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

Are you a sales person?

My wife and I were having dinner with some friends of ours this weekend and we got on the topic of our network marketing business.  We were discussing different aspects of it, not prospecting them at all as his brother was a member of the same business as we are.  One of the first things out their mouth was the standard response, it’s not for us, we don’t like to sell.  How many times have you heard that?  Probably a million times!

I didn’t argue with them or try and change their mind because they had already established themselves as part of the 80%.  My point in this is that everyone is a sales person.  That’s right, you and me and everyone else is a sales person to some degree!

Have you ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend?  Are you married?  If you have answered yes to those, then you had to sell yourself to them.  You had to do something to make yourself appealing to them. 

Do you have a job?  Have you ever gone for an interview for a job?  Again, you are selling yourself to them.  You had to sell yourself to make them want you.

Here’s my question to make you think about sales; Finding a person that you want to marry and selling yourself to them is one of the most difficult sales that you will ever have to do, so why do people stress about selling a product or a business opportunity?

My theory is that people have a preconceived notion that selling is trying to convince people to buy your product or to sucker them into a “business”.  Selling is not that at all.  The best prospect that will buy a product from you is if you have a need to fill for them.  I have another post about selling and achieving pleasure or avoiding pain.  That post relates directly to this.  People want their needs fulfilled and those needs come down to either achieving pleasure or avoiding pain.  So fill that need that helps them achieve either of those things.  Will your product or business opportunity provide them with pleasure or help them avoid pain?

Going back to you, sales and the art of selling is nothing more than a state of mind.  You have to choose that you are either going to do sales or not.  It is a choice, nothing more.  Yes, you can develop skills to become better at it but you must first make that choice.  The biggest issue that holds people back from selling is their fear of rejection.  Here’s my advice, be thankful that you get rejection as it will help you grow and develop the skills you need to become better at sales.

So, do you think you can be a sales person?  Take a week of your life and make a conscious mental note about how many times you sell yourself to someone or a business, etc.  Anything that puts you into a sales person role, note it.  I bet you’ll be surprised.  The next step is to really make the effort to decide if you can handle and learn from rejection.  If so, you’ll be a great sales person for your products and business opportunity.

Remember, you can’t move forward, progress unless you’ve failed in some capacity.  You need those experiences to learn from and grow.  The only way you get them is to step out and do it.  Always, have fun!

 

Rick Peden

www.emaginebg.com

Entrepreneur vs. Scholar – Network Marketing

I had a funny realization yesterday.  I was watching that TV show Heros.  If you haven’t watched it, it’s really good.  It’s about people that discover that they have super powers and are trying to save the world from a clandestine corporation called The Company. 

There was one scene where this girl (she can heal from any wound) is arguing with another girl and punches out a car window.  There’s glass stuck in her hand and it shows her healing and the glass falling out of her wounds.  Here’s where my realization came in.  My first thought was “She’d never be able to punch through a window like that”!  How ridiculous right?  I was more concerned that she punched out a window than I was that she had super powers!

Here’s my point.  We are programmed to believe certain things which draw us in.  Like believing that the people on that show have super powers.  Throughout my whole life, and probably most of you out there, we’re taught that we need to go to school and get good grades so that we can get a good job.  We believe it.  We do it, well most of us try.  When we go a different path we’re ridiculed and talked about in a negative perspective. 

Did you know that only 100 years ago about 90% of people in Canada and USA were entrepreneurs?  Think about it, everyone owned a farm or a business of some sort as their source of income.  This all changed with the industrial revolution.  At that point people could make more money working for a corporation than they could farming.  Corporations started offering retirement funds, benefits, etc. so it was worth it to work for them. 

Of course, with either scenario, there are risks involved.  Owning your own business can result in very long hours, time away from your family, everything invested in it, and you can lose everything if you fail.  On the upside, you can create a legacy for your family, help create a great life for them, financial security, and freedom from having a boss.  Working for a company will help you have a steady income, possible benefits, and paid vacations (there are more than these examples, I just can’t think of any!).  When business isn’t going well they’ll lay you off or fire you and you lose benefits, retirement plans, and your income.

How would our economy change if most people were entrepreneurs and owned their own business?  Would a recession have as much impact?  Would a recession even occur?

The easiest way to accomplish this, for people to become an entrepreneur, is to join a network marketing business.  There are numerous types out there that offer people an opportunity to own their own business and make an additional income while still maintaining a job.  How would your financial status change if you made an extra $500-$2000 per month on top of your income from your job?

