Permission to Vent – Two Kinds of Wants

Got a new newsletter from Kim Klaver this morning with a link to an audio that I’d been meaning to go hunt down … way to go Kim!

See I’ve decided to focus on simplicity.

Even re-vamped my wellness website over the weekend and that’s the theme … simplicity is my goal in all things. Granted, getting there may not be simple:

• Coming up with systems that work
• Putting the tools in place that first I and then my team can use
• Settling on ways that work to fill the funnel ‘easily and consistently’
• Helping others to sort all these parts for themselves

And simple also does not mean laziness gets to kick in ever. I’m talking tweaking and streamlining till the process is down to effective … time thrifty… clear … SIMPLE.

So back to Kim.

Kim’s audio (and there’s also a short companion book … free btw) shares with us in a new way Tom Schreiter’s needs vs. wants reality.

Actually she tweaks it slightly and helps us to understand why even when people say they ‘want’ something, they still may not take action.

Tom’s simple two-question approach to sifting and sorting goes like this:

1. What’s y our greatest ___________ challenge? (stick in health, business, whatever suits your situation)

2. Would you like to do something about it?

Then he listens … waiting for their words to decode and decipher. Basically, it’s either a yay or a nay … however they say it.

Kim goes a step further.

In the story that she tells on that audio and in her eBook download, she shares something very powerful. A way of working with people that allows us to take the position of coach and mentor over ‘sales person’.

Whether she intended to or not, she shows us how ‘relationship building’ is a really great win/win way to BE.

What do you think about her change/vent list idea?

I think it’s pretty cool to consider coaching people about the lists and giving them permission to vent.

Looking to simplify?

Andrea

Dancing to the Music that Matters to You

How important do you suppose it is to have a personal story about whatever it is you’re wanting to sell?

I say ’s the only thing that DOES count if you don’t have one.

To my copywriting mentor early on:

“Target marketing – okay I get that, yes; talk to people who have raised their hands …. But who’s my target market??”

“Your market is whoever it is that’s attracted to you.”

Came the cryptic reply.

Great. What the hell was I supposed to do with that?

Like a newly found friend recently wrote to me “That and a dollar will buy a cup of coffee”

Back to soul searching.

See I was torn between marketing for customers and marketing for business builders. (And to the popular idea of covering both bases in any sort of marketing? I say “poppy cock!”).

On the one hand, gaining customers creates immediate income.

On the other, there’s that dream of attracting those somewhat elusive business builders who just go nuts and everyone around them suddenly has pockets lined with gold.

Nice work if you can get it …

Let’s say it does happen for you – what about the rest of your people?

If you’ve read My Story, you know that a big part of my “why” includes being able to take others along for the ride. What earthly good is being at the top if you can’t share it with friends?

Well, I’ve been a marketing approach fence sitter. That is until just a few minutes ago when I listened to one of Kim Klaver’s podcasts.

Some combination of input along this journey of mine finally gelled as I was listening to that and I am crystal clear on how any NWM business has to be approached if you want it to last.

Mind you, not all companies are structured in a way that allows for this way of doing things; in fact, many are not (but that’s a whole different conversation).

If I’m going to build it, this is the process that must be supported:

Phase I – Build the Relationship (with people who raise their hands)

• Market for customers – may involve sampling and/or online benefit laden agenda-free niche market pre-selling (basically answering their “what’s in it for them”) before product purchase.

• Create customer evangelists – point out auto-ship/ continuity incentives. Auto-ship is the ‘income stability factor’ you can depend on.

• Everyone’s happy.

• Everyone who wants cash flow has some and everyone who wants to be a consumer gets to be just that. Nothing more, nothing less.

Phase II – (and these are two distinct activities)
Build the Relationship

• Market for business interested people – folks actively searching for a way to build passive income … who see the value in an autoship product-user base.

• And I don’t mean go fishing in your pool of customers!

Your customers are not served by you telling them they can make money. They’re consumers because that’s what they want to be. Leave them alone. Don’t try to “fix” them – They’re not broken!

