Category: Business

I truly believe that USANA’s products are just plain AWESOME. But the current USANA marketing plan is definitely outdated and could use a serious makeover. In this article, I will reveal the single most powerful USANA marketing strategy that you will absolutely need in your arsenal to explode your USANA business in the 21st century and attract new distributors to you like bees to honey.

Dr. Wentz, the founder and creator of USANA created a world class product line and network marketing opportunity. So if you’re like most USANA distributors, you love the products and you love the idea of earning residual income and building a successful USANA business. But let me ask you a quick question, “How many new distributors are you personally sponsoring into your USANA business each month?”

And how do most USANA reps go about teaching their new recruits how to build the business? The vast majority of new distributors are taught to go after their family, friends and even remote acquaintances. Most people in fact are taught to recruit anybody with a pulse. This “old school” and outdated form of recruiting can lead to loads of rejection and disappointment.

You seriously should question anyone who isn’t leveraging the power of the internet to build their MLM business. The internet is unquestionably the most powerful tool on the planet for attracting massive rivers of traffic, leads and prospects to your USANA business. Why not tap into it? Why not use it to your advantage?

Here are 2 things that are absolutely certain:

1) More and more people are turning to the internet to find ways to make money every single the day. The worse the economy, the more opportunity seekers jump online.

2) There are currently over 200,000 people each week joining a home based business.

With this massive wave of people turning to the internet, you absolutely must acquire the skills, training and tools to succeed in today’s online business environment. Essentially, you need to get the proper education and seek to become a master of online marketing strategies for the purpose of lead generation. Can you imagine receiving leads one after the other as they spill into your inbox by the dozens with hot prospects asking about your USANA business?

I don’t think it takes much thought to agree that you would be much more interested in talking to hot prospects that are primed and ready to talk about joining USANA over chasing family and friends who shun you for even speaking to them about a biz opp that they have no interest in.

Gratefully, we have the internet and you can leverage this powerful tool to attract endless leads and distributors to your USANA business… just as soon as you implement a lead generation system. There are several systems available to drive traffic to your business.

For the sake of efficiency and to truly maximize your efforts and your results, the lead system that you use should succeed in a few areas as outlined below:

First off, a well designed lead system should give you the ability to brand yourself. Any well designed lead system should give you the ability to promote YOU, not a replicated website. At the end of the day, most people don’t join MLM’s in the name of the company and the produucts alone. The truth is, people join MLM opportunities because of who introduced them. Basically, people join MLM’s because of other PEOPLE.

Secondly, a lead system should provide top notch training. Anything that can help you shave years off the learning curve is in my opinion well worth the extra investment. With all the various marketing strategies available today like article marketing, blogging, Google PPC, viral marketing, video marketing and so on, it is critical that you seek out the best training that you can find. A rock-solid lead system should allow for growth and stimulate your education with cutting edge strategies and tools that you simply can’t do without to maximize your results.

Third of all, a well designed lead system should give you plenty of options when it comes to customizing your own lead capture pages. In case you’re just getting involved in online marketing, a lead capture page is very simply put a website that allows you to capture the information of your visitors so you can market to that list on a continual basis. This is called list building. As you grow your list and collect names and email addresses, you can continue to market to your targeted audience with automated email response systems such as Aweber or Get Response.

These are the fundamental components of a lead system that can dramatically improve your results and your chance of success. I hope this article has given you the insight you need to take the next step and plug into a lead system that will help you explode your USANA business!

The boulevard of digital internet marketing scenario has flourished in the recent times. Various interactive platforms have facade to organize immense requirements of business custodians. The World Wide Web has opened up various means of promoting, and advertising in comparison to those that had prevailed earlier. Digital internet marketing in UK puts forwards immense competition these days to mainstream advertising including television, print and cinema. In this never ending implicit space of the internet, it has become necessary for brands to espouse a hard-line branding strategy and stay updated with the different methods of shopping and browsing.

An integrated website development in UK and marketing communication plan engages all features of online marketing, throughout the company. An incorporated marketing solutions company uses all possible different media mediums to capture the senses of various marketing prospects. A company providing SEO services in UK employs multiple medium of promotions including mass communication to reach the client’s target consumers or audience. Despite the fact that consumers are suffused with an invariable incursion of advertising communication, digital internet marketing solutions assist in targeting this advertising means precisely; thereby, suggesting the needed action. Various means that help in improving the website’s page ranks at search engines is what is included in digital internet marketing technologies that are used by marketing companies in the UK.

