Day 9 – Recruiting Your Own Team

     There is a negative stigma attached to being involved in multi-level marketing, or MLM.  Many work from home pros, if asked, “What do you think of when I mention Recruiting your own team,”  would undoubtedly respond – MLM!

     In your business, you may or may not be working with an MLM; in fact, it’s entirely irrelevant.  What does matter is this:  Regardless of your industry, profession, product or service, it is always necessary to recruit a “success team.”

     Let’s give some practical examples of what a success team can be, and its purpose, as it relates to your overall growth.  In this example, you’re a mortgage loan officer who works exclusively from home.  When you find a qualified customer, you will be creating a loan package for them, that will require the additional services from other professionals.  In this case, you handle the loan, but the customer will also need the services of a professional appraiser, a title officer, a real estate agent, a home inspector, and even a moving company. 

     Let me pose this question to you:  Can this loan officer afford NOT to have a success team in place?  Absolutely not!

     While none of the members of the team are employees of the lending offier, none the less, these affiliate relationships offer excellent networking opportunities and increase the prospect of gaining additional revenue because of the reciprocal team concept.

     Another example in which the “success team” is integral is with an insurance agent, who chooses to hire agents under him to manage.  The managing agent receives an override on the production of his team, and therefore, invests his own time and energy providing on-going training and support to his team.  In this example, the managing insurance agent’s success team can drastically improve his bottom line.

     The list of examples of the need to recruit a success team go on and on.  So where is an entrepreneur to start?  How do you reach out to like-minded individuals in your field, so that you can create a successful team initiative?

     There are two highly targeted methods we will use to recruit your team.  First of all, you’re going to utilize your social networking memberships, and perform a search for other members, based on the search term you wish to find.  In our previous loan officer example, he/she could search for the term, “Florida property appraiser,” when attempting to connect with a licensed Florida property appraiser.  The loan officer can then send a message to each of the results of his search, and invite them to create a success team.

     In our second recommended method of recruiting a team, we utilize the telephone.  You can access your local yellow pages, and find the contact information for the individuals you are looking for, and make a phone call. 

     If you are in an MLM organization, and are looking for ways to recruit a downline, you can incorporate both of these methods into your recruiting as well.  It is my firm belief, the people who are successful in any business, are very comfortable on the phone.  Sure, you can do a lot of things via email and the social networking sites – but you will never be able to replicate “good, old-fashioned human interaction.”  Keep that in mind as you move forward in your business.

     Remember, having a solid success team is the difference between struggling to make ends meet, and catapulting yourself to untold wealth.

Until next time – Here’s to your Success!

Chris Archer

www.ChrisArcherInc.com – “The Home-Based Business Connection.”

Day 8 – Incorporating Outsourcing into your Profit Making Strategy

     Have you read, “The Four Day Work Week,” by Timothy Ferris?  If not, it’s a great read about how you can leverage outsourcing and automation in your home-based business to achieve double, even triple your profits and success.

     How can a home based business owner us outsourcing to increase their profits?  By using a Virtual Assistant to perform basic administrative skills; allowing you to focus on those areas of your business that are income-producing.

     For example, if you’re in the advertising business, and sell ad space for a major magazine, you will encounter the necessity of cold calling, email follow-up, lead management, returning calls, etc.

     Why not work smarter, by hiring a VA to perform appointment setting, do email follow-up, track your leads, and any other administrative task you can assign, so that you can place all of your energy on holding scheduled meetings with qualified buyers/clients.

     When you run your home based business like a well oiled machine, you reap the financial rewards much earlier than if you try to wear all hats.

     Are you concerned that hiring a VA might be too expensive – when you’re just getting started?  The question I pose to you is, can you really afford NOT to have help, right out of the gate, when you need it the most? 

     After reading more about hiring a Virtual Assistant, I found that you’re not having to purchase expensive equipment, creating a work space for your independent contractor, or having to outlay tons of money each week, without any results.  When you go virtual, you pay for production!  You may pay X amount of money per hour, but if your VA only performs 10 minutes worth of work in one hour, you only pay for 10 minutes worth of time.  Sounds like a win-win for my business!

     To learn more about Virtual Assistants, click here. 

Until next time – Here’s to your Success!

Chris Archer

www.ChrisArcherInc.com – “The Home-Based Business Connection.”

Day 7 – Get More Targeted Customers

     Today, we’re going to talk about ways to get visitors to your site:  the Guerilla Warfare Method!

     Guerilla warefare strategies to get visitors:

  1. Post daily ads about your product or service at Craigslist.org, or any other f*ree classified advertising site.
  2. Blog about your business daily.  You can sign up for your own free blog, with services like WordPress.com, or Blogger.com.
  3. Respond to other people’s blog entries or forum entries, but be sure your signature line includes a link back to your business website, with a short blurb about your company.  For example, my signature in the forums is always:  Chris Archer, www.ChrisArcherInc.com – “The Home-Based Business Connection.”
  4. Write informational articles about your business’s product or service.  Have a resource box at the end of the article with additional information about yourself and your business.  Great places to post your articles is at EzineArticles.com or AssociatedContent.com.
  5. Use the Social Networking website to gain more exposure, and create viral visitation to your website.  Some examples of social networking sites are Facebook, MySpace, Ryze, Konnects, and Linked In.
  6. You can use linking strategies to improve your rankings in the search engines.  For example, you can place other website’s link on your site, and they put your link on theirs.  (Reciprocal linking)
  7. Create weekly press releases about your site, and something new that is going on. 

     The list goes on and on.  Remember, get creative, and have fun with it.

Until next time – Here’s to your Success!

Chris Archer

www.ChrisArcherInc.com – “The Home-Based Business Connection.”

Day 6 – Closing Site Visitors and Prospective Customers

     The key to making a sale over the internet is to develop trust with your visitors and prospective customers.  How do we quickly and efficiently accomplish this task?

     This is the focus of today’s lesson.  We’ll break down your visitors into three lead categories, and discuss how you can reach all three groups.  We’ll also cover effective strategies you can incorporate into your site that will automate follow up.

     You will have three types of visitors coming to your website; hot leads, who will buy; warm leads, who are interested, but may not be able to buy today, and cold leads/non-buyers.  A hot lead comes to your site, and is ready to buy your product or service.  Your warm lead customer, when handled correctly, can create the biggest impact on your profits.  Here’s how to create that impact:  By having a series of emails sent to your visitors on a weekly basis by your autoresponder, that provides additional information about your offer, you will catch them when they have the ability to purchase.  Each communication you send will refer them back to your site to make the sale.  Every message that goes out should have a link back to your site, as well as a good reason for your visitor to return.

If you don’t have a quality autoresponder service, you can incorporate unlimited autoresponders into your hosting plan, when you visit Kiosk.

     When it comes to your cold leads/non-buyers, I believe in keeping the door open for them to become buyers.  Make sure they receive all of the messages in your autoresponder, and if they did not convert to a sale, continue to touch base once per month.  If you continue this strategic move, you greatly increase your conversion potential.

     So how do you get visitors to sign up to be on your list, so that you can continue communicating with them? 

     Strategies to get visitors to sign up for your mailing list:

  1. offer a free report with useful, information related to your site.
  2. have a weekly newsletter, with tips, tricks, and news with resources.
  3. have a sweepstakes or product give-a-way on your site.

     These are just some ideas to get you started.  Be creative and you’ll get results that count!

Until next time – Here’s to your Success!

Chris Archer

ChrisArcherInc.com – “The Home-Based Business Connection.”