The short answer is “no”, but let’s dive in just a bit, shall we?

Direct response marketing = where you place an ad/message in front of your audience designed to get them to take one very specific action. The action could be filling out a survey, buying something, filling out a form (ie; capture page, etc).

If one is looking to build their “community”, create relationships with those prospects and then provide solutions to them, based upon their needs, there is NO substitute or alternative to direct response marketing. It’s objective. It provides a “trail” so when it’s done properly you know what worked and what didn’t work. You can look at your data, analyze it and objectively know what did well and what needs to be eliminated or tweaked.

Here’s a 30 day screen shot of my Adwords campaign in April…this is a direct response marketer’s dream because with “data”, you’re armed. Your data is your guide. I can take this data, analyze it, tear it upside down…remove what isn’t working and improve what is working.

A smiggin’ over 100 leads per day for a cost of $3.53 per lead. Direct response marketing is very specific and “numbers driven”. Take a look at “institutional advertising” – if you watch a commercial on Travelocity the direction is completely different. They’re looking for branding…a totally different purpose in their marketing dollars compared to a direct response marketer. Branding is not a bad thing…it’s a “different” thing – most of us aren’t sitting with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in our back pocket so “branding” wouldn’t be relevant for us.

With all of that said, there’s some pretty relevant developments taking place in the online marketing world right now that we should all be paying VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO.

On August 13, 2010, my primary Google Adwords account received it’s “final warning” email. This has been a slow, but inevitable “coming” since June of 2006, when the first “Google Slap” shook the world. There message has been clear….if you’re not providing meaningful information to our searchers and a pleasurable search experience, we don’t want you.

As advertisers, whether we agree with what they’re looking to do (or their cloak of “secrecy” behind it) isn’t relevant. Either we choose to be in compliance or we can tell Google to take a hike. It’s our marketing dollars and our choice.

I chose to be in compliance and advertise with them – I thoroughly believe in what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. My hat goes off to them for being THE “trend setter” in the search world. I’m not really fond of how they’re going about things, however, but that’s a topic for another day…

So…in January, even before my “final warning” email from seeing what was taking place with others who operate in my same niche, I’ve been ramping up content at terryduff.com, making it more “user friendly”, incorporating a touch of social media, etc – all with the intentions of making this site become the “core” of my Google lead generation efforts.

Last week I sent them an email asking if they’d like any changes at terryduff.com before I started driving traffic to it…

Here’s what they said:

I’ll keep you posted from my findings and how this turns out…

I may need to either remove the capture box all together or place it “deeper” in the site.

Marketing is about compromise and balance…hang with me here.

I’m hoping at this point, you’ve seen 2 VERY different marketing styles.

1. Squeeze pages that I typically ran on Adwords – I was in total control over the creative side, traffic to the site, the message they were exposed to, etc.

2. A content rich site like terryduff.com – on a site like this I can use analytics, conversion tracking code, etc but at the end of the day, It would be an uphill battle to track how much each visitor was really worth (in an exact fashion)…they may follow me on twitter.com or facebook.com before leaving the page. This has value to me and it may not be worth something immediately, but I’m allowing myself to establish and create a relationship with someone WITHOUT them “optin” into my site…but remember, they’re still becoming part of my community, which is my big focal point. The relationship can still be created – whether one “opts in” in the traditional sense or they follow me in other areas, to me, isn’t all that relevant. It’s another relationship.

Notice the MAJOR shifts that are taking place right now. Transparency is more important now than ever before, providing meaningful information to your audience is no longer optional and being open to the idea that marketing is not stagnant and constantly evolving must be understood.

I believe that we’re heading down a direction that is ultimately good for everyone involved. You’ll soon see more and more product launches that aren’t “list driven”…they’re “socially driven”. As transparency becomes more and more relevant to the people looking for the solutions you can provide, their ability (and desire) to “look under the hood” before they subscribe to your list, buy from you, etc should become an INCREASING PRIORITY TO YOUR MARKETING AND SYSTEMS YOU’RE CREATING.

