Can your Team Members Duplicate Your Success?

 Team leaders, business builders, managers…whatever you are called in your company…listen up!

Take a moment to think about what your individual skills are.  If you are a top recruiter, excellent at sales or great at motivating and inspiring others.  No    matter what your skill is, wouldn’t you agree that it is nothing if you can’t pass it on to those on your team or in your organization?  Break it down into pieces.  What exactly do you do?  I am so sick of hearing people say, “I don’t know, I don’t do anything special.”  Yet they recruit 100’s or are one of the top   10  in sales of the company they are in.  The first thing that comes to my mind is this person is withholding information because she has the false belief that if she shares her “secrets” then she will no longer be a hot shot or she is just not very bright.

 There are several things a leader needs to be able to do:

1.  Break things down into simple, manageable steps for the newbie.
2.  Teach the steps in chronological order.
3.  Keep the excitement without overwhelming the newbie with too much information
4.  Put on an informative and fun meeting.
5.  Realize that the more duplicatable you and your success are, the faster your team will find success.

The leader who trains, supports and motivates will find her team not only sticks around, but quickly rises to success as well.

Some of my favorites are:

1. Sending out email campaigns to the newbies.  I call them Digests and they cover important tips like what is necessary to take to the party, hostess coaching tips, how to book parties, a script for what to say when announcing their new business, how to process credit cards, etc…
2. Fun meetings geared around a theme or series.  Some I have done are Back to Basics Boot Camp, 7 Habits of Highly Successful Distributors, and Gray’s Anatomy.  Really, almost anything that is mainstream (TV shows, movies, current affairs) can be made into a meeting.
3. Teleconferences for the team or company wide.  I use www.freeconferencecall.com for my teleconferences.
4. Team newsletters with links to pertinent articles, videos, audios.  Do a search on google or ask.com for your topic.  You’ll be amazed what comes up!

What are the best ways you have found to duplicate yourself, your skills, your knowledge?

SHARE them in the comments below!  and click the share button to pass it on 😉

5 Quick Tips for Increasing Party Plan Sales

Photo Credit to Toolstop on Flickr

 

1. Customers are really looking for solutions to problems and new opportunities.

Understand this simple truth and you will increase your sales.  Think about the products in your line.  What problems do they solve?

Make a list of the problems your clients might have and which product is the solution.  This might open up a whole new way of presenting.  Remember, marketing is always geared toward pleasure OR pain.

Problem:
Solution:

2. Take a close look at your business and write down the ways you add value for your customer.

value:
printing invites for your hostess
mailing invites for your hostess
VIP club for hostesses and clients
prompt and professional follow up
delivering the night of the party
special perks/incentives for bringing a friend

3. Don’t forget the future impact of low- or no-profit accounts.

The best example I can give is the common practice of sending weekly sales or coupons to your entire client base. With the over use of this practice the harsh reality is that the use of “coupons” or “sales” too frequently attracts the wrong type of customer: those who will only buy low cost items or wait to purchase ONLY when something is on sale. You are training your clients to wait as well as devaluing your products. This practice can be a great promotional strategy when used sparingly and if it is attracting profitable clients. Consider every dollar you are giving away and if it is indeed a good investment of your time and energy.

4. Instead of talking louder so people will hear you, focus on coming up with interesting things to say so people will pay attention.

Use the internet to search for the topics you’d like to spice up in your demo. Look for fun statistics, relevant topic to ENHANCE what you sell, and/or interesting new ways to conduct your presentation.  Be FUN!

5. Make your website pull its weight.

Be sure your site has all the important details a prospect might be searching for. Pretend you are writing an important proposal regarding your business– does your website reflect the same quality of production that the proposal would? Don’t let your site be a last minute add on to your marketing plan…make it the main attraction!

9 Steps to Writing Website Copy

Photo credit to Lizardo

Many consultants struggle with getting together the wording for their websites simply because it feels overwhelming. Don’t stress, there are plenty of ways to make YOUR website stand out without laboring over the writing.

