Share Your Best!

[H_Martell]

It will take longer to grow a big business than you think.
Growing a big business is hard work and you must plan to give it at least 5 years. It may happen sooner but you should not get discouraged if it does not.
You should start looking for potential business partners on your first day.
You do not need to have been in the business for a long time or have a lot of knowledge in order to sponsor someone. If you need help your upline and other company leaders are there to support and assist you.
It is crucial to sell yourself before you sell your opportunity.
There are thousands of other distributors selling your opportunity but only one you. You are unique. In order to experience great success, you must focus on selling yourself more than you sell your opportunity.
You don’t need to know everything about your products and opportunity to build a big business. In fact, knowing too much can be your downfall. If you wait until you think you know everything to start recruiting you will have waited too long.
Some will, some won’t next! Everyone will not buy your product or join your opportunity so except this and get over rejection immediately.
No means not now. I have had many people say no and they come back a few months later and say yes. Just because someone says no, does not mean they will not be interested in the future.
Take the time to get to know and network with other network marketers.
If you don’t ask the answer is already no. It cannot hurt you to politely ask anyone you know or meet if they know anyone who may be interested in your products or if they know anyone who is looking to make extra money. You must ask in order to be successful.
You don’t need to make a lot of money for others to view you as successful. In network marketing many people have the perception that it is hard to make $500-$1,000 a month. If you can make just even this amount, you will find that many people will be impressed and view you as a success.
It’s not just about the money. Although yes, there is a lot of money in network marketing, there are also amazing, lasting and life long friendships, as well as fun and learning experiences which can be worth more than just money.

What do you wish you had known about network marketing?

[LoganW]

Marvin,

I totally agree with you! Duplication is the key!

Now, if we can all just get over the fear of.................. the phone!

[LoganW]

It will take longer to grow a big business than you think.
Growing a big business is hard work and you must plan to give it at least 5 years. It may happen sooner but you should not get discouraged if it does not.
You should start looking for potential business partners on your first day.
You do not need to have been in the business for a long time or have a lot of knowledge in order to sponsor someone. If you need help your upline and other company leaders are there to support and assist you.
It is crucial to sell yourself before you sell your opportunity.
There are thousands of other distributors selling your opportunity but only one you. You are unique. In order to experience great success, you must focus on selling yourself more than you sell your opportunity.
You don’t need to know everything about your products and opportunity to build a big business. In fact, knowing too much can be your downfall. If you wait until you think you know everything to start recruiting you will have waited too long.
Some will, some won’t next! Everyone will not buy your product or join your opportunity so except this and get over rejection immediately.
No means not now. I have had many people say no and they come back a few months later and say yes. Just because someone says no, does not mean they will not be interested in the future.
Take the time to get to know and network with other network marketers.
If you don’t ask the answer is already no. It cannot hurt you to politely ask anyone you know or meet if they know anyone who may be interested in your products or if they know anyone who is looking to make extra money. You must ask in order to be successful.
You don’t need to make a lot of money for others to view you as successful. In network marketing many people have the perception that it is hard to make $500-$1,000 a month. If you can make just even this amount, you will find that many people will be impressed and view you as a success.
It’s not just about the money. Although yes, there is a lot of money in network marketing, there are also amazing, lasting and life long friendships, as well as fun and learning experiences which can be worth more than just money.

What do you wish you had known about network marketing?

Howard, You rock buddy!

All this was taught to me when I was in training for selling cars a long time ago! This is exactly what networking is all about!

Fear is your enemy! It leads to the "Dark-Side" ...who want's to be in the dark? Not me! Get over your fears and go toward the light!

Thanks Howard!

[LoganW]

I know I've come up with a bunch of ads lately, a few are listed elsewhere in the forum. I just though it would be a good idea to have a thred of just ads,banners,logos or whatever kind of ideas we can all come up with to help each other.

Here's a banner I created for the tag line: Got Dot? Why Not? IT PAYS!!!

