How To Build Your Direct Sales Business On Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving holiday is a wonderful time to build your direct sales business. Often you have the opportunity to interact with family members and/or friends who you haven't seen, in some cases for a year or more. There is a right way and there is a wrong way to build your direct sales business during the Thanksgiving holiday. Here's my take on how to build your business without alienating your family.

Some distributors use the opportunity of having people over their house as an opportunity to turn thanksgiving dinner into an in home presentation. BAD IDEA! Your friends and family didn't come over to your house to hear a sales pitch. They came over to eat, catch up and have good times. It is stunts like this that give the direct sales industry a bad name.

Thanksgiving is also not the time to turn your home into an infomercial for your direct sales business. This is not the time to be leaving marketing materials and product samples all over the house! That is weird and if you want to attract your family and friends to your business, the best way to do that is to be normal, not weird.

So what is the best way to build your direct sales business during the thanksgiving holiday?

On Thanksgiving day, what you want to do is be normal. Pretend that you aren't involved in your business opportunity. What are the things that you would talk about? What are the things that you would do? Those are the things that you should be talking about and doing during the holiday, not trying to sell your family and friends on your opportunity. I personally wouldn't mention my opportunity at all during the Thanksgiving festivities.

There is one exception to this rule where I believe it is OK to talk about your opportunity. If you are in a situation where all of your family members and friends have already been exposed to your business, it is then OK to talk about it. However, when I say talk about it, I'm not referring to pitching them on it. You just want to talk about it like you would if someone asked you about your job or profession.

One of your friends or family members might ask you "So how's that business of yours going?" Darnell Self, one of the top income earners in my direct sales business opportunity has a response that I love. Anytime one of his friends or family members ask him how his business is going he responds "It's incredible!"

What if your business isn't doing that well and you aren't making any money? Darnell Self says that by responding "it's incredible" you are still providing an honest response even if your business is not doing well. For example, isn't in incredible that no one showed up to your in home presentation? Isn't it incredible how people tell you they will come to your local opportunity meeting and then they flake out? So your business really is "incredible" regardless of whether you are doing well or not.

The best time to share your business with your family members and friends is when you are about to leave and on a one on one basis. Don't announce to everyone that you want to share your business with them. Go to everyone that you want to expose one on one and expose them to your business that way. You should always use a third party tool, like a DVD or a magazine. Alternatively you can get their phone number and call them later and expose them that way.

The day after thanksgiving (Black Friday) is an excellent opportunity to expose people to your business. There are going to be a LOT of people that are going to be out shopping. You can use that opportunity as an excellent opportunity to get a lot of exposures out in the marketplace.

Some companies like YTB (Shop YTB) and Pre-Paid Legal (Blastoff Network) now have stratigic alliances with other companies where they can offer free shopping portals that you can sign people up for, allow them to get cash back on their shopping and expose them to your opportunity all at the same time. Some of these sites, you even make money when the people you sign up shop, up to a certain number of levels in the organization. What better time to talk about getting cash back on shopping than on Black Friday?

If you can get a bunch of postcards made up that talk about your free shopping portal and go to a public place where you can give those postcards out to people, you can generate a lot of free leads for your business. I recommend that you send them to some type of lead capture page first and then send them to your free shopping portal so they can sign up. This way you get their email address and phone number and you can follow up with them.

Even if your particular company doesn't have a free shopping portal (Note - You can use Blastoff for free even if you are not in Pre-Paid Legal, just make sure you send them to a lead capture page first before giving them your Blastoff website so you can contact them and expose YOUR opportunity), you can still get out a lot of exposures during Black Friday.

I personally wouldn't recommend the postcard approach if you are promoting your opportunity directly. The best approach is to just go out there, get into normal conversations with people and right before you are about to leave the situation, say "By the Way..." and then use whatever approach you normally use when you want to expose someone to your business that you don't know.

Black Friday is also a good time to be working the phones. There are a lot of people who aren't into the whole shopping thing and many of those people are going to be home because they don't have work on Friday. A lot of your contacts who you may have previously had trouble getting in touch with, you will be able to reach them on Friday.

This is the approach that I personally recommend when building your direct sales business during the thanksgiving holiday.

MLM Business Operates By Small Town Rules?

This video has huge implications in the business world at large and in particular, in the MLM industry. When you take a look at many of the MLM companies these days, there really isn't a whole lot that separates them. The health and wellness companies all have similar products that promise similar benefits. ALL of the companies make the same promise, that they can serve as a vehicle to help you reach your financial goals.

Whether you like it or not, the fact is you are also in competition with other distributors INSIDE of your own network marketing company. Prior to the internet if you exposed a prospect to your business opportunity, pretty much their only option to get involved was to join you because chances are, they probably didn't know anybody else doing the business besides you.

