How To Know What Works, So You Can Do More Of It

Ask any successful network marketer to boil down their success, past all the hype about their great products, company or upline support, and they will tell you that doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t work, is the real key to success.

But how to do you know what works?

Testing and Tracking. You absolutely must know what you are doing that is getting you the results you want, and just as crucial, or perhaps even more important, is knowing what you are doing that isn’t working. Since this is such a fundamental element of success, we are going to cover it early in the Nussentials Success Secrets formula. It is important to start this process as early as possible in building your business, so you can make small corrections, daily if necessary, to guide your business in the direction you want. Profitability.

Okay, that’s all well and good Cenay, but how do I do that?

Good question and thanks for asking. Let me explain. Every single activity you do can be measured and tracked. For example, if you are prospecting with business cards, how many did you give out today? Write it down. Even better, start a spread sheet and make a line for business cards. Put that number in the first column. Tomorrow, if you give out more business cards, put that number in the next column. This won’t make a lot of sense until you start to build up some numbers, but trust me for now and do it. It will pay big dividends later.

If you hang flyers in the windows of businesses, how many did you hang?

If you purchased leads, how many picked up the phone, were interested, asked for more info or hung up on you?

If you were cold calling all last week, how many calls did you make? What were the results?

Below are some activities that will drive your business forward, and each one of them should be tracked daily. Remember those habits we were talking about earlier? Tracking is a required habit you must develop. Without it, you can forget any real long-term success. If you assign a value to each activity, and tally them at the end of each day and week, you will find that as your numbers grow, so does your business. Some of these activities will yield you more growth than others (sponsoring rep’s for example), so they should be weighted to reflect that. I will go into much more detail on each of these activities in the coming lessons. For now, just review this list and build your spreadsheet.

Promotional

Advertisements
Voice Mail Drops
Meet Someone New
Direct Mail
Dials
Articles Posted
Google Ad’s
Leads captured on website
Email Broadcasts
Blog Posts

Connection Actions

Connects (or Incoming Messages/Emails)
Appointments Set
Presentations
Product Sells
Sponsored Rep’s
Rep Training

Personal Development

Tend Your Goals
Skill Development

A sample screen shot of what you might start with is shown below. Drop me an email if you would like me to send you this template via email. You can use the “Contact Me” link located at the top of this page.

Like I said before, you must know what you are doing that is having a positive effect on your business growth. Each of the items on the template shown above is an activity geared towards that goal. Let’s get the overview for each into your memory banks, so we can build on them in future lessons.

Advertisements
You are now in business for yourself, and like any brick and mortar business, you need to let your potential customers know you are now in business. There are a lot of ways you can do this, and each one will score you 2.5 points in your tracking. By the way, these numbers are not arbitrary or fanciful, they are based on experience within the industry as to what works. Advertisements would include any of these: Newspaper, Magazine, Ezine ad’s, Press Releases, Radio, Television, Google Ad’s, or even Articles posted on one or more article directories.

Voice Mail Drops
You should be gathering referrals from existing customers, or calling people that left their contact info on your web capture page. Each time you make a call and get voice mail, leave a short message, an “offer” or invitation to get more info. You assign 1 point for yourself for each of these.

Meet Someone New
This business is about relationship marketing, which means you will be meeting new people. Each time you introduce yourself to someone new, assign yourself a half point. Talking about your business or product isn’t a requirement for this step, just the introduction.

Direct Mail Pieces
Later, we will discuss how to do this successfully, but first, let me explain briefly what I mean. As you accumulate leads, you can market to them directly through either snail mail (you know, the United States Postal Service, remember them?) or email. Let’s say you have 100 leads and you send out 100 “pieces” of either a real letter or an email broadcast. Multiple the number of pieces by 0.04, and assign that score for the day.

Dials Made
Assign one point for each person you dial, whether someone answers or not. Activities in this category include first time calls, follow up after meeting with someone, setting an appointment, follow up after sending “more info” or up selling a new product to a retail customer. Assign one point here for the dial, and another if you leave a message (see Voice Mail Drops above).

