A Time Leverage - Network Marketing

I post on a couple of blogs and just added one that I wanted to share with you. But rather than repost the entire thing here, I will just point you to the article.

The Power Of Leverage In Network Marketing

Are you a workaholic? I know I have been accused of this by insensitive friends and family that didn't understand my burning desires and relentless need for forward momentum. But even a workaholic can only put in so many hours per day... Read The Post

Why There Is Such A High Failure Rate For MLM'ers?

Network Marketing

Yep, that's right. Multilevel Marketing Companies, or MLM's use Network Marketing to *market* their products, which means they get and sponsor people who have never owned a business before to tell other people about the product. And since having other representatives sponsored is one of the *income streams*, these people market BOTH the business opportunity and products to the same group of people.

That's a little like advertising a Dog Training program and if they show any interest, try to sell them Home Siding. The two markets are VERY different and should be marketed differently, but most MLM companies and up lines explain that all you have to do to be successful in this business is tell everyone you know, everyone you meet, casual encounters at the grocery store or gas station about your "opportunity".

Well, if you have spent any time in MLM, you know this often just leads to frustration. Family members start to avoid you, friends don't take your calls. Try to see it from their point of view. You tell them all they have to do is "plug-in to your system" and they too can have a profitable business. Only, where is YOURS?!?! The typical new recruit is slammed by their up line with a list of things to do that make no sense in the real world of marketing and business.

There is a better way, but you have to get out of your own way first. And that means listen to what your up line has to say, but use your head too. If what they are telling you isn't working, try something else. And frankly, focus your efforts. If you are trying to sell the product, sell the product. Once you have established some trust with your customer and they can see the product really does what it says it will do, you can offer them a chance to also make some money selling it. Customers who "convert" in this way make the best representatives (or advocates) of the product. But this should come later. After they have used the product, seen the results, explained the product to friends and family (without the business opportunity lurking in the background of every conversation) and are really excited about it, then they can "focus" their efforts. But don't be surprised if you offer the opportunity and most say no. These are normal real people with real lives who haven't thought about owning their own business, or becoming an independent marketing contractor (which is what an network marketer is after all), they just wanted a solution to their problem. (Remember that most MLM companies offer health related products).

Offer your "business opportunity" to small business owners, people looking to work from home or start their own business. These are the people that are already doing research and grooming themselves for the "business owner mentality" and lifestyle. Look at these two words... Network Marketing. Does anything in those two words suggest "market two DIFFERENT concepts to the same person"? I don't think so.

There is a high failure rate with network marketing because everyone is taught the same thing. It's almost like a cult or religion. Personal Empowerment, Personal Development, Belief is the key. Trust me, if I am trying to drive a screw into a board and it isn't working, getting a bigger hammer *might* get the job done but it takes a lot of extra effort and will probably just ruin the material I am working with. Getting a screw gun would be the better choice since that is what it was *designed* to do. If what you are doing isn't working, don't go get a bigger hammer (visualization boards, more tapes on empowering yourself, creating an Alpha personality that people respond to, etc), get a different tool for the job. It's called Focus.

Let me ask you this. If you went to your butcher for some steaks, and he tried to sell you snow tires, would you go back? If you called your Dentist and asked for an appointment to get a tooth looked at and when you got into the chair he proceeded to try and sell you Investment Bonds, would you go back? Nope. Neither would I. When we went into the Butcher's or the Dentist, we had a certain result in mind. Being *sold* something else is off-putting at best, and damaging to their credibility at worst. They would quickly go out of business. So why on earth would you attempt the same thing just because you are representing a company/product/service that uses the Network Marketing business model to sell their products/services?

If you are smart, you won't. It doesn't work. What you need to do instead is focus your efforts. Sell to someone who is looking for what you have to offer. And don't try to cross-sell them. If they are looking for a health product that will relieve their joint pain, don't try to sell them a business opportunity. If they are looking to work from home or start their own business, sell them that, not a pill for joint pain. See what I mean? It's two completely different markets.

So, get out of your own way. You can be very successful in network marketing, especially if you find a company that offers good bonuses, unlimited level payouts and products that really work. But don't be a Lemming and do what your up line tells you to, just because they tell you to. Use your head. Remember that their up line trained them, and their up line trained them and so on. Find a company that offers real training, not just a list of things you should do like: 1) Make a list of your warm-market 2) Call all 100 people and let your excitement infect them 3) Listen, ask questions and then pitch them 4) Train your down line to do the same thing 5) Repeat.

That's not a recipe for success. That's a recipe to get yourself uninvited to the family Christmas party.

Just my two cents worth.

Cenay'

PS: Obviously, I have an MLM company in mind. One that meets all my criteria AND does something I have never seen any other company do. They donate 5% of all product sells to Childrens, Incorporated to help feed starving children in the United States! That's 5% of their money, money I helped create with my sales. I can live with that. Want to know more about the company I choose? Click Here.

Annoucement! Team Infinity's Blog Just Started

The Nussentials team of wealth builders I belong to has just started a new Blog. This will be a gathering place for like-minded individuals either interested in Network Marketing for the first time, or looking to improve their skills, contacts and tool arsenal.

