Wednesday

How Do You Make It Rain When The Sun Always Shines?



You hear sales professionals talk about the mysterious 'rainmaker.' A 'rainmaker' in sales is a top performer, the one who makes all the sales all the time. For those of you that like to go to the strip clubs you are also familiar with the term 'make it rain,' because that's what is done when you toss money at a stripper who makes you happy. The common denominator in both these situations, is when it rains with money, people are happy. The sales professional is happy because he just made money, and the stripper is happy because she just made money. This is the only time in life when rain makes us happier than sun. In sales, when the sun is shining, pockets are empty, and you've hit a dry spot like out in the desert. No, sunshine is not a good thing for sales, because everybody wants to make it rain.


Let's break down the word rain and discuss why RAIN is a good thing!


R -- that stands for Rapport. That's right we are going to really break this down to the ridiculous! When you get in front of a prospect or have them on the telephone, the first thing you want to do is build rapport. Do this by having a conversation with the person. I don't think of them as a potential sale, but of a person that is looking for a solution to a problem yet to be discussed. Why else do you think they returned your phone call, or agreed to meet with you? They are curious how you can help them with something they've been trying to resolve but have been unsuccessful. Here is where you become a professional listener! (You're going to need it soon!)

A -- stands for Affliction. What keeps your prospect up at night? What bothers them? Are they worried about their mortgage? Wondering if they'll be able to afford college for their kids? You have to listen for those clues. Sometimes your prospect won't come out and say them, it's the words they don't say that a rainmaker hears and weaves those pain points into the conversation. Right here is a perfect opportunity to make it rain for you and your prospect! Here is where the prospect kind of goes off into a 'I wish I had' or 'that would be nice' state of mind. It's a real quick moment, so pay attention! The prospect wishes or 'aspires' to accomplish something. Grab that umbrella, it's about to rain!

I -- is for Impact. Now the rain is coming slowly but steadily. Here you want to make your prospect aware of the consequences and advantages of acting or not acting today. Basically, spell it out for them. If you leave without them taking advantage of your offer, your prospect will still have the same problem they had before you came in. However, if they take advantage of your offer today, right now, they are on their way to getting rid of that mortgage, stopping those bill collectors from calling, etc. Make it real to them by using their words they said to you at the 'Affliction and Aspiration' stage. Just repeat what they said they want to do, or what they want to happen but haven't been able to make happen. Help your prospect by guiding them into your 'Rain!'
N -- this is the New Reality of where the prospect is now. Here is where the rain comes! The prospect signs the contract, shakes your hand and looks forward to using the new solution to their problem(s). Right here is where it has been made real for the prospect. Realizing they need you more than they thought and the new reality of the situation is that their life will be better once they have your product in hand.
I enjoy writing about these kinds of things because I'm always able to reference real life situations I've experienced to the content. I'm not asking for a donation, but feel free to do that if you care about me drinking enough coffee to keep my brain amped up!

Or you could join me in this weight loss journey I'm on with ViSalus. Click on the word 'ViSalus' to get more info -- get paid to give parties, and lose weight! Sounds like utopia right? It is.

Monday

People Aren't Rejecting You, They're Rejecting Your Opportunity

I want to continue the conversation about making cold calls. I realized that I hit a nerve with that last post, and maybe we need to dig a little deeper into why we dread making cold calls.



Rejection is Progress



Cold calls are dreaded because we don't want to be rejected. Being rejected is not a good feeling, as a matter of fact, we fear rejection so much that it makes us not want to make those calls to strangers. It's takes rejection to make sales, so when those prospects tell you no, or hang up the phone on you, think of it as progress. Nothing else. It's not a setback, rejection is making you better, stronger. Your presentation is getting better, it's the practice that makes perfect. If you want to be taken serious, be consistent.



People are not rejecting you, they are rejecting your opportunity.



