Variety for Profits

Variation is a must. Variation may come in the form of something as simple as offering a variety of different payment methods, offering an electronic book versus a hard traditional copy of a book, offering a spiral perm versus a straight perm, etc. Your customers have got to have options. If customers don’t have options, particularly favorable options to oneself, they will take their business to someone else. When business is taken else where, guess what, your profit is negatively impacted.

You don’t have to be all over nor do you want to be all over the board in your variety. You want to offer products and services that are complementary of each other. The more that you have to offer, the more likely that individuals will be to be receptive to something or another. The more receptive that people are to what you have, the more likely you are to reach your profit potential. People appreciate options just as much as your pocket book will appreciate the return that the variety will provide.  Varietize today!

Great Teams Create Profit

In building and growing a successful business, there is really no such thing as the "I-Factor."  Yes, there is a certain degree of work that one must do to get business going, but there is only so much that one can do to ensure that the business is continuously growing. Growth quickly becomes less about what one can do and becomes more so about what the team can do and about what you can do for the team!

When you find people that possess the 3 T's - talented, teachable and trustworthy you should do everything under the sun to keep them on your team.  If you are a talented individual that is bringing in new customers and closing deals on a regular basis, imagine what 5 people just like you could be contributing to the business!  As long as you are good to people and you are highly selective in the people that you invest in, you really don't have much to lose.  Many people fear that if they teach others too much they risk their ideas being stolen, they risk losing customers, they risk turning the people that they train into their competition.  In all actuality, these fears are in essence excuses because if the people that you invest in possess the 3 T's, you really have nothing to worry about.

Investing in your team is worth the risk in the long run because again, you are only a single person. There is only so much that you can do, there are only so many places that you can be at once and there are only so many customers that you can service at any given time.  There is an abundance of opportunity in the world and an abundance of customers in the world.  Adjust your thinking to that of the "We-Factor."  What opportunities can the team go after? What can you do to enable the team to be successful at tackling the opportunities that are available to you?  A team of 2,3,4,5, plus - a team of the right individuals - can accomplish a multitude of things that are unfathomable as a single individual.  Great teams create more profit.  Great teams create wealth.  Where there is no risk there is no reward. Invest in your team today!

MLM Get Big-Profit-Quick-Fix: NOT! Expect the Unexpected

If you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth or you hit the mega lottery then you perhaps have truly received your Get Rich Quick Fix!  I will candidly say that if there is anyone in this world that claims that you can get rich over night in the MLM business they are a liar (for the most part).   Multi Level Marketing is an opportunity.  It is a legitimate business opportunity that if done strategically and consistently, can amount to great financial returns, just as any other business opportunity. 

If you are reading this article you are probably either involved in a MLM business,  thinking about getting involved with a MLM business or you have recently become part of a MLM business.  Below are my top five lists of things that you should expect from MLM and my top five lists of things that you should not expect from MLM:

YOU SHOULD EXPECT:

1.       To have to work.  Where there is no work there is no reward!  This is especially true when first starting out in the business.  You will definitely have to do considerable amounts of work to make things happen.  Should you become one of the highly successful few that grown their teams to insurmountable numbers, you will obviously be able to work less.  But for the most part, expect to work!

2.       To have to learn.  As with anything new, there will always be a learning curve.  You should expect to have to learn about your industry and become well versed on your industry.  How else to do you expect to be able to sell others on your opportunity.  If you aren’t interested in learning something new and continuously learning, run!

3.       To have to teach.  Don’t have the patience to teach others or don’t have an interest in teaching.  Don’t expect to be a success.  This industry relies heavily on duplication.  Therefore, you can expect to teach those underneath you (your down-line) what you were taught by your upline!

4.       To have to sale.  If you are one of the many people that are kicking around the “MLM is not sales line” think again.  While you don’t have to admit that MLM is sales, you better know that it is.  If you are telling people why your opportunity or product is the greatest thing since pink lemonade and why they have to buy one, or join you….uhhh….you are selling!  Call it what you want but realize that you will have to put on your salesman or saleswoman hat.

5.       To have to grow.  If you expect to make money in MLM I hope you have a plan for increasing your team from one (one being you and only you) to many.  If you work best independently and not as part of a team, wrong business!  You should get out now before the heartache finds you.  This business is heavily team driven.  You can be the top seller in your region of juices and vitamins, but if you are doing it alone, you are spinning your wheels to a degree.  Imagine what you would have accomplished financially if you were the top seller and were growing your team of top producers along the way.  There is no comparison to what you can accomplish as an individual to that of what you can accomplish with a team.

YOU SHOULD NOT EXPECT:

1.       To not have to have a plan.  Just as with any other business, you will need to have a business plan.  As the saying goes “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  Period.

2.       To make a ton of money your first week, month or year.  If you are an above average master mind, then it is ok to expect these things.  However, if you are an average Joe like most, don’t expect to see instant cash flow.

3.       To give your employer 2-week notice upon signing your name on your MLM agreement.  You don’t want to put the cart before the horse.  While MLM is an opportunity, it is not an opportunity for an immediate and regular pay check.  You need to maintain a source of income to support yourself while building your MLM business.

4.       For everyone to say yes.  If you don’t take rejection well, you better get used to it.  Not everyone will want what you have and often times it will seem that hardly anyone wants what you have.  Get used to it. 

5.       Not to have to spend money. As the saying goes, “it takes money to make money.”  If your MLM is product based, you may have to spend money on products on a regular basis (depending upon the company).  Some companies have monthly minimums.  But more importantly, you will more than likely want and need to spend money on marketing and advertising at some point.  Most MLM businesses also have some type of upfront free for becoming part of the organization as well as monthly fees for things such as personal websites, training courses and seminars.  Don’t expect to get something for nothing.

