Marketing Your Company Using Professional Product Reviewers

Posted by Chris | Posted on 15-03-2012

Category : Direct Sales Marketing, Small Business Tips, Social Media for Direct Sales

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Building your business in a struggling market can seem like a daunting job, especially with hundreds of other direct sales reps and companies vying for the attention. With an online business, there is a great method that you can find useful to get your name out to the crowds easily and relatively quickly. It is called Product Reviews.

There are hundreds of product review blogs in the online world that are willing to review an item that is sent to them. In turn, they will post about your product and your business which will bring you valuable backlinks and promotion. One such blog that will handle direct sales products is Two Classy Chics.

There are a few things that you need to check for before randomly contacting a review blogger. You want to look for a professional product reviewer, not someone that does it casually. Here is what to look for:

1) Check out their site and read the reviews they post. Make sure they are detailed and give proper links to the sponsor. The review should be more than a paragraph or a few sentences and should have at least 2-3 backlinks.

2) Check and see how many reviews they have written. Look for their followers and make sure they have written a lot of reviews before yours and they have a lot of followers.

3) Check to see if the reviews they have written are in similar product lines like your product. If you are looking at a mom blog that deals in organic diapers mainly, your beauty or kitchen items might not get the right attention.

4) Ask what the turn around is. Ask them if they will promote your review at all and if so, how. Ask them if they ever remove reviews or links… they should not.

5) See if they also host giveaways. Giveaways of additional product will give you a lot of traffic to your site and can create a lot of interest if it is run properly. You can use it to gain new followers to your social media sites which means you can then market directly to them.

Using product reviews and giveaways can really work to help kick off your marketing effort. It can bring your new followers to your social media accounts and create some excitement.

If you have a product you would like to market, check out my review and giveaway blog at Two Classy Chics to see how I can help your business.

Keep Your Work at Home Business Out of Debt

Posted by Chris | Posted on 15-08-2011

Category : Direct Sales Work at Home Business Tips

Tags: , ,

Copyright Chris Carroll and DirectSalesTalk. If you see this on any other site without my byline, please let me know.

We all know that the reason so many of us work from home is to earn money, but it is critical to our business health that we keep our business finances in black and put some away for a rainy day as well. We need to keep our business account out of debt.

We work hard and celebrate when our business makes money. It is important to pay ourselves with some of the proceeds on a weekly or bi weekly basis to validate your hard work. It is also just as important to save a portion of your income for other expenses, such as taxes, business expenses like hosting, graphics creation, and other issues such as returns, if you sell product. I think it is important to keep a slush fund as well for any unexpected expenses that can pop up.

One great thing about having our work at home business is that we can add to the family income and take over a specific bill or two just to alleviate the pressure. We also need to make sure that we are using part of our business income as savings for the family as well. Setting yourself a business budget can really make a difference in how you look at your business.

First, pay yourself and your family. If your income varies on a weekly or bi weekly basis, set a percentage rate that you should take for your payday. It can be 60-70% of your income. Next set aside at least 20% for your expenses and an additional 10-15% for taxes. Whatever is left over, leave it in your account to accrue. You never know when additional expenses will pop up and that 5-10% can really come in handy to cover some of that. After 6 months or when you have a nice slush fund built up, transfer it to a savings vehicle for your family and continue to save in your business account.

If you sell product, set a limit on how much you can spend on yourself. Yes, it’s nice to be able to save by getting your goods at a discount. But remember, if you spend it, then that is less that you are paying yourself in cash each week.

By following these suggestions, you will soon be seeing some money adding up in your account. It will feel nice to know that you are covered in case expenses come up and it will impress your spouse as well! Running your business in the black and debt free is a great feeling. Turn your business into a healthy savings machine today and reap the benefits tomorrow.

Copyright Chris Carroll 2011

Keeping Your Focus While Working Your Home Based Business

Posted by Chris | Posted on 15-08-2011

Category : Direct Sales Work at Home Business Tips, Home Party Plan Tips

Tags: ,

Copyright Chris Carroll and DirectSalesTalk. If you see this on any other site without my byline, please let me know.

Working from home has its blessings and its curses. Many people think that working from home is easy. You are just going to pump out so much work, it will be insane! Then reality hits… Your To Do list is growing instead of shrinking and you feel like a wild animal running in circles. Most of us that work from home have had those days and can relate. So, how do you keep your focus when you are working in your home based business?

Losing focus can come from many different things. Distractions would be number one, I would think. Kids need you, dog needs out, spouse needs something… whatever it is, your concentration just got broken. One of the easiest ways to deal with distractions is to set office hours. Sit down with your family and figure out when you will be working. During that time frame that they helped you set, they cannot bother you unless there is blood.

It is easy to lose focus when you forget a task or project and all of a sudden you have to handle it so you put aside what you have been working on, incomplete. Get in the habit of using your calendar and set yourself auto reminders, if you have to. Write everything down and make sure you are using your to do list. You have to know what is coming up so you can schedule your time appropriately.

