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Want to Work Your Home Business Using Internet Marketing?
One of the most frequently asked questions I get from potential team members is if they join my team will I teach them Internet Marketing – since this is how I work my business. Many are surprised that my canned answer isn’t “Yes – of course!” Let me explain …
Internet Marketing (IM) isn’t something a direct sales sponsor can teach – at least not in the same way the sponsor can teach using a workstation or host coaching. It is a knowledge base that must be learned over a period of years. There are Internet Marketing gurus who make teaching this subject their full time business.
I would be very leery of any sponsor who promises to teach you IM. The sponsor should be making him/herself available to training and mentoring the entire team on all aspects of their independent businesses, plus taking care of their own customers, while continually working with prospects. When would this person have time to teach a comprehensive skill set that takes years to learn and one that is dynamic and always changing?
I actually worked with a local lady a few years ago who was interested in joining Scentsy. After meeting with and communicating with her over a period of weeks she did eventually sign up to be a consultant. However, she signed up with someone else, who lived on the other side of the country. That fact didn’t bother me so much because I genuinely believe it’s important that you find a good fit with your sponsor before signing up. It was the reason she went with someone else. She said “because he’s an internet marketer!” That was amusing to me because I was one of the original Scentsy consultants to first start working my business online in 2006 and the person she went with was a new consultant with the company with no proven track record. But he promised to “teach her IM”. Continue reading
Take Care of Your Customers or Someone Else Will
You didn’t take care of your customers, so I did.
Dear Less Than Fabulous Home Based Business Owner,
I want to take this opportunity to thank you. Thank you for being a less than fabulous home based business owner. Because of your less than fabulousness, I have new customers and new recruits. For this, I have you to thank. You did not take care of your customers; but I did.
Remember all those sales you made during the holidays? Many of those were going to end up being gifts, don’t you think? I appreciate that you didn’t take the time to put your contact information on all of the products that you sold. Because of this oversight, when your customers gave them as gifts, the recipient did indeed love it, as anticipated. Yet they had no idea where to go to get more.
That’s the great thing about selling a consumable product – the repeat customers. And when you introduced these people to our fabulous products, they had to go online to find another consultant to buy from. Because I’ve worked hard to make sure I come up fairly high in the search engines, your former customers found me easily. Thanks. You did not take care of your customers; but I did. Continue reading
Plan to Work From Home in 2012
We’re in the last few hours of of 2011 and at the tail end of the busy Christmas gift giving season. If you’re like many home based business owners you’ve been running yourself ragged for the last 4-6 weeks. There’s something about holiday chaos that is an adrenaline rush! Soon you will be able to breathe easy and put your feet up.
Or will you?
If you choose to work from home, then you have a a business that needs consistent, forward activity in order to thrive. Let’s face it, your last minute holiday orders came in with little effort (at least compared to off-season) – as you had scheduled events and hopefully marketed yourself well. Therefore, by now you should be thinking about your game plan for 2012. Actually should have been long thinking about it before the ball drops in twelve hours.
Will your home based business be offering any special promotions for January such as limited time product offerings, special host benefits or recruiting specials? If so, don’t wait until January to start spreading the word about these specials. Promoting January during January is too late. Do it now. Of course if you’re just now reading this and it’s already January then it’s a little late, but better late than never I guess. You can plan better for next year. Continue reading
If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It
I am a big numbers gal. I like data. I like to see facts and figures. I like to operate off actual numbers and not perceptions, assumptions or opinions. I had a brilliant manager tell me years ago, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Meaning how can you tell if you’re successful or if you have opportunities for improvement if you’re not measuring the progress?
It’s a common practice in business to send out survey’s to poll your peers employees and supervisors how they perceive your performance. It’s also a wise business practice to do it in direct sales. Survey your downline to see how they perceive their upline’s performance.
This is certainly not a practice that anyone should fear or loathe. Typically, those who are not fans of having their downline (or employees) polled are afraid the survey is being sent so they can be criticized. That paranoia is only in the minds of those who are being evaluated. The purpose of requesting feedback is for continuous improvement. None of us are above improvements in how we manage our business. Continue reading
Consistent Dedication
con·sistent·ly adv. (kn-sstnt le) in a systematic manner; reliable; steady
Think about any achievements that are worthwhile – losing weight, playing an instrument, earning a black belt, getting a college degree, becoming BCS champions, writing a book or learning any new skill. What do they all have in common? It takes consistent dedication to reach the goal.
Consistent dedication.
Now look at any successful direct sales business. Consider the consultants who have reached top ranks and who have financial freedom. What do they all have in common? It took consistent dedication to reach that goal.
Yet look at most failed direct sales businesses. Consider the consultants who quit or complained “it didn’t work” or that they were spending more money than they were making. What do they all have in common? Likely they either gave up too soon or they can’t honestly say they were consistently dedicated to working their business.
What are some activities you can do consistently to help you reach your goal of managing a successful direct selling business? Consistently – meaning daily or at least multiple times per week: Continue reading
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