You can inspire your members to greater heights and achievements with good MLM training resources. These resources are vital components in making our members successful. When we encourage, inspire or develop our members’ full potential, we are creating a viable and vibrant future for them. Their lives will be improved on so many lives; their minds will be focused and ready to work. We must support them at every level, no matter if the question has been repeated 10 or 20 times. There may be concepts that they are having trouble understanding.

The MLM training resources should provide our members a unique learning experience, fun and engaging on the personal level. These courses could be expensive to create but are worth the time, money and energy to create. People will learn in a variety of ways and we need to see which environment works the best. Can we group them together under one roof? Yes but our main resources for the classroom may need to be increased to help answer questions; most trainers will use a conference or seminar to train new members. This type of environment works great for most members.

Our MLM training resources should be fun and engaging to our members. We could use videos, audio and articles to help our members learn the information. The delivery of the training materials is important, while some members are better at learning at home, they can benefit from the social interaction with other members. Interactive videos are becoming popular but may be a bit expensive to use, they allow the members to interact in a scenario. The scenarios offered are numerous and have become some standards across the industries for trainers to use. The video places the member into a certain predetermined scenario and allows them to interact with it to see the results. The video will offer tips and suggestions on how to improve a particular skill. These videos have great life span and are worth the investment.

Seminars are the next best tools in the MLM training resources kit to teach our members the information they need to be successful.  The seminars can incorporate PowerPoint presentations, videos, text and live speakers and tons of successful MLM business owners have received their training through this tool. This tool is very effective and is an affordable alternative to interactive videos. The members can meet new members, establish connections, learn and develop the right skills for the work environment. The live scenarios that the instructors use to train are awesome  MLM training resources, for the fact they are fun and engage your members on the proper levels. They help them get over being nervous about presenting their information to new prospects across the globe. This particular experience that is gained is worth more than buckets of gold in the long run.

The mistakes that are made around fellow members provide great insight to what can be improved upon. This helps the shy members overcome the fear of asking questions, we as trainers can help break the ice by sharing our experiences to these members. We as trainers need to stay fresh and up to date to the current trends in the MLM industry and redesign our training methods to be more effective on the human level and business owner level.

When we provide accurate and fresh information to our newest members, we are encouraging them to learn and to keep up their education. The experiences of a live seminar should not be passed by, the engagement and friendships built there often last a life time.  We can take the learning experiences home with us and refresh ourselves for another beautiful day in the MLM industry.

Those who are in a Direct Sales business tend to really work their butts off when it comes to advertising their home business. For those of us in this line of work…we have to work “much” harder than those in big corporation to get the word out about our business.

With that said, we don’t have the advertising budgets that the big guys have so we need to get creative with our advertising campaigns. Today I thought I would share a few “creative” ways I have successfully marketed my business over the years and all of these ideas are super affordable.

T-Shirts: I went to VistaPrint.com and had a dozen T-shirts printed up with my business information on them. I got a variety of sizes and did it when Vista Print was having a deal on them. I then handed these shirts out to friends & family members and had them wear them while running errands in our community. Cost was less than $8.00 a shirt and it’s an advertising campaign that keeps on giving since the shirts can be worn many, many, many times!

Cook Books: Since I was selling products for a kitchen company I would actively seek out print ads in charity cook books in our community. The PTA, local Animal Rescue Groups, Health Groups, Scouting Groups, School Groups, etc. have cook books printed on a yearly basis and then sell them to raise funds. For around $25.00 you can get a 1/2 page print ad with your business info printed in the back of their fundraising cook books.

High School Year Books: Every year I would spend $50 to $75 to have my business ad printed in the back of our local high school year books! These ads are a ‘worthy’ and ‘affordable’ investment and your ad will be seen for many years by hundreds of people.

School Art & Athletic Programs: You can get affordable print ads in your local school’s arts and athletic programs that they hand out at their functions. (plays, sport’s games, etc.) and you can usually get these ads for $25 and up.

Magnetic Car Signs: Many Direct Sellers do invest in magnetic car signs for their vehicles to advertise their home businesses. However, you should purchase several of them and let your family and friends slap them onto their cars when they are out and about doing their errands. You could give them a free gift or a continual discount on their purchases to help you out by keeping it on their cars.

