Marketing yourself as a Leader

To keep active within a company there may be guidelines or minimums you are expected to meet. Besides sales, a lot of companies believe a Leader should be able to recruit a minimum of 3 new recruits a year. This can be very challenging for some Leaders. When you are new and you have 1 or 2 Consultants then meeting those minimums can be very difficult. The fastest way to get more bookings/sales or more recruits is having a web presence, an email opt-in list plus numerous other ways. Here are some ideas to finding those numbers but remember it is more than numbers. It is about forming relationships and meeting needs.

- Marketing You - when it comes to finding an audience it has to start with you. If you are a fun, out going and easy going person then more people will be open to talking and listening to you. This does not have to mean changing who you are but more about learning what impressions you are giving other people. You can start by rehearsing your pitch in front of the mirror. Remember that your pitch is important too (see other postings about this). Also talk to friends and other Consultants about what your clothes or personal style are saying about you too.
- Video promotions - the fastest way these days to find an audience is by promoting yourself through a video. Now the video is not suppose to be about you but rather it should be about the service you provide, what you are looking for. Example: recruiting - demo how easy it is to be a Consultant and how much money you can make. I will say that in doing GOOD videos there is an entire learning curve that goes with it. You may have to purchase/download editing software or audio content software, etc. There are tons of "How to" places where you can post your video as well as "You Tube".
- Social Networking - Places like Facebook can really help you find people, post ads, reach an audience that you may not already have. Create a Facebook business page like "Susan's Partylite Parade" or "Nancy's Tupperware Tribute" - you want to make it stand out and personal to compete with other reps who may have a page on Facebook.
- Opt-In Email Marketing - You should create a list that people can opt-in or join. With privacy rules changing all the time it is best that you have a signature from the people who choose to be on your email list. I believe you should be in contact with these people on a monthly basis. I highly recommend Networking Gals newsletter as a non-selling way to stay in touch with your email list. Having an opt-in email list is a little like having a piece of gold - valuable enough to sell.
- Webinars & Promo Companies - These two categories are both good ideas to get involved in once you have a team and some spare change. They do cost money but can really help you find an audience which in turn gets your message out to more people.
- Blogging - I think that blogging is a great way to communicate without selling or forcing something down peoples throats. It is a great way to talk about your experiences as a Consultant or Leader or Party Plan rep. People like to hear about others experience and you may even find that other Consultants want to hear what you have to say. Share your blog with family/friends but also on Facebook and to your email list.

Without a doubt Leadership is challenging in the beginning but I always say that it is worth every second of it. I loved my time with my Consultants and I learned and grew as a Leader over the course of time. Our world is changing so quickly these days and trying to stay on the pulse of everything is huge. The ideas I shared here are just some but there are many different ways to market yourself. I would love to hear what you do to stay active in the market and how you market yourself! Remember......

                                        Life is too short..................so go out and Party!!!

Reflecting on your Dreams

As a Leader it is so easy to get lost in all the things that need to get done. We have our business dreams (booking, recruiting), our team dreams (getting them trained, helping them to become consistent), and our daily life dreams ( buying that house, happy healthy family, etc.) then beyond that we may have so many other dreams that we seldom have the chance to acknowledge or pursue.Time is so crucial in all things, which is why Networking Gals has created the presentation "Calendar Control" but beyond that there is a ton of unwritten guidelines that we have never looked at which I hope to illustrate now.

Basically I believe that each day of the week has a function. Some of my ideas have been long standing but also I have noticed over the years a shift in what those days are. Here is my idea of what a week could mean:

