Tim Melanson

Archive for the ‘Freelife & Goji’ Category

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I learned a lesson early on in my Network Marketing career, and I suspect that it translates very well to any recruiting business.

When I first got started, I took great caution with how I promoted my business. I remember telling my sponsor that, above all, I DID NOT want to loose any friends through this business. For the most part, I’ve been very successful with that.

After speaking with a few of my close friends and bringing a couple of them on board. I started to think about anyone else I might know who would be good at this. Do you see the problem yet?

I ended up thinking of someone (who I will leave unnamed) that I thought would be a star! I recruited her and got her started. This is when the headaches began. I wasn’t particularly fond of this person, and there were people in my group who disliked her more than I did. This made things painfully difficult because, conscious or not, I was not really setting this person up for success.

I was recently reading some of Michael Clouse’s work and he states it as “The Sponsoring Rule of Five“. As I began reading I immediately related to it. Here are his rules.

1. Only sponsor those people with whom you would like to become friends.
2. Invest your time with those you personally sponsor.
3. Set up a game plan - and follow through.
4. Talk with those you sponsor every week.
5. Become close personal friends inside and outside the business.

I truly believe these rules work. I know that because this is a business of relationships. We have the power and the ability to choose who we do business with. The primary objective, in order to create residual income, is to obtain leverage by elevating leaders. This will take a lot of work and a lot of time. If you don’t enjoy spending time with those you sponsor, you will not be successful in teaching them the necessary skills to become a great leader… and at the same time, you will fail as a leader as well.

It can be difficult when you are running out of people in your warm market to talk to. You might be tempted to look for the “goldmine” in a person that you may not be particularly fond of… but trust me. It is a waste of time. I learned the importance of choosing who I spend my time with, so I now spend more time with people who supported me, and less with those who don’t. You don’t need to burn bridges, but I think it’s important to surround yourself with people you respect and enjoy. In the long run, you will have a more enjoyable business and a FAR more stable one as well.

Popularity: 36% [?]

If you are as frustrated with SPAM as I am, then you might be able to relate to this post.

I’ve been moderating a myspace forum for quite some time now, and I am constantly being bombarded by various spam messages. Most of them are just flat out “best opportunity in the world, act now!” spam. However, every once in a while I get some very bizarre stuff. The forum is pro-MLM and is a training forum to help people build their Network Marketing business… so you can imagine my surprise when I get a message claiming that their “opportunity” is not MLM.

Here’s how I responded:

I’m always amazed by the scripts that people use to promote their deals.“No Selling”, “No Hype”, “Not MLM”, “Not a pyramid”.

Come on people, who are you targeting? Are you seriously looking for people who are into that kind of pitch? What are they going to bring to your business?

How do you expect to succeed if you are recruiting people who;
- Don’t want to Sell
- Don’t want to invest anything
- Think everything is “Too Good to be True”
- Aren’t educated enough to know the difference between a legitimate MLM and a pyramid

If you want to make money in your deal, you really need to seek help. Find someone who knows what they are doing and allow them to teach you how to market for people who are LOOKING FOR YOU!!!!

There are plenty of people who are interested in what you have to offer (assuming it’s legit), so stop trying to recruit the deadbeats and look for some serious people!

If you are using a similar script to promote your business, you might want to reconsider. The idea is to find qualified people… or better yet, to allow qualified people to find you.

Just something to think about.

Popularity: 44% [?]

I recently attended a local presentation for my Network Marketing business. I’d been to dozens of these events before, and I knew the speakers very well. I had no doubt that it would be a great presentation. They were informative and entertaining and, on more than one occasion, the entire room erupted in laughter. Of course at the end of the event, the speaker said, “Don’t you wish you had invited more people to this presentation?”

I was one of the few people in the room who had actually invited a guest to this presentation… Actually, let me clarify. I was one of the only people in the room who’s guest actually showed up for the presentation. After the presentation was done, my guest spent the entire ride home thanking me for inviting him. He told me that throughout the presentation his mind was just racing. Thinking about all the possibilities for him. I knew that he’d react that way… After all…. That’s why I invited him.

