This post is especially for the individual who has already built a good size team of people in their Relationship Marketing business. Of course even the newer folks can gain some insight from this as well.

If you have a team of people you will relate to this. How many times have you found yourself really frustrated with people on your team because they are not doing the things that you know are critical for their success?

Perhaps they are not attending team meetings. Or they are not listening to the weekly training calls. Perhaps they are innovating instead of duplicating. Does this sound familiar?

Most of us have come from traditional businesses where as an employee we would have to do the things that were required or we would get reprimanded or worse fired.  Right now, some of you might even have that power to do the reprimanding as you are in management or perhaps you are the owner of your own company.

Now you find yourself in the Relationship Marketing business and you are frustrated because people on your team need a good taking too.

Well here’s the problem….

This is NOT traditional business.  And if you try to “manage” people on your team you will end up having a lot of people upset at you or even worse……… QUIT.

The truth is, people already have a boss at work and they don’t want another one in there off hours. It’s important to remember that this is a volunteer opportunity.

People can opt out as quickly as they opted in.

I have witnessed time and time again the leader who is trying to hit a personal goal and so they begin calling their key people to have a goal setting session. They get commitments from their team and then begin applying the pressure on a weekly basis. For the downline, it starts to feel like the sales meetings, or strategy meetings that they would love to avoid at their primary job.  Is this striking a cord?

So what is the answer?

Stop managing your team and start modeling.

Managing will only frustrate you and make people want to avoid you. Modeling is YOU doing the things that YOU can control and setting a good example.  And here is another tip. Don’t make people feel guilty or feel bad for not doing the proper actions. Let me be frank. If you are doing that, REFRAIN as It will not motivate people; in fact quite the opposite.

Though it may be going against every fiber in your body, you need to encourage people when they are not doing the proper activities. Sarcasm does not motivate anyone.

Modeling is what a true leader does.  It keeps you in a leadership role leading by example not managing.

When you are setting the example and doing the activities (Modeling) that you wish others to do, the ones who are  ready  will duplicate you without your having to manage them.  The challenge is really you self managing yourself and staying in the modeling mode all the while waiting patiently for those leaders to show up.

If you have been involved in Relationship Marketing for any period of time, you have no doubt witnessed or heard about the person who moved quickly up the ranks and is making 10,000 per month plus.  The news often spreads like a cold virus and everyone is talking about it.

 More often than not, these stories are used to motivate people. Personally, I think there is an underlying challenge with this. Let me explain.

I think there can be a false expectation created from these stories.  I have seen too many times, new people getting discouraged when their Relationship Marketing businesses are not growing as fast. Often times it can result in them quitting. So I have to pose the question; are we setting people up only to be discouraged?

The truth needs to be told….

What we don’t hear, and is often the case, these super stars are “Influencers” and have already built a large following prior to their recent involvement in their new company.  Now don’t get me wrong, that’s a great thing. This should be everyone’s goal.  My point is, they have already paid the price and put in the effort of creating these solid relationships; some of them over many years.  What we see is “The event”

They begin to promote a new Network Marketing company and shoot to the top within a matter of weeks or months.

Can you begin to see the challenge?  I think as leaders we need to be responsible and set the proper expectations for the newer folks. This business is simple in concept, but can be frustrating at times in going through the process.  And often times that process is the personal growth that needs to happen before the business will ever really take off.

We live in a society of fast everything. We have been conditioned that things should come quickly.  Well, What I have come to know it that success is a “process” not “an event”.  Success is built overtime.

In closing, it’s always great to hear about others achievements. And sure, you should keep shouting it from the roof tops how great your business opportunity is and how well people are doing.

Just make sure that  you have the stories straight and are keeping it real.

You are Free to add any comments below this page. Also, if you think this post could be helpful feel free to share it by hitting the “share button.”

This post is really dedicated to the person who has been in their relationship marketing business for a couple of years now and may be frustrated for not having reached their goals. Do you remember your first couple weeks in your new business? What an exciting time it was. Do you remember that first lifestyle profile you saw of someone who had made it BIG in the business you just joined? You thought to yourself, “That’s going to be me”…  Let’s fast forward now to the present. Most of us are wondering what happened?  ”Where’s that lifestyle that I’ve worked so hard for. It seems to have escaped me.”

Sadly, many people share this same story.  I’m sure if I had the chance to talk to each one of you individually, I would find some blaring areas that could use some improvements; and if corrected could take you to another level in your business.

This post purpose is to give you a couple of simple actions that could change everything for you.

There are probably many things that a person should be doing to create momentum in their business; but today let’s just look at two observations. In looking back at my past experience, and talking with others who have had  discouraging  results, I have found some similar  things in common.