- Meeting Mondays - It use to be true that this was the day for meetings but it seems it is no more which is good. Now you can make Mondays the day they should have been all along - Ordering/Banking Mondays - after a busy Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday of doing shows then you will need to get those cheques into the bank and put those orders in. Double check your supplies before you put your orders in so you can order what you need too!
- Training Tuesday - This is usually a good day to go to meetings or have meetings. Perfect time to follow up with your team and do that training conference call if you can't all meet.
- Working Wednesday - This is the day for your Hostess Coaching, filing and finding recruits. This the one day a week you really want to reach out and touch people both by phone and by going out.
- Thinking Thursdays - Believe it or not this is one of the most important days of the week!If you are not making time for this then you are losing out.I spend this time looking at my "Vision thru Focus Board" (we will be talking more about that later in the week) re-evaluate my dreams, but I mostly spend time with my calendar in hand and looking forward into the next week. What appointment do I have that can not be forgotten or changed, What do I have to do to be prepared for those appointment and do I have anything I need to accomplish to even get to this appointment. When I look at my "Vision thru Focus" board I try to  spend time realizing my dreams and also I try to take away a feeling or a desire that I want to focus on for that week. IE: you look at your board and you realize that one of the items (dreams) is to get more organized so maybe your thought for the week is organization, perhaps you will try to be more organized and envision what being more organized may do for you.The most important thing to Thinking Thursdays is taking the time to do something in your life/business that propels you forward!!! Thinking Thursdays is also about me time, getting re-energized, refocused, refreshed with your life and your business.
- Future Fridays - This could be the first day towards a hectic weekend so take time now to plan ahead. Do I have everything I need to do my shows? Have I arranged any meal preps I may need to or did you schedule the sitter, etc. Then do 1 thing towards the future of your business. It could be taking a Hostess out for a coffee, handing out business cards out front of the mall, having a mentoring lunch with a manager, placing ads on various free sites, etc.

The rest of the week is up to you. I have left it that way because you will most likely be doing shows. One final point I want to make is this; real feelings like joy, caring, sincerity, hope, love, etc. come from within us - they come from the heart and can not be produced in falseness. This means you only cheat yourself if you choose to fake those. If you can come from a real place of joy, hope, sincerity then you will have the power to move more people and more obstacles in your life. Use the power within you to reach out to people and it will always pay you back!! Remember...

                                        Life is too short..............so go out and Party!

Maintaining Leadership

One of the aspects of Leadership that no one ever tells you is how difficult it is to keep a flow going. A flow is the ability to keep yourself working at a large enough level to earn the awards but also keep your team working and then keep on recruiting to fill in where you need it. This is where so many good Leaders feel like failures because they just can't get to the levels where some Leaders are maintaining. I think it is crazy to feel like you are not doing enough etc. because Leadership is a huge learning curve. Comparing yourself to other Leaders is silly as you have no idea how long the person has been a Leader, perhaps they may have been a Leader before in another company or they may have taken some extracurricular training in this area. So here are some sneaky secrets that may help you get an handle on this Leadership thing:

+ First and foremost is getting your business flowing before you even consider working with your team in this area. This means that you have to go back to Consultant school possibly. If you are not doing 12 shows or more a month then you can not begin to understand a team member who is. So go back to basics and start finding more bookings - forget everything else until you can maintain 12 bookings a month!!!! ( For some this may not happen but perhaps you could use some training from Network Gals, let us know)

+ Running your business (not your team) effectively and duplicateable with purpose is very important. The more that you let your business happen by accident the less control you will have on it! Be in Control!!

+  You need to overbook and over recruit to find a balance in your business. If you are over booking then you can help to motivate that one Consultant on your team that isn't doing so well. You can offer to give them a booking once they have done a booking of their own. When it comes to over recruiting I believe this is very necessary. We tend to get a recruit and drop everything to get them going and forget about recruiting for a while. Challenge yourself to recruit/train/mentor 12 new Consultants at once and then you will see why it is so much better when you do many at once. I once offered people $100 to join, buy their kit, do their 6 shows and after that they could leave with all the great products plus my $100 to each person. This worked very well. Several of the 8 people I recruited left with their kits but 3 remained and went on to be great Consultants.

+ Talk to other Leaders! Stay in the loop. If you are having a tough dry spell you might consider asking a Leader who is doing very well if she would consider giving you one recruit or a few booking. This is what a Leadership relationship should be like. Understand that one day she will want you to give her one back in return - don't put it off because she may expect that one to come during a promotional period leaving you without.Ideally we want to keep all of our bookings and recruits but some company's may frown on this. I believe it is the key to creating a Leadership lock which keeps all Leaders humble and caring!