Leverage for Profits

You might be the absolute best at what you do.  Great!  But you are only one person.  So what's next?  If you could clone yourself you would probably do it right?  So let's talk about leverage.  Defined by freedictionary.com, leverage is:

            1) Positional advantage; power to act effectively

            2) The use of credit or borrowed funds to improve one's speculative capacity and

                 increase the rate of return from an investment, as in buying securities on margin

            3) To improve or enhance

You probably already know where I am going with this.  No matter how good YOU are, if YOU want your business to grow and if YOU want your profit's to grow, either you've got to clone YOU or start leveraging what you do.  Despite how hard you work and how many hours per day that you put in, you are extremely limited in what you can achieve as an individual - one person - singular!  The good news is that you can accelerate your path to financial success and freedom by taking advantage of something called leverage and leveraging what you do.  Leverage can basically multiply your efforts.

For instance, just think, if you have 2 other people in your business that can do what you do just as good as you (duplication) how much more money could you be bringing in by having these talented individuals underneath you?  Additionally, by teaching others to do what you've been doing, this will free up time for you to do other things - create other opportunities - focus on other products, services and opportunities.  When you multiply your efforts (leverage) you position your business to take on a life of its own! Start leveraging or positioning your business for it today!

Prioritize and Profit!

You’ve been told that you need to have your priorities in order since the beginning of time.  This will always hold true in business.  What is most important to you and more importantly to your business?  We will assume that making a profit is a top priority for your business!

Let's say for instance that you are currently in the process of developing a new product to offer and product(s) A, B, and C have yet to turn a profit, what are the odds that product D is going to turn you a profit?  Priority #1 might be to analyze A.  Why didn’t it make you any money?  Did customers buy in to it?  If they didn’t buy in to it, why didn’t they?  How did you market it?  Was it poorly constructed?  Was it poorly delivered?  As the saying goes, “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”  If you go on to product D in the same manner that you produced and/or delivered A, B, and C, you probably shouldn’t expect to get anything more than you’ve gotten in the past. 

Get your priorities in order first and then move on.  Prioritize your strategy for profiting by doing something different.  Don't continue to do the same unprofitable things that you've been doing with hopes of thinking that those things will one day work!  Try something different...take a thorough examination of what profitable people are doing....repriortize....develop a profitable strategy....implement it and go from negative to positive profits!

Information for Profit!

So we’ve established that you are in business to make a profit.  Now, in addition to your offering, what else are you offering?

                             

People (customers, prospects, potentials) are not just interested in your product, service, or opportunity.  They are interested in a solution to a problem.  So what else can you do for them?  Why should I purchase those jeans from you?  Is it really because it makes me look 2 sizes smaller?  Wow….I’ll take 5 pairs!  I don’t want the jeans just because you are selling them!  I now want the jeans because you’ve fixed my problem!  You made me look slim and trim again!  Will that $100 eyeliner really make “my eyes pop” and bring out the inner beauty in me?  Will that $80 juice really make me lose 10 pounds per week?

Get the drift?  Many people – especially the “big spenders” don’t really care that you have something for sale; they care about the fact that you can fix a bigger problem.  When you offer information people will want to know more.  When you offer solutions, people will want to know much more.  Information increases your profits.  What is your value added information strategy?

Remember that profit is a gain, an advantage, a benefit.  Therefore, everything that you do is for the sake of building your business and increasing your profit.  Just as you developed a business strategy with multiple underlying strategies (I hope) you should have an Informational Strategy.

Formula for Profit

You want to have a formula in place for your business.  What’s your method?  What’s your procedure?  What’s your recipe for success?  You want a duplicable blueprint.  You want to be able to easily teach others how to successfully do what you do – if not better.  You want to remember what you did that worked so well "that last time" so that you can do it again in the future and implement it in your procedures manual.  You want to make "it" customary. You never want to have to reinvent the wheel when something is a success.  You only want to refine it, grow it and make it better.  Duplication works! Formula’s work!  Formulate it in your head and act!  Develop a formula and your profit will grow.  It's proven!

Production for Profits

Production is an expectation of any business.  You’ve got to be producing something and whatever you are producing has got to be something that is in demand.  What’s your product?  What are you offering?  How are you producing your offering? How are you delivering your offering? Is it a good quality production? – If you say yes, prove it!  When it’s proven, it brings profit.  Think about it!  Act on it!

Focus and You Will Profit!

One of the biggest concerns for many new business owners is figuring out what and who to focus on.  One of the biggest mistakes for many new business owners is focusing on the wrong people and on the wrong things.  How do you determine if you are focusing on the right customers and/or potential customers?  How do you determine if the people that you are focusing on are worthy of your time?  Whether it be a  new prospect, a potential prospect, a new customer, or a potential customer you want to ensure that your efforts and your time are well spent.  Otherwise you are wasting time and missing out on potential and proven profits. 

From day one you should realize that not everyone deserves your attention.  In spite of what you have heard in the past, everyone is not your customer.  Everyone is not a potential prospect.  You are in control and you need to maintain control at all times.  Know who your target market is.  Know who you should be targeting as prospects and partners.  You chose them!  They don’t chose you!  You want quality.  You want leaders.  You want thinkers.  You want producers.  You want initiators.  You want implementers and executors.  You know what you need and therefore you should not settle.  If you are settling you should come up with a plan to stop settling.  Focus your efforts.  When you have focus you have growth.  When you have growth you have profits.  When you have continued focus and continued growth your profits continue to grow!