Networking Tips To Be A Better Networker
Effective networking makes the world go round so it is a vital skill for expanding business and making life easier.
That is all very well but it is also an investment of time and energy and for some people this is a nightmare as they have to conquer their social fears and the desire to melt into the crowd until it's time to leave.
Here are some simple tools and tips to make your networking more effective. They basically involve taking initiative and refining your conversation skills.
Be Prepared. With a bit of light research before the event you can find out who will be there and what the occasion is. For a business event, you can brief yourself on the topic of the occasion and at least be able to hold a conversation.
Be Positively Charged. Arrive at the function with a positive attitude and look like you are glad to be there. The host will appreciate someone who is not hanging around waiting to be entertained or introduced to someone. Help liven up the event with genuine warmth and enthusiasm and you will find yourself being invited to more events.
Set Goals. If the thought of going to a social event where you might not know anyone leaves you in a cold sweat then setting a few goals can ease your anxiety. Decide on a minimum time that you can bare to stay for - like a hour. Then decide that you will not leave before making at least one new contact. You can amend the goals as you gather more confidence.
Know Your Lines. Have a few opening lines prepared to help initiate conversations with strangers. Ask them how they know the host or if they've been to the venue before. This will usually lead the conversation to what you both do and why you were invited.
Improve Your Listening Skills. Ask questions and show interest in those around you, especially if you are at a seated event that includes a formal meal. Learn to ask questions with sincerity and interest and then keep quiet and listen to the other person's reply.
Take A Risk. Most people are quite relieved to have someone approach them first, so do not miss out on meeting someone interesting just because they look a bit cold and disinterested. They are probably nervous and if you approach them with warmth and interest, they could turn into quite good company.
Leave Gracefully. Always thank the host or organizer of the event before leaving and say farewell to guests you have spoken to.
Promises Kept. Your integrity and reliability are resting on this. If you told someone that you will fax them, e-mail them, phone them or contact them after the event, then do so as soon as you can.
Stay In Touch. Once you've made contact with someone stay in touch with them. People like to know that they are thought of and important enough to be contacted even if you do not need them for anything.
Think Beyond The Box. We tend to get a bit narrow-minded about where we should be networking but airplane trips, waiting in line, public events, weddings and any other place where people gather can present easy networking opportunities.
Networking skills take time to perfect and even the best professional networkers can still make blunders. Learning new tools and practicing your skills will certainly make networking easier with time and probably a lot more fun too.
Labels: networking, networking skills
Network Marketing Business Success
Your
network marketing business success can hinge on how successful you are in life.
If you are familiar with Napoleon Hill's classic, "Think and Grow Rich", in the chapter entitled 'Organized Planning', he discusses thirty-one major reasons for failing. Hill's checklist is a quite useful one to study.
You can easily discover if any of the thirty-one reasons discussed applies to you. If you really want to be successful not only in business, but in other areas of your life, try to figure out what is standing between you and achieving your dreams.
Here are the top 10 reasons your
network marketing business success could not turn out the way you want it to:
1: Lack of self-discipline. A lack of self-control can wreak havoc in your life. You must learn to control all negative qualities, including the ones that are in you. This, of course, isn't always easy to do. If you don't have self-control and discipline, your self will conquer you!
2: Lack of a well-defined purpose in life. If you have no definite goals, not only for your network marketing business, but life in general, you will not be successful. Hill reports that 98 out of every 100 people he talked to had no well-defined purpose. Don't be one of the 98 who are wandering aimlessly in life. Spend some quiet time brainstorming what you want out of life and your business, write down your goals and aspirations, and then read them out loud every day to keep them fresh in your mind.
3: Lack of persistence. Many people become professional quitters. Most of us are very good at starting, but the "quitter" category usually claims the majority. Plus, many people give up at their first defeat. You must learn to be persistent no matter what obstacles you are facing. If you are persistent, you will find that "failure" will not able to keep up!
4: Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity. If you are the type of person who is totally indifferent to your lot in life, have no desire to get ahead, and are not willing to work for it, you will not succeed at anything.
5: Desire for "something for nothing." Any type of "get rich quick" attitude, an unwillingness to actually work at your network marketing business, or wanting others to do all the work for you will doom you to failure.
