MLM Marketing Blog

5 Holiday Business Tips For Network Marketers

2009-11-15T09:46:27-08:00

As an experienced network marketer, it's a good bet that you probably have noticed or are expecting a dramatic slow-down in your business around the holidays -- especially in December. Why? The main problem is that most people just stop doing business during the holidays, which is why their business slows down. But savvy networkers know that the holidays are the perfect time to do business, and they just need to adjust their marketing strategies to fit the season.

Here's some ideas to keep your business warm and perking throughout the busy holiday season...

Tip #1: Holiday Time is Great for Prospecting! Holiday Time usually means parties and lots of socializing -- why not use this to your advantage and do a little informal prospecting.

Here's some advice that Kristen Barron, a National Director of Training with TeamUp, gives about prospecting during the holidays:

"The kids are home from school, family is in town, or people are traveling. The trick is not to look at these things as reasons to stop doing business, but rather, as opportunities to expand business. When the kids are home from school, they're usually doing activities. These normally include other children, and therefore, other parents. Instead of talking about the kids and "things," expand your conversation a little. Talk about Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Money. FORM for short. People usually open up if you're a good listener. At some point, they'll ask about you and yours. Don't go into a heavy sales pitch. Remember, you're just having a nice conversation. If you feel like you've made a new friend and sparked their curiosity, you've done your job. And remember, new people can be found anywhere — standing in a long line at a theme park or at a social event or family gathering. If you are constantly talking and planting seeds during the holidays, your business never has to slow down."

Tip #2: Cash in on the Gift Giving Season -- Tis the season for gifts, so get creative! Here's a few ideas to try:

--Put together some gift baskets of your company's products that are ready to go and that appeal to a variety of customers

-- Everyone gets stressed out trying to find just the right presents, so offer them a stress free shopping solution that's hard to refuse -- set up personal appointments with your customers at their convenience -- visit them at the office, take them to lunch, or come to their home on the weekend or evenings. Make it easy for them to do business with you.

-- Sell gift certificates! Call your customers or drop them a holiday postcard and tell them that you have gift certificates on sale.

Tip #3 - Get a Jump on January: Do some business planning in December to get ready for business in January. January is the single best month for doing business. Get a special mailing ready to go to your prospects and customers and have it in the mail no later than December 30th.

Tip #4 - Keep On Doing What You've Been Doing: Don't abandon your business during the holidays. Try to stick as closely as you can to your regular schedule -- and if you just can't keep up the pace -- at least decide to accomplish something every week that keeps your business humming. It'll be a lot easier to gear up in the new year if you do!

Tip #5 - Say Thanks! Be sure to send a holiday greeting letting your customers and downline know that you appreciate them. It takes some time to do this but the results are well worth it!

Linda Locke
Editor, MLMMarketing Blog

What NOT to Do on Facebook

2009-09-02T08:25:11-07:00

Just read an excellent post by Jennifer Fong on her Direct Sales and Social Media blog about annoying direct sales Facebookers.

If you are using Facebook to promote your direct sales or network marketing business, you need to read this post so you can avoid becoming one of them.

Annoying Facebook-ers, Direct Sales Style

Linda Locke
Editor, MLMWoman
4 Hours a Week to Newsletter Success

How to Make Facebook Work for your Business

2009-07-23T08:15:24-07:00

Social networking is hot right now, but most small business owners are getting cold results from it.

Here's an excerpt from 9 Rules of Facebook Promotion Every Small Business Should Know by Nick O'Neill of allfacebook.com that will help you heat things up:

"You’re the owner of a local small business and you are trying to figure out the best steps to get on to Facebook to drive new customers. It can be a daunting task and with little extra time in the day, how can you be expected to spend time promoting your business on Facebook? I completely understand the challenges of running a small business and after speaking with lawyers, florists, dentists, and many other small businesses, I’ve compiled the following list of strategies that should help ease the process.
1. Go Slow And Steady, Don’t Overdo It

Any form of promotion is like compound interest. It takes time to build up the residual returns but if you stick with it, the pay off can be substantial. Many people hear that Facebook is a great way to promote their business but after trying it out for a few days or even a couple weeks, they don’t see significant effects so they give up and decide to keep paying for Yellow page advertisements. Who knows how well Yellow Page ads pay off but that monthly check must be going towards something, right?

The difference between Facebook and more traditional promotional channels is that the small business owner needs to invest a little bit of their time. The extra effort can go a long way and can even provide a rewarding experience as customers begin to provide feedback and communicate directly with you. So how much time do you need to be spending? Not hours a day! While promoting via Facebook can become an addictive process, you can allocate little more than an hour a week to your promotional activities.

While it’s never bad to start off enthusiastically, you don’t want to waste all of your efforts in the first few days. Build up your fan base steadily and you’ll begin to see the benefits. " Read the other 8 Rules here ....

