Be a hot guest

Be a hot guest

by: Shannon Cherry

Want to make an impact with your online business in front of thousands of people just by talking? Stop dreaming about Oprah… and start doing radio.

Did you know that American radio stations need more than 10,000 guests per day to fill their shows? Plus there are thousands internet radio shows on the Net. And, the internetกs next big thing: podcasting, is now becoming a great way to talk about your products or services. The skyกs the limit with opportunties for any online business.

Radio producers are constantly looking for compelling guests. And the key to getting their attention is to make sure that whatever you’re going to talk about is:

Controversial. Producers LOVE anything that gets their phone lines going. And nothing does the trick like a good argument.

Entertaining. If you can make people laugh and tell them fascinating stories, youกll always be in demand as a radio guest.

Informative. Give people useful, timely information. Give them stuff that makes them say, กWow! Thatกs amazing! I didn’t know that!ก

Or a combination of the three.

Your first step is to come up with topic ideas that are interesting, fun, controversial, new or unusual. Make sure that your topic is appealing to the listeners. You need to focus on a problem and why you’re the solution. Don’t focus on the product or service you want to promote.

Here are the top ten most appealing subjects to help you get thinking about your topic:

Sex and relationships

Saving money

School violence

Corruption

Sexual harassment

Health and fitness

Hollywood & celebrities

Sports

Making money

Travel

Now narrow that focus down to a title that’s attractive to your target audience. For an online entrepreneur coach, you may come up with: ‘the NoStress Way to Start Your Own Online Business.ก For a gift basket maker, your title may be: กGet Your Partner Ready for Romance with Small Gifts.ก A internet safety expert could use the title กKeeping Your Child Safe Online, Even While You’re at Work.ก

Once you’ve got a great title, you need to create what I call a Hot Guest Sheet, similar to a speaker’s onesheet, this onepage document highlights the title and outlines why you are the perfect guest for the topic. This Hot Guest Sheet should also have the following information:

Your credentials. If you’ve written a book, articles or even an ezine, mention it. You’re looking to show the producer you are an authority on the topic.

A brief bio that really sells your personality. Give information that gives people insight into who you are, not just what you do.

Give some idea of what the audience will learn from you. These should tease the producer, making him or her compelled to want to know more.

A list of other places where you’ve been interviewed previously.

Possible questions the interviewer can ask you.

Your contact info

Once you have all the information together for your Hot Guest Sheet, all you need to do is fax it to producers. But remember, just like any media outlet, each radio has a target market, or demographic, so be sure to only send your Hot Guest Sheet to producers who match your target audience. After all, if your target market is women in their 30s, your not going to want to send your sheet to a heavy metal station. Women in their 30s tend not to be headbangers, so you’d be wasting time and money sending it to that producer. Always keep in mind your target audience.

Copyright 2005 Cherry Communications/Be Heard Solutions

About The Author

Shannon Cherry, APR, MA helps businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofit organizations to be heard. She’s a marketing communications and public relations expert with more than 15 years experience and the owner of Cherry Communications. Subscribe today for Be Heard! a FREE biweekly ezine and get the FREE special report: กGet Set For Success: Creative, LowCost Marketing Tips to Help You be Heard.ก Go to: http://www.cherrycommunications.com/FreeReport.htm

This article was posted on April 22

by Shannon Cherry

Marketing or Selling Which Is More Important?

Marketing or Selling Which Is More Important?

by: C.J. Hayden

A question I often get from clients and students goes something like this: กIกve been collecting marketing ideas… and I have a drawer full! I also have a stack of promising leads Iกve accumulated. And I know itกs important to stay visible, so I do a lot of networking, but then I just end up with more names in the stack. How do I prioritize all this?ก

If youกve ever wondered something similar, you may have lost sight of a very important truth the way to win the marketing game is not to collect the most leads; itกs to make the most sales. Marketing activities that increase your number of sales are good, and activities that don’t are bad, even if they bring in plenty of leads. If you don’t follow up on the leads you gather, you are throwing away your time and money.

