The money is in the list. That's what today's marketers will tell you.
But that's a half truth. The money is in the responsive list.
The phone book is a great example of a list that is mostly worthless for marketing purposes. Yes, there's money to be had in that list, but the time and effort you'll expend trying to extract it could be put to better use labeing your catalogs.
You need a responsive list. You may have heard me talk in the past about creating a customer crack addiction. These are customers that are so excited about working with you, that they're almost addicted to what you have to say, and more importantly, what you have to offer.
It's been said that if we only had 1000 true fans, most of us could live a comfortable lifestyle. These 1000 true fans would flock to our classes, devour everything we ever teach them, and be the first to own one of everything we've ever offered.
Yet, most of us are quite content to take whatever we're given and keep our mouths shut.
If you are truly building "You, Inc.", you need to consider how to gro a responsive list. Take a cue from Aunt Barbara.
You can visit youtube on any given day and you'll see dozens of videos from "Aunt Barbara" - a Tupperware representative with a twist - HE does all of his parties in drag, dressed as a quintessential 1950's marm, complete with the beehive hair and the red lipstick.
This guy sold over $100,000 in Tupperware last year and was featured on MSNBC. He's created a following of fans that enjoy his irreverent, on the fringe style of Tupperware parties, and they watch his videos religiously.
While you may not be ready to dress in drag, there are ways to build a responsive list that can have you seeing six figure sales as well.
1. Video. Sites like youtube and viddler not only allow you to post videos, you can create whole channels for your content, and promote them as well. Videos that go viral - like Aunt Barbara - mean more eyeballs. More eyeballs convert to clicks, clicks convert to buyers. Video is fast, and still forgiving. You don't need to be perfect, just genuine.
2. Ezines. Still the tried and true way to regularly reach your "tribe" of faithful, ezines are still effective. They target your market and provide you with a level of credibility when used consistently. If you can't be conistent, though, avoid getting started with ezines. Responsive lsis will come to expect them like clockwork.
3. Articles. Related to ezines, but not exactly the same, posting articles on article sites like ezinearticles.com can help drive traffic and build your list as well.
4. Blogs. A great way to generate a lot of traffic, it can be tricky to convert blog readers into list members without a strong call to action to do so. Make sure you have some sort of opt-in link or subscription form near every post to ensure those that want to sign up will.
5. Social Media. This is a fantastic way to create a following, but like blogs can be tricky to convert followers into list members. Post too many links, and you're seen as spammy. You really have to walk the line and provide a lot of value for this to be effective. When done properly, though, your social media fans will be some of your most vocal advocates in the marketplace.
Once you start building a responsive list, you'll quickly see a return on your investment of value. People that complain about giving away free content to their lists are generally the ones still using a phonebook instead of a targeted list of raving fans. People want good reasons to do business with you, and they want to be sure you're the real deal. Giving value first goes a long way toward building a responsive list, and each of these methods provides value in a real, tangible way for minimal expense.
© 2009 Lisa Robbin Young.
USE THIS ARTICLE FOR FREE IN PRINT OR ONLINE!
Please do not alter it and include the following information (with active links as appropriate):
Lisa Robbin Young is a certified direct sales marketing coach, teaching direct sellers to grow their business like a real business instead of an expensive hobby. Sign up for her free weekly ezine at http://www.homepartysolution.com
The Power of a List
Whenever clients ask me why they need their own (opt-in) list of contacts and customers, I tell them this:
"She who controls the list controls the marketing message."
Then, I usually recount one story or another I've gathered from other consultants. Like the consultant that joined a new direct sales company after her previous company closed their doors. With less than a week to finalize any outstanding orders, most consultants are left cobbling together customer order forms, old guest lists, and email contacts as they try to rebuild their business with a new company.
Or perhaps you've left your company for "greener pastures" as did one top income earner I know. Eventually several of her downline team mates joined her. Naturally, you're going to let all your past hosts and customers know about your the change. In doing so, you just might end up like she did - slapped with a lawsuit for "enticement". Her former company claimed that she was using confidential company information that was owned by the company to "harvest" customers and consultants, causing them thousands of dollars in lost business.