Such internet marketing companies also provide various means of counterbalancing the emerging competition, involving all factors of marketing, available across the entire company. Web design services UK also plays an important role when talking about internet marketing solutions. Some of the popular internet marketing solutions methods associated with a good website branding services include competitor analysis, affiliate marketing, email services, search engine submissions, link building, blog marketing and RSS feed. Competitor analysis assists the technical experts in monitoring the various activities of the company’s major competitors, which means it can help you run ahead of the trend and competition, overall improving the identity of your brand. Affiliate marketing increases the overall sales, visibility and profit of the business taking assistance of the collaborators.

Email marketing is another very penetrative and effective method of internet marketing services in the UK and can help you make your consumers get information about the company’s latest services and offers. Submissions on websites such as search engines; marketing portals; directories; and advertising portals allows attracting high quality visitors and, therefore, such optimization of websites through keywords and articles is highly essential. Another method of promoting a website and attracting potential consumers for any kind of business online is link building; therefore, to acquire a better exposure for a brand your links should be placed, wherein high link popularity is essential.

The author is a specialist working on digital internet marketing UK. She is working in IT industry for a decade and has a good expertise in various sectors of e-marketing including PPC, SEO, banner advertisement, affiliate and email marketing.

One of the best ways of achieving lasting financial prosperity is through entrepreneurship. The financial, lifestyle and personal advantages of starting your own business make doing so an excellent way of controlling your destiny.

Starting a business requires you to complete a number of steps and make some key decisions. Though part of your overall plan, youll need to decide on a business structure, and obtain the necessary licenses and permits. In addition, determining which financing options will meet your short-term needs and long-term goals is crucial.

Although when you first begin a new business with no other employees but yourself you may see no need to set down employee regulations, small businesses often hire a staff as the business begins to grow. You may find that, in order to keep up with supply and demand, it is crucial for you to hire part time or full time employees.

As you grow your staff it is critical that you shift your focus to effectively engaging your employees in your company’s vision. The most successful companies are those in which the employees and owners of the business work closely together to resolve problems and create policy. By making your business a more employee-friendly atmosphere, you can add to the overall success of the company.

It is important that when you hire new employees, especially teens or young adults that your clearly set expectations. It is important to have a written employee manual that sets the parameters for employee behavior. Be sure to look at things from all angles. What could your employees potentially do that would hurt business? Set dress codes, parking spaces, and other company policies from the beginning to avoid these kinds of mistakes.

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Did you know?

In starting a small business you should never think you can do it alone! One of the best ways to increase your chances for success is to find and work with a mentor, someone with business experience who can guide and assist you.

The Small Business Administration also runs the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, which helps small businesses start, grow and compete in global markets by providing quality training, counseling and access to resources. The office offers a Network Of Training And Counseling Services.

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Also, it is important to have the same rules for all employees-no playing favorites. By treating all of your employees equally from the start, you give them all an equal chance to succeed professionally. Present your employees with a list of employee rules and regulations when you hire them so they can remember and understand what is expected. It is also beneficial to hang a copy of this list in a convenient spot for all employees to see and to redistribute this every six months or every year.

As you learn more about your employees, you may want to give certain people more responsibilities than others. That is why it is important to have a management plan. Promotions should always go to the most qualified candidate, regardless of your personal relationships with the employees. Set into motion management guidelines so that new employees can understand advancement potential and the responsibilities of all persons on the staff.

Make changes to your employee relations as you see fit. For example, problems may arise that you have not initially addressed. Distribute the new policy to all employees, not just the ones who it is immediately affecting. Say an employee is frequently distracted, for instance, from visits from a significant other. By reviewing new policies regarding that with all employees, you can be sure that when employees begin a new relationship they will know the rules.

Your employees are an extension of you and of the company. Treat them fairly and with respect and listen to their concerns. By creating a friendly atmosphere, your employees will be loyal and hardworking, making your business even better than before.

Remember, that one of the keys to success in any endeavor is have the proper attitude and expecting success. It’s important to get your employees to share this attitude.

Constantly visualize what your operation will look like when it’s up and running and how you will feel at that point. Never waver from your pursuit.

Starting a new business isn’t for the faint-hearted. When you make the decision to start a business, you had better be aware that it consumes an enormous amount of your time and energy. This is where goal setting will aid you through the obstacles you’ll encounter.

Planning and goal setting are necessary factors that you must accept in order to launch your new enterprise. Let’s take a look at what’s confronting you when you begin an adventure that can be both energizing and rewarding.

In order for your business adventure to be successful, you must objectively evaluate your business skills, abilities, and motivation. Business goal setting necessitates writing down why you want to start a business to begin with. Be honest with yourself. What is your motivation? You’re the only one who can determine if you’re motivation is strong enough to carry you through the ups and downs of a business startup.