The main purpose of marketing strategies like public speaking, writing articles, getting publicity, networking, promotional events, and advertising is to gain visibility. (A secondary purpose of the first three strategies can be to gain credibility.) Why do you want to be visible? Itกs not just so people will know who you are and what you do, itกs so they will do business with you.

If someone has already expressed interest in doing business, call them. Do it now. Memorize this rule following up on hot, or even warm, client leads is always more important than marketing for more visibility.

There is a simple diagnostic test you can take to see where you need to focus your marketing vs. selling efforts, which I call the Universal Marketing Cycle. Think of the marketing and sales process as a water system that begins by filling your pipeline with leads. The pipeline empties into your followup pool, which you are continually dipping into.

Your intent is to move the leads further along in the system, to making a presentation of some kind (by phone or in person), and finally closing the sale.

Where are you stuck in this system? Is it in filling the pipeline to begin with? Or is the pipeline full, but you haven’t been following up? Perhaps you have been following up, but don’t seem to be getting to the presentation stage. Or maybe you are making presentations but not closing sales. Wherever you seem to be stuck is the area that needs more effort.

When you have promising leads you aren’t contacting, the followup stage is clearly your stuck place. Take that stack of leads and sort them into three categories: prospective clients, useful networking contacts, and other. Now sort the prospective clients into hot, warm, and cold. Stop right there and follow up with all the hot and warm leads.

If, and I do mean if, you still need to do more work about marketing after following up with all those leads, go to the networking contacts and sort them into two groups: people who can lead you directly to prospective clients, and people who can lead you to other marketing opportunities, e.g. a new networking group or a speaking engagement. Stop, and you guessed it, follow up with the people who might have leads for you.

You should now have three groups left: cold client leads, people who can lead you to marketing opportunities, and other. Now is the time to decide whether you need to do something new to market yourself at all. Look at what you have been doing so far to get all those hot and warm leads you had. Maybe you just need to do more of the same.

If thatกs true, put those cold leads aside, because youกll have more hot and warm ones shortly. If you need to do something different to get better leads than what you had, go ahead and explore one of the new marketing possibilities in your second group, or one of the ideas stashed away in that drawer. And that กotherก group? Throw them away. They are just cluttering up your pipeline.

About The Author

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of กFive Secrets to Finding All the Clients Youกll Ever Needก at http://www.getclientsnow.com

This article was posted on February 14

by C.J. Hayden

Explode Your Business With An Avalanche of Hot Rab

Explode Your Business With An Avalanche of Hot Rabid Customers

by: Matt Bacak

Explode Your Business With An Avalanche Of Hot Rabid Customers, Clients And Future Clients That Are Hungry For What You Have To Offer.

Dear Friend,

You can make a decent income selling products and services but you can become insanely rich by creating and controlling markets.

Thatกs what Iกll help you to do.

You see the Internet is the cheapest and easiest way to attract and capture people who are interested in what you have to offer.

How?

Ezines, newsletters, ecourses, Internet magazines. (They are all the same nothing different but their names.)

Just think back to the last time that you did a search on the Internet. Were you looking for something to solve your problem? Yeah, tons of people everyday are doing the same exact thing and they are looking for you.

If you’re like most people, you just have a simple website that searchers can go to, and like most people they come check you out and leave. And you never have any idea who they were, and because of that, you don’t have a way to followup.

Boy, you are missing out. Big time!

Because the fortune is in the followup.

See, if you created a newsletter, ezine or whatever you want to call it, you could capture their email address and market to them over and over again.

Now you have created your own market of which you are in control.

This *will* dramatically increase that amount of money that you make and your business will skyrocket because of all the great things that you can offer them. Whether it is a special sale, a free trial offer, a sample of your book, or sample of your product, the list goes on and on. You can make thousands or even millions because you created and control a market of tons of people that are just hot and hungry for your information, products or services.

