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Stay at Home Moms – Why Not Work From Home?

May 27, 2011 in Business Opportunities, Home Business, Network Marketing with Comments Off

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It seems like everyday I hear of a Mom who has decided to stay home to raise her children. It is no wonder with the high cost of day care and all of the stories you hear about what goes on in some of those places makes raising your own child a no-brainer.

While a Mom is home raising her children there is no reason that her income has to stop just because she doesn’t go to work. There are many work at home opportunities available making it much easier to begin a work from home business than it used to be. Especially since the internet has become so big, you could just about work for a Fortune 500 right from your home office.

There are several types of businesses that you can do from home. Two of the most popular are in the service sector and the facilitating of the sale of goods and services. From home you could make calls to clients of a firm to confirm appointments and possibly follow-up on a sale that had already been made. That would free up the outside sales representative to go and find new business.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit at all and don’t really want to report to anyone there are many opportunities for you too. The easiest and cheapest business to start from home is a network marketing business. If you are really busy and don’t have the time to focus on all of the details of starting your own business from scratch a network marketing opportunity may be just right for you.

Although they are not all the same, most network marketing business have all of the details already worked out so all that you have to do is the begin referring the companies product to customers. Network marketing is essentially a referral marketing business so you don’t have to worry about stocking or shipping product to your customers because the company does all of that for you.

You can usually research network marketing companies online to find one you like. First thing that you have to determine is if the product that the company offers appeals to you. If you pick a company with a product that you like you’ll have a much easier time of working with it and telling others about it.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

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Network Marketing Business Opportunities – Scam Or Legitimate?

May 22, 2011 in Business Opportunities, Network Marketing with Comments Off

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You may have thought about joining the network marketing business that seems so popular now, but like many people, you are probably hesitant to try out something that so many people claim is a scam. You have a right to be cautious, as many companies that advertise their supposed marketing businesses are actually scams. However, it is possible to make money from several network marketing business opportunities, whether you are looking to make a living or just need some extra income.

Analyze Claims

Before jumping into such a business with both feet, you should know what makes a network marketing business. This way, you can examine a company and determine right away if it is a scam. One surefire way to figure out if a company is reputable is to analyze their claims. If a company guarantees that anyone can make money overnight with no work, you know to run far away. After all, no one gives away money for no reason. What are they getting out of it?

Sales And Marketing

You should know that network marketing is not its own industry, but a process of distribution of products or services. Network marketing companies have to rely on representatives of the organization to market their products and services, selling as many products as possible. This system saves money for the company, as this way they do not have to hire a separate marketing department. Hiring people to work from home saves every company money on brick and mortar company costs, such as a building, desks, phones, and other equipment that a full-time marketer would require. For this reason, most companies are happy to pay marketers a percentage of the profits, as they are saving money already just by having each marketer work from home.

Recruiting

Another aspect of most network marketing business opportunities is that you can make extra money by recruiting other people to sell products. This is considered your own sales team, and you make a percentage of each salesperson’s profits. This way of making money is completely legitimate. Unlike what some people may think at first, this is not a pyramid scheme, which is illegal. The difference here is that pyramid schemes typically do not rely on sales of a service or product. Rather, they rely purely on recruiting others, only promising that they will make a lot of money in the future, which clearly does not usually happen.

Overall, if a supposed marketing company promises that you will make a lot of money immediately, without selling anything or really doing any work, it is not a reputable marketing opportunity. You should take heart, however, as there are plenty out there.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

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Web 2.0 Advertising – Crucial in a Word of Mouth World

May 20, 2011 in Blog Marketing, Blog Network, Network Marketing, Web 2.0 with Comments Off

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Word-of-mouth is the crucial component of Web 2.0 advertising. Unlike conventional advertising, which was solely one way and largely interruptive, Web 2.0 advertising actually welcomes control by users and invites users to create and share their own messages. In that sense, Web 2.0 advertising is revolutionary.However, the technology and the advertising tools being used are familiar and have been in use by people for a long time. Web 2.0 advertising can more accurately be described as a radical concept involving the innovative implementation of currently available tools.

This seemingly mild shift has opened up endless opportunities for consumers and marketers alike.

Consumers play a role in the marketing conversation by creating reviews, adding entries to blogs and sharing photos.

Every time a consumer makes a contribution to this conversation it shifts the balance of power back to the consumer. Marketers are aware of it and embrace this participation, improving the conversation even more.

