A new tool
As a Boomer, I’m still quite old-school in many things. One happens to be that I still use paper and pencil rather than a keyboard to note thoughts and plan. I seem to think better when forming the letters. Who knows…it might also be due to my art background.

Today, I was introduced to an easy-to-use, handy little tool to do mind-mapping online.  A huge advantage to using this program is that it can be shared with your team. You can even allow them to add their input and alter the map, making it great for group projects. It can be added to docs and even your blog or web-page. Very versatile little tool to aid your brainstorming!

Best of all it’s free! We all like free. Check it out at www.bubbl.us Let me know what you think.

(Not sure what mind-mapping is? I didn’t know for a long time!  According to Wikipedia…”A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.”

A  great video
Yanik Silver recently sent a tweet that I’d like to pass on to you all.  The concept is phenonenal!  “Unique Genius and Business Through Enjoyment” Combine Enjoyment, Meaning and making Money.  There’s no opt-in or anything.

I really recommend your viewing it…Click Yanik’s link http://budurl.com/jruv

Have a GREAT, Blessed day!

This morning, Ann Sieg and Mike Klingler have release another set of powerful videos!  They contain approximately 90 minutes of click-by-click instruction on how to create your own online real estate with Squidoo.  You can get them by clicking http://budurl.com/onlineRE

Put this information together with the videos on Twitter and how Mike beats Google and you have enough training to really jumpstart your business!  And the best part…you haven’t had to spend a dime!

So get going!  http://budurl.com/onlineRE

Be sure to claim your real estate as you watch the videos.   You can do this by opening two browser windows at the same time…resize them as needed with arrows on the top and sides (just move your curser over the edge of the window and the arrow will appear)

In case you haven’t received the trainings on Twitter and how Mike beats Google, fill out the form and I’ll send them to you over the next few days…In order to receive them, you’ll have to confirm that you requested the info.  You’ll receive an email with the confirmation link…Just follow the directions. 

If it doesn’t show up in your inbox within a couple of minutes, check your Junk or Spam mail as they sometimes get dumped there.  If you still can’t find it, contact me and I’ll take care of it from my end…

You never have to deal with skeptics again!
(Unless, of course, your idea of fun is slamming your head against a brick wall.)

Network Marketers, or for that matter anyone working with prospects, has run headlong into tons of skeptics. You know, the people who have a glaring problem, but just don’t get it…the naysayers who believe that their way (which they have been trying for the past zillion years) is the only way of doing things…the ones that just stay in their ruts and won’t change what they are doing out of fear or denial that they have a  problem.

That can all be a thing of the past for anyone willing to learn a new way!

A couple of years ago, Ann Sieg exposed the farce of the “old way” of chasing prospects in her e-book The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing. Then she laid out a whole new way of gathering qualified leads  using the internet in her phenomenal Renegade Network Marketer. And Attraction Marketing was born!

The problem many people had was how to do it.

In Ann’s newest report, The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto, the solution to that problem is laid out.  Dozens of tactics that she has used are revealed for the first time.

Two of the critical elements of all of them are:

• Finding and communicating with your niche market
• Teaching sells

Finding and communicating with your niche market

Your niche market is one with whom you have common interest and passions.

To effectively communicate with them, you must do so from your Core/Inner identity (see posts on Niche Markets).  Identify their core needs and focus on providing them information and possible solutions.

Speak from your core self as though you are speaking to your core self.

When you do this, you’ll build valid, trusting relationships and develop qualified prospective partners/customers.  They will seek your advice and entertain solutions.

Get my drift here?

Take the focus off your bottom line and focus on your prospective business partners/customers and their core desires, needs, problems, etc.

That is crucial to increasing your bottom line!

Teaching sells.

The second part of the equation is your content.  What are you communicating and how.

• Speak with your prospective partner where they are…core to core.
• Provide information for free.
• Teach what you have learned through your experience and education.

“Great!  But where do these people come from?”

