Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Do You Push, Pull or Just Educate and Empower about Home Business?

Do You Push, Pull or just Educate and Empower about Home Business?

Here is another article that underlines why so many home businesses in our industry end up in the brambles in the ditch with the unhappy entrepreneur crying “No More, This *……* just doesn’t work!
It is written by an internet marketing guru with a media empire and these “promotional pillars” are absolutely imperative for good marketing. The two main strategies are defined as:

A “push” promotional strategy makes use of a company's sales force and trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product.

A “pull” selling strategy is one that requires high spending on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product.

A quick point by point summary of Low cost 'PUSH' Strategies include
…Affiliate Programs
…Follow Up Landing Pages By Phone
…Direct Mail with Phone and E-Mail Follow-Up
…Advertising…the frequency of your advertising determines how well the rest of the 'push' strategies work.

A quick point by point Low Cost 'PULL' Promotional Strategies include:
…Viral Promotional Products such as writing small re-printable reports for others to promote with your link or logo or sending out news releases
…Social Networking to plug your branding, links and logos
…Blogs to personalize your story and links
…Discussion Forums where you can respond to posts with helpful answers to discussion lists in your niche market
…Seminar Networking where you attend seminars and connect with others.

Now to make sure these are followed make sure you maintain a daily check list and do it.
Or find someone who can help you do the daily chores and outsource these tasks to others.


STOP! Give me a Break!
OK…I’ve been there, done that...and I ended up in the brambles in the ditch! WHAT A JOB! I want get away from working for a boss including myself! Not to mention the time commitment and endless expenses.

What I want, and what is available now, is a simple 3 step marketing plan that covers all the essential information with a professional inbuilt training component to save me time and money.


No PUSH…No PULL. I share a No Excuses Allowed Team philosophy and the rest is up to people to learn and decide. AND THIS HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!

Your comments and questions are important. What kinds of marketing strategies have worked or not worked for you.

AnneMarie

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Four Words Every Home Business Owner Must Say...Part 4

Four Words Every Home Business Owner Must Say...PART 4

I CAN DO IT

So far, in Part 1, we saw how self-concept determines your destination and both are relative to a successful marketing plan. In Part 2, we saw how a simple “song” or marketing plan is easier to deliver and fun. In Part 3 we saw how a simple formula can transform basic ideas into wonderful successful creations over and over again, even if you’re not a “guru”.
Part 4 is the last analogy that compares a concrete object we know a lot about to a
more abstract realization of one’s dream lifestyle with a home business.

These hopes and dreams will become a concrete reality with these simple words:
I CAN DO IT

We all have a can’t-live-without-them affair with CARS, sooner or later, as singular or plural experiences.
Who doesn’t remember their first car...the thrill of independence...the call of adventure.
Cars in their own rights have sported exotic imagination names like Mustang, Infinity, Explorer, Viper, Celebrity, Dynasty, LeBaron, and Phantom.

Besides these imaginary traits, cars are indispensable to our way of life. Here are some interesting facts:
Average car is driven 15,000 miles annually
The cost of driving is far more expensive than gas when you take into account sales tax, registration fees, maintenance and repairs.
Depreciation is the largest cost factor (2007 Consumer Reports) and can account for up to 48% of total ownership costs.
Fuel is the second highest cost factor per year soaking up 21% ownership cost.

So how does driving a car relate to building a profitable home business?

In a nutshell, it is the marketing plan that “drives” sales and income for business owners.
You may have the best “mousetrap” in the world but if no one hears about it, no one will beat a path to your door.

It is especially true if you have a network marketing home business that plugs you into a large company where you help market their products to earn multiple commissions.

Your income will reflect how well you can “drive” home the marketing plan.

Let’s do some creative thinking. What if marketing plans were cars?

Plan A is a simple basic car with standard features:
A phone number, a website and an overview with inbuilt industry component

Plan B is a more complicated car with extra features and specialties best managed by trained operators...there are company conference calls, upline 3 way calls, training sessions, presentations, follow-ups, more products and features and testimonials.
It follows logically that the more technicalities presented, the more objections and the less number of operators are willing or able to take on the driving challenge.