Brandon Janous, Global Ambassador for ViSalus was rejected 6 months by his best friend before he decided to join. Keep in mind it takes rejection to make sales. So expect it. Understand that rejection is normal. They are only rejecting you now. It has to be the right time for someone to join you in your business. Maybe it's not the right time, understand you can't quit, you can't give up. Stay consistent in what you do. Think about what it took for you to join your opportunity. You joined when it was the right time. So, if you're rejected today, it doesn't mean you're rejected forever. The more rejections you get, the faster you're going to get. It makes it easier to overcome those rejections when you keep going. Keep calling. Where some won't, one will. Remember, it's not about you.



You don't need them, but they need you



Think of it this way, you know you're presenting an opportunity to a prospect and they need what you're presenting. But, they tell you no. Don't sweat it. You have an awesome product to share, you can help them increase their bank accounts, you have the power to change their lives, if they let you. So, understand you hold the keys to their prosperity. If they are not ready to act on that, don't worry, go to the next one. Whatever you do, don't give up!

Listen to motivational tapes or read the books



When you are down go up, when you're up go down--Get out of your comfort zone, that's where your success lies! Whatever you do keep your head up, the more rejections you get, the more confident you'll become. I make 40-50 calls a day to small and medium business owners, I leave voicemails when they're not there, and send emails when I have their email address. Out of all those activities, I usually have a 10% success rate. But, I am simply calling to discover their business challenges, not to sell them anything. If I got down on myself doing this job, I would have quit a long time ago. My job has given me confidence to call on prospects to build my network marketing business. All things in divine order right? I also read motivational books, to keep my mind off the negative and to focus more on the positive. At the end of the day, just keep smiling and dialing. Trust me, that major sale is just around the corner.

Your Challenge Kit awaits you! Why wait? Contact me by leaving a comment below or go to my page and check out the video: Click here to see the video

Wednesday

I Hate Making Cold Calls, But They Are Your Bread and Butter




I hate making cold calls! A part of me dreads it like housework! Yet I go on, I keep calling people I don't know all because I know in my heart someone is going to say yes. Someone is going to see the vision, want the vision, and is willing to take a chance on themselves to make their life more than they could ever imagine. That person knows their 'Why.'

The reason so many people are hesitant or negative toward Network Marketing is because those are the people who have failed at it. 95% fail because they don't have a plan or vision of how they're going to reach their goals, they just jump in. And when they jump in without a roadmap of how they're going to earn $20K a month, they fail. They don't have a plan of how to get to the goals they set. Network Marketing like any other business requires a plan, a plan of how you are going to accomplish the things you say are going to happen. Without a plan, failure is imminent. Another reason so many people fail in Network Marketing, they don't have a reason for doing it. They don't have a 'Why.' If you don't have a reason for getting involved in a Network Marketing opportunity, you are doomed! You must understand, that your story, your 'Why' is the thing that will internally drive and motivate you even when nothing appears to be going your way. Your story is your story, it's like a testimony. When we go through bad times in life, and survive them, those are testimonies. Testimonies are powerful, relate-able stories that define who you are, they make you who you are, and no one can tell them but you! It's your 'Why.'


My 'Why' is both personal and financial. My son died of complications from Type 1 Diabetes. When he was nine months old, we discovered his pancreas did not work. As a result of this, he went into a diabetic coma and was clinging onto his little life. This was my first child, and I was young, and inexperienced at this type of thing. I thought to myself, what a way to initiate a new mother! Yet, constant, fervent prayer pulled my son out of that coma at nine months old. He lived until he was 23, and I am thankful and grateful for every moment I spent with him. He was always my biggest supporter, no matter what ideas I came up with. His thinking was, "do it, you don't know if you don't try." I live by his youthful wisdom to this very day. Everything I accomplish or have accomplished is because I know he is cheering me on from heaven.

So, that's why I make the cold calls when I don't feel like it. It's why I will take a chance, a gamble, and bet on myself. If I don't believe in myself, who else will? I believe an entrepreneur can make anything work, if they have a reason, a motivating 'Why' that keeps them going. Of course I want to eradicate the debt in my life, my student loans being the biggest, but most importantly, I want my son to look down from heaven and see his mother reaching her goals. I can't give up, I can't stop. If I do, what else will I have? A job is okay, but I'm more than a 9-5; God created me for greatness, and working to make someone else rich is not my idea nor God's idea of my greatness.