Notice with the 2nd direction from above, there’s a bit of a “blur” taking place between “institutional advertising” and direct response marketing. Think about this for a second…

Marketing is about compromise and sometimes getting a bit less than what you’d really like in a “perfect” world. In a perfect world, I’d want to place ads on google for any keyword phrase of my liking, have my reports tell me what’s relevant and what isn’t, in the mind of my prospects and their Quality Score formula would be a thing of the past…now, knowing that’s not an option for me, I need to switch gears and think in a different direction…

Here it is. I know I want that traffic…roughly 2/3 of all search traffic takes place on the Google network. I WANT THAT TRAFFIC.

I also know I will likely need to make some sacrifices…

Eventually, whatever page the prospect lands on that I can get approval from Adwords with, I will need to look at my data in a much broader perspective…

In a traditional sense, most direct response marketers look at bottom line numbers and say, “OK, I’m spending $5.50 on average to generate a lead, and on average, each lead is worth $13.00 to my company”. We say, OK, we’re more than doubling our money for each dollar we spend on advertising.

Well, with driving traffic to something like terryduff.com the old rules of the game don’t completely apply. There’s a really good chance that my cost per lead from a traditional perspective will double…maybe even triple. I’ll need to view my data in a much broader fashion and ask myself how much is a Facebook friend worth to me…how much should I be willing to spend for a follower on Twitter? You get the idea.

There’s 3 critical takeaways that I really hope you get from this message today…

1. Marketing is a game of compromise…it’s about give and take. Sometimes in marketing and in life, we may not get exactly what we’re striving for, but we do the best we can with what we’re working with.

2. With major advertising platforms like Google Adwords and Facebook Advertising changing the game so frequently it’s now more important than EVER to treat the lead generation aspect of your business like an octopus…have multiple tentacles that are bringing you quality prospects every day so you can build relationships with them.

3. Understand that the Internet is nothing more than a platform to communicate our message to the masses. Don’t forget about direct mail! It’s targeted, competition is minimal (how many times have you opened up your mail and found 4 postcards or letters from competing companies?), it’s highly effective and extremely objective. Too often, in my opinion, we get so tied up online and think that’s the only way to generate leads…or it’s an “easier” way to generate leads – BOTH of those beliefs are false. They each have their own “nuances”. The Internet as well as direct mail are nothing more than platforms to communicate your message and engage the masses. Use them both. If I knew how to communicate via smoke signals…I would.

You get the message here.

Don’t read this just once…read it top to bottom 2 or 3 times. It’s just that important.

In conclusion, direct response marketing is far from dead…what is dying, however, is how we traditionally view our marketing and the basic assumptions being made about how to “best” structure marketing campaigns. Take a look at every aspect of your marketing…and SECOND GUESS IT. Question it extensively. Ask yourself, “With the new rules of the game, am I setting myself up for success?”

Let the others in our community and myself know your thoughts on this…

I’m committed to your success if you are,

Terry Duff

About 18 months ago I stopped using funded proposals…for a few different reasons.

This post will likely create a bit of controversy…a good thing – I want your feedback and thoughts on this so don’t forget to leave a comment below and let the community know how YOU FEEL on this topic.

First, let me backup and clarify what a funded proposal is…

When you have a lead capture (squeeze page) and a prospect hits “submit” giving you their details…they’re next taken to a sales page offering a product (usually a digital download of some sort) that’s relatively inexpensive. Say $30-$50.

So, let’s say you’ve got a capture page that discusses how to naturally lose weight. Visitors would go to your page, submit their details, then be presented with an offer to buy a series of weight loss videos, maybe a recipe ebook or different exercises for x dollars.

Great concept and for someone who’s just getting started don’t get me wrong…this is a GREAT way to generate an income and help pay yourself for your time, efforts and $$ spent while driving traffic to your data capture page.

The vast majority of those who throw in the towel early on and call it quits in network marketing do so because they haven’t generated an income or at least not enough to cover their product costs.

