Just building it is just a beginning…

So you want to do business online? Your page is published, tags are in place for the search engines and now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the profits to roll in - Right?

Wrong. If you wait for that to happen you will be out of business before you began. Somehow you need to drive people to your site. The best way is promotion. You need to go out and tell people about your site. I am not talking about getting off your couch and missing the next segment of American Idol, ha-ha-ha. I am talking about getting online and inviting people to check out what you have to offer.

Back in the late 90’s when the internet boom was just beginning companies like Amazon and eBay used traditional advertising channels: TV, Radio, Billboards, Magazines, etc. They quickly found out that while this was a way to drive traffic to their site, it cost them more per lead than they were able to generate in profits. Shortly after that many internet companies filed for bankruptcy as investors cut off funding because they could not see a future in this business model. This is when these same companies, who are giants today reinvented their marketing and this is one of the ways we use today to generate traffic and make sales.

What they did is the same thing you can do – online promotion. It costs next to nothing, does not require a marketing degree, and can be done while you sleep with the right tools.

Here are a few ways companies use to market online:
- Email Auto-responders – They regularly hit their customer base with something new and different by email.
- Search Engine Placement – Using tools like Google Adwords they can move their listing to the top of the search. Companies like eBay and Amazon who offer just about everything for sale use these tools to place a listing near the top for just about anything you are looking for online.
- Affiliate Marketing – Affiliates are people who direct traffic to the site through links or emails and the company shares in the profit when a customer purchased as a result of the link.

We use some of these but they cost money. Since you do not have to pay someone to market your products online you can add these to your ways to direct traffic to your site and they are free:

- Social Networks – Create a page on a social network and invite people to look at your page.
- Forums – join forums and groups of interest and make sure your posts and profile contains your website link.
- Blogs – Like this one where you can express yourself and also promote your site through links.
- Affiliates – Sharing the profit is a good thing. Giving someone a percentage of the profit for sending someone to your site to purchase is great word of mouth advertising.

Most important never stop inviting people to look at your material. Ask them to subscribe to something that allows you to keep in contact with them. We will cover tips on how to keep them interested without driving them away in another blog.

Is the economy forcing our seniors back to work?

A couple of isolated observations over the last two weeks brought me to the realization that many of senior citizens are ill prepared for the current economic conditions. Most are surviving on a fixed income that has not increased or at best increased a meager 3%. At the same time interest and dividend income that they rely on has dropped almost into non-existence.

A couple of weeks ago one retiree was arguing with me, claiming that the cost of living could not be higher than 3% because the government gives him a 3% increase each year. I asked how much he paid for a gallon of gas, his electric and natural gas bill, and food last year at this time and he agreed all those bills were significantly lower but he still did not understand our claims that the cost of living has increased as much as 25% because the government told him that the 3% increase in his Social Security check was a cost of living adjustment.

Today as I noticed someone who was clearly of retirement age delivering a pizza to a business. During recent trips to Florida I witnessed and increase in the number of seniors working in grocery and discount department stores. Clearly just at a time when they thought they were going to leave the workplace and enjoy life, they found themselves in a place that they could not survive on their fixed income.

All of us who are relying on a 401K type program which is based on the stock market and interest income should take careful notice of where the economy is right now and the type of returns or losses those who are already retired are experiencing. Based on historical trends which seem to repeat every 8 to 10 years we will probably find ourselves in the same position at some point during our retirement years. Investments are great in an up economy, in a down economy cash is king. We need to be in a position where we have a backup plan…

It is happening and the adults don’t know or don’t care

There is an underground revolution underway and only a few understand it. The revolution will completely change our society and the exchange of money as we know it and most people are unaware that this change is going on right in front of their nose. They are even unknowingly participating in this revolution.

The revolution is the result of the sharing of information over the Internet. This freedom of speech is completely undermining traditional business models as we know them and I am predicting it will eventually take apart Corporate America… It is not a secret what is going on but it is being kept quiet by the media.

What’s at stake?