Warmest Regards,

Matt Bacak

The Powerful Promoter

#1 Best Selling Author & Trainer

TollFree #: 1866MATT123

http://www.PowerfulPromoter.com

P.S. กIกm Turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts Into Overnight Success Stories! You want to be next?ก

First step, go here: http://www.promotingtips.com

About The Author

Matt Bacak, The Powerful Promoter and Entrepreneur Magazine eBiz radio show host, became a ก#1 Best Selling Authorก in just a few short hours. He has helped a number of clients target his specialty, optin email direct marketing systems. The Powerful Promoter is not only a soughtafter internet marketer but has also marketed for some of the worldกs top experts whose reputations would shrivel if their followers ever found out someone else coached them on their online marketing strategies. For more information, visit Bacakกs site at http://www.powerfulpromoter.com

This article was posted on March 29

by Matt Bacak

Basic Marketing Dope

Basic Marketing Dope

by: Joy Gendusa

Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics – that’s true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them you really won’t have to sweat the small stuff.

Hot Dope #1) The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number (and not someone else’s) when they need the services you offer.

Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they weren’t given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audience’s attention.

Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular ขHot Dopeข cannot be stressed enough – and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.

You should also know that taking the time to really see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. Don’t just totally give up when a response is low – persistence is vital.

Hot dope # 2) Measure your Return On Investment (ROI) in terms of actual MONEY not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the MONEY that it brings in has more value than the MONEY and time that is spent on the marketing.

Don’t fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding to a large number of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the amount of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.

Hot dope #3) It is much easier to กsellก a prospect once you get them to call or come in to your store. In 2Step Marketing, step 1 is to get them interested; step 2 is having them speak to a representative to get all the details – and get ขclosedข by that representative.

Your design must be eye catching and informative, but don’t try to close the sale by explaining all of the details in one piece of advertising. The details of a business transaction often take many more words to explain than the main concept of what is being sold. For example, if your company offers great prices depending on the quantity purchased, there is no need to list the prices for every quantity that you sell. Simply give examples of two or three different quantities and state somewhere in the advertisement that other discounts are available for other quantities. This will prompt them to call to get the rest of the details once you have gotten their interest.

Marketing can be as simple as 123 when you know the basics. By no means have I given you all the basics here, but by learning and implementing these 3 marketing fundamentals, you are already on your way to marketing success!

About The Author

Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998; her only assets a computer and a phone. In 2004 the company did close to $9 million in sales and employs over 60 persons. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Now she’s sharing her marketing secrets to others. For more free marketing advice, visit her website at www.postcardmania.com

This article was posted on February 10

by Joy Gendusa

Why Itกs a BAD Idea To Promote Hot Selling Product

Why Itกs a BAD Idea To Promote Hot Selling Products on eBay

by: Alexis Dawes

Do a quick search on Google, Yahoo, or your favorite auction resource site, and youกll quickly discover there are several software programs targeted to vendors who want to promote hot selling products on eBay.

The infatuation with hot selling products exists because sellers believe if you target items that have a robust sales pattern, youกll have a better chance at profiting on eBay. This is both true and false.

Yes… hot selling products can improve your bottom line. But unfortunately by the time the average eBay seller (a) realizes what the hot selling products are, (b) purchases stock to sell on eBay, and (c) actually puts the items up for sale, the demand is already being met by other eBay sellers who probably started the hot selling product trend some time ago.

Not only that, with thousands of people also having access to the same hot selling product lists, youกll have to contend with other eBay vendors who have the exact same ideas that you do. So youกll be up against the original sellers who are currently feeding the demand, AND doing the tango with newer sellers who have jumped on the same hot selling product bandwagon that you did.

Okay maybe this won’t happen to you.

But suppose it does.

What if competition becomes so great that prices start dipping below the wholesale cost that you paid for the item? (It happens all the time on eBay.) And what if you lose $100, $200, or even $1,000 on inventory that you thought would be flying off the shelf? Suddenly that hot selling item is looking rather cold sitting in your garage collecting dust.

So if not hot selling products on eBay, then what?