I’ve been using funded proposals since early 2005, in 2 different industries (MLM and swimming pool maintenance). I later expanded the funded proposal concept into a few other niches and here’s what caught my attention…

1. Here’s a screen shot of an Aweber campaign where I didn’t use the funded proposal concept – my initial open rates were in excess of 80% and at the 7th email it’s pulled back to 54%

Here’s a screen shot of a campaign with a funded proposal associated with it…

As you can see there’s a clear difference in the open rates (same emails, same exact email sequence using 2 different aweber accounts). This screen shot is a campaign that had a sales letter after the optin on the data capture page.

Listen up…

As a marketer any “input” you add to your marketing process will ALWAYS have a change on the “outputs”. It’s our job as marketers to identify what those are and to look at all the variables involved…sometimes, it’s not obvious – as in this case, further digging was necessary. The unintended consequence was my open rates were lower…meaning fewer people that were actually part of my community. This also reduces the size of audience when I would share content and share offers as well.

2. This is a business of “relationship marketing”. Yes, we’re using technology to help us leverage those relationships and create efficiencies instead of “traditional” network marketing techniques being taught.

If the objective is to build a relationship with our community, provide an immense amount of value and to solve problems, a funded proposal, for me, became out of harmony with my core objectives. I didn’t want to be the guy at the party being introduced to people and immediately opening up my trench coat and saying, “Hey, look at my stuff…it’s for sale…BUY IT NOW!”

Think about the process of a prospect going to a capture page..then immediately being taken to an offer. If you were at a cocktail party and your spouse was introducing you to the boss for the first time would you say, “Hi there! Check out all this cool stuff on me…I’m selling all this stuff you might be interested in…come closer and check it out”.

Not likely. Your spouse (and the boss) would likely look at you like you’ve lost your marbles or something. It’s just not a cool way to introduce yourself.

I wanted to take a different approach…follow my lessons, learn from my free information…then, buy my stuff. Now, I have a relationship BEFORE they’re introduced to solutions and I’m not the guy with the heavy coat at the cocktail party that everyone’s talking about and avoiding like the plague.

In closing…look at all the variables in your marketing campaign. Inputs can create a domino effect on everything else and have impacts across the board – have you meticulously analyzed every aspect of your campaign to see if there’s anything that may be out of alignment with your core objectives and what you’re looking to accomplish?

I’m sharing this example of funded proposals and why I stopped using the concept to share a bigger message. Sometimes, we believe we’re doing the right thing…for the prospect and our business, but after looking at all the variables involved, things get cloudy and we need to reevaluate certain actions. Sometimes these things are completely unintentional – at the time, I didn’t realize my open rates would drop substantially…nor did I want to be considered as “the guy with the trench coat…so we need to run!”

With all of that said, for newer people…just getting started I believe they should be using funded proposals. Once you have a name and an associated “brand” in the industry…you may want to reconsider at that point. Certainly food for thought.

It’s an effective way to create income and offset lead costs…even get paid while you’re building your business. Just know…there are consequences.

I’m curious as to your thoughts on this matter…let the community know where you stand on this…

Here’s to greater understanding,

Terry Duff

P.S. The greatest asset you possess is YOU. Don’t jeopardize your brand, reputation or anything else associated with it.

There’s no doubt about it…the money’s in the list – or more accurately, it’s in the relationship that you establish with those on the list.

The reality is without a list an offer can’t be made (well, you can make an offer, but you wouldn’t have an audience)

List + Relationship = money in the bank.

This is where a lot of networkers struggle…and I personally believe this is the most important aspect of any business.

Lead generation…there are a lot of ways of generating leads, but today I’m going to break down a few effective ways to generate more leads while keeping the investment low…or even not spending a dime.

Warning: Even though there are several ways of getting traffic without spending a dime, there is NO free lunch. Your time…your most valuable asset is being used – so while technically it doesn’t cost you anything out of your wallet…there is a cost associated with “free” traffic.

1. Video Distribution: Doing short videos are a GREAT and free way of getting targeted visitors to your website. Realistically you can do a video (with powerpoint and camstudio.org -or Camtasia, which has a lot of cool features) in less about 20 minutes from top to bottom. Sprinkle a keyword phrase in the title and description and submit the videos to YouTube.

Videos are really a gift that keep on givin’…

In a blog post I did a while back, I break it down into a 7 step process – click here for more specific instruction on video marketing.