Here it is:

[LoganW]

I know I've come up with a bunch of ads lately, a few are listed elsewhere in the forum. I just though it would be a good idea to have a thred of just ads,banners,logos or whatever kind of ideas we can all come up with to help each other.

I'll post some adds again soon. sorry we lost them, I closed the site down and forgot the pictures were over here!
I'll load them up on photobucket to make sure i don't loose them this time!

[H_Martell]

How many good uplines did you met for your Internet Marketing career? Some, any, not at all? How much you were complaining about that? A lot, sometime, never? Of course upline can be no help whatsoever, and you just might consider yourself lucky in this case, because upline can also destroy you physically and mentally, even more- it can prevent your success. It’s just like your old boss from “regular” job, who you hate so much. Remember? Is it not the one of the reasons you are made a decision to be without any? But wait, don’t leave yet; I have news for you. You still will have a boss, and much more important, it’s name is Mr. ItsMajestyMarketing. It is your new Boss and Master; so, don’t worry about upline, and start studying Marketing.
 
Now, not to be next guru here, but just to share experience. I was in offline, corporate business for over 10 years, before I decide to try myself in Internet Marketing. I love Marketing, because Marketing brings customers (or partners), customers bring sales, sales bring profit. Here it is, the key word of any business, the purpose of starting any company – to create wealth. And Marketing is the wheel of any business, because there are no customers without marketing, no customers no sales, no sales no profit. Yes, the same circle, only visa versa. Big, unpleasant NO profit on the end. However, the good news (at list for me) is that offline and online marketing are very similar. I formulated for myself to remember, and fallow, three basic principals of marketing.
 
Principle number one: Nothing happens until you make a sale!
 
Everything starts with sale! Thus, we need customers. But great customers do not just appear: they are made! This is universal principle. Applying it to Internet Marketing you have to remember – we are in intellectual distribution business! Intellectual distribution is educating your customers how your product or/and services can help, and improve their life, product, or/and services. Intellectual distribution is discovering for your customers something they need, but did not know before of it’s existence. This is a crucial principle, and saying ”customers” I mean your leads, and potential partners as well.
 
Principle number two: A deal is only good when it is good for both parties.
 
Pretty much obvious: sales have to be profitable for you, and meet, or better yet exceed expectations of customers, because you want repeating sales. Even if you are selling some system, and each customer will purchase only one product, you want his/her referrals!! And remember, whatever you will tell your prospect, he will have only one question circling in his mind: what’s in it for me? That is a principle inside of the principle. Just like you knew upfront what’s in it for you. That is a point of your thoughts before you even start selling process.
 
Principle number three: Grow your business geometrically!
 
What do I mean? Geometric growth comes from four angels: from existing customers, from new customers, from existing products, and from new products. Sell existing product to existing customers; sell existing products to new customers; sell new product to existing customers; sell new product to new customers. Oh, yes, it means you have to create and/or ad something new constantly, or they – existing/new – will not be happy. And you want repeating sales, and referrals! You want them happy!
 
This is your new job description under your new boss. You thought you can relax, when you discharged your old one? Sorry, there is no such a thing. And this is why it has to be your only dream - that “own” business (synonym- headache for 99.9% of people), before you jump into it. It’s like having a baby: once you got it – you do not belong to yourself anymore.
 
Are you still here? Here is a bonus for your patience. Do not get scared by those principles, you knew all of them very well for long time, you just forgot about it. Remember when you were a kid. What was your favorite ice -cream? Chocolate? What was your strategy to get it? Angel face, or tears? Was your mom buying it for you? Of course she did! Was it a good deal for both of you? Of course it was! Did you try the same trick on your older sister? Oh, yes you did! Did it work? Sometimes! Just like Internet! How many ice creams did you eat for your life? A lot? Congratulations! You were born to be a Marketer!
 


   
      

[Ioannis Z]

Nice words H_Martell.
I am new to the system and any information is valuable for me. I'm not harry up
... time will seem worthy!!!