These 5 creative advertising and marketing ideas are all relatively affordable and make for a worthy investment in your business. When it comes to advertising your home business it is time to think “outside” the box and get creative with your marketing campaign.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales for the last 25+ years and is a professional product reviewer and ghostwriter. You can visit Shelly’s home business resource web site at www.workathomebusinessoptions.com/ for FREE home business tips, info and resources. You can visit Shelly’s professional ghostwriting web site at www.twoclassyghostwritingchics.com/ for additional information on the ghostwriting services that she and her partner Chris have to offer.

If you are in direct sales, it is extremely important that you grow a healthy downline. Not only are you building a relationship with your customers through sales, but you should build a healthy relationship with your sales team. Here are 7 tips to generating a strong downline and keeping your direct sales business growing every day.

TIP #1: GET PERSONAL Your downline wants to know who they are working so hard for. Send a monthly newsletter will sales tips, monthly numbers, top salesperson, etc. Offer a free forum or chat group to your team so everyone can share ideas and offer support to one another.

TIP #2: BE AVAILABLE Schedule time to speak with your sales team often. Constant contact will show them that you care. This gives your team a chance to share their concerns, thoughts and ideas with you. It also allows them the opportunity to ask questions.

TIP #3: HOLD A CONTEST Offer prizes or free services to new recruits. Offer special discounts or coupons to the team member who recruits the most new partners.

TIP #4: WRITE ARTICLES Article marketing provides an avenue for free web site traffic. Write five articles, linking to a web site where your products are sold, then submit them to various free article directories.

TIP #5: EDUCATE YOUR TEAM Provide your current sales team with powerful information about your business and products. By educating your sales team, you will create an aura of excitement. This excitement pushes your team to recruit their acquaintances into this wonderful opportunity for self-based employment.

TIP #6: LOSE YOUR MIND Sometimes the silliest ideas are the ones that often get noticed in sales. If you’ve been playing it safe, get crazy with promoting your business. Print fliers, bookmarks, calling cards, booklets, etc. Go door-to-door and promote your business and sales opportunity. Focus only on promoting awareness of your business instead of sales.

TIP #7: DON’T STOP It has been said many times that for every 9 “no’s” you get, you’ll get one “yes.” Don’t stop promoting recruits, regardless of how many “no’s” you’ve had this far. Eventually someone will say, “Yes!” Sometimes the squeakiest wheel is the one that gets oiled!

About The Author: Stefanie Fauquet is the owner of http://www.workathomemomonline.com — A Site Devoted to Helping Moms Make Money in Direct Sales. Need More Recruiting Tips? Check out http://www.workathomemomonline.com/building-a-downline.html

For most of us in Direct Sales, 10 new recruits equals a promotion – either for someone in our organization, or for ourselves. Sometimes it equals qualifications for a special incentive – perhaps a trip to some exotic locale, or maybe some designer jewelry.

Most of us, who follow the out-dated ideas that our upline offers have been spinning our wheels watching THEM earn trips and recognition, while we sit scratching our heads, wondering why we aren’t getting in on the action. I mean, after all, we’re doing exactly what they told us, exactly the way they told us to do it.

Is this happening to you?

• Our upline said make a list of 100 people. Check.
• Our upline said contact them all and ask them to “help” you get started. Check.
• Our upline said it’s a numbers game, talk to everyone. Check.
• Our upline said to stay away from running ads in the paper. Check.
• Our upline said to do 3 way calls. Check
• Our upline said bring our recruits to the opportunity meetings. Check.
• Our upline said pass out 500 business cards each month. Check.
• Is your team growing by leaps and bounds?
• Our upline never told us to be an authority on our company’s best product (that would be YOU!).
• Our upline never told us to market ourselves first, and the company second.
• Our upline never presents us as the authority. They become the “guru” instead of us!
• Our upline never told us we could use the Internet to build our businesses on autopilot.

It means you need to position yourself as the expert. Set yourself apart and start thinking and acting like a leader NOW. Change your mindset – even if you’ve been in the business for years, start thinking like a leader at the next pay level. Already at the top of your game? Great. Start thinking like the owner of your company.

By the way, YOU are the owner of your company. You have the best product to offer anyone – and that is YOU. You can’t get that product from any other company.

Christie Northrup, the Lemonaid Lady, is a champion of ditching the FRANK list. She talks about using “WILMA” instead:

“Who

Is a

Likely

Marketing

Audience?”

Target marketing is the best way to see desirable results. The Shotgun methods still work, but the amount of time and energy you put into growing a business that way is, to me, excessive.