2. Article Marketing: This is hands down, bar none, my MOST favorite form of traffic. I’ll explain why in just a second…

Article marketing is nothing more than picking a topic that you have knowledge of (or you’re passionate about) and writing 300-400 words about that topic…then make sure you’ve got the keyword phrase in the article about 2% of the time and make sure it’s in the subject line.

For example…let’s say you were writing an article about “how to lose weight” – well, that topic’s too broad and way competitive…so, here’s an alternative. Either identify a subset of that niche or choose a keyword phrase that’s less competitive…say, “cannot lose weight”. Just taking a quick glance at the Google External Keyword tool (excellent free tool), I can see it has about 5400 monthly searches…and it only has 33,400 competing websites.

Here’s what I mean…

When you find a keyword phrase that you think is a good fit for an article, before you start writing about it, take that keyword phrase and put it in parenthesis at google.com – the number of results it comes back with will tell you how many other sites are competing with that keyword phrase.

I like to see less than 40,000 competing sites. You can go higher, but low hanging fruit is ALL OVER THE PLACE. This isn’t a game of working harder…pick up the low hanging fruit and get page one search results on Google (and the other search engines too).

One of my ezinearticles.com accounts…

2248 FREE URL clicks. I didn’t pay a dime for them. And I’ve only got 41 articles in this account!

Here’s why article marketing is tough to beat from a bottom line results stand point…

Look at the process one goes through before they’ve become a lead.

They do a search online…looking for a solution to a problem they have.

They come across your article and click on it.

They then continue to read/scan 300+ words.

They click on the link inside your resource box which takes them to your squeeze page.

They then decide to either submit their details or leave the page empty handed.

They already have a vested interest…they’ve already spent at least 5 minutes on YOUR STUFF!

2 things take place with good article marketing…

1. Your conversion numbers from prospects to leads is SUPER HIGH…typically above 50% because by the time they get to your capture page, they’ve already invested a fair amount of time/energy. The likelihood of them leaving empty handed is pretty slim.

2. Even more important than number one…a greater percentage of leads become BUYERS – also as a result of what they’ve gone through. My products line ranges from about $30…up to $2500.00 – the greatest % (by a long shot) of the buyers (especially for the high end coaching) comes from article marketing.

A little elbow grease goes a long way.

I wrote an 11 page report that covers all the ins and outs on article marketing – if this is a source of traffic that you’re considering (and I would HIGHLY recommend), check it out right here…

Just remember…article marketing is about being consistent. It’s not about shooting a handful of articles out there and watching the leads pour in. Try to write 3 a week…every week. It won’t take but a couple of months and you’ll consistently be generating leads daily from those articles.

As with any source of traffic…ONLY focus on that source of traffic until you get proficient at it. Ramp it up, then either outsource or do it yourself and add another stream of traffic.

Far too often, I’ll see one tackle a form of traffic only to throw in the towel 2 days later saying, “it didn’t work”. I probably sound like a broken record, but your ability to generate leads and create an audience IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF YOUR BUSINESS.

No audience = no revenue. Doesn’t matter how good you are as a presenter, your ability to write good copy doesn’t mean anything…you get the idea.

Site traffic should resemble an octopus…

Multiple Streams Of Traffic...Tentacles

Oh, and don’t don’t forget to share your thoughts and submit a comment!

All the best,

Terry

This is a big stumbling block for a lot of people in direct sales/network marketing. Let’s dive in and chat about the exact steps I use to properly target audiences with laser beam accuracy. Here are the key components and are essential if you’re looking to speak with prospects that are looking to speak with you…

1. Understand the “core benefits” of what your products provide. For now, ignore features (this will come later in the “offer”)…things like color, shape, sizes, etc. Focus on if someone consumes/uses your product/services for a period of time, what is the end result likely to be…maybe they’ll lose weight, they’ll be able to run faster, they’ll grow hair back on their head, cholesterol levels may be lowered etc…

If you have products in multiple niche markets, focus on one benefit initially…create a marketing campaign around that niche (capture page, sales page, follow up emails, teleconference, webinar, etc).

