Prospecting Manual 101 – Old school

I. Lead generation

• • Make a list of your friends and family

  • The 3 foot rule – (translation - anyone within 3 feet of you at all times is a prospect)

  • Drag ______________________(insert  neighbor, cousin, friend, etc….) to the Thursday night meeting.

  • Purchase a list of leads consisting of opportunity seekers and cold call them

Wouldn’t you rather get your teeth drilled than prospect again like that? Most of those methods went out with the days of peddling powdered detergent door to door.  They are just not very effective today. 

You see, even before the Internet, Web 2.0, and Facebook,  heavy hitters, the gurus of MLM, were using a whole different set of techniques to generate mlm leads than what is typically taught to the masses.  They used lead generation techniques that have built massive fortunes for those in the know, while Mom and Pop struggled to retail 2-3 boxes of soap per month because these techniques were kept hidden. 

The reason that  those techniques were and are not taught to the masses is because the techniques have not been easily duplicatable - until now.  These are techniques of lead generation that will catapult you and your business right to the very top of your company’s leaderboard. 

Go back in time a bit and check the Opportunity magazines of 20+ years ago.  There you will see huge full page ads along with smaller classified ads advertising MLM opportunity after MLM opportunity.  That is how the big money was and is made.  Those massive ads were used to attract prospective reps.   However, those ads have one serious drawback.  If you want to run ads like that you had better have enough money to bailout General Motors because they are insanely expensive.   That is why only the gurus ran them and not Joe and Suzy Average. 

However, the cat has been let out of the bag and the cat has a new name -

Photo by Dregsplod

 

  

How to use Attraction Marketing to build your own Sales Funnel…

Ok, I promised that I would give you the “nitty-gritty”, so here is your own step by step guide on how to set up your own powerful sales funnel for your own home based business.  However, it is a lot of information so that I am going to have to give it to you in parts.  This is part 1. 

Since this is Web 2.0, you are going to need a domain name and website if you don’t have one yet.  You can register your domain name through Godaddy for less than ten dollars per year, however I recommend that you do at least 2 years.  The reason for 2 years is that I read that Google looks at the length of your domain registration to help factor your quality score.  If you ever decide to drive PPC (pay-per-click) traffic to your website, your quality score will become very important. 

Choosing your domain name is starting to get tricky because a lot of what you may think of is already taken.  An excellent alternative  approach is to brand  your website with your own name (see my post on Brandingfor more info).  If your name or a variation of your name is taken, try adding “meet” or “whois” to your name.  For example, I have a domain name called “whoisKevinJohnson.com” (don’t go there, as it points to this website). 

After you have chosen your domain name, you now need to put some content up.  My recommendation here is going to be that you invest in a Linux based hosting package (mine is with GoDaddyfor about $6/mo) and install Wordpress.  If you have never done this before, don’t get intimidated here.  If you have trouble, the nice folks at GoDaddy support will be happy to help you 24/7.  You can even get someone else to set it up for you if you like.  Contact me directly or see my post on Outsourcing for great resources. 

The final step we will cover today is adding your plugins.  Wordpress plugins add additional functionality to your blog.  I am not going to give you a comprehensve list here.  That may overwhelm too many people.  However, I will furnish a few basic ,but essential, plugins to get started.  Over time, most folks will see more that they want to add.  Adding them is easy and 99% of them are free although some request a donation to help further development.  That’s a good idea, I think. 

Here is the list, in no particular order: 

1. Askimet – this protects your blog from spam, however I am pretty certain that it is installed by default.
2. Google Analytics for Wordpress – adds Google analytics functionality so that you can track where your traffic is coming from.
3. Google XML Sitemaps – puts a sitemap on your blog that the search engines read to index your content
4. Sociable – allows people to share your posts
5. Wordbook – I like this one because it automatically puts my posts up on Facebook
6. Subscribe to Comments – this one will allow commenters to receive an e-mail when their comments are updated.
7. Wordpress Stats – another stat engine, it is built in
8. All in One SEO Pack – allows your to customize titles, keyword and description data for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Google the plugin titles to get the download links.  Download them to your computer.  Make sure you remember where you put them (your Desktop could be a good place).  Installation is easy.  Rather than re-type them here, I found the link for you. 