If I have to make 1000 cold calls and hear 999 rejections, that's fine. But, number 1000 is going to say yes! You have to believe that where one won't, one will. Network Marketing isn't for everyone, you have to have a thick skin, and unmovable confidence in yourself. That's something many of us don't have. Quitting is not an option for me. My faith won't let me quit, it won't let me stop. I'm a winner, and one of the 5 percenters who go into Network Marketing that do not fail.



You can comment on this post or reach out to me on Facebook, if you want to become a 5 percenter. I can teach you how, but I can't keep you--you have to find that thing in you that won't let you quit. You have to find your 'Why.' See you at the top!!

Friday

Amazon Sales Success: A True Story


Success with Business Testimony Time:

On April 30, 2015 I joined a network marketing opportunity. The company makes healthy weight loss products. Of course my goal was to make lots of money by following the directions of my upline. Because life throws curve balls we aren't able to hit all the time, I had one thrown at me while moving. I had finally gotten approved for the condo of my dreams and moving day had arrived. While moving I twisted and bruised my left knee. This was a problem. I had to go to the ER to get a cortisone shot so I could walk without being in pain. My plans for being a successful network marketer had been delayed.


Or so I thought


While bedridden, I had an idea to put all the products on Amazon in the form of an online store. That was May 22nd. By May 26th I had sold $440.00 worth of products. I was excited! Every morning it seemed, Amazon was sending me a "seller notification of product sold." My spirit was anxious with success. I was selling these weight loss products in a category reserved for sellers who have not been approved as a Professional Amazon Seller.

It's not over yet


That isn't the end of my story. I've been approved as a Professional Amazon Seller!!!!! That means all my weight loss products have been moved to the Nutritional Supplements Weight Loss category, and I expect to see even more sales than I had while in the 'everything else' category. Being placed in that category is equivalent to moving your products from the back of the store to the front of the store. This is major!!


If you could see me right now, you would see tears of joy streaming down my face. Let me share some stats with you, then you'll understand my current situation: In a 7 day period I have earned an average of $150.70 per day on the sale of 15 items which each sale is averaging $70.33. This is a great start especially since my products were in "the back of the store!" I'm excited to see the difference in sales now that I'm a Professional Seller on Amazon. I'll keep you updated!

Some marketers ignore lower dollar amount opportunities because they want to pursue the larger dollar amount ones. Their self worth is so high, that these lowly customers are beneath them. They have internally set a dollar amount on their personal 'worth' and if an opportunity does not measure up to their perceived worth, it is not pursued. What those marketers misunderstand is the lower dollar amount opportunities adds to their overall'worth' making their perception of individual worth more valuable. Are you a marketer who knows you can live in the financial overflow? Then let me show you how I went from zero to greatness while bedridden. Let me teach you to increase your worth marketing a product in the multi-billion dollar healthy weight loss industry. If I can do it from a my sick bed, surely you can do it not being in a sick bed. Leave a comment below and I will contact you.

Thursday

When picking keywords, focus on good key phrases

When the time comes for you to choose a domain name, it makes sense that you somehow incorporate what you do with your domain name. As written in last month’s column, the domain name should give a potential customer an idea of what your business is about. This is known as optimizing, or Search Engine Optimization (SEO.) SEO, when done properly, brings huge results to your business, and is fundamental to your online success. Google, and other search engines (Bing, and Yahoo) are able to locate a website that has keywords or key phrases in its title tag or name when users search for products and services you may provide.



I believe we should focus on key phrases, because when I am searching for something on Google, I type phrases in the form of a question. For instance I was searching for washing machines that are large enough to wash comforters. So I typed in Google, “washing machines that can handle comforters.” Mind you, Google suggested the last two words, so that meant a lot of people must be searching for the same thing. This is a smart tidbit to notice, the fact that Google already had suggestive wording to help me search. Obviously, this key phrase is being searched for a lot. That being said, keywords should not be your focus, instead key phrases are a more accurate term which really defines how people search.