Make a list of the potential benefits that your product(s) provide. Oh, and making money is not a benefit (more on that in just a moment). From that list, select one benefit that you’re attached to…maybe it had that result for you or it had a strong impact on your life because it __________ (fill in the blank with how it helped you personally).

Everything with your campaign should be focused around that central theme. If it helped you lose weight…your capture page, sales letter, teleconference call, etc should be solving that problem for those that are looking to lose weight.

Side note: I almost always lead with the product and close with the opportunity. This completely goes against the grain with what we’re taught to do in the industry. Here’s why I do that…

Opportunities are a dime a dozen. There’s ALWAYS going to be a better paying gig out there. Always. Typically, when one doesn’t see a return in the first couple months (if you lead with the opportunity), that prospect is gone like the wind…they’re disappointed. They’ll point the finger all over the place as to why it didn’t work for them, but the bottom line is they’re gone…off to the races with their next venture. Likely, not looking in the mirror and saying “the problem is me…not the company, the products, my upline” or any other “self justification” they can deem worthy of justifying their failure.

There’s no competitive advantage when leading with the opportunity. There’s nothing that separates one business from another when it’s based entirely on how strong the comp plan is.

On the other hand, you can create a distinct advantage when leading with products (ie; the manufacturing process, product inputs, primary benefits, etc).

When one leads with the product, retention rates are FAR superior…AND you still end up with business builders. They have a story – there’s an emotional impact because they used the product(s) and experienced results. First hand.

Now you have the best of both worlds…solid retention numbers so you continue getting paid month after month and you get business builders to boot.

2. Now that we’ve addressed “square one” to identify your target audience, this makes advertising and promotion a whole lot easier than the alternative (leading with the opportunity). If one of the primary benefits your products help with is weight loss, now you can run solo ads, articles, video distribution, etc to generate laser beam targeted traffic to your capture page, so you can begin the process of building a relationship with them.

The key here is understanding how search engines and human psychology work. You’re trying to be as specific is you possibly can be. If one types in “feel better” into a search engine, one might say, “Well, that’s my audience because my product helps people feel better”. We want to be more specific than that with our messages. You know without a doubt that if one heads to google.com and they type in “how to safely lose weight” and you have an ad there talking about safely losing weight…they click on it, go to your site…now you have what I call “message to market harmony”.

Your message is in perfect harmony with what the prospect was looking for.

They searched for a solution to a problem they’re looking to conquer…and they ultimately found your site that promises a solution to that problem.

Now, you’ve got the perfect message in front of the right audience. There’s no guessing or questioning what they’re looking for or what you’re providing.

3. Once you’ve identified a big benefit that your products can provide, begin scouring the net…look in forums, sign up for newsletters – BE PART OF THEIR COMMUNITY. Stand side by side with them…join them.

This will allow you to truly understand what they’re looking for. What are their struggles…are they tired of the “yo yo cycle” and going from diet to diet? Are they frustrated with losing a fair amount of weight only to gain it back? What are their struggles and frustrations as they relate to a solution they’re seeking.

Knowing this information is GOLDEN.

Now, they’re telling you exactly what they want. Create your marketing messages (ie; presentation call, capture page, sales page, follow up emails, etc) so they revolve around what they’re looking for.

In your follow up emails, take a survey relatively early on…this will allow you to get information straight from the horses mouth – knowing your prospects…what they’re looking for, their frustrations, their desires, etc should be at the core of your marketing.

Use surveygizmo.com or surveymonkey.com for your survey – they’re both solid providers in my experience. Also, take the survey around your 5th follow up email in your autoresponder – then, take that information and restructure your follow up emails, presentation call and any aspect of your marketing campaign that’s not adequately communicating a solution to their problem.

You want your message to resonate and engage your audience. The more information you know about them, the greater % of prospects will become associates/distributors.

Please note, this is my “reader’s digest” version of how to properly target your audience…I’m covering the main keys to successfully bring this together for you.

Don’t underestimate the power of “information”. Knowing your target audience, who they are and their struggles is the most important factor to a successful marketing campaign. Not knowing their true frustrations and what they’re really seeking is like shooting darts blindfolded from 50 feet. It’s not a good recipe for success.