If you look at most direct sales consultant agreements or policy manuals, you'll see wording that says all customer and consultant lists belong to the company, and that you are granted a license to use that information as long as you are a consultant. Customer lists are confidential, and considered an important "trade secret" that could cause financial harm should they fall into the "wrong hands".
Now, I'm not trying to put the fear of God in you. As a business owner, you need to be aware of all the details of any contracts/agreements that you sign. Make sure you're reading the fine print in your consultant agreement and policy manual.
You hold NO ownership claim to any list that is controlled by your direct sales company.
That means whenever a client or lead visits your company sponsored website and signs up for the company sponsored newsletter, they are part of the company sponsored marketing system and their contact info is essentially owned by the company.
It doesn't matter if the client is a lead from another state or your great Aunt Margaret. The company owns the lead.
As a business owner, YOU need to have a list that you control. As the owner of "You, Inc.", you have a right to contact, market and serve anyone on your own list. Having your own marketing list - that your clients have agreed to be on (they have opted in) - provides you several walls of protection.
Legal protection
If you have clients that opt-in to your list BEFORE you recommend your company products or services, you can prove that they were YOUR leads first. It's as easy as having them sign up for your monthly newsletter (not the company newsletter, YOURS). When leads opt-in, they have given you written permission to be added to your marketing list.
Don't just add people to your list, or you could be accused of violating CAN-SPAM regulations. Get their permission. If they're really your customers, they are usually happy to grant you that permission.
Portability & Flexibility
When you control the list, you determine how and when they are contacted. You can send them ANY message that is in alignment with the purpose of the list. Don't send cooking recipes to a list about financial managment. You assume responsibility for any and all messages going out to your list. It is also your responsibility to keep the list clean.
Plus, if you move to a new company, you can take that list with you. If you use a mailing list service, you can automate a lot of the work, and make updating a snap!
Relationship Building
As the market continues to evolve, being able to communicate effectively with your audience begins with building a relationship built on trust, identity and likeability. If your leads don't know, like and trust you, they won't follow you from one company to another. Having your own marketing list, allows you to update them on the happenings in your life - not just the hot special your company has this month.A company can only develop a product centric relationship - because they don't know your clients like you do. By sending out periodic updates about some of the personal aspects of your life, your clients get to learn more about who you are as a person, not only as a sales rep.Like Jeffrey Gitomer says:All thing being equal, people want to do business with friends. All things being unequal, people STILL want to do business with friends.
Real businesses own their list, treat it like gold, and protect it like Fort Knox. You should too.
© 2009 Lisa Robbin Young.
USE THIS ARTICLE FOR FREE IN PRINT OR ONLINE!
Please do not alter it and include the following information (with active links as appropriate):
Lisa Robbin Young is a certified direct sales marketing coach, teaching direct sellers to grow their business like a real business instead of an expensive hobby. Sign up for her free weekly ezine at http://www.homepartysolution.com
Coaching vs. Mentoring: What's the Diff?
In light of the pre-launch of my new training and coaching program, Marketing Mentors, I wanted to define and distinguish between coaching and mentoring.
Most people don't readily acknowledge that there is a difference between the two.
For one, mentoring requires some level of "been there, done that" in order to be effective. in essence, the mentor comes alongside the mentee, to help them navigate the rough waters of their situation, and steer them to safer waters, generally based on their past experiences.
For example, if you wanted to learn how to jet ski, your brother-in-law who's been doing it for years, could mentor you, and show you how to jump the waves just like he does.
In business, if you wanted to increase sales using a particular technique, you would find someone well-versed in that technique and have them teach/train/mentor you in mastering that technique.
Mentoring is specific to the task at hand. If you don't have an area of experience related to the task at hand, you cannot mentor someone.
You could, however, coach them.
