Building any business using the Internet involves effective marketing strategies.  This is especially true for network marketing.  There are a variety of methods used, but you really need to think about what will help your business in the long run.

There are a ton of affiliate programs out there that focus on network marketing.  I have purchased many of these products and have learned from these tools.   I also found myself straying from my primary goal of building my MLM!

It is easy to get caught up in all the different offers that are being thrown at you. Sometimes it seems like product launches are bombarding you!  If you sign up for a free video, webinar and so on, you are bound to receive these offers.

People do make money on product launches. There is no denying it. But here is something to think about. Even top Internet Marketers such as Frank Kern know that there is much more to building a business than product launches.  If you are looking to build a business for long term success, you cannot rely on this method alone.

There are people who have succeeded by the use of affiliate programs, but I have also heard countless stories where people invested a great deal of money with very little to show for.  It’s not because they were “Failures” or because they were not “cut out” for the business.

With network marketing, if you find the right company – you can reach the goal of obtaining passive income.  Affiliate marketing is typically a one time sale unless you opt into a membership site where you pay a monthly fee for the product.

So what can you do to help build a long term successful network marketing business?  One of the primary things you can do is look at how you can provide value to others.  Network marketing is about building relationships.  How can you be of service to others and develop relationships?

There is nothing wrong with using a system to attract qualified leads, but you really need to go beyond the system.  This is all about bringing to the table what you have to offer.  People don’t join companies, they join people!  This is what your effective marketing strategies should focus on.  Providing high value to others!

If you would like additional information, please feel free to contact me!

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Great leadership skills involves the ability to foster teamwork. I don’t think there will be much dispute over this fact. Teamwork is often discussed and analyzed and most people believe they have a good understanding of this topic. I received a wonderful gift from one of my mentors that really depicts teamwork at its’ best.

Here is the link to the movie called Pulling Together the Movie: http://www.pullingtogethermovie.com/

It can be found with several other free motivational videos at a website called Simple Truths
I hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did!

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Leadership Characteristic????

Are you a heavy hitter in your network marketing business or is this something that you strive to be?  At first glance, one might think this is what the business is all about and a Leadership Characteristic one must have.

If you believe this to be true, I challenge you to keep your mind open and consider the alternative.

It is very understandable why you may feel you need to be a heavy hitter in the business based on your personal experiences with the industry.  It may have been how you were approached (or should I say attacked!) by someone who had the “perfect Opportunity” for you to join.  Maybe you received training that focused all your energy on overcoming objections, closing the deal and so on. I personally felt like a failure because I could not bring myself to do these things.

Heavy Hitters focus on outcomes and numbers.  So what’s wrong with that you may ask? Obviously you want to earn money and create a better life for yourself.  There is nothing wrong with that!  At the risk of sounding a bit cliche  - you need to consider the journey itself and how you get there.

If you are building a business, do you want to build one with someone who views you as another notch in the belt?  Someone who’s primary interest is the bottom line?  Do you think they have your best interest at heart? If you treat others like that – do you think they will want to work with you?

If you truly want success in building your network marketing business, you will want to forget about looking at each prospect as a stepping stone to building your own business.  I have learned that you really need to focus on building people period!

I used to believe that in order to be a success, I needed to convince people to join my opportunity and buy my products.  I was taught things that made me feel like I was being manipulative. It was not really my nature to do so but I felt that it was just a matter of going outside of my comfort zone.  Needless to say I did not get very far.

I was fortunate enough to come across great mentors and resources which taught me that my focus should be on building people.  Much more my style.

Think about it – if you place your focus on helping others, they will experience success.  Your return will be so much greater than what you put in.  It will be so much more enjoyable.  You will develop positive relationships.

So you decide – do you want to have a business with relationships focusing on building people, or are you interested in keeping a tally of how many people are on your list, how many people who have joined or how much money you earned?

If you are interested in building relationships, developing solid leadership characteristics, and learning more about this approach, please download this free book called Success in Ten Steps.  It is not an affiliate program and it is packed with useful information.

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

I just heard an interesting statistic – 96% of the population does not like to sell or be sold!  If this is true, then it is probably helpful to consider rethinking your strategy for effective marketing.

Home parties for example, can be a fun social event.  But when I ask friends and family about what they think of home parties, they feel like it is something they do out of support to who ever invited them.  They feel obligated to buy at least one product and listen to the demonstrations.

How do you really feel about making a list of 100 people?  How do you really feel about receiving phone calls from a family member or friend about their latest opportunity?  Be honest with yourself!

Do you really like the idea of “closing the sale”?  If you have to convince someone to join an opportunity – how committed do you think that person will be?  If 96% of the population truly does not like the idea of this – how successful do you think it will be? How much fun will you be having?

