Greetings,
A wise man once told me that in the world of Online marketing there is no room for a strategist. Sometimes you just need to just do it. When I started this Blog I was doing exactly that. I had no real idea what I was doing, but I knew I had some good thoughts and that people would want to hear them. And thus The Savvy Soapbox was born. I "Fired."
Since that time I have done my homework, I have read a LOT about how blogging works, and how to help my content reach a greater audience. I am writing this article to let you know that I will be taking a short time off from updating in an effort to completely revisit the sites contents. I need to "Aim" a bit. I intend to redesign the Savvy Soapbox to include more interactive content and to have more ways to build a community here. Direct Sales people are prone to gathering in flocks to begin with so I am hoping that getting the bodies to stick around once they get her should not be hard.
I'll see you all in a few weeks. I can't wait for you to see where this thing goes next!
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
25 Random Things: The Power of User Generated Content on Facebook
25 Random Things about Me:
1. It took 3 people tagging me on Facebook to make me even think about doing it.
2. I can't go to a drug store or grocery store without buying a candy bar.
3. I used to run around in my backyard with a stick pretending to be a superhero.
4. I used to do it in my front yard too... until some girls saw me and talked about it in school.
5. I almost lost the love of my life, because I was addicted to an online game during college.
6. I quit that game, and have since married and had 2 wonderful sons with said love of my life.
7. I am now happily playing World Of Warcraft, with reluctant permission from said love of my life. (Shout out to LoTI, Argent Dawn server)
8. I once scared a girl off when I was in high school by sending her 4 emails in the same day.... each of which was creepily different in tone...
9. I am waaaaay less creepy now than I was back then.
10. I was signed up for Facebook by my wife... who didn't realize at the time that I would try to make a job out of it.
11. I enjoy Weird Al Yankovic's music far more than I should.
12. I "played" High School Basketball... and by "Played" I mean that I watched the games with really good seats and a cool costume.
13. I run a business built around supporting Direct Sales people.
14. I make fun of my brother, but I think he is am awesome guy. He's just doofy sometimes.
15. I think that everyone should remember how to play pretend when they grow up.
16. My sons Evan and Jacob have redefined my world view more than I could have ever imagined.
17. I promise... I'm really not as creepy as I was back in High School.
18. I don't use the home row keys to type. I look at the keys... Weird huh?
19. I refuse to return ANYTHING I get... even if it is broken that is why I got married.
20. I started a blog on Blogger... and THEN bought a book on how to run one.
21. I'll be shutting down for a few weeks soon for reconstructions.
22. I'm on a Boat.
23. I think Final Fantasy 8 was an abomination. (Yeah... I went there.)
24. I told most of my office (including my soon to be VP) when I heard on CNN that Captain America died.
25. I am a firm believer that everyone who wants to succeed can... all they need to do is throw their shoulder to the wheel and charge.
Well there you have it. My 25 random things. Fortune Magazine reported that approx 37,500 of those lists were generated and sent out in the first 2 weeks of February. This new take on the chain letter obviously struck a nerve with the Facebook population at large.
User generated content like this spreads like wildfire and its small business marketing applications are pretty important. Take look at my list. It's pretty simple right? It mentions some embarrassing stories... some interesting facts. That's all right? Go back and count how many of those things have to do with my business of helping people with Online Marketing.
Think about it.
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
1. It took 3 people tagging me on Facebook to make me even think about doing it.
2. I can't go to a drug store or grocery store without buying a candy bar.
3. I used to run around in my backyard with a stick pretending to be a superhero.
4. I used to do it in my front yard too... until some girls saw me and talked about it in school.
5. I almost lost the love of my life, because I was addicted to an online game during college.
6. I quit that game, and have since married and had 2 wonderful sons with said love of my life.
7. I am now happily playing World Of Warcraft, with reluctant permission from said love of my life. (Shout out to LoTI, Argent Dawn server)
8. I once scared a girl off when I was in high school by sending her 4 emails in the same day.... each of which was creepily different in tone...
9. I am waaaaay less creepy now than I was back then.
10. I was signed up for Facebook by my wife... who didn't realize at the time that I would try to make a job out of it.
11. I enjoy Weird Al Yankovic's music far more than I should.
12. I "played" High School Basketball... and by "Played" I mean that I watched the games with really good seats and a cool costume.
13. I run a business built around supporting Direct Sales people.
14. I make fun of my brother, but I think he is am awesome guy. He's just doofy sometimes.
15. I think that everyone should remember how to play pretend when they grow up.
16. My sons Evan and Jacob have redefined my world view more than I could have ever imagined.
17. I promise... I'm really not as creepy as I was back in High School.
18. I don't use the home row keys to type. I look at the keys... Weird huh?
19. I refuse to return ANYTHING I get... even if it is broken that is why I got married.
20. I started a blog on Blogger... and THEN bought a book on how to run one.
21. I'll be shutting down for a few weeks soon for reconstructions.
22. I'm on a Boat.
23. I think Final Fantasy 8 was an abomination. (Yeah... I went there.)
24. I told most of my office (including my soon to be VP) when I heard on CNN that Captain America died.
25. I am a firm believer that everyone who wants to succeed can... all they need to do is throw their shoulder to the wheel and charge.
