MLM Talk Online

The re:invention Marketing blog has an absolutely fabulous resource for women in business that it adds to each Saturday: its 10 Tips for 10 Million Women, highlights a woman entrepreneur or executive and her personal 10 tips for success.

Reading through these tips gives you a crash course in business smarts and a blueprint for success.

Right now they feature the 10 tips from 26 top businesswomen including Jill Blashack, founder and CEO of Tastefully Simple (Alexandra, MN), a network marketing company that offers easy-to-prepare gourmet foods for people who like to eat - even if they don’t necessarily like to cook. You can read her 10 tips here:

http://tinyurl.com/qm5kh

And you can read all the tips here:

http://tinyurl.com/s84oq

Enjoy and prosper!

Linda Locke
Editor, MLMTalk
http://www.mlmtalk.com

By Debra Fine

Do you dread receptions, banquets, and other business-related social events? Does attending another open house make you want to run inside your own and lock the door? You’re not alone. Many of us are apprehensive about these situations, because most of us either hate entering rooms where we don’t know anyone or hate spending time with people we don’t know well. Keeping a conversation going during such occasions is an ordeal.

Everyone learns the technical skills required for their jobs, but not everyone places importance on conversational skills. The ability to talk easily with anyone is a learned skill, not a personality trait. Acquiring it will help you develop rapport with people and leave a positive impression that lasts longer than an exchange of business cards.

Here are a few tips business professionals can use to improve their small-talk skills:

• Be the first to say hello!

• Introduce yourself. Act as if you’re the host and introduce new arrivals to your conversational partner or partners.

• Smile first and always shake hands when you meet anyone.

• Take your time during introductions! Make an extra effort to remember names, and use them frequently in the conversation.

• Maintain eye contact in any conversation. Many people in a group of three or more people look around in the hope that others will maintain eye contact on our behalf. But people don’t feel listened to if you’re not looking at them.

• Get somebody to talk about why they’re attending the event, and you are on your way to engaging them in conversation.

• Show an interest in every person. The more interest you show the wiser and attractive you become to others.

• Listen carefully for information that can keep the conversation going.

• Remember: People want to be with people who make them feel special, not people who are “special”. Take responsibility to help people you talk to feel as if they’re the only person in the room.

• Play the conversation game. When someone asks, “How’s business?” and “What’s going on?” Answer with more than “Pretty good” or “Not much”. Tell more about yourself so that others can learn more about you.

• Be careful with business acquaintances. You wouldn’t want to open a conversation with: “How’s your job at ________?” What if that person just got fired or laid off? Be careful when you’re asking about an acquaintance’s spouse or special friend; you could regret it.

• Don’t act like you’re an FBI agent. Questions like “What do you do?”, “Are you married?”, “Do you have children?”, and “Where are you from?” lead to dead-end conversations.

• Be aware of body language. Nervous or ill-at-ease people make others uncomfortable. Act confident and comfortable, even when you’re not.

• Be prepared. Spend a few minutes before an anticipated event preparing to talk easily about three topics. They will come in handy when you find yourself in the middle of an awkward moment… or while seated at a table of eight where everyone is playing with their food.

• Show an interest in your conversational partner’s opinion, too. You’re not the only person who has opinions about funding the space program or what will happen to the stock market.

• Stop conversation monopolists in their tracks. If possible, wait for the person to take a breath or to pause, then break in with a comment about their topic. Immediately redirect the conversation in the direction you wish it to go.

• Be prepared with exit lines. You need to move around and meet others.

• Don’t melt from conversations. Make a positive impression by shaking hands and saying goodbye as you leave.

With practice, you can learn how to make the most of meetings, interviews, and networking events or of entertaining clients at conventions, trade shows, and other work-related functions. You’ll learn to appreciate, rather than dread, networking events.

About the Author

Debra Fine is a former engineer living in Denver who works nationwide as a speaker and trainer presenting “The Fine Art of Small Talk”. She is the author of The Fine Art of Small Talk (Hyperion October 2005). Visit www.DebraFine.com or call 303-721-8266 for additional information.

by Monica Karge

Are your thoughts stopping you from having success in Network Marketing?

Thoughts are made up of our belief system. We choose and form judgments based on beliefs we have collected over the years. We have attitudes, ideas and opinions of others and ourselves. We have been conditioned to think and act a certain way.

