Success Story: A Direct Seller Makes Herself An Expert

I could not be more excited to share this success story with you!

Last month at a live workshop, I talked about a strategy that will set any direct seller apart in a loud, crowded marketplace. That strategy is positioning yourself as an expert. Here are a couple of ways to do that:

1) Put together a 30 minute presentation about what you help your prospects do. For example, you might help them turn their home into a sanctuary (with fabulous decorating products), or you may help them prepare fast and healthy meals that gets the family to the table together (using great cookware).

2) Become an expert columnist for your local community paper – The Beauty Expert or The Scrapbooking Expert for example.

Now it is important to note that you can’t overtly sell your products in either of these scenarios. You talk about your expertise and give tips and tactics that your audience can use no matter what products they have. BUT when you use visuals at your presentation or mention what you do in your author byline – that is the place to mention your company.

So – now to the success story. A member of the audience who heard me mention these strategies, went home and contacted her local paper and they fell all over themselves asking her to be the Beauty Columnist for a paper with a circulation of 9000!!!! Her first column will run today.

This stuff works – so I hope you will try it!

Love & Success
Sarah

Creative Writing Tips You Can Use In Your Copy

If you’ve ever aspired to write fiction or creative non-fiction you’ll be happy to know there are several ‘rules’ of fiction that apply to effective copywriting technique as well.   

#1  Show Don’t Tell.  This is a hard and fast rule in creative writing. Here’s an example of what it means. 

Telling – Joe walked across the street. 

Showing – Stepping up to the curb, Joe squinted in the bright midday sun.  A dark blue van sped past leaving thick plumes of exhaust in its wake.  Overhead, the shrill ringing signaled it was safe to cross the street.   

With copywriting the technique is a touch different.  Telling in copywriting is listing features and showing is explaining a benefit.  

Telling – Brushed leather seats 

Showing – Easy to clean brushed leather seats are the perfect combination of luxury and convenience.   

Showing, both in creative writing and in copywriting are about creating an experience for your reader.  Who cares that Joe walked across the street and who cares about brushed leather seats?  You have to show the reader a reason to care; you have to give them an experience. 

#2  Be descriptive.   In creative writing and copywriting some of the best descriptive tools are powerful verbs and adjectives.  Why say someone talked when you can say they shouted, whispered, or even muttered?  Why tell them the seats are leather when you can tell them they’re vintage Italian brushed leather?  Painting a vivid image creates powerful prose and powerful copy.  It moves your reader to not only continue reading; it motivates them to make a purchase. 

#3  Don’t be afraid to bend or even break grammar rules.  Commercial fiction is rife with bad grammar and it isn’t because the editors are lazy, it is because sometimes bad grammar just works better, particularly if you’re writing conversational copy. 

We don’t always speak in complete sentences and we sometimes end our sentences in prepositions or begin a sentence with AND, OR and BUT.  Conversational copy has been proven to work quite well at converting – go ahead and let a few strategically placed grammar errors by in the name of good copy. 

While not everyone aspires to write fiction, heck some don’t aspire to write copy either, it can be helpful to learn a few tricks of the trade because good writing and storytelling has universal appeal. 

Show your reader what’s in it for them, instead of telling them, be descriptive and paint a picture.  Let your reader imagine themselves using your product or service and being successful.  AND use words and grammar strategically to make your points.

Combining Service Based & Passive Income Businesses

Many moms find themselves starting out online with a service-based business which a perfect way to transition from working outside the home to inside, but soon find themselves wanting a more passive way to bring in more money without adding to their work load. So, how can you successfully combine the two without becoming a slave to your computer or your clients?

1. Value and schedule your time in the service-based side of business. It’s too easy to let the excitement of a more passive income overtake your time. You must value your client time just as much as you do your personal business work or your clients, their work, and your income will suffer.
2. Charge what you are worth. When it comes to those in a service based business, it’s easy to charge dirt cheap prices to get work, but if you do this you’ll find you have to work more hours in order to make the amount of money you are looking for. Doing so cuts into the time necessary to grow your passive income.

On the flip side, you have to be careful not to overcharge either. If you charge rates that are through the roof, you might find it hard to retain clients if you aren’t producing the results they need to keep working with you. Be sure you are finding that perfect balance between what you are worth and what your market is willing to pay.

