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.

Your Name: (required)
Your Email Address: (required)
Your Website:
Your Message:

The sum of 14 and 15 is:

CC yourself on message:

 

 

 

If you don’t see my e-mail, be sure to check your junk mail folder and add that e-mail address to your “white list” to ensure delivery.

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

Think about this, if you visit Best Buy to purchase a flat screen television and you have a question do you feel more comfortable talking to the guy that just started yesterday and seems unsure when you ask a question?  Or, do you prefer the guy that confidently answers your question and positions himself as an expert in his field?  Of course, most people are going to pick the expert.  Those same people are going to pick the expert when they consider joining you in your opportunity as well.  If you position yourself as an expert, then people are going to feel very comfortable joining you in your latest venture.

Anyway, back to my friend’s business card.  There 2 things on the card that said amateur and here are two tips you can use to brand yourself and  avoid the same mistakes:

• Use of company replicated websites - The website on her card was the company’s website slash her rep id.   I don’t advocate the use of company replicated websites, the search engines don’t like them.  It is better to have your own domain and website that is either a capture page or a blog that then points to the company site.  Blogs are really easy to setup.  I happen to like Wordpress, but I hear Typepad is good too. (for a discussion that I found about one over the other, click here)  However, if you have to use the company’s site you should at least redirect the domain name to your company’s replicated website.
• Use of free e-mail accounts – My friends e-mail account was either at  Yahoo or Hotmail, I don’t remember.  Which sounds more professional to you, the free account or xxxxxx@your-domain.com.  Nothing sounds more like you are in this thing fo the long haul than having your ow domain name.  You can get one for under $10 over at Go Daddy.  You can then set up your e-mail and re-direct in one fell swoop.

Until next time….

Kevin

P.S. – If you are struggling in Network Marketing, you don’t have to anymore.  Stop trying to sign friends and family.  Don’t buy MLM leads.  Learn  attract marketing techniques to bring prospects to you.  Do yourself a favor and get the free e-book, “7 Great Lies Of Network Marketing“.  Click here to get it.

Here are 5 simple things to help you get started:

1. Register a domain name .  There are many domain registers, but a lot of people like Go Daddy. The big question for most people is, how do you pick a domain name? One method that I like with Go Daddy is to first do a massive brainstorming session and  put all the possible names into Notepad. Then use Go Daddy’s bulk register feature to see what is available.  Be sure to setup your e-mail for your the new domain you just purchased.  It is a lot more professional to use an e-mail address that says yourname@your-domain.com than one from Yahoo or Gmail.  That helps establish your branding, something that we can cover later.
2. Start doing some reading.  There is a ton of information out there and you will never get it all.  However, one of the best resources that you can start with is free.  If you have not yet done so, pick up your free copy of Anne Sieg’s “7 Great Lies of Network Marketing“.
3. Get around some good people.  If this is not your first foray into the world of network marketing you know that back in the old days if you did not get your infomation from your upline or the company, it was rejected.  People were kept pretty insulated from the outside world as far as marketing goes.  Well this is truly now the information age.  People from other companies are sharing information on what works best.  One of the best places I have found to get this is a site called Better Networker.  Go over there and join the forums.
4. Get on Facebook.  Did you know that the fastest growing demographic for Facebook is 35-54 year olds?  Right, behind them are the 55+ year olds.  I don’t care whether you are old or young, Facebook has become a prime meeting spot and it is essential to be a part of it if you want to develop an online prescence.  Once you join, start joining some of the groups on there related to network marketing.  You will find them when you do a “Group” search.
5. I saved the most important thing to do for last.   Invest in yourself and get some online training.  I recommend Renegade Professional.  It’s $49/mo.  The first month there is no questions asked money back guarantee so that you can try it without any risk.  Believe me, the value of the information that you receive is worth well over $49 because it will save you a lot of headaches.  You can use this link.

