Building your business – Friendship First

Hello,

I have a story to tell you about how friendship should come before your business.  Network marketing’s success hinges on the relationships that network marketers build with people.  Without the relationships your business won’t work or last.

So, I had run into some old friends of mine a few weeks ago.  I hadn’t seen them in a couple of years and it was great to chat with them for a while.  During our discussion they had asked if we were still involved in our network marketing business.  When we were closer we had talked to them about seeing our business plan.  They weren’t interested in the business at that time (not everyone is going to want to be in your business or in a business altogether).  So, a few years later some friends of theirs joined the same business that we are in.  These people had shown our friends the business plan.  Again, our friends weren’t interested in running a business but had told their friends that they would purchase products from them.  These people figured that wasn’t good enough and haven’t talked to our friends since!

First, these people left business on the table.  Our friends were going to buy products.  Why not settle for that!  That’s awesome!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people just say no and not be willing to purchase products.  Don’t waste opportunity!

Second, they wasted their friendship because of a simple issue.  So what if their friends didn’t want to be in their business, they still wanted to support them!  Some very wise business people told me that friendship needs to come first and business second.  This is how you build a strong business!  Relationships are the key ingredient.  It doesn’t matter what products you have or how good of a business plan you have, if you aren’t building relationships it won’t work!

I felt so bad for our friends.  They were really close with these people.  Don’t let this happen to you.  Don’t make the same mistake.  Keep the relationship going anyway.

Rick

www.emaginebg.com

Mentorship in Network Marketing

Sales 101…..Increasing your sales potential with one small step

Servant Leadership Supplemental

The Servant Leader – Effective leadership 101

Hello there,

This may be the most important post that you read if you want or are in a position to be a leader in your business, at work, at home, in your community, church, etc.  This is the most important point to remember when it comes to being a leader, as most people don’t get this point.  They figure that because they have some people that answer to them or that they’ve build up a group in their business that they are a leader.  It’s a good place to start but leadership really is about serving others.

I know that this probably makes no sense, or at least, it appears to be totally backwards to what you may believe leadership to be.  Being a leader means to really be the best servant you can be.  Serving people and meeting their needs is the key to leadership.  Serving others helps to build confidence and respect in you so that they are willing to learn from you.

There are numerous examples throughout history that really fit this model.  Let’s start with the big one, Jesus.  Jesus is probably the most famous and recognized leader ever.  The majority of the world knows about him and knows his works.  What they may not realize is that he was the best servant to ever walk the earth.  The bible states that he was sent to serve, not to be served.

Take a look at Martin Luther  King Jr.  His whole purpose was to serve the African-American’s and help to gain them freedom in their own country.

Mother Theresa.  Her whole life was spent serving others.  She’s know as the kindest person, to help the needy and sick, and to serve others by teaching them about God.

Look at different sports heros, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, etc.  These guys spent their careers helping their teams reach amazing levels of success.  By serving their teams and teammates, they brought others along with them.

There are many business leaders and influential people that also fit this category.  A couple that I follow are John C. Maxwell and Robin Sharma.  These men have similar purposes; to teach people how to serve others and to be the best leaders that they can be.  Read some of their books and you’ll get their purpose.

If you want to learn about leadership and serving others look at the group called the World Wide Dream Builders.  Their whole purpose is to train leaders and in doing so, teach them how to serve their teams to achieve success in business!

I have a bit of an issue in talking about business leaders as the majority of them only know how to scream and yell to achieve success.  Some have had success and leadership put upon them but haven’t learned how to be a good leader.  Money and being CEO doesn’t make you a good leader.

To summarize, leadership is about serving others and to teach them how to do the same thing.  How different the world would be if we all had this attitude instead of the “what’s in it for me?” attitude that is so common.  This is something that I am very passionate about and excited to share with the world!  Leadership is serving!  Practice it and grow!

Rick Peden

www.emaginebg.com

Customer Service; Do you know how to handle it?

Have you ever had a bad experience shopping due to poor customer service?  How about seeing a professional and they treat you like dirt?  Have you ever had fantastic service where you recommend your friends to go to that store or restaurant?  I’m sure we all have.

My wife the other day went to the doctor.  Our regular doctor left the practice and a new one came in so my wife had to go see this new MD.  After the visit I asked her how it went.  She said it was fine but the doctor had no bedside manner.  What my wife meant was that the doctor didn’t know of didn’t care to try to have good customer service.  She didn’t engage my wife in conversation and didn’t make any attempts to get to know her.

Why is this important?  This is what customer service is about.  It is about engaging the customer and creating a bond or a link so that they feel special and/or their experience is special to them.  It’s not about giving people deals or lowering your prices for them.  It’s about making a connection with them and making their time with you meaningful.

There are two types of customers that we deal with in business (any business!); internal and external.