3. When estimating length of time to complete a project, be realistic. This is important no matter how you charge your clients, but especially if you offer per project rates. You don’t want to under-schedule your time on a project because doing so will put you behind on your passive income business and other client work.
4. Keep the two very separate. Chunk your work time into client time and personal business time. By doing this, you don’t get behind on either one and can continually grow both as you need to. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you can’t expect any business to be either.
5. Know exactly what you are doing every time you get on the computer. Again, you must have a plan in order to balance everything. Without a schedule and set amounts of time to devote to both of your businesses and your family, something will suffer and the majority of the time it ends up being yourself.

Passive and service based businesses can be run successfully, but not without proper planning and prioritizing. Be sure you think things through before jumping in with both feet.

Are You Suited For Blogging?

While visiting a high profile A-List blog, I noticed an interesting comment. The commenter believed that some people are just not suited to blogging because they have nothing to say.

I personally believe most people – if not everyone is suited for blogging.

Why? Because blogging is like verbalizing – or rather putting down into writing your thoughts. If you don’t have a chatter box in your head then well… I guess you are not suited for blogging. But honestly, how many people you know don’t talk to themselves everyday, all through the day? I don’t know many people who don’t.

Personally, I have a gazillion thoughts running through my head every hour. If I didn’t blog and put them down even if it’s a private blog for my own purpose, I would go crazy. But here’s the big question.

What if you’re blogging for business? How many things can you say about your business anyway? Won’t you run out of topics?

Hmm… good point, but if you cannot think of much to say about your industry, then you may be in the wrong industry. What I’m trying to get at is this.

Most entrepreneurs I know have lots to talk about. They are asked a ton of questions on a regular basis. Some of it repeating.

They are also constantly seeking out new information, news or ideas about their product, their company or their industry. They also have lots to say about doing business in general.

Try going for coffee with another entrepreneur. Do you run out of things to chat about? I think if you and I got on the phone right now we’d chat up a storm. Or, try talking to someone with the same interests. If you sell hand made jewelry, I bet you know a lot about them too. Get up with another who makes or enjoys hand made jewelry and you could probably talk all day. All that is worth blogging about.

If you’re stuck looking for things to blog about, download this handbook. Keep it by your computer. Flip through it when you feel at a loss for words. I’ll bet you’ll find at least one thing to blog about.

5 Tips To Beat Writer’s Block

Writers block knocks even the most prolific of writers to their knees on occasion.  It seems to pop up during the most inconvenient times.  Your product is ready to launch and that sales page just isn’t working or your auto responder needs to go out and all you have written is “Lesson #1”  

Sound familiar?   Here are 5 tips to kick writer’s block out of the way and get down to work. 

#1  Change your topics into questions.  For example, if you’re writing an autoresponder mini course and your subject is organizing your home office you can turn it into a question to answer – “What is the best way to organize my home office?”  Or “How do I begin to organize my home office?” 

Answering a question is significantly easier than writing an essay on a topic.  This strategy works well if you’re writing a book or a report too.  Simply take your detailed table of contents and change each section into a question.  It will literally take you minutes to answer each question, your copy will be conversational, and it will flow better.  Try it! 

#2  Write without judgment.  One of the biggest hurdles to writing is our inner critic.  Silence your inner critic by declaring that “The first draft is going to be awful.”  Now all you have to do is sit down and write that awful first draft.  What does this accomplish?  You’re getting words down on paper.  Granted, they may not be the words you end up with but first drafts rarely are.  Their purpose is simply to get you started to get ideas and concepts down on paper.  When you get rid of your inner critic the copy, no matter how awful it is, will flow a little easier. 

#3  Break your task into smaller parts.  Writing a sales page can be an overwhelming task.  Instead of sitting down to write the entire page, break it up into manageable steps like writing the headline, writing the call to action, writing the first paragraph, writing the PS, writing the “proof.”  Not only will you have a sense of accomplishment after each section is completed, the smaller steps may inspire new ideas for your copy.   

#4  Use a blueprint.  One of the easiest ways to avoid getting stuck knee deep in writer’s block is to follow a proven structure.  AIDA, attention, interest, desire, and action work well for sales copy as does the 4 Ps, Picture, Promise, Prove, Push.   

#5  Write the easy stuff first.  Are headlines your nemesis?  Save them for last?  Is the call to action your easiest step?  Write it first. As you accomplish each section of writing, it will generate ideas and inspiration that will lead into the other areas of your copy. 

