Introducing The Work at Home Family Carnival

Due to the success of the Take Charge of Your Health Care Carnival which appears monthly on my Health Plans Plus Blog, I have decided to publish a new blog carnival on this blog: The Work at Home Family Carnival.

This carnival is for busy moms and dads who work from home and manage a family at the same time. Accepted articles should focus on business solutions and tips for moms, dads, and grandparents who work at home as well as suggestions for managing a busy household while working from home. All articles must have good content, and no more than 2 articles will be accepted per author.

I am looking for blog posts in the following areas: working from home, internet marketing, marketing and advertising tips, quick and easy recipes, family management. I promise to promote the carnival to gain traffic for your posts.

To submit an article to the carnival, visit www.blogcarnival.com and look for The Work at Home Family Carnival under business or click here. I look forward to reading your submissions.

12 Tips for Effective Phone Presentations

You’ve done your marketing and now have leads to work with. Most likely you have snail mailed or e-mailed your client or customer additional information describing your product or service. You might have even sent your prospect a sequence of e-mails through an autoresponder. At some point in the marketing process, you must pick up the phone and actually talk with the customer. People new to telemarketing or direct marketing often feel like the phone weighs a thousand pounds, but with the right techniques, you can become confident and successful on the phone. Remember that with your phone call, you can do what is so essential to the network marketing process—build a relationship.

Here are some tips that you can follow for effective phone presentations:

1. Good Quality Leads. Be sure to start with good quality leads. When working with leads purchased from a lead company, get the best quality leads available. The best purchased leads will be phone verified or surveyed and exclusive to you. It is even better if you can purchase leads that have seen an overview of your specific opportunity. The adage that “you get what you pay for” is especially true of leads. Get the best quality leads that you can afford.


2. Self Generated Leads. Most network marketers find that the leads that they generate through their own advertising and marketing efforts are the best. When people see an ad that you have written and posted yourself, they are usually eager for the information that you have to offer and welcome your call. When people are truly ready to buy your product or join you opportunity, you won’t even have to sell them.


3. Have a Good Marketing Plan. Beginning network marketers often complain that they are having trouble signing people up, but they have invested little time and money on advertising and marketing. Building a successful business, be it an internet marketing business, a service, a product, or brick and mortar store starts with a good marketing plan. See my blog post: http://workathomemom-dad.blogspot.com/2008/06/formulating-marketing-plan-for-your-at.html


4. Show excitement and enthusiasm about your product or opportunity. Start with a product, service, or opportunity that you truly believe in. What is unique about the product, service or opportunity? Be enthusiastic when you describe these unique features, and your client will feel your enthusiasm.


5. Choose a good script and rehearse it. Do some role playing with your mentor, enroller, or even a close friend. Rehearsing your phone presentation will give you the confidence that you need for an effective presentation.


6. Your presentation should flow and sound natural. Know your script well enough to not sound like you are reading it. The best presentation will sound natural and not forced. Basically I do my presentation extemporaneously. I work with a 6 step outline on a 4 x 6 card which I use just to make sure I don’t forget any important points.


7. Build a relationship. Begin to build a relationship with your client, customer, or future team member. People will buy from or sign up with someone that they can trust and relate to. Type out notes so you can remember that their child was sick or that they have an upcoming birthday or event, etc. You can ask your prospect about it in a subsequent call. Building relationships is the essence of network marketing.


8. Be a good listener. Try to address the customer’s needs. Explain how your product will solve a problem that he or she may have. If you are in a competitive market, you can compare your product with a competitor’s product to show why your product or service can best meet the customer’s need, but do not be overly harsh or critical of another product. This will have a negative effect on your ability to close the sale.


9. Listen for signs that you are ready to close. Avoid a hard sell. People will buy your product or service or join your opportunity when they are truly ready. There are subtle ways of asking for the close. After my presentation, I will ask if the prospect has any questions. If I feel that they are really interested, I might ask them if they are ready to get started. If they are not ready, I always set a date and time for a follow up call.