Direct Sales Dictionary for Beginners – Part 2

2009-07-04T11:06:17-07:00

In the previous article we discussed 14 terms that anyone thinking of getting into a direct sales business of their own should be familiar with. This time we’re bringing you 11 more. These words and phrases, along with their definition will help you become more familiar with the terminology that will become part of your everyday life as a direct sales business owner.

Marketing: The way you present your products to the buyer. Marketing tends to go hand in hand with advertising.

National Sales Director: A sales director who has achieved the highest level of sales and recruits in the company throughout the nation.

Networking: Getting to know others. You network with other business owners, directors, potential customers and current customers.

Objection: The reason someone may refuse to buy your products or services.

Recruiter: The person you sign up under when you become a direct sales business owner. This person is your team leader or upline. They normally make a commission percentage off of the sales you make.

Residual Income: Money that you earn over and over (usually monthly) when someone signs up for a recurring product or service through you.

Sales Director: The leader of a team of direct sales recruits. New direct sales business owners can find answers to their questions with their team’s leader. There is usually a certain amount of sales and/or recruits that have to be made in order to reach this level.

Target market: A certain group of people the company or salesperson wishes to market products to.

Team Trainer: This person is responsible for training a team about the product the company sells. They have worked in the business for awhile and know the products and the company very well.

Up Line: The person who signed you up is part of your up line in direct sales. The person who signed them up is also part of your up line. This goes on over various levels and your up line will normally make money from the sales their recruits (down line) make.
Warm Calling: Calling current or previous customers or those who have signed up to receive a call from the company. These calls are usually made to try and recruit sales or team members.

The jargon varies somewhat between companies, but for the most part, the terms used are similar no matter which company you are working for. In order to make the most of your business, it’s a good idea to learn these terms, along with their meanings and use them regularly.

Direct Sales Beginner’s Dictionary – Part 1

2009-07-04T10:53:39-07:00

If you’ve been thinking about joining a direct sales company, you’ve probably heard terms like up line, down line, cold calling, hostess, and more. These, along with others, may be words you’ve never heard used before. If you plan to join any direct sales company, it’s wise to learn these terms and what they mean to help you succeed even more at your business. Here’s the first half of the Direct Sales Beginner’s Dictionary.

Annual Conference or Seminar: This is usually a trip to a large city where everyone in a designated area or district goes to get awarded for sales and recruits. Often the conferences are filled with shows, classes and awards ceremonies. They are fun, motivational and encouraging to attend. Some companies offer an incentive, like a free pass or discounted rate to the conference for meeting a specific sales goal or recruiting goal.

Client: A more sophisticated term for a customer. Clientele is the plural form of client.

Close or closing: The act of getting the customer to make a commitment to purchase.

Cold calling: The act of making phone calls to unknown persons or persons not expecting a call from you or your company and there is no known need of the person receiving the call.

Commission: The amount of money you, the salesperson, will make from the sales at a show, class or party.

Consultant: A term often used in place of ‘salesperson’ by direct sales companies.

Consumer: The person purchasing and/or using the product or service.

Customer Service: Taking care of your customers, their needs and desires in a professional and courteous manner.

Database: A record of all your clientele’s information, purchases, desires, etc. A database can be stored in a folder in a file cabinet, on index cards or on a spreadsheet in a computer software program such as Microsoft Excel.

Demographics: The information about people in a certain marketing area or territory such as age, number of men, number of women, number of mothers, number of children, income brackets, home owners, renters, line of work, etc.

Distribution Center: A building located closer to an area, region or district that houses products and makes shipping less costly and timelier.

Host/Hostess: The person holding the show, class, party or meeting in their home. Usually the hostess will receive free or discounted items for reaching a certain number of sales and/or recruits at their show.

Incentive: A reward for sales or purchases.

Inventory: Products or goods on-hand, ready to sell.

These are just a few of the new terms you will hear mentioned in direct sales circles. We’ll be back with more in a bit.

Professionals & Stay at Home Moms Flock to Direct Sales in 2009

2009-07-04T10:06:14-07:00

Some things never change. When times are hard, people seek out new ways to replace lost income through a sideline business and direct sales companies are usually the first place they look.

Direct sales offers a ready made business that appeals to both laid-off professionals and stay-at-home moms with low start up expenses. People who in flush times would not consider "selling" things, are more than willing to break out of their comfort zones and knock on doors, hold parties, and do whatever it takes when times are hard. Consider this:

"Job cuts, shrinking bonuses and scaled-back hours have pushed more people than ever to become direct sales representatives, a phenomenon industry experts say they've seen before.

In the 1990-1991 recession, the number of direct sellers increased 8 percent to 5.1 million Americans. In the 2001 recession, the work force increased to 12.2 million.
And while 2008 figures are not yet available, in 2007 an estimated 15 million people nationwide were in direct sales. Some 58 percent of became reps as a second job, according to the Direct Selling Association, a trade group that represents 200 U.S. companies." More

Savvy direct sellers would do well to focus on this new crop of potential recruits. In this recession, likely prospects are everywhere.

