We interrupt the scheduled tips on communicating with customers and prospects to give your this free report on using private label rights content (PLR) to build a mailing list from Wendy Wood of Mom PLR eBooks.

Read the report below or download it from Scribd.

Resources

• AWeber autoresponder service
  Wendy’s affiliate link from the document
  iRepNetwork’s affiliate link
• Mom PLR eBooks.
• Special Report Club
• All Private Label Content

Enjoy!

Tips in the series so far:
Tip One – Listen
Tips Two – Email Etiquette

A good deal of business communication takes place through email, especially if you do business online. Customers and prospects will expect to be able to reach you by email and will expect a timely reply. Making the effort to deliver the business image you wish to portray will pay off in customer satisfaction.

Of course all of your email communication must comply with the law and your email service company’s terms of use, but also be aware of your customers’ perceptions of unsolicited email (spam). With so much spam already coming to our inboxes, people are intolerant of anything they define as spam, even it doesn’t meet the legal definition. Adhere to a privacy policy regarding contact information, always use permission based email marketing, and include opt out instructions in every mailing.

Written communication is more easily misinterpreted than face-to-face communication because all the non-verbal cues we use to communicate in person are missing in email. Choose your words carefully, use the appropriate tone, and use proper spelling and grammar to help make sure your meaning is clear.

One of the most common complaints about email communications is the lack of timely response. While it used to be acceptable to take up to three days to reply, now most people expect a response within a day. If you are unable to regularly respond within 24 hours, consider using an autoresponder to acknowledge receipt of email and to indicate when you expect to be able to respond. It might be wise to provide an alternate means of reaching you for more immediate response. To help reduce email inquiries provide an FAQ section on your website to answer the most commonly asked questions.

Another problem with email communication is that messages don’t always get through. Be certain that the filters you use and those used by your email service aren’t filtering out legitimate email. Additionally, avoid words and practices that trigger spam filters so that your messages aren’t blocked on the receiving end. Always ask for an alternate method of contacting customers and prospects, so if it becomes clear that your email isn’t getting through, you can still make contact.

Customers and prospects often may not even notice the extra effort taken to deliver the perfect email. But they will be quick to react negatively to errors and poorly written emails. Taking the time to carefully develop your email protocol will result in a more professional appearance, higher customer satisfaction, and better relationships with your team.

Resources:

• My favorite email spam filter is MailWasher Pro because it works really well, gives me a great deal of control, and adds an extra layer of protection by filtering email before it’s downloaded.
• My favorite autoresponder service is AWeber because it’s affordable, full-featured, and the company works diligently on deliverability.
• And my favorite email client is Mozilla Thunderbird because it’s easy to use and supports multiple email addresses.

Next in the series (in a few days):
Phone Etiquette
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Missed tip one? It’s here.

Communication is key to business success, especially in a relationship based business like direct sales. Effective communication will help you establish, grow, and maintain a customer base and a productive direct sales team.

Today’s savvy customers are looking to get the best products and services for their money. They have loads of information at their fingertips and can easily research companies and products. Your ability to communicate how you can meet their needs will determine whether or not they make that first purchase, and you must keep communicating to retain them as customers.

This is the first post in a short series about communicating in which we’ll talk about some of the many components of communication, and provide tips for effectively communicating with your customers and prospects.

Thinking about communication most likely brings to mind all the methods you use to provide information about your business and market it to customers and potential team members. But one of the first things to keep in mind when communicating is this:

Sometimes the best way to reach out to people is simply by listening to them. Customers and prospects will never be shy about expressing their needs and concerns. But often we spend so much time developing our information delivery strategy that we forget to really listed to what our customers have to say. It’s also important to remember that customer relationships are dynamic and needs and wants change.

Of course it’s important to follow a well developed sales and marketing approach, but an essential part of that strategy should involve regularly listening to what customers and prospects have to say. Good listening skills not only allow you to collect valuable information necessary to assist them and answer their needs, but it also demonstrates sensitivity and understanding.

“The best salespeople are great listeners – that’s how you find out what the buyer wants.”
~ Larry Wilson and Spencer Johnson, authors of
The One Minute Salesperson

Listening sets the tone for the rest of your communication. It will direct your efforts. By actively listening you’ll know the best way to communicate. Whether face-to-face or through email or phone, listening skills will foster the next steps in customer and team relations. This can not only help you fine tune your sales and marketing techniques, but it will also help to create long term relationships and increase visibility, referrals and market share.

Taking the time to improve listening skills and really paying attention to what customers and prospects are saying will improve customers satisfaction and team productivity. Perhaps we’d all be better communicators if we practiced what Greek philosopher Epictetus noted, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

Next in the series (later this week):
Email Etiquette
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For some direct sales consultants recruiting team members has always been a numbers game. Others prefer to sponsor consultants they think are more compatible with their own goals and practices. Shelly Hill is a successful direct sales consultant with more than 20 years experience. And in her experience, quality is better than quantity. She explains in her article below.