10. Do have a good follow up system. Do not be discouraged if you do not close on your first presentation. It has been said that it takes at least 7 marketing exposures to close the deal. That is why good follow up techniques are so important. For more information on follow up see my blog post at: http://workathomemom-dad.blogspot.com/2008/07/importance-of-good-follow-up-techniques.html



11. Post Sales Follow Up. Post sales follow up is very important but often neglected. A buyer may have cognitive dissonance about what they have just purchased or signed up for. Cognitive dissonance can be definite as the “second thoughts” that buyers sometimes get after completing a purchase. Did they make the right selection? Can they really be successful with this opportunity? Be sure to send post sales literature. An after sale follow up phone call will certainly be appreciated. If the prospect will be joining your opportunity, be sure to provide him or her with adequate training. Keep your holiday list of customers and teammates up to date.


12. Ask for referrals. Referrals are your best source for enthusiastic customers.

The Importance of Your "Why"

One of the first things that the leaders of the company that I represent tell new Independent Business Owners to do is to write out their “Why? What are their reasons for wanting to go through the trials and tribulations of starting a home based business.

Starting a brand new business can be difficult and even frustrating. In order to stay focused through all of the difficulties of getting a new business off the ground floor, you need to understand why you chose to go into this new business in the first place. Any new business will fail if your “why” or reason for going into this business is not that strong. Having a strong purpose for your business will give you the drive and determination that you need to be successful.

As an exercise, find a quiet place and take out a pen and a notebook. Write out your main reason for wanting to start your new business. What do you want to accomplish with this new business? Who will be your customers? How will this product or service help or benefit them? How will you and your family benefit from this business?

After you write out your primary reason for starting your new business, write 3 or more additional ways that you will benefit by having started this new venture. Type or write out this reason and review it from time to time. Even post your “Why” where you can see it every day. If your “why” is strong enough, you will have the necessary resiliency to succeed.

Here are some reasons why many people start their own homebased business:

1. The ability to spend more time with children and family members. For many people this is reason number 1.


2. Earn additional income to help with family expenses.


3. Replace a full time job that is no longer satisfying.


4. The ability to have true financial freedom, to work when you want to work, to be able to travel and see the world, own your dream home, not have to worry about paying the bills or mortgage, send your children to the college of their choice, etc.


5. The challenge of being your own boss. Being able to run the business the way you think it ought to be run. Following your own time table. The ability to be creative and appreciated.


6. Not having to face the rush hour or work that 9 to 5 routine. As a New Yorker, I certainly don’t miss the railroad or the subways, and driving into Manhattan can be a nightmare.


7. While there are some great forward thinking and considerate bosses out there, in some cases people have had to put up with verbally abusive bosses and even sexual harassment. When you start your own business, this is a thing of the past.


8. The ability to bring needed goods and services to others. For example, as a Senior Regional Sales Director for AmeriPlan, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am bringing affordable dental and medical benefits to people that truly need them. I market these dental and medical benefits through my website: www.healthplansplus.net.

10 Reasons Why People Fail at Network Marketing

It seems like a reasonable enough task. Just start a homebased business and success will come your way. Unfortunately 95% of all homebased businesses fail in their first year. In fact many people don’t make it past their first 3 months in a network marketing or MLM businesses. Yet, many people go on to become successful and make much more money than they would have in a traditional business.

Here are 10 reason why people fail in network marketing or MLM businesses:

1. Don’t have a good marketing plan – Many people fail at homebased businesses because they fail to do their planning. To be successful in your own business, you must take the time to create a sound marketing plan. For more information visit my blog post entitled: Formulating a Marketing Plan for your At Home Business.





2. Don’t treat your homebased business as a real business – As a Senior Regional Sales Director at AmeriPlan, I have come across many people who want to do the business but only treat it as a hobby. Remember that this is a real business. Treat it like one.





3. Don’t invest the necessary time and money to make the business work – There is no successful business that did not take a lot of hard work and an investment of money to make it work. I have seen too many of my business builders not spend sufficient time and not even make a minimal investment in some advertising or leads. Advertising does work, and you must drive traffic to your business whether it is a storefront, party plan, or internet based business.





4. Don’t stay in it for the long run – Every business takes time to build. There is definitely a learning curve involved. Your business skills will get better over time. Also, it takes time to build traffic. People have to learn about your business. Imagine if you shut down your store or quit your MLM business just before you found a really great salesperson or business builder.