On the other hand with a simple basic car the personal comfort levels increase. Everybody can drive this car. Your manual is minimal…cuts back hugely on time and expenses. Your odds of finding other willing and able drivers dramatically increase.
This is true duplication of a business plan that can lead to fortunes being created in this industry especially with an inbuilt industry training component found in Plan A.
Duplicating the marketing plan is the essential factor directly related to your profits.

You can consider the “fuel” to drive your marketing plan as the Business Opportunity which is constantly perceived differently by people and therefore nearly impossible to control. But the marketing plan must be the same vehicle, same delivery, same results, same financial destination.

In designing the slide presentation in the Mini-Program for Maxi-Profits, I chose the symbol of a basic red car to represent the concept of a marketing plan.

It is meant to be the opposite of high-powered marketing plans used by guru drivers. They have the public persona, the skills to handle high tech, high performance features like 432 horsepower, radio data responders, telescopic steering, high maintenance, and higher cost premium gas. Their audiences may admire their skills and unbounded ambition and success. Some may even try and emulate their skill and “drive their complicated marketing plans,” and most times they drop out of the race. THEY CAN’T DO IT!

Of course, you will always find the super salespeople who will roar into high gear.
But how many others audience members will they attract to do the same? In my experience, one or two, because this network marketing business is not about sales but duplication of marketing plan. And the great news is VELOCITY IS DETERMINED by SIMPLICITY and YOU CAN DO IT!

If you learn nothing else from this short series of I CAN DO IT, make sure you understand this statement perfectly. It can mean the difference in your ability to live in poverty or in wealth.
After all, “ability is a poor man’s wealth”.

And the special network marketing home business, more than any other business model, offers the one chance to duplicate average ability to the democratic masses.

YOU CAN BE THE VERY BEST RACE CAR DRIVER IN THE WORLD BUT IF YOU’RE NOT IN A BASIC VEHICLE THAT IS SIMPLE TO DRIVE BY MANY OTHER DRIVERS, YOU’LL NEVER WIN THIS SPECIAL NETWORK MARKETING RACE

You can view these slides and other important principles about this unique home business model in our Mini-Program for Maxi-Profits slide presentation…the training component to this industry that is simple to share.
Your comments and questions are always valued.

Let's talk really soon about what you hope to accomplish,
AnneMarie




Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Four Words Every Home Business Owner Must Say...PART 3

I CAN DO IT

So far, in Part 1, we saw how self-concept determines your destination and both are relative to a successful marketing plan. In Part 2, we saw how a simple “song” or marketing plan is easier to deliver and fun.

Now, another analogy just hit me last night. It all began with a small cluster of unexpected events…my brother and family (5 members) dropped in from their Kelowna trip. And I offered to make supper, of course, and they gladly accepted, of course, and I didn’t have enough of anything prepared to do company’s justice. In my fridge, there was a small hamburger package (enough for two people) and mozzarella cheese. Sometimes in emergencies like this I draw out an old traditional family recipe. It’s simple 5-ingredient sour cream dough that is rolled out into thin 8 inch circles topped with a filling, braided shut, rolled thin and fried in olive oil. Serve with sour cream and salsa, green onions and carrot sticks. The surprise supper was great with what was described as a gourmet treat.

I love analogies because they can take a highly complex subject and compare it to something easier to understand. In this example I was successful in preparing a good supper for several people because I had a recipe to follow and could not fail.

A recipe made me think of any list of specific instructions with an end result in mind.
You take raw elements like egg, flour, salt, and create a composite wholly unlike to the elements. In the similar way, you can take a marketing plan to grow your home business and realize a dream lifestyle way beyond the words on a page.

A map is a pictorial overview of an actual landscape using labeled keys or code. You can see where you are now and where you want to be. With a business plan, you must be able to see the rules to win by, offensive driving and defensive driving.

A business plan is essential to starting a business, including home-based. You need check out market research, consultants, cash-flow projections, investment ratios, rental fees, shipping, competitors, production, sales and marketing…just to name a few.

