MLM Marketing Blog

MLM Business Building Ideas for 12/13/10

Here's a quick roundup of some links I shared last week on my MLMWomanNews page on Facebook.

 

Enjoy!

Linda Locke
Editor, MLM Marketing Blog

 

Have You Missed This Essential Step in Marketing Your Business? http://ht.ly/3juOO

Five Steps to Get on a Talk Show http://ht.ly/3jXkD

Dominate a Networking Scene in 5 Simple Steps http://ht.ly/3kkvw

Listen Up! Getting Better at Bad: Why Practice Doesn’t (Always) Make Perfect http://ht.ly/3kkA1

Can You Really Build Your Business on Referrals? Depends on the Question You Ask http://ht.ly/3kDx4

How are your holiday sales coming along? Are you having a banner or bah humbug year?

The December issue of MLMWoman is online for your reading pleassure. http://mlmwoman.com/issue163.htm

If you aren't getting any call backs from your voice mail messages to prospects and customers, here's why: 5 Reasons They Don't Call You Back http://ht.ly/3lgQk

7 Little Words That Sum Up the Entire Marketing Machine http://ht.ly/3lh0m

8 Incredibly Simple Ways to Get More People to Read Your Content | Copyblogger http://ht.ly/3lVDR

These tips were originally meant for women who design and make things for sale, but the tips apply to anyone who sells products too: biz ladies: tips for selling during the holidays http://ht.ly/3lWLc

12 Ways to Make Your Business Merry This December http://ht.ly/3mgun

A Few More Thoughts From the DSA Be Connected Conference http://ht.ly/3myP2

Fear is Nothing to be Afraid Of http://ht.ly/3mAL7

5 ways to market your business for little to no money http://ht.ly/3nk3r

7 Ideas for Boosting Your Holiday Sales http://ht.ly/3nk64

Take a break today from all your shopping, selling and doing and have some fun creating your own ugly Holiday Sweater http://ht.ly/3nEDu

7 Steps to Consistent Referral Generation

By John Jantsch

Understanding your customer lifecycle and mapping every customer touch point is key to generating a consistent flow of referrals.

Referrals happen, thank goodness, but for too many, they happen randomly, almost accidentally.

One of the keys to tapping the systematic generation of referrals is to identify and address the customer touch points that add up to lead a customer to the logical and emotional decision that your organization is referable.

I say this often, but it's worth repeating - every person, place and thing in your business that comes into contact with a prospect or a customer is performing a marketing function. Your organization's referability is being decided by the sum total of those contacts.

It's so important to figure out the critical stages involved in developing a customer and then fill the gaps in every contact - by fill I mean, make sure that every contact is a marketing contact - and that includes things like delivery, customer service, even billing.

The 7 Stages and logical touch points along this customer referral life cycle look something like this.

1. Know - Your ads, article, and referred leads
2. Like - Your web site, reception, and email newsletter
3. Trust - Your marketing kit, white papers, and sales presentations
4. Trial - Webinars, evaluations, and nurturing activities
5. Core - Fulfillment, new customer kit, delivery, and financial arrangements
6. Repeat - Post customer survey, cross sell presentations, and quarterly events
7. Refer - Results reviews, partner introductions, peer 2 peer webinars, and community building

I suggest creating a diagram consisting of the stages above and mapping out every touch point you have or should have before you ever start dreaming about a world flooded with referrals.

Related article - Keyword research for websites

John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of Duct Tape Marketing. He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting www.ducttapemarketing.com

Referral Marketing Works

I always cringe when I see someone at a business networking meeting going on and on with their company sales pitch oblivious to the fact that their "hard sell" technique pushes people away instead of attracting them. Unfortunately, many people in network marketing still teach this outdated and ineffective method to their new recruits. That's why I think it's so important to show people there is a different and better way.

Try using referral marketing instead. It's one of the best ways I know of building your business by building relationships with people. We need to remember that it's not all about us in the sales relationship; it's about focusing on the customer and building a relationship based on trust and respect. Making that major shift from being self-centered to becoming customer focused can make all the difference in the success or failure of your business.

Here's what Dr. Ivan Misner, the Founder and Chairman of Business Network International (BNI), has to say about the many benefits of referral marketing:

Why Referral Marketing Works
http://entrepreneur.com/article/printthis/183952.html

Linda Locke
MLM Marketing Blog