These days millions of people are searching the internet for you.   You just have to find each other.

The first step is getting information (content) on some sort of platform on the web…a blog, full website, in forums, on social networking sites.  (There are lots of options; more on them in a moment.)

The information you convey must be accurate and educational and speak to your prospective new friend’s’ possible needs.   When you speak from your core it will be uniquely you and will resonate with the prospects.

Lead.  Show them that you care and are a “go to” resource.  If you are in a viable niche that is not too broad and you have valuable information, they will find you.

How to get the info out there…

• Visit forums (places where your niche market go to talk with other like minded individuals).  Google “(your interest) forums”.
• Build a good Content website.  I recommend SBI!  Check out my Resources page for a link.
• Learn about and start Social Networking.

Ann Sieg has teamed up with Mike Klingler to bring a new training site, Renegade Pro, to help with the “How-To”.  As a preview, they have released a sneak-peek…Mike’s new video showing 18 ways he beats Google and PPC in lead generation.   I’ll send you the link when you fill out the form below and confirm.

So the bottom line….

Don’t deal with skeptics who will bring you down.  Join me in attracting credible, qualified potential partners/customers by learning attraction marketing.  First, download Ann Sieg’s new report by clicking the link at the right; then, learn how to reach those prospects via Mike Klingler’s video by filling out the form above and confirming.

P.S.: In case you haven’t watched it yet, I’ll send you info and the link to Ann’s interview of Mike Klingler, too.

• A great product idea does not mean that you have a great Niche market.
• A Market is a group of people who buy certain products and services….They are not a keyword count. That is just an indicator of a market.
• Those People are motivated to buy by certain intrinsic values, problems, passions, etc. If you have a handle on those motivations and truly understand them, you’ll have a super abundance of products to sell them.

People are creatures of habit

• People do what they’ve done before and rarely do what they have not done before.
• If they’re already buying, they’ll continue to buy.
• Find out what they’re buying…Don’t blaze new trails.
• That’s where keyword/product research come in.

A Market is a group of motivated people who buy certain products and services.

You must know specific things about these people who are going to buy from you…

FACT: You can’t sell in a niche until you understand what makes them buy in the first place!

• Who are they?
• Can you describe them in detail?
• What do they look like? Age, sex, how they dress
• What are their interests?
• What is their income level?
• Where do they live? Type of House, Apt., in rural area or urban
• What are their desires?
• What problems are they facing?…or successes they might be celebrating?
• What are they passionate about?

Once you have a detailed description of the people, what do they want to buy…or are they already buying…you’re on your way to determining your market?

Passion vs. Problem

The two main reasons people buy, especially on the Internet are:

1. A Passion is something they really, really want.
2. A Problem is a “have-to”…a need …a must-have.

Both are intense emotions…driving forces that build enough internal pressure that causes the person to take action…to first search for a solution and then to click the “Buy Now” button and pull out their credit card.
In order to be able to relate successfully with your niche market, they must feel that you are one of them.

Other things to understand about your niche market…

• Why do they buy what they already buy?
• What wakes them up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat? …a problem
• What would they spend money on instead of food because they feel so strongly about it?…a passion
• What would they buy before paying their bills?…could be either a problem or passion
• What would they list at the top of their list of necessities of life?
• What do they get so excited about that they give up food or sleep or both to do it?…definitely a passion
• What would make someone get up at 5am on a Saturday and out in the freezing cold because they want to see it, do it attend it? (One of Jim Edwards’ famous questions)

The most effective…and successful…marketers know their niche inside and out. They can relate as one of the niche.

So…How do you discover YOUR niche market?

First, what is a “perfect” niche market?…if there is such a thing Here are a few things to question:

• They must be actively searching for info online.
• Is there an intense problem or desire that cannot be satisfied with one purchase?
• Are there multiple related problems?…something that causes them to be a part of a niche group. A business or hobby is ideal as the need for info is compounded as the interest grows.
• Does your market know they have a problem or desire and are actively looking for a solution?…they don’t need to be convinced.
• Is there a year-round need?…not dictated by season or something else out of your control that would cause them to be interested part of the time.
• Do they actually buy online and at different levels/price points?