• Music – The music industry is in shambles. Not because music is given away for free, like they want you to think, it is because it is now sold over the internet. Musicians are selling more music then ever but the record companies are not getting the profits. This is causing temporary problems for artists as they learn how to capture this new market, but the difference is they can create a song, upload it, promote it, and cash in. Now a “One Hit Wonder” can cash in on a hit single because they don’t need a record company or 10 other hits to make a music album. In the past the record company would pay the musician $1 on each CD album sold, the record company would get the rest, minus the profit added on by the store.
• Movies and TV – The studios and networks are tripping over each other trying to save this dying industry. Movie attendance drops off measurably each year. Even the hottest TV shows have significantly lower viewer ratings each year. The latest trend is to bring back the old hits and television shows in an updated format in an attempt to get the adults back into their seats. The teens have tuned out and are probably not coming back. They can get together anytime and search for entertaining clips online and share them not only with the group anytime together or through an instant messenger service. Better yet they are not tied down in a theater for hours and locked into someone else’s schedule. This new form of entertainment is available 24/7/365.
• Radio – The terrestrial stations are really running scared. With profits down and 20-30 minutes of commercials every hour just to survive people are tuning out and tuning into other mediums like internet and satellite radio.
• Advertising – This is Corporate Americas last ditch effort to fight back. They are even trying to feed us these video advertisements over the internet like anyone wanted them in the first place. My message to the corporate folks is you better save your money and make some changes.
• Huge Corporations – Internet sites and social networks are allowing any mom and pop shop running out of their garage to play on the same field as a multi billion dollar corporation. The Internet levels the playing field because for a few dollars each month your product can be placed right next to any other product in that market. In the past what kept the small guy small was the money required to promote their product through advertising.

We are hearing new stories all the time about a couple of people running a business in their garage cashing out with millions in their pockets because they created and promoted a website. Other stories about companies like Amazon springing up and cashing in as a result of going direct to the consumer and cutting out the overhead of having store fronts and paying out to the retail distribution chain.

What will really keep you up at night is the fact that all of this is now possible without spending a penny in advertising!

Do you know people that get caught up in perception?

It is way too easy to get caught up in what we are told and ignore reality. There are several documentaries on how the news cherry picks stories to create a perception that things are worse then they actually are in an effort to keep us watching. Advertising creates a perception that if we use their product we will solve our problems.

Here is a real life example of how advertising and the media drives our perception that we have to purchase more to make people like us. A couple of years ago I was working with a young man who was out of work because of medical problems. It was just before Christmas and he was looking for ways to make money because he wanted his 2 year old son to have a great Christmas. He said I only have about one hundred dollars for the holiday and I won't be able to give my son a Christmas and purchase things for the family as well. He was looking for fast cash in direct sales to make it happen.

Before he received his first check Christmas would be over but it was clear he did not want to be in this position again. Before we spoke about the business I provided a few words of wisdom in the hope of relieving some of the stress he was feeling. I said "First before we get into the business lets talk about Christmas. Your son is two and he does not care about expensive gifts he cares about you and being with you on the holiday and that is all that matters. I understand that you want to give him a holiday but when he is 10 he is not going to remember that you bought him an expensive toy. A two year old boy wants cars and action figures. You can take that 100 dollars and buy him 50 little cars and a nice gift and he will be just as happy as if you had spent 10 times that much. In fact if you over do it he will probably get bored opening presents and want to play with the 1 dollar cars you bought. As far as the adults in your family I would hope that they would understand that you are unemployed right now and would not expect you to deny your son a Christmas and purchase things for them."

He listened to me and bought his son a number of small gifts most that were $5 or less. He and his son had a great holiday together and as expected he grabbed the $1 cars and played with them for hours. I remembered this story because I just visited with the young man, who is still with the business, and his son who is now 5. We were visiting and he grabbed a few of these small plastic cars and brought them to the table to be part of the group and he was rolling these around the table while we spoke. Even though he now has rows of DVD's and plenty of other toys he still enjoys playing with small cars, between playing with the more expensive toys his father can now afford.

Why did he feel he had to spend hundreds on a 2 year old child? Easy, the perception that a good parent purchases these expensive toys for their children which is pounded into us and our children through advertising. Months before Christmas children's TV is loaded with commercials of children receiving these toys and the result is they become very happy right before your eyes. Maybe it is just a big smile or their parents getting a hug but the message is very clear. Big gift equals happy child.

How is perception driving other areas of our life? Fear that some stranger is waiting to break into our home, steal all of our money, or kidnap our children. Fear that everything we eat or do is bad for us. If you step back and look at the media you see news that makes everything bad and products that makes all those bad things better.