All our life experiences have led us to believe certain things. Whether these things are true or not, to our brain it really does not matter. If we accept the idea as truth than for us it is truth.

The challenge is to dig in your heels and ask yourself ‘what do you believe and why?’

Pick yourself apart. Is it truth? Question your belief system.

For instance, perhaps as a child you where told you will amount to nothing. Believing someone else’s opinion can jeopardize your success in life.

On the other hand, right thinking is based on truth. The truth is God did not make junk. You are an important person. Accepting this truth will put you on the right path and you will literally act out the new you.

Our success and struggle in life depends on how we think. Life begins in our mind and with our thought patterns. Believing in the truth will indeed set one free.

Believing the truth means not blaming someone or something outside of us. It means accepting oneself in a new way.

What and how we think is so important in the Network Marketing business. Having a correct thought process is the beginning formula for big success.

The starting point of making permanent changes in your belief system begins with asking yourself what you believe and why you believe what you do. Take a good look at your own belief system.

Going on a mental cleanse will help you go beyond positive or negative thinking to right thinking.

It’s all about choices. You can make choices and change your wrong thinking to right thinking. When your deepest inner belief is correct your mind will filter out negative information. Then your mind can take the ideas and turn them into real results.

Interested in starting the process?

Copyright 2006 Monica Karge

About The Author

Monica Karge specializes in helping people succeed in their Network Marketing business. http://networkmarketingsuccessblog.com.

by Rob Sullivan

There has been a virtual explosion of social networking sites in the past couple of years. Even the big players like Google, Yahoo and MSN are getting into it.

With so much interest in how social networks work, one begins to wonder if there is marketing potential within these social networks?

I’ve been watching social networking for some time now. In fact I’m a member of various social networking sites including MySpace and LinkedIn just to name two.

I joined partly because I wanted to see what they were, but more importantly to see what impact social networking would have on SEM in the coming years.

I’ve been a member of various services for some time and the reach these sites have is incredible.

For example, from my LinkedIn network of seven people I have an expanded network of over 12,600 people.

Imagine that - I’m only a click or two away from close to 13,000 other people who share my similar interests ranging from what I like to watch on TV to work I could provide to them.

Through my connections and their connections, I’m connected to people ranging from the American Cancer Society, to Sun Microsystems to the University of Texas to Google.

But what marketing opportunities are there for Social Networking?

Well, let’s look at MySpace.

MySpace is one of the top sites on the Web today. It racked up 9.4 billion page-views in August 2005 (more than Google) and new users are signing up at a mind-boggling rate of 3.5 million a month.

MySpace is typical of where today’s 18-30 year old goes to manage their digital life. It allows users to post photos of themselves and their friends, create a blog, list their favorite bands, view and share videos, suggest things to do and lists a set of people they consider friends. It is on this “Friends List” where most of the opportunities lie.

All thirty million plus users of MySpace have a friend’s page that lists people that person considers their friend. This is a list of people that they are interested in talking to and about, as well as hearing from on a regular basis. Once you add someone as your friend they can send you emails, comment on your photos, read your blogs, as well as leave messages that you can then share with others. This is an opportunity for instant feedback about you.

The ability to add friends to your page is key for marketing to MySpace users. According to Courtney Holt, head of new media and strategic marketing at Interscope Records, “This generation is growing up without having ever watched programmed media.” “They don’t think in terms of the album, and they don’t think in terms of a TV schedule. They think in terms of TiVo, P2P, AOL, and of course MySpace.”

You can see how this could grow.

Let’s say you create a MySpace account to talk about your product or service. You blog about it and search for others that may share your interests.

You then invite them to be your friend. When they become a friend you start your “soft sell” pitching your product to them.

As they grow to appreciate it, they start blogging and sharing it. Soon hundreds or even thousand of people are talking about you and your product or service.

Don’t think this will work?

Let me give you some examples. There are many bands who have gotten their start on MySpace. Simply by hosting some of their music online and blogging about themselves they developed a following. Soon they had record deals and contracts lined up.

Of course to use services like MySpace you need to have something this target market needs. If you don’t then you probably shouldn’t put too much effort into MySpace.

But that doesn’t mean other social networking opportunities should be overlooked. As I mentioned above, LinkedIn is more of a professional introduction service. If your product or service fits here then by all means explore it further.