The next step is to also be honest with your self about your business skills. Do you need to take some classes to fill in the holes? Take a trip to your local bookstore. Browse the business book section. Buy a couple of business primer books and read them. This will help you discover what are your strong points and weaknesses.

Goal setting for business startup needs you to know exactly what sort of business you want to start. Your local bookstore is also a good resource for business suggestions. Not only will there be business books, but there are also several magazines published especially for small business owners.

Your goal setting should include attending some business trade shows where you can talk to vendors. The internet would also be an effective resource. A number of sources on the web publish the current trends of the buying public. This will help you evaluate your ideas.

Once you have measured your business skills and come up with a feasible business idea, the next step in your goal setting is writing a business plan. Your business plan will include the type of organizational structure that is best for you. They range from a sole proprietorship to corporation structures.

In your business plan goal setting you must also evaluate your tax implications, licenses, and insurance coverage. Check your local chamber of commerce. They’ll probably be able to point you in the right direction for getting the answers you need.

Do you need money for startup and operating expenses? There are a number of possible sources at your disposal. Do you have the business capital yourself? Maybe family members could help fund you as investors. Find out if you qualify for an equity credit line. There are also a number of banks that will give small business loans under the right circumstances. Goal setting requires doing your homework.

One of the last steps in business goal setting is determining if you can commit to devote your full attention to your business adventure. Maybe you can keep your current job while you get your business up and running. Maybe you can find a business partner who will share the expenses and the time to run your new business.

In conclusion, your business goal setting should include establishing a support organization. Check with your local office of the Small Business Association. There are retired business owners who volunteer to help new business startups. Also check the internet for small business resource centers. Goal setting for your new business will help you succeed if you write down your goals and plans and stick with them.

Why Trying to Be a Loan Officer (that is, Sell Mortgages) Is Especially Grim

… and why pursuing a career in home loans is pretty much doomed to failure.

I gave the mortgage industry — the whole loan originator gig — a serious go of it a few years back. That was just before the entire real estate market melted down.

But even then, I knew after about six months that it just wasn’t for me. And as it worked out, I ditched just before thousands of loan officers were driven out by the economic collapse.

It’s odd, really, that I even gave it a whirl. I already had a great freelance sales gig in place, and that was earning me a great income. But I’m the kind of guy who is always out there looking for something new and more exciting. It was right when I was moving to Dallas, and the whole “mortgage consulting” thing seemed as if it could be fun, and I had buddies in the industry pulling down $25K a month routinely. So I thought what the hell, and I gave it a go.

But it didn’t take long for me to realize I was in the WRONG PLACE.

Because there was no way it was ever going to create the lifestyle I wanted for myself.

Even leaving aside all of the stuff I’m about to cover here, (even leaving aside having to pander to real estate agents, and what that does to your soul), at the end of the day, trying to sell mortgages — working in that industry — is just nowhere near capable of creating the kind of life I’ve got going on and had come to get used to.

The hours, the office, the boss, the stress, the tedium, the grief … It’s enough to make you want to jump off a bridge. Seriously.

But even leaving that stuff aside. Even assuming you’re a glutton for misery and your idea of a good time is a life of constant, bitter struggle and mind-wracking tedium … Fundamentally there are three main reasons why I think trying to sell in the mortgage industry is a really bad idea, especially right now.

FIRST –
The gravy train is over. It has become harder than ever to close deals.

There are several reasons for that. I’ll list a few of them:

The housing market has tanked, taking with it a lot of the people who used to be in the industry. The ones who are left are desperate for business. This has the effect of not only putting you on a crappy level with the client (since it’s get the deal or eat Ramen noodles all next month, you end up begging for business, cringing under anything a client says or demands), but it also has the effect of making the whole mortgage racket more and more a rate game.
And that’s the second reason for why it’s harder than ever to close deals. Rate are too damn high, they’re fluctuating all over the place because of all the government interference in the economy, and your prospects are OBSESSING over rate, ready to cut your throat and run to the guy down the block and leave you high and dry with nothing, over an eighth of a point.
What else is making it hard to close deals is the fact that they’ve taken away all but a small handful of programs — I think you’ve got THREE now; used to be dozens. Everyone needs to put money down, and everyone is stuck in a fixed rate. Like it or lump it. (Problem is, a lot of people are choosing to lump it.)
And finally, one other thing making it harder to close deals is the increased difficulty of getting lenders and proposed loans to fall in line with the new guidelines. Used to be, deals could be slam-dunks and you knew it. You could bury three points in the YSP and still slam-dunk it. Nowadays nothing is a slam-dunk, even at par, and underwriting can kill a deal sixteen different ways before sun down, and leave you feeling you’ve been mugged in a back alley.

