Let’s talk about the professional numbers.

There is absolutely no business where  you cannot set up a statistics as to how the business works and what you achieve.

Let’s  consider a business with lots of branches all over the world. The headquarters may know that each branch makes a turnover of 4 million dollars. The management decides that they will step up their business volume so what do you think they will do – will they talk to the individual branch managers and tell them that they will have to  increase the business they are doing by 20 % or will they open more branches to achieve their target turnover?

Well, if they will  give pressure to their branches to expand that may have even fatal results As a rule people do not perform when given pressure. So the correct alternative will be to open new branches. Based ont eh numbers they know from the existing branches it will be easy to work out the number of branches they have to open to achieve their target.

As any other business of course network marketing has numbers by which you can go.

The first set of numbers applies to the start up phase. for building a team you will have to talk to people and at the beginning when the skills you require are yet low you may have to talk to  100 people to  find one partner. As your practice and skills increase the ration will change to 1:50, 1:20, 1:10 or even better if you really put your heart into it and become a professional. however, it does not matter at which ratio you  balance out – once you know your ratio, your business becomes very predictable.

You may listen to somebody  is talking  about 25k in volume per month and 2 people and another one about 10k of volume and 10 core people – which would you go for? There are so many network marketers who will go for the big volume as they are thinking of the nice pay check. However when you consider the first general business example it will make a lot of sense to go for the 10 core people as the volume will take care of itself once you have 10 core people. This also applies for desired growth rates in your business.

Make sure you understand the general as well as your own numbers and make sure you learn to create more and more targeted leads and your success is on the highway!

Frieke Karlovits

Your Guide to Success

Let’s face it – it is normal that not everybody you talk to will join   your business. And it is good that there are so me who say “NO”! Why? Well who would  teach our children, wash our cars, or clean our take care of the shelves in the supermarket or repair our cars, sell them, or in fact any of the other many jobs that need to be done to make life comfortable.  It is a fact of life that not everybody will want to do everything.

However when we look at the people we talk to – there are many who will come up with objections. An objection is basically something that cannot be dealt with . Yet when you look at it from another perspective, an objection can well be a disguised question. And questions of course can be answered. In fact you can take it a bit further –. an objection even shows that somebody you are talking to  has followed what you say, thought about it and in a way shows interest in what you have displayed.

Therefore it is important to learn how to deal with objections.

Rather than parrot like learning various answers to various objections the much better approach will be to create an objections work sheet. Take a piece of paper and write down all the objections you are receiving and in addition write down how you dealt  with them – that way you will very soon have a catalogue of strategies that work and what is more important “that work for you”. You may not feel comfortable with the way I handle objections or your upline handles objections, but by creating that work sheet you can solve the issue in your very own and personal way.

There is one special category of objection – they are the objection you have in your mind, you may fear without having experienced them yet. This having certain objections on your mind prominently may even cause these objections to crop up in your prospect’s mind. They can kind of “feel” them – so better solve these in your mind upfront so that they will not cause  unwanted problems.

In addition to your work sheet it will certainly make sense that you do some roll playing with your team, with your upline or any mixed group of network marketers as it also takes practice “skill” to deal with objections on the spot when they occur. You need to exercise what you have figured out!

Pick up the challenge of objections and you will move forward by leaps and bounds!

Frieke Karlovits

Your Guide to Success

To find out more around this topic let’s look at the business model.

Basically you are recommending to others what you like. Constant recommendation will  permit you to grow a substantial business that eventually will give you a residual income.

In this context it is critical that you know which product  groups are suitable for this kind of business model.

It is consumables!

Any other product group will not allow you to build a permanent group of customers who will be happy to buy what you have recommended to them on a regular basis. It you look at any kind of electronics, water filters, health beds, houses or similar things, all of these require you to provide new customers at a regular activity. This in itself is not designed to let you have a residual income ever as you cannot stop your activities without having your business suffer.

Whereas with consumables you can have customers of long standing – I have customers who have been customers for 20 + years and who are happy to connect with me when they have questions or are looking for something.

With this I leave you to digest this basic thought and many of the other important parameters for choosing a business will be discussed another time.

Frieke Karlovits

Your Guide to Success

In network marketing today it is your job to  connect with people to find out if they have a desire to do something in addition to their job or perhaps even want to become their own boss. In this process receiving NO as a reply is normal

The other day I listened to a CD by Jerry Clark and he brought an excellent example.

Let’s look at a waitress in a restaurant. It is her job to offer ketchup to the people eating at the tables. She goes to the first table “would you like some ketchup?” – yes please, the second table “would you like some ketchup? – no thanks, the third table “would you like some ketchup? – no thanks, the fourth table “would you like some ketchup? – yes please………….and it went on like that yes please or no thanks………….

What do you think – did the waitress take the no thanks personally? Sure not – she knew that it was part of her job to offer ketchup to people.

• So why is it that so many people take NO as a personal offence when they are doing their job at building a network marketing business?

Make sure you understand what you are in for when you are doing this business and  remember the waitress – it will give you a chuckle   each time you get a NO as an answer.

Have fun building a successful network marketing today!

Frieke Karlovits

Your Guide to Success

Network marketing today has one big ADVANTAGE and one big DISADVANTAGE.

Advantage:         You are your own boss.