Well there you have it. My 25 random things. Fortune Magazine reported that approx 37,500 of those lists were generated and sent out in the first 2 weeks of February. This new take on the chain letter obviously struck a nerve with the Facebook population at large.
User generated content like this spreads like wildfire and its small business marketing applications are pretty important. Take look at my list. It's pretty simple right? It mentions some embarrassing stories... some interesting facts. That's all right? Go back and count how many of those things have to do with my business of helping people with Online Marketing.
Think about it.
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Maintaining Relationships
So, you’ve been friending people like crazy on Facebook and Tweeting away on Twitter for months now. You have established a LOT of relationships. Now what? Now you need to work to maintain the relationships. We’ve talked before about how a lot of these relationships are superficial. They still need work. (Who knows? It might even grow into a real and fulfilling relationship.) The following is a list of Dos and one major Don’t in social networking.
DO respond to personal messages. People will send you personal messages for various reasons. Respond. Most social networking sites make this is a fairly easy process and it a great opportunity to build rapport with you contacts.
DO tell people what is going on with you. Most social networking sites give you an opportunity to update your status. Do it. People seek comfort in commonality. This reminds them that you aren’t some business machine that friended them as a mechanical process. You go out to eat. You get sick. You watch Heroes and Chuck on Monday nights (and frankly if you don’t you should).
DO join groups that share common interests with you. This will help your contacts to get a better picture of who you are (enhancing the commonality between you). It will also help you build stronger bonds with the contacts who share similar interests. They won’t know you happen to be a Harley Davidson freak if you don’t tell them. This is how you do just that.
DO make an effort to pick people on your friends list that you haven’t spoken to in a while and message them. Build rapport
DO NOT limit your postings to just promoting your business. This jarbles any message you were trying to send about yourself and shatters the commonality you were trying to build. Twitter uses an informal 80/20 rule. This limits business promotions to less than 20% of your communications. I don’t think that’s a bad rule to apply everywhere else.
What are some of your experiences? I’d love to hear some of your strategies for helping build/maintain your relationships with your clients.
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
DO respond to personal messages. People will send you personal messages for various reasons. Respond. Most social networking sites make this is a fairly easy process and it a great opportunity to build rapport with you contacts.
DO tell people what is going on with you. Most social networking sites give you an opportunity to update your status. Do it. People seek comfort in commonality. This reminds them that you aren’t some business machine that friended them as a mechanical process. You go out to eat. You get sick. You watch Heroes and Chuck on Monday nights (and frankly if you don’t you should).
DO join groups that share common interests with you. This will help your contacts to get a better picture of who you are (enhancing the commonality between you). It will also help you build stronger bonds with the contacts who share similar interests. They won’t know you happen to be a Harley Davidson freak if you don’t tell them. This is how you do just that.
DO make an effort to pick people on your friends list that you haven’t spoken to in a while and message them. Build rapport
DO NOT limit your postings to just promoting your business. This jarbles any message you were trying to send about yourself and shatters the commonality you were trying to build. Twitter uses an informal 80/20 rule. This limits business promotions to less than 20% of your communications. I don’t think that’s a bad rule to apply everywhere else.
What are some of your experiences? I’d love to hear some of your strategies for helping build/maintain your relationships with your clients.
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
Friday, March 6, 2009
You Get What you Give... It's All About The Downline
Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders. —Tom Peters
Direct Sales really cannot happen without relationships being formed. In previous articles we have talked about how it is our responsibility to cultivate those relationships. Some of those relationships are fairly superficial, BUT some of them are special.
In this case I am referring to those people who not only believed in a product but believed in YOU enough to let you lead them into relatively uncharted waters. They want to learn from your examples and hopefully do as well as you (if not better).
I am referring of course to your Downline. You have a special responsibility here, and your income truly depends on it. Your down line isn't full of children that you can easily mold (Ha. Like children are easy to mold anyways). Instead it is likely full of adults with VASTLY different backgrounds and belief systems. Talk about a challenge right?
Fortunately, you're job isn't going to be to make them work together as a team. This isn't corporate America. Instead you need to keep them focused and motivated. You have to continue to market the opportunity to them, otherwise they will fade away leaving you with less stability. The following are some tips for how to help yourself in these situations:
- The Little Things Matter - Things like birthday cards and simple "Howyadoin?" phone calls can go a long way. Direct Sales is a roller coaster at first so it is a relief to know when you aren't alone in it all.
- You've Gotta Teach 'em - You gotta keep the training coming. Your people will inevitably need help. You will inevitably have people who don't ask for help. That may save you time, because you wont have to help them all the time... but it will certainly do a number on your override check. Corporate trainers have known for years that you need to add variety to your training methods to help deal with the different kinds of learners (That's a whole other article because it effects selling too... look for it soon). So make sure you offer several different training methods: group sessions, One-on-One training, webinars, videos, written documents and references to online training sources (Like a certain Blog I read about once... I think it was called the Savvy Somethingorother :))
- Include them in your Success. You know that you can't develop a long term consistent income without them. They know it too, so there is no sense hiding it from them. Make sure you celebrate your successes with them. It will help keep attitudes positive and it will show them what THEY can have if they put in the amount of work that you do. (Which I hear isn't too bad for your override either.)