So those are some of the reasons why it’s become harder to close deals. And that’s assuming you can even find prospects and get the deals into processing and submitted to begin with. That takes me to the second reason I think trying to sell mortgages as a loan officer is a bad idea:

SECOND REASON –
It is just flat out hard as hell to attract attention anymore, much less differentiate yourself from all of the other loan guys out there.

For one, people are jaded and afraid of getting screwed. They’ve become insanely suspicious — in part because they’re being flooded every day with offers for free credit reports, refinancing opportunities, doom-and-gloom horror stories of foreclosures and mounting unemployment.

Try marketing yourself as a loan officer. Good lord. You’re competing against fifty thousand other hungry mortgage guys. You’re competing against huge banks and desperate net branches. And everyone is selling on price, price, price. Selling on having the “lowest rate.” Everyone is fighting to make a buck. They’re running ads, they’re running banners, they’re sending out useless mailings, they’re falling over each other trying to get someone –anyone — in town to refer them some business.

Not a pretty sight.

And to make it worse, the big advantage you USED to be able to have was in specializing in something, some niche. The guys making the best money were framing themselves as “mortgage consultants,” and trying to stand somewhere between being a loan officer and a financial advisor.

And it worked for long time. The guys who were good at it made a fortune.

But things have changed. Back in the day, you had dozens of programs to choose from. You could customize a mortgage solution for a client, and really bring value to that interaction. You could build a plan for them, around their goals and dreams, and show them how the mortgage you were structuring for them would help them and their families get where they wanted to go.

Well … That’s all gone now.

You’ve got THREE programs you can offer nowadays. Conventional, VA, or FHA. Fixed, fixed, or fixed. That’s it. That’s all.

No more no-money-down programs. No more stated-income or stated-asset programs. No more negative amortization loans with investment plans behind them.

Increased restrictions on investment properties.

Massive reduction of new-construction loans, and the effective extinction of jumbo (much less super-jumbo) loans.

There’s no way to “consult” or offer “mortgage-planning” when it comes down to a fixed rate. People have been trained to focus exclusively on price.

And there’s always someone willing to cut your throat for an eighth of a point.

So the second reason why I’m against selling in the mortgage industry came down to how hard it is to find good leads, and how hard it is to differentiate yourself, or in any way rise above price.

The third reason is more personal:

THIRD –
It just takes so much damn WORK to try to close a mortgage deal.

Even leaving aside the effort it takes to bring in a qualified lead. (And “qualified” has a whole other meaning when it comes to home loans. Someone can want a new home loan all he wants. Whether he qualifies, under the new guidelines, however … That’s a completely different story.)

Even leaving aside the effort it takes to get the prospect to want to work with you.

That still leaves all of the endless documentation required to get the deal closed and a commission check in your pocket.

There is the appraisal, the sales contract, the gigantic loan application, the credit check, the required bank statements and pay stubs, the verification of employment and income, the verification of bank funds, the home-owners insurance, the mortgage insurance, and on and on and on it goes.

Then the client has to actually get approved.

And come up with the down payment.

(And somehow, during all this, manage to avoid the hoard of hungry banks and mortgage companies and other loan officers out there trying to steal your deal out from under you before you can get it to closing.)

And even THEN it’s not over. Because it takes time, you see. And you have the pure joy of sweating under the stress of endless underwriting grief, where nothing is easy anymore, and every closing is precarious and uncertain.

So let us try to sum up …

At the end of the day, trying to sell home loans in the mortgage industry is hell on wheels. It is getting harder and harder, to earn less and less.

This year the industry is predicted to take another slug in the head, and thousands more will end up unable to close enough loans to pay their bills, or see their mortgage companies chain their front doors closed, without so much as a severance check from commissions on deals that had already funded.

I predict that we’re headed toward complete and utter commoditization of mortgage lending, with mounting government controls, where everything becomes cookie-cutter and in the hands of a few gigantic banks.

So unless you want a future in a cubicle, taking down loan applications over the phone and entering them into a computer for eight bucks an hour (assuming things don’t go completely automated, and they still need someone to at least type the stuff in) …

Here’s my recommendation:

– Forget the mortgage industry.
– Find something different.
– Find something better.

I’ll be talking a lot more about that “something better” here real soon …
At MaverickSalesGuy (dotcom)