And there are others as well. Services such as Yahoo!s MyWeb, Flickr, del.icio.us and more.

So if you’ve ever wondered what other online opportunities could be out there, consider social networking. It could be the next great online marketing channel.

About The Author

Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for Textlinkbrokers.com. Textlinkbrokers is the trusted leader in building long term rankings through safe and effective link building. Please provide a link directly to Textlinkbrokers when syndicating this article.

by Shelley Penney

This is where it all starts.

One person with a dream that is bigger than she is, and the determination to see it through.

One person who seeks out a mentor, and devotes themselves to learning.

One person who finds a passion within.

One person with a “can do” attitude, who gets to work.

One person, one team, one purpose…..

The results are astounding.

One of my mentors of a few years ago used to say, “if it is to be, it is up to me”.

I never really understood that.

I resisted it, because I felt that it wasn’t up to me, entirely. I was at the mercy of everybody on my team, wasn’t I?

If they didn’t do anything, I still couldn’t get where I wanted to be.

This is what has changed for me.

Now I see very clearly that it truly IS up to me. I stopped worrying about what other people would or would not do.

I started concentrating on my own personal activity.

And working with the people who needed me.

I became much more selective, seeking people who had a dream and a work ethic that matched my own.

Interviewing instead of begging.

Presenting instead of convincing.

I now truly understand, and the results are absolutely astounding.

If you want to break through the barrier that has kept you from success, understand this simple principle….

You can not control the actions of others.

You only have that power over yourself.

Understand that if you don’t like the look of your team, You must change what you are doing.

Only then will you truly break the barrier that is holding you back, and stand apart in that top 3 %.

About the Author

Shelley Penney is a full time networker, author, mentor, trainer and “pay it forward” practitioner. Shelley is also webmaster of the newly launched CanadianMLM.com forum. www.CanadianMLM.com

by Annette Yen

In my many years of Party Plan direct selling I have seen it time and time again… women come home from their annual convention fired up, determined that by next year they’ll be able to walk the stage in the top 10, earn the cruise and have enough income to purchase their dream home on the ocean. It is great to come home motivated and excited about your company. Having big dreams is a wonderful thing!

Sometimes, however, it’s just not realistic for the average WAHM who wants a life outside of her business. Because she has just heard some wonderful goal setting advice from the top leaders in our company she sets those wonderful goals, posts them on the fridge with a picture of the dream home circled in red pen and she looks at them every day.

But the reality of it is, many work at home moms have life boundaries that they are unwilling to cross. And those boundaries will make it very difficult to achieve even one of those goals. Because of this, unfortunately, many women who could have a wonderful and fulfilling career in direct sales quit because the goals they’ve set are just plain unrealistic for where they are in life. Instead of enjoying the benefits of a business with the freedom and flexibility to earn some money while still living the rest of life, they assume they’ve failed because the unrealistic goal was just that… unrealistic for now.

That said, if you’re a mom like me who has a full life with other involvements and time commitments that you are unwilling to shelve even temporarily for your direct sales business, you might enjoy an unorthodox approach to goal setting. I like to call it Goal Getting.

With Goal Getting you are looking at your life and determining exactly what you can expect from your Direct Sales business based on your priorities and life commitments. Basically, you’re working backward from the usual goal setting process.

First, let’s lay some groundwork. If you are married, talk with your husband about your schedule. If you were to say to him, “Honey, I’m planning on being out four nights a week for the next 6 months so I might earn a cruise,” what will he say? What about three nights? Two nights? Is one night a week or even one night a month the more realistic schedule for you? You can always come back to him after you’ve written down your schedule (see next step) to add in an extra day or two or more.

Now, here’s where the work comes in. If you don’t already have a master family calendar, it’s time to get one! Get a nice big calendar with room to write in each day of the month. Pull out all the schedules you have, school, church, mom’s groups, bunco nights, etc, and put them all on there for as many months out as you can. Do you have date nights with your hubby regularly (if not, you should… but we’ll save that for another day)? Is there a TV show that you absolutely will not miss for ANYTHING and are not willing to record? Be realistic here ladies…some moms come into a business and say, “Oh, I can sacrifice ‘Survivor’ to do a party” but then the first time a party comes along on that night, and they resent having to give it up. Do yourself a favor and admit it…and schedule around it!