Wew! – That was a lot for now.  Next time we will talk about probably the most important subject, your content.  Put your name and e-mail address in below to subscribe to this series and you will receive updates by e-mail to this and other posts here on the blog.  When you do I will give you 20 minutes of free consulting in your business.  That is a $30 value. Also, click on the book icon to the latest book by Ann Sieg that is turning the industry upside down.

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photo by Rob Shenk

When something needs to get done in my life, for the most part, I have been a do it your self kind of guy.  In fact, I am the kind of guy who enjoys fixing things.  In a former career, I worked as a professional carpenter.  So I am pretty handy around the house.  When I first started out as a carpenter, a lot of people would ask me how I learned what I knew.  They were always surprised when I answered that I watched a lot of DIY TV shows and I read books.

Even when it comes to getting other types of things accomplished, I usually have tried to do things myself.  I am pretty good at reading a book and applying what I have read.  However, doing everything yourself has 2 very major drawbacks.

• It is very time consuming to study and acquire the skills necessary to do a job right.
• I will never be as good as the person that does what he does everyday, day in and day out.

Very recently, I have had a bit of a revelation in my life.  I have learned about the power of outsourcing.  Let me tell you, once you learn about what can be done with outsourcing today, a whole new world of possibilities can open up for you and your business.  I know that sounds like a lot of hype, but I am not exaggerating.

In the May 2009 issue of Success from Home magazine, well known author of Rich Man, Poor Man Robert Kiyosaki uses his Cashflow Quadrant to illustrate the 4 types of people that make up the world of business.  I am not going to go into great detail here, you can either read the article or pick up his bestselling book, Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant, for more detail.  However he states that the 4 types of people are usually:

1. Type E- employees, these people find safety and security working for someone else and building someone else’s dream.
2. Type S – self-employed or small business owner, these people have their own businesses but because they are usually uncomfortable delegating many tasks to others, they fail to grow.  Many times these people may be heard saying, “if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself”. Many of these people have simply traded employment for a job.  That means that even though they don’t report to a boss, their business still does not give them any time freedom.  So in effect, their business is a job.
3. Type B – big business owner, these people learn to develop systems to manage and effectively delegate tasks.   Because of their systems they can more effectively leverage their time and money to create large enterprises.  These large enterprises can then run on autopilot, rewarding the owners without their having to having to be there all of the time.
4. Type I- stands for the investor.  These people leverage their money to create passive income from real estate, stocks, and other direct investments into businesses.

Robert Kiyosaki recommends that you position yourself to become a member of group B or I.

Mike Dillard, a well known highly successful MLM’er, said recently that you should wait until your making at least $5K a month from your business before you do this, but I believe that you can do it sooner because it is so inexpensive.  I use a company called Odesk to find highly skilled people to help me (Odesk calls them providers), but there are several other companies out there that do the same thing.

Here are 3 things that I recently outsourced:

• I was running a marketing campaign recently that required funneling a high volume of calls to a voice mail service.  I did not have the time to collect the calls from the voice mail and weed out the tire kickers.  So what did I do? I hired a virtual assistant (VA) out of the Philippines to do it for me.  I paid around $2.00 an hour to get that done and the person did a fantastic job.
• Bookkeeping – I have always been the guy that waited until the last minute to do my taxes.  Throughout the year, many legitimate deductions were lost because they were never recorded.  Well I solved that problem by hiring a bookkeeper through Odesk for a very reasonable price.  From now on when tax time comes around it will take me about 10 minutes to get the report from my bookkeeper to my accountant.  In addition, I expect to save a boatload of money on taxes this year because all the legitimate deductions that were being flushed away because of my poor record keeping will get taken advantage of.
• Programming – this one was huge for me.  I wanted some pretty sophisticated changes made to some websites that I run.  In the past I might have bought the book and tried to do it myself.  But no longer, because I am a reformed (and smarter) man today.  I outsourced the work to skilled programmers on Odesk.  The changes were done in about 2 hours.  Now I can even think like the big boys because the way I see it,  if I want something sophisticated done I am only limited by my imagination.  The sky is the limit.