These are the things that people think about if they ever had experiences with Network Marketing.  It does not have to be that way.  With the onset of the Internet, you have opportunities to work with people who are interested in the industry. You can enjoy yourself and build your MLM Company!

Network Marketing is a great industry if you find the right company and get the proper training!  Don’t be fooled into thinking that you have to pay a lot of money for training either.  I have dished out a lot of money in the past and found that there is high quality free training out there.

If you are interested in learning more, check out this free e-book Success in Ten Steps.  It is not an affiliate program and with it, you can discover how to access free training calls.  No pressures to join anything.  You can utilize the training even if you are with a company that you love! Get your team involved as well!

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Leadership Skills and Training

I am an advocate for training for developing leadership skills and for network marketing success.  But there is a time when we go into training overload.  We all have the best of intentions, but we need to keep some things in mind.

Think about all of the books, tapes, seminars, and webinars you have attended.  Some are great, and some are … well…. not so great.  Here’s the million dollar question of the day.  How much of the information that you learned did you apply?

You may have heard the saying, Knowledge is Power.  Well I prefer to think of it more as fuel for power.  In other words, you need to use the knowledge you have obtained and apply it.  This combined with focus will help you towards your goals.

Don Standard is a highly successful leader in Network Marketing.  If you are interested in reading his experiences with network marketing training, check out this link.  See if you can relate to his experiences!

http://cheryll.mentoringforfree.com/zSUCCESS_Standard.php

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Now you may be thinking I have a typo of some sort, or maybe I am just trying to write a fancy headline to capture your attention (I confess the latter does have some truth).  But the reality is that great followership skills are needed for any successful team!  Want to have great Leadership skills? Learn to be a great follower!

The idea of being labeled a follower has a stigma attached to it.  For example – they are passive, weak people who only do what they are told.  This could not be further from the truth.  Followership is role, just like leadership is.  Both are critical to the success of a team. not everyone can lead at the same time.

Leadership is a fluid role.  When you think about it – everyone at some point in time is a follower.

The formal definition of Followership is the capacity or willingness to follow a leader (Merriam-Webster).  When you think about capacity to follow, it extends beyond following instructions or being able to follow what someone tells you to do.

A good follower brings to the table their integrity, ability to contribute and share ideas, their skills, knowledge and ability to work with others.  Hmmmmm very similar to a leader.

Good Followers are active and can think for themselves.  It’s not about doing what you are told to do.  It is about working with a team to accomplish success of a common goal / vision.

How does this all apply to Network Marketing?

• We all have an upline or a mentor to learn from and grow with.  We take on a followership role in this instance
• Having good followership skills helps us to keep ourselves open to new thoughts and ideas.  Sometimes when we lock ourselves into the “Expert” role, we are not as open to new and fresh ideas from those who may have less experience.  We narrow our vision and limit success in this manner
• We model for our team members success strategies
• It puts us in the position of working collaboratively and place focus on helping others.
  

Below is a great video “The Art of Followership: How Great Followers create great leaders & Organizations

The ability to follow is a indeed a necessary Leadership Skill including the network marketing industry.

If you would like more insight on how you can develop as a leader in network marketing, download Success in 10 steps.  It is free and exemplifies what is needed to have real network marketing success.

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

I came across a very interesting report done by IBM called “Capitalizing on Complexity, Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study” More that 1500 Chief Executive Officers world wide were interviewed for this study.

With today’s economy and high competition, the report indicates that CEO’s face a great deal of complexity like never before.

Creativity is the Leadership Characteristic that the CEOs in this study highlighted as one of the most important aspects of being able to deal with the complexity of the business challenges today.

So how does this apply to the business of network marketing?
Like all other business, Network marketing deals with the current economic state and the competition in the field.  While there are a large number of benefits to this industry, it is not isolated from the rest of the world.  Complexity surrounds us all! It is vital for companies within the industry to be creative in their approaches to building business.

This requires the leadership characteristic of Creativity.  So how do you  develop creativity in your network marketing business:

• Keep an open mind.  In my opinion, this is critical to creativity.  There are many ways of building a network marketing business.  Many of the traditional approaches have been replaced.

• Be flexible and willing to look at new ideas and ways of doing business.  If you have been in the MLM industry a while, you may be resistant to some of the new approaches.  If your business is not where it should be or used to be, consider looking at some innovative ideas.

• Re-examine past practices and toss them out if they are outdated.  Does making a list of 100+ or buying leads really help your business to grow?  Area you alienating your friends? Is it time to stop wasting your time and money on some of these practices?  Really think about this to see if it is still effective for you today.