A network marketing home business plan has the basic advantage of plugging into an established, successful company, help market their products and earn commissions multiple times. Get paid for monthly consumption of products you would buy anyway. This sounds great in theory.
Here are your ingredients:
BOTTOM LAYER (foundation): company, top management, manufacturing, valuable products, cutting edge advertising, shipping, accounting, service department and more.
MIDDLE LAYER (filling): personal sponsor, team training, support, marketing plan
TOP LAYER: success and financial freedom

But in reality this fails for 95% of people who try it! The top layer, the sweet, care-free, delicious topping is enjoyed by only a handful of people EVEN when the basic recipe is the same. Why? This question has bothered me for years. The company’s foundation is a prepackaged delivery. There is no need for changes here. The real variation in this recipe is the middle layer, the filling…and you can’t apply the topping if you have no filling.

So what’s wrong with the filling? It’s a $64,000 question. Here is where you find all kinds of cooks, or team leaders, using their own special flavors or strategies (sometimes tied into buying their own particular brands). Here is where you find the top “guru” chefs with experience, multi-tasking skills, and credibility in performing complicated procedures. I can’t pretend to cook like a Julia Child, Emile Lagasee or any Iron Chef. I can only marvel at their creations of Stuffed Snapper with Orange and Lime and Manhattan Cheesecake with Flaming Apricots.
Again, I have no desire to be the expert.
I may not even know how to fry an egg (I’m new to home business) but all of the sudden I need to be able to keep up with the expert marketers! Even worse, because of the nature of duplication in this business model, I also need to go out and teach this recipe to others and then they need to do the same! It doesn’t work. Average “cooks” can’t copy and promote complicated recipes. Nor should they need to spend countless hours training.

Show me a simple, straight forward marketing plan …a recipe with 3 or 4 ingredients for the filling:
1. Phone number for an overview. Are you interested? Yes or No
2. Company’s website for more information with a 1 page overview
3. 1 – 2 – 3 Step Marketing Plan to read-and-share that covers the basics: Trends, Marketing, Action…about 30 minutes to set
4. If people want a serving of Excuses…share more educational resources

I CAN DO IT!

More importantly, I can pass on this recipe to as many people as I wish and they can duplicate the steps. Most importantly, I can celebrate the fact that I may not be a “guru chef” with years of mastery, but I can plug into the same networking company, expand my time and knowledge by passing on a simple “recipe” and start earning multiple commissions over and over based on initial effort. My home business will show a great income stream!
Then I’d be able to treat my friends to a real gourmet lunch courtesy of these masters.

I’d love to hear your ideas or questions. If you wish to try the Everday Pyrahi recipe from above…send me a note.

Sincerely,
AnneMarie
amarie10@gmail.com

PS. As an interesting note...the comparison is often made that fast food franchise can be operated by a staff of teenagers because they follow a cookie cutter system. The food may not always be “the best” but you know Hamburger XYZ in California will be exactly the same Hamburger XYZ in Toronto, Canada.

Four Words Every Home Business Owner Must Say...Part 2

PART TWO

Four Words Every Home Business Owner must say

I CAN DO IT…
This is a more whimsical but still vivid look at how to plan to be successful with a home business.
In the last blog these words were tied to your self-concept or self-perception.
Your mind is the key to start the journey to the destination of your choice.
It’s not about speeches, products, hype, leaders, etc.
The point was also made that a simple marketing plan will be more successful than a complicated one. More success will naturally develop self-concept.


One top networker said the way to be successful is to “listen to the music one more time.”
His training involved six weeks of regular teleclasses. Learn the strategies, learn the script and practice, drill, rehearse. Tough for even the most motivated to maintain, much less pass the expectation to others.