Some food for thought.

Rick Peden

www.emaginebg.com

www.rpeden.magenticsponsoring.com

Clients and Customers – Making Money in your Business

I had to post about this topic.  It seems so stupidly simple that most people miss it.  They can’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

I have a friend of mine who is in network marketing.  Like everyone else, he’s had his ups and downs and has pulled back from building a big business network.  Most people follow this, as I’m sure you’ve experienced.  Then they quit.  My friend has done something differently.  He has maintained his client’s.  Guess what?  He still makes $600-$800 a month!  That is awesome!  It’s usually at this point that most people quit the business or just consume.  He’s pulled back but is still making money!  What a truly awesome business!

Another aquaintence of mine, very successful in network marketing, has also maintained a huge income from clients and customers.  He let me peek into his business not too long ago and I saw first hand that he makes boat loads of money every month from clients.  He makes in the range of $20,000 to $30,000 every month because of his clients!  In the last ten years he’s built up a client base of about 1800-2000 clients!  Guess what?  95% of them purchase something everymonth!  How awesome is that?!

I know the question in your mind is how the heck did they do that? 

First, they put in the effort to get clients.  They talked to people, introduced them to products, and met their needs.  How else do you get clients?  You need to open your mouth and talk to people.

Second, they provide an excellent service to their clients.  They contact them often, introduce them to new products and keep fulfilling their needs.  This is called “Customer Service”.  This is how everyone should be treated everytime your purchase a product, no matter where you get that product from.

See how having clients that purchase and re-purchase your products creates a profitable business?  It doesn’t take much time and effort to get clients, especially now-a-days with the internet.  People want to go to a website to check out the products.  Shopping from the web is huge, so jump on board and get going! 

Notice how I haven’t mentioned a thing about prospecting new business builders?  Depending on the business that you represent, you don’t have to sponsor a ton of people to make money.  Just find 30 to 50 people that purchase from you every month and you’ll be amazed at your supplementary income!

There are numerous ways to get clients and customers.  Use your imagination and have fun!

Sponsoring people – Rules that you need to know

It’s been a while since my last post.  Life has been very busy lately and continues to get busier.

I had a wonderful opportunity last week to meet with 2 fellows that have been in network marketing for a very long time.  They both have been successful and were gracious enough to give me some advice and help me with my business.  The one gentleman told us 2 points that I’m going to share with you today.  Once you get them and understand them your business will change and you’ll see success!

80-20 rule

We’ve all heard about this.  It was one of the first rules that I heard about when I started in Network Marketing.  If you don’t know what this is it is a “Universal Law” that states that 20% of the people in the world controls 80% of the worlds wealth or that 20% of the population will be rich or wealthy and do what it takes to get there while 80% won’t.

The 20% are usually entrepreneurs, top level managers, stock brokers, realtors, etc.  The 80% are everyone else, the blue collar workers, the people that aren’t willing to get out of their comfort zone to better themselves.  Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being in the 80%, the world needs them as it needs the 20% to create jobs for the 80%.

Here’s the point that you need to understand and have it sink in lodge into your brain.  You can’t bring a 80% person into the 20%, so don’t try!  When I heard that it hit me like a ton of bricks!  I’m not saying that it won’t ever happen (Mike Dillard & Dean Kosage were both waiters and became millionaires in this industry) but it is like finding a needle in a haystack; almost impossible.  To better your chances to find someone who wants to build a business, that is willing to do something with the opportunity, you’re best off looking in the 20% pile.  The pile is smaller but your chances are better, a lot better!  Use the 80% group as customers/clients and you’ll see your business grow by following this simple rule!

Are you Fishing in the Right Pond?

This rule or plan ties directly into the 80-20 rule.  Where are you spending your time prospecting?  Are you talking to the lady running the cash register at 7-11 or are you talking to the person that owns or manages the 7-11?  We’re told by our up-lines to talk to everyone.  That everyone is a prospect and that is the only way that you’ll find people that want to build a business. 

Here’s my advice, talk to everyone but find out their needs.  Most people will most likely become a client instead of a business builder.  Focus your business building prospecting on people that are in the 20% group, you’ll have more success!

Remember, network marketing is a fun and exciting industry.  It also takes time!  Be enthusiastic and put these principles into practice and you’ll see great success.