Let me know what you think here folks. What are some of your tips and tricks for keeping your Downline motivated and educated? Let me know through your comments. I'd love to hear about it.
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
Sunday, March 1, 2009
No, It's Not About Pie. It's a Metaphor.
I was at a group consultation this past week (Shout out to the Live Your Dream district, Jafra Cosmetics!) and one of the women there told an AMAZING story that I wanted to share. Here we go:
By itself this story is pretty innocuous; it’s just a story about pie. But, this is an amazing metaphor for the entrepreneur in all of us and there are three lessons I would like to point out.
1. You have to be HUNGRY. This isn’t about food here. Opportunities are all around us… many of them are great ones. BUT, if we leap before we are prepared to take it on fully it can be a disaster. You have to have a sense of self awareness in regards to how ready you are to accept new challenges/commitments/risks. I challenge each of you to take a quick look at where you are and see how hungry you are… and if you are hungry… go eat something. No, not literally. Commit more time or effort to a project you’ve been putting off. Try a different marketing approach to bring in more clients. Join Facebook (and make more money while you do it!) If you aren’t hungry, that’s ok too. Because, sometimes it just isn’t the right time to take risks and try to grow. So long as you pay attention to where you are so you can jump into high gear when you DO get hungry.
2. Your downlines are dealing with the same thing. Sometimes they won’t be hungry, even if your product/service is exactly what they need. You need to evaluate (as best you can) how hungry are. This is especially important if you are a manager or director level direct salesperson with a large downline. You need to gauge where they are at so you can leverage your time/support to them appropriately. The last thing you want to do is call the person who has a lot on their plate every day and go nowhere while you have another downline chomping at the bit to grow without enough support. The same is true for your clients, you may have the perfect product but they might just not be ready to see it yet.
3. Clients need to be hungry too. If they aren’t hungry then they might be reluctant to buy even the PERFECT product or service. Sometimes it just isn’t the right time for people. Don’t give up on your clients and make sure to revisit your business with them in the future. You never know when a rejection can turn into a purchase.
4. Having difficult work days and having to work through ones lunch on a Saturday is the entire reason I decided to start my own business. Isn’t Entrepreneurship grand?
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
Pumpkin Pie
Thanksgiving Day has come again. You are surrounded by family, and everyone has come with something for the table. The spread is magnificent and you are almost full just looking at it. From the moment your Grandfather says “Amen” you are filling your plate (and emptying it just about as quickly). After what feels like five minutes two hours have passed and your entire family is groaning as they struggle to take that one last bite.
Like clockwork Aunt Trudy emerges from the kitchen with her “World Famous” Pumpkin Pie, and immediately your heart sinks. You didn’t leave room for dessert.
“I have to pass Trudy,” You say reluctantly. “Could you wrap a slice up for me?”
Two days pass and you crash through your door on the way home from a difficult day at work. You are famished, because you had to work through your lunch. You rummage through the fridge looking for something to eat and come upon the wrapped slice of pie. No one in history has uncovered a greater treasure. As you begin to eat you are almost concerned, because it tastes better than it ever has before... but you let it go and make a mental note to not leave room for dessert next year either.
By itself this story is pretty innocuous; it’s just a story about pie. But, this is an amazing metaphor for the entrepreneur in all of us and there are three lessons I would like to point out.
1. You have to be HUNGRY. This isn’t about food here. Opportunities are all around us… many of them are great ones. BUT, if we leap before we are prepared to take it on fully it can be a disaster. You have to have a sense of self awareness in regards to how ready you are to accept new challenges/commitments/risks. I challenge each of you to take a quick look at where you are and see how hungry you are… and if you are hungry… go eat something. No, not literally. Commit more time or effort to a project you’ve been putting off. Try a different marketing approach to bring in more clients. Join Facebook (and make more money while you do it!) If you aren’t hungry, that’s ok too. Because, sometimes it just isn’t the right time to take risks and try to grow. So long as you pay attention to where you are so you can jump into high gear when you DO get hungry.
2. Your downlines are dealing with the same thing. Sometimes they won’t be hungry, even if your product/service is exactly what they need. You need to evaluate (as best you can) how hungry are. This is especially important if you are a manager or director level direct salesperson with a large downline. You need to gauge where they are at so you can leverage your time/support to them appropriately. The last thing you want to do is call the person who has a lot on their plate every day and go nowhere while you have another downline chomping at the bit to grow without enough support. The same is true for your clients, you may have the perfect product but they might just not be ready to see it yet.
3. Clients need to be hungry too. If they aren’t hungry then they might be reluctant to buy even the PERFECT product or service. Sometimes it just isn’t the right time for people. Don’t give up on your clients and make sure to revisit your business with them in the future. You never know when a rejection can turn into a purchase.
4. Having difficult work days and having to work through ones lunch on a Saturday is the entire reason I decided to start my own business. Isn’t Entrepreneurship grand?
Stay Savvy,
Stephen
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