Do what the majority of PowerSellers do. Sell what you want, instead of whatกs hot. Repeat after me, กEvery day ordinary items sell extremely well on eBay… Every day ordinary items sell extremely well on eBay… Every day ordinary items sell extremely well on eBay.ก Allow this to become your mantra, because it is very much true.

I know this from firsthand experience as I analyze top sellers instead of hot products. And my research has continuously shown me that mediocre products don’t necessarily translate into mediocre sales.

For instance, thereกs a seller right now who clears about $1,000$2,000 a week selling magnets. And thatกs AFTER eBay and PayPal feeกs. Another seller promotes homemade CDกs to a specific audience and clears $900$2,000 a week. A few sellers make $500$700+ a week after expenses promoting public domain information. And the cool thing about public domain information is that anybody can sell it because itกs free. So thatกs pure profit by selling something they never paid for. Talk about the ultimate arbitrage opportunity!

The ultimate key in succeeding no matter what product you end up selling, is to build a successful strategy. To figure out กhowก to profitably market what you have, instead of chasing after the next great thing. Because once you have the strategy part down, you can sell anything on eBay and make it a hot seller to your bank account.

Copyright 2005 Alexis Dawes

About The Author

Alexis Dawes is a student of eBay sales strategies, instead of hot selling products. Sheกs the developer behind Auction Seller Analyzer, a Windowsbased application that inspects eBay sellers auctions to determine the winning strategies they’re using. You can get more information about Auction Seller Analyzer at (http://www.AuctionSellerAnalyzer.com).

This article was posted on August 24

by Alexis Dawes

Top Ways To Create Ideas For Your Next Highly Read

Top Ways To Create Ideas For Your Next Highly Read Article

by: Steve Searls

If you want to make money online a good strategy that won’t cost you a dime is to write articles that relate to your product or service.

Search Engines are constantly on the กlook outก for freshly written content that has been submitted online. So how do you come up with ideas for your next article? Here are several suggestions that may help…

Hang out in online forums. Watch what people are talking about. Look at the questions they are asking. The topics that are bringing the greatest number of visitors would make for an excellent article.

Take a look at what information is being broadcast on TV, radio, newspapers, and online. This information is usually a hot topic.

Read blogs. What are people posting about? What kind of comments are they leaving? What questions do they have? Blogs are the hot internet marketing medium right now and you can literally find them everywhere on any topic. This is an excellent source for your next article idea.

Survey your current customers or website visitors. Ask them what kind of article they would like to see in your next ezine or published on your website.

Check bookstores online. What are the top sellers? This can be a good way to come up with an article that catches the attention of what people are reading.

Be seasonal. Write about what is going on that time of year. Holidays, festivals, sports, graduations, etc. all make for an article that someone will want to read.

Write an article about a current fad. There is always something that is hot at the time and could make for interesting reading from you.

Keep track of what your customers and prospects are asking you. If you get an email or phone call with a question this may make for a good article. Others may have the same question, but are afraid to ask it.

Start a swipe file on what others are writing about. If it is of interest to you it will probably be of interest to others. Never plagiarize the work of others, but you can certainly get good ideas this way. The biggest benefit of a swipe file is having it handy to refer back to over and over whenever you are ready to write your article and are not sure what you want to write about.

If you still find it hard to write about your idea, you can hire a professional to ghostwrite it for you. The costs are minimal and, considering whatกs at stake, it could be the best investment you ever make.

Hereกs a couple of resources to find professionally written articles.

http://www.elance.com

http://www.dmmarket.com/igr

Hopefully this will give you some ideas on how to come up with your next article. The internet marketer who can write interesting articles has a huge leg up on their competition. If you can master this strategy there is no limit to how much money you can make online.