Articles Posted
One of the methods I will teach you to grow your business that isn’t taught in “old school” network marketing books is to establish an Internet presence, an authority identity. One of the easiest ways to do this is with article marketing (which will have it’s own lesson soon). Now, don’t panic, you don’t have to be a writer to do this step, but it will help you “promote” yourself in a big way. Each day that you post a new article, assigned yourself 1 point. If you post the same article to 5 directories, assign yourself 5 points for the day.

Google Ad’s Started
Another non-old-school method of network marketing today, is using Google Adwords to send highly targeted people to your “lead page”. Basically, you are using Google’s powerful advertising method to send only people searching for your opportunity, to your business opportunity page. While there is a lot more to this which I will cover in upcoming lessons, you will assign yourself 2 points each day you start (and run) a Google Ad Campaign. This is an activity that will continue to score you points each day it is running, because it will be “marketing” for you on auto-pilot.

Leads Captured On Website
You will learn how to create a “capture page” on the Internet that asks potential prospects to “raise their hand” if what you have told them is intriguing and they want more info. You will learn to use article marketing, ezine ad’s, blog posts and Google Adwords to send these prospects to this capture page, so you will have a steady stream of prospects who raise their hand. Each time someone “opts in” (asks for more info), count that as 2 points. These are better than warm leads, these people were actively searching for a solution to their pain and found you.

Blog Posts Made
I know we are talking about things that seem foreign to you right now if you were trained in traditional network marketing, but what worked 70 years ago for our parents and grandparents just isn’t as effective today as it was then. Today, there are over 1 billion people “online” and surfing the web. Another excellent way to promote yourself and your business is to create and maintain a blog. (Don’t worry, I will show you step-by-step exactly how to do this, in fact, I have already created several video’s that demonstrate the easiest method of Creating A Blog). Each time you make a new post (of value, not just a “I had dinner out last night” type of post), assign yourself 1.25 points. So, if you post three that day, assign 3.75 for the day in that column.

Connects (or Incoming Messages)
By connects, I mean when you actually are communicating with a prospect in some way. If they called you, you called them, they emailed you, you respond to that email, each of these are considered “connects”. Assign yourself 1 point for each “connect”. Remember, that’s a point for dialing, another if you left a message, and a third when they call you back and you talk. See how each of these activities is moving you forward?

Appointments Set
Although we will be discussing methods to “prospect” online, you will still need to talk with your prospects. This is because they are “buying” into you and not your products, opportunity or company. They will need to get to know you a little and be able to answer these internal questions: Is this someone who can help me achieve my goals? Can I trust this person to be there for me? What does this person have to offer? So, plan on setting appointments with your prospects. It might be late in the process (as you will see soon), but there will come a time. Each time you setup an appointment, assign yourself 2 points.

Presentations
This can be an online business presentation, getting a guest on a conference call about the product or business, a viewing of your streaming video presentation or an in person visit where you “make your offer” to them. Each of these count as 3 points. The more of these you do, the faster your business will grow.

Product Sales
When you first heard about network marketing, I am sure one of the things that appealed to you was the potential for residual income. Do the work one time, and get paid on it over and over. That is only possible with product sales. All of your other activities are building up to this one thing. What you will be training your downline to do, is this one thing. It is the single most important factor in building your business. Each time you make a product sale, assign yourself 4 points.

Sponsored Rep’s
This business is about leveraged activity. You don’t want to do all the work yourself; so training business partners to duplicate your efforts is a requirement to grow your business exponentially. Each time you sponsor someone into your business, assign yourself 4 points. Once they are on board and building THEIR business, they will be selling product, finding and training other rep’s, who in turn will be selling products. Since you get paid residual on all products sales, this activity is just as important as the Product Sales activity.

Rep Training
I know I said that Product Sales is the single most important activity you can do to build your business, and while that is true, it is not the complete answer. Training your representatives to duplicate you and your efforts will boost your entire organization’s product sales, so assign 5 points for any activity that you do that teaches your downline to duplicate you in some way.

Tend Your Goals
When we started, we talked about making your WHY/WHAT list. In other words, your long term “what-you-want-out-of-this-business” goals. Like a garden, your goals should be growing. Also like a garden, you will get weeds, things that need to be taken out of the garden because they hinder the growth of the other plants. You will find, through tracking your results, that you are doing activities that are costing you time, but not yielding results. These are weeds. Being able to identify them and remove them from your “garden” is a task you should be focusing on twice a day, once in the morning (to help you identify what activities you need to do for the day) and a review again at the end of the day. This final review will help you see what you need to accomplish tomorrow. For each of these activities (one in the morning, and again at night), assign yourself 1 point.