In fact, you may often find that coaches have very little practical experience in the specifi situations you face in your business. But a good coach doesn't need to, because they are not mentoring you. They are not showing you a step-by-step, "this is how I did it" process.
In fact, it's kind of the opposite. Coaches, work with you to help YOU develop your OWN process.
For example, I've never had the experience of personally dealing with the voice change that men endure when puberty converts those pure, pristing little boy voices into deep, brooding, "manly man" voices.
But as a vocal coach, I work with men who struggle with "smoothing out" the transition from different registers in their vocal range. There are specific techniques and exercises I can offer, have the man try, and they experience for themselves the benefits.
In addition, mentoring assumes a small layer of responsibility, whereas in coaching, the responsibility for growth and progress lies almost entirely in the hands of the person being coached.
A Mentor may say "try this, it worked for me". A coach will say "what do you think would work for you? Have you thought about this?"
While the words sound similar, they have entrely different meanings and semantics.
One of the things I pride myself on is the fact that I rarely recommend something if I haven't found success with it myself. If I can make it work, and be successful with it, I readily recommend it to my own team, as well as my clients and customers.
That holds true whether I'm working with Direct Sellers or if I'm selling a skin cream. I try to be authentic in my dealings, and let people know honestly what my reactions and successes/failures have been so that they can gauge their own personal level of potential success.
In it's purest form, those recommendations are a type of mentoring. So if I make a suggestion and it doesn't work, a mentee can come back to me and say "that didn't work. now what?"
That leaves me on the hook for a lot of potential blame, if I'm not choosing my words carefully and coaching my clients along the way.
A blanket recommendation rarely works for everyone - because we are not a one-size-fits-all society. We are different people with different needs and abilities.
Thus, for me, my mentoring always comes along with a healthy dose of coaching.
Asking powerful questions, seeking answers based on the specific needs of the client, but allowing the input to be driven entirely by the client is what coaching is all about.
For example, a client told me that she wasn't getting any shows on her calendar.
Instead of giving her a run down of "try this, try that" I begin with questions:
* do you know your show booking average?
* Do you know your show attendance average?
* Do you know your RSVP rate?
* What's your cancellation rate?
Notice I didn't say "how many people did you talk to today?" In business, when a company is stuck in a rut, sometimes it's more helpful to see the bigger picture (trends) than it is to focus on what's not working right now.
Interestingly enough, most consultants don't even know these basic business details.
So instead of showing them how to get more bookings, we look at how failing to know their business is a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.
And funny enough, when they start looking at those numbers, they start to see the answers:
"well, I'm only seeing 4 people at my average show. i guess I need to make sure my hostess gets those invitations out."
"People aren't RSVP'ing like they should. I guess maybe I should review the script with my hostess so she knows what to say when calling to confirm attendnce."
That, my friends is coaching. Like a birthing coach, I can't have the baby for you - or tell you how to do it right. I can only help you along, guide, you and keep you focused on the actions you already know are within you that need to happen to bring that baby out!
But coaching COMBINED with mentoring not only gives the coach more credibility, it also lends more empathy on the part of the coach.
When you're struggling with the same issues your mentor endured, the mentor can "totally relate to what you're going through." They can empathize with your frustration, and help you to see what the other side of that mountain looks like - because they have already crossed over - and you can, too!
It's a unique blend that I think strengthens the client relationship in a way that adds remarkable value, without placing the onus on the coach. Ultimately the responsibility for success lies firmly in the hands of the coaching client, and the empathy a mentor/coach might have for a specific situation can work to augment the coachign relationship and sometimes speed up the process that leads to success.
Rich rewards await those that work with either a coach or a mentor, and having both can be a blessing.
Most people don't readily acknowledge that there is a difference between the two.
For one, mentoring requires some level of "been there, done that" in order to be effective. in essence, the mentor comes alongside the mentee, to help them navigate the rough waters of their situation, and steer them to safer waters, generally based on their past experiences.
For example, if you wanted to learn how to jet ski, your brother-in-law who's been doing it for years, could mentor you, and show you how to jump the waves just like he does.
