Want More Customers and Recruits? Here's how to get them.

Today, let's talk about something near and dear to the hearts of many representatives in direct sales and network marketing companies worldwide.

How do we find new customers and team members to increase our sales and earnings?

Let's face it, this tough economy has affected alot of people. And in many cases, our current customers aren't buying as much from us, or purchasing as often.

So, how do we expand our customer base without alot of time and work? Well, we need to meet some new people. We can’t just stay with what we’ve been doing so far.

We can do this a few ways:
* Join a club or group to meet new prospective customers and recruits
* Partner up with another rep in another company to do a Valentine's Day
Or Spring Showcase
* Ask current customers to take a catalog, flyer or brochure to work and leave in their break-room
* Ask current customers for referrals of friends who might like our product or service. * Visit an office building and pass out some free samples and books
* Send an email to everyone we have a business card from with the link to our website and invite them to become our customer or investigate our business.
(You might want to work with your upline to develop some good email copy so this is more effective for you.)

* Add a signature line to our emails so that when we reply to all on those silly joke emails, they get a teaser line and our website link.

There are lots of ways to find new customers.. These are just a few.

But we also are busy people and we don't want to have to work harder! Just smarter!

So, think of this too. When we meet someone in the grocery store, or at a party, or in the McDonald's Playplace, we don't have alot of time with them. We don't have days or months to build a relationship.

So how do you present your Avon business to them? Well, first of all, don't start with all the neat benefits of being an Avon rep. Don't tell them about the wonderful earnings, the prizes, the incredible products, the whole history of Avon, etc.

Instead, remember that people buy things to solve a problem.

So ask a few questions to postition yourself and your chat so that you can solve a problem for your prospective customer or recruit.

Talk about how becoming a customer of yours can save them lots of time and money.

They can shop from the comfort of their couch without having to go out in the cold and snow. And they'll save money too.

PLUS, they can have the products delivered free to their door by using the coupon code FSANY when they check out.

They don't even have to leave their favorite TV show and answer the door when you deliver. They can order and choose Direct Delivery and just bring in their package, nicely packaged from Avon, and with a new free brochure for them, when they come in from work!

Of course, if they want more personal service, you are right there to give them helpful ideas and delivery at their convenience.

And if you are looking for prospective team members, tell them how Avon can make it easier for them to pay bills with that extra check every campaign, or how Avon can pay for their next Disney Vacation or even provide the extra car for the spouse.

Our prospects don't care how great your product or opportunity is at first.. They simply care about their problems.

So, all you have to do is ask a few questions.. find out what they need, and then offer them a solution.

Not everyone is ready to make a change, but some will and those are the ones you want!

But you can't keep your Avon business a secret, let everyone know you are open for business with great prices and free delivery!

Do this consistently every week and soon you'll have a bunch of new, happy customers doing business with you!

Here's to Your Success!

Sue Mazza
Senior Executive Unit LeaderAvon Products
630-240-0075

DO IT by Art Williams

Check out this video by a highly successful man!

One of my favorite quotes in this.. "A winner will stay excited long enough to win!"

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33740709

6 Degrees of Separation? Not for me! How about 1!

The Movie, "Six Degrees of Separation", starring a young Will Smith, put forth the idea that we are only at most 6 people away from contacting any other person on the planet. Far fetched as it may seem, if you google these words, you can find a plethora of research to support this theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation

You may have heard of the Kevin Bacon game, based on this idea, that every actor is just 6 people from being related by career or otherwise to this prolific actor.

Well, technical as this may seem, I recently read a post by a sales trainer who says we are just 1 referral away from 1,250 prospects for our Avon products or business!

Unbelievable? Let's take a look.

Research shows that almost everyone over the age of 21 knows at least 250 people (and actually, LOTS more!). Let's say you have just 5 acquaintances... and ask each of them if you could notify their friends that you have a growing Avon business. You could ask your friends to send an email, include a note on their family website, take an Avon brochure to work with them, or to the family reunion.. 5 friends times their 250 contacts equals 1,250 people... all of whom are just one referral away!

What would you do with 1,250 prospective customers or representatives? What if it was just 10% of that? 125 people who learned that you have an Avon website or a terrific way for them to make money without having to go get a part time job?

How much more would you earn in your Avon business by just asking a few friends to forward on an email introducing your business to their contacts. At the least desirable end, they could always just say no. At the most desirable end, they could say YES and you would have all kinds of new people to whom you were personally referred.

What do you think works better? A brochure dropped on a driveway? Or a note from a friend, recommending another friend to do business with? Why, the second choice of course!

Third Party Referral (this is what this is called), is THE MOST POWERFUL way to build a huge, thriving repeat business.

We all like to do business with people we know like and trust.. When you look for a plumber, or an electrician, do you ask your friends for reliable and reasonable servicepeople? You bet!

Same idea here. Want to give it a try? Let me know how it goes by clicking on the comment button!

One last thought. Maybe asking your friend to help you promote your business makes you feel a little uncomfortable.

Successful people are willing to do uncomfortable things now so that they will be comfortable in the future. Comfortable in friends, in business, in success. Let's stretch that comfort zone just a little bit today, so we can enjoy happier, more prosperous tomorrows.

Tacky Pants

So, today's blog title is a little "light"! That's ok.. life isn't always serious! (although that's another topic - this life isn't a dress rehearsal)

My daughter Stephanie went out last year to buy me a Star Trek page a day calendar. I ask for one every year and love seeing the pictures and captions each day and remembering my favorite episodes from all the shows.

Well this last year, SHOCK! Santa played a cruel trick on me and there WAS NO Star Trek Page a day calendar to be found in any store or online. I was more disturbed by this end of an age for me than I let on to her, but accepted her gift of a replacement calendar with passing grace.

What she gave me was a page a day calendar of dumb things people say. Now, first of all, if your teen gives you such a gift, what would YOU think? 'Nuff said here, my friends.

Well, yesterday's page a day was a 'hoot', as my friend Mary Jo in NC says.

Here it is. "Correction: Because of a reporting error, Dr. Arleigh Dygert Richardson III, former teach at Lawrence Academy in Groton, was described in his obituary yesterday as favoring tacky pants with tweed jackets and Oxford shorts. Dr. Richardson favored khaki pants. (correction appearing in the Boston Globe, thanks to R.M.)

Well, poor Dr. Richardson! First of all, the tacky pants is kind of funny, except it is in the poor man's obituary, and his widow probably fainted when she read it. But more importantly, after we finish chuckling about how the newspapers can turn things around, (again another topic), let's think about this for a minute.

Dr. Richardson, a teacher, probably impacted hundreds, if not thousands, of kids' lives over his years of teaching. I picture him with a family, and I bet he loved them and they, him. Joys and Sorrow, Laughter and Tears, an entire life of contribution summarized only with a line about the clothes he liked to wear. And they didn't even get that right.

Maybe the funeral notice had more in it. I sure hope so. I laughed at this silly page a day on August 23rd, but it made me think about what people would write about me when I leave this world.

I like to think that I positively impact the lives of those around me. My family, friends, business partners, random strangers.

But this little snippet reminded me that our lives are short on this earth, that only God knows the number of our days. I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference in people's lives. How about you?

Let's make today a new start. Regardless of how you have impacted others lives in the past, today we can all begin to make a positive difference in the lives of those around us.

Smile at someone, strike up a conversation. Pay it forward. Take a chance. Fall in love (or fall in love all over again with the one you're with). Start a new person in business on the road to achieve their goals and dreams. Dream yourself. Watch the sunset. Live this life to the fullest. You are the star of the show, and it's not a rehearsal.

Here's to happiness, health and success!