 Writer’s block doesn’t have to stop you.  Accept it, face it head on, and work through it using one of the five options suggested above.  If all else fails set your writing aside for a designated period of time with a promise that you’ll come back to it in a few minutes, an hour, or a day. 

The Value of Apprenticeship

This past Thursday, we completed our Writing for the Web class and are already getting posts thanking us for the cool online education.

Now the folks who watched the Webinars and did their homework have started apprenticing with some web site owners to get some practical hands-on training.

The VA’s who took our Virtual Assistant class at the end of last year are now in their second phase of apprenticeship.

They all seem to be loving it!

Plus, they are learning so much from those they are serving.

People often ask me why I expect our students to be involved in an apprenticeship. They question its value and wonder if we are just trying to get some free work out of the newly-trained students.

That’s because this country has forgotten the concept of true education that results from apprenticing with a master or someone who is more knowledgeable about a topic.

In early America, that’s how most of the craftsmen were trained.

That’s the principle behind medical and legal internships.

Mentors can teach a wide variety of topics so don’t limit your scope when looking for great education.

In education, it’s very valuable to have access to someone who knows more about the subject than you do.

In fact, having a mentor cuts your learning curve by years because they can steer you away from the mistakes they’ve made.

So whenever you get the opportunity to participate in an apprenticeship, realize that the good you will get out of it way outweighs the amount of work you have to do for someone that is seemingly “free.”

The experience you get is one thing; but the contacts and association you make with the mentor is often way more valuable than the skill you learn.

Don’t forget, in business, it’s not what you know that counts, it’s who knows you!

So many books, so little time…

Rhea!

who thinks everyone should teach at least one class in their life and mentor one other person

The Challenge of Recruiting in Direct Sales

Recruiting is down.  I hear it across the industry. I also hear everyone scrambling to explain why.  They are focusing on the wrong thing.

We can spend lots of time trying to diagnose why OR we can examine our recruiting tactics, sharpen them and move forward.

Which sounds like the bigger help to your business? Right.  I thought so! So let’s look at a 4-step process to re-focus your recruting strategies.

1) Who are you recruiting?  Anyone who breathes?  That might be your first mistake.  Take a look at your team.  Who do you naturally attract?  What kind of person do you work with most easily to build success?  Write out a description of EXACTLY who you are looking for (some of my clients even name their perfect prospect).  Yes I am asking you to be selective – extremely selective.

2) Once you’ve defined your very specific prospect, pull out all the material on your business opportunity.  Now divide a piece of paper into two columns.  On the left side, write down all the challenges you can think of that your specific prospect might experience (lack of time with children, for example, or lack of career growth in current job).  Once you make that list, move to the right-hand column and come up with a specific way your business opportunity might solve that challenge.  Yes, I am again asking you to be specific:)

3) When you are out and about at your shows, classes, networking events, etc., ask my favorite question “So, what’s your biggest challenge these days?” – stop talking and listen, listen, listen to what they tell you.  Do not, I repeat do not, jump in the first time they draw breathe – let them talk and talk and talk.  Your job at this point is to gather important information – that is all.

4) Using your two columns of information and the challenges your conversation partner just laid out, you can help them solve their biggest problems with YOUR products and services.  Now don’t throw up on them.  Ask for permission to share some things that MIGHT help.  Then share just a couple of things from your list.  Stop. Wait and see if they move toward you.  If they do, great, continue the conversation.  If they don’t, change the subject so you don’t seem pushy.

This is by no means a fool-proof formula and I am not guaranteeing that it will rack up recruiting awards for you.

I am promising that you will appear more professional and more interested in the other person’s needs by using this approach.  You will also position yourself as someone who is more interested in others than in “pushing” your business opportunity. 

I can also promise you that this approach will set you apart in the loud crowded marketplace of recruiting in direct sales/network marketing – and that is something you can be proud of!

Love & Success!
Sarah

What Is Your USP?

USP or Unique Selling Proposition is a term that was coined in the 1940s by Advertising Mogul Ted Bates of Bates and Reeves, one of the largest advertising agencies of its time, to explain the success of several advertising campaigns.  They defined USP as a statement that contained these three elements:

1. Each advertisement/statement must make a proposition to the consumer.
2. The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not offer. It must be unique–either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
3. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions.

USP has since been adopted by copywriting, branding, and marketing professionals to expand beyond an advertising claim to encompass a slogan or theme for a company.  Every company, brand, product, or service has something unique they can stake a claim to.  

