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Leads are Unproductive and a Waste of Time

Business folks put a lot of focus on leads and sales. Sales are important, that’s how you make money, but leads are usually pointless. Think about all the methods you’ve used to generate leads. They probably worked great for creating a list of random names and contact info, but how many sales did they lead you to?

Leads don’t mean sales. What you need are fans. Fans will buy whatever you put out just because it’s you. They think you are the best artist, writer, brand, blogger, leader, and software developer on the planet. Fans mean sales. When you need venture capital on your developing company, click this site for more information.

Instead of following the mantra that sales and marketing is a numbers game, try becoming valuable and visible. Instead of Always Be Closing, how about always be informative? Always be helpful? Always be real and keep it 100? (that’s “one hunnit”, for the uninitiated)

When you work to make yourself an asset instead of just an ass, people will seek you out. Instead of you asking for the sale, you may find them asking to be sold.

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5 Ways to Make Money from Home

So, you’ve decided you would like to make money working from home. Maybe you can’t afford the commute anymore because of high gas prices. You’re sick of your boss, your job, your co-workers. Maybe you just want to spend more time with your family or you need to make a little extra on the side. You might need the time to look for important advice if you’re going to tile a wet room in order to save some money by doing it yourself. Whatever the case may be, I’m here to make sure you have a basic understanding of what you’re getting into.

There are a huge number of ways to make money from home, but there are also a lot of people trying to make money off you. This simple list will help you decide what route to take and also give you some tips on how to avoid wasting your time and money.

1. Network Marketing

This is probably the most infamous method of making money from home, but it’s also one of the most lucrative. Also known as Multi-Level Marketing or MLM, it has created more millionaires than most other industries. Basically, you’re starting your own business, so there will usually be a start-up cost. There may also be a monthly overhead cost or minimum sales requirement, depending on who you get involved with.

What Do You Do?

There are usually at least 2 ways to make money. You will be marketing some type of product or service, and you will be recruiting others into your business who also want to make money. This usually involves calling leads, placing ads, and talking to people you already know.

You will make a commission on any sales or enrollments you make. You also make money when those on your team make money. This is called leveraged income. You may also have the chance to make residual income, which means you will get paid repeatedly for work you only did once.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing are pretty hard to tell apart. Either way, you are marketing a product/service and making a commission. There are two main differences:

  1. You may not have to pay to become an affiliate
  2. You won’t be able to build leveraged income

What Do You Do?

You receive a unique URL or link where people can go to find and buy the product or service. When they make a purchase through your link, you get paid. Usually, you market this affiliate link by placing ads on your website or any other standard Internet Marketing practices.

3. Pay-Per-Click Ads

Google is probably the most well-known PPC program. You get paid anytime someone clicks the ads which you have placed on your website or blog. The ads are usually relevant to the content on your website.

What Do You Do?

You paste some code on your website and hope someone clicks the ads that show up. It’s really that simple. This works best in combination with a Blog or some type of website where you can attract lots of traffic by providing quality content.

4. Internet Freelancing

This just means doing odd jobs that people have posted on the Internet. You can find these types of jobs on sites like Craigslist and eLance.com.

What Do You Do?

Well, you basically do whatever the client asks you to and negotiate what the payment will be. This could be anything from basic administrative tasks to programming PHP. If you have a decent resume, you may find success doing this on a site like eLance. You will usually have to compete for jobs against other candidates.

5. Completing Offers

This involves anything from completing surveys to applying for credit cards. You get paid on completion of each offer. Project Payday is one of the main companies you can enroll with for this type of work.

What Do You Do?

You sign up for 30-day trials, credit cards, loans, and anything else you can imagine. You may have to pay for some of these things and then remember to get your refund once the trial is over. Someone who is trying to get a free Xbox 360 or 54″ HD-TV will pay you for completing these offers. I tried it and didn’t like it. It works great for others. If you don’t mind giving out your SSN and other personal info repeatedly, it may work for you too.

The Bottom Line

This is an extremely basic overview of your options. You will have the most success by doing more than just one of these. It all depends on how much work you are willing to put in and how serious you are about educating yourself on the details and techniques you will need to succeed.

I did research for months before I ever signed up for anything and that has really paid off. I have been able to really focus on what my strengths are and how to use them to earn an income. Once I chose to start helping people and stopped thinking of everything as sales and making the next dollar, my business exploded.

What have you run into in your search for financial independence? What questions or fears do you have about working from home or starting a home business? Feel free to comment below.

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The 7 Great Half-truths of Network Marketing

There is a great ebook I read once. You have probably heard of it and if you haven’t read it, you should. I think some of the points of that book are somewhat dated or I guess just don’t apply to the businesses I do, so I decided to express my opinions on those points.

1. Everyone is your prospect

No, Everyone is not a potential prospect. However, everyone you come in contact with could possibly know someone that is a good prospect for your business. This means that you should still make it a point to tell everyone about your business. The trouble comes when you become a walking commercial and nobody wants to hang out with you. Don’t be “that guy”! Don’t try and shove your business down anyone’s throat.

2. This Really Isn’t Sales, We Just Share Products With People

This is total bull. Of course this is sales. You want money in return for goods or services. However, this is not a door-to-door-sell-a-refrigerator-to-an-Eskimo type business. You can’t go around overcoming objections and forcing people into things. You will be wasting your time, you will lose all the people you sponsor, your returns will be ridiculous. Don’t Be A Sales-Weasel!