About The Author

Steve Searls makes it easy to increase your cashflow with his free report, the ก5 Key Ways to Build Traffic, Subscribers, and Customersก.

http://www.parttimesoltions.com/traffic

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 29

by Steve Searls

Simple Business Tactics Are Your Key To Success

Simple Business Tactics Are Your Key To Success

by: Cathy Qazalbash

In a world full of complications sometimes we overlook the simple things in life. We are so busy trying to work out our twisted problems that we miss out on the simple secrets to success. The same can be said of our businesses. We get caught up in endless problems when all we really need to do is to step back and see the simple alternatives, that will lead us to success. Sometimes we need to think with the simplicity of a child.
Not so long ago, Summer holidays (vacation) in the USA meant the rebirth of the Lemonade Empire. Enterprising children of about 10 years and up set up their lemonade stands and earned themselves some holiday money. A note to all who do not live in the USA, school children in USA have a 3 month vacation in the summer, allowing them a great deal of free time. This was before the year round schools that have tried to cut down the long summer vacation. The Lemonade era was in full swing in these ขgood old days.ข
The Lemonade King/Queen, who would earn the most money by the end of the vacation, depended on individual factors. Being children they did not have any complicated ขthink tanksก or secret board meetings, they relied on simple business skills and techniques. Let me explain with these few points.
There was a need/market: Hot thirsty people, (most of the USA has hot Summers) A proven hot selling product: Cold Lemonade is the ultimate drink for a hot Summer day. Cheap premises, simple set up and low overhead: A stand with supplies at the curb( side of the road) would not be too expensive.
However there was hot competition, many children on vacation, and this is where simple business tactics came into play. Just 3 examples:
The Price War:
One child was selling Lemonade for 10c Another for 15c A third for 25c
All had simple stands with a white board saying Lemonade 10c/15c/25c. They had stands that stood alone, with no related service.
Location:
Each Lemonade Stand owner vied for the best traffic location, some got lucky others not. All fair in the Lemonade game. Then came:
The Ultimate Marketer: A small girl was selling lemonade for 30c and she was the talk of the neighborhood. She was selling more and charging more, how could that be? Here were her simple secrets.
Her notice did not just say Lemonade 30c. It said ขFreshly Squeezed Lemonade, Made Just For Youข She greeted all her customers personally. She took obvious pride in her wares and stand. Her stand was simply and nicely decorated and spotlessly clean. However she did not stop here. She set up her stand next door to the most popular Hot Dog/snack stand. This vender was well known throughout the neighborhood for his great food and service. He had a great location near many offices on a busy street and he was not just seasonal he was there all year round so everybody knew him. He was the perfect compliment to the little girl’s lemonade stand. Plus he was a friendly fellow and always recommended his customers to have some delicious lemonade with their lunch/snacks. Of course she also returned the favor.
Now we can all learn from the simple business principles that made this small entrepreneur the talk of the town. To recap:
She had the market (thirsty people) The product: Great tasting lemonade She improved her ad copy, her notice was better than her competitors. She treated all her customers well, going out of her way to make them feel comfortable. Added value. Happy customers=repeat customers, good service = word of mouth marketing, a very powerful form of promotion. A clean, attractive and professional stand attracted more customers. Her strong link with a large popular seller helped her to sell more. Because of all these factors and the added value of customer service she could charge premium price.
All these simple business tactics can be applied to your business and not only help you get ahead of the competition but make more money with less fuss. No need for, time consuming think tanks, and board meetings. These simple principles are right under our noses, we just have to apply them. Think with the simplicity of a child and your business will run more smoothly, be more efficient, and ultimately make you more money.

About The Author

Cathy Qazalbash is the Publisher of A1Newsletter

A free newsletter for start up businesses

Helping all who are determined to succeed

She is also a freelance writer/copywriter

http://a1newsletters.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 14, 2004