It’s important during the discovery and development of your keyword and key phrase lists, that you don’t over think the process (it’s very easy to do this.) My recommendation is to place yourself in your customer’s shoes and begin to think like them. Think about what you would be searching for if you needed dog food. You might type something like “where is organic dog food sold?” And if you wanted to narrow it down further, you may search for “organic dog food sold in St. Louis.”

You may ask, how does this help in the keyword selection for my domain name? Good question. Your domain name should contain the obvious words of ‘organic dog food’ (using the example above.) Try to resist the urge to use broad keywords like ‘dog food,’ because your website may not rank very high for that term unless you are a huge, highly authoritative website. The goal is to select primary keywords that will boost your website to the front page of Google and other search engines. Google will reward you immensely when your relevant keywords match your website address.



Try to use descriptive keywords, such as ‘organic dog food.’ The term ‘organic’ describes the type of dog food you sell, which helps to drive traffic to your website from users who are specifically looking for that type of product. If you are a jeweler, you would want to use terms like ‘gold jewelry,’ or ‘silver necklaces’ – these are specific items a person might search for. When you use specific keywords or key phrases, you are more likely to drive lots of targeted traffic to your website leading to significantly higher conversion rates to sales.

In closing, keep an eye on which keywords and key phrases are working and which ones are not. Analytic data like this helps you to forecast or predict your customers’ behavior. Data? Analytic data you say? Yes, part of running a continuously successful online business means understanding the behavior of your customers and putting that intelligence to good use.

Wednesday

More Keyword Usage Tips For Your Business

Another reason I’ve been writing about keywords and how important they are to your online promotional and marketing activities is that the keywords you use are like the gold nuggets to everything you produce on the internet. These words are how your current and brand new customers will find you. It’s what your business will be known for. Most times businesses get this part of their online marketing wrong. Then they wonder why they aren’t getting traffic to their website, or that no one is noticing their online advertising.

Successful keyword development should be a well thought out activity. According to Wordtracker, “Keywords are what we type in when we are searching for products, services, and answers on the search engines, an act that Americans performed 15.5 billion times in April 2010 according to ComScore, the web research firm.”

That’s why it’s imperative to use words and phrases that your customers are searching for. If your customers are looking for ‘cupcake stores in Ferguson’ (better known as local search) – ‘Natalie’s Cakes and More’ shows up as the third listing on the first search page of Google. That’s just how important keywords are to your marketing efforts. When a user finds this listing on Google, more than likely they will consider Natalie’s Cakes and More as a first choice. Maybe they are familiar with the name of the bakery because of the news reports or just word of mouth. It is still a powerful testament to what and how keywords are beneficial to your marketing efforts.

Still using Natalie’s Cakes and More as our example, the company could also use what are known as ‘vanity keywords’ as another method of getting found in the search engines. These are trickier keywords to use as they are words that describe the kind of cupcakes Natalie’s bakery sells. For instance, if Natalie’s sold a special summer only flavor of cupcakes like key lime for instance, the vanity keywords could be, ‘key lime cupcakes in Ferguson.’ This use of keywords will target the type of cupcakes available for the user as well as the location of the bakery. Keywords are a powerful tool that must be used in order to have any success online.

Even using those same keywords for Facebook advertising is another way of utilizing your marketing power. Since Facebook allows for targeted advertising like local and vanity keywords, this practice will cause your marketing efforts to be earn you more customers and in turn, more money.

Saturday

No Winners In War

I sit here in some kind of unnamed emotional or just some kind of space. Trying to make sense of something that has no sense. No reason, no rhyme, just utter stupidity. I’m free but it doesn’t feel like it. Something simmering for a very long time finally boiled over, hot liquid running down the side of the boiling pot. The liquid finally meets the hot stove surface and sizzles. More steam arises enticing more liquid to run down the other side of the boiling pot. it won’t end until it ends. The liquid can not go back in the pot. It is gone forever. Only a memory of it remains. Only a memory.