• Interacting with your fellow team mates including those individuals who are new to the team.  Network marketing is about relationships.  What better way to learn, grow and come up with creative solutions than to interact with those in your business.  Even the new folks can shed a new perspective on a complexity you are facing.

• Finding out what your customer wants / needs.  Developing a relationship with them.  This can lead to creative ways of better serving them.  Having a happy customer is essential.  Think of the impact it will have if they see you are implementing one of their suggestions!

These are just a few insights on the Leadership Characteristic of creativity.  You have it within you and your team, be open to using it!

If you are looking for new ways of doing business that may differ from what you are currently doing now, I encourage you to look at the free report Success in 10 steps. It is free and offers an effective approach that can help your business grow.

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Merriam Webster defines Courage as the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.  It takes courage to build a business.  It really is an important Leadership Characteristic that one must possess in network marketing.

My goal is to share with you my thoughts on Courage and how it can affect your Network Marketing business

Courage does not always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. ~ Mary Ann Radmacher

When I think of courage, the things that often come to mind are the acts of the brave fire fighters, police officers, and soldiers. Yes they truly are heroes and give a lot of themselves to help protect us. But Courage does exist in our lives more often than we realize.

Think of your day to day life.  Then take a look as some of the following examples of courage:

• Express your thoughts and opinions
• Stand up for what you believe in
• Go out of your comfort zone
• Start a new business
• Change careers
• Learn or try something new
• Make new friends
• Make amends
• Be open to others’ thoughts and views

In Network Marketing, courage is very much part of the business.  It is evident that a growing number of people are aware of using the Internet to build their business. But still for many, the first thing that comes to mind is making a large list of people, contacting all your friends and family, making cold calls to people you don’t know or getting 100 “No” responses, please rest assured this is very much unnecessary.

Courage is needed to go out of your comfort zone and develop relationships with those who are interested in the business.  It may be to learn skills necessary to grow a successful business.  It can be a shift in thinking, being open to new ways of doing things or possibly just taking an honest assessment of how you are doing. It can be as simple as committing to take consistent daily action regardless of the time spent.  Courage to believe in yourself.

Courage in business does not always involve a huge visible risk.  It is the small steps we take and the courage that goes a long with it that counts.  It is an essential Leadership Characteristic in building your business.

Courage is being afraid but going a head anyways ~ Dan Rather

]]> http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/leadership-characteristic-of-courage/feed/ 4 http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/handling-criticism-is-an-important-leadership-skill/ http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/handling-criticism-is-an-important-leadership-skill/#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:45:01 +0000 Cheryl http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/?p=360

Dealing with criticism is an essential Leadership Skill. I have just read another brilliant post by John Maxwell regarding this subject –  “When you Get Kicked in the Rear, You Know You’re Out in Front”  Maxwell indicates that criticism is a part of leadership and good leaders must know how to handle it.

He covers 5 key areas for dealing effectively with criticism:

• Know yourself
• Know the criticism and the critics
• Stay Open to Change
• Accept Yourself
• Forget Yourself
  

I highly recommend reading this article.  You can easily access by Clicking Here.  Handling criticism is an important Leadership Skill.

John Maxwell is an amazing leader.  I appreciate his work and find great value in what he has to offer.  His work is a must for anyone wishing to improve their leadership abilities.

Two Free Effective Marketing Tools for Network Marketers are Google Alerts and Google Reader.  It is essential to keep up on your niche, the network marketing business and anything else that may be related to your business. These are some of the best tools for the job!

Google Alerts: Google Alerts is a wonderful way to search the Web and have the results sent to your email account.  If you use a Google email account, you also will have the ability to manage them.  You can choose the type of content you wish to receive, the frequency and the number of results.  It also allows you to set up several alerts.  You can utilize different search terms based on your interests.

I have alerts sent to my email account on a daily basis.  It gives me an opportunity to see the latest news in my areas of interest.  I also have discovered some wonderful blogs related to my niche.  It is much easier than doing searches on my own.

Google Reader: Once you have located some great blogs, you may want to consider subscribing to them. Google Reader is fantastic for organizing all of your blogs. You can place the blogs in different categories (i.e. Network Marketing, Internet Marketing, Leadership)

There is no better way to keep up with all of the material and information.  Google Reader allows you to easily skip over articles that do not interest you and focus on the posts you want to read.  Google reader also gives you the option of sharing content with others.

Benefits: There are huge benefits to reading other’s content.  Obviously you will educate yourself on what is going on in your niche and with the network marketing industry.  It will also give you an opportunity to connect with others who share similar interests.  By reading other blogs and sharing your thoughts, you are opening yourself up to new business connections and positive relationships.

Some of the most effective Marketing Tools are free!  Google Alerts and Google Reader are two great examples!