Those days are over! You can expose someone to your business opportunity and if they like your product or opportunity but don't like you, they can very easily find someone else on the internet who is involved in your opportunity and sign up with THEM instead of you. I can't tell you how many people I have signed up on the internet who was exposed to my business by someone else, but for whatever reason they didn't want to work with the person that initially exposed them so they came to me.

Over the next 10 years you are going to see MLM business operate by small town rules. Especially with the evolution of social media. Everyone is going to know everybody else. Trust me, it's already happening. I went to a little meetup at ESPN with some other network marketing distributors and ran into one of my customers that I met on Facebook. We were sitting at the same table and didn't even recognize each other until we starting talking to each other and eventually put two and two together.

What's going to give you a competitive advantage is your ability to provide MORE than what your competitors are offering, both the ones that are in other MLM companies, as well as the ones that are in your MLM opportunity.

Why should I sign up with you? How do I know that you have what it takes to help me reach my goals? The internet offers some powerful tools to help you gain that competitive advantage. I personally think that you are insane if you are involved in MLM and you don't have your own blog. Don't you think my prospective customers or distributors are going to feel a lot more comfortable signing up with me when they see the hundreds of articles and posts that I have authored on this blog about building a successful MLM business?

"But I'm not an expert on anything" you say? First off, that's probably not true. You don't have to be an expert in the area of MLM to be a successful recruiter. Leverage the areas that you are already an expert. I have a business partner who is the founder and CEO of the Deaf Welcome foundation. She's already hit the leadership bonus position in the compensation plan, helped someone on her team do the same thing and has an organization of over 600 distributors in 20 states in her first 12 months. How did she do it? She tapped into the community of her expertise, which is the deaf.

What communities can you tap into? By tapping into those communities, that gives you the ability to operate your MLM business by small town rules. Doing so gives you a huge competitive advantage when building your MLM business.

If you need help with this, make sure you check out my free report, where I reveal the 7 strategies that I personally use to identify as many prospects as I want and need to build my MLM business.

Develop A Reward System For Your Network Marketing Business

On Friday evening, I took my wife to an upscale steak house in Manhattan as part of a new rewards system that we put into place. I think it was 90 days ago when we set this system up and already it is working.

The way it works is simple. We set certain savings milestones, which means that we have to have a certain amount of money saved up in our bank account. Once we reach one of those milestones, it triggers a reward.

The food was absolutely incredible! My wife really enjoyed herself as did I. More importantly, we have already mapped out our next savings milestone and the reward that will be attached to that milestone. Our next reward is orchestra seating at a Broadway show and dinner for 2 at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.

While our system is specific for our personal finances, I believe that everyone should have a reward system for building their network marketing business. You should tie rewards based on hitting pin levels or production levels for the first time and have a reward that is appropriate for the accomplishment.

For instance, you probably don't want to buy a new car for hitting a pin or production level that's only going to net you $200 a month. However, you most certainly can reward yourself with a new cell phone for that type of accomplishment.

Some people also have punishments for not hitting their goal. I personally don't believe in that. I don't believe you should be punishing yourself for not hitting a goal. I think not getting the reward is an appropriate consequence without then tying a punishment to not accomplishing your goal. Plus if you fail to reach your goal too many times, when you add a punishment to it, that can be devastating to your self confidence in building a network marketing business.

Direct Sales Business Retention Strategies

Direct Sales Business Retention Strategies
Part 3 - Tips To Increase Your Customer & Distributor Retention

In part 2 yesterday, I illustrated using a simple scenario how small increases in retention can result in large increases in your income. Today I am going to share with you 3 tips that you can implement into your direct sales business starting today that can increase your income.

Tip #1 - Get your customers to use your product or service

The number one reason why a customer stops ordering or cancels their subscription to your product or service is because they aren't using it. Therefore, the #1 tip that you can apply to your business right now to increase retention is to get your customers to use your product.

How do you do this? One way is to ask them either during the sales process or directly after you sign them up to list some reasons why they can use your product right away.

If you have a health based product, one reason may be to lose weight or increase energy. If your product has elements that contribute to weight loss and/or energy increase by reminding your customer of these benefits, often that simple reminder is all they need to get them to use the product.

Another way you can do this is to schedule some time after the sale where you can show them HOW to use your product. Some products, you almost HAVE to do this, like if you're selling some type of video phone or if your selling some type of specialized service like an online greeting card delivery system.

However, even if you are just selling a vitamin or a health drink, you can still schedule time to show them how to use the product. Most health products have a recommended minimum serving. You can show them what that is so that they know how much of it they need to take daily to get the benefits that your product offers.