External are the easy ones.  These are the people that are coming to you to purchase your product or service.  You engage them, ask them questions, learn about their needs, and fulfill them.  Make sure that they remember you and your company in a positive way so that they  will come back or make referrals.

Internal customers are your co-workers, your boss(es), and any contractors that you may have working with you.  These customers are ones that can directly influence your day-to-day life.  If your co-worker or boss is in a bad mood and freaking out on everyone the mood in the office is tense and full of angst.  If it is a cheery and positive workplace, then the mood is the same.  How do you deal with internal customers?  Easy, people love to talk about themselves, so ask questions!  People love to be recognized and want to share their experiences and ideas so let them.  I know I’ve posted this point before but it’s worth saying again; God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth so spend most of your time listening!  If you need to work on this area here are a few helpful tips.

• Let your mentor help you with this.  See what they do and learn from them.
• Read books like “How to win friends and influence people”
• Practice

As I’m sure you’re well aware, nothing will kill your business quicker than unhappy customers.  Make sure that you practice good customer service and preach it in your business.

Have fun and keep up the great work!

Rick Peden

www.emaginebg.com

How to make your Network Marketing business…..GO!

I have posted a whole bunch of information on how to be successful in network marketing and pretty much any business or job.  But I’ve held off on posting this last key ingredient.  It is the hardest one to achieve as it takes some realization and humbleness on our part to make it work.  It’s not easy and not everyone can get to that point to have this key unlock the doors to your success.

Why can’t everyone have it?  I guess that may not be the right phrase or wording.  Maybe I should have said it this way; Not everyone is willing to change to get the key to their success.  That is why most people won’t have it.  That is why most people aren’t able to achieve their dreams and stay in a rut.  When the realization hits you, then you’ll change, but it takes a lot of effort and a lot of scrutiny to get there.  It will take you a lot of looking in the mirror to see what you need to change.

A mentor of mine and someone I respect, Tracy Eaton (yes, the ex-NFL player and now multi-millionaire with network marketing) said that he had spent years trying to make this business work.  It was something that his mentor said to him that changed everything and it just clicked after that.  His mentor said “Tracy, you need to do this business just like you did football.  You have to have it work not from your head, but from your heart”.  Well, he got it and has created an awesome business and life for his family!

So that’s the key.  You have to work it from your heart.  If you are doing the business logically all the time and working the numbers just to build a business you will have limited success.  You need to have honesty, integrity, and passion to really make that connection with your prospect.  They can see through your smoke screen!  But if you are passionate and genuine, you will make a connection and you will be successful!

Think about it.  Who are the best and most exciting public speakers that you have seen?  They probably are passionate about their subject but also talk from the heart.

When I talk about my business, I don’t talk about my business, I talk about their needs and how this business may fulfill them.  I talk about how I can commit my time and knowledge to help them out and never discuss what they are doing for me.  It’s from the heart!  I am passionate about helping others achieve success, even if that success is for them to use one of my products to feel better!

I think a lot of people, and myself included, have gotten bogged down with numbers and showing plans and getting clients, and …….  I believe that you will have a lot more success when you work from your heart and be passionate about it (not pushy!) and really connect with people.  Like I said at the beginning, not everyone is able to do this because that requires them to change.  It requires them to become uncomfortable and it requires them to step out of their little box.  Not many people are willing to do that.  Meet them where they are at and let them grow at their own pace!  It may never happen for them but if you did your duty (made a connection with them), then you have achieved some level of success.

So how do you get to the point where you need to change?  Talk to your mentor.  Let them help you. Read.  Study.  Put things into practice because change is an action.  You have to do something to make it happen.

I love this stuff.  As you can tell, I’m passionate about it.  I hope that it has helped you some.

Rick Peden

www.emaginebg.com

Secret to Business Success!!!!

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted anything!  Mainly due to having to meet some really tight deadlines for some contracts.  But, it’s no real excuse, just me kicking my own butt a bit.

I’ve encountered this subject a few times over the last few weeks and decided that I should write a bit about it just to clarify my point.  I’ve been asked and seen people questioning how to be successful in business, more specifically network marketing.

Success can be measured in many different ways but for our purposes it’ll be measured in amount of people in your business and in the longevity and stability of your business.

How is this going to be accomplished?  What is the real secret?  Simply, the achieve this success is through building relationships with the people in your organization.  Why is this important and how does this make me successful?

First, building relationships is why people will want to work with you.  You have to build trust with each other.  It’s up to you to make them feel appreciated and wanted and loved.  It’s up to you to understand that even if they don’t want to do your business or participate as much as you want them to that you can still have a relationship with them.  You shouldn’t just drop people from being your friend if they aren’t business partners with you.

This is the key point that the really successful entrepreneurs know and do.  If you don’t believe me purchase Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring System and read the book.  It’s one of the main points!