Some people find that setting blocks of time for certain tasks helps them keep their focus on the job at hand immensely. If you have business calls to make, give yourself 15 minutes a day to complete those calls. Maybe you have blog posts to write. Again, set blocks of time for writing. Whatever your job consists of, break it up and set a timer. Learn to work within the time limits. What people find is that if they know they have 1 hour to get their newsletter completed, then they work like heck to get it done within that time frame and maybe even start on the next one. The time blocking goes for social media and email too. These are both big time and focus suckers.

Becoming more efficient at your job creates a lot less time spent jumping from this duty to that duty. Once you start a job, make yourself complete it all the way through. Soon you will find you are spending less time actually working your home based business because your focus is laser sharp and more time with the family enjoying what you worked so hard to provide.


Copyright Chris Carroll 2011

Effective Recruiting Begins With Your Target Market

Posted by Chris | Posted on 12-03-2011

Category : Direct Sales Articles, Direct Sales Recruiting Tips, Direct Sales Work at Home Business Tips, Home Party Plan Tips

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When you are bringing new team members into your direct sales business it is important to remember that these people will join your team for different reasons. Everyone is looking for something different in their home based business. Once you understand those reasons, then you will know who your target market is and can effectively tailor your recruiting pitch to them.

Here are 3 reasons that a new member will consider joining your team and want to start their own direct sales or work at home business.

1. Personal Use ~ This type of consultant is looking to make just a little bit of money and will most likely only be joining to take a few orders every month from their family, friends and co-workers. This is so that they can get their personal items at a discount. These consultants usually only want to make $100- $200 a month as a supplement to their income.

2. Part Time Sales ~ This consultant is looking to make additional money to help support his or her family’s income. This person will usually demonstrate 2-4 parties a month and they are looking to make $200-$500 a month in additional income to supplement or for building up a nest egg. The part time sales consultant can also be a person who just wants to make some extra cash during certain seasons of the year.

3. Full Time Sales ~ This type of consultant is looking to make a full time income. This will replace a regular job so that they can support their family. This person will usually demonstrate at least 6+ parties a month and they are looking to make a minimum of $1,000 a month in income. In addition, this person will be interested in recruiting and building a team within your company’s organization so that they can add additional money per month to their income stream.

By knowing what your target market is, you can then craft your sales ads to that particular type of consultant or rep. By coming up with three different recruiting sales pitches, your recruiting methods will be much more effective and you will see a greater acceptance to your message and therefore an increase in your team numbers overall. Taking the time to learn your target market will make you more effective in your recruiting efforts.

Where are Your Habits Leading You?

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Posted by Chris | Posted on 19-05-2010

Category : Direct Sales Articles, Direct Sales Work at Home Business Tips

Tags: , , ,

I have a guest Blogger today. Bill Bell is one of my upline and he wrote such a great article I had to share it with you all! Thanks for the inspiration, Bill!

Where are Your Habits Leading You?

Copywrite 2010 ~ By Bill Bell

You are an accumulation of your habits. From how you get out of bed to how you shower; how you dress; how you walk, sit and talk; how you respond to the world; how you act in front of others; and how you think, you are living out your habits. Habits are necessary. They free up your mind so that you can concentrate on how to survive every day. You don’t have to think about how to drive your car so you can be on the lookout for danger while you are driving. You don’t have to think about how to walk so you can concentrate on where you are going.

Unfortunately, habits can also keep you locked in self-destructive patterns, which will limit your success. To become successful, you will need to drop bad habits and develop new ones that are in line with the life you want to live. People do not suddenly appear in the life they want to live—habits determine their outcome! What are the habits you have that are keeping you from achieving your goals? Are you always running late? Do you return phone calls within 24 hours? Do you get enough sleep? Do you speak clearly and look people directly in their eyes? Do you eat healthy meals? Ask others what they observe about you and make a list of all the behaviors that keep you from success.

Imagine what your life would be like if all those habits were their productive counterparts. What would your life be like if you ate healthy meals, exercised and got enough sleep? What would your life be like if you saved money, stopped using credit cards and paid cash for everything? What would your life be like if you stopped procrastinating, overcame your fears and began networking with people in your field? Write down the more productive habits and visualize your life as it would be if they were your habits right now.

Decide to develop four of your new habits each year, one for each quarter. Create a method that will support your new habit. What will keep you motivated? How will you remind yourself of your new habit? You could write it down on a card that you keep with you and read over several times a day. You could make it a part of your daily visualization. You could enlist the help of an accountability partner who also has habits to change. Be specific about the steps that you are willing to take in order to drop an old habit and adopt a new one. Do not be vague about how you will change your habits. Spell it out for yourself so that you can recognize situations that call for you to act out your new habit.

Once you have picked your habit for that quarter, make a 100 percent commitment to stick to it. Do not tempt yourself by making it optional every time a situation arises. If your new habit is to go to bed by 10 p.m., then go to bed at 10 p.m., even if you are not feeling tired. Just go there and relax, read a book, visualize or meditate, but don’t compromise on your new habit. If you make an exception once, you are more likely to make an exception the next time, and soon you will be back to your old habits.

Even four new habits a year will dramatically shift your life to be more in line with your vision. And the more in line it becomes, the easier the other habits are to replace because your perspective is shifting and you see more clearly how your old habits are not serving you anymore. You can do it!

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