This list will help you get your website copy up and running and help you avoid some common pitfalls. (These also apply to your email campaigns!!)

1. Write down who your target market is (your IDEAL client) don’t be afraid to be specific about things like what kind of work she/he does, married or single, how old, income level, where she lives, etc…  Once you are clear on this you can begin writing as if you are talking to this ONE person, not the entire INTERNET.  So many people worry that this will limit their reach.  Quite the opposite will happen.  Once you are clear on who your market is, and you write as if you are speaking to them…MORE of these kinds of people find you which converts into more business.

2. Write down compliments you have gotten from guests and hostesses at your parties. These comments will help you later when you need ideas about what to write. If you are new, write down what you HOPE to hear from clients or what you liked about the shows you have seen of other distributors.  When someone is reading your website copy they want to know what kinds of great things they are going to get by working with you.

3. Make a list of the kinds of questions people might have when they get to your site (ie… What are these parties all about, how do I book a party, what kinds of products do you carry, why would I need them?) Your copy should ANSWER these questions.  You could start by saying something like, “Are you wondering _____?”  Fill in the blank with the common questions you get about your parties, products and so on.  When you answer the question they find your site to be useful and exactly what they are looking for.

4. Give out free advice, tips or help on your site. Give them a sample of what they will get from you as their consultant or sponsor.  How about you share a fantastic recipe they could use to serve their guests at the party, a tip about one of your best sellers or even a list of ideas to entertain the hubby if this party is going to be a girls only night.

5. Provide useful content, make it unique (use other sites as a guide, but DON’T copy it) Make your site sound like YOU, write like you speak. Unless, of course you drop the F bomb every other sentence.  Here’s a thought…Google the questions, phrases or keywords you a client would be typing in to the search bar to find you.  You might be surprised to see what comes up.

6. Don’t use the word “I” if you can avoid it. The easiest way to clean this up is to use the word “you”.  Make the page about them, not you.  The only person that wants to come to a website all about YOU is your mother and maybe your grandmother.

7. Check Spelling and grammar, then let someone ELSE read your copy.  Be aware of the common misspellings of there, their and they’re as well as these {Warning: ONLY read IF you have a sense of humor and are not easily offended}

9. Use keywords through out your copy. Use your name, your state, your city, words that the AVERAGE person would use to find your product. Please always keep in mind that the person searching for you does NOT know your industry lingo.

Does that give you a place to start?  I’d love to hear in the comments section if you found this article helpful also leave any questions you might have.

Are YOU driving traffic to the WRONG website?

How to market your company direct sales website

to drive traffic to YOU

In direct sales, consultants often have a corporate generated website.  These sites are “cookie cutter” in nature with a small area for the consultant to “personalize” with their content.  I feel like I have to point out that lots of us share the same name. It isn’t just me, it is Lori, Lisa, Nicki, Julie, Heather, Amy etc…

Is your name Kelly?  but the extention of your url looks like this :  YOURCOMPANY.com/KellyPaull

This might be because some “other” Kelly has the one that looks like this:  YOURCOMPANY.com/Kelly

Here’s a marketing tip to those of you who have a common name, BUT don’t have THAT name as the extention of your website url:  DO NOT market yourself as “Kelly” when you need to be marketing as “Kelly Paull”.  My experience for 7.5 years in Direct Sales was that I reaped the benefit of website traffic from all the other Kelly’s, Kellie’s, Kelley’s and Kelli’s in my company.  I had the luck of getting just my first name as the extention of the website.  Those other girls did a great job of making their clients remember their name, but sadly, for them…I got the benefit of a client doing an internet search and coming up with ME!

Get out there and market yourself in a way that will drive traffic to YOUR website! Many people brand themselves with their first and middle names….HeatherJane…LisaMarie.  Stick with that in your Facebook page, your contact information, your signature line.  If your site uses first and last names be SURE that all your order forms, catalogs and printed materials use both names.  You want and NEED them to remember YOU!  Stay consistent in your branding and you’ll find you get more online orders and party leads than before.