6: Procrastination. This is one of the most common causes of failure. Every human being on the planet faces this demon, which can spoil your chance of success. Many of us float through life waiting for just the right opportunity to come. You must learn to take action. Why? This is important because many times things won't be "just right". The key is take action with whatever tools and resources you have. If you do this, you will be amazed at what a difference this can make in your home business and life. Reason
7: Negative personality. To put it bluntly, if people avoid you because you are the king or queen of negativity, there is no hope for success. Success comes by applying power and this is obtained through cooperation of others. Negativity does not glue people together, but tears them apart.
8: Egotism and vanity. If you are one who likes to control, don't want to listen to what others have to say, have an attitude of "my way or the highway", etc., people will see this as a red light and will keep away. These attitudes are fatal to success in your network marketing business, as well as other areas in life. So, there you have it.
9: Lack of enthusiasm. People will view you as someone who is not convincing if you seem ho-hum about your opportunity. If you are not excited about what you are doing, why should others be? Remember, enthusiasm is contagious and people will want to be around you if you have this spirit.
10: Lack of concentration of efforts. If you are one who jumps from opportunity to opportunity because things seem to be going too slow, or to generate as many streams of income as possible, things will not be good for you. If you constantly chase the next "get you rich quick" opportunity, you are in grave trouble. Everyone will view you as a highly unfocused person who clearly has no idea what you want. Learn to concentrate all your efforts on one definitive aim.
These 10 things can affect your
network marketing business success. They are so important that they will affect success in your life too!
Labels: network marketing, network marketing business success
Clickbank and Network Marketing
Technically Clickbank is an affiliate program where you get access to 1,000's of quality digital information products to sell. On June 19th they announced they wer going to offer recurring billing.
What this means is you can now make money in the sale and in the future on any product that offers a membership. Could this mean mlm programs as well.
What is great about this ebook is it backends several different affiliate programs for you. It really is a system to build a
network marketing business and combine affiliate marketing with it.
This only makes sense because it is getting harder to separate the two. So why not start offering mlm products that are digital at
ClickBank. I think we are in for a treat, and I think that is exactly what will happen soon.
Labels: 7 lies of network marketing, clickbank, network marketing, renegade marketer
Network Marketing Do This Do Not Do That
Did you join network marketing for the money? Did you join it for the fun? Or did you join it because your uncle talked you into it..:-)
Most of us think we joined for the money when in reality we joined because of the things money can do for us.
1. Pay bills
2. Quit our job
3. Take a vacation
4. Buy a new car
5. Buy a new house
6. Kids braces
7. Kids college
And so on........
What is your why? Have you indentified it and wrote it down.
If there is one thing that is critical to your
network marketing success, this is it. If you don’t have a reason, there is no motivation to succeed.
A network marketing business is a teaching and coaching business. If you don’t like interaction with other people, a network marketing business probably is not for you. There’s a concept that most network marketers just can’t seem to get a handle on.
You do not sponsor “reps,” you sponsor “people!” If you have to find a reason why you are building your business, then doesn’t it stand to reason that other people will have to do the same thing?
If that’s the case, then why is it that network marketers continually focus on how much money your prospect can earn? There’s no way you are going to convince “Joe Sixpack,” to get out of his Lazyboy recliner unless you find out what his motivation is. Most network marketers literally pound in the amount of money Joe can earn.
They bombard him with message after message about how “Successful Sam” has just purchased his 10th Porsche, refurnished his 25,000 square foot cottage and promise Joe that he can do the same! Just how realistic is this approach?
Joe isn’t stupid. He works long, hard hours at his job in order to provide for his family and truly believes that the best thing he can hope for is saving enough money by summer to pay for a camping trip.
Then here you come, promising Joe that he can have everything that Sam has and he can have it if he will just sign that piece of paper making you his sponsor! You will probably sponsor a few people that way, but if you are in business for the long haul you need to change your approach and do it fast.
The best sales people have always been the best listeners. They also focus on benefits. You can not do that until you understand your prospect.
In fact, in your first meeting with Joe, don’t even mention your business! Yes, that’s what I said. Don’t even bring it up.
You are meeting with, talking on the phone with, or emailing, a person who has dreams and all you are doing it trying to help them figure out what they are and if you can help them achieve them.
5 Reasons Network Marketing Sponsoring Is Not Rejection Free
One of the reasons that people do sponsor anyone into their
network marketing business is they are afraid of rejection. This is especially true when it comes to approaching family and friends, yet that is exactly what most network marketing companies tell you to do first.
You are told to sit down and make a list of everyone you know. Then prioritize your list to the people you would most like to be in business with or people who you think would be great to build your business with.
Here are 5 reasons that
network marketing sponsoring does not work if you approach you family and friends first.