by Cathy Qazalbash

Putting Screensavers Under Control

Putting Screensavers Under Control

by: Roman Kramar

No matter how much you enjoy your favorite screensavers, sometimes they can be rather annoying. Don’t like them interrupting your presentations? Hate them disturbing you watching movies? Look no further. This article will show you how to gain full control over your screensavers in no time.
Thereกs no doubt screensavers bring a pleasant variety to your desktop. Not to mention they prevent your monitor from burnins. Still there are times they had better sit quiet and hadn’t interfered with your work.
Demonstrating a slideshow, watching a movie, reading an article all these activities and many others may leave your computer with no keyboard and mouse input for a few minutes. Depending on your preferred settings, two or three minutes of inactivity may be enough for a screensaver to start and interrupt your work when it shouldn’t.
The obvious solution to the problem is disabling screensavers right before any of those activities. However, itกs very likely youกll forget to do it. Furthermore, itกs even more likely youกll forget to turn screensavers back on later, thus leaving yourself without their benefits for indefinite time.
Thankfully, we are not the first people who encountered this problem. Quite many different tools already exist to help you. They range from simple support for screensavers in some applications to universal and powerful tools to control them.
If screensavers interrupt you often when you watch movies, but otherwise don’t bother you, you may find it sufficient to use a media player that has a builtin support for screensavers. For example, Winamp and The Playa have an option to prevent screensavers from starting while they play a movie. Consider using one of them or another media player having that option unless you are looking for a more versatile tool.
For those of you whoกd like to have full control no matter what you do, there are many universal applications. This time we will talk about two of them.
If you want a program that is easy to use and that would allow you to disable screensavers quickly and then easily enable them, Hot Corners is right for you. Itกs a small tool letting you control screensavers in three ways:

by moving the mouse into one of the screen corners
by pressing a combination of keys on your keyboard
by clicking an icon in the system tray

You can set one screen corner for disabling screensavers and another for starting them. This way moving the mouse into the first corner will prevent any screensaver from starting. Moving the mouse into the second corner will start your default screensaver. Holding the mouse in any other place of your desktop will make screensavers behave in the usual manner. For you convenience, Hot Corners allow you to vary the size of the corners. This way you won’t waste too much time positioning the mouse precisely.
Alternatively, you can set a pair of keyboard shortcuts to quickly disable or activate a screensaver. You may prefer this method if you extensively use the keyboard while working.
Another useful feature of Hot Corners is Power Management control. Not only it can prevent screensavers from starting, but it also won’t let your monitor to go in power saving and poweroff modes.
Hot Corners were created by South Bay Software, and are available for download from
http://www.southbaypc.com/HotCorners/
Another interesting tool is Galt Screen Control by Galt Technology. It definitely lacks the variety of screensaver control methods available in Hot Corners. Nevertheless, it has many other features you may find useful.
There is only one way to disable screensavers using Galt Screen Control. You will have to right click the application icon in the system tray and select the corresponding option.
But thereกs more in it than simply disabling screensavers. You can select an option that will disable them for 1/2, 1, 2, or 4 hours, giving you even finer control. This way you will never forget to enable screensavers back later. Galt Screen Control provides an easy and convenient way to launch or configure any installed screensaver. It requires you just two menu clicks. Furthermore, the tool can select a random screensaver when you ask it. Alternatively, it can do it on each program startup or on an hourly basis.
You can download Galt Screen Control from
http://www.galttech.com/screenshots/screencontrol.html
Now that Iกve shared these little secret tools with you, itกs time to show your screensavers their real master. Don’t waste a second! Put them under control!

About The Author

Roman Kramar is a software developer who enjoys writing screensavers as his time permits. Visit his site at http://www.elasticsystems.com/ to find out more about screensavers and his work.

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 30, 2004

by Roman Kramar

What Is The Secret To Motivating Your Downline?

