Social Media

With the explosion of Facebook and other social media sites, marketers are flooding to these sites to tout their products and services.  If you want to be more effective and get a higher rate of return on your social marketing efforts, it takes a bit of planning and strategy.   This is what I do:

• Search for relevant pages to what you are marketing.  Posting your link to your wedding business to the general population may get you a few hits, but if you search out specific pages/groups that have an affliation to the wedding industry, you'll do much better.  Keywords play a big part in social media marketing
• Introduce yourself to the group first, read the posts to get a feel for what the site's main purpose is.  If you feel your product or service has a value to the readers, make a few comments or recommendations about you. 
• When you do make a business connection, be sure to post a "Thank you" comment.  Nice goes along way these days.

 The article says it all!

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• Top 10 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Exploding (kylelacy.com)

Happy posting, tweeting, whatever!

Objections

How do you handle objections in  your home based business?  You know,when you are talking with someone about your opportunity, and you get cut off and the prospect says, "So how much does it cost"?, or my favorite, "Is this a pyramid scheme"?

With a little practice, you can learn to address these objections and turn them to your advantage.

First of all, since your prospect was rude in interrupting you, you can diffuse this by saying something like, "I'm in the helping people business, I would like to show you how I can help you become financially secure, how you can work your "Plan B", yes, there is a cost to owning your own business, I'm trying to determine if my opportunity is right for you, shall I continue?"

And a great way to answer "Is this a pyramid scheme"....."Well, just like any business model that rewards the business owner for building a team of managers, my company pays out team building bonuses in addition to distributing their product.  You work for a company, correct?  Does the owner/boss make more money than you?  With our business model, you ARE the boss and you can make as much money as you are willing to work for it.  Without a product, companies that pay out just to put people under you is a pyramid scheme and yes, those are illegal.  My company is rated(make sure you look up their rating)XX with the Better Business Bureau(or similiar industry standard).  Shall I continue?"  You should also have on hand reputable trade marketing materials and articles of recognition for your company published by another entity that gives credence to your claims.

I would be interested in hearing of what objections you've heard of in your prospecting and how you've handled them(or not!).

To your success,

Linda

Be Creative in Network Marketing

One thing that I've learned along my journey in network marketing is to be creative.  Now this does not mean you have to be a brain-e-ac or internet genius, use of common sense usually works.  Here are some of the ways to get creative:

1) Get a partner to help you, two brains are better than one

2) Write down your ideas, then list the pros and cons for each one.

3) Visit social media and web-blogs for ideas, write down what you do and don't like.

4) Think like a customer

5) Learn from others; ie, read network marketing books, journals, blogs.

6) Join a network marketing group in you area.  Consult with your local chamber of commerce.  Meetup.com is a great source for locating groups in your area.

In Network Marketing, no one is going to tell you how to do your business, you have to develop your own skills, your own style.  However, you can learn from those who have come before you.


Good Luck!

Fundraising Event

I was a vendor at a vendor fair/fundraising event today.  Our group had over 20 vendors and our charity we were supporting is Gigi's Playhouse, a down syndrome awareness center in my town.  This organization rely solely on fundraising for support, so it was a great choice.  Our booth fee was contributed to Gigi's, the group went around town collecting prizes for raffle drawings, it was a decent turnout, we would of liked more, but actually, I think the vendors themselves ended up contributing to the raffles, so it all worked out for Gigi's Playhouse.

I also got to meet some great people who were very interested in MY SHOPPING GENIE as a means to save time and money while shopping online and I was thrilled that some were interested in joining my team!

What type of events do you go to attract new customers and prospects?  You will never run out of names to call upon when you go to a vendor fair, these are FREE leads, folks.  At this event, all who walked in the door filled out a form to register for the FREE drawings and all vendors who had a booth will receive the list of names, pretty cool, heh?

I try and attend 3-4 larger vendor fairs per year and maybe a few smaller one's in between.  They are fun, you meet lots of new people, make new connections with other vendors, it's a great feeling when you know you've helped a charity as well.

Why I Love Network Marketing

It's been almost 2 years since I was introduced into Network Marketing and I've not looked back since.  I haven't quit my J.O.B. as of yet, but within the next 3-5 years, I intend on being FINANCIALLY FREE!

After going through a few different network marketing companies(no I'm not going to list them!), I've found my niche, so after the trials and tribulations of actually finding a company that conforms to my standards, I'm ready to SUCCEED!

So, why do I love network marketing?  Because the business model of network marketing puts ME in the driver's seat, I make the decisions, I reap the rewards, not MY boss.  Listen, I'm 55 years old and if I can do this, so can you!  I've sat behind a desk for close to 40 years(yikes!) and I'm D.O.N.E.

So, rather than talking to people on the phone all day, I'm meeting new and exciting people.  I get to know them and listen to what their dreams are and best of all, I'm helping them.  I've also met some very smart people who have been doing this for quite some time.......love listening and learning from them.  Never, never stop learning!

So, I hope you follow along my journey with me, I'll be candid, honest, motivating, sincere, humorous(will have to work on this one, chained to a desk all these years, I have to learn to lighten up!) and most of all dedicated to my craft.