Skill Development
I saved the best for last, since it will need some additional time to explain. Earlier, I told you that your prospect won’t “buy” your opportunity, your products or even your company; they will “buy” you though. The internal dialog constantly playing in their head is asking questions like “what does this person have to offer that I can benefit from?”, “do I trust this person to do what they say they will?”, “will this person sign me up and then disappear?”, “what makes signing up with this person better than any other rep for the same company?”, “what can this person teach me today?”, “how do I know these products work?” and on and on. To attract more prospects, more customers and more representatives, you have to bring something of value to the table.

Also, as you expand your business into new areas, you will need the skills to do this pain free. I can tell you that you need to run Google Adwords, but if you have never setup an ad campaign, you could cost yourself time, money (sometimes serious money) and frustration if you don’t develop the skill to do this effectively.

You will hear me say effectively a lot during the course of these lessons. Effectiveness is an important factor in everything you do in business. Let me give you an example that I borrowed from Mike Dillard, one of the greats in network marketing. Let’s say you wanted to get from Seattle Washington to Denver Colorado and could use any means at your disposal. You could buy a sleek, top of the line Trek long distance touring bike and trick it out with the latest gadgets, water delivery systems, portable air pumps and seat cushions. You could train for 6 weeks to build your endurance and skill. You could buy all the best gear and clothing that would support you on your journey. If you started out on August 1st, and set a pace of 40 miles per day initially, and then increased that (fine-tuned it) to your optimum of 57 miles per day, it would take you about 38 days to reach Denver.

If on the other hand, you bought a rust bucket car with 4 bald tires and a missing headlight and started out (also on August 1st), it would only take you 3.8 days to reach your destination. That’s allowing for only driving 8 hours per day and taking the time to repair the tires that went flat during your trip. The difference between the two methods is effectiveness. You can have all the latest gadgets and technology available to the long distance biker, but there are more effective ways to get from here to there.

Your skill development should take this into consideration. You should be focusing on skills that will effectively help you get from where you are, to where you want to be.

The Internet is an amazing resource, full of information if you know where to look. Plan to spend a few minutes each day looking. This is not a waste of time (unless you get excessive with it), this is a part of business development. Some of the tools you find will be free, some you will need to pay for with either money, time or effort. Do not skip this part. Having the right tool for the job at hand is critical for success. Effective success. Don’t get me wrong, you can use a hammer to drive a screw into a board, but chances are pretty good you will mess up the screw, ruin the board and spend a lot more effort than would be required if you were to use the right tool for the job. Grab a screw gun (the right tool) and drive the screw into board effortlessly. It’s a lot more effective.

Assignment:
Build your spreadsheet for tracking your efforts (or request the template from me via email) and start exploring the Internet for new “tools” you need to add to your tool box. Some of the ones I use regularily are shown in the “Recommended” section on the right sidebar. While surfing, keep your eyes and mind open to the techniques used that move you, technique that turn you off. Start bookmarking sites that do a good job. Save them to a safe place in your bookmark folder because we will revisit them often in the coming weeks.

I have been taking Nussentials RESTORE! since it was first introduced in July (it is now late September). I am 67 years old and depsite my best intentions, at times my mind does not work like I want it to.

My children have often told me I can “hide my own Easter Eggs”.

Well, guess what?

Since I have been taking Nussentials RESTORE! I am hiding those Easter Eggs but now finding 7 out of 12. That just a fancy way of saying my mind is clearer than its been in a long time. Also my skin is beginning to be softer and smoother and the wrinkles are less noticible.

Since I also have been taking Nussentials MORE!, I don’t know which Nussentials product is contributing to what results and I don’t care, I will never stop taking these products!

– Vicki R

The Internet is an enormous place, full of a lot of good content, excellent resources and more than a few pitfalls.
I have been in network marketing off and on for 15 years, and have yet to find a place where I could go, let my hair down (so to speak) and just chat with other network marketers without being recruited or suffering the my company is better than your company argument.

So, I created one.