I was always very busy managing my business and not staying in the creative stage.  What do I mean by staying in the creative stage?  I wasn’t talking to new people who had not heard about my opportunity and or product/service. I was busy being busy on things that were not creating new business.

 I was confusing activity with accomplishment. 

Another common thread was that I just was not talking to enough people. At first glance it might seem like I am saying the same thing as I said in the previous paragraph. But there is a difference.

The secret is in the numbers.

The people that have built the larger businesses have actually failed more than anyone else; they have heard the most no’s than the rest of us.

They learned that it was a sorting business.

Their focus and work ethic was that they learned to sort faster  without a lot of emotion attached to the process.  Let me repeat that, not a lot of emotion attached to the process.  Too many people take the no’s too personally and end up quitting the process that would ultimately get them to where they want to go. I have met more successful people in this business that had no real special abilities than anyone else; they just worked harder and talked to more people quicker.

So what’s one key nugget of building a big business?    Talk to more people and embarrass the law of compensation. In this game, whoever sorts the fastest… WINS!

It amazes me when I really think about the wonderful world of technology. Of course I’m not talking about the days that you have where the e-mail crashes or your computer locks up.  But for the most part, it is simply amazing what is at our finger tips.

As I am writing this post, I am aware that the computer below my fingers has more power than a main frame computer did just a few decades ago. And with that, it brings me to the real point of this blog post.

Today more than ever, it is possible to start your own business from home.

You have every possible device that brings the world right to your door. Just e-mail alone is an invaluable tool. Think of all the postage fees you are saving and the time it used to take to mail a letter. And while I am talking about
e-mail versus standard mail, with e-mail you can actually see when they opened the document.
With a computer, phone, fax machine, and perhaps a great relationship with a local printer, you can set yourself up in business. Of course depending on your business there may be some other things you need, but the point I’m a trying to make is that starting a business has never been easier. The barrier to entry has been greatly diminished.

I want you to imagine for a few minutes on what it would look like and how you would feel to have a home based business.  How would it change your life?  If you knew that you didn’t have to rush around in the morning getting ready for work, can you almost feel how relaxed you would become?

I can tell you from personal experience, that working from home can be a lot less stressful.

Heck, and if you don’t have any appointments with clients or customers you may end up wearing those comfy slippers all day!

Currently, I am looking to work with a few people who would like to explore a new home business opportunity.  Contact me if you would like to learn more about this.

Purpose Driven Life

Over the coming months I will be looking for and posting videos of people who are Living out their lives with purpose. Click the title link above to watch a short video.

I have been meaning to give a book report for some time. I finally sat down tonight to write about a book by Seth Godin entitled “The purple cow”.

This is a great read for anyone who aspires for their business to stand out. In his introduction he writes…. “This book is about the why, the what, and the how of remarkable.”

If you don’t build into your product or service something that stands out, you are basically invisible in the marketplace. Good marketing is figuring out a way to get the market talking about YOU.

For a more visual context, it’s to be a purple cow. 

Seth goes on to state that traditional marketing methods no longer work. Marketing to the masses Is dead. Essentially, one hundred years of marketing Is obsolete. To survive in this new economy savvy marketers need to find new ways to get the consumers attention.

His call to action is STOP advertising and START innovating.

If you go back in time before mass advertising through radio and television; you learned about new products and services from the locals talking over coffee or at the local pub. Everything was marketed through word of mouth.

As a society, we have become numb to the spoon fed hype of companies offerings. Our decisions on where we shop, what we buy etc. are influenced by the conversations we listen to, sound familiar?

Basically, we have come full circle except now information travels at lightning speed through the “Social Graph”. A recent example of this was the unfortunate news of Whitney Houston’s death. The world new about it within minutes.

He goes on to say that companies need to be so remarkable that they retain their customers for a long period of time if not for a lifetime. In years past companies treated customers as a resource. The companies that are going to thrive in today’s market are the ones that understand that their customers are an asset.

These assets talk and listen to what is being said about a particular company.

It’s no longer “As seen on TV”; it’s more like “as heard on twitter and Facebook”

The goal  in today’s market is to create products or services that people seek out and speak about. Sure the Godaddy girls are easy on the eyes,  but the company better have great service.

Good or bad reviews can effect your bottom line. Think about it. Most people won’t book a hotel accommodation without reading the reviews of other people’s stay.

I think you are getting the idea by now that people are going to talk about your business. If they are going to talk about you, it might as well be about how “remarkable” you are.

I would end this report by saying this is a must read for any business owner or marketing director.  In the final pages he gives case studies of companies that understood the power of being remarkable; of being a purple cow.