This list is just a starter list.  However, if you have any problems with any of the steps send me a  private e-mail and I will see if I can be of some assistance to you.

So today, I had a discussion with a friend of mine. She looked at the business that I am building and said, “it looks nice, but it looks like a pyramid to me”.

This friend of mine is one that I greatly respect, but as soon as she said that to me I wanted to shout “OF COURSE IT IS A PYRAMID!”

Isn’t just about everything a pyramid? Let’s take a look at every corporation and every job that I have had. There are a few guys at the top making a whole bunch of money, while there are a whole bunch people at the bottom (me and the other hapless souls caught in the rat race) making them rich. That’s called capitalism.

The difference between the corporate job and my opportunity is that my opportunity gives you a track to run on to get to the top. The chances of my becoming CEO of the corporation that I work for is.. “ah, let’s see, I have to do some calculations. Carry the one, divide by 2 …Oh, here it is… – zero.”

When I started at XYZ Corporation (let’s leave them nameless), I don’t remember sitting in HR and getting a pamphlet that was titled “How to become CEO of XYZ Corp”. Does anyone remember seeing one? Of course not. They can’t give you one of those, because they need to keep you down in the salt mines working, so that they (the guys up top) can go home and give their kids the best educations, drive the best cars and go on first class vacations.

So what do you do if you want some of those “fancy schmancy” things for yourself? Well, one obvious choice is to become CEO of XYZ. However, for most people that is not going to be a reality. Remember, HR is not giving out those “How to get to the very top” pamphlets anymore. So are you stuck, shoveling salt out of the mine and wiping the sweat from your brow for the rest of your life? Well of course not, you can start out on your own.

Now I am not saying that you have to do what I do. You could start almost any kind of business. If you like to cook, start a catering business. Like to build things? Start a construction business. However, the one thing that I like about a business model like mine is that you can start it with very little capital (notice I did not say no capital) and can work part time while you still keep your day job.

The other thing that a business model like mine does for you that the tradtional business doesn’t, is that it gives you a tremendous amount of leverage to generate a passive income. For those of you who don’t know what passive income is, that is when you make money when you are asleep. That is why I bought and still buy (BTW, this is the absolute best time to buy) real estate. You want your money working for you so that you don’t have to work for your money. If you still don’t understand the concept, ask your CEO . He will tell you all about it, because while he is sleeping peacefully the factory is still running with employees making money for him while he lies on his satin sheets in his fancy pajamas.

The reason that network marketing businesses get such a bad rap is that all the Aunt Susies and the Uncle Joes of the world tried one, and they failed. So of course, “those things don’t work”. However, I am going to give my readers a tip.

The reason that so many people fail is that they either don’t take the time or don’t know how to…

get the proper education on how to build a business like this

. You don’t become a doctor or a school teacher without spending time educating yourself, do you? Why do think that this would be any different?

Do you guys want to know what I do to educate myself? For one thing, I take classes. Have any of you been to night school? Just like a real school I take prospecting, closing, and other classes. I probably spend about 6-8 hrs a week in class. I read books. Right now I am reading a very good book on how to write web copy. My point is, if you want to be CEO, just like the guy who is CEO of XYZ, you have to be the best in your class. You have to treat your business like a business, the CEO’s certainly do. That is how they got there.

One, final thing before I close. Another thing that trips people up is that they get involved in money schemes. These businesses have no real sustainable product. Those types of businesses may look good at first, but they are the ones that fold up quickly. You get in, the guys at the top made all the money and you get nothing in the end. If you want to do this, make sure that there is a real product behind the company that you jump into the game.

If you want a quick free primer to educate you on this industry, read the free e-book “7 Great Lies in Network Marketing”.  Click on the book on this page to get your copy.

P.S.  – Today, 5/14/09 I found this link that gives the FTC’s (Federal Trade Commision for those that don’t know) definition of a pyramid.  So it you don’t believe some of what I am saying, you can read there what they have to say about it.  CLICK HERE FOR THE FTC