It’s generic in nature, and no one is allowed to recruit or spam. There is a topic called Introductions where you can tell us all about your “opportunity”, but that is the only place it is allowed. (Signature lines are allowed elsewhere in the forum, of course). My goal in creating it, was to get exactly what I have been looking for, a quiet place to share idea, talk about tools or methods that work, how to gather customers, prospecting techniques, phone scripts, training your downline, managing work and home from the home-office and so much more. I can see this getting a lot of my attention as I do work from home in a small town where the “entertainment” in the area consists of 5 bars (yuk), 2 senior centers (help me) and several all night gas stations. Not much in the way of social gathering hotspots, huh? And being a small town, there are a lot of retirees here (did I mention it is in the mountains and a little off the beaten track?).

So, if I wanted interaction with people like me (entrepreneurial minded and willing to do whatever it takes to retire with something in the bank so I don’t have to rely on Social Security), I was gonna have to drive 150 miles to the nearest big town, or create something for myself.

So, stop by and check out the Toolbox For MLM’ers Forum, phase I in creating a safe haven for network markters to share ideas and discuss techniques or strategies. Please, leave the recruiting at the door and bring your good ideas. It’s informal here, so kick your shoes off and sit back with a steaming cup of coffee and let the exchange begin.

It doesn’t matter how many leads we generate with technology, at the end of the day, you are still going to have to make some calls. You might think you don’t know enough people to get started, or be concerned that those you do know won’t be interested. Well, you can stop right there. I can help you come up with a pretty impressive list of people you know, that you don’t know you know. (Whew, I wouldn’t want to say that three times in a row)

You might be asking yourself, when is she gonna get to the good stuff? I want to generate my own pre-qualified-smoking-hot-leads now! Patience. Internet leads done right, take time to cultivate and educate. You want to be successful, right? Then trust me and start gathering customers and representatives for your team now, so the out of pocket expenses of products aren’t a burden on you while you put your Internet campaign together.

Okay, back to the Memory Jogger. This list is designed to help you remember everyone you know. Don’t do any “pre-sorting” now about their interest or potential interest, just make the list of people. Besides, it is not your place to decide for them. You are doing them a disservice. What if “Suzie” no longer is a successful stylist or is looking to start working from home because she now needs to care for her grandfather? You might miss out on a great business builder who is motivated to work from home if you presort. Okay, I’ll stop nagging now, and get to the list. Printer is plugged in? Got paper? Here you go:

Instructions for use:
Print out the main list. With either pen and paper or your favorite word processor/file editor, start adding names to your blank page. I recommend a word processor so you can sort the list later to see if you have any duplicates. You don’t want to waste time looking to see if you already added Uncle Bob (because he is bald) when you get to the Most trustworthy section. Just add the names, sort and file later. With me so far? If you see a category that you think doesn’t apply to you (like Bowling team), take a moment and try to recall if you know anyone who does bowl. While you might not bowl, you probably know someone that does. Take a least a few seconds “scanning” your brain for each category, more if you came up with 2 or more names.