+ One of the best things I ever did was schedule a coffee time luncheon with the top Manager of the company. I was very nervous and very shy about asking but I also knew her time was valuable and I would have to be creative to find time enough to chat. That Manager was very helpful. She gave me some very clear and easy ideas on how to find more of everything I needed and also told me that most Leaders flounder for 5 years but usually get to a leveling off point there after. At the time, 5 years sounded way to long but you know it was there before I knew it and by then I had recruited over 30 Consultants and still had 24 of them after 2 years.

Check out Networking Gals website and template library for members as there is more help on this subject. Never be afraid to spend money finding bookings and recruits. We have talked about that before in the blogs. Another idea we have talked about is setting up a very lucrative referral system see Networking Gals "Referral Guide" in our template library. Remember.....

                                      Life is too short..................so go out and Party!!

Stepping out!

Life is so increasingly busy that it seems our work life runs into our home life and our home life into our social life and so on. There is nothing wrong with that at all because I truly believe that to maintain sanity and create less stress in your life that you need to create harmony within all aspects of your life. However, when you do that you can easily find yourself outside of your work persona when you actually need to be IN your work persona. So I have formulated a quick and easy way to get that persona on and still function and go about your daily life. (For more about the persona I talk about please see our previous blog posts) 

I believe we need to be our business everyday - be it for 5 minute or for a few hours. Here are my tips to accomplish that:
- Everyday you should get up, shower, do your hair/makeup and dress prepared for business. Even if you are staying home to watch the kids. This is an important task because not only does it put business on your brain but should you have to run out to send a fax or make some photocopies then you are prepared to be that business person should you talk with anyone. Therapists believe that you find a sense of self worth and importance when you practice a basic routine everyday. Now I am not suggesting that you put a fancy business suit on and then go scrub your kitchen floors. I believe there is such a thing as business casual - a nice blouse with comfy pants, simple earrings and casual hair with minimal makeup.I also think this routine should be something you could easily accomplish in a short amount of time. Even if you do all of this and then go and sit down with your cuppa something that's fine. Just get business ready everyday!
 
- I think that in this industry we need to be comfortable talking to people and we need to learn that well! Therefore I suggest that you should speak with 3 new people everyday. You don't have to give them your business run down just simply learn to talk to people and learn to create relationships. Try talking to the next telemarketer; (She says, "Hi Martha this is Nonsense company and I would like to know if you need our nonsense product? You could say, "Well I do not believe I need your product but I would love to ask you a question." she may hang up or she may say, "OK, what is your question?" you might say, "How is your day going? Mine is going pretty good" then lead the conversation where you will from there <Forming relationships> When the Realtor comes to your door and asks if you want to sell you could say"No not now but I would love to show you something." give him a catalogue with a gift. There are tons of opportunities to say a few simple words to people so STEP OUT and find those opportunities!!

- I truly believe in what goes around comes around and by that I mean that our world does not have enough people doing good things out there. The power of paying it forward is huge and I highly recommend that we all do this everyday. The guy at the coffee counter does not have enough change - pay for his coffee!(then give him a biz card) Someone is standing on the sidewalk looking very confused - stop and offer assistance/advice. A mom struggles to get all 3 of her kids together - so go help her. These unselfish acts are the humane side of ourselves and in our busy world this side is disappearing very fast. So now we have to actually take time to make that side of us reappear. Practice finding ways to pay it forward no matter how small. Even if you send a Hostess a note because you heard she had a bad day or you take the time to thank the many people in our lives that contribute something to our world each and everyday! Just be humble enough to know that you are not an island and that everyone needs someone at some point in their day!

Those are the 3 things I think we should all do each and every day! They do not have to be complicated or take up a ton of time. Once you have done them for a few weeks they will be a more intimate part of your day and it will become so natural to do. Our business, friends, family, home life and community demand a lot from us which is easy to see but there is no reason we can't do all that we want to do and a tiny bit of business too! Step out there and let your business face shine even if it is just for a few minutes!! Watch our blog for a way to coordinate your business life in small daily ways! Remember....


