You know your business – and you’re extremely good at what you do. Yet that can sometimes work against you when you’re trying to recruit people. Why? Because their perception of what’s involved is that – quite simply – it’s too involved! When you add to that the lack of face-to-face contact that occurs with methods such as article marketing, blog posts, or social media, there’s even more focus on what you say.

Step back for a minute and go over what you do when you recruit face-to-face, and determine what must change with your approach when only written communication is involved for recruiting.

To help your thinking process, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I being overly enthusiastic about the product/service? There’s a difference between having true passion for what you do and being overly zealous. Passion speaks from your heart and is more than simply words on a page. To show this passion, make positive statements consistently throughout the article about your product/service. Write something such as “I am so grateful that I found this opportunity since I can now stay home with my daughter full-time.” That’s far more effective than writing, “This is such a great company to be associated with.”
• Do I give specific details about the benefits for what I’m offering? Remove the words great, fabulous, amazing, etc. from your article vocabulary. Now, write about what this opportunity can really do for the reader. For example, instead of writing, “the money you make is amazing,” switch this around to become, “The money I’ve earned has allowed me to take a vacation to Europe that included a private tour of Windsor Castle.”
• Can I deliver on what I promise? Potential “recruits” will have some hesitation – especially when their first exposure to you and the opportunity is via an article. Therefore, when they contact you via email after reading your article, your inclination might be to offer help to keep the process moving (and the interest up). However, the definition of “help” can be on opposite ends of the spectrum. Nip this in the bud before it happens. Inside your article, explain – in detail – just what you offer in the way of help. Even better, share why the training you deliver is, hands down, better than what the next person does!

Recruiting can be a very stressful thing: there is pressure to expand your down line, increase your sales, etc. Add to that, the fact that you are making your pitch using articles as your marketing tool. Switch up your thinking and view this article as a more passive way to help someone else realize the same dream you once had: to be successful doing something that delivers a return of tremendous satisfaction coupled with financial reward.

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How Article Marketing Impacts Your Direct Sales Recruiting Efforts

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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

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A Few Good Recruits

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I recently posed a question on a popular message board and the responses I got confirmed that “rich” isn’t always the goal. Moms want to “pay bills and have some in savings,” “pay my bills and take care of kids, and “pay the bills, have some fun and still have enough to set aside in savings/retirement.” Others mentioned “financial security” and the “peace of mind” that comes from not worrying about money.

Often after meeting some immediate needs with our first business endeavor, we start looking more towards the future and wanting a little more. I think about how I’d like to enjoy retirement without worrying about money. And how I’d like my son to be able to choose his career or business path without being so concerned about whether his chosen path will net enough income. I even think about how much fun it would be to help other moms get started in business by providing some start-up cash or funding a business expansion.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t go for millions if that’s what you want. In fact there were a few responders who said they want to be rich and be able to afford luxuries. What I am suggesting is that if you are marketing your business to moms, don’t assume we’re all looking for big bucks. Promising fancy cars and six figure incomes doesn’t attract as many moms as you think it might.

The key is to listen to what each individual prospect is looking for and help her meet her goals.

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Marketing to Moms – Don’t Bother Promising Millions

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1. Lead by example. Many of your team members will emulate you not only when leading their downline, but when dealing with customers. Setting a good example will have a positive effect on the entire team’s business. Be respectful, courteous, and honest in all your interactions. Reply to emails and return phone calls in a timely manner. Treat your team the way you want to be treated and the way you want them to treat customers.
2. Leaders need to have confidence in their self, their decisions, and in their actions. If you, as a leader, are constantly second guessing things, it will be hard for your team to take you seriously. If you find yourself wondering about a decision or choice you made, consult your own upline or the company. It’s fine to ask your team for input before you make a decision, but once you make it, don’t ask you team to weigh in whether or not it was the right decision.
3. Communicate clearly and make sure you encourage your team to ask questions when they don’t understand something.
4. Listen. When your team members ask questions, ask for help, or make suggestions make sure you really hear and understand what they need. Sometimes we get so caught up in delivering our planned presentations that we forget to adjust for the audience.
5. Be organized. Good organization saves time, reduces stress, and helps you present yourself more professionally.

By being a good leader you will help your entire team stay motivated and become more profitable.

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5 Team Leadership Tips

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But in my opinion, the only way the nonsense will stop is when people stop responding to outrageous claims of instant riches.

I want to be very careful here and not blame the victims. None of us are immune to being duped by some of the very sophisticated frauds, con artist, and scammers out there. But for the most part, I don’t think the direct sellers using these less than honest recruiting methods fall into the category of scammers. Many are simply misguided marketers who continue to use these types of methods because they work.

