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The worst thing you can ever do in your MLM business career is to think, ponder, worry or even get the idea that it’s unprofessional to promote! Here are some MLM training strategies for generating your own MLM leads, even if you’re on a tight budget.

Prospects are basically the foundation of any business as they are the - potential customers to the business. So just how do YOU find MLM prospects?

Let’s start out with a definition of the word promote which is the most important word in finding prospects for your MLM Business. The word promote means: to make known.

I was recently doing some MLM training with a person in my downline. She needed some help with her business, which was not growing. As I asked various questions I finally found the “nasty bug” that was stopping her network marketing business from moving forward. She didn’t want to come off as being or sounding sales-y. This stopped her from promoting.

How does everyone else promote?
A politician promotes how he/she can make a whole community’s life better - so he’s/she’s making herself known to the public by promoting and making known to as many people as possible what he/she can do for them. If you’ve noticed, politicians promote on TV, radio, signs stuck in the grass or on telephone poles along a busy street or maybe speaking at various group meetings.

A college promotes what courses it offers. It might promote on radio, might promote to high schools or through sporting events. A stockbroker promotes that he can help his/her prospect make money. A local restaurant will promote via radio, or mailing brochures or discount coupons.

The worst thing you can ever do in your MLM business career is to think, ponder, worry or even get the idea that it’s unprofessional to promote!

You really need to know and understand promotion. The only way you can have prospects, therefore customers or distributors - is to promote. The only way for you to make money in network marketing is to promote. You can write down your dreams and goals and study them every night. But you’re as effective as a billboard in the middle of the desert. No one knows you exist until you make yourself known. So if you ever find yourself where your business isn’t growing or you don’t have enough prospects, enough customers, or enough distributors - what do you do? Promote!

Why do you promote? The reason you promote is to create desire for your product. If you don’t create a desire for your product, it’s very difficult to achieve MLM success. How would you know that someone desires your product or business? Well certainly if you sent a post card and someone called the number - that’s someone showing desire in your MLM Business. Even if a person called and asks, “How much is this?” It would still be someone showing desire - or at least slight interest. If you called a friend and asked them to look at something and they said, “Send it to me.” That’s showing a desire. People sometimes refer to desire as “responses,” as in, someone responded to my promotion.

Different types of promotion
So now let’s talk about different types of promotion that create desire. You could promote your MLM Business in:

1. The Help Wanted, the Sales & Marketing or the Business Opportunity sections of a newspaper,
2. Advertising section of magazines,
3. Direct mail, such as sending out post cards to everyone in your zip code,
4. Door hangers,
5. Email, banner ads on the internet,
6. Networking. I’m sure you could have guessed that I would name that one. But you would be surprised at how many people, when mentioning all the ways to promote, miss that one. In fact, if you use traditional promotion with the mindset of just finding a network of people to work - you will fare far better than most who only measure their responses with how many people respond to their advertisement. You can turn one response from a promotion into thousands if you properly network.

One other place to find prospects for your business is to promote to MLM leads you purchase from a lead company. The advantage of this is you’re only paying for those who’ve responded and you’re not paying for all the people who didn’t respond. If I send out 10,000 post cards and get 20 responses, then I paid for 9,980 post cards that didn’t get a response.

The advantage of writing your own ads of course is being able to target your specific audience with your specific product or opportunity message. Which is VERY important and should not be underestimated. In contrast, when you buy leads, you’re buying general ads - perhaps people who’ve responded to wanting a home based business. The other down side to buying leads is that very often, lead companies resell their leads to more than just you - so you’ve got extra competition to deal with.

Three broad ways to promote
Now, it probably sounded like I just contradicted myself; I didn’t. I just saved you years of running in circles trying to figure the advantages and the disadvantages to generating your own leads or buying leads. This is the game. You must promote. There are three broad ways to promote.

1. Networking- which costs the least - you’re going to have costs of meals with prospects - costs of joining clubs and associations. So I have rock climbing club fees, I have mountain climbing association fees, horseback riding fees, mountain biking fees- these are like $50 - $100 dollars a year.

2. Buying leads is more expensive than networking, less expensive than generating your own - but has some advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes you get some hot leads - sometimes, you swear you’re calling a graveyard.

3. Generating your own. Most expensive, but has the advantages of targeting your prospects. Here’s a list of advertisements that I’ve run to promote my own MLM business opportunity.