Places of pain dot the landscape of our lives. Like abandoned landmarks, only to be remembered when a similar pain finds and revives it. A deserted dry place. Not fun to visit, quickly passed by. Wandering tourists don’t even stop for gas. Speeding past it on approach; water doesn’t live here.

Take the pain and stuff it. Hide it, move it far away from sight. Don’t talk about it, don’t think about it, and you can make it. You can go on because in you is the stuff survivors and winners are made of. It’s flight or fight, and you fought and won, but it doesn’t feel like victory. It feels like it was a job, a duty, a task that fell in the order of things. It was a last minute addition. A pinch hitter brought in to win the game. The first swing is a foul ball. Speeding down the 3rd base line. The pain strikes again this time missing the target leaving itself open for the ultimate ending. Not letting it beat me, not wanting to show weakness or vulnerability. Stay strong, stay the course, end this dreadful game of pretend. Show your real feelings. Say what’s really on your mind. It’s better that way. Now you know where I stand and what I’m capable of.

I won’t back down now, you’ve pulled me from spectator to participant, and you are driving me in the ground. Winning a battle that should have never been. Where in this ungodly world do you exist? What place of barren emptiness do you dwell? Last swing and it’s a good hit. Not only is it a hit, it’s a homerun! The pain is here, the void, the emptiness is visible. Light shines on it showing nothing growing in the dryness. Hope for a seed, something to bring it back to life. Nothing you possess can make it bountiful. There are limits to what you can do, what you know how to do. Those limits sarcastically smile, knowing that the battle is only stopped because the opponent is out of time. Out of innings, out of breath. Defeat is never beautiful. Victory isn’t always sweet. In war, there will be casualties. There will be pain. What now?

Thursday

How To Successfully Grow Your Email List Using Facebook Pages




I’m not sure some business owners know how to grow their email marketing subscriber list using Facebook. Oh and yes, I’m sure you’ve seen how network marketers offer products that claim to do it for you if you are willing to pay a nominal fee and get others to buy the product you just spent your money on. I’m not knocking any of those products that proclaim to accomplish this for business owners. However, there are some things you should know before entering into any agreement to use any email marketing program that purports to grow your email subscriber base. Let’s look at the basics of email marketing.



Email marketing is by far one of the most lucrative and successful methods of making money online. Costs are low, and with so many different content automation products available, it is not time consuming. (It takes about an hour to build and design a contest or giveaway when you use a template.) Let’s face it, if you have an email mailing list of subscribers who have agreed to receive marketing messages from your company, then you are familiar with CAN-SPAM laws. Done properly, with compelling subject lines and copy, your business can obtain conversion rates as high as 40%. Using Facebook to grow your email marketing list will not increase your conversion rate that is pretty constant. However, Facebook email marketing will grow that list, adding more subscribers, while increasing brand awareness. The best way for your business to grow your email marketing list using Facebook is by integrating giveaways and contests in your promotional efforts.

To make it almost effortless, many email service providers offer templates that assist you in building and designing your contest or giveaway. Functioning like a one-box meal recipe, contest and giveaway templates need only images and copy. They even have social sharing options built in, so you don’t have to hunt for Facebook or Twitter icons and then create links for them. That’s done for you.

Your email marketing efforts on Facebook will really come to life and be successful if your audience is active and engaged in what your business posts. It also helps if you know your audience and what their needs are. Ask yourself, does my audience like my updates? Do they engage with posted content? If the answer is yes to both these questions, then Facebook giveaways and contests will increase your email marketing subscriber list.

The reason contests and giveaways work is because everyone likes freebies or likes winning things. It’s also a great way to say thank you to your customers and fans. Oh, and make sure you implement your contest or giveaway on a Facebook Business page and not your personal profile page (these should be separate anyway.)