Those were just a few examples but you are limited only by your imagination.  Here are 5 more ideas for you:

1. Hire a VA to follow up on the leads that come into your business.  Think of the impression that your prospects will have if someone contacts them to follow up and says “Hi, this is so and so, and I am following up on an inquiry you made with Mr. Johnson’s business.  How can I help you?”.
2. Don’t like to blog, but realize the need for one?  Hire someone to write one for you.
3. Do you need an e-book written, perhaps as a give away to get people to opt-in to your list?  You can outsource that to a freelance writer.  Lot’s of people do that.
4. Do you need some SEO (Search Engine Optimization Done)?  Some people hire a small army VA’s to do nothing but write comments on other peoples blogs with links back to their blogs.  These trackbacks cause the search engines to pay more attention to you, pushing your site to the top of the organic listings.
5. Need to do the social media thing to promote your business on Facebook, Twitter and My Space, but don’t have the time?  Believe it or not, you can outsource that too.

So in conclusion, the best piece of advice that Ican give you is to not wait, and to outsource what you can now.  It will free your time up to do the more profitable tasks in your business, like marketing.

If you need a link to Odesk, click here.

If you like what you read here, please use the comments section to leave a comment.  Thanks.

Social Media Will Change Your Business

Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later

 In other words, if you have a business it does not matter if it is small or large, it does not matter if you are network marketing or have a traditionally structured home based business, you need to be must start blogging.  This article will tell you why.

I don’t think that I can state it enough when I write here, if you want to rise above the competition, you must establish yourself as an expert in your field.  You can use a blog to easily establish yourself as that expert in your customer’s mind.  When that happens, if they have a need for your product they won’t even consider getting their need filled somewhere else.  That is because they know where to find an expert and that expert is you.

Let me give you a few examples.  I have a friend that owns a wine tasting business.  She gives wine tasting parties and sells wine.  However, in addition to her wine tasting parties, she could use a blog to write articles on how to choose a wine.  She could give wine reviews.  She could write an article on how to store wines, etc…  She could put video up on her blog on what to look for when you are swishing the wine around in your mouth at a tasting.  These are all things that her customers want to know. 

Now, I know what you are probably saying – “Kevin, I can do all of those things with a traditional website”.  That is true, but I am going to let you in on a secret.  Google and all the other search engines love blogs.  Let’s just say that they get special consideration.  However, it is because that they love them so much that blogging will help you get at the top of the search listings.  You will get free organic traffic.  So in my friend’s case, let’s say that I am a consumer and I am searching for some information on a wine for tonight’s meal and I find my friend’s wine blog.  There is some interesting content there so I decide to opt in to get the free information or newsletter that she produces.  (hint - there is another little nugget right there for you, more about that later)  What has my friend just done?  Right – she has just captured a new name for her list.  She has another potential new customer.  The secret is in the list.

How about another example. Suppose that you are a contractor.  Right now, the contracting business is tough.  How can you differentiate yourself from every one else?  Well, how about some videos on your blog that show all the extra steps that you take to do the job right.  Does your competition do any of that?  No, they are competing on price.  However, just doing that one little thing will put you head and shoulders above the competition and can help justify in the consumer’s mind why your price is a little higher.  People will pay for quality if they know what they are getting.  When consumer’s are hiring contractors, half the time it is a crap shoot.  But, if you took the time to explain why dealing with you is not a crap shoot, then “ba da bing, ba do boom – you just made a sale, baby!”  Oh, and while they are there have them opt-in to get the free e-book ¹that you wrote on “How to Choose a Quality Contractor”.    There is that hint again.  You just captured the name of a potential customer that you can market to in the future. 

I know of a roofer in San Diego that does this very same thing. When he is on the roof, he video tapes and explains what he is doing.  If you do a search for roofers in San Diego, he always appears at the top of the listings because not only do the search engines love blogs, they really love video and blogs.

My final traditionally structured business example is for a friend of mine that just announced that she has started a natural healing business.  She could write an e-book with valuable content as a give away to capture names, she could do videos showing her techniques, she could write articles.  Then, when someone has a pain in their neck and wants natural healing (that is their need) they will call her because she provided valuable information that established her as expert.

If you have a network marketing business, you can do the same thing.  If it is health related, do some articles on the need for healthy living.  Maybe you can touch on the problem with depleted soils and the need for supplementation.  Travel businesses can talk about travel deals or travel tips.  Or, you could have a general business marketing tips site like this one.  Over time as you establish trust and position yourself as an expert, people will come to you when they have a need.  That need may be a product need or a need for an opportunity.  Be sure to give a way free information as an enticement to have people join your list as I have done here.