What Is The Secret To Motivating Your Downline?

by: David B. Ledoux

I just snapped.
I couldn’t take it any more.
I starting sobbing, and I gripped the steering wheel with both hands in a choke hold. My vision blurred from the tears as I drove the 2 hours back…another freaking noshow. I was in my $800 rusty van with no heat and a hole in the roof.
It was March 1995. I had been married less than 30 days. Nearly my entire downline of 86 had quit, leaving me with just 5 people. If I didn’t recruit someone within 48 hours, I wouldn’t qualify for a check. And if I didn’t qualify for a check, I wouldn’t have money for gas, phone or food…
It was a low point in my career as a professinal network marketer…one of the hundreds of low points in 16 years.
Have you been there?
If not, why not?
Think about that for a second. Has your MLM business brought you to the point of tears, ever? If not, why not?
I recently asked networkers to email me their biggest problem. If you didn’t get that offer, you can check it out at http://www.ilovemlm.com/problem Do you know what one of the most talked about problems was?
How do I motivate my downline?
If you ever want to cause a brawl, ask that question at a mastermind of top leaders and your company president at a big function sometime. There are as many theories on motivation as there are morons in politics.
Hereกs my three cents on the issue.
I believe motivation is caused by a mental question. The question might be, กWhy should I pick up the phone and call prospects today?ก
The question is repeated in the subconscious. Our inner dialogue triggers a routine in our mental programming. The subconscious MUST TRY to answer every question it is asked. For example, when are you going to invest in your business and finally buy MLM Bluprint?
So, our brain tries to figure out WHY it should make calls. It goes into memory banks, comparing the question to previous life experiences, both REAL and IMAGINED. Remember when you asked that person to the school dance in grade 9 and they said No? What if you call a prospect and they say NO? Remember how embarassing that was?
The brain moves through the memory banks at warp speed, comparing both positive and negative experiences with the current problem. An inner dialogue supports the comparision. The brain is calculating the potential PAIN of making calls versus the potential PLEASURE of making calls.
Think of it like a scale. If you have more (or stronger) painful memories, then the brain will tip away from the calls and get you to go make a chocolate sandwich and watch Survivor or Idol or something.
The opposite is true if the brain finds recent positive experiences. In baseball itกs called a hitting streak. In poker, its called a rush. In mlm, its called กBaby, Iกm hot stuff!ก Once you get on a roll, itกs like everything you touch turns to gold. The brain believes you’re hot, and you start dialing like a madman. Boom! Another hot one. Boom! Another hot one. You’re unstoppable.
Motivation is a spiral vortex, like in the toilet or when you pull the plug in the bathtub. It can spiral in a negative fashion, pulling you further down, or it can spiral in a positive fashion, making you hot stuff baby!
The key lies in the mental pictures that we compare to the question. When your brain asksก Why should I call prospects?ก it can’t tell the difference between REAL and IMAGINED pictures. If you can focus on the mental picture of being a sixfigure earner (think about the toys, the security, the freedom, the fun!) then the brain will tilt in the direction of those mental images, taking ACTION to make them REAL.
In MLM Blueprint, we talk about Treasure Maps and Fridge Photos as a source of both motivation and as a RETENTION tool. If your downline isn’t motivated itกs because their brain lacks MENTAL PICTURES to compare the questions to. THATกS why large events, team parties, trips and cruises, etc are so valuable. They create mental movies of whatกs possible. If you aren’t using TREASURE MAPS and FRIDGE PHOTOS as a stepbystep duplicatable system in your organization, then you aren’t tapping your full potential.
When I walked on stage in front of 7000 people in June of 2000 to get my Million Dollar Earnerกs Pin, I thought back to that day in March of 1995 when I wanted to rip the steering wheel off. In five years I managed to figure out how to tilt the scales of motivation in my direction. I had lived that moment hundreds of thousands of times in my mind….I knew exactly what I would be wearing, how it would sound and feel to be a millionaire.
When my brain asked, กWhy should I call prospects today?ก I KNEW WHY.
I appreciate you. Keep your WHY in your mindกs eye at all times!
David Ledoux

Creator The Ultimate MLM Blueprint For Massive Success.

http://www.ilovmlm.com
p.s. send me your biggest problem in network marketing and Iกll send you a free gift worth $35. http://www.ilovemlm.com/problem

About The Author

David Ledoux is the #1 Generic MLM Trainer in the world. Over 100,000 people read his monthly newsletter at http://www.ilovemlm.com

This article was posted on July 23, 2004

by David B. Ledoux