Also, don’t forget to submit a comment…let me know your thoughts on this very important topic and if you’d like more information on properly targeting your audience.

All the best,

Terry Duff

I’m gonna dive into a topic that seldom gets addressed in the network marketing/direct sales industry. And it’s an important one…

Understanding that successful marketing is a set of experiences for your prospects…it’s not a single event.

Here’s what I mean…

From an attraction marketing standpoint, using the Internet as a means to communicate your message, prospects seldom go to a site, do their research and make an immediate purchase. Think about this…what if you drove 1,000 people to a “typical” company website using PPC, articles or any other sources of traffic…where they can view products, company history, comp plan, founders, etc…you’d be LUCKY to have one (yes, just one prospect) sign up.

That’s just not an effective way to build a business. There was no relationship with the prospect, there’s no positioning taking place, there’s no “why you should sign up with me and my company compared to the thousands of others available.

Effective marketing is about building a SYSTEM that fluidly guides your audience down a path that’s mutually beneficial. You’re able to solve a problem he/she has…and you’re making $$ at the same time. Everyone wins.

That can only take place when we have what I call the “Campaign Pillars” in place that takes your audience from one point to the next…and in a manner that is conducive to what they’re looking for.

Every aspect of your campaign needs to come together like a finely tuned Lamborghini Gallardo. Not everything needs to be perfect…but it all needs to exist. Get 80% of it right and you’ll generate results that exceed your expectations.

Here are some of the most important “Pillars” that need to exist…

1. Data capture page (squeeze page)

2. Targeted traffic, not traffic that doesn’t convert to $$ (don’t use traffic forms that don’t eventually convert to customers or distributors…ie; free classified ads).

3. Build a relationship with your list. Educate and inform them. Share meaningful, relevant content with them that solves problems they’re encountering. There’s a big difference between list building and relationship building. Building a list is just that…however, if we don’t build a relationship with the people on that list, essentially you’ll end up with a meaningless asset as it won’t net you any positive results. Essentially, you’re looking to create trust – people flock to do business with those they trust and believe in.

The good news here is that none of these “Pillars” need to be done perfectly…but they MUST be done. These things are what MAKE YOU MONEY. That’s where 99% of your focus should be applied to. These are “money tasks” because they do exactly that…add to your bottom line.

At the end of the day, your prospects are going through a set of experiences…it’s not a single event that will lead to new team member. You’re creating a “triangle of trust” with them…because you’ve positioned yourself accordingly as you created this virtual relationship with them.

That’s exactly why I created The Recruiting Machine. It literally takes you by the trousers and shows you exactly how to create an effective system…and then guide your prospects down a “slippery slope” through your marketing system.

It deserves your attention if you’re serious about taking your business to the next level. You can check it out right here. It’s backed by my full 1 YEAR guarantee too. If you’re not completely ecstatic for any reason, let me know and I’ll by it back from you.

Rock and roll,

Terry

With everything that’s been taking place in the economy, world of tight (and tightening) credit, home values being upside down and all the other “stuff” that’s going on a lot of people are being forced to make tough decisions.

If there’s one thing for certain about the human spirit it’s that we’re resilient…we fight on…somehow, someway, people figure out innovative ways to get things done. Businesses get more creative to control costs, squeeze out every possible dollar from their marketing campaigns, provide more value to clients in less expensive ways.

Well…what exactly makes a winner, a winner?

This is the true entrepreneur- they’re highly innovative…constantly thinking of new ways to penetrate their target audience, how to enhance their marketing funnels, improve conversion rates and generate more sales. This is how an entrepreneur thinks. They constantly focus on IMPROVEMENT.

They don’t whither away – they don’t get tied up in the “woes” of the world. They don’t hang out with negative energy or succumb to the naysayers.

Entrepreneurs get the job done. They CREATE ways. They don’t wait around.

Sadly, there’s the other side of the spectrum who reads the morning paper daily, sucks in all the negative media attention getting headlines…and they wait.

They wait for something to magically change their current economic state. They wait for politicians to “figure things out” – in anticipation of external forces to change their financial situation.