 
Direct Sales – Recruiting Quality vs. Quantity Team Members by Shelly Hill

When it comes to recruiting new team members for your Direct Sales team, it’s not about signing up every Tom, Dick, Harry, Jane and Sue. Sure, You can bring in twelve new members every month, but how many of those members will work the business? How many of them will stay with the business and become successful with it?

I have been in Direct Sales for over 20 years now and I often see consultants too focused on adding massive numbers of teammates to their teams. If you are looking at quantity and not quality in regards to your recruiting efforts, you will be tempted to hype, mislead, brag and make it all seem too easy to your prospect. Sure, they will often join your company…However, they quickly become frustrated, lose interest and move on to something else.

If you want to build a strong and healthy team, you need to look at quality and not quantity. Personally, I would rather recruit two new team members a month who are serious about building a business, who are hard workers and go-getters, compared to ten team members who are in it just for a little pocket change.

One way you can find serious business builders for your Direct Sales business is by interviewing your prospects. When it comes to the interviewing process, you need to be honest with them. You need to let them know that Direct Sales is not a cake walk, customers do not magically find you and that this type of business takes a lot of hard work. Let your prospect’s know that you are serious about your business and they will need to be serious about theirs.

A strong and healthy Direct Sales team is built on quality team members and career business builders. Any seasoned professional will tell you that Direct Sales is not for everyone. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. Take your time when it comes to building a team and concentrate on adding quality business builders and watch your team succeed to it’s fullest potential.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly believes that team building is more about adding quality members than quantity of members. You can visit Shelly’s work at home business options site at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com for Direct Sales articles and home business tips. You can also contact Shelly at http://my.tupperware.com/Ravish30

Article Source: WAHM Articles

I usually don’t complain about it. I have good systems in place to deal with it. But the other day I tweeted about being tired of it.

 
Spam!

It’s costly, annoying, time-consuming, and frustrating. It can shut down a website or email server. And it doesn’t appear it’s going to go away any time soon.

In our brief Twitter conversation about it, one of my friends suggested that we should all report spammers.

 
Shelly and I often agree on things, but in this case, I have to disagree. Reporting spammers is just not worth my time and energy. In most cases, I don’t believe that reporting it will result in any real action against the spammer, so I don’t bother.

I came across a blog post today that clarified some things about the spam comments I’m getting (they aren’t spambots; real people come by and post them), explains some of the reasons why they’ll continue, and confirms some of my reasons for not taking time to report it. Take a couple minutes to read it and you’ll see why I feel that way: Why blog and comment spam isn’t going away.

Steve’s research uncovered something I’ve always suspected. It can be very lucrative for the people who actually place the spam comments or circulate the email. And many of those people are outside the jurisdiction of any “officials” who would be in the position to do anything about it. Again, that’s one of the main reasons I don’t report.

So what do I do about spam? I use tools to combat it and I try not to use up much time and energy on the spam that gets through. Delete works much faster than trying to track down the source to report it.

For comment spam I use the standard WordPress plugins, Akismet and Bad Behavior, and they do a very good job of blocking and moderating spam comments. If you need more help, you might want to try the plugins mentioned in, How to Stop Blog Comment Spam

These articles contain my recommendations for tools to help combat email spam:

• Stop Wasting Time on Spam
• Will Bontrager on Email, Spam, and Mailing Lists
• Stop Wasting Your Time
• SpamStopping.com

There are some instances where I would take the time to report. One is if the spam is originating from one of my sites because it’s been hacked. And the other is if I’m bombarded with spam coming from one source. In both cases swift action is necessary to save my business.

Of course for some people, reporting spam is in itself gratifying. If it eases your frustration and gives you a sense that you’re doing something about it, then by all means, report away. Please just be careful to report spam and not inadvertently report legitimate email and comments. Being falsely accused can be quite damaging too.

How about you? Please leave your comments on this post. Report or not? If you report, have you seen any results from reporting? How do you combat blog comment spam?

Here are answers to questions you, our blog readers have asked about our blog theme, features, and practices.

Is the blog theme your own design?

It’s a free theme from WooThemes that we customized by adding our own header and colors and tweaking a few other things to our liking.
 

What hosting company do you use?

This site is hosted at MomWebs (affiliate link) and we highly recommend them.
 

How did you add the social bookmarking links to your posts?

It’s a plugin called Sociable.
 

Can I subscribe to your posts by email?

Yes you can click here to subscribe by email. The RSS feed can be found here.
 

Will you print my articles on your blog?

For the most part, guest posts are by invitation, but occasionally we accept a submitted post that is on a topic specifically related to direct sales party plans, or that clearly applies to that industry. We ask that a guest post is an original article that is not posted elsewhere.

We also use free content from time to time so if you write on the topic of direct sales party plans you can send me the link to your articles in an online directory and I’ll take a look to see if I can use any of them.
 

Can I use your article (or part of it) on my blog?

Most of the articles posted on our blog are not available for reprint. Please feel free to contact us to request a specific article and we’ll be happy to consider giving permission when possible. (Please do not request reprints through a blog comment. Use our contact page.)