1. Your family and friends know you best and that can be a bad thing especially if this is the 10th mlm business you have joined in the past 5 years.
2. Because you are new you really do not have the knowledge to explain your business. Most mlm companies have a replicated website with video on it that takes you off the hook when it comes to explaining your business. But is that really the same as you doing it yourself.
3. The fortune is in the follow-up as they say in sales. When you do get a person to take a look at your business to make money you are going to have to follow up with them. Your goal is to get them to become a retail customer or better yet become a distributor with you.
4. It is only natural to be afraid of being rejected by family and friends yet we only know a certain amount of people. If you are afraid of approaching them you will really be intimidated to approach a total stranger.
This is 4 simple reasons that network sponsoring done this way is not rejection free. To do that you need to use the internet. More specifically get a blog and an autoresponder and let the system sponsor for you. This is about as hands off as it gets.
One great new report that really looks at this is
"
The 7 Great Lies Of Network Marketing"
4 Network Marketintg Business Card Tips
If you are not using a network marketing business card to prospect everywhere you go you are missing the boat. Sometimes the best prospects are people you come across naturally in your day to day activities. As they say "timing is everything in life" and network marketing business cards can do that for you.
One place to get business cards for free is VistaPrint.com
Here are 4 tips before you have your next business cards printed.
1. Keep it simple. Although you pay for white space on your cards you really just want them to know who you are to direct them to your website. That is really the goal of a business card today. Get them to your site.
2. Even at VistaPrint you can choose and attractive design. Although the cards are free you can upgrade to a better quality stock of paper and this is a good idea.
3. Proofread. Just take the time to really make sure everything is spelled right and your phone number, email, and website address are correct.
4. With Vista they put their contact info on the back of your cards when you get the free ones. You can make those ads go away by using an upgraded version. You should weigh the cost of doing that against your budget.
There are several very good internet business card companies that let you design your own cards online. In some cases, their shipping costs are less than it would cost you to drive to a local print shop and back. Certainly take a look at those as well.
In summary using network marketing business cards to build your business is only smart. If you rely 100% on internet leads or phone leads you are missing out on the best mlm prospects. Can you really afford to do that!
Global Network Marketing Works If You Do
The network marketing industry has gone through several changes over the years. The very concept of getting paid on the efforts of others in a
network marketing business is brilliant when you think about it.
I have a question then and it is this "why aren't more people successful in network marketing?"
I think that is a fair question when you consider how many people have come into the industry only to leave more broke than when they started. This leads us back to the title of my post. I call it global network marketing and I see it as the answer to the high drop out rate that this industry has had to survive.
The internet has brought us , websites, blogs like this one, email, autoresponders, article marketing, social marketing, forum marketing, classified advertising, ezine advertising, pay per click advertising, ezine advertising, video ads, audio ads, and on and on we go.
The smart business person us now using all of these as tools to build a global business and they are using the power of duplication to do it. Why do all of the work yourself when you can make more money and spend less time doing it.
Let's put it another way. Would you rather work 100 hours a week yourself or find 5 people to who will work 20 hours for you. DUH! You do not have to be the sharpest knife in the drawer to understand that.
The big difference today is that the internet truly makes it possible for anyone to build a network marketing business into anything they want it to be. Do you think the internet cares about your appearance, your race, your sex, how rich or poor you are right now, where you live, how old your etc.
No the internet only cares about one thing. Are you providing quality information to search engines and are you doing it more than the next guy.
That's it. I call it backlinks. Putting fresh content on a blog or website and then putting a link to that content. If you will master this concept and put it to use in a big way you can make more money than you ever thought psossible.
And of course one way to make more money thatn you ever dreamed of is to start a network marketing business. Even better yet is to start an internet based network marketing business selling information.
I personally am in 2 programs that work well with this concept.
Success University is a internet based mlm that sell personal development training. All of the products can be access online.
SFI is an internet based mlm and affiliate marketing program hybrid that offers over 600 products. One of them is an internet membership product that teaches people how to start and run their own home business called the "International Association Of Home Business Entrepreneurs" or IHABE for short.
Both of these products allow you to go global in a matter of minutes after you join because anyone with internet access can join. Therfore you can have a business with members in Africa, England, Mexico, the U.S....
Anywhere means anywhere. And that is a beautiful thing and part of the reason that network marketing is working at a higher retention rate than any time in the past. Starting a global network marketing business and making money off of it works when you do :-)