So, the other afternoon I was returning from visiting my family. Feeling a little nostalgic in a beautiful hazy golden autumn afternoon driving through our mountains, I decided to listen to a CD by two “singing cowboys,” namely, Slim Whitman and Tex Ritter.
They sang old treasured songs…the words made simple statements, soulful and understandable. The single guitar notes rang clear as bells in uncomplicated melodies. I could recall vaguely hearing some of the songs as a child:

When I grow too old to dream
When my blue moon turns to gold again.
Beautiful Dreamer
Green Grow the Lilacs

The point here is I found myself automatically singing along, humming the tunes, quickly learning the choruses, repeating words and rhymes long forgotten. The words were simple, the tunes repetitive and it was easy to follow along. Being masterful was long gone.

Now I can’t sing. My high notes were raspy, I forgot words and my attempts at yodeling probably scared animals in the hills. Nor did I think for a moment that I had the talent or ever be in the same league of success as these singing cowboys. Nor did I desire to be a singing celebrity at any time. But I could duplicate the words, most of the melodies, I had fun, and I didn’t have to spend months or years training to be an expert that others could admire and follow.

So how does this scenario connect to a profitable home based business? In the network marketing industry, particularly, it is the duplication of the marketing plan that builds customers and cash-flow. It follows logically if the marketing plan is simple, easy to understand, easy to read that everyone can duplicate it. In other words, everyone can sing along at their levels of ability. You don’t have to be a good singer or a good salesperson as in this example. “You listen to the simple music one more time” and you share it and so on and so on.

I CAN DO IT

Keep the words and marketing plan simple for home business success. Enjoy the ride and the time freedom on your own terms, choosing to visit and travel through the peaceful autumn mountains listening nostalgically to sweet, simple words about life and what really matters.
Check out the 1 – 2 – 3 Step Marketing Plan and see how simple it is to “sing along.”

I here to help with questions and comments.

AnneMarie
amarie10@gmail.com
1 250 365 6916

Four Words Every Home Business Owner Must Say

FOUR WORDS every Home Business Owner Must Say...Part One

I CAN DO IT (ICDI)

I just had to share these words by Stephen Pierce. (Stephen Pierce International Inc.) They help to explain the purpose of keeping it simple ranging from
walking to planning a successful home business.

True leadership is the ability to take something
complex and simplify it.

If I told you to run east to see the sunset would
you be successful? Sure you would, if you were facing east.

Would you need to go to a seminar and hear the right speaker
before you could run east successfully?

Would you need specially designed sneakers?

Would Gatorade need to make a special drink for people
running east before you could be successful?

Of course not. You just need to be in the right
place...facing east. Then you'll see the sunset.

It's the same way with making more money online.

You don't need to buy the priciest product or hear the best speakers
before you can take your next step.

Look, I could give you all the resources in the world and all the latest strategies.
But there's one thing that will never change: the human factor.

It's impossible to change your business and start moving forward without
first focusing on you and your mindset and perspective. The possibilities
you see for yourself will depend on what you’re thinking..

When your car's gas tank is low, you go fill it up with gas, right?
You need to do the same for you, too. Here is the gas you need:

G - Gratitude is an attitude. Begin each day by
thinking about something you are grateful for,
even if your finances are lousy or your family
life is under severe strain. There's something
you can be grateful for.

A - Affirm who you are. Don't dwell on what you
think you "can't" do or how you've failed in the
past. Focus on what you "can" do. Use
constructive language, instead of destructive.

S - Strategies, systems and support. All three of
those go together.
Especially if you’re contemplating a home based business
in our network marketing industry.

Use the simple slide presentation to be the expert on how
to leverage Time and Knowledge and earn multiple commissions.
Read the keep-it-simple 1 – 2 – 3 Step Marketing Plan to show the big picture
and value of excellence in products, management, trends and timing.
Call me to help with questions or comments.

Remember, keep it simple, face the right direction, use your own G.A.S,
and reach the sunset of your dreams.
I CAN DO IT!

Standing by to help with your goals,
AnneMarie
amarie10@gmail.com


Warriors through the ages understood the
importance of the right terrain in winning
battles. It gives you a huge strategic advantage.

If you pick the wrong place as a marketer you'll
burn through all your resources. Today is the day
you pick the right place.