I invite you to check out their Blog and leave your comments. Infiniti Team Blog

Cenay'

Driving Traffic To Your Business Opportunity

I guess you would have to have been living under a rock (or just not surfing the Internet) for the past two years to NOT know about Google's Adwords feature, but I thought I would spend a few minutes explaining how to drive traffic to your business opportunity page. While there are a few methods (we will cover them all in later posts) to do this, none is as quick or effective as using one of the largest *in-place* methods available, Google Adwords.

Here's how it works... you research what keywords you want to advertise for (keywords are what the people searching Google use to get results), build an ad, bid on the keywords and then turn on the tap. Instant traffic flows to your web site.

Sounds easy doesn't it?

The Keywords

Well, there are a few pitfalls (think Grand Canyon if you go into this without some forethought), some things to look out for, and you need to be prepared to spend some time researching, reviewing, refining and adjusting the list of words or phrases people will be searching for to find you. If you just put 1-10 keywords in your bid list, you will get a few *hits*. The more keywords you enter, the more *hits*.

But, and let me be VERY clear here, if you enter keywords just for the sake of having more in your list, you will go broke pretty fast. You want *laser-guided keywords* that bring traffic to your site, but you ONLY want keywords that relate directly to your opportunity, and indicate a willingness on the part of the web surfer to review your page.

In other words, don't include a keyword phrase like "real estate home business" because those people aren't looking for what you are offering (unless you actually have an MLM opportunity in the real estate field!). Every time someone searching for that term sees your ad and clicks, you wasted the "cost-per-click" associated, you pissed off the surfer because they really don't want to know more about your MLM and you dilute your traffic analytics.

The Ad

The next element to successfully driving traffic to your web site is the ad itself. Google has been a little stingy with space and only allows you 25 characters in the headline, 35 in each of two description lines, and a display URL (also 35 characters ). Frankly, it's pretty hard to generate excitement and interest with so few words, but it can be done. Again, plan to spend a little time with this element. You want to explain features or benefits to the person reading the ad, so they WANT to click to see what you have to offer.

Whatever you do, don't lie. People aren't stupid (despite what you might think) and will leave disgusted if they see an obvious lie. They will also leave pretty quick if they clicked a ad that promised them free information and only find paid content available. Again, this just wastes your money and their time. Not a good combination.

The Capture (or Landing) Page

The final element, and one you should plan to give a lot of thought to, is your landing page. This is the page that the web surfer sees when they do click on your ad. You have about 5 seconds to grab their attention and give them a reason to keep reading so this should quickly explain what you are about, or answer a question they have been asking (their internal dialogue), or even better, ask them a question they really want to know the answer to, such as "Are you losing weight the way you want to?" or "Do you have all the money you need to do the fun things in life? I do!".

The headline is one of the most important aspects of your Capture Page. And if you ask and then answer the question (within the body of the sales letter), they will keep reading. Make your points one by one, each one directed at generating excitement, showing them how it is possible for them and then ask them to take action. It can be to sign up for more info (lead capture), or sign up now, or purchase something from you. The goal here is to get them to take action for their own benefit, so your wording needs to move them to that end. My favorite is the email capture because I know with their email address, I have more than one opportunity to *sell* them. I can send them free information, build trust, get them used to hearing from me (but don't over do this part) and then when they are ready, whether its tomorrow, next week or two months from now, they will remember the contact, the good information and they will call me and ask to join the organization. Why? Because I educated them, and asked for nothing in return.

I could spend hours and hours on how to drive traffic to your business opportunity and still not scratch the surface, but I wanted to give you some food for thought. There are other ways which I will cover in more detail in later posts, but here is a teaser...

Forum's: Posting, answering questions, asking questions and interacting with other network marketing professionals is a good way to establish yourself as an authority. It's also a free way to drive traffic to your business opportunity. Just add a signature line to your profile so each time you post or reply to a message, your link is shown and clickable. Remember, other networking people read these posts. Many will click the link to see what you are doing.

Blogs: Posting information in your blog is also a good way to drive traffic where you want it. Write a post about the three things you should avoid saying on the phone with a prospect, or the 5 things you need to always say, or how to counter rejection, and people will read it. The search engines will list you, so someone looking for information about what you wrote about will be presented with your blog entry. The more you write, the more traffic you get. Remember to show your business opportunity link somewhere on your blog page. Every few posts, mention that that link explains *something* better. There are free Blogs out there, ready and waiting for you. I use both Blogger.com and I host my own using Blogger's interface. While the second option might be a little too advanced ofr your taste, the first is literally *push-button-publishing*. Go to www.blogger.com and try it today.

Articles: There are dozens of article directories available on the web today. Each of these articles allows an unlimited number of *reprints* by anyone at all. Let's say I have a website about Gardening and I want fresh content so the search engines are happy, but don't have time to write it myself... I search out an article from one of more than 700 directories, pull the article and post it on my site. The search engines are happy. The web surfer is happy. And the person that wrote the article is happy because each reprint MUST include all the original text and links.

There are other methods, but those are the one's I will be covering soon so check back in soon. In fact, why don't you bookmark this site and check back each day. I am trying to be more diligent and make posts once or twice a day.

More soon.

Cenay'