Winners don’t wait. THEY (YOU) create change. This is exactly why some marketers are THRIVING right now. They’re expanding product lines, provide more value to the end user…creating a better experience for their clients, improving their marketing systems…generating more leads and ultimately generating MORE REVENUE.

Winners don’t wait for “others” to change their future.

Winners WRITE THEIR OWN FUTURE. From the moment they wake up to the moment they shut down for the day.

They don’t make excuses. Somehow, someway, they get things done.

Many of you are working hard to do exactly that for yourself and your family right now. You’re hitting the occasional stumbling block, but you’re plugging away.

You’re not stopping. Your “reason why” is too strong to let some obstacles get in the way.

All while many others are throwing in the towel…saying it didn’t work for them. They’ll come up with 237 different reasons as to why it wasn’t their fault…they’ll point blame at all sorts of things…the economy, hectic schedules, lack of support, etc…

That’s NOT you though. Never stop believing. Never quit. Never give up on YOU.

Traveling this journey with you,

Terry Duff

Get these right and literally create your own check…

At the end of the day, there are 3 main ingredients that a home based business owner needs to be really, really good at.

Not just “so so”, but these skills must be mastered to create towering commission checks.

1. Copywriting. The art of using the written word to actually sell stuff. In my opinion, this is the most underrated, yet most powerful skill that anyone can ever learn to master. They don’t teach this in school…network marketing companies don’t touch this topic and your upline’s likely to think you’re speaking a foreign language if you ask him what copywriting is.

The magnitude of this is intense – when one gets really good at this it opens up a brand new paradigm to what’s really possible. Direct mail, presentations, squeeze pages, sales letters, video sales pages, follow up emails, PR, etc – practically EVERYTHING we do as business owners revolves around this concept. Study it. Words on paper (or a monitor screen or a TV, etc) can be POWERFUL.

2. The understanding that businesses are built on systems….NOT PIECES. If you ordered a pizza from Domino’s and it came without pizza sauce, you’d be a bit ticked off right? Probably wouldn’t taste all that good either…

Well, your business is NOT about any single variable. It’s not about follow up emails…it’s not about squeeze pages, it’s not about a funded proposal, it’s not about getting traffic to your website…BRINGING ALL OF THESE VARIABLES TOGETHER IS WHAT BUILDING A BUSINESS IS ABOUT.

Imagine to generate leads without using an autoresponder. It wouldn’t provide any results and accomplish what you were expecting.

Your main focus should be on “system building” – that’s the key to making things happen.

3. Massive, massive amounts of targeted, quality website traffic is a driving force for crazy, sustainable momentum. I was at my local print shop yesterday picking up some sales letters they had just printed for me and we had a pretty good conversation about this exact topic. She asked me if getting traffic to a site or actually building a website was a better skill set for her business to have. Hands down, my response was simple…”Anyone can build a website…there are VERY few people who truly understand how to get massive amounts of targeted traffic to a site. You can go to guru.com or elance.com and have someone build you a nice site for a couple hundred bucks or less…the REAL skill in mastering the Internet is understanding traffic”.

If you’re serious about making things happen…GET REALLY GOOD AT GETTING TARGETED TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE.

The Money Formula:

More leads = relationships with more people = more money in your bank account.

Simple as that.

That’s exactly why I created Lead Tsunami. It’s the industry’s leading source of heavy hitting, accurate and solid traffic crushing information.

No hype…no BS…just good advice that will literally take you by the hand and show you how to get targeted traffic to any site you want within HOURS of right now.

Click Here To Get More Traffic.

It’s fully backed by my 12 month, no questions asked guarantee. If you don’t think it was worth at least 3times what you’ve invested,let me know for a full and prompt refund. No questions asked.

All the best,

Terry Duff

Typically, I discuss generating leads online and using the Internet as a means of building a business. However, a true marketer doesn’t put all of his/her eggs in one basket. The fact of the matter is there are a lot of ways of generating leads and successfully building a home based business…we should be using several techniques…both online and offline to make things happen.