Memory Jogger

Across the street
Adventurist
Always giving parties
Ambitious
Apartment Manager
Appliances
Attractive
Avon Lady
Bald Headed
Bank Tellers
Barber
Baseball Team
Basketball team
Best dressed
Best man
Best personality
Best salesman
Best smile
Blond hair
Boss
Bought car from you
Bowling league
Brunette
Bus Driver
Busy Person
Car repair
Carpenter
Cheerleader
Chiropractor
Choir
Christmas card list
Church directory
Church
Coaches
College annuals
College coach
Cowboy hat
College students
College
Confident people
Dance class/teacher
Day care center
Debate team
Deep voice
Dentist
Divorced
Doctor
Does odd jobs
downsized/laid off/fired
Drives Cadillac
Drives Dodge
Drives Ford
Drives Chevy
Dry Cleaners
Eat out with
Eye Glasses
Enthusiastic
Family who likes to work together
Fast Food Employees
Finger nail technician
Fireman
Fisherman
Former Church
Former Neighbors
Friends
Furniture salesman
Goal oriented people
Grocery store checker/employee
Handsome
Has a dangerous job
Has a pick up truck
Has expensive taste
High Achievers
High School annuals
High School
High self esteem
High voice
Hobbies
Home address book
Hunter
In another city
In laws
In management
Just had a baby
Just married
Likes to camp
Lion’s club
Little League
Mini-mart/gas station
Most integrity
Most likely to succeed
Most outgoing
Most popular
Most successful people you know
Most trustworthy
Mothers who would to stay home with their children
Moustache
Music Lessons
Natural leaders
Needs more money
Neighbors on the left
Neighbors on the right
New car
Nurse
Office skills
On a diet
On the corner
Optimist club
Out of state
Owns a restaurant
P.T.A.
Parent’s friends
Parents
Parent’s neighbors
Pay too much in taxes
People in debt
People looking forward to retirement
People who are in clubs of any kind
People who like a challenge
People who like helping charities
People who love people
People who love to learn new things
People who own small businesses
People who still know how to dream
People who want more for their family
People who would like to work for themselves
People with good organization skills
Pilot/airline employee
Play cards with
Player’s parents
Plays an instrument
Policeman
Positive thinking people
Postman
Preacher
Public speaking skills
Quit smoking
R.O.T.C.
Realtor
Recent promotion
Red head
Relatives
Ride the bus
Rotary club
runs/works in a beauty shop
School principal
School reunions
Secretary
Self motivated people
Sells cars for a living
Sells flowers
Sells insurance
Senior citizen
Shortest
Single Dad
Single Mom
Smokes
Soccer Moms
Sold you a car
Son/Daughter just married
Spa or health club
Speech class
Step children
Tallest
Taxi driver
Teachable people
Teachers
Team concept people
Tells jokes
Those who are under insured
Those who are un-insurable
Those who are uninsured
Thrifty
Track team
Twins
Unemployed
Uncles/Aunts
Vacationed with
Waitress
Wears a beard
Wedding list
Wedding photographer
Where you grew up
Who do you call if you need help
Work out with
Workaholic
Works a second job
Works for the city
Works for the state
Works in MLM now
Veterans
Works in sales now
Works nights
Works shifts
Works weekends
Security person
YMCA
Your teachers
YWCA

If, after spending some time on this list, you only come up with two or three names, you might need to get out more.

Assignment:
I was sure it was obvious, but just in case… cut and paste the list shown above into a Word document (or something similar) or just print it out. Start making your list of people who come to mind when you read each “jogger”. Later, you can “presort” each name into a set of categories like “Business Opt” and “Products” or “Need More Info” and “Visit This Week”. Remember, this list is of people you already know, and might be interested in hearing what you are doing now.

John Reese is a man who is looking for the next wave in web traffic. Failing that, he just creates it. Yesterday, John launched BlogRush, a tool to help bloggers connect to other bloggers, and bring relevant posts to your blog. It also places your posts on other blogs that are in a related topic. You will notice a new widget on the right side called FROM THE BLOGOSHPERE. I added the widget in under 2 minutes, so go check out BlogRush, and add your widget today.

Keep up the great work John!

PS: You probably don’t know what to do with this right now, but we will cover setting up a blog, generating web traffic and how to connect with thousands of people just like you who are searching for a way to make money in their spare time or from home, and see the Internet as the tool it can be. Hang in there…

I am age 69 and live in Houston, Texas.

When I was first introduced to stabilized rice bran and the Nussentials products, I was quite impressed and began taking MORE!. Within one week I was already experiencing relief in my arthritic hands which I heavily depend upon in my daily rounds of golf!

Today my hands are virtually pain free. When Nussentials introduced their high protein weight management product, LESS!, I enthusiastically began taking it as well the RUN! capsules that promote good joint health. LESS!, which is developed with stabilized rice bran, curbs my appetite and gives me the sense of satiety along with a huge boost of energy. I just don’t ever feel hungry. I eat because I need to, not because I necessarily want to.

One of my golfing partners takes LESS! only when he feels really hungry, and he has lost 42 pounds. LESS! has helped my brother lose 25 pounds, and my wife, Jill, lost 22 pounds in six months. She and I have created some really good tasting smoothies with the products.

We are enjoying the nutrition and health benefits of stabilized rice bran along with the weight loss benefits of protein - all in one product. What more could I ask for? I am a satisfied customer!!!

– Charles M.

Sounds silly when you say it out loud, doesn’t it?