Tip #2 - Follow up periodically with your customers and distributors

You should make follow up calls periodically to your customers. I can't begin to tell you the amount of customers that I have saved almost accidently simply because I decided to call and check up on one of my customers.

The same applies to your distributors. If your distributor is serious, you will be working with him or her on a daily basis so you won't have to necessarily make follow up calls. However, the fact of the matter is most distributors aren't serious. Therefore, with most of them, you WILL have to make period follow up calls to check up on them.

Why do you want to make follow up calls to distributors? Timing is everything. Just because someone decides to get started in your opportunity doesn't mean that they are ready to actually begin to work your opportunity at a serious level. It also doesn't mean that they will always NOT take your opportunity seriously. Timing is everything and if you catch a non-active distributor at the right time, that non-active distributor could become one of your biggest producers.

Tip #3 - Continue to resell your customers and distributors on the product

The sale doesn't just stop once the customer signs the application. You need to constantly continue to resell your customers and your distributors on the product. How do you do this? There are many techniques that you can use to continue to resell the product.

I highly recommend that you have an email list of all of your customers and distributors. With an email list, you can send out weekly or monthly updates where you can continously resell your customers and distributors on the product. Share product stories and testimonials of other people who were able to benefit from the product. Share tips and strategies on how they can better use the product. Send suggestions on different ways they can use the product.

Aweber is the #1 email system in the industry. They are who I use and they are who I recommend to manage your email list.

Retention is an important aspect of building a direct sales business. Unfortunately you don't hear too much about it either from your upline or even from industry trainers. I hope that you find these tips beneficial. More importantly, I hope that you take these tips and apply them to your business so that you can increase your retention rates, as well as your income!

MLM Business Retention Strategies

MLM Business Retention Strategies
Part 2 - The Difference In Retention And Income

In part 1 yesterday, I explained why it is important that you resist the temptation to slam people into your business just to achieve some type of short term benefit. However, before I go into the tips, it is important for you to understand why you want your retention to increase.

Building a MLM business requires an investment of time and a financial investment as well. That investment is going to be relatively the same whether you have a poor level of retention or a good level of retention.

Let's take two distributors that are in the same network marketing company. Suppose each distributor makes $50 commission on an initial order and $10 commission per month for every month they retain the customer.

Distributor 1 (we'll call him John) signs up 5 customers a month for 12 consecutive months. At the end of the 12 months, 50% of his customers are still with the company. Distributor 2 (we'll call her Jane) also signs up 5 customers a month for 12 consecutive months. At the end of the 12 months, 60% of her customers are still with the company. Let's see how much money they would make.

John's Income Earnings
Upfront commissions - $3000
Monthly Residual After Month 12 - $300

Jane's Income Earners
Upfront commissions - $3000
Monthly Residual After Month 12 - $360

Under this scenario, even though Jane only has a 10% higher personal retention than John, her monthly residual is actually 20% higher than John's monthly residual. Jane makes $60 more a month than John.

Now let's say both John and Jane had 5 personally sponsored representatives that got the exact same results that they got and they earned on average $2 monthly residual per customer from their team. Those 5 reps each had 5 and those 25 reps each had 5. Here is how John and Jane's organization would look:

John and Jane

1st level - 5 representatives
2nd level - 25 representatives
3rd level - 125 representatives

They would have a grand total of 155 representatives who each signed up 60 customers in a year. However, each of John's reps would only have 30 customers at the end of the year, whereas each of Jane's representatives would have 36 customers at the end of the year. What would be the difference in monthly residual income?

John's Income Earnings
# of representatives = 155
# of customers = 9300
Remaining customers after 12 months = 4650
Monthly residual income = $9300

Jane's Income Earnings
# of representatives = 155
# of customers = 9300
Remaining customers after 12 months = 5580
Monthly residual income = $11160

Jane still has a 20% increase in income compared to John. However, that 20% increase means a difference of $1860 in MONTHLY INCOME!

See why it is important that you focus on retention? Once it duplicates through your organization the difference in income can be staggering. Average tgat $1860 over 12 months and that is a difference of $22320. That difference in income is actually what some people make working a FULL YEAR ON THEIR JOB!

Now that you see the difference that retention makes, tomorrow I can talk about how to actually retain more customers and distributors into your business.

Network Marketing Business Retention Strategies

Network Marketing Business Retention Strategies
Part 1 - Why It Is Important That You Don't "SLAM" People Into The Business

The network marketing company that I currently work with has a quote that they love to say all the time that I completely agree with. It goes like this...

"The business that stays is the business that pays."

Unfortunately due to the nature of the industry that we are in, there is sometimes a temptation to generate whatever business you can, even if you know that the business is not going to retain. If you are only $100 away from qualifying for your company sponsored incentive trip, yet the final day to qualify is tomorrow, that is a huge temptation to slam someone into the business anyway you can.