3. Anyone Can Do This

Anyone with a true desire for success can do this. There are no real prerequisites. If you are willing to learn as much as possible and share that passion and knowledge with others, you are more than halfway there. You don’t have to have sales experience or be able to give an excellent presentation. Ultimately, people will listen to you because you are honest and confident in what you tell them.

4. We’ll Build Your Business For You

Of course “we” will, but this is usually only going to happen when it directly affects the success of your upline. Obviously, anything you make helps your upline, but you will get the most assistance in building your business when your upline needs you to get promoted in order to get them promoted.

5. We Have The Best Product Ever

If you think the product is crap, then it is crap. You can’t represent something that you don’t believe in. However, the product itself is pretty much irrelevant. Think of every network marketing product as a gun. All guns can shoot stuff, but some do it a little better than others and it always depends on who is doing the shooting. Use Common Sense, so when you’re looking to compare tools as this Webinar Jam, information as this Demio Review can result really useful

6. You Just Don’t Have Enough Belief

Actually, as silly as it seems, this one is more true than false. You have to truly believe in what you are doing to be successful at it. I could hook you up with the “best” company with the most lucrative, turn-key, automated system. You will still fail if you don’t believe it actually works. Everyone you contact will run from you because they will see that you don’t believe in yourself or your product.

7. The Proven System

There is definitely a proven system with most companies that you join. This system has probably worked for most of the people in that company in making a little money on the side. This system is how things have always worked. Eventually, though, every system has to be upgraded. Don’t just blindly do what “they” tell you to. Do your research. Network and learn from others.

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So Much For Leadership From My Upline

Last night I decide to jump on a conference call and get some leadership and direction from those higher up in one of my companies. It’s very important to stay connected with those who are successful because, well, it actually does tend to rub off.

I’m expecting to gain some knowledge from this call. Maybe a nugget of wisdom to help me to press on with my business. Something inspirational that I can pass down to my team.

The guest speaker was some motivational-speaker-guy that became a millionaire at age 26. He wasn’t very eloquent, isn’t a rep in my company, and didn’t really say anything important. He just kinda spouted a bunch of things you would expect to hear from your average motivational speaker, nothing exciting or ground-breaking. I was a little disappointed.

So, the call is almost completed and the guy is starting to wrap it up when he says that he wants to do something “special” for the people that are on the call. My ears prick up because I thought I had simply wasted 30-minutes of my life that could have been spent watching the Season Finale of House.

He says that he is going to give us his CD set at a huge discount. A set that usually sells for around $250 and he is going to give it to us for…get this: Sixty-Seven Dollars!

Imagine my excitement! I can buy this guy’s entire CD set for just $67?! That’s obviously something I gotta act on right now! Of course, that’s what I would be thinking if I was a network-marketing NOOB.

This is not the first time that my upline has tried to sell me and I really don’t appreciate it. Why bring some guy in that is not even in my company to motivate me? Why have this guy that’s not in my company and not even a good speaker try to sell me his crap? Why do this to me on a regular basis? Why do I feel like the financial leaders in the company are trying to gang-bang me?

What’s the moral of the story? Don’t trust anyone in this business. Like I said, it’s necessary to network with others in order to succeed, but that doesn’t mean you have to trust and believe everything they say. Watch their actions over time. It’s normal for your upline to recommend resources for you to learn from, but if it starts to seem like they are just milking you for all your worth….you are probably right.

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You Are NOT a Salesperson

People seem to have a huge misconception about network marketing and the people who are involved with it. They seem to think that this is an industry of salespeople. This is a perception that not only prevents many people from succeeding in this industry, but it prevents many people outside of the industry from benefiting from it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a business about making money by selling some type of product at some point. It is about building a network of people around you that you earn money from. It is about promotions, marketing, and sales. The problem is that it is NOT an industry of salespeople. This is not about convincing someone to buy stuff they may not even want or need.

This is a service industry. If you don’t understand that the goal is to help as many people as you can, you have already failed. On the one hand, you are charged with providing people with a quality product that will enrich their lives in some way. On the other, you are able to give people the power to make a positive and significant change in their lifestyle.

I once spoke to a prospect who was a car salesman. He was all about “making the sale” and “closing the deal.” He kept telling me that every conversation is about closing a sale. Coming from a sales background myself, I can understand what he is saying. Did I want him on my team? No. Never called him back.

There are a couple of ideas you should definitely take away from this article:

  • If they say “No,” then leave it alone. People don’t like to be sold. All you are doing is setting yourself up for returns and cancellations
  • If you have to “sell” someone to enroll them, you have to keep selling them to keep them on your team

Don’t set yourself up for failure. This industry is not about slick sales tactics to trick people. If this is your strategy, you will fail.

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Doh! You Forgot to Close!

You are having a great conversation with a prospect. You have related on many different levels. You’ve laughed, you’ve cried, you’ve discussed personal issues. You even find out that you may be related or once lived in the same neighborhood. Everything is going great. You really feel like you can help this person to succeed and that they would be an excellent addition to your team. You hang up the phone feeling good about that call. You feel as though you have accomplished something. So what’s wrong?

You Forgot To Close the Deal!

You let that person go without: adding them to your team, getting a committment from them as to when they want to join you, or even scheduling a definite callback!

What are you doing?!

This is probably one of the most common failings of many marketers and it is actually a very simple one to fix… Continue reading “Doh! You Forgot to Close!”