They are the sole reason you have a business in the first place and their needs HAVE TO BE your priority.

• Help the builders (who raise their hands) find a way that works for them to gain customer evangelists.

• Instill the value of service and problem solving for others -has to be for the right reason, not for the wrong reason (maybe the hardest paradigm shift of them all!).

• Repeat.

So let’s review -

If your goal is a substantial passive income from a NWM business, you need autoship sales – honest end user product consumption. Retail consumers. Customer evangelists – the lovers, as Kim says.

To be attractive to autoship sales, you really need a product story (preferably your own) and a desire to help other people with their wants. Not because of how it makes them feel, but because of how it makes you feel.

To be attractive to business builders, you have to realize who it is that you’re looking for. You will attract people who can relate to who you are. You have to BE the people you want to attract.

In other words, your target market is really other people like you. So maybe rethink who you’re being if you don’t like who you’re attracting.

Growth, yes.

But change for change sake?

I don’t think so.

Trust that the people who are like you will be attracted to you. Get clear on your “Why”, be brave and let people see who you really are.

Learn to dance to the music that matters most to you – Everything else will fall neatly into place.

And by all means – embrace the journey! (’cause once you’re done, you’re dead – grin).

Best Always,
Andrea

Instant Everything – NWM is not about getting rich quick

Great reminder from Michael Clouse in my inbox this morning

Expect Success!

Andrea
_____________________________________

Instant Everything
by Michael S. Clouse

A man stands in front of that rectangular shaped, nuclear-
particle device some call a microwave, mumbling under his
breath, “Come on, come on, why is this thing taking so long?”

All I can do is shake my head, and wonder if anyone ever informed
our got-to have-it-yesterday guy the reason we call it a lunch hour?

Well, the lunch hour is one thing, but now this “instant mentality”
has found its way into Network Marketing. And what’s worse is
that more than a few distributors have bought into this “Get rich
overnight! I did. So can you!” ridiculously misguided belief.

Personally, aren’t you a bit tired of the all the half-truths,
exaggerations, and lies being perpetuated in our industry? And
yet, we see them every day–hundreds of unsolicited e-mails,
countless ads in opportunity seekers magazines, and even the
occasional postcard–all promising instant riches, and no downline
to build, because they will do all the work for you! Just complete
the simple on-line application–include your credit card number
to cover your required sucker fee–sit back and relax.

Easy street here you come!

Let me give you three examples of what I mean…

To finish reading this week’s Nexera e-News article,
go here and select any “Nexera e-News” link!

For years we’ve been taught to identify ourselves as reps for one XYZ company or another.

• We have our fancy business cards printed, some letterhead, maybe an address stamp.

• We use the company logo and replicated websites as points of first impression.

• We market ourselves as being associated with that company with abandon – heck, we even have the T-shirts to prove it!

Sounds okay on the surface, right?

Not right.

Think Like the CEO That You Are

Dedicating your personal image might be okay (or even required!) when you’re on salary with some company. After all, when you trade your time for money, they do get to call the shots when you’re on the clock, don’t they.

Sometimes a job can even have a say in how you’re dressing or acting in your off hours – all too common.

But what I don’t get is why people, who join Network Marketing companies as independent distributors, feel the need to associate their very being as an XYZ distributor.

Why the rush to be labeled as a part of that company?!
Are we not CEOs and chief bottle washers of our own businesses?

If you think about it, it’s really only to the company’s benefit for you to parade around in company promotional garb and paying for your own “official” business documents to be printed.

Become the “GoTo” guy for your chosen product or service type.

• Promote an image of expertise in a field rather than just another distributor among many.

• Don’t marry yourself to any one company – leave your options open.

• Make every marketing effort that you put forth something that you can benefit from for a lifetime.

By branding yourself, you build that needed “know, like and trust” that makes sales easiest. You become associated in the minds of the people you are working with as THE person to go to when they’re wanting what you’ve got.

To your success!
Andrea

www.AndreaGoodsaid.com