Also, building relationships means not to push your business or product on anyone, especially friends or family.  That is a sure fire way to Lose Friends and Alienate People!!

So how do you do this, how do you build relationships with people that you just met?  TALK TO THEM!!!!!  Ask them questions, be interested and be sincere!!!!!  Get to know them, remember facts about them, topics that you can talk about and see if there is a desire to build a business or fulfill another need that they may have.  Then, go on from there.  It’s pretty easy.  This is not a get rich quick way or the way that you’ll build a super business in a year or two.  It is a way to create a strong and stable business and to grow longevity.  It takes practice and diligence but it’ll become second nature.  Read some of my past posts to learn about becoming a servant leader and how effective it really is.

www.emaginebg.com

www.rpeden.magneticsponsoring.com

The Simple Secret to Success

I was at church this past Sunday and heard a common theme that ties into our business and really any business.  If you want to be successful you need to do one thing.  One small step that moves you from chump to champ.  One change in thought that will make all of the difference to you and your business.  It’s so unbelievably simple that you may have missed it.  It’s nothing profound or deep or complicated, but it is the necessary step to make it.  Here it is…….

TAKE ACTION!!!

That’s right, you need to take action to make anything work.  If you want a job you have to go look for one, they just don’t come to you.  If you want to get new clients you have to look for them.  Even if you do all of your work on-line, you need to have put in some sort of action to have gotten people looking at your website.  You need to do something to have some sort of result.

I know, so simple, yet so many people miss this train.  A lot of people spend time becoming the best students of their chosen business or industry yet fail because they’re not willing to put the teachings into practice.  They spend all of their time learning about the secrets and the ways to make it work but done’t ever put it into practice.  Are you like this?

Some people don’t take action because of fear, usually fear of rejection and the fear of failure.  How can you possibly overcome that??  Simply, face your fear.  Do what scares you and get comfortable doing it.  If you are scared of being rejected by people, you need to start sharing your product or business plan with people.  The more you do it the more confidence you’ll have.  You just need to face your fear.  Remember, the bible says you only have to fear fear itself.  In all of my years, I’ve been rejected hundreds of time, at least my business opportunity has not me.  I was freaked out to speak to people but it took me talking to people and getting over that rejection to just keep going.  It turned out to be no big deal.  Now, I’m more upset when someone is wasting my time but I’ll get over that as well.

I hope that you realize that to be successful only takes a few simple steps and this may be the most important one.  So do something and have fun doing it and you will be successful!

 

Rick Peden

www.emaginebg.com

www.rpeden.qhealthbeauty.com

Free Marketing Techniques

I just read a question on a forum (www.BetterNetworker.com) that peaked my interest and I had to post about it.  The question is, which is better, Free Marketing or Pay Per Click marketing?

Honestly, they’re both good!  The key is which works for you the best?

Free Marketing is based on different techniques that you can use to create traffic flow to your website without spending any, or very little, money to do so.  Some of the more popular techniques are:

• Article Marketing
• Blog Marketing
• Forum Marketing
• Social Networking Marketing

Article Marketing is marketing through the writing of articles and posting them on the web where people interested in your topic can read it and comment or go to your website.  This can be very effective as it doesn’t cost very much money and the people that are reading your article are very specifically looking for that information.  It is targeted marketing.  I suggest using www.ezinearticles.com for this as they get a lot of people reading and posting articles.

Blog Marketing is marketing through a blog where you post information that people are looking for.  This is similar to Article Marketing but isn’t quite as targeted.  People have to find your post and URL in order to read your information where as Article Marketing is on a article website already.  Blog marketing is good though as long as you are consistent.

Forum Marketing is the practice of posting information on different forums.  This is a way for you to show your expertise in a specific area where others with similar experience are located.  Like Article Marketing, this is a target market as the people there are looking for specific information.  There are a lot of great forums out there for specific genres or industries.  I personally like www.betternetworker.com.

Social Networking Marketing is the use of websites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube to show your expertise and market your products.  This is good and is more effective the more people you have as your friends or subscribers.   The only issue I see with this is that it isn’t targeted at a market where they are looking for your information or product.

So are these better than Pay Per Click?  PPC is very effective as it is targeted.  But it is difficult to learn and costs money.  It can cost a lot of money!  A lot of people jump right into PPC and don’t have much success as their ad isn’t focused enough or doesn’t catch enough targeted people resulting in clicks without conversion.  I suggest learning from the best to do PPC.  You can go to my website to find a link to a course about PPC called Traffic Formula 2.0.

So, you need to decide what works the best for you.  Here’s the catch, they both take work and effort to be effective.  There is no free ride, you have to give something to get something.  Good luck and have fun!

 

Rick Peden

www.emaginebg.com