If you have a common name with a different spelling, make sure you point this out during your presentation.

Make sense? As much as I loved getting all that traffic, those purchases and party leads…I have to tell you, there is a way to market yourself AND get the traffic that is looking for YOU!

So, all you Kelly’s out there… if you want YOUR traffic and you are putting yourself out there on the internet or are trying to promote your business your best bet is to teach them from the get go what your website is!

Do something funny, strange or out of the box to get them to remember YOU and YOUR name!!

Happy internet marketing ladies!

We’re Engaged? How Social Media is like Dating

Your interactions, be they on your fan page, on twitter or elsewhere in social media, are like the dating scene.

As a business owner you would be wise to treat your new fans like an attractive guy at a cocktail party. Go ahead, smile, strike up a little conversation, slide the snack mix in his direction.

So, you like me, do ya?

The ‘like’ these days is really comparable to a second glance, or a double take. You’re interesting enough for a look, but don’t go out buying Bride Magazine just yet.

You better do something QUICK to keep their attention or they’re onto the next good looking gal (ie… page, business). Be yourself on the page, speak like you would in person. It’s always fun to meet or speak to someone in person after following them online only to realize they sound just the same as they did in print!!

Flirt with getting to know your fans

• Ask questions, then don’t leave the conversation hanging
• Give a compliment here and there (as long as it is authentic)
• Visit THEIR page or profile, leave a comment or send a message
• Compliment them, cheer them on, celebrate their ups and soothe their downs

Take it to the next level

This is like the back and forth texts you have with someone you are “into”. You shouldn’t have to dig deep to recall what it feels like to call or text someone only to get *crickets*. You check, you pick up the phone to make sure it’s still working, did he left a message you missed? We all know the feeling of not being heard, or worse yet, being ignored.

Show them your best stuff. This means getting some great content out there, not marketing messages bombarding them with YOUR product.

Show them you know what they want and need (this is where my analogy starts to make me nervous, he he) by providing them with valuable information that they can use in their lives or their businesses. This is all about them and so very little to do with YOU. When you create real relationships they will remember that you sell widgets and call YOU when they are in the market for one.

But now they are asking QUESTIONS

• If a fan asks a question, for God’s sake, answer it…like soon, not weeks later.

• If they make a comment you agree with or think is witty or brilliant..click the like button!

• Don’t ever leave a question just sitting there, even if it is dumb. (Wait, there are no dumb questions…uh, YES there are)

• What if the question is really more of a complaint or a criticism?

Answer it to the best of your ability as politely and honestly as you can. I know your gut impulse is to delete the question or comment…you know, pretend it never happened. Kind of like deleting a contact out of your phone, seems easy at the time, but can become complicated.

• Stop the snarky, rude or derogatory questions/comments dead in their tracks by addressing them- PUBLICLY. Your other fans, clients and naysayers will respect you for it.

• If things get nasty take it off line with a private email. Plenty of people love a good fight, but it won’t be good for your reputation and you want future dates likers right?

I think we’re ENGAGED!

Some amazing connections and partnerships are formed online everyday

You might find

• your soul mate business partner
• new client
• future rock star team member
• an amazing friend
• a mentor

If you value the relationship from the start you will see great success not only in your business, but in your personal life as well.

Go on, get out there, smile, toss your hair and FLIRT with creating a page that people just can’t resist! 🙂

What do YOU do to engage your fans?

5 Common Facebook Page Mistakes You Can Fix in 5 minutes!

 

1. Vanity Url-  if you have more than 25 fans go claim your vanity url

• Click on “Edit Page” from your fanpage
• Click on “Basic Information”
• Choose Username and type in your choice.  Facebook will let you know if it is available and even give you suggestions if it is not. Make this the name of your fan page or business…hopefully someone else has not already claimed the name you are hoping for.

