This subject is so profitable and so much fun that entire companies (e.g., BNI – Business Networkers International) focus on it. The ‘how’ of networking is the subject of a few good books, such as Ivan Misner’s, “The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies.” This kind of knowledge is important for making networking events productive. Too many events are like the typical chamber of commerce meeting, where people exchange business cards and call that ‘networking’. According to good networking advice, the best thing you can do is collect business cards from a few key people whom you have spoken with. And the conversation is best when it centers around questions that you ask of another person, and the answers that you can use in later follow up as a reminder of your encounter. Indeed, it seems to be a law of the universe that you will come across as a great conversationalist by saying almost nothing!

Typical Network Marketing Is Ineffective

How does this compare with a typical ‘network marketing’ meeting? No wonder those things are such a glorious waste of time. One or two people do all the talking for the presentation, then you get to spend your time afterwards in selling, convincing, and pitching to your guest(s) about whatever the products and opportunity might be. I don’t know about you, I just think this is one of the least effective ways to build your MLM business.

By the way, the reason for the typical meeting structure has little to do with your success and a lot to do with the company’s success. I’ll have much more to say about this in one of my upcoming newsletters, so be sure to subscribe to it. I will also have a lot to say about what you can do that is much more effective than bringing guests to a company presentation. MUCH more effective.

Why to Network

Networking is the activity that builds better relationships with others. If you can get to know others and get to be known by them, you form a basis for trust. A good relationship is the key for any kind of success in network marketing. After all, just in case someone takes you up on your opportunity, you will have to have a level of trust that translates into your leadership of that new person. And any new person has to see how you do that so he or she can do the same.

Some of this perspective seems like a no-brainer. Nevertheless, your company and any other company that you join will most likely ‘teach’ you MLM building the old fashioned way: making gazillions of calls, using the 3-foot rule, browbeating your warm market, attending meetings and conferences, listening to teleconference calls or their  insidious tech version, the webinar, etc., etc. Just think, if you actually have just 10 hours per week to build your business, all of it can get chewed up in being ‘woo-busy’ with all this stuff, and you will never have time to actually sponsor and develop a leader into your organization.

Ah, this is fun, isn’t it? It is easy to take potshots at these kinds of things. It is harder to find good advice that works by doing something else. However, there is plenty of other stuff that you can do with your 10 hours per week that will actually lead to income. I’ve put together a little lead-in on this topic on my page, “Can MLM Work for You?” This is a start, so take a look at it and let me know what you think.

Dr. D

Attracting the right client, one who comes through your door or to your website and buys your product or service, seems to be the first step in growing any business. However, who is your ideal customer? This concept came across my desk in the new book by John Assaraf and Murray Smith, “The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life,” recently. The is the best book of the year for business development.

Who Is Your Ideal Customer?

The standard view of defining an ideal customer entails demographic information: gender, age group, income level, marital status, geographic location, etc. Although the value of this kind of information may seem obvious, most businesses put no effort into defining these categories. This means that finding and marketing to the ideal customer just won’t happen.

What Does Your Ideal Customer Want?

A second and equally valuable definition, as described in the book, is psychgraphic information. In other words, why does someone buy from you? This is not so easy to know unless you ask your current customers. You can buy plenty of “who” lists of customers from list brokers, although your “why” list is best when you build it yourself via questionnaires, interviews or surveys that you conduct yourself. This may seem like a lot of work. However, Assaraf and Murray offer a little number-crunching to explain how valuable this effort can be, as outlined here:

How to Multiply Revenue by Sixteen-Fold

Consider the concept that 20 percent of your customers generate 80 percent of  your revenue. Now the math gets to be really fun: the 20-percenters generate four times as much revenue as the rest of your customer base, and there are four times fewer of them. The value of each of the 20-percenters is therefore sixteen-fold higher than the non-20-percenters. Your most effective strategy to increase business is obvious: Get more 20-percenter type customers. When you know who your ideal customer is and why they buy from you, you can put more effective effort into getting more of them. When ALL of your customers are of the original 20-percenter type, then you will have increased your revenue by sixteen-fold. Now doesn’t that seem like fun?

This little overview us just a glimpse of how the combined use of demographics and psychographics can boost your business. I don’t pretend to do justice to this strategy here, so I simply encourage you to get the book and dig into it for yourself. Oh, and this book offers a lot more than this topic, so I will mention more of it later.

Dr. D

Internet in marketing is almost a must these days, so gazillions of people are screaming for attention in cyberspace in hope of making money. One of the relatively new ways to get attention is Blog Talk Radio, where you can sign up for a free account and host your own radio show.

My Standard Radio Experience

For comparison, I hosted a weekly radio show for about a year in the Phoenix, AZ, area not too long ago (”Natural Health Show” about nutrition). The details were: I paid a $1200 per month fee; it was up to me to get advertisers to cover my expenses; and a break even ROI required roughly 60 new customers in my retail nutrition store per week from the show. Even though it was fun, it never came close to breaking even. And this was in spite of having a consulting naturopathic physician, Dr. Joe Brown, as my co-host. The listenership simply wasn’t there.

Cyber Radio

Just this past week I recorded my first 30-minute show on Blog Talk Radio. Now that broadcast is archived for future accessibility to anyone, worldwide, at any time. I used my scientific expertise in plant biochemistry as the basis for talking about natural shingles treatments. Now I can send people there, link it in my newsletters, or even broadcast it in my store. And all for free! As an added bonus, you can also get code for displaying graphic links, like the one below:

The SEO Boost

Besides all of he marketing benefits that I’ve mentioned so far, it seems that Google likes this venue and boosts ranking faster than almost any other strategy. Who knows how long this will last. However, since Google gets a lot of ad revenue from the wide exposure of online radio shows, having your own show will be of benefit for SEO for a good while. So, put your SEO hat on and imagine the possibilities … they are endless. Take a listen to a few shows and see what I mean.

Dr. D