While speaking with some of those in the room who were unable to successfully bring a guest to the presentation, it dawned on me what was going wrong.

People weren’t selling the event! They were trying to sell the product/business opportunity.

The proper way to sell anything is to get all the information in front of your prospect or don’t give any information at all. That way your prospect can make an informed decision. It doesn’t matter what you are selling, this rule rings true. If a prospect only has part of the story they will not be properly equipped to make a decision and everyone loses.

The reason that Network Marketing works so well (when it is done right) is because the duplication systems require that a prospect get the information from a sales tool instead of from the distributor. This takes the pressure off of the distributor and allows the prospect to make an informed decision.

The problem is that distributors don’t do it right. They get on the phone and start blabbing about all the features of the program and talk themselves right out of the sale.

Consider this:

The objective of your call is to invite them to a presentation. If the presentation is the objective, then what are you doing talking about your product or business? You need to be talking about the presentation!

When I invited my guest to our recent event, I didn’t talk to him about our product. I didn’t talk about how much money he could make. I simply told him that I thought he could learn something from the event. I told him that we had a great trainer from out of town and that there would be a training session as well. I sold the EVENT!

So then… How do you sell an event?

Always keep this in mind whenever you are selling anything. People DO NOT CARE about features. All they care about is benefits.

Before you pick up the phone to call anyone and invite them to your presentation you must find out how it will benefit them. Here are possible benefits.

• What will they learn?
• Will it be entertaining?
• Can they meet someone there that will be useful to them?
• Are they interested in knowing what you are working on?

When I invited my guest, I knew that he was interested in starting a business. I knew that he was interested in meeting entrepreneurial people. However, most importantly, I knew that he’d be entertained! So that’s what I told him. The invitation lasted no longer that 1 minute.

One last closing note. If you don’t know how this presentation would benefit your prospect, then either you need to spend more time getting to know your prospect, or you need to find a better presentation. After all, if you can’t think of a reason why anyone would want to see your presentation then how can you sell its benefits.

Popularity: 61% [?]

I thought I’d post the continuation of my last post about when my parents got started as Marketing Executives in my business.

I already mentioned that after they had ‘accidentally’ told a few people about Himalayan Goji Juice and picked up a few customers.  This generated an $80 check from Freelife.  Well… It gets better.

The next month I remember I was at work when I got a call from my Mom.  She proceeded to tell me that she thought that Freelife had made a mistake.  Low and behold, she got another check… for $40 bucks…  I laughed heartily and explained to her that this is called “Residual Income.”  Two of her customers decided to order another case of Himalayan Goji Juice, and the work that she and my Dad had initially done was continuing to pay.  She said… “But I didn’t do anything!”

Priceless isn’t it.

It goes to show that when you find a solid product that provides results and has a compelling story, it is almost impossible to not make the sale.  In addition, the focus on the product and not on the business, meant that my parents were excited (and even confused) about receiving a small check.

I know so many people in this industry that promise big money, and people are disappointed when the receive anything less than a full time income.

It is far more effective to under-promise and over-deliver than to set people’s expectations too high.

Popularity: 39% [?]

I was telling this story to a friend of mine last night about when my Dad first got started as a Distributor in my current Network Marketing company and he encouraged me to put it up here for your entertainment.

I’ve been doing Network Marketing for a few years now, and Freelife is not my first company.  When I first got started in the industry, my parents where extremely skeptical.  I got them to try lots of my products, but I don’t remember them buying anything.  Well, that all changed when I joined Freelife.  Himalayan Goji has a great reputation, and the story is quite remarkable, so they decided to try the “90 Day Challenge” (a 3 month 100% money back guarantee).  They got started with one of our free customer accounts and started drinking the recommended amount of Himalayan Goji Juice.