If you would like further information on how you can use business blogging to help your business, please use the form below to contact me.  As always, if you have comments for the comments section they are appreciated.

1. If you don’t know how or can’t write your own e-book, read my article on outsourcing to learn how to get someone else to do it inexpensively.

Have you ever had a prospect say something like that to you after you showed them the business that you were involved with?  I had it happen to me recently.  I was so excited about my new business that I broke my cardinal rule and shared it with some friends.  However, they were not in “the same place” that I was and could not see the possibilities.

So what do you do if you don’t want to talk to friends and family?  Well, there are techniques that are used to attract people to your business instead of your having to try to entice them to join your business.  These techniques are not new and many huge fortunes have been made in the home based business industry with them.  It is just that until all of these new Internet tools came out (you may have heard of the term Web 2.0), it was not easy nor was it very inexpensive to implement them.  Many of the industry heavy hitters used them.  Think of postcards, newspaper ads, and magazine ads.  All of these techniques have been used by past industry heavy hitters to attract people to their opportunity instead of the other way around.

Think about it.  Your positioning changes completely if someone asks you what you are doing instead of your telling them about what you are doing.  Because of the all the Web 2.0 tools that abound now, it is much easier to attract people to you if you know how it is done.  BTW, for those that don’t know, Web 2.0 tools include blogs (like what you are reading now), E-zines, Facebook, and Myspace to name a few.

If you would like to learn more of how you can use attraction marketing techniques for any online business that you may have, I encourage you to download the free e-book, “7 Great Lies of Network Marketing“.  You can use this link.

To your success! – Kevin

This August would have marked the 12th year that Patrick had worked for Veritas Telecommunications.  But, like many big companies today VT was exporting more and more American jobs overseas.  Countries like India, the Philippines and Mexico were experiencing a hiring boom of sorts.  Patrick allowed himself to become another unprepared victim of the times.  He had often thought about working one of those pyramid things; he had been approached many times by friends to join them.  He had even investigated some opportunities on the Internet.  However he always thought that he had no need to do that.  After all, he worked hard and always got very high marks on all of his reviews from his supervisors.  He was too busy coaching little league and had felt he had too many other activities to be bothered.  He was going to put in his twenty and be done .  Then he would be free to do what he wanted, travel with his wife and see the world – just like his parents had done.

But this time, he wasn’t able to dodge the pink slip like so many times before and Patrick was truly afraid this time.  After all, the top story every night is how many jobs were just lost.   Patrick had 3 mouths at home to feed along with a mortgage, utilities, car note(s), the kid’s tuition, etc.  The few months of severance was only going to go so far and that was it, unless he was really lucky.  Oh, well – if it really came down to it Walmart is hiring.  Patrick really wished now that he had prepared with a “Plan B” , because now he had many reasons to be afraid…

You know the sad thing about the Patricks of the world is that they all see it coming.  At many companies, lay offs and RIFS are so common place that it is just like the freight train with its lights and horn on coming right down the tracks straight for you.  But stand frozen like a deer in facing a pair of headlights, hoping that it will pass them by, only to get run right over, smashed and bleeding.  

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If you are reading this, you are probably considering how you can work a “Plan B” for your self.  Perhaps you are now considering a home based business as a hedge against what could happen to your family. 

The big question that you need to answer for yourself is which home based business are your going to put your stakes in.  There are so many to choose from.  I can’t answer which one is best for you but I can give you some points to consider:

• Choose a company that has a solid reputation.  Avoid ground floor opportunities.  The failure rate with those is too high.

• Look at the industry competition.  Do you really want to sell a product for $100 that you can get down at the vitamin store for $20?   Even if the product is unique, how long do you think that you will be able to do that before Walmart  steps in with a copy?

• Make sure that the product is something that you can get excited about.  Selling a product for which you have no passion for never works because the lack of passion shows.  The product has to be something you would be comfortable telling a friend about even if that is not how you plan to market it.

• Does the compensation plan make sense to you?  Does it seem doable?

• Finally, the most important thing.  Look at your leadership.  Do they have an understanding of how to use the internet to market your product, or is “belly to belly” the only thing that they teach?

For more tips, use the subscribe to my newsletter box and get your free copy of “7 Great Lies of Network Marketing“.