creative Commons License photo credit: Chris!!!!!

All network marketing companies have their own rules and restrictions on how you are allowed to promote their products and services. One prime example are registered names and trademarks. Most cmopanies will have a list of reserved keywords which you are not allowed to use in domain names or other marketing materials. This can seem like a hassle when you are thinking of ways to promote your business, yet aren't allowed to use certain keywords in your marketing efforts.

Another example of restriction on marketing is how some companies do not allow you to build your own web site pertaining to the products/services. Some networks may only want you to use the web sites that they duplicate for everyone in the business.

How to Get Around the Advertising Restrictions

There are some ways to get around these restrictive marketing policies if you are dealing with them. Of course, make sure that you understand what all of the rules and restrictions are for your network maketing business before investing any time and money into marketing.

Brand yourself - There are no restrictions in how you brand yourself. Create a web site about you and market your skills, talents, and business opportunity. Let potential leads know what you bring to the table and how you can help them if they are interested.

Target niches - Just about every product or service out there has some niche that you can market in. For example, my network marketing business is in the health and fitness industry. There are so many ways that I could target a niche and funnel leads into my prospect lists in order to present them with my business opportunity or sell products.

Types of Marketing Methods

Since I come from a web background and have a strong interest in internet marketing, my advice would be to create niche web sites in which you build your prospect lists with newsletter sign-ups. This is also referred to as "building a list." The easiest way to do this that I know of is by signing up with a good autoresponder service such as Aweber.

You create your individual lists and place the sign-up forms on each of your niche sites. You pre-populate your autoresponder lists with several messages that provide some type of free information to keep the lead in your system. Eventually, you can then send out messages that promote your business opportunity.

There are different ways to go about it but having a good autoresponder and niche sites are the beginning of building an automated system of capturing leads.

I am experimenting with this process myself and I will definitely post what I experiencing as time goes on.

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Network Marketing Prospect Lists – Make Them Count

September 1, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

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Creative Commons License photo credit: smiely

Network marketing is about making contact and one way to start off is by creating a list of contacts whom you already know. The problem with these types of lists is that you can end up losing friends if you begin to make the wrong contacts. A common method of getting new leads is by creating a list of at least 100 people - even if you are only acquaintances. You are then supposed to contact everyone on your list and let them know about your great business opportunity.

Where Prospect Lists Go Wrong

Creating a long list of people you may know well or barely know is not a bad idea. The issue comes in when you try to pitch them about your business. Your good friends will probably not mind so much but they will get annoyed with you if you continue to push. Some people actually become annoyed because they have heard it all before.

The other day, I saw a comment on my Facebook stream in which someone said they hate when their friends sign-up to a network marketing program and try to get them to do the same. You see, you may think your business is the best and can truly help people, but some people get pitched all the time about some "amazing" opportunity and they don't want to hear it.

How to Make a Prospect List Count

A more helpful prospect list is one in which you know people who are positive, goal oriented, and highly motivated with their careers, family life, and life in general. Start off making your list of 100 or so people. Then remove the people on the list who you know are not go-getters. You want to work with people with good attitudes; people who want more out of life.

As new marketers, we often make the mistake of presenting our business to folks who could care less about making a change in their lives. They are happy where they are and don't feel the need to grow or try anything new.

The good thing about network marketing is that you get to pick and choose who you would like to work with. Why wouldn't you want a highly motivated person in your network? Seek out these individuals and continue to add them to your prospect list.

It's All in the Attitude

You can quickly tell positive people from negative people. I meet people with poor attitudes all the time. They make excuses for everything! I know that we are not all positive 100% of the time, but you can tell who is negative 90% of the time. A good attitude will take you a long way in network marketing. Choose to network with people who have an overall positive attitude and you will save yourself a lot of time and hopefully build a strong network in the process.

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