[H_Martell]

If you truly want to be successful in your MLM business, you need to find a mentor. If you think you can do the MLM world on your own, you have a unreal view of how it works. All successful people in MLM started with a mentor to guide them.
Drawing from the experiences of a MLM mentor will help you to launch your MLM career in the right direction and avoid pitfalls which you will encounter.

1. You Need to Seek Out an Experienced Mentor: By finding an successful and experienced mentor is the smart thing to do. Do some background checking and research on the mentor with which you want to align.  Aligning yourself with successful people is smart to do in any facet of MLM. More then success from a monetary sense, make sure they have been successful in producing and mentoring other top producers. If a mentor cannot teach you what has led to their success then how will this help you to work with them? Make sure their systems are duplicable by talking to others they have trained.

2. Find a Mentor Who Has the Same Goals and Interests as Your Own: Michael Notosays it best where he writes: “Since you will be talking with your mentor a good amount, especially early on, while your business is getting off the ground make sure to have some characteristics in common with your mentor. Talking about business non-stop can make any relationship go sour quick. Breaking up the conversations with a little sports or movie talk for instance can lead to a more defined relationship based more on commraderie rather then a student-teacher disconnect. These type interactions will make both of you become more comfortable with presenting business ideas to each other as well, as you will feel generally more comfortable with your conversation.”

3. Make Sure the Mentor has a Vested Interest in Your Success: To me this is the most important factor in any sales mentorship model, and is not exclusive to only Network Marketing. The fact is money motivates people plain and simple. Mentors are much more likely to tell you their “secrets” when they have a stake in your business operation, which might be the most valuable aspect of a vested interest sales relationship.

Your mentor can be a valuable resource and knowledge as you begin your journey as a Network Marketing success story. He can spark ideas in your head that you never even thought of or better yet never had the guts to try.

With all of this said keep in mind one thing. The most critical factor to the success or failure in your Network Marketing business is YOU. Your determination and business savvy will eventually determine whether you sink or swim.

[LoganW]

The Greatest Benefit of this industry provides is not the money, the time, or even the friendships,
It's what this industry can make of you..,It's the The Person YOU Become!

We all come to the table with the same tools, marketing materials, and systems. You and the strengths you bring to the table are the only unknown factor in the equation.

Choosing the right company with the right product, and with the right marketing system can help you reach your goal faster just as a sharp axe will out perform a dull one. but it will not determine your end result!

My business took off once I decided to just simply"help others". even if I didn't know everything. I was going to try and help as many people as I could. I stopped worrying about the marketing plan, the presentation, and all of that junk and I think this is the key for most people who are 'stuck'...they are focusing on things like tools, websites, and compensation plans too much. always looking for something outside themselves that will bring success.

But the desire to help people wasn't enough in and of it self.I had to learn how to market so I could get that message and that energy into the marketplace.

Intentions are useless without the ability to execute them.

This business allows us to change and inspire thousands of people around the world. YOur actions today will start an enormous chain reaction of events that will travel the globe for years, and you will never be able to see or comprehend the inpact you will have on generations of  people.

About eight years ago, a conversation with a man who became my first sponsor in this industry set a series of events in motion that afternoon which have completely influenced and changed every major decidion of my life since.

Think about that....

One stranger and a simple phone call set my entire life down a certian path.

[gdi]

YES, Logan!

Great Post,

Chip
Admin

[H_Martell]

It never ceases to amaze me the number of network marketers who think so small that they don't need to spend money to make money.

It's okay if you want to build your network marketing business on a budget. There are a lot of great ways to do it. You can use craigslist, traffic exchanges, blogs, social networking... but the free methods will only get you so far.

If you want to get serious results in your business and generate a hundred leads or more per week, sooner or later you're going to have spend some money.

Let me tell you, I spend $500 per month (sometimes more) on advertising, marketing, buying products... to double my money. If you know what you're doing, spending $500 to make $1,000 (clearing $500 profit) is a pretty good return on investment if you ask me.