Working in collaboration, consumers and marketers are moving from “interruptive advertising” to “invited advertising” thus making Web 2.0 advertising participative, mixed and scalable.

Participative Web 2.0 advertising

Word-of-mouth advertising presents lots of opportunities for two way conversations – with the consumer and the marketer being equally important. Marketers collaborate with consumers via structured feedback and word-of-mouth to genuinely contribute to the design, progress, and promotion of the services and products they think are important.

Re-mixable Web 2.0 advertising

Online conversations are essentially connected. This makes it possible to remix fragments from different reviews and different sources and come to one decision. This very feature of “re-mixability” allows users to generate powerful messages constructed from these fragments and disseminate them to those who are interested. One of the principles of word-of-mouth marketing is that it’s impossible for a marketer to gain information on the inner workings of social networks without disturbing the network itself. However, remixing enables legitimate word-of-mouth to seep into the social networks that marketers wish to access.

Scalable Web 2.0 Advertising

Getting the message through is only half the battle with today’s tech-enabled information avenues. However, awareness by itself is insufficient and ineffective. To be truly convincing, marketers must be able to connect with the customers. Word-of-mouth offers convincing scalability; it goes on increasing until there is a real buzz. Everyone who has an opinion has the option to share it with anyone who is willing to listen.

Web 2.0 and Collective Intelligence

While word-of-mouth is a huge influencing factor, it can also be a disruptive factor when wrong information is spread by people who don’t know better. However, an accurate picture based on knowledge and experience will eventually pervade interested networks and find its way to interested parties who’ll put it to good use.

Marketers especially can influence collective intelligence by offering superior products and marketing them in ways that encourage customers to talk openly and honestly. Using collective intelligence to fool people can backfire drastically.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

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Developing a Marketing Funnel That Increases Sales and Works With You

April 24, 2011 in Business Opportunities, Network Marketing, Sales Funnel Leads with Comments Off

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Every business owner to sales executive receives numerous sales leads each and every day from networking events to Internet opt-in lists. Tracking all these business sales leads becomes a burden and may result in duplicate efforts. However, no matter the challenge, the end result is that some sales leads tracking system must be developed or numerous opportunities may be lost forever.

During the last 10 years, I have tried a variety of marketing and sales leads tracking systems. I first began with index cards as this was what I was using to before computers. (Yes, I am that old.) Then I began to use on-line services as well as programs within my own computer such as Outlook. Colleagues shared with me their various systems using electronic spreadsheets. However, within all those tracking systems some of which were excellent, I still found myself not being consistent. And I know that consistency is critical in keeping both your marketing and sales funnels filled.

Recently, I set a goal to construct and implement a sales tracking system that would deliver to me the following:

Tracking of all sales leads with critical information including any potential fact finding Tracking of all calls for first time appointments including additional information Tracking of all meetings along with next actions Tracking of all commitments and next actions

When I committed these objectives to writing, I realized that one of the tools that I currently use to track daily activity could be modified to meet these objectives. This FHEM (flat head experienced moment) caused me to actually wince because the answer was in front of me this entire time.

I use a 4 point system to keep my marketing activity and selling activity focused so that I can secure the revenue goals within my strategic plan. This is a simple plan and I am not sure who invented it. Each week the goal is to accumulate 20 points or 5 points per day. You reward yourself as follows:

One point for a lead Two points for making an appointment Three points for making the meeting Four point for closing the deal or gaining commitment

I then constructed a spreadsheet where the first page was for leads, second page for appointments, you get the picture. Also, since I have the habit of always acknowledging referrals I inserted after the leads page to make sure that thank you notes have been mailed.

Within my marketing plan, my goal is to speak at least two times each month because I consistently secure one client from each speaking engagement or keynote I added another page to track speaking engagements as well as again to ensure that I send the proper acknowledgements.

As your marketing and selling activity increases, having a funnel that is part of the Five Universal Funnels Laws for Business and works with you is an absolute tool in your sales toolbox. Accept the fact that this is a process of trial and error unless of course you are mandated to use a specific tool.

If you have the freedom to construct your own, then take the initiative to do just that. The end result is that you not only own it, but it will be in alignment with your strategic plan allowing you once again to work smarter and not harder.

Cynthia ~Social Cowgirl
www.SocialCowgirl.com

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