Let’s break down the numbers. ASSUMING you can buy 500 business cards for just the cost of shipping (there are online companies that run specials periodically), You’ve got a $10 investment in materials, plus the time it takes to deliver all of them. From here, we have to make a lot of assumptions:

* Assume you give away 30 at every party (3 to each guest – who needs 3 business cards?)
* Assume you have 8 parties per month (that’s pretty standard in Direct Sales)
* Assume you give away 1 to every person you meet outside a party (that’s another 260 people each month)
* Assume it takes 1 minutes to deliver each card outside a party (and really, you’re not building a relationship, you’re just shoving a card into their hand)
* Assume a 1% conversion rate

You’re spending 4 hours each month just giving away cards, plus the additional 24 hours you’ve spent preparing and doing your parties. And I must reiterate – who really needs 3 of your business cards? More to the point, who’s going to TAKE 3 of your business cards?

And if you give away 6,000 cards each year, you’ve got 60 new leads (about 5 per month) that may book, buy or recruit. Most of those will probably come from your shows anyway, to be honest. For $120 in business card expenses (plus other show and travels costs) and 336 hours of your life. Each POTENTIAL lead costs you $2 and 5.6 hours of your life!

Is your head spinning yet?

Now if you really, truly have no other method of building your business, it’s a start. But I hope you realize that there are other, better options to growing your business. You could definitely be putting that time (and money) to better use elsewhere.

Find a niche and fill it.

In direct sales, there are targeted groups of prospects for every product line available. All you have to do is ASK your home office what the target demographic is for your direct selling company. If they can’t tell you, you’ve got bigger problems. If you sell kitchen tools, who it your target market? Men? Women? What about age, income, ethnic origin? The more you focus, the smaller your market will be.

Smaller market=bigger return on investment

If you invest your time and money wisely in your target market, you can easily bring your time and money cost to less than half of what you would have paid for the shotgun business card method.

Think of it this way, would it be wise for a retailer to send advertisements to everyone in an entire city, when all they sell is children’s clothing? Absolutely not! A better use of their advertising dollars would be to focus on places where there are mothers of children who want/need their kind of clothing. Moms buy the clothes, not the kids (in most cases), so it’s wise to find out where they buyers are.

Think about your product? Who are the most likely buyers? Yes, contrary to what your upline has told you, it IS okay to pre-judge. At least for now. Focus in on that market. You know where they are most likely to spend their money (with you!), now figure out where they are most likely to spend their time. Go there. Market yourself THERE.

You’ve heard it said before that parties/demos are the life blood of a direct sales business. Your most targeted market is right in front of you – in a semi-captive group. This is a place where you would NOT want to pre-judge. Everyone is there for a reason. That reason may be you.

Tired of trading hours for money, Lisa Young gave up her 8 to 5 for a direct sales career that now spans over 11 years. Lisa’s blog, Real Life Marketing, reveals the realities of what it takes to be successful in the eyes of your customer, using real-life examples you can learn from today. You can visit Real Life Marketing at http://lisamrobbin.blogspot.com

Unlike other industry writers, who left direct sales to pursue speaking careers, Lisa is still in the trenches, running her direct sales business and leading her teams to success. Her book, Home Party Solution is a step-by-step method to harness the internet to boost bookings, sales and recruits. Read the first chapter free and subscribe to the monthly business boosting e-zine, “PartyOn!” at http://www.homepartysolution.com

In a report to the FTC, the Direct Sales Association (DSA) reported that “there are 7.2 million direct sellers nationwide and the industry has a very high attrition rate due to the temporary and part-time nature of 90% of our sales force.”

In fact, the direct sales industry is recruiting, on the average, over 70,000 new people per week. Additionally, 6% of U.S. households currently, have an active direct seller living there. 14% of U.S. households have a person who has been a direct seller at one time living in that household.

Sadly, the average attrition rate for Direct Sales companies is approximately 40%, meaning just under half of the people you recruit will stay on for a year – at most.

Most network marketing business owners who have managed to make an effective go of their first year in business find that their second year – and subsequent years – are much more fulfilling, and less problematic. The reason? With a learning curve behind them, consultants are now better able to handle not only product questions, but recruiting, training and the typical sales cycle “ups and downs” as well.

So how do you navigate the rough waters of the start-up year in order to come out ahead in year two?

First, don’t panic. Realize that you’re in business to make money, and that building a business takes time. Most recruits that stick with a company for a year, find that success comes much more easily in subsequent years so keep that result in mind. Commit yourself to staying “active” for a year.

Second, commit to working your business like a business. Hobbies are an occasional activity – something you might participate in a few times per month. In order to be successful in direct sales, you should insist on doing something related to your business every day of the week. It might be customer calls, or hostess coaching, or labeling your catalogs, but every day SOMETHING should be done to improve your business position. Take the weekends and holidays off, but make sure that you’re “operational” during regular business days.