If you ask anyone that runs a traditional business if they have 100% or more ROI every month they probably say no way, "I wish!" Here in lies the problem with MLM, it's too cheap and most newbies are so afraid to lose money on a bad marketing campaign, they quake in their boots about spending money on the product itself, much less advertising and marketing it. This is why it pays to work with experienced marketers who know how to advertise.

Here is the other side of the coin to think about. This is the power and the reason of why network marketing is pure business genius.

Imagine you have 25 to 30 others in your downline (building YOUR business) who are also big thinkers and spend $500 to $1,000 on their marketing. This grows their business and yours. How many traditional business owners do you know that can say they have other people paying to advertise for their business...? My guess is NONE!

This is why I simply won't waste time with whiners who worry about spending a few bucks on marketing because they "can't afford it". Instead of using that as an excuse, use it as reason. My reason for spending money on growing my business was because I couldn't afford the lifestyle that I wanted. The words "I can't" got buried in my back yard.

Start saying I can, I can, I can... your subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between the truth and a lie.

If you know that every time you invest money in yourself and in growing your business, you're investing in growing your income. Not to mention the kind of freedom and lifestyle that a successful business can provide you.

Now if you're just getting started in network marketing then you may not realize it IS a BUSINESS and it does take money to make money, unless you can talk to a lot of people in your warm market.  The sacrifice there is that it takes a lot more time, gumption, and energy to work your warm market successfully. This is why I do both warm marketing and internet lead generation.

When building your business becomes your lifestyle then you simply don't sweat the small stuff anymore.

If you're really struggling financially I understand. Feeding your family comes first, but what would you be willing to do for success? Are you willing to invest a lot of time and energy talking to people in your warm market to start making money without spending any? If so, then be like nike and "just do it".

If you'd rather sacrifice money to save time and energy so you can focus on attracting more quality prospects, then spend the money. Be sure to track what ads work and which ads don't, so you don't waste money on a bad ad campaign more than once. It will happen, but when you track what works you can just rinse and repeat.

The next time you think you can't afford it, ask yourself... "when will I EVER be able to afford it?"

The answer to this is simple, when you know how much your willing to sacrifice, be it money or time, to get your business going. Be very clear on why you want to have a successful business in the first place.

What kind of freedom and lifestyle will your business bring you and your family?

Imagine very clearly the image of what that looks like in your mind. Think about that night and day with such a burning desire, that the sacrifices you make to get there don't seem like sacrifices at all.

To your success.

Howard Martell

[H_Martell]

When you generate prospects online it's important (especially in network marketing) to call your prospects. We are still in a high touch business and buiding relationships in person or on the phone is very important.

Is it possible to build a downline without "Calling a Single Lead"? Yes, but without personal relationship building within your downline you will experience massive attrition.

I know this from experience because I have recruited many people in the past who would have quit two to three months earlier but didn't simply because I was their sponsor. I encouraged people to try a little harder and stay a little longer. It bought me some time but eventually they dropped out.

Today, I have increased the value in myself, which has increased the value in my team and as a result my attrition has gone down.

There was one skill that has helped me time and time again. I say skill because it took me some time to learn. It wasn't easy to do, even though it sounded easy, but it was highly effective.

When I was on the phone talking with my prospects I had to learn to LISTEN more than I talked.

This was hard for me to do at first because I was nervous, and psychologically I felt that if I kept talking I would be in control of the conversation and would not get caught off guard and have to answer objections.

What happened was just the opposite. I would bombard my prospects with too much information at one time. I would try to CONVINCE people why they should do business with me.

I would also get caught off guard by answering objection after objection. After facing massive rejection I finally learned that I wasn't in control, it was my prospect.

Do you think I recruited like crazy?

Heck No... I couldn't even recruit enough people to recoup my costs.The magic started happening when I began to listen more. Do you know what happens when you listen to people? They feel valued. They don't feel like they are being sold.