It is difficult not to get caught up in perception because the material presented plays on our deepest emotions, fear and pleasure. The only personal defense we have is through education. I constantly remind my children that the media only presents a piece of the story, which is probably not what actually happened, and they are only showing the worst side of humanity. They have to be more conscious of what is going on around them now then in fear of what is going on someplace else in the world.

Terrible things happen sometimes and there is no law, agency, or person that can change that or protect us from that. We can't stop living and achieving our dreams because of fear or humanity itself will fail to exist.

Is hard work creating lack luster results?

More and more companies are introducing their products through direct sales and multi-level marketing. Most hit the same markets simply because there is a high demand. Right now the baby boomer market is growing exponentially and so is the number of products claiming to be the perfect fit for that market. From supplements to skincare everyone has the answer to aging. My company has exceptional products in the skincare market and so do at least 15 other reputable direct sales companies. My company has a bottled juice anti-oxidant product and so does about 10 other direct sales companies. Are you beginning to get the message?

Most of the direct sales products are exceptional but by the time you get the words “baby boomer” or anti-aging out of your mouth your prospect is looking for the exit and never tries your product. These words are almost as over used as “Plan B”. I do not wish to discourage action, because action does create results but we all get into this business looking for immediate results and a path to an easier life. Having to kidnap your prospect and force feed your product to them is not what I view as a replacement to the corporate grind.

Bottom line you can not tell the same story as the competition. Approach the same issue with a different color package and another ingredient is not enough to differentiate yourself from the competition. You need to find out what truly makes you different and it is probably not what is actually in the package.

I know you are thinking that there are leaders that are hugely successful and you just have to do what they do. Nice thought, but if you search into their backgrounds you will probably find that they have been doing this or something else like it for years, have a natural talent, or knew the right person that pushed them up quickly. The problem is it would take too long for you to learn how to duplicate the way they present the business. If you are reading this and agreeing with it chances are you do not have the same background or natural talent and you need to find a way to present the business that works for you and keeps 9 out of 10 doors from being slammed in your face.

Even the top leaders who have extensive backgrounds will have issues building in a market with lots of competition. The difference is they have learned how to approach and close so no mater what they are selling they will always have a higher success rate.

The idea is not to have a higher success rate than your piers it is to have a high success rate and low attrition rate. You should not be in search of people who have not yet heard the story, you want a story that almost no one has heard. Remember catch phrases only last as long as the product in the box and then what do you do when all of your competition is telling the same story as you? Back in the beginning just being first was enough, today it is not.

What differentiates you from the competition?

• What do you have that is patented and proprietary
• What is the payout from your compensation plan? How does your compensation plan work to actually provide them the residual income that is often hyped? Show examples that work.
• Show how you will work together with your new prospect to help them build the business.

I just put together a presentation for our team and there were no slides about huge and expanding markets, baby boomers or how we top the competition. This presentation spoke about our differences so there is no competition to compare to. It is a win-win when your competition can’t say – “Oh we have that too” and be honest.

Follow the Leader

I was at a client today and a unique situation brought to mind one of the building techniques we teach a new distributor which is:

The people you introduce to the business will do what you do. If you sit back and wait for them to bring in new customers and distributors they will do the same and no one will succeed.

What happened today was odd, without cause, and drove home the point that people tend to follow the leader, any leader. Here is what happened:

One of the vice presidents we needed to meet was late arriving to the office and we were looking for her vehicle. The two rows of parking spaces where she normally parked were completely empty. This person along with another employee normally arrived very early and parked in the first two spaces of these rows. Today both cars were missing when the remainder of the employees arrived and all of these parking spaces were left empty. You may not think this was odd but the 30 plus spaces two across would normally be at least three quarters full by 8:00 AM.

When the Vice President arrived, almost 2 hours after her normal start time, she too parked in an alternate location. The absence of vehicles in these spaces was so odd that the President of the company asked a couple of employees why these spaces were all empty and the only answer was “No one else parked there so we assumed they were empty for a reason.”

The Result: Without special instructions everyone noticed that something was different and instinctively changed what they normally did, following the person before them, assuming everyone before them knew something they did not.

Think about this for a minute and do you think that if you started creating action in your business people would instinctively follow? Every successful leader I have ever met jumped into action and stayed in action, sometimes against the odds. Most will tell you they don’t know what happened they took charge and people followed. Many ended up introducing people who experienced far greater success but because of the compensation plan they still prospered.