Remember, if you work in Direct Sales the name of your company ie…Premier Designs, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, Avon are trademarked and can not be claimed by you.

Try adding your name to it or better yet, come up with something snazzy and easy to remember… ie…foodiegirl, fashiongirl, lipstickfanatic, Ilove_____.

In THIS case it’s ok to be VAIN!

Now your facebook link is considerably shorter, prettier and easy to use on marketing materials.  Mine looks like this:  http://fb.com/directlysuccessful   much easier to remember and snazzy for a business card!

2. Link to your fan page under education~ NOT a blank community page

If you click on the link under your name on your personal profile page. Where does it go?

Does YOURS go straight to a blank community page? Or worse yet to a community page where hundreds or thousands of other people have made the same mistake and now your potential clients or followers are going to a page where they can see OTHER people in your same industry!

 

My suggestion is to first DELETE what you currently have listed as your employer, then go back in again and try adding it.  It YOUR fan page SHOULD come up in the drop down menu…IF it does not, don’t panic.

Here is a fantastic step by step tutorial by Mari Smith on how to add it.

3. Marketing message after marketing message…YUK!

I’m having a sale, join my team, book a party, sign up today, buy this…  Remember your page needs to be about THEM, your fans, not you and what you have to sell.

Post interesting links, tips, and content that your fans will be interested in.  Follow the 80/20 rule~ 80% pure content and only 20% marketing. This one seems difficult at first, but the more you work at it and try various things to engage, the better results you will have.

Google is your friend in this situation, try searching for style trends if it is jewelry you sell.  Find a great article and link it to your page.  Let your clients know what pieces you have that will compliment the new styles.

You can also sign up for Google alerts to keep a watchful eye on the topics you think your fans are interested in.  I ASSURE you, ___jewelry__ (fill in the blank with YOUR product or market)  is not all they think and care about!!  Think out of the box, consider the season, upcoming holidays, local events!

4. Questions or comments left with no response or interaction from you as the page administrator

This is your chance to ENGAGE!

Get in there and comment. Respond when someone posts to your page!  The quicker you do this, the better.  It can even be a simple ‘like’ of their comment, it lets them know you are listening.

I like to reply within 2 hours, but even 24 hours is better than never at all!  Set up the email option for a while so you are alerted each time someone comments. (Find this option in the settings for your page).

You can also check your notifications on the fan page itself and it will list out all actions that have happened since the last time you checked.

5. Fill up your Like links with great content!

I like to go check out the pages and individuals that like my page.  It gives you GREAT insight into who your fans are and you’ll find awesome pages to “Like” as well.

Do a simple search in Facebook for topics that you think might interest your fans. “Like” the page when you are signed in as YOUR page.  This will feed great content right to the home page of your business page…link or share this content and not only do you hold the interest of your fans, you begin to make valuable connections and partnerships.

EDITED***(due to real life circumstances)

IF you have entrepreneur #1 with a blank community page called “Cindy’s Awesome Parties”. 

Entrepreneur #2 comes along and names her FAN page “Cindy’s Awesome Parties” and then adds her work in her profile, links to her fan page…  Guess what!?

Entrepreneur #1’s link on HER page that used to go to the blank community page now goes directly to entrepreneur #2’s FAN page!!!!

Claim your social media real estate while you can!

What mistakes have YOU seen on Facebook pages? Share in the comments, or just let me know you were here 🙂

Amazing Things are Possible with Google Voice! Are You Missing Out?

Have you ever dreamed of having your voice mails transcribed and texted or emailed to you?

I know, geeks like me are the only ones who dream of such things!

I can tell you from personal experience, it is bliss to be able to quickly get the gist of someone’s call via text.

Did you even KNOW such an amazing thing existed?  Hold on to your non-techie seats my friends, things are about to go off the hook!

This is as exciting as flush-able baby wipes I tell ya!