It also put's you in control and allows you to direct the conversation. The best way to learn to do this is just jot down a few key questions that you want to ask your prospects and then fill in the gaps.

Just be yourself and don't read from a script, just have a guideline of questions to follow. Remember you are not convincing your prospect to do anything, you are just consulting and sorting.

You only want to do business with people who are a right fit for your business. When you begin listening more you are in a perfect posistion to share with your prospects how YOU can help them. People love to be helped and valued. Can you see how you can recruit like crazy if you master this one skill?

Phone prospecting is not about selling, it's about listening.

So my advice to you my friend if you are on the phone and you feel like you are losing your prospect is to STOP, ask a key question and list

[H_Martell]

I think there must be a "Magpie" MLM'er in me somewhere....  I used always to be looking for the biggest, brightest, best opportunity, and on occasions I would fall for the lines about how THIS opportunity would lead to mega-bucks and THAT opportunity would cure all ills, or make me a Millionaire.

NO, I'm NOT a Millionaire (YET! - but let's be positive!) and I have to work hard at my "day job" as well as my new Business to make things work for me. But then I guess the hard truth in MLM is that most people fall into the worker bee category rather than the queen bee, for most of the time and certainly to start with. If you don't work in MLM - as with any other business -  you are not going to be successful.  Simple as that. No-one said they would hand it all to you on a silver platter, did they? That you could sit back and just watch the money roll in (oh, and if they did, check out whether they had a long wooden nose and answered to the name Pinnochio?)

One of our Betternetworker colleagues (Rod) has written a great article "Greener Pastures" on a similar topic, and I definitely agree with Rod on this. As well as looking for greener pastures (which is why sometimes people leave one MLM opportunity for another) I believe we can also manifest what I call the Magpie mentality which compels us to look round for the shiniest, brightest, newest, latest, best etc. We are all looking for the "ONE":  That special MLM opportunity will make our lives worthwhile, helps support our families best, pays out the most money from the simplest plan, etc

We are all searching for something but often we don't actually know what "that something" is. What a waste of time and energy! The time to decide what you WANT from your MLM (or indeed any business) opportunity is BEFORE you embark upon it - not midway through. If you don't know what it is that you WANT from your business, how will you know if you have achieved it. I'm not even talking about the business goals here - we can cover that another time - I'm talking about your basic criteria. What makes you choose ONE opportunity over another?

If you don't decide upon that criteria before you start - if you leave it until you have already worked your socks off for a particular MLM business that you thought would make you lots of money but you really didn't understand (or worse still, didn't even like!) then you will become disillusioned with that particular business and drop out of the programme. Sadly after you have already put in some time, effort and money. So instead of looking for that "elusive something", and keep flitting from one opportunity to the next because the current one is disappointing or doesn't fulfil our criteria (criteria that we did not set at the beginning, I hasten to add) we should get back to basics and set a criteria for what we want.

I have finally come back into MLM but NOT this time because I actively sought a new MLM opportunity. In fact, after some very limited success (and with quite of lot of unrewarded expenditure) on my previous MLM business attempts, I had decided that I didn't ever actually want to be part of MLM again!  But, in the words of Dolly Parton (!) Here I Go Again.

This time however, it is because I thought first about what I want from my business. And I have found a Product that I actually love, will use, and believe in (so I am going to buy the product and enjoy it anyway); the fact that I can now also make a lucrative home-based and internet based business out of Healthy Chocolate is fabulous, but to me is only a by-product of the product itself.

So my advice, for what it's worth? Instead of thinking "MLM - now what can I sign up for?" Think instead: "Which product or service could I relate to - what do I enjoy - what would I feel happy using personally (even if I was never paid for it)?"  When you are doing that, it becomes easy. Think of the products you have purchased for personal use over the years, and then recommended to others simply because you have enjoyed using them or felt that your friends or family would benefit from them too. And of course you were never paid for telling them about that great shampoo which made their hair shine, or that sizzling book which they just could not put down  (nor did  you expect any reward for doing so). People were happy that you shared something good with them.

