Are you tired of the tire kickers joining your business opportunity only to quit before doing anything?
Me, too. So I'm using a "try before you buy" strategy to build my business. But isn't it free? You don't have to "buy" anything!
Well, not exactly, so I don't promote it that way. No, it doesn't cost any money to sign up and it doesn't even cost any money to participate and work the program. This is true.
But you WILL need to make some small cash investments to get more involved with the different aspects of the program if you want to build yourself a successful business over time.
This business is so much more than an affiliate marketing program. So when you're prospecting for new affiliates to join up with you, you shouldn't be promoting it as a Join Free-Stay Free-Always Free business opportunity. If you do, you will get a lot of tire kickers who are only looking for free ways to make money.
But you probably won't get many leads that will stay in the program and do what's necessary to build a long-term, profitable business. Once they realize it's not really all that free - even though it's a very minimal amount of an investment - they'll quit and move on to the next thing to come along.
I know, because I've been duped more times than I can count by joining up with what are supposed to be "free to join" biz ops. I get quite annoyed when I have to actually sign up first and then find out what all is involved.
I call these programs the "Obamacare" style businesses - you have to sign up to see what's in it. Then once you sign up, you find out it's not all it's cracked up to be and opt out of the program.
Now, I'll be honest, my strategy isn't going to build a team fast. I'm not going after hundreds or thousands of leads a day that I'm going to have to waste my time with. I want serious, business-minded people on my team, not "shiny object" junkies.
And that's why I'm not focusing on constant lead generation to build my business. I'm focusing on sharing valuable content instead, a "show and tell" marketing and prospecting strategy to grow my network.
So what is my 'try before you buy' strategy?
It's actually pretty simple.
1. Create "training" videos for every section of your business. I want my prospects to see what is involved first before they hit a landing page or give me their email addresses.
But that's not how you're supposed to market a network marketing opportunity, is it?
Not according to the "gurus." Not according to the traditional way of building a team. It's all "build leads," "get more leads," everything's all about racking up as many leads as you can as fast as you can.
And then you spend hours on the phone or online trying to "sell" people on your business opportunity.
I've seen this with just about every biz op I've been involved with. Get to the top of the leader boards for the amount of people you can get to sign up. But then what happens when they do sign up and realize it's not what they expected?
You have to try to convince them that this is the best program since sliced bread.
And maybe it is - to YOU.
But not every business is a perfect match for every single person who does sign up.
So I'm employing this "try before you buy" instead using videos.
2. Be honest with your prospects. Soft-sell them. For example, I was on the phone with a possible lead the other day and I told her right out - I don't want you signing up until AFTER you've gone through every video.
If you like what you see, and you think it's a good fit for YOU, and it's something that you believe you're going to like doing every day, then follow one of the links on the site and sign up!
Be straightforward - No business is absolutely 100% free all the time, regardless of what the company says.
3. Emphasize the Positives. There is no initial cash investment, and you certainly can start earning some small revenues in a short time - not Instantly, not Overnight - but you will earn more than if you sit at your computer and do consumer surveys all day!
There are no membership fees. In this business, there are no mandatory minimum auto-ship products that you must buy to get the information that's on the next level. You don't have to own anything before being able to make any commissions on products you sell.
If you use the right strategy, you can build up the points you need to convert into credits that you can use to buy products or reinvest and set up a Standing Order - which is not mandatory - without ever investing one dime.
However, if you want to invest in some products to get a jump-start on building your business, you can do that for less than $30 a month, which is a far sight less than most business opportunities today.
4. Focus on the other person's needs! For example, the person I was speaking with loves playing games but she's looking for something more substantial to fill her time. Seems like this opportunity would be a perfect fit for her!
We also have some pretty cool games inside! That's a great feature because when you need a break from the marketing and prospecting end of the business, you can still earn credits by taking a break and playing some games.
So the bottom line to my "try before you buy" strategy is to recruit only those people who are absolutely serious about building a solid, profitable business that will last them a lifetime.
And by having videos set up, they get to see what's inside first, and from that, they can tell if it's something they're even going to like - before they sign up.
Karen Musselman works from home and provides "Online Marketing Help Without the Hype," and the importance of video marketing at her blog, "Working at Home with KSMusselman,, where she also has training videos for members of the marketing company she's a member of. Stop by Karen's blog today for more online marketing help.