But, I can’t begin to tell you how important it is. Many people who join some type of network marketing opportunity like Nussentials spend a lot of time reading, talking with their upline, planning, getting tools, and thinking about their business and never take this crucial first step… just start. Start prospecting, start cold calling, start your website, start emailing friends or whatever you chose as your initial direction. Just start the ball rolling. You can always change directions later, but start now.

Let me let you in a little secret… you can’t get ANY results, until you do this step. Yep, that right, no extra income is going to come to you if you just think about this business. There are no right or wrong ways to do this business. There are things you can do that will create better results than others, but any action done consistently, will have an impact on your business.

Here are some actions you can take today, to start the ball rolling:

• Go watch the Nussentials business presentation two times. (Hey, there is a method to my madness, so bear with me). Watch it the first time intently, listening to the important parts and how Phil presents it, what words he uses and his overall demeanor. Watch it the second time with your notebook in front of you and take some notes. Jot down the key points and important benefits he discusses and pay particular attention to what it is about the business opportunity that you like the most.
• Get dressed and get in the car and drive down to the local grocery store that has a bulletin board and jot down the names, numbers and email addresses of other people in your area that are advertising things like yard work, housework, childcare, whatever. Head back to the house with 10 or 12 names and numbers in your handy notebook and email or call them. Something like this: “Hey, I saw your business card/advert at Safeway today and realized that you are a self-motivated business minded person like me. I was wondering if you are interested in doing some work one time and getting paid on it over and over, for months to come? This is something you can do in addition to what you are doing now, can be done from home, but can eventually replace your “day-job” income. Would you like to know more?”
• Go through your email address book looking for people you know are entrepreneurial in spirit or are struggling with their jobs (I know you know 5 people like this!) and ask them something similar.

Since you are just starting, you might not be comfortable enough to “present” the business opportunity yet, so you can direct them to the online presentation, or any of recorded messages that are available to you via the Nussentials Power Team website. Or just invite them to a presentation call on Sunday or Friday. Or, and this is important, ask your sponsor to three way call with you. Your sponsor is (should be) committed to your success since your success ensures their success. And if your sponsor is me, well, I am available to you whenever you need me. Calls? More info? Training material? Videos on how to do something on the computer, just ask!

So, go get your feet wet. This will serve two very important purposes. First, it will get the ball rolling, and momentum will naturally follow, and secondly, it will show you what else you need to know… remember, take notes on questions asked that you can’t answer so you can be better prepared next time.

Assignment:
Try one new thing today. Gather info from bulletin boards and call or email them. Invite three people to a business call presentation later in the week (remember to follow up with them the day before and the day of the call). Visit a friend that has a computer and show them the online presentation video. You can say something like: “Hey, I just got involved with a new business and I would value your opinion on these guys“.

I know we talked about some really cool stuff like lead generation and automated prospecting methods, but before you get to that, you need to understand your product. It doesn’t do you any good to have the worlds best prospecting system in place, if you can’t talk to your prospects about what you are offering, now does it? So, if you haven’t already done so, you need to order some Nussentials product and start using it as directed, right away.

Since you will be talking about it, recommending it, and selling it, the very least you should do for yourself, is get to know all about it. And there is no better way to know the product, than to start using it yourself. You don’t have to start on all of them at the same time, in fact, I would recommend starting with just one, and tracking any “results” you are seeing. You can always add other products later, but focus on one for a while, until you are comfortable talking about it.

Let me give you an example. I am a little “fluffy”. That’s a nice way of saying “overweight”. I decided to start on the LESS! product. I started taking LESS! in June, and by early August, I had lost more than 15 pounds. That gives me something to talk about now, doesn’t it?

I can now say to a customer prospect any of these things:

• “Hey, I tried a new product recently that helped me lose 16 pounds in 5 weeks, do you know anyone that might be interested in doing the same thing?”
• “I had tried all the latest diet’s, pills and techniques with no success until I found this new powder that I mix and drink daily. I have lost 16 pounds already with no end in sight! Do you know anyone unhappy with their current weight who is not having any success with what they are doing?”
• “Want to lose weight? I can tell you how I lost 16 pounds in 5 weeks so you can get back to enjoying activities that being overweight stops you from.”