Today, I’m going to dive in and discuss how to generate local leads (lots of them). Before I discuss one of my favorite offline lead generation techniques, let’s chat about some of the many options that are available…that are effective too:

1. Local search – this is one of the easiest ways to generate local leads and it involves the internet too. Places like Google Local Search, Yahoo Local Search and MSN Local Search. Not only is local search volume rapidly increasing as the Yellow Pages becomes a thing of the past, it’s also easy to have prospects find you that are searching for what you’ve got…in a local way.

2. Direct mail – another great way to generate leads. Direct mail should be part of anyone’s marketing tool bag who’s serious about building a legitimate business. Direct mail allows you to pinpoint where you want to promote, with who you want to promote to and what qualifying components are important to your marketing campaign.

3. Print ads – another great way to pin point about where you want to promote to and what specific demographics are relevant to your marketing campaign. Whether it’s magazines, newspapers, throwaway’s, local publishings, newsletters, etc. This is a cost effective way to generate leads offline.

Others are available too, but these are a few effective ones to get your wheels spinning…

My personal favorite is to create small “help wanted” ads in local newspapers. For a couple hundred bucks and less (depending on the size of your city and circulation), one can generate a few dozen phone calls and fill up a local hotel meeting room.

Huh…did I just say fill up a hotel room? You bet. This is a great way to stack the numbers on your side…and you never have to bug your friends and family to make it happen.

Let’s break down the campaign pillars:

Do a quick search online for the newspapers in your state or city. Select 2 or 3 that have the greatest “reach”. Call them to get pricing. If it’s in your budget, run a basic ad that goes something like this:

Help Wanted: Earn $17-$23 From Home
Part time help needed. Must have basic
computer & phone skills. 17 openings
Call now: 555-555-5555

Get them to call a number that you regularly answer. You can also setup a different number for this purpose…a few options here, but an easy one is for about $20 a month, you can call your local phone company and tell them you want a virtual number assigned. They’ll give you a number and you tell them where you want it forwarded to. You can also get a virtual number too from a company like vumber.com for around $10/month. Do some digging here and find something that suits your needs/budget.

When they call, give them a brief overview of what’s expected/required of them and tell them when/where the “group interview” will be taking place at.

If the “group interview” is taking place more than 2 days out, call each of them the day of the interview to get a commitment that they’ll be in attendance. Do this about 3-5 hours prior to the meeting time and make sure they have directions and they know how to get there.

During the group interview, start off by telling them there are currently x positions in total that are available for 2 different roles. One is for an appointment setter…the other is for an “executive director” or whatever fancy title you’d like to give it.

The appointment setters end up working strictly on commissions – they don’t end up joining your business – you provide the leads and training, they get prospects to a presentation call/webinar…you close them into the business. They get a commission for each close that takes place. This way, they’re doing the heavy lifting and the sorting for you…freeing up your time for other revenue generating activities.

The “executive director” (or other title you’ve assigned) will join you in business and pay x per month…just like any other distributor.

These people should also attend your weekly group interviews (or some of them) so you can help build their team. You’ll assign directors their own appointment setters as well as place new directors in their organization. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Pssttt: This technique is a main contributor to us adding 1251 new associates in under 10 months while “working” less than 6 hours a week.

Not only is this technique a lot of fun, but it also allows you to do some “in person” stuff, which a lot of people are more comfortable with.

Remember, treat your business like an octopus…generate leads from multiple sources…in many different ways. This is a great technique to begin adding more reps in a week than most do in a few months…and you can start using this basic model today.

This is a great way to quickly get 30+ people in a meeting space. Your first presentation or two may be a bit rough…practice, continue doing it – you’ll substantially improve your public speaking skills. Within no time, you’ll be closing 20% or more of the attendees into your business.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this “quick tip”.

All the best,

Terry Duff

A few months ago I posted on a video here outlining some of the “pieces of the puzzle” involved when my partner and I added 1261 new associates into a wellness company in under 10 months – if you haven’t seen it yet, check it out.

Today, I’m going to discuss how SIMPLE it really is…once we know the relevance of “systems”. You’ve probably heard the phrase “people love to buy, but they can’t stand being sold”. It’s 100% true. Listen closely to this…if there’s one thing that every network marketer needs is a system that positions YOU as the expert.