Do not just look at evening activities, but write in the daytime stuff too. Think through a typical week for your family. You want a realistic picture of what is there. So few women do this but it’s a worthy exercise no matter what home business you are in but particularly with Direct Sales where being away from home for a party or workshop is a given.

Now, take that full calendar back to your husband and work together with him to determine how many and which nights would be best for you to be away. Meet with the rest of the family and talk over what this is going to look like so everyone is on the same page.

The groundwork is laid…now let’s GET the goals…

1. Find out from your company what their average party/workshop sales are. This will likely be your average too and even if your totals are higher, use this average for the goal getting process since it will allow for cancellations, reschedules and the like.

2. Based on your commission structure, and basic costs of doing business, determine how much you’ll take home from an average party.

3. Multiply that number by the amount of parties you’ve determined you can do in any given month.

Ok, now what do you think of that number? Not bad, huh? Do you want it to be higher? Talk with your family again and see if there are any changes that can be made, but remember that those changes will mean sacrifices in other areas of your life. That’s fine but just remember that you cannot have it all!

Although many hope for it, most in the home party plan business will not reach the $100,000 annual achievers club and the company incentive trip while still being the president of the PTA, singing in the church choir, being the Girl Scout Troop leader, having a date night with your husband and maintaining a spotless house where husband comes home to every night to a rested wife ready to meet his every need!

However, even with a full life, you CAN make a nice additional income, purchase your own products and gifts for others at a discount and maybe even earn an incentive or two. And who knows, when the kids are older and the scout troop no longer needs you as leader, you can add a party or two to your schedule and earn that cruise.

Annette Yen lives a full and happy life as a homechooling work at home mom. With over 20 years of direct sales experience she loves sharing her love for direct sales with other moms. You can get a free Goal Getting Worksheet and other tools for your direct sales business at her site http://www.directsalestools.com

Do you find you often attact the wrong kinds of people to your business? Maybe it’s time for you to create a personal manifesto.

What is a personal manifesto you ask? Go here to find out: http://tinyurl.com/jfcrv

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Editor, MLMTalk Blog
http://www.mlmtalk.com

By Wendy Weiss

1. Use power language: “The solution is…” rather than, “I believe the solution is…”

2. Never use the word “appointment” when trying to set one. Instead, use the word “meeting.” “Meeting” sounds more professional and more important. “I would like to meet with you…”

3. Use directed words to reach your prospect. When you ask to speak with your prospect, say, “Jane Jones, please,” and not, “May I speak with Jane Jones?” The first sentence conveys authority; the second asks permission.

4. Use directed words (and open-ended questions) to gather information. Ask, “Whom should I speak with?” and not, “Do you know who I should speak with?” The first conveys authority, and whomever you are questioning, if they know, must answer with a name. In the second sentence, the response could simply be “yes” or “no.”

5. Whether trying to ascertain a good time to call your prospect back or trying to schedule a meeting, it is a good idea to give alternate choices. “Is this afternoon good, or would tomorrow morning be better?” It is much easier for your prospect to decide “when” rather than “whether.”

6. “I’m just calling…” Eliminate the word “just” from your vocabulary. That little word “just” is an apology. It says that your call is not important and that what you have to say is not important. Simply tell your prospects and customers why you are calling. That is enough.

7. “…we ill hopefully achieve…” Hopefully? No one pays you to “hopefully” do something. They pay you to actually do it! Tell your prospects or customers what they will achieve or should expect to achieve.

8. Be clear and to the point. You are telling your story to a stranger who has never heard it.

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling,” is a sales trainer, author and sales coach. Her recently released program, Cold Calling College, and/or her book, Cold Calling for Women, can be ordered by visiting wendyweiss.com. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy’s free e-zine at
wendyweiss.com.

© 2006 Wendy Weiss

by Anne Ahira

You found the best Network Marketing company and signed up. You read all the material and got excited about the potential you see in this new career. Your upline sponsor has contacted you and said they would be available to help you out. Life is good. You’re on your way!

Now let’s fast forward three months. You have no sign ups. You’re discouraged. You’re feeling overwhelmed. You never seem to have any time to do what it takes to succeed. You’re getting ready to drop out. Maybe this Network Marketing stuff just isn’t for you.

Sound familiar? We’ve all been there at one time or another. Network Marketing isn’t just about stepping into a new career, it’s also about creating a new thought process. That takes time. And it takes commitment.