 Here are some of the original superstars of USP 

Domino’s Pizza: “You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less — or it’s free.”

 FedEx: “Your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight”M&M’s: “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand”  

What makes your company, product or service unique?  What is your competitive advantage?  Here are a few questions to ask yourself: 

·         What differentiates your product or service?  Amazon.com claims to be the “World’s Biggest Bookstore.”   

·         Fill in the rest of this sentence – Unlike most of my competitors I _________________________. 

·         What are the benefits of using your product or service?  Now which of those benefits are unique to your product or service? 

·         What weaknesses can you take advantage of?  Avis uses the USP “We’re Number 2.  We try harder.”

 Spend some time brainstorming a USP if you don’t have one already.  It will help you build and strengthen your brand, it will help potential customers remember you when they need your product or service and like the compelling USPs of old, a strong USP will sell your product or service. 

 

 

The A-Z of Staying Motivated

With the countless negativities that we encounter on a daily basis, at times roadblocks pop up in front of us that can throw us off track and knock the wind out of us, our dreams and our desires.  Here is an A-Z list of positive ways to stay motivated: 

A – Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

B – Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C – Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D – Don’t give up and don’t give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E – Enjoy. Work as if you don’t need money. Dance as if nobody’s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you’ll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F – Family and Friends – are life’s greatest ‘F’ treasures. Don’t loose sight of them.

G – Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H – Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don’t let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people – the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.

J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K – keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.
L – Learn to love your self. Now isn’t that easy?

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N – Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P – Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah build the ark.

S – Stop procrastinating.

T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

U – Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on “extras” on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you’re just going to spend it once.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

Do you see any letters up there that you need assistance with?  Are there any letters up there that really speak to you?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.  I have to say that “Z” feels really great!!

EBay’s Increase In Final Value Fees… A Good Thing?

I was writing an article on this topic… and it turned into an 8 page report. You’ll find an excerpt below… Click here for the entire report about how eBay’s increase in final value fees can be a good thing.

When I shared with my husband how eBay was changing it’s fee and feedback structure… his first response, “Why not go to another auction site?” Are you asking yourself the same question? The thing is… not only is eBay currently the largest and most visited auction site… eBay continues to reward its buyers. So, guess where the buyers (customers) are going to go… eBay! From a business perspective, doesn’t it make sense to go where the customers are?

What if I said – hang in there… it might not be so bad! What if there was another way? Look at it this way… what if you could figure out a way to USE eBay to build a business or revenue stream and not have the fee increases or some of the policy changes affect you to a point where you might consider leaving eBay all together? What if you could make money on eBay without selling?

There is. Seriously.

It might take a little ‘thinking outside the box’ – but, there are many ways to sell on eBay and build a business around eBay… and not be hurt by some of these changes. In fact, I’m going to show you how eBay’s increase in final value fees could be a GOOD thing! Go ahead… read that again – I’m going to show you how eBay’s increase in final value fees could be a GOOD thing!

First – Let’s look at a way to make money selling on eBay without really selling anything… huh?

Are you familiar at all with affiliate programs? An affiliate program is when someone has a product they are selling and then pays others a commission (or referral fee) if they sell the product for them.

EBay has an affiliate program. The way it works is… after you sign up to be in their program, you get a special ‘affiliate’ link. This link has a code embedded in it that enables eBay to track who sent the referral to them. If the person who clicked on your special ‘affiliate’ link purchases, you get a percentage of that sale… that’s it – you don’t take the pictures… you don’t list the item… you don’t ship it… In fact, you never deal with the customer… but, you still make money from it.

But, wait – it gets better! There are a couple cool kickers to this strategy…

Kicker #1 – the affiliate link is cookied for 7 days. This means that if the person who clicked on your link to get into eBay doesn’t buy the item your link pointed to – but browses around and within 7 days buys something else on eBay YOU GET A COMMISSION! Even if they leave eBay and come back 7 days later… YOU GET A COMMISSION!

Kicker #2 – (this is where the higher final value fee can be a GOOD thing for you) eBay bases their commission on the final value fee of the item sold. EBay just raised their final value fees… If you are making any money through eBay’s affiliate program – this is actually GOOD news because it means higher commissions!

This is just a bit of what is in the free report… learn how to take advantage of eBay’s affiliate program and get into any niche making money on eBay without every selling a thing. Click here to sign up for the free report… Enjoy!

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