It didn’t take long before my Dad was noticing some very good results.  He was feeling much more energetic and he even mentioned that his knee pain was gone.  So a few months into it, my Dad was on a trip with some guys from work and somehow (he doesn’t quite remember how) Goji came up in conversation.  Well, I guess his friends were quite interested in how he was getting these results and were asking lots of questions.  Can you believe that my Dad actually just got all nervous and tried to change the subject?  Lol.

I can remember my reaction when he told me the story… I couldn’t believe that he had interested people asking questions and actually changed the subject.

Well… long story short, this same scenario happened with my Mom as well, and they eventually upgraded their free customer account to the “Marketing Executive” account for the $40 marketing kit fee.  They ended up enrolling 3 customers that month and earning an $80 check.

Just goes to show that when people really enjoy a product, you can’t help but tell others about it.

Popularity: 43% [?]

I don’t know if you have heard the term “Diversify, Diversify, Diversify” as many times as I have, but I’ve been noticing more and more that diversification is not necessarily a good idea. I know that if we are talking about money and investing the financial planners of the world are always suggesting that we diversify our portfolios.

What is diversification and why are people suggesting it?
In the financial world we are encouraged to diversify in order to reduce the risk involved in building a portfolio. This is because not all classes of assets go up or down in value at the same time or at the same rate. By investing in different industries/companies we can reduce the likelihood of experiencing significant losses. In other words, we balance a portfolio so that the rises in one asset will cover the drops of the other.

At first I thought that this made perfect sense. I could insulate myself from market conditions by choosing a variety of industries in which to invest. Notice the word “insulate”. I’m basically just choosing a strategy that will work on it’s own over the long term and requires little knowledge of the financial markets, and absolutely no focus. I can just put my money there and it will most likely grow over the long term.

I use the money example to make a point. Diversification is a way to control a situation that you maintain little control over. It’s a way to reduce risk.

In marketing and business there’s a saying that I’ve heard used a number of times.

“When you try and be everything to everyone, you spread yourself so thin, that you end up being, nothing to no-one.”

In my humble opinion those who ask us to diversify our time and/or our money are interested in one thing. Our business.

People ask us to partner with them in their business to “diversify your income streams”. I’m not saying this is always a bad idea, but I do believe that it is something that we should all be aware of.

As a Network Marketer, I can’t count how many people have tried to recruit me into their deal by saying that “You don’t have to quit your current company, you are simply adding this to your portfolio.” I’m not so certain that they have my best interest in mind. Sure there can be times when another business could compliment what I’m already doing… However, we should not be adding new programs to diversify. We should be adding new programs in order to maintain and enhance our focus.

The truth of the matter is that what we focus on expands. What we take our focus away from will ultimately die.

Athletes know this, musicians know this, successful business people know this.

If you want to be average, then diversify. If you want to be extraordinary then focus!

Popularity: 50% [?]

I can’t believe it. I was pleasantly surprised when Goji from the Himalayas was mentioned on Oprah the first time, so you can imagine my excitement when it happened for a second time (that I know of).

I was doing some work in my home office when my wife Michelle called out to me and said, “They just said Goji again.”

Very exciting news. This time Dr. Oz mentions Mangosteen as well. I really do think that proper nutrition is an important. Freelife and Xango are both excellent companies that each have a very high quality product containing Himalayan Goji and Mangosteen. Freelife promotes Himalayan Goji Juice and Xango promotes Mangosteen juice. Shaklee was also featured on Oprah very recently.

Here’s the link on Oprah.com.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Popularity: 32% [?]

ABC News’ Good Morning America ran a segment just recently singing the praises of home based business. Finally, it appears that Direct Sales is becoming mainstream. This industry has certainly had it’s share of publicity. Many people are under the impression that it is illegal or maybe just ‘not worth the effort’.