Many of us want to believe. We ignore common sense and allow ourselves to think that it is possible to get rich quick or that there’s easy money available. Just look at state run lotteries. Despite slim odds of winning, people in the U.S. spend more than $50 billion a year on lottery tickets. They’re hoping to hit it big for overnight riches. It’s the same mentality that makes claims of overnight success in MLM attractive.

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the possibilities. But as Jennifer said, the reality is that while there is the potential for big earnings, “it’s a lot of work, and it takes time.” Jennifer and others have been teaching that reality for years, and I think that’s the message we need to keep in the forefront. A bit of skepticism can be a good thing when evaluating an opportunity.

Still Jennifer’s plea for truth in recruiting is important to reach that group of misinformed and misguided direct sellers. Perhaps they’re using the same methods that they responded to or they’re just doing what their upline teaches. Again, everyday Jennifer teaches direct sellers how to become successful by conducting themselves with honesty and integrity. Lister to her!

The truth is most of us don’t need to be rich and that’s not what we’re looking for. We just want to live comfortably, take care of our families, and have a few extra dollars to indulge ourselves once in a while. Direct sales can help achieve those goals. Recruit with that reality.

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Do You Really Want the Truth?

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“Folks, recruiting is a one on one activity that is accomplished after LISTENING. Your status update is not the place to broadcast your opportunity to the world. If you really want to recruit people through social media, build relationships and find people that actually need what you have to offer. Then share your opportunity privately, in a way that meets the needs of the prospect.”

From Annoying Facebook-ers, Direct Sales Style

Being social and personable, and not all business, will help you build lasting relationships that can benefit your business in many ways.

Admittedly, I struggle a bit with mixing personal with business. I don’t share a whole lot of my personal life online. But I think it’s very possible to be sociable without being too personal, which is my goal. It’s a little like how I get to know people in real life. Perhaps we meet at a social function or our kids’ school and exchange small talk at first. Later when we see each other again we ask about the kids and work. We find we have some interests in common and we decide to meet for coffee. A relationship develops. When it’s just the two of us, we share more personal stories and information.

Whether you choose to be more or less personal in your interactions, social media can be a powerful tool for online direct sales recruiting. But as Jennifer points out, you don’t want to become the person that everyone tries to avoid. It’s extremely easy to un-follow, un-friend, and block spammers and other annoying people in Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Be careful not to push people away by doing nothing but blasting your business offers.

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Are You Recruiting or Annoying?

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Are you a sales based direct seller or a recruiting based direct seller? Is there a difference, really? Allow me to explain.

I am a sales based direct seller. I am of the belief that sales is the basis of our business in direct sales and by using customer sales and the growth of your business through sales as the main basis of your income, than you will have a stronger business overall. This can be seen in the customer base and the $ in my pocket from sales. I am also of the belief that strong sales will lead to strong recruits who also use sales based business model.

One other reason that I use a sales based model is that you actually make more money in recruiting as you are getting paid on sales not just bringing in the recruit. Sales drive the whole system of getting paid, bringing in recruits, who also sell and make money and start recruiting. And the circle continues.
Recruit based selling is a hard concept for me sometimes. By putting the most eggs in your basket based on recruits and hoping that you will build your team that will support you is tough. How do you make a living in the mean time, while you are building your team?

It would make me nervous to expect a team to support me. What if they all quit? What if they didn’t buy anything next month. What if the party circuit dried up for them and their recruiting efforts died?

Maybe I am too conservative for some, but that’s ok. That is the beauty of Direct Sales. We can all do what feels right to us.

But, I have to ask, what is your dream on where you want your business to go? Have you thought about how you have structured your business? Are you maximizing that structure to the benefit of your income and your recruits income as well? Make sure you look at all side of the business when setting up your business plan and structuring how you do business and share all sides with your recruits as well. Recruits will tend to follow your lead until they can create their own plan and become comfortable with the business and learn to maximize their own profitability. We certainly have a responsibility to our new business partners to make sure they are being profitable so that we have a long and mutually satisfying relationship.

So now we know the best of part of being a home based business owner. Maximizing our profits and our recruits profits as well. Who knew that it could all be boiled down into less than 500 words. WooHoo! Heck maybe I could do it in 3 words. Sell Sell Sell

Copyright 2008 by Chris Carroll. All rights reserved.

Chris is dedicated to the direct sales business by helping others grow and develop their business. http://DirectSalesTalk.com is her site through which this is made possible as well as her blog with ongoing direct sales chatter, http://www.directsalestalkradio.com/blog.

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Sales Based or Recruit Based? Whats your Business Model?

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Everyone loves getting something for free. Giving something away is a great way to generate website traffic and qualified leads.