There is another reason to use the products yourself (aside from the required “product points” that is)… you might see some unexpected results. I know I did. After being on LESS! for 4 weeks, I noticed I wasn’t having to take my allergy medicine daily. I live in the mountains of Arizona where the allergens are pretty mild for me, except during Monsoon season (July to early Sept) when daily rain storms create mildew and mold (two things I am very allergic to). Normally, from about mid-July to mid-Sept, I am forced to take something to stop the watering eyes, running nose and sneezing. Not this year. A side effect I don’t mind having, unlike so many of the side effects they tell you about (and those they don’t), when advertising the latest pill or potion on TV. My gosh, the list of side effects takes half the commercial time!

Now, I won’t be telling prospective customers that taking LESS! will cure them of their allergies (and you shouldn’t either), but I can tell them the effects I noticed for myself. When you can speak passionately about a subject, you are able to connect to the soon-to-be-customer in a way you can’t by just “hawking the goods”. In other words, you have to know and have experienced first hand, the benefits of the products.

Nussentials makes a lot of information available to it’s representatives (that’s you and me) on the specific ingredients and the noted effects these ingredients have had in clinical trials. In fact, let me give you a peek at one document you should get to know really well. It’s called Nussentials Health Benefits and it details some great information. Right click on the link above and choose Save Target As (if you use Internet Explorer) or Save Link As (if you use FireFox). It’s a PDF file, so if you need Adobe to read it, you can get a copy at www.Adobe.com. Once you have downloaded it to your machine, open it and print it out. In fact, print a couple of copies for yourself. Leave one in your car so you always have a copy when you are out.

Assignment:
Visit the Nussentials Power Team site and review what information is available to you about the products. Print and study the material for at least 30 minutes each night. This is an ongoing assignment (that I will refer to as “Product Review” in future lessons). Even if you have read the material 10 times, read it again. Speak it out loud so the terms and phrases roll off your tongue with no hesitation. Remember, once you start generating leads and talking with prospects, you want to sound professional.

But first, re-read the WHY/WHAT list you made yesterday. Remember to keep this little puppy handy and re-read it each night before bed, and again on getting up in the morning. (Seriously, I know it sounds hoaky, but you got to trust me on this one…)

Now, let’s get started on Day 2.

Don’t let the title scare you, we aren’t going to draw up a complete plan today. We just want to shade in some broad strokes, get an idea what we will need to do. If you are “on your own” and don’t have access to an ongoing Internet advertising campaign designed to generate leads for you, you are going to have to decide how you want to generate leads for yourself. (If you haven’t yet “signed up” to be a Nussentials Representative, and are interested in joining a team already active on the Internet, please feel free to use the “Please Tell Me More” box on the right there, and I will be happy to call and answer any questions you might have (like how to sign up!)).

Here are some questions you are going to need answers to today.

• Am I going to follow “traditional” network marketing training and approach my “warm market” openly?
• Am I going to step off the beaten path and find a way to generate my own leads?
• How much time can I invest in my business this week?
• How much money can I invest in my business this week?
• What changes will you need to make in your habits/routine to be successful?

Obviously, I have some suggestions, but before we go there, let me explain that last item a little bit. We all have habits and routines in our daily lives. Yours has been built over years (maybe decades like mine were) and aren’t going to come crashing down just because you think you need to change them. This part is going to take a little work, but is well worth the effort. Start small and improve them as you start to see the positive impact it is having on your business, your relationships, your success. Let me give you an example: I used to watch at least 4 hours of television a night. One of my favorite shows would come on and whatever I was doing was “back-burnered” until the show(s) were over. At least that is what I said to myself when I sat down to watch. The reality was that after sitting motionless and mindless for a couple of hours, my drive to do anything else was conspicuously absent. So, I rationalized I could always do whatever I had intended to do, tomorrow.

Did I give up my favorite shows? Hell no! I just bought a DVR and recorded them. Now, I set goals for myself each day, and if there is time left over, I treat myself to a show or two. If I am consistently “out of time” at the end of the day, then I either am not working smart enough, or I am setting too many goals, and that is unrealistic and a sure fire way to sabotage myself. There are few things worse than feeling like you aren’t making any headway. You will quickly lose any desire to continue once that becomes the case, so avoid that trap.

