Good morning everyone! In this Wednesday’s Morning Minute, we are going to take a look at the newly added feature the To-Do List and how it can help you to leverage your time and manage all those little day to day tasks.
The To-Do list is built into three areas in your Home Office Pro system:
1. It is at the very top of your members area, showing you how many To-Do items you have on your list. Click on it to see your items or to manage them.
For as long as there have been people with something to sell, there have been prospects, or people who may purchase what is being sold. There have always been two main types of prospects, those that are considered Warm and those that are considered Cold.
Each type of prospect has their own benefits and shortfalls, and each can be gained in different ways.
Warm Prospects are, in general, someone you are familiar with such as a friend or family member. A Warm prospect may also be someone who is familiar with you and your product or who has been referred to you by someone else. Though you have not met this person, they are already interested in what you are offering. Friends, family members and referrals are considered warm prospects because they are more likely to be warmed up to what you are offering and will be more apt to listen to what you have to say.
Friends and Family members as warm leads, however, can lead to future friends and family issues if they become dissatisfied. You want to make sure that you do not hound your friends and family members with sales pitches or call you auntie’s cousin’s niece and all her distant relatives that you haven’t spoken to in years just to pitch your product. This could lead to disgruntled family members or to you becoming that friend at parties that no one will admit to inviting.
Referrals are the best way to obtain warm leads. You can gain referrals from many different methods. There are three main types of referrals: Personal Referrals, Impersonal Referrals, and Cold Referrals.
A Personal Referral has been sent in your direction by someone else you are working with or someone who works as part of the same business or organization. These prospects are usually already knowledgeable about the information you will be trying to give them. Because of this, it is always best to touch base with their referrer first to see what they have discussed to avoid any miss-information.
Impersonal Referrals are prospects who have been sent your way from some one who is not in your line of work but believes you can help the person they are referring.
Handing out business cards is a great and inexpensive way to get these types of referrals. When someone gives you their business card, give them one of yours right back. Also, remember to return the favor and thank the person who referred the prospect, even if things didn’t work out. This will build a referral relationship and encourage the referrer to send more prospects your way in the future.
The last type of referral is the Cold Referral. The cold referral is the prospect who sits in between warm prospects and cold prospects. A Cold Referral is, in fact, a prospect - on - edge. How you approach this type of contact will make all the difference.
Cold Referral prospects are referred to you through advertising you have put out and have contacted you to learn more. You can gain cold referrals through newspaper advertising, an online survey on your website, Google Adwords and other interactive marketing sources. These sources promote the prospect to take action and contact you if, and only if, they are truly interested in learning more. These sources do not hide what type of information the prospect will be presented with and give clear definitions on the product or services you are offering.
Clear: Click here to see example
Unclear: Click here to see example
The clear version tells you that you are joining a mailing list and the types of emails you can expect to receive when you join. It also mentions that there will be links to recommended services or products in the emails, but that there is no obligation to buy them. The call to action on this form is to sign up if, and only if, you are interested in learning about marketing your business online. The unclear version has a strong call to action by stating it is a limited time offer so you should sign up immediately. The copy of the page pushes the visitor to sign up or be left out. The problem is that the page keeps the reason for signing up hidden and secret. There is no clear definition of what you are signing up for, except that you might learn my super secret method. For all the visitor knows, my super secret method may be crossing my fingers and spinning in my office chair three times.
If a contact fills out a form on a website that is not explicitly clear on what they are signing up for, when you contact this prospect they may become confused, uncertain, unwilling to listen or not even sure that they filled out your form in the first place. In short, an unclear marketing source can turn Cold Referrals into Cold Leads.
In our previous article I gave an introduction in the two main types of leads : Warm Leads and Cold Leads. I am going to continue by giving a more in depth look into Cold Leads and Lead Vendors.
Cold leads are prospects whom you do not know, were not directly referred to you by someone or prospects who contacted you but were not quite sure what you were selling or offering. The main source of Cold Leads are Prospect Vendors, also called Lead Providers. Prospect Vendors are in the business of building contact lists (who’s prospects are usually one of the three types of referrals) and then selling these contact lists to business people like you.
Even though the prospects you purchase from a Lead Vendor started out warm, by the time they get to you they are considered cold, and in many cases they will be frigid.
Here is why.
There are several great Lend Vendors online today. They obtain their leads through reputable methods and do their best to give genuinely warm leads. Unfortunately, there are by far more bad Prospect Vendors out there today than good ones. Some prospect vendors will use very questionable methods to build a contact database. These methods include:
Imagine what this can lead to. You call up a prospect you recently purchased from Joe’s Leads, who you thought was giving you at least a Cold Referral lead. This poor lead, Sara, filled out a survey on baby products two months ago, and was then sold to various businesses, non of which are selling baby products. She has now been receiving calls for two months from people who assumed she was interested in what they are offering. By the time you call Sara, she is wondering who you are, how you got her information, why you are contacting her about an e-business opportunity and where her free samples of baby food are that she was told she would be getting when she filled out the survey two months ago!
I have seen this scary scenario play out time and time again. I have had my own fair share of experiences of being both the Caller and the Called. I bet you too have had at least one of your Sunday Night dinners interrupted. Before you give up on the idea of purchasing leads all together, there is another side to the Lead Vendor issue.
There are legitimate lead companies out there that provide quality, researched and informed prospects to businesses.
That being said, a lead company will almost always sell a lead to at least 3 people. They have to do this in order to make a workable business profit. The legitimate lead providers, however, will tell you this upfront. You must also always keep in mind that, as with all things, you really will get what you pay for. Today, fresh legitimate leads are the diamonds of the business world. Expect to pay at least 2 to 5$ per lead. Pay anything less and you will be getting cheap imitations. Pay anything less than 1$ per lead and you will be getting well used coal.