* Some people earn Ten thousand dollars a year. And some people earn One million in the same year. Click here to see difference.
* Need more money; NOW!
* Does it ever break your heart to leave your kids at daycare?
* Looking for a FUN business?
* Go to the golf course when it’s not crowded.
* The truth about making money. A lot of it.
* WEALTH FORMULA. Click here (banner ads)
* Wealth formula that takes a lot of effort - but retires you in 4 years.
* Extremely well paying position available to right person. Must have sales & marketing experience. Sales training a big plus.
* Immediate Need for Effective Sales Person. Unlimited earning and growth potential. Self-starter, sales writing skills and team player will be keys to success in this growing, high tech organization. Will be responsible for generating sales leads, preparing and giving presentations on company products and training sales team for development company. Great benefits. Great FUN TEAM! Fax resume to:

Be “in” business
The bottom line is you must be using at least one of these three methods to achieve MLM success. If you’re not, you’re not in business - you’re out of business. What you should be doing, if you see the big picture and want the very big income is you need to be doing all three. All the time. Ideally you start out by networking, which will create enough money to buy MLM leads, then you’ll generate enough money from the leads you purchased to generate your own leads. My point is, as soon as you start making any money, reinvest it in promotion.

One other MLM training tip: don’t measure your success by just your immediate responses. Any marketer who is of any value knows that how you measure return on promotion investment is based on the “life of the customer.” NOT immediate return. Get one leader from a MONTH or 6-MONTHS of promotion and it can pay you for the rest of your life. People often ask me, how much money did you make your first year in network marketing- I tell them, “I don’t know, I’m still earning it.”

Much respect and admiration,

Tim Sales
www.First Class MLM Tools.com

Popularity: 10% [?]

With these five success factors, you’ll never feel like a pushy sales person and lose the friendship and respect of your family and friends. The MLM training in this article will teach you how to talk about your MLM business with ease and will always guide you to say the right thing.

Forget for a second that you’re in network marketing. What if you were starting any other kind of business like a retail store, a salon, or a construction company? Where would you get your customers? Your employees? How about business partners? Where would you find them?

In one or more of those categories a friend, acquaintance or family member might be the right fit, maybe not. Maybe they know the right fit. Somehow it always works itself back to an acquaintance, a recommendation or a referral. In MLM, this is called your “warm market.”

Life seems to be a series of experiences brought on by connections to other people. Your job as a Networker is to connect the bridges together and move past the disinterested in a professional and honest way, without “pushing.” Most all businesses begin this way.

Your warm market can be one of the greatest resources to your MLM business. Dealing with family and friends can be a blessing or a curse, but if you want your family and friends to continue to respect you, give you referrals, be your customer, and possibly say “yes” to your presentation, I recommend you follow these five simple MLM training tips when working with your warm market.

Rule #1 Hold your tongue. Don’t ever insult someone for his or her decision not to participate with you in your business. Don’t tell someone they’re stupid for not doing business with you, even if it is “the way you talk to your brother.” It’s unprofessional and out of place.

Rule #2 Be wise. “No” rarely means no. That same brother in three weeks or three years could lose his job. If you’ve made a fool out of yourself, not only will he not do the business, he will beat you to all of your friends and tell them about the “scam” you’re in. All of this because “you told him” how stupid he was. That’s not wise.

Rule #3 Deal with it. For 10 years I’ve dealt with objections, concerns, past failures, bad experiences, etc., which have all taught me how to successfully handle these issues. The good news is that all of these objections are resolved and discussed in the “Brilliant Compensation” presentation. Just as an experienced dentist knows that treating teeth is the easy part and the hard part is dealing with the patient’s baggage - like the time the other dentist stuck a six-foot needle in their gum when they were 14 years old. Dealing with these issues is what wins the patient. Once the trust is established you’ve got them for life or until you decide to stop servicing their needs.

Rule #4 Yes or No. Some prospects just take one conversation to be won and some prospects take 10 conversations. (Nine of those conversations resulted in a “No” answer even though “No” was never stated.) If you take the thought process as being that either the prospect says “Yes” or “No,” then you’ll miss the art of communication and networking.

Suppose your company has 20 products. If your prospect says “No”, find out what they are saying “No” to. Are they saying “No” to all 20 products? Are they saying ”No” to “I don’t want to diversify my income?” No to ”I don’t know anyone who needs or wants any of your 20 products?” That’s a lot to say “No” to. I recommend that you find out exactly what your prospects are truly saying “No” to.

Rule #5 Don’t be a bug. Do not ever “bug” family and friends about your company. Sometimes Networkers get extremely focused, which is good, and it should never be suppressed. Focus is what creates “eliteness.” Just be disciplined as to what and who deserves that focus. If it’s a friend or family member who clearly isn’t interested, quit wasting time there and go get in front of people who do want to be a part of your MLM business or a product consumer.