I give this book an 8 on a scale of 1-10.

Feel free to add any comments at the bottom of my posts. I love hearing further insights and comments from my readers.

I remember when I first enrolled in my first Referral Marketing Company how excited I was. This new business was going to put me on the fast track to success and I was going to have a  HUGE business. I couldn’t wait to share my new discovery with all my family and friends. I just knew that they would all see what I saw and join me on my journey towards financial independence.

I did what any good new business associate would do. I developed a list of everyone that I knew and began to call them one by one. 

I broke the list down into several different groups. I decided to start with the group of people that I felt for sure could use some extra income; I just knew they would be a slam dunk. Well, to my surprise that wasn’t the case.

In fact as I recall, they seemed to have the MOST questions of all the people I talked with. Some were even quick to suggest that my time may be better spent doing something else. 

As I made each phone call I began to learn some really hard lessons. First, your friends and family are not obligated to join you in your new journey. Of course you would like them to, but that’s really an extra benefit if they do. 

In a perfect world we all want to be accepted and looked up to; especially from our friends and family. What I have come to realize is the people closest to us have a certain way they see us. If we’ve had past failures, that’s what they remember. If our primary career has less status and prestige than our friends and family; I believe it’s often difficult for them to accept the possibility that we actually found something that could really benefit them financially or otherwise. It’s just the way our human nature works. Knowing this will help you better understand the dynamics and help you be better prepared. 

By the time I had made my tenth call, I was disillusioned and feeling a little down. The phone now seemed like it was a 50 pound weight. The calls were beginning to weigh on me. 

Over time I found out that everyone who ever succeeded in this industry went through the same feelings and setbacks I did when making those early phone calls.

Honestly, friends and family members can be the hardest people to talk to. JUST ACCEPT THAT!  It’s really liberating. Once you get through your friends and family list, it gets a lot easier. 

I can hear you saying, “ well then I’ll just skip sharing the opportunity with them all together”

You Could do that.

But that would be too easy; and besides you will find a few that will gladly want to join you in your new opportunity. This will help to get you off to a quick start. And besides it will be fun building your new business with people you already know and like. 

Once you have gone through your friends and family list, I would like to personally welcome you to the prestigious NFL club…

 ”No friends left” 

Don’t panic, I’m not saying that you scared all your friends away; I’m saying that you DID IT.  You did the hardest part of this business, contacting  people that you already know. By making those calls, we risk rejection or misunderstanding by those people that mean the most in our lives.

So here is the million dollar question. What can a person do to make their experience a little better and one which yields higher results? 

By having the right posture… 

Here’s a tip. Don’t ask questions that can give you a yes or no answer. Get them engaged in a dialogue with you. And don’t start pitching your opportunity; ask them questions and keep it in a natural dialogue. Here is an example of what a conversation might sound like. 

Hey (Their name) Listen, I only have a minute but I wanted to share something with you.  Do you have a second? 

Great… I can’t promise anything at this point but I have found something that I think might solve a lot of people’s financial problems. When was the last time you looked at something that could really add a nice second source of income over and above your primary income? 

Most people will answer, it’s been awhile, or I can’t say if I ever have etc. 

Well… like I said I can’t promise you anything at this point and I don’t really know if this would be for you, but I think it could be worth checking out. I want to get you some specific information so that you can make an informed decision. Here is what we need to do next. 

Now at this point, depending on what it is that you are involved with, there is a process that your team has developed to get your prospective new business partner more information. That could be a number of things such as:

1. Threeway conference call with someone who is more experienced in the business then you. (My favorite) this always yields better results then you trying to answer all the questions. It also helps to keep the call in more of a conversation than presentation.

2. You may be inviting them to sit in on a webinar or to listen in on a informational call.

3. It may be to let them know that you will be sending them over an e-mail to take a look at your website.

4. Or Inviting them to a get together to learn more about what you are doing. 

Through this process, it’s important that you create a comfortable posture of just sharing some information that could be of some value to them. You want them to know that your job is simply to help them make an informed decision.  It’s worth repeating. You are sharing not selling.

 The person who can master the art of asking questions that engage the other person in a dialogue, is the person that will begin to see more people join their opportunity. Most everyone can use more time and money. When you can master the skill of leading them through the process you WILL enroll more people.

I always welcome my readers input and comments. Please feel free to leave a comment on this post. You can do this by scrolling down to the bottom of this page.

Happy Building!

I have been around the relationship marketing business for many years, either as a by stander or a participant.  I remember in the early days when I would put my friends and family’s names down on a piece of paper I was excited to share with them a new business that I thought we could work together on.  The idea of working with those we are close with just made sense.  I mean who wouldn’t want to share the good times with those that we know and love?