5. Don’t focus on the product or service – Remember that your main responsibility is to sell the product or service. Building a team is great and can lead to substantial income as you grow your team. However, building a team takes time, and the money you make selling the product or service can create income for you while you wait for your team to build.





6. Don’t follow up with your clients and prospects – To quote a familiar saying: “The fortune is in the follow up.” Every good advertising executive knows that it takes a number of exposures to your ad before a client or customer will buy. For effective follow up techniques, see my blog post: The Importance of Good Follow Up Techniques with Prospective Clients and Customers.





7. Don’t know how to get people to contact you – This is sometimes called attraction marketing and there has been much written about it. Rather than you cold calling prospects, you will be much more effective if you utilize marketing methods where people seek you out because of the information, products, or services that you have. I will have more to say about this in an upcoming blog post.





8. Don’t test different marketing strategies – To use another cliché: "Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” Try a variety of different marketing strategies. Keep careful statistics on results. Stay with the marketing strategies that work and discard those that don’t work.





9. Don’t invest in continuing education – Learn all that you can about your business. If you are with a reputable direct sales or MLM company, the company has most likely invested extensively in the training of associates and independent business owners. It does not come as a surprise, that those individuals that attend training calls and classes and come to company events tend to do better than those that don’t.





10. Don’t spend enough time around positive, but do spend time around the negative people in your life – There are many people who just have a negative attitude. They will tell you that you can’t succeed at your homebased business. Sometimes these people can even be close friends and family members. Don’t let them steal your dreams! Be sure to always stay focused on your “Why” for starting the business whether it is to earn extra money, have flexible hours, or be home for your family.

For more tips on running a successful home business, visit www.workathomemom-dad.com.

Successful Flea Markets and Outdoor Shows

Whether you are selling a product or service, exhibiting at a flea market or outdoor show can bring some extra sales revenue. If you are lucky enough to live in an area like Florida or Southern California, you can do this all year long. For those of us who don’t, take advantage of these nice weather months and see what exhibiting at a flea market or outdoor show can do for your business.

Even if you do your business from a brick and mortar storefront or sell your product through the internet or by having parties, exhibiting at a flea market can bring in some additional sales. Even if you sell a service, exhibiting at a flea market is a great way to meet prospective customers and get leads. For those of you who are just getting started in direct sales, you will find that interested prospects will actually walk up to you to request information about your product or service. If you do this on a weekly basis, it actually gives you an inexpensive storefront.

Here are some guidelines for a successful flea market or outdoor show:

1. Make your flea market stall as attractive as possible. You can use a holiday or seasonal theme to draw people over. Cover your table with a bright colored table cloth and invest in a banner displaying your company name and logo.

2. Invest in some large readable signs. Make sure that they are easy to read from a distance and weatherproof. You can use an easel to display your sign, but make sure that it is weighted down so that it doesn’t blow away. If you are offering great prices or deals, let people know about this through your signs.

3. Do have a canopy for sun and weather protection. Both you and your prospective customers will appreciate it. A canopy also adds to the look of your display.

4. Give attention to how you display your products. If you sell a product, an attractively arranged display will bring over customers. Bring some of your more popular items for sale, and have catalogs available so that customers can easily order your products. Be sure to have catalogs and literature that the prospective customer can take home.

5. Set up an attractive display of your brochures. If you provide a service, have plenty of information available for customers to read. Display your brochures in nice holders and arrange them attractively on your table or counter. Also, have your business card available.

6. Have a system for capturing leads. Have lead sheets or cards available for your prospects and customers to fill in. Offer a free gift or DVD when they fill out the card. You can also have a drawing for a prize to help gather leads. If you do hold a drawing, be sure to award the prize to someone visiting that day. Your good reputation is very important.

7. Bring a portable DVD player. Playing a DVD about your product, service, or opportunity will attract prospects and customers to your table or booth.

8. Follow up on all your leads. As they say, “the fortune is in the follow up.” Make it a point to follow up on all leads and you will be successful.

For more marketing tips check out http://www.workathomemom-dad.com/. Good luck on your flea market or outdoor show.