Your warm market is an important part of your business. Abuse it and pretty soon you’ll notice they don’t return your phone calls anymore. Keep these five rules in mind and get the proper MLM training to be effective at communicating with your warm market, and you will see that you can have a successful business and keep the respect of your family and friends.

And there you have it - five rules to follow when working with your friends and family.

Much respect and admiration,

Tim Sales

For more see FirstClassMLMTools.com Tim Sales’ MLM training and tools resource site - for everyone in network marketing who really wants a how-to manual, not hype or fluff.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Ordinary Man – Extraordinary Results: Steve Thompson (continued)

By the end of 2004 Steve had Co-Authored a Non-Specific MLM training book designed to help anyone and everyone interested in the industry entitled “Of Course You Can, How to Build a Successful Home Based Business”. In addition to the 8 years of volunteer services in the Emergency Medical and Rescue business, finding out that Thompson created a book that would help anyone in any business further exposed him as a person committed to helping others.

After a year in the Skin Care World, Thompson moved to the excitement of MLM Travel. Travel is a huge industry and just a lot of fun. Over the next few years he became a Top 20 Money Earner in Travel. And although he loved the company he worked with, and Travel itself, a larger opportunity was about to show on his horizon.

October 2006 all of Steve’s experiences paid off when he put his education and dedication to complete use when Ambit Energy chooses him as the Founding Consultant. This time, Steve had the experience to recognize the difference between a “Start-Up” opportunity and a significant business and lifetime opportunity.

“As a service organization, our vision is to be the finest and most respected residential energy provider in the United States.” Thompson explained “We have one of the most compelling story’s ever told in the MLM Industry, we built a company, and a product first that people needed, trusted and that could deliver and THEN we built the MLM model around it.”

Steve’s desire to help others over himself led him to look at Ambit Energy as a opportunity, because it held what Thompson refers to as the NECESSARY ingredients for success at every level. Leading the way for those necessary parts is ELECTRICITY Thompson stated “Things have to get pretty bleak before someone goes without Power!” which is Steve’s way of saying MLM companies that offer lotions, potions, powers and pills work as great MLM models until economic times get hard enough, then people stop buying the ‘extras’ as he put it.

“Electricity is the perfect product to offer: everyone needs it, everyone understands it, everyone uses it every month, and everyone likes to save money. Demand for electricity is growing. And states all across the country are just beginning to open their electricity markets to competition. Natural gas is no different. In markets where Ambit Energy provides natural gas service, our Consultants can offer the same kinds of savings and benefits we offer our electricity customers”

In order to ensure the security of those he brought to the opportunity table, Thompson evaluated the management team and founders. He found that Jere W. Thompson, Jr and Chris Chambless co-founded Ambit Energy, with some specific goals in mind. In order to accomplish this goal, Jere and Chris understood through decades of previous experience that they would need to assemble the finest management team possible. They assembled a world class leadership team that included Jim Timmer CFO, John Burke CIO, Jim McFelea Senior VP Operations, each with specific and extraordinary experience that created a one of kind, unprecedented story.

Steve also wanted to ensure that people at every level was getting paid for their efforts. “Ambit Energy has one of the most lucrative compensation plans in the industry. Our plan has been carefully designed to help you earn immediate income while you build for the long term. As an Ambit Energy Consultant, there are five different ways you can earn”

Steve explained that you earn through Jump Start Bonuses, Team Builder Bonuses (important to Thompson, because this creates an environment where you are incentivized to help those you recruit), Customer Residual Income (important to Thompson, because this creates an environment where you are incentivized to help your customers), Consultant Leadership Bonuses and Customer Residual Bonuses “The compensation plan has to reward people not only for results but through the right efforts and behavior, they did it, they created a system that rewards us for both”

Tomorrow Thompson reveals the HOW and WHY as well as what drives him…

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Symposium Group- a company dedicated to helping people get started in and building successful MLM businesses, has just announced plans for the Symposium Experience, May 8-9 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The conference will address issues with starting, expanding and growing MLM companies with a focus on MLM startups.

The Symposium Group was founded only three years ago, and since has helped over 500 executives, managers and owners of MLM and Direct Sales companies build their companies through MLM training programs.

The two day conference will feature executives from some of the biggest brands in the MLM world, including XanGo, Scentsy and ForeverGreen. During the conference, attendees can participate in over 12 different training sessions, and attend networking luncheons where they will have the chance to meet others who are new to the MLM world as well as seasoned executives in the industry.

“We are very exciting about the upcoming Symposium Experience, it promises to be both informative and insightful,” said Spencer Reese, Symposium Group Board Member. “It is always great to see such enthusiasm and determination in our attendees following the conference.”

The conference will be held May 8 and 9 at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Popularity: 6% [?]