So seek out the MLM opportunity which most closely fits the personal criteria for you. Something that you like, can tell people about without feeling awkward, preferably something that everyone else will already understand (and don't even try to MLM some great technological device - no matter how exciting it might be - if you don't understand it yourself, and if you are going to have difficulty in explaining what it does, how it works etc to everyone)

If you are happy with what you have chosen, then chances are you will stick with it. If you stick with it, you should succeed.

Here's to your MLM success (whatever product you choose!)

[H_Martell]

o what is a marketing system? A marketing system is any system manual or not designed to get a new prospect or customer to pay and join your business. Many companies have systems that require you the business owner to prospect, email, follow up, become product experts, copywriting experts, marketing experts, and much more. The system is a step by step process that a prospect must go through in order to make a decision to join. These systems at one time in history was all that was available in order to bring new reps into your business. Before the internet you had no choice but to call everyone you knew and invite them to a home meeting or hotel meeting so that they could start and go through the process of becoming a rep. If they didn't join right away then it was your job to follow up via snail mail with thank you cards, samples, and or phone calls. This method actually worked at that time in history. It worked because it was all there was.

So here we are today in the 21st century and the age of the internet. Today one "Automated Marketing System" can initiate contact, capture information, track every move each person makes, send postcards, create flyers, host conference calls, host webinars, automatically follow up and market for you, send video/audio emails automatically, process orders, educate your prospects on your products, payplans, company history, and leadership. It has compelling product and industry videos. It has built in step by step training for new reps. It has pre-written proven professional ad copy that has been proven to work. It can do almost all of these things automatically without your investment of time. This means while you sleep your business is still working for you. Brilliant!!! You are left with the simple job of following up and sponsoring!

Imagine having to do all of these tasks by hand for each individual prospect. Sending individual personalized emails, videos, postcards, flyers, etc.. How duplicateable is this method of business? Not at all. If you are in a business that doesn't supply you with tools like this what should you do? Quit? No! Just go get your own system that does this for you. For less than 75cents per day you can have a system that does all of these things and much more.

[H_Martell]

Network marketers constantly stress over whether they should approach their warm market and deal with possible rejection from friends and family or whether they should buy leads and go after the cold market.
 
The answer to this is neither.
 
Okay, you're probably thinking to yourself  "This guy doesn't know what he's talking about".  Well, relax dear reader.  I haven't lost my marbles...yet.  Read on...you might learn something.
 
You see, the Warm market vs. Cold market debate is a waste of time.
 
You should not be concerned whether your lead is "warm" or "cold".  What you need to focus on is whether the lead is part of your "target market".
 
Finding Your Target Market For MLM Prospecting Success
 
Real marketing is not about convincing people that they need your product or service.  What successful marketers do is find a "niche" or a group of people who have an interest in or are looking for the kinds of benefits that their products deliver.
 
Most network marketers operate under the belief that everybody wants and needs their products.  Unfortunately, this is not true.  I believe this assumption comes from the network marketing trainin most network marketers get from their companies and upline.
 
Let me give you an example of what I mean by target marketing...
 
Let's say that you market a functional health beverage, like Vemma Verve. This beverage provides tremendous health benefits.  You could target everyone you know or everyone you come in contact with.  This is non-targeted marketing.  It is what most network marketers do.  If you do this type of marketing you can expect typical network marketer results (98% failure).
 
But, what if you were to target people who were already looking for the very benefits your products deliver?
 
How do you do that?
 
Well, there are techniques you could use to identify those people who are looking for better health.  Maybe you could find people who've previously purchased products similar to the one you're marketing. Or, you could advertise on the Internet to attract those people. Do you think you might do better by simply satisfying their needs, wants and desires?  You bet.  These people are more likely to buy your product.
 
This is the essence of targeted niche marketing.