Now, where do you start to look for YOUR perfect niche market?

• Start with your problems and passions. Things that you already know about…that you can talk about all day and never get tired of talking about.
• What are your hobbies?
• What were you good at in school?
• What have you learned through the “School of Hard Knocks”?
• What do others comment you on?
• What do others ask your opinion on or ask you to teach them?
• Think of the organizations you belong to or have belonged to over your lifetime.
• What are your social causes?
• Do you have some special talent?
• Who do you like working with?

For a starting point…Go to www.Clickbank.com. Click Promote Products tab. On third bullet down…”10000 “products”, click products. Expand list.  That should give you some idea joggers.

I am a really big fan of Michael Oliver and his book How to sell network marketing without fear, anxiety or losing your friends.  (If you are interested you can click the link and purchase it from Amazon and have it shipped directly to your door.)  He has written, in easy to read form, much of what we have been taught by Ann Sieg on her Renegade Network Marketing team about prospecting.

In a recent article, he redefined Cold Calls as calling people who have no idea you are going to call them.  By that definition, leads who have signed up somehow should not be considered “cold”.   If you have worked generic leads, I’m sure you’ll agree that they are often still “cold”.

His reasoning, however, is sound.  Leads who have been generated by your marketing system (especially, if you’ve set it up using Ann Sieg’s Renegade Network Marketer), or if you are lucky enough to be able to purchase Ann Sieg’s leads, are targeted and qualified.  They have requested information to solve their particular problem.

That still doesn’t mean that they don’t “feel” cold to the network marketer.  Knowing and feeling can be two different animals.   We must reach them and begin the relationship and sell them on us first before presenting our “deal”.  Even though they are good warm leads, we still fall victim to phone fear or procrastination in picking up that two ton receiver.  I want you to stop here and think…examine for a minute why that is in your particular case.  What keeps you from calling?

For me, it was fear of rejection and not knowing how to handle possible objections.

As we discussed last week, life is full of choices.  What you choose to think, to say or to do, will reflect what other people will think, say or do in response to you.  By understanding the underlying causes of rejection and objections, I discovered that I could change myself which, in turn, changed the responses.  I was in a better position to think and chose an action that would eliminate the negative reaction.

There are a couple of things that you must understand before we go on:

1. People buy for their own reasons, not yours.  They are motivated by personal interest…”What’s in it for me?”
2. Most people erect a wall when being told or “Persuaded” what to do.  As Michael Oliver says, they “generally like to learn and understand before taking action on changing anything.”

That’s why the traditional NWM approach isn’t effective.  If we launch into our presentation as soon as we hear a possible opening, they will most likely throw up a defensive wall.  It is much more effective to ask questions and listen and gently dig around to find out what they really are looking for and the reasons for their search…the reason they asked for the information you will provide.  Discover what they want, why they want it, and what led up to their search (a little history).

Please, understand that we are unique creatures.  If we pitch the deal in the “One size fits all” approach, we are setting ourselves up for rejection and objections.  It is not necessarily personal, just an ingrained defensive action.  On the other hand, if we couch our presentation to meet and overcome some of the personal reasons the prospect is searching  they will be more open to our solutions…That is, of course, if we do have viable solutions.  If we do not have a real possible solution for the potential partner’s problem, we must say so and walk away.  That’s a WIN-WIN.

Realize that it doesn’t matter what you think about your solutions or whether you think they are going to work for someone. What’s important is what the other person thinks.  That’s why it’s so important to help people surface what they know and don’t know and what they want by allowing them to come to their own conclusions.  Get them involved.  Help them feel their uniqueness and that their interest is what’s important.  Acknowledge them.

People act for their own reasons, not yours!