Avoid Bulk Lead packages. I cannot stress this enough. Every Lend Vendor (including the legitimate ones) will have a Special Bulk Lead package or Old Lead Package. These are the Blue-Light Specials of the Lead Vending marketplace. They usually go for 10 to 25 cents a lead and are sold in packages of 500 or more. Again, you get exactly what you pay for. Bulk Leads are usually “last sell” leads, meaning they are generally more than one month old and have already been sold to multiple businesses. By the time you get to contact the leads from a bulk list, they are tired of being contacted, will most likely not remember how the lead vendor obtained their information and will most likely become hostile on the phone.
Put yourself into the shoes of the leads you are buying. Do you think you are worth more than 25 cents?
If you purchase the high quality leads (sometimes referred to as Live Leads or Hot Leads) that are 5$ each and are less than 24 hours old, you will have a higher rate of acquisition. These leads are more expensive for a reason. They are brand new; they just filled out a survey asking them questions that relate to your product or service. Some lead vendors will even show the lead your website and direct them to your contact form. In this way, you are paying the Lead Vendor to be an Impersonal Referrer.
The bottom line with using Lead Vendors is to do your homework and stay way from the prospect bargain bin.
Prospecting can be one of the most enjoyable and interesting parts of doing your e-business. You get to converse with people from all walks of life, form business relationships, investigate new ways to get quality leads and experience the elation of turning a lead into a customer or business associate.
Anyone can be a successful prospector as long as they follow five key simple rules:
We have all heard the saying “two steps forward, one step back” that is used to describe adverse situations where we feel we are making little progress or that we have to constantly back track. I think it is about time that we take that negative Mind Set and turn it on its head.My new motto for when I feel like I am going in circles is to take one step back so that I can take two steps forward.
We can often find ourselves knee deep in a project, thinking that we are moving pretty steadily, only to look up and realize we are drowning. Other times we can stare at the same document for an hour and rewrite the same sentence over and over. This can create a high amount of anxiety and stress which causes us to spin our wheels even faster. Today’s multitasking adds a whole new level to the stress and anxiety as we find ourselves being buried alive by all we have not been able to get done. When you feel yourself loosing ground, or you feel that you are being overwhelmed, stop right where you are and take a step back.
Taking a step back can be as simple as going for a coffee break, stepping out of your office to see what others are doing (I call this Office De-Isolation) and visiting your favorite entertainment website. It can be as involved as going for a walk, getting others to give you their input on what you are working on, or putting the project aside completely and redressing your task list.
Keeping a Task List is a good habit to get into. A task list, however, is not a grocery list. Your items should be assigned priorities and time expectations. If you place all of your tasks on the same priority and do not define time expectations, you end up with a grocery list of tasks that will have you bouncing from one aisle to another. Here is an example of a Priority and Time Defined Task List:
Very Important
-Finish report on Email Marketing - 1 hour
-Send Steven final results chart - 5 minutes
-Follow up with Sarah on Google Ad - 30 minutes
-Update the domain reg info for corp site - 15 minutes
-Email 808 contract to Mr. Johnson - 5 minutes
Important
-Have meeting with Dev Dept. on Q.C. - 2 hours
-Call Mike about Friday Appointment - 10 minutes
-Send Jenn the new Contract template -5 minutes
-Fax accounting the tax end, signed - 10 minutes
Not Important
-Check out the new Google Browser - 30 minutes
-Write documentation on LP Integration - 1 hour
-Talk to Amy about the Quarterly Final - 30 minutes
-Finalize plans with Jack for next Tuesday- 10 minutes
If you look at the example, you can see some task will be quicker to finish than others, and I can easily focus on the Important Tasks first. I can easily take a step back, then come back and either re prioritize my list or finish off a few of the smaller time tasks which moves me a few steps forward. Once you start doing this, you will see how much more productive you can make your day, while at the same time how less stressful your day is.
Why is Now the Perfect Time to Start or Grow an Online Business?
We have all been reading the business section of our newspapers a bit more carefully in recent weeks as the world economy, lead by the U.S. economy, began to head into a small recession. The White House analysts are mixed on if a true economic recession is going to happen or not, but they all agree that the global economy is in for a rocky ride. This rocky ride could last a few months or a few years as the global economy finds its new comfortable norm. With all the uncertainty facing Wall Street, how can those of us on Main Street get through this rough patch with as few bruises as possible?
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One of the best ways to come out ahead during economic instability is to start an online business or really start to push forward one that you have established. Online businesses are a great way to ride out economic storms because they are an economically sensible business method. The advertising costs are much cheaper, there is no office to rent and the prospect reach is limitless. Just make sure you do the needed paperwork to register your business and keep your marketing and lead purchasing budget in line with the success of your enrollment numbers.
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People right now are faced with the uncertainty about their jobs, their mortgages and their retirement. You most likely share their concern and can honestly relate to them. Though you will need to tread lightly and be sincere in your tactics, now is the best time to approach prospects who expressed interest in running an online or work at home business. People will be more emotionally charged, and they will be more cautious and thoughtful in the decisions that they make. You will need to provide them with facts and a real plan of how your opportunity can help them deal with the economic situation they are in. Be honest with them about any risks envolved and let them know how you over came them and how you are dealing with the economic issues of the global economy.
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Online and work at home businesses, often using the consumer direct business model, offer prospects a source of income that they can feel more in control of and without the risk of being laid off. Your new down-line members will be able to easily replicate the enrollment process because they too will be able to relate to the current situations of the prospects they approach. Offering it as a income supplement opportunity is also a good and well received tactic as many will be seeking ways to get out of debt or build a savings account.
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Tips for growing your business during economic uncertainty:
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