Winning that trip by slamming people into the business is congruent with the phrase "you win the battle and lose the war.

So before I go into some network marketing business retention strategies, I want to share with you why it is a bad idea to submit just any kind of business to qualify for incentive trips, car bonuses, promotions in the compensation plan and so on.

#1 - It's bad for the company. Anything that is bad for the company is bad for you as a distributor. When you slam business into the company, the company loses money. When the company loses money, they are unable to make investments that will help you to build your business better.

That means you get lower quality business building tools, less incentive trips, less bonuses, less money in the compensation plan and so on. You might think your one little bad customer might not matter, but think about the thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of distributors in your company that also have that same mindset.

#2 - It's bad for the customer. If the customer is just signing up to "do you a favor" they are not getting a proper prospective of the value that your product or service offers. This person who might have been a good customer for you now becomes a bad customer because they really don't see the value in what you have to offer.

In addition to that, you are robbing the customer of the benefits and experiences that he or she could have as a result of seeing real value from your products. Whether it is a reduction of weight, an increase of energy or just peace of mind, customers that are slammed into the business never have the opportunity to experience the benefits that our products offer.

#3- It is bad for you. How is it bad for you? Everything that you do duplicates within your organization whether you realize it or not. The good duplicates and the bad duplicates as well. What is amazing is that many times the bad will duplicate EVEN if your team has no idea that you are engaging in this activity.

A good friend of mine who is successful in the industry (he has earned a full time income and has qualified for the leadership bonus in his company's compensation plan for years) shared a story of how this happened to him. Back in the days when he was struggling to qualify for the leadership bonus in the company, he use to "slam" people into the business by making them feel sorry for them.

What he would do is tell people that they need to sign up otherwise he won't be able to qualify for his leadership bonus that month. If they refused, he would try and "guilt trip" them into getting them to sign up. One day he came out of a meeting and he heard one of his distributors in his downline DOING THE EXACT SAME THING HE WAS DOING even though he never taught his team to do this.

Will it take longer for you to have success building the business the right way? That may very well be the case. However, you are much better off building the business the right way than you are slamming people into the business. Trust me, it will catch up to you and you won't like the end results.

I have seen talented people QUIT THIS INDUSTRY because of the negative repercussions that came with them slamming people into the business finally caught up with them and they couldn't handle it. Save yourself the heartache and build the business the right way.

Coming up tomorrow in part 2, I will share with you some scenarios that shows you the difference that retention can have in your business.

Arbonne International Settles Discrimination Suit

Arbonne International just announced that they have agreeed to pay $30,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit. The lawsuit charged that Lisa Wilson, a deaf woman was not hired by the company because of her disability.

The lawsuit was filed on Lisa's behalf by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. As part of the settlement, in addition to paying the $30,000, the company also agrees to not discriminate in its hiring in the future. They must also provide notification and training to its employees in regards to not discriminating.

This is not the first time we have heard about trouble with Arbonne. Last month, Ty Tribble posted on his blog Arbonne Bankruptcy Rumors and he even has a letter from the CEO of the company addressing the rumors.

So what do I think about Arbonne? Here's my take on what I think about the Arbonne business opportunity and compenstion plan. As for whether I think the company is going under, my personal opinion is no, I don't think the company is going out of business.

However, here is a word of advice for Arbonne representatives. While I'm particularly talking to representatives of Arbonne, this advice applies for representatives in ANY network marketing business, in my opinion.

While I don't think that Arbonne is going out of business, the fact of the matter is I could be wrong. What is your plan should Arbonne go out of business???

Here are some tips that I believe will help you...

#1. If you have a full time job and you do Arbonne part time, keep your full time job for as long as possible. You shouldn't even think about quitting until the income from your Arbonne business is consistently matching the income that you make from your full time job. I personally prefer the "Jim Rohn" scenario. Jim Rohn use to say as part of his recruiting script, "I found a way to earn twice as much money part time as I make full time on my job, would you like to hear my story?"

#2. As you start to make money in Arbonne look for ways that you can invest your earnings outside of your Arbonne business. This allows you to diversify your income and assets and dramatically reduces the risk of the impact that an Arbonne bankruptcy could have on your personal finances.

#3. Build strong relationships with the people within your downline, your upline and your sideline especially the ones that you didn't know prior to the Arbonne business opportunity. This way, if Arbonne does go under you have a tremendous amount of contacts at your disposal that you can tap into when you decide what is the next business opportunity you are going to build.

Other than following my 3 tips, don't worry about it. Focus on building your business and do not allow yourself to be distracted by the distractions.

Make sure you download and read a free copy of my Endless Streams of Prospects so that you can have as many people to talk to about your Arbonne business opportunity as you need to be successful.