In business, if you wanted to increase sales using a particular technique, you would find someone well-versed in that technique and have them teach/train/mentor you in mastering that technique.
Mentoring is specific to the task at hand. If you don't have an area of experience related to the task at hand, you cannot mentor someone.
You could, however, coach them.
In fact, you may often find that coaches have very little practical experience in the specifi situations you face in your business. But a good coach doesn't need to, because they are not mentoring you. They are not showing you a step-by-step, "this is how I did it" process.
In fact, it's kind of the opposite. Coaches, work with you to help YOU develop your OWN process.
For example, I've never had the experience of personally dealing with the voice change that men endure when puberty converts those pure, pristing little boy voices into deep, brooding, "manly man" voices.
But as a vocal coach, I work with men who struggle with "smoothing out" the transition from different registers in their vocal range. There are specific techniques and exercises I can offer, have the man try, and they experience for themselves the benefits.
In addition, mentoring assumes a small layer of responsibility, whereas in coaching, the responsibility for growth and progress lies almost entirely in the hands of the person being coached.
A Mentor may say "try this, it worked for me". A coach will say "what do you think would work for you? Have you thought about this?"
While the words sound similar, they have entrely different meanings and semantics.
One of the things I pride myself on is the fact that I rarely recommend something if I haven't found success with it myself. If I can make it work, and be successful with it, I readily recommend it to my own team, as well as my clients and customers.
That holds true whether I'm working with Direct Sellers or if I'm selling a skin cream. I try to be authentic in my dealings, and let people know honestly what my reactions and successes/failures have been so that they can gauge their own personal level of potential success.
In it's purest form, those recommendations are a type of mentoring. So if I make a suggestion and it doesn't work, a mentee can come back to me and say "that didn't work. now what?"
That leaves me on the hook for a lot of potential blame, if I'm not choosing my words carefully and coaching my clients along the way.
A blanket recommendation rarely works for everyone - because we are not a one-size-fits-all society. We are different people with different needs and abilities.
Thus, for me, my mentoring always comes along with a healthy dose of coaching.
Asking powerful questions, seeking answers based on the specific needs of the client, but allowing the input to be driven entirely by the client is what coaching is all about.
For example, a client told me that she wasn't getting any shows on her calendar.
Instead of giving her a run down of "try this, try that" I begin with questions:
* do you know your show booking average?
* Do you know your show attendance average?
* Do you know your RSVP rate?
* What's your cancellation rate?
Notice I didn't say "how many people did you talk to today?" In business, when a company is stuck in a rut, sometimes it's more helpful to see the bigger picture (trends) than it is to focus on what's not working right now.
Interestingly enough, most consultants don't even know these basic business details.
So instead of showing them how to get more bookings, we look at how failing to know their business is a bigger problem that needs to be addressed.
And funny enough, when they start looking at those numbers, they start to see the answers:
"well, I'm only seeing 4 people at my average show. i guess I need to make sure my hostess gets those invitations out."
"People aren't RSVP'ing like they should. I guess maybe I should review the script with my hostess so she knows what to say when calling to confirm attendnce."
That, my friends is coaching. Like a birthing coach, I can't have the baby for you - or tell you how to do it right. I can only help you along, guide, you and keep you focused on the actions you already know are within you that need to happen to bring that baby out!
But coaching COMBINED with mentoring not only gives the coach more credibility, it also lends more empathy on the part of the coach.
When you're struggling with the same issues your mentor endured, the mentor can "totally relate to what you're going through." They can empathize with your frustration, and help you to see what the other side of that mountain looks like - because they have already crossed over - and you can, too!
It's a unique blend that I think strengthens the client relationship in a way that adds remarkable value, without placing the onus on the coach. Ultimately the responsibility for success lies firmly in the hands of the coaching client, and the empathy a mentor/coach might have for a specific situation can work to augment the coachign relationship and sometimes speed up the process that leads to success.
Rich rewards await those that work with either a coach or a mentor, and having both can be a blessing.
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