Okay, on with the lesson. Listen, you got to stop me if I get to rambling…

Choose Your Lead Method

It’s time now to address the first two questions: Are you going to follow traditional network marketing training and approach your friends and family or are you going to generate your own leads from outside your “warm market”. For me, this was a “no-brainer”. I have been involved in more than one network marketing opportunity and for each one, I went first to my warm market, just like my upline told me to do. The net result? Well, let’s just say my siblings viewed my business opportunity with a healthy dose of skepticism. For a while there, I wasn’t being invited to family functions! See, I went to them first, before I had created any kind of success. These were people I was marketing to, because they trusted me, and I really didn’t have a plan, therefore, I really didn’t have success. Well, okay, I had a plan, it just wasn’t a good plan. There is only so much “product” a family member will buy before they say stop! By the time I was successful, they were burned out and definitely weren’t interested. I did it backwards! I should have built my business, become successful, and then offered the people I love a chance to share in the wealth. Okay, lesson learned.

Being a computer programmer, I got interested in the web technologies that were maturing very quickly over recent years. I had been primarily a “business applications” developer for clients wanting custom solutions, so I was already familiar with “problem solving techniques”, but the interactive nature of the Internet was speaking to my soul. I spent the next year honing those skills, learning new ones and exploring the world of Internet Marketing. What I found was astonishing — to say the least. I spent time teaching myself to write HTML (the code that web browsers read), ASP (Active Server Pages, a technology that allows web browsers to interact with a database), Dreamweaver, Homesite, WA Assist (yeah, you don’t need to know what these things are) and many more. I wrote my first web site and walked around on cloud nine for weeks.

Then I started breaking it down in an effort to be able to teach it. Oops. This wasn’t going to work. The average person isn’t interested in spending months or even years learning all this stuff, so how could I expect my downline to benefit from it? I couldn’t really. At least not then. So I had to find another way. I went back to the drawing board until I had a clear cut method that anyone (regardless of computer experience) could benefit from. (You are seeing some of the results here)

So, how will YOU generate leads? Let’s see, you can buy genealogy lists and make cold calls (yuk!), or you can use a memory jogger to help you write out the names of at least 400 people you know, that you didn’t know you knew (no thanks), or you can approach everyone you get within 3 feet of, and give them the 30 second “biz-opt script” (God no!). Any of this sound good to you?

How about this idea then… become the “hunted” rather than the “hunter”. Yeah right you say… well, I am serious. Let’s flip the dynamic a little and see what happens. If you want to attract people/customers/representatives into this business, you need to let them know what you have, right?

Old School Network Marketing says to do this you have to talk to people all day, every day. How many times a day can you “present” your opportunity? And hold down a full-time job (until you can replace that income with your Nussentials business)? Let’s be generous and say 5 times a day. (And frankly, that is more than even the hard-core network marketers can do everyday). Okay, presenting the opportunity 5 times a day, 7 days a week (I did say I was being generous) is 35 times a week. With a 2% “sign-up” rate, that’s 0.7 people a week. Oops, I don’t want any partial people, so I will just wait until I have a whole one, so 10 days. One new representative or customer, every 10 days, if I talk to 5 a day, 7 days a week and “convert” at 2%.

Internet Age Network Marketing takes a little different approach. Craft your message, build your site, spend a little time putting together a “perfect” presentation. Then “turn on the tap” and flood the page(s) with web traffic of people searching for you! Remember that 35 people a week number from above? On the Internet, that can be the number of people per day that see your website. And if your “targeting” is on, your conversion rate will be higher than 2%, because you are talking to people already looking for some type of opportunity! But, let’s be fair, and keep the same 2% number from above. 35 people a day, times 7 days a week is 245 people. (Well, it’s 350 people if you take the same time frame of 10 days, but I am trying to be generous). If 2% of them “sign-up”, then you are looking at 4.9 people hearing your message, reading your presentation and saying yes.

So, which will you choose? “Generate My Own Leads” you say? Excellent choice.

What Time Investment Can You Make?

To get started, this doesn’t have to be a large number. In fact, depending on your “goals” mentioned above, you can choose any amount of time you want, but, you do need to choose something. And here is the important part… you need to stick to that. Let’s say you decide you can only realistically spend 4 hours a week building up your business, then you need to spend that 4 hours every week, doing something that promotes your business. Does this mean you can’t spend 6 h