• give out one number that will ring all your phones
• get transcribed voicemails sent to your inbox
• send free text messages & make cheap international calls
• send a call to voice mail, but listen in while the caller leaves a message, press * to join the call
• block unwanted callers
• mark certain numbers a spam (be gone nasty telemarketer!)
• listen to voice mail from your email…forward the VM to friend, family or work associate
• TEXT from your computer
• get the APP for your cell and control your Google Voice settings from anywhere (go to your app store and search for Google voice)

Implications for business

• set a professional voice message geared toward your clients and colleagues
• get the gist of voice mails via text so you can determine which calls need immediate attention
• screen voice mails WHILE the person is leaving the message…this is so high tech!  press * if you want or need to join in the call
• cell phone battery dead as a door nail and you are expecting an important phone call? log into Google Voice and forward your calls to your home phone, your husband’s cell phone, grandma’s house, the tattoo parlor…
• get a personalized phone number (just remember, Google Voice has been around for 2 years, so be flexible, you may not get your first, second or fifteenth choice)

W0W factors for busy families

• At a baseball game cheering on your little slugger?  Ring, Ring…it’s your chatty neighbor who can not wrap up a conversation in less than 45 minutes?  Google Voice to the rescue, let her leave a message, quickly read over the transcribed text.  If she’s calling to tell you the dog jumped out of the yard you have not missed this important news.  If she’s calling to plan out the neighborhood bbq you can get with her later.
• What number do you write down for the “Emergency Number” on all school and camp papers?  With a google voice number you can ALWAYS use the same number, on field trip day you can forward it to more than one phone…your cell phone, home phone AND grandma’s home phone.  Google voice allows you to be reached where you are.

• On vacation?  Our family cottage is out of cell phone range, so we all simply forward our Google Voice numbers to the land line at the lake…ssshhhh don’t let my mom know, we are supposed to be “off the grid”

What ways do you foresee Google Voice helping you in your busy lives and businesses? Post your ideas in the comments I’d love to see what others do with this tool.

How do I make a Landing Page to convert more ‘Likers’ on Facebook?

Before you start counting the new “likers” you are going to get, let’s get one thing straight:

If your landing page sucks, you won’t get any more followers and if your content on your page looks like PURE marketing messages you STILL won’t get any likes.

The name of the game here is NOT to gather up the most likes, fans, trolls, followers…whatever you call them. The point is to attract and convert your target market into followers or fans on your page.

Count me in on the crowd that likes the landing page. It serves as an introduction to your page, the foyer to your home of killer content if you will.

I’ve had success with my landing page.

It is simple, to the point and asks for the like. I have not gotten fancy with the “reveal” page and free content offers yet.

• I ask for the “like” and you should too.  This is you call to action…TELL them what you want them to do!
• I tell them what the page is all about…a little heads up for what they are about to get.
• I even give them a red arrow to point them in the right direction!!!  ( I used Picnik.com to make my graphic…if you want more of a tutorial on Picnik, go to this guest post I did.)

A few Apps you can test out on your own

You will need to load an APP to your facebook page before you can load up your landing page.  Check out the ones I have listed, adding the app is super simple.  You WILL have to agree to the permissions, but it is harmless so go right ahead. Most of these have the F*R*E*E option, go ahead, try them out and post your review here as well.

Tab Site:  This one is super-de-duper easy to use, literally drag and drop the widgets you want on your welcome page.  There is a free version as well as a $5/month version.   In the vein of full disclosure, I am currently on the $5/mo plan, and switch back and forth between this welcome page and the one I created with Double Your Likes.com.

Here’s what it looks like:

Double Your Likes:   This site is great for someone who really does not want to mess with making their own professional looking graphics.  Even the free version gives you some cool looking graphics that are easy enough to just drop into your page.  I will say, this site took me a little bit to figure out, but I admit that I also sped ahead without watching the video tutorials.