Third, mark your time. Touching your business every work day shouldn’t take the entire work day. On the contrary, you should expect to spend no more than an hour each day that you’re not making presentations. On presentation days, I strongly encourage you to focus on the presentation and not have a lot of other business activities to deal with. You’ll be working hard enough doing your demo, you don’t need your mind distracted with creating hostess packets, promotional, flyers or other items related to your business.

When trying to figure out where you want to take your business financially, it is important to look at your metrics – your average sales per customer, lifetime value of a customer, and average show sales are a good place to start. Start keeping track of this data so you can periodically review it to see what needs improvement.

Next, consider catering to your target market. Target marketing is the process of focusing on a select and specific group of people you are advertising to. And it has everything to do with the product you are selling. For example, if you are marketing infant products, it would be very unwise to market to the elderly. While it’s possible there may be a few clients in that group (like grandparents), your best bet is to focus on new moms – a group that is likely to need infant products! Get to know the people that need your products. They are your target market and that is where you need to focus your marketing energy.

Remember to read and educate yourself by investing time into study. Learn the tricks of the trade. Make friends and associates with reputable trainers and others in your industry. Mastermind with others who have already done what you want to accomplish. It may mean a monetary investment, but you are trading it for valuable experience to shorten your learning curve. Don’t go hog wild, and set a training budget – and stick with it. There’s nothing worse than a new recruit spending all their earnings on the latest training program only to quit because they ran out of money. There will always be training opportunities – and don’t let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise. There

are also plenty of good books at your local library that won’t cost you a dime to read. Don’t make excuses. Learn more to earn more.

Lastly, apply what you have learned. Knowing and doing are not the same. At the end of a year, you will see a dramatic difference in your life, your mindset and your business. Start now to overcome the hurdles of the first year start-up blues. You’ll be amazed at the results.

After nearly 10 years in Direct Sales, Lisa Young stopped listening to her up-line and started seeking professional sales and marketing wisdom from the far corners of big business. Today Lisa offers ready-to-use insights, tips and inspiration to others in the Home Party Plan community looking to run their business like a business and achieve success. Lisa’s free monthly newsletter “PartyOn!” features articles from a business perspective designed to help MLM reps reach their booking, sales and recruiting goals. You can sign up for the newsletter at http://www.HomePartySolution.com

1. One of the first mistakes everyone makes in Recruiting was trying to find that one “perfect” Recruit, that you overlook the other nine who would also been “good” in this business.

2. Different people have different qualities. We constantly try to look or listen for those qualities which make a good designer. Don’t look for someone who is “Miss Perfect”. Nobody is perfect, but everyone can develop the qualities they need to succeed. Encourage the fine qualities the person does have.

3. Talk recruiting to everyone, but don’t try to recruit everyone. There is a difference. Try to look for women who are outgoing, ambitious, fun-loving, and who have a sense of creativity. Women who are like this are easier to Recruit and they are more likely to stay with it.

4. Never recruit with the idea of “what’s in it for me”. Always be willing to help people with the great opportunity. After all someone offered it to you.

5. Don’t wait for someone to approach you. Nine times out of ten, they won’t.

6. Don’t think of recruiting only on parties, Recruits are everywhere you go. Just Listen!

7. Listen to their needs and show how our company can fill them. For instance, if someone needs extra income and wants a job, don’t tell her about the cruises or other prizes. Chances are she won’t believe you simply because she can’t relate to it. Respond with the information she needs to know.

8. Anytime you find the qualities we look for in a recruit, tell her about them and how they would benefit her with your company. She may not even be aware of them.

9. Look for an attractive person but don’t let looks deceive you. Look for someone who smiles and can get along with people, one who loves the products and believed that your company is best for her.

10. Always let them se this JOB as the business it is, as the career they can develop. Whether they want to work full-time or part-time, it is still a job to be done to the best of their ability. If you see your business as a job, so will they.

11. Take her with you an your job, let her actually see how it all works and show her your profit. If you made it look hard, it is over but if it looks easy, she will want to be a part of it.

12. Listen to the woman who loves everything, can’t afford much, is looking for a job, bored, and/or wanting something to do because their children are grown or they want to stay home with their children. Please don’t bypass people who have careers now- for these are the people who want to work and make something of their lives.

Twelve Recruiting Tips for Direct Sales submitted by www.thewahmconnection.com