“According to the Direct Selling Association, last year there were more than 15 million direct-sales representatives in [America], which is an increase of more than a million people over the previous year. Many of those people are content earning the median income of $2,500 a year, while others want to generate that figure per month. “

The reality is that the direct sales industry can add value to just about anyone’s life. Either by creating a modest supplemental income, a full time replacement income, or even just a fun and exciting pass time. The choice is yours, and that in itself tends to be the limiting factor for most people. They simply do not have the drive to take action and perform the daily activities required in order to achieve their goals.

Reference: abcnews.go.com

Popularity: 100% [?]

I can’t believe this… I’ve seen a gazillion people claim that their product/company /scam was featured on Oprah, but I’ve never actually seen proof!

So you’ll excuse my surprise when I was watching Oprah today and Dr. Oz talked about the benefits of Goji!!! I’m so psyched…

Here’s what was said;
Ben Gordon, leading scorer for the Chicago Bulls, needs some nutrition information. “I’m a professional athlete. I train anywhere between two and three times a day. … What kind of foods can I add to my diet to help me maintain high energy levels throughout my diet and not crash after I’m finished working out,” he says.

Dr. Oz recommends that Ben eat more foods with antioxidants. “What happens to a lot of great athletes is they are creating so much oxidation in their body from working out all the time, especially if you’re working out for more than two hours a day—you’re doing this for sure—that you don’t have the oxidant stores to keep up with that. So you’ve got to build up those antioxidant stores by taking leafy green vegetables.”

Bright colored fruits, like goji berries, are also great, Dr. Oz says. “They grow in the Himalayas. They’re the most potent antioxidant fruit that we know,” he says. “Remember, foods are drugs. They work just like that. But especially for an athlete that’s moving fast all over the place, you’ve got to keep the antioxidant stores in your body high and the best way to do it is through the foods you eat.”

Pulled directly from Oprah.com;
Click Here to go to Oprah.com

Just another reason why I’m so excited about working with Freelife and Himalayan Goji Juice.

Popularity: 25% [?]

I realize that this might go right over some people’s heads, but for those with experience in the industry of Direct Selling/Network Marketing you might be able to identify with this.

Really, I’m all about abundance. I want a company who’s product provides results quickly and is money back guaranteed. I’m looking for a company that is strong, stable and built to last. I want a compensation plan that is balanced with great up front income and plenty of residual income as well… and most importantly I want to work with top income earners.  Is that really too much to ask?

I’ve found all of those components in Freelife International.
1. 90 day 100% money back guarantee… try it for 3 months and return the empty bottles for a full refund minus the shipping cost. 69% of the sales of the product go to customers who do not promote the product. (Customer accounts are free and you get the product at the same price as distributors, Distributor accounts are $39.95 USD one time for your marketing kit)

2. The company is over 10 years old, debt free and is doubling in size every year. We operate in 24 countries and we are expanding into Germany, UK and Austria. The primary investor is investment banker guru from Morgan & Stanley, Anson Beard. All billion dollar Direct Selling companies have one thing in common. They are founded by former distributors. Both the co-founders of Freelife are former distributors, and Ray Faltinsky graduated second in his class from Yale Law School and wrote his thesis on the Direct Selling industry.

3. The compensation plan offers Customer Rebates, Fast Start Bonuses and Advancement Bonuses that provide tons of up front cash, as well as Matching Bonuses, 10-Level residual boneses, and Infinity bonuses that provide very substantial residual income. The company does a fantastic job at recognition including picture recognition, congratulations letters, pins, watches, contests and several free trips per year that can be earned. When you hit the Royal Ambassador title, you get to attend 6 trips per year, as well as you receive $5k per month to conduct training events (which are completely free to all distributors).

4. All 10 levels of my upline (including my sponsor) are Ambassador or above including 3 Royal Ambassadors. According to the published Freelife income statistics an Ambassador moves at least 200 cases per month and earns an average full time income of over $62,000 per year. A Royal Ambassador moves at least 1500 cases per month and earns an average of almost $600,000 per year. Talk about quality support for 3-way calls and presentations.

That’s why I’m excited, and I’ve just started to build another leg so I’m looking for some key people to help.

To Your Success!

Popularity: 24% [?]