Here are Linda’s articles that are available for reprint:

If you care to comment on, criticize, or debate something we’ve posted here by writing about it in your own blog, we welcome the discussion. In that case, of course we don’t mind if you quote a sentence or two from our post, as long as you give us credit. And a link back to the original post is appreciated. If your post and blog is relevant we’re happy to have the trackback added to our post.
 
 
Feel free to ask your questions by posting a comment or by contacting us and we’ll be happy to answer them.
 
Note: From time to time we add questions and answers to this post so please check back from time to time for new information. Last updated June 21, 2010.

If you’re thinking about joining a direct sales party plan company and you love chocolate, the Dove Chocolate Discoveries opportunity is very tempting. It tempts me and I’m not considering direct sales!

Here are some of the reasons it might be the right choice for you:

• While the direct sales consultant opportunity is fairly new (it launched in 2007) the parent company, Mars Inc. has been in business since 1911.
• The brand is well-known and has a very good reputation.
• Chocolate is a $16 billion a year industry in the United States. Americans eat an average of 10-12 pounds of chocolate per year.
• Since it’s a consumable product you will have repeat customers.
• Earn 25-40% sales commission.
• Sell products at fun tasting parties.
• It’s chocolate. Need I say more?

With increased evidence of and interest in the health benefits of chocolate, the trend towards using it more often in savory dishes, and our love of it as a sweet treat, a chocolate business is likely to be increasingly successful.

For more information and to contact an independent consultant to start your own home business, visit the Dove Chocolate Discoveries page in the InternetBasedMoms.com direct sales directory.

Offer an ecourse on the topic of Freelancing without writing a single message yourself!

Download this autoresponder series with private label rights, copy and paste the messages into your autoresponder, and start promoting it to build a mailing list.

Before you order, get the coupon below.
But hurry! It expires in about a week.
 
Grab the Freelancing PLR Email Messages Here

I’m sure you hear it all the time – email marketing is one of the most effective ways to market online. But sometimes just the thought of writing an entire autoresponder series can be overwhelming. Now there’s no need to write it all yourself! This private label package contains 30 pre-written messages on the topic of freelancing. These are high-quality articles that you can use as is, or edit them in your own voice or to more specifically target your audience.

For several years now I’ve purchased content from the creators of the freelancing series, and I’ve never been disappointed. You won’t be either.

Some of the topics covered in the series include how to find freelancing jobs, how much to charge for your services, promoting your website, and why freelancing is a good option for moms. There are also topics on specializing in areas such as writing or transcription services.

Plus, some of the messages include product promotions where you can add your affiliate link to earn sales commission.

Grab the Freelancing PLR Email Messages Here

Use this coupon when you order for 20% off all autoresponder bundles:
Coupon Code: 540D8
Expiration Date: April 21, 2010

Find other autoresponder bundles here, including a blogging bundle.

Affiliate link (Why tell?)

affliate ad

This video from WebProNews.com includes another good argument for daily blog posting (meaningful posting that is).

Image courtesy of Search Engine People Blog.

This question has been on my mind quite a bit lately. How much online success is possible if you aren’t one of the movers and shakers? Can someone who isn’t usually among the first marketers to promote a new product or service or who isn’t using the latest tool make it in the fast paced online world?

Admittedly, I don’t have the answer, but I do have some thoughts. Please comment and let me know what you think.

Like everything else, I think the answer depends in part on your market. If you sell technology you better be up-to-date with the latest gadgets and gizmos every day. You probably aren’t going to be highly successful if you don’t know what an iPad is or if “Droid” brings to mind a movie robot. When most customers are in the market for a computer, T.V. or cell phone, they want the latest technology. If you can’t keep up with that demand, your customers will likely shop elsewhere.

But I know of a text-based website that sells fountain pens where you email the owner to reserve a pen, and then you send a check by snail mail. The company is well-known and highly recommended by pen aficionados. While I’m not an expert, I’d venture a guess that fountain pen technology doesn’t change very rapidly and there’s probably a viable market for older versions. So someone who sells pens can afford to take a little time to stock and market the latest pen.

In party plan companies, even through your company may update products regularly, the primary sales method really hasn’t changed that much. A home sales party today is based on many of the same techniques of the original Tupperware parties of the 1950s. Sure, companies have added online ordering, social networking, and other new marketing techniques and tools, but you can still be successful yourself, and train a profitable team, using the sales party as your primary marketing technique.

Another “old-fashioned” technique I think party plan consultants can use to a huge advantage is great customer service. With big box stores, self-checkout at the supermarket, online shopping, ATMs and telephone customer service, many people crave the personalized, individual attention they can get from a direct sales consultant. A great deal of success can be built from knowing your customer’s name and needs.

Are you a mover and shaker or are you succeeding at a slower pace? How important is it to be up-to-date on the latest tools and marketing methods? What other factors contribute to your point of view? Please leave your comments and questions.

I’m probably not a mover and shaker, but rather I tend to use and teach more of the “tried and true” methods of marketing and sales. But I also try to provide my audience with trusted resources for new tools or methods that I may not be up to speed on yet.