                                          Life is too short.........so go out and Party!

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Leadership - are you there?

In the Party Plan industry we have this buzz word that groups a lot of people into it and it is called LEADERSHIP. This could easily describe someone trying to recruit people for the first time, people who excel at their business or people who spend their Party Plan career, so to speak, at the helm or the top of the heap!

Did you see yourself in there anywhere? There is a chance that you are in that huge group but has it or does it define your objective? Do you know how to maintain leadership or how to get to the top through Leadership? It is a challenge being a Leader and for most of us it will require us to continually work at it!!!! Now I am not trying to turn anyone away from Leadership! I simply want to help you understand where you are, how to get ahead and how to keep your sanity while trying to achieve your dreams! Sounds impossible but believe me, I can help and I hope you know that this is why I created this blog.

Here are some tips, the full story to any of my blog postings can be found in some of my files/Ebooks/Presentation/Audio files on the Networking Gals website.

- The biggest thing to finding/maintaining/keeping Leadership are the recruits you are recruiting. Let's say for a minute that you are recruiting on an average of one new recruit a month = 12 a year. Of that 12, 8 of them joined for the free items/kit and or for some short term income, 2 of the remaining 4 joined for a bit more money and some friendship/night's out which means that out of 12 people you recruit in a year there is an average chance that only 2 will look at the long term picture and only one of them will last past the 1 year mark. Very surprising odds!!!!

- Don't panic yet because there are things you can do to improve those odds - we have talked about in this blog before about choosing or not choosing your recruit. If getting to a certain award is your goal then don't choose just recruit but if you need more stability(consistent earners) then choose your new recruits wisely.

- So who do you choose and where do you find them? - First and foremost is your Hostesses. Approximately 65% of all Hostesses will become Consultants within 3 years of having a party. So stay in touch with your Hostess, keep her involved in your life not just your business, send her gifts from time to time and never harass or over extend your welcome. Then from there it is your customers, approximately 15% of all customers will become a Consultant within 5 years of going to a party. Third, it is your hidden market. Your hidden market is the friends/family/guests who where unable to attend the party the Hostess booked. A minimum of 5% of these people will become Consultants due to everything their Friend/Your Hostess told them about the party. They usually book a party first then become a Consultant. So it is crucial to offer to turn a Hostesses show into a starter and to offer a referral booking and a referral recruiting program that any customer/Hostess can take advantage of.Make sure your referral program is lucrative because getting bookings and recruits are very valuable - I suggest you offer $25 per booking (once it is held and qualified) and $50 for a new recruit(once they have paid, qualified and done their starter shows)
- You have 7 seconds - go! = making the most out of your recruiting commercial. It is actually true that from the moment you meet a person that you have 7 seconds to impress or inform them. Frequently after the 7 seconds, they have already made their decision about you or what you are talking about and little will change that. So in order to be a proficient recruiter you need to get your message down. The other common mistake we all make is the need to sell people on the idea of becoming a Consultant/Hostess and to be honest we do not need to do that. Try coming first from the heart, second from a position of reality, third from emotion and fourth from sincerity.For example you could say: " Hi are you rushing to get home to make dinner like I am? (allow space to answer) Life is so busy these days. I really wish I had the time to do it all but  money does not grow on trees. (allow to interject) That's why I am so glad I have a great business and an awesome team! (Now is the time to be quiet and let the person ask the questions) (Once the person asks "Oh what do you do?" then ease into it gently like "Just a little candle business but it gives me that extra spending money that I love to have.Show or speak of something personal, like: "See this great bracelet I was able to buy myself")

If you can practise some of the tips I have explained here then you should be a lot more successful at recruiting and possibly at bookings and forming relationships because that's what it is all about. Doing a service and forming relationships it is all a part of what we do - we do not sell we promote, we do not head hunt we help people grow! Be proud of who you are and what you do because we are unlike the 9-5 crowd because we are bridging gaps and creating great futures. Remember...

                                            Life is too short...............so go out and Party!