Well if you have made those phone calls, you quickly found out that there was a “Thanks but no Thanks”
Coming back at you. Your excitement quickly turned to disappointment. In fact, sometimes based on what they said and the tone In which they said it created an emotion to want to run and hide.

HOLD ON…..

To set the record straight; they really aren’t attacking you or trying to steal your enthusiasm.  Their reaction is based on a past experience or perhaps something that they have heard. They clearly have a different picture.

Think of this. If I give you a word like ice cream what do you see? Perhaps you see your favorite ice cream. What if you are lactose intolerant? I’m sure your picture of ice cream is something possibly unpleasant.  You get my point. The word  Ice cream  can create different pictures and even many thoughts.  If you are on a diet for example, you might think, I would love some ice cream but I can’t because it will blow my diet.

Words create pictures. If you are going to share an idea with someone, it’s important to understand that your picture is very likely different than theirs.  Let’s explore this further as it relates to your promoting a product/service or business  opportunity.

What you see…Work this business  for 4-5 years and have a six figure residual income.

What they see… These businesses are a lot of hard work with little results.

What you see… Just share this idea with people that are looking. 

What they see… I am going to have to sell and convince others.

What you see… I’m reaching out to friends and family to help them develop a secure financial future.

What they see… I am going to have to impose on my friends and family to support me.

What you see… I can work this in cracks of time and create a second income.

What they see… Just another thing to take up more time and  I’m too busy to add anything else in my life.

I think you are getting the idea that what you see and what they see are very different.  The key to this dilemma is first being aware of this reality.

 By asking questions like “do you believe it’s possible to earn a 6 figure income with only working in cracks of time”? gives you a clearer perspective and talking point. Once you know  what they are seeing, you then can begin to help change their perceptions.

What I see time and time again is that people are so quick to broadcast their ideas but the listener is not tuned into their channel.  I want you to remember this concept by this example. How many times have you been searching for a radio station and the frequency is not clear. In this case you are probably too far away from the radio towers to pick up a strong signal. When we are communicating an idea, we need to realize that our frequency may not be in line with others.

So what is the lesson here?

 First, understanding that your image is perhaps very different than others, gives you an understanding that it may take time for people to see what you see.  This comes from repeat exposure, building trust etc. Bottom line, it may take time.

 Understanding that not everyone is going to be tuned into your frequency gives you a clearer path. Your job then becomes one of searching for those that are tuned in or have similar images to the ones that you have.

 In other words, it’s not selling people as much as it’s sorting through people to find those that see what you see, or are tuned to your frequency (your message.)

Try this for the next few days. When you are interacting with people, whether it is over the phone, on Facebook, in a meeting or a one on one discussion, I want to challenge you to really be present and show up for that other person. Honor them with your undivided attention. Be intensional about letting them have center stage. Ask them questions that will move the conversation off of you and more on them. See them as a person who really deserves to be heard; and even more see them as a miracle.  Make them feel important. This simple act will have amazing results.  And don’t be surprised if  your friends and colleagues want to engage in more conversations with you. 
Truth be told.  All of us want to be heard and feel important. So give it a go. You may find that this simple action is worthy of repeating.

Have you ever gotten an idea for a new marketing concept or perhaps a new business idea and the first thing you want to do is bounce it off a significant other or close friend or colleague. My suggestion is

 Don’t……It’s worth repeating Don’t.

Close friends and family though they mean well, often can derail a great idea. And if you are like most Entrepreneurs, they have already heard too many of your hair brained ideas anyway.

So what do you do when something hits you?

Do your best to refrain from broadcasting your idea and begin to study
The market potential.

One of the first things you can do is conduct your own market study.
This can be done cheaply and effectively. How you do this will depend on what your idea is and who your ultimate client/customer is.

Call potential clients/customers and play the what if game. Tell them that you are a marketing company that has been hired by a startup that may be bringing a new concept to the marketplace. Write out a series of questions beforehand that will help you determine whether your idea is sound and perhaps is solving a problem or creating a solution.

Another cool trick is to do some keyword research In the category that you are exploring. Develop an ad campaign that drives traffic to an information or survey page. Google has some great tools that will monitor the traffic and tell you how many people clicked on your ad and how many people visited your site. These statistics can be very helpful in determining how the market is going to respond to your idea. Google can also be s great way to see who your competition may be.

The most important advice I can give you….. Don’t listen to the Ney-Sayers.

I’m sure there are countless stories that we could find about people that had passed up a great idea because they listened to bad advice or mis-informed well intended people.