Creating an ezine or newsletter is a common “freebie”. Subscribers opt in, which means they provide minimal personal information in order to receive the newsletter. Each new subscriber becomes another lead. The result over time is a large mailing list of qualified prospects. In addition to the newsletter, business owners email announcements of new products or services to this custom-made pool of potential buyers.

Many website owners give away “freebies” such as a special report or ebook to increase newsletter sign-ups. This gives visitors to the website an additional incentive to take action, an important step in converting the visit into a future sale. Making the offer time-limited increases urgency and gives prospects a good reason to sign up now, rather than later.

Another benefit of offering “freebies” is the valuable market information it provides. A significant response to an offer suggests the item is a hot topic among qualified buyers. Such data can be useful in driving new product development for the business.

Marketing experts have noted one downside of the free offer, the possibility of attracting people who solely want the “freebie” but are not interested in purchasing anything in the future. One way to decrease the likelihood of this is to make the free offer enticing to those in the market for the products and services offered for sale, but unappealing to others. A direct seller, for example, could offer a free item to anyone who books a sales party that month. By tying in the “freebie” with the desired action, only serious shoppers will respond.

A growing internet trend is to offer visitors a free membership to the website’s online community. Membership entitles the user to access restricted areas of the site, publish a profile, and interact with other members of the community. Usually only a basic amount of information is required to join, such as name and email address.

Industry estimates show that response rates triple when a “freebie” is offered as incentive for prompt action, effectively lowering the business owner’s cost per lead substantially. Even if the free gift increases the total expense of the campaign, the higher volume of qualified leads will result in higher sales volume, thus offsetting the additional expense.

What do you give away?

Combining your free offer with a lead capture page can produce a steady stream of leads. Find out how – click here to grab your copy of Use a Lead Capture Page to Generate Your Own Leads for Your Direct Sales Opportunity.

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Use Freebies and Give-aways to Generate Leads

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Here are some tips to help your new team member launch and build their business and team:

1. Personal Use – It’s much easier to sell a product that you actually use yourself. And using the products is the fastest way to learn the business. Make sure your new team members use and understand the benefits of at least two or three popular products.
2. Samples – Most companies offer samples that can be given away to potential customers. Consider giving new team members a few samples to get them started and teach them how to use them effectively.
3. Retail Sales – While many direct sales companies don’t require consultants to carry inventory, depending on your products, you may want to encourage your new consultants to have a little inventory on hand when they first start introducing their business to friends and family. If it’s not practical to carry inventory, make sure your new team member has a few catalogs to show.
4. Starter kits – You might also consider providing some other supplies while your new team member waits for her started kit to arrive. Along with the product samples and a couple catalogs, give her a few order forms, sales brochures, and other essential business forms.

Most importantly, make yourself readily available to answer questions and keep the enthusiasm alive.

In summary, as a team leader, you want to do all you can to assist new consultants to start their home business right. Make sure they understand how to sell products so they’ll start earning right away.

These few tips and will go a long way towards mentoring and encouraging your new team members and they will be thankful for your help and enthusiastic about the business.

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iRepNetwork.com
Lead Generation and Team Building Tips and Tools
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Get New Team Members Started Towards Success

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Do you know how to row a boat? That’s right…row a boat. If you answered yes to this question, then congratulations, you also know one of the greatest secrets to creating lasting success in Direct Sales.

Growing your business the “smart” way is very much like rowing a boat. Let me explain.

First, when rowing a boat, it is vital that you have both oars in the water and you are rowing them simultaneously. What happens if you have only one oar in the water? No matter how fast you row, you will simply spin around in circles. Herein lies the connection between rowing a boat and building your business. You simply must have the oars of both sales and sponsoring at work in your business before you can truly make any progress toward your destination or goal.

Secondly, when rowing, the speed of the boat is determined by the personal strength of the person doing the rowing. Just like the athlete who wants to move swiftly through the water, you must also develop the “mental muscle” by continuing to fine-tune your skills and putting what you learn into practice every day.

Lastly, isn’t it true that any boat ride, whether you are racing toward the finish line or meandering through a lovely lake is much more fun when you have others along for the ride? When you share your business opportunity with someone special, you extend an invitation to join you on a journey. As the time tested saying goes, “The more the merrier!”

Take a look at your business to see if you have been “rowing with both oars in the water.” If you are not making the progress you want, chances are you are not balancing your daily activity with both sales and sponsoring. So make the commitment, cast off the line, and row toward your goal with strong, consistent strokes. Before you know it – you will arrive at your destination!

Jane Deuber is a Co-Founder of the DSWA and a highly rated industry trainer who is known for her innovative, down to earth training style that inspires distributors into action.

Reprinted with permission.

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Balancing Sales with Sponsoring

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