Direct Sales Companies Booming during Recession

2009-05-31T11:41:49-07:00

USA Today recently published this article about the boom in direct sales that is happening because of the recession. More people than ever are turning to direct sales to supplement their income or replace their lost jobs.

This interest in a direct sales career spans from young women who are entering the job market for the first time to women (and men) who need to supplement their retirement income.

So keep this in mind during your marketing efforts for your business by actively targeting this market and offering them a direct sales career as a viable option.

Direct sales (like Avon, Mary Kay) offer recession-proof jobs

8 Tips to Get Your MLM Sales Groove Back

2009-03-14T21:45:39-07:00

I’m willing to bet if you own an MLM business you were extremely motivated and all gung-ho about it in the beginning, right? You had visions of sales through the roof and recruits a plenty. Something happened along the way though. The exhilaration has died down. Your goals aren’t being met and you’re wondering if you were really as cut out for this business as you once thought.

Of course you are! You just need to find your motivation again and here are tips to help you do just that. Get excited about your business again.

1. Goals Can Be Re-Worked
If you haven’t met a goal or two, don’t get down on yourself. Stop and think about why you didn’t meet those milestones. Maybe you aimed too high too early. On the flip side of the coin, maybe you made the goal too easy to obtain and when you reached it the sense of accomplishment just wasn’t there. Take the time to re-evaluate your goals and set some new ones that will help to get you pumped up again.

2. Look at Those Who Are Successful on Your Team
Ask your directors, team leaders and fellow reps what keeps them going. Be a motivator for others and watch how it rubs off on you too. Find someone you can follow and see how they stay motivated.

3. Revisit the Past
You were keyed up about this business for a reason in the beginning. Take time to think about what got you all excited and motivated in the very beginning. Was it the incentives the company offered? Did you want the freedom a business of your own gives you? Whatever it was, find it and focus on those things again.

4. Past Customers Make Repeat Customers
Take the time to call old customers. Repeat customers can make up a huge portion of your business.

5. Talk to Your Upline
When you feel like you’ve run out of people to contact, ask your upline if they have access to leads from others who have left the company or some of their own they don’t have the time to work with that they would be willing to send your way.

6. Use Your Own Products
If you haven’t used the product you’re selling in awhile, take another look and remember what makes it so great.

7. Do you have out of season items that you can bundle and offer for a special sale? If so, pull them out, put something together and call people to show them what you’ve got to offer.

8. Go to the Company Motivators
Most MLM companies have materials, such as videos or CDs that are meant to help motivate their reps. Take a few minutes to watch or listen to these. Attend a meeting too. They are meant to lift the spirits and will show you that others have been where you are right now and come out on top.

Having Fun and Building Relationships with Twitter

2009-01-19T09:23:07-08:00

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the micro-blogging and social networking site, http://www.Twitter.com

And I'm not the only one; it seems like everyone is joining the Twitter bandwagon.

So if you are new to Twitter and not sure what to post or how to build relationships with this social networking tool, here's some tips to get you started.

1. Join in the conversation. Answer a question or respond to someone whose tweet made you laugh. Post your feelings about something important that is going on in your life. Be real, not phony!

2. Post links to helpful blog posts you've read, tweet about what books or classes you are reading or taking, share a resource or web site that you think others might find helpful too.

3. Post promotional links every once in a while, not every day. And don't be blatantly pushy when you do. Just keep it easy and light and avoid the hard sell language. It's a real turn off and people will unfollow you if you go overboard with it.

4. Have fun with it! Twitter is great fun and allows you to connect with so many interesting people all over the world. Just relax and have some fun with it and people will be attracted to you naturally.

Power Tips: Make your One Line Bio count, because this is what people use to decide whether they want to follow you or not. You only get 160 characters so use them wisely.

Do not use a sales pitch. Just tell people a little bit about yourself including personal interests and hobbies. People are looking for common interests when they scan the bios in Twitter, so it makes it easier for you to connect with people if you do that.

Also, do not link directly to your sales page in your profile. It's better to link to a blog, or a profile page, Squidoo page, etc. where you are introducing yourself and your background or sharing helpful information. Remember it's rude to walk up to someone at a networking meeting and go straight into your sales pitch and it's rude to do it online too!

Finally, do you have questions about Twitter? A Twitter success story to share? Please use the comments to post them.

Happy Tweeting!

Linda Locke
http://www.twitter.com/lindalocke

Do you Twitter?

2008-10-04T13:03:13-07:00

If you haven't signed up for Twitter yet, you should take a quick read through one of the most popular threads (over 1900 views) at the MLM Talk forum here: Do you Twitter?

It might just provide you with the inspiration you need to get started with Twitter.