Lots of people in Network Marketing fail simply because they never mastered the art of time maintenance.

So how can you make sure you don’t fall into that category?

1. Schedule time for your business.

You MUST sit down and create a work schedule. Simply saying, “I’ll work on it sometime this week.” is not going to cut it. You have too many distractions, too many other things going on in your life. If you don’t make MANDATORY time for your business, it won’t happen! Will you have to sacrifice a little? Yes. Will it be worth it in the end? More than you could ever imagine. Take your calendar out NOW and decide when your business hours will be.

2. Don’t research yourself out of business.

If you spend your whole time researching and learning things about your business, will you ever make any money? While you’re getting “book learning”, others are out there prospecting, making mistakes and SALES. Don’t think you have to know everything before you get started. You will never know everything. Earn WHILE you learn.

3. Create a priority list and follow it.

The top activities are the ones that will make you money. Make sure you do those first. Otherwise, you could get lost in filing or researching and never get around to prospecting. Remember, the hardest part is getting started. If you commit to just one email, one phone call a day, you will find it easier and easier to do it again.

4. Try and do one thing a day to improve your business.

This could be talking to someone about the opportunity, reading a chapter in a self-help book, creating an email or flier for your business. It doesn’t have to be a big, huge task. The key is to be persistent and stay focused on the big picture. And the big picture is that you are on your way to early retirement one small step at a time.

5. Stay organized.

You will waste valuable time if you have to hunt for everything. Keep a neat office space and stay on top of the paper work. Little things done right from the very beginning will help you grow faster as your business gains momentum.

6. Stay focused.

This business develops over time. Commit to sticking with it for at least a year and you will realize the power behind Network Marketing.

About The Author

Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter
http://www.thebestaffiliate.com

Copyright 2004 Bob Leduc

Here’s a simple way you can generate lots of sales leads or traffic to your web site. Use postcards. They’re highly effective and very low-cost. Plus, postcards provide the following 6 unique advantages over most other types of advertising.

1. Maximum Exposure for Your Sales Message

Postcards are delivered “ready to read”. Even people who usually ignore other advertising will find it hard to avoid looking at your message when it’s on a postcard, especially if you keep it brief.

With other types of advertising you often lose prospects who would have been interested in your offer, but they never saw it.

2. Simple and Low-Cost

Postcards are simple to produce - and very low-cost. You can print 4 x 6 inch postcards on your own computer for less than 2 cents each. Or you can reduce the cost down to about 1 cent each if you print 4 at a time on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of card stock and cut the sheets into quarters.

Even postcards printed by a commercial printer are not expensive — usually about 4 cents to 8 cents each.

The postage for mailing postcards is low too. In the US you can send postcards by First Class Mail for only 23 cents. This reduced postage rate applies to postcards that are at least 3 1/2 x 5 inches but not over 4 1/4 x 6 inches.

3. Get Immediate Results

Because postcards are simple and easy to use - they produce results quickly. Often your postcards can be mailed within a week from the time you decide to use them. You will start getting replies 2 or 3 days later.

4. Gain Control of Your Sales Activity

Postcards put you in control your sales activity. You can avoid getting too many or too few responses during any time period by regulating how many postcards you mail and how often you mail them.

That means you can quickly boost your sales activity any time it slows down. And you can avoid losing customers you can’t handle immediately because you got flooded with too much activity at one time.

5. No Wasted Advertising Expense

Postcards enable you to spend your entire advertising budget on your best prospects. You don’t have to pay for advertising to a large audience in order to reach a few good prospects.

With a little advance planning you can make sure your postcards only go to prospects likely to be interested in what you offer and who also have a prior history of acting on offers that interest them.

For example, analyze your customers and make a list of the characteristics they share. Then call several national mailing list brokers and tell them what you are looking for. You’ll be surprised at how specific some mailing lists are today.

6. Can Evaluate Results Quickly

Postcards normally generate 90 percent or more of their total number of replies within 7 to 10 days. This enables you to quickly and accurately evaluate the results of postcard advertising. You’ll know in about a week if you can confidently send more of the same postcards - or if you need to make some changes.

Don’t overlook postcards when you want to generate sales leads - or web site traffic. They’re highly effective, very low-cost …and they provide these 6 unique advantages you cannot get with most other types of advertising.

About the Author
Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards and launched BizTips from Bob, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You’ll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV