Maintain a Success Circle in Direct Sales & Relationship Marketing

Archive for July, 2009

Studies indicate that many people suffer from e-mail fatigue.  They receive so many e-mails per day that they miss important ones.  Just do an informal survey of many of your customers and friends and you'll find that they either have not checked their e-mail in a few days or they only open e-mails from people they immediately recognize.

What this tells us is that you cannot rely on communicating with your network, including clients and customers, by e-mail only.  And you will agree that communication is the lifeblood of any relationship.  It therefore means that you have to use other more effective methods of communication like the telephone as well as written communication.

Many persons, especially in Direct Sales, seem to find making telephone calls a challenge and somehow that instrument can morph into a 40-lb. object.  If you are one of those persons, work hard at overcoming your reluctance to use the telephone.  Perhaps positive affirmations may help like, "The telephone is my friend." "The telephone helps me to communicate and build relationships with my customers." How about "The telephone helps me to pay my bills?"

Of course, for this to be effective, you have to set the parameters.  For example, if you plan to spend two solid hours of telephone calls, decide how many customers you plan to call and limit your conversation with each customer to a specific period.  Help them understand that this is a business call rather than a social one and while you keep the call friendly, you need to stick to your outline and control the call.  Rather than being offended, you hope your customers respect the fact that you are working  in your business.

Use the time to learn about your customers' needs and get their feedback on how you can help to make their lives a little easier.  Make detailed notes.  They may not need your product or service right away, but by really listening to their comments you can offer products or services that meet the needs expressed during the conversation at a later date. Remember to let your customers know how much you appreciate their business and how special they are to you.

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Yvonne Jones is a
home-based Entrepreneur and Direct Sales Consultant who works with small business owners and
entrepreneurs to build and maintain relationships with their clients
through regular communication.  To learn more about how this can be
done easily and effectively, visit her website at
http://cardsuccesscircle.com. 

She
also partners with women to develop a skin care program to meet their
specific needs. To learn more, visit her blog at
http://www.yvonneajones.com

Relationship marketing is more important than ever. Especially in view of the economy, people
want to know that the persons with whom they do business really care about them and not just the bottom line! It cannot be over-emphasized that people do business with people they know, like and trust. In order to develop the trust factor, it’s important to stay in touch with your clients on a regular basis.

Keep in mind that a large part of Relationship Marketing is dealing with emotions and how people feel. It means that every effort has to be made on your part to keep your customers happy because if they are happy with you and your service, you can be sure that they are more likely to encourage others to work with you.

Building relationships in any business is important, but in Direct Sales it's critical whether you are connecting with your customers face to face or over the internet.  People need to know that you care about them, and that you will provide them with the best service possible.  This involves recommending only what products they need, following-up with them to see if the products are meeting their needs, cheerfully exchanging what may not be working and make them feel special.

One way I stay in contact with my customers is by sending them greeting cards and postcards: Thinking of You, Thank You for Your Business, Thank You for Your Referral, Happy Anniversary, etc. 
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Yvonne Jones is a
home-based entrepreneur who works with small business owners and
entrepreneurs to build and maintain relationships with their clients
through regular communication.  To learn more about how this can be
done easily and effectively, visit her website at
http://cardsuccesscircle.com.

She
also partners with women to develop a skin care program to meet their
specific needs. To learn more, visit her blog at
http://www.yvonneajones.com

Most home-based and small business owners have expressed the
wish that there were more hours in the day. 
Many times at the end of the day we try to evaluate what we accomplished
for the day and are shocked to find that while we felt we were busy, we seem to
have little to show in actual productivity. 
Could we be spinning our wheels like the little hamster but going
nowhere?  I’ve found that when I create
and use
a To-Do list, this makes a significant difference in the structure of my day.

Here are 5 suggestions that have worked for me in maximizing
my time

1.  Create a Weekly Plan Sheet. 
At the beginning of every week enter on that sheet your most important
activities: business, family, personal etc. This list will go on the door of
your office or your refrigerator.

2.   Each night make your Three – Six Most Important Things To Do
List.  I used to write a list with 6
things but found that a little challenging. 
Now I select my most important 3 activities in each category.  This list will be in my Planner. Once those
are accomplished, everything else seems to be a bonus.

3.  This step is optional, but very helpful.  I write these activities on a “Design My Day”
sticky pad that’ divided into hourly segments, which stays in my Planner.  If I’m behind I can adjust and get back on
track.

4.   Plan your route as you schedule activities away from
home.  It is so frustrating when you
realize that you traveled 5 or 6 miles to an office then you had to see a client
at their home but you forgot that they were 5 minutes from the office until you
left the area.  You will save time,
energy and money.

5.   Any tasks that were not completed on a given day can be
carried forward to the next day, but those would not have been top priorities
for the day as your most important things were done first.

A To-Do list will keep you organized and maximize your time
so you can accomplish more in your home-based business.

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Yvonne Jones is a home-based entrepreneur who works with small business owners and entrepreneurs to build and maintain relationships with their clients through regular communication.  To learn more about how this can be done easily and effectively, visit her website at http://cardsuccesscircle.com.

She also partners with women to develop a skin care program to meet their specific needs. To learn more, visit her blog at http://www.yvonneajones.com

Do you feel you always have to have all the answers?  Do you feel that not having the answers will
make you appear less than an Expert?

Having an online business is wonderful and millions of
dollars have been made by thousands who may not have been able to do so
otherwise.  However, because the internet
is your storefront and building relationships in most cases is limited to
online activities, the desire to become known an Expert in a particular niche is
one that is sought after diligently.

In pursuing this goal you could forget that you cannot
possibly know everything there is to know about your niche or specialized
area.  There will always be others who
have more knowledge and experience.  So
rather than feeling as if your status will be undermined; if you do not have
the answer to a question or solution to a problem, send a link to a website
where the person asking can get more information or direct them to someone who
can provide what they need.

The result is that your followers, readers, etc. will trust
and respect you more because they will appreciate that you really care about
them and are concerned about providing real value. They will likely want to do
business with you when you have something to offer that will benefit them.

As I find myself sitting for a few minutes at my desk then dashing to the kitchen to check on my dinner I’ve been asking myself why this is happening today.  Usually I schedule a specific time to make meals in order to avoid this ‘to and fro’ activity and was actually getting quite irritated with myself; then I remembered something I’m always writing about and sharing with my clients – laugh at yourself sometimes; don’t take everything too seriously.

It is so important to remind ourselves as home-based business owners that this is why we choose to work from home.  We wanted more flexibility! That’s what I’m enjoying today – flexibility.

It’s essential to have systems in place so that we can manage our business successfully, but at the same time our systems cannot be so rigid that we cannot allow for occasional changes.  I love what I do and I love that I can work my business from home, don’t you?  Tomorrow I’ll go back to by normal schedule.

Please click here to learn more about Send Out Cards, an amazing greeting card system that allows you to work from home and teach others how to stay in contact with their clients and business partners efficiently and cost-effectively.

Don’t forget to scroll to your right and enter your name and e-mail address to receive my Report, “12 Reasons to Follow-Up With Your Clients.”

No one wants to follow a parked car; it ‘s going nowhere, so
there’s no point in following it.  We can
create brilliant ideas in our mind but if we do not get into action and
implement them, it serves no purpose.

Unfortunately many people sabotage themselves by allowing negative thoughts
to prevent them from implementing their ideas. 
On the other hand, positive thinking can turn dreams into realities.  With positive thinking you can realize things
in your business and your life that you may not have thought possible.

1.      
Set a goal with a timeframe and a deadline. Establish
guidelines.

2.      
Take action to design your life in harmony with
you goal.

3.      
Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

4.      
Appreciate each moment and try to see something
positive in the experience regardless of the outcome.

5.      
Maintain a sense of humor.

Dream big!  Think
positive! Take action and your goals will become realities.

If you are struggling to get your online business going,  I hope you will join me for this workshop to learn how to build an online business with a private label rights product. Click here to learn more: http://budurl.com/cgplrjc.

What are Private Label Rights?  Private Label Rights, also known as PLR, are digital products that have already been written and are available for you to sell on your own website. These products were written by someone who was paid to write them; however, you can purchase the rights for less than ten dollars in most cases. They also come with graphics and a sales letter, so you can be in business in a very short time.

If you've wanted to start your own internet business for some time now, this is an excellent way to get started without having to write your own eBook. You will want to edit the PLR eBook before you make it available for sale, but editing is much easier than writing from the very beginning.

Learning how to start your online business using this method will help you to build a passive income stream for years to come. You will be able to repeat the process over and over to earn even more money on the internet.

Would you like to learn the exact step by step process of how to set up your own business using PLR products?  Please join me in this four week course that will teach you exactly how to get started and set everything up easily.

Click here for more details. 

    Staying in touch with your network is essential to building and maintaining relationships.  Who is in your network?  As a home-based or small business owner your network is likely made up of your customers/clients, suppliers/vendors, and business partners.  If you are in Direct Sales or MLM your upline and downline would be included.

    It is said that 'appreciation wins over self-promotion every time' and that is so true.  People want to feel appreciated and know that they have value in the eyes of people they are doing business with or interacting with.

    One of the most effective tools I have found to stay in touch with my customers and clients is Send Out Cards, a web-based greeting card system that allows you to sit at your computer and select a card from over 12,000 premium quality greeting cards.  Once you've typed in your greeting and entered the recipient's mailing information, you can send the card with or without a gift or gift card.  The card is then sent out by Send Out Cards in the US mail the next day with a postage stamp. 

Please visit me and send a smile by creating a FREE card today; then send me an e-mail at yjones@mysuccesscircleonline.com or y-jones@comcast.net to learn more about how you can become a Sender of Cards as a Customer or start your own business by becoming a Distributor.

Don't forget to go to the upper right-hand of this page and enter you name and e-mail address to receive my FREE Report on 12 Reasons to Send a Follow-up Card.