The only thing I’m not keen on with this one is that anyone coming to your page using a secure browser will be asked to turn it off to continue to the page.  Some peeps have their guard up at all times and might miss your killer welcome page because of this.

Lujure: I found this site really easy to use and their drag and drop features are cool.  They have a bunch of different widgets you can choose from in the free plan, obviously, the paid version gets you more cool apps and more pages.

Wildfire:  This app not only creates a simple welcome page, but also has a simple “fan gate” or “reveal tab” component to it. (some of the others do too)  This would create those welcome pages that have some special content, coupon, or video that is given once they actually click “like”.

Check out this step by step post by Grandma Mary (she’s a HOOT! and knows her social media!) on how to get it all set up.

Here’s a peek at what the page would look like “before” they like the page:

One last suggestion:

All the above apps have facebook pages, do a search for each one and check out their walls for a multitude of examples of what people are doing with their landing pages

Whew…if you made it here you deserve a drink! 

That was some heady stuff, but your fan page will look super COOL when you get it done.  Experiment with the page to see if it is truly converting the likes. 

REMEMBER,  the content on your page and the ENGAGEMENT that you do is more telling than any landing page!!

Feel free to post a link in the comments to YOUR welcome page!!  We’d love to see it!  Or post a link to a welcome page that you think is super cool.

Akk! You Tagged Me in THAT Picture!?

It’s happened to all of us.  Someone, be they friend or foe, has tagged you in a picture on Facebook, that you immediately “un-tagged”.  We aren’t always picture perfect as demonstrated by our friend Celine.

In true Facebook fashion, the new “Facial Recognition” feature has been enabled and you didn’t even know it.  Facebook will now be encouraging, if not egging on the people you know to tag you in pictures that they have itentified as looking like you.  Remember, when a picture is tagged it shows up on YOUR wall as well as in your pictures.  If you fret there might be a picture out there you don’t want your grandmother to see or if you aren’t the most photogenic, I’ll out line the steps to take to turn off this feature.

Step 1: go to your privacy settings

Step 2: click customize settings at the bottom of the box

Step 3: Scroll down to ‘Things Others Share’ and find ‘Suggest photos of me to friends’ then click  edit settings and choose ‘Disable’ in the drop down box. Don’t forget to click Okay when you are done.

What is the worst picture you have ever seen “Tagged” in Facebook? Share in the comments!

5 Ways a Business (‘Fan’) Page Will Help Your Business SOAR

1. Your branded business page or ‘fan page’ conveys a sense of professionalism.  You don’t see the CEO of Starbucks running their business from their personal profile.  Convey a sense of professionalism from the get go and avoid all the headaches you are sure to encounter later if you do this step wrong.

2. Use this FREE medium (Facebook) to increase not only exposure to your brand, but increase your SEO (search engine optimization) with Google and all other search engines.  All posts and links are indexed by the search engines on your business page.  Personal profile pages are NOT indexed.  SEO should be part of your social media strategy.  Don’t panic if your social media strategy is nonexistent or consists of “post something on the fan page a couple times a week”…we’ll get to that later.

3. The better you get at engaging your fans, the higher you will rank in Facebook’s “Live Feed”.  This is the default setting for home pages and gets YOU in front of your fans where you want to be.

4. Fan pages have an unlimited number of ‘likes’ where personal profiles are capped out at 5000.  Don’t underestimate your success! You might be thrilled to have 50 fans right now, but rest assured you are a ROCKSTAR and your business is going to BOOM!

5. Business pages provide super useful insights into what is happening on your page.  These stats will help you identify who is liking your page, the demographics of your fans, their age, where they live. If comments are going up, how many views your video posts are getting…see? Totally useful and insightful!

What questions do you have about either getting your business page up and running?  What Facebook fan page have you see that is getting it right?  We can all learn from great examples!

If you found the article helpful please feel free to share it using the ‘share’ icon below.  OR you can always just LIKE it 🙂