Disadvantage:    You are your own boss.

Let me get into this a little more detailed.

When you decide to start up a conventional business – shoe shop. Mc.Donald’s franchise or whatever – you as a rule have to make quite a big investment, 10 thousand dollars and more, before you even start. Furthermore you will have to give up your job.

Both of these facts together get you in a place where you have no choice – you have to work and you will have to work a lot to pay back your loan and to make at least a basic living. It will likely take you 10 years or perhaps more to pay back your investment and with a bit of luck you may end up with a fair net income after that – let’s say something like 30 or 40k a year.

When you decide to get into network marketing today your start up investment will be roughly between 30 and 1000 dollars max. That by comparison is peanuts. And, what’s more, you don’t have to give up your job – so you stay in a place where you can pay your bills as usual.

Seeing this  situation it takes a rock solid WHY so that you get down to work diligently at your business. As in any other business you will have to face all sorts of challenges – one of them is dealing with lots of NOs – it is not easy emotionally not to perceive this as rejection of yourself. In fact it is not a rejection of yourself, but a no to the offer you have put out. It is normal _ not everyone wants to become a nurse, a teacher, lawyer, carpenter or whatever.

The critical balance between success and failure in this network marketing business will be your

WHY.

This applies to everyone and that is the reason why it is so critical that you work on the WHY of your people – help them find the reason why they should put up with the extra work and the challenges they are facing.

Due to the difference in financial investment it is much easier to quit network marketing today that a conventional business that you started and yet the number of people who quit a conventional business they have started is nearly as  high as in network marketing today. Only the loss is far bigger.

Therefore – if you want to fire your boss, be aware that “being your own boss” is as much an advantage as it is a disadvantage.

Cement your WHY and do your work diligently in a fostering environment with a company that is designed in accordance with high ethical values and you will never regret your decision.

Grow and have fun!

Frieke Karlovits

Your Guide to Success

Do you think it is unfair that everything that happens in your life is your choice?

Well, much of it does not happen on a conscious level.

What we choose to think  is to a large extent programmed by the way we were brought up, by your environment, the media and more. You may end up with a “belief pattern” that is highly destructive to your dreams and ideas of who and what you want to be in life.

When you decide that you want to do your own business this factor becomes increasingly important as the world reflects to you “who you are” – especially in a business which is all about people, like network marketing today, this can decided between success and failure.

For those who want to succeed:

There is a solution. You can reprogram your mind and get rid of whatever does not serve you. The first step is the acceptance that you and only you are the master of your life.

Working with people may help this process. Very often things can be seen a lot clearer in others and if the new state of acceptance leads you to reflect on what you see in another and to check if it rings true for yourself as well, well, then you are on the road to owning your life.

When working with others communication is a key topic. Communication is a skill and can be learned and honed. So let’s discuss a few points.

Most people have their very own reason for what they are doing and why they are doing it and of course they are looking for solutions for their unsolved topics. Only most people do not like “to be told” either. Very often they do not even like “to be told” when they ask for help.

The skill to impart information to them would be to let them speak and tell you all about them, their whys and dreams and reasons. As a helpful guide the right way to deal with them is to give them bits of info here and there in such a way that they eventually reach their own conclusions and “buy” what you imparted to them.

Such an approach builds trust and respect for each other and creates relationships which as a rule are lasting relationships.

It does not really matter if you are talking to customers to be or to business partners to be – it is this built up trust and respect for each other which will create results.

The natural law of giving works. What you give you get.

You give kindness and real support and you will get a real relationship.

You give “I told you so” and “closing of people” and you will get objections, rejection or even aggression.

Which do you want?

Choose the best for your life you can imagine right now.

Stay tuned for  more!

Frieke Karlovits

Your Guide to Success

It indeed is. However, in order to have people to talk to you need to sell yourself first. You need to give people a reason why they should want to listen to YOU.

No matter what you are selling – even if you are selling yourself, you  need to bear in mind that conventional sales techniques:

• Are not effective for most Network Marketers
• They cause the objections and rejection which are “unfun” for Network Marketers
• They are one of the reasons for the high attrition rates of team members and customers.

To help you change this situation and learn strategies that work Michael Oliver has created the “natural selling technique”. This is the first of a series of blogs that will deal with this technique.

“The Way You Think and Communicate Will Determine The Way People Respond To You” – this matches the teachings of the Law of Attraction and it is again and again surprising how good advice keeps boiling down to the same essence.

“Ask yourself this.  What is the greatest fear you might have that could hold you back from talking with people about your income opportunity or products?
If you are like most it will be the fear of rejection and objections and the anxiety that comes with that. “

It is in fact this underlying fear that  holds people you back at a much earlier stage – the stage of selling themselves. You know that once people connect with you you are in the position that you need to present and you dread that for fear of rejection.

There are two types of rejection:

1. The blunt  "Not interested" and

2. Someone has looked at your offer and finds it doesn’t really fit what they need.

Since your thought pattern will be reflected in the way people respond to you – may be you get the second objection in response to your own anxiety?

Investigating underlying “mechanisms” in non verbal communication may help modifying the way you do things. people always make choices that meet their  visions and needs. This is reflected in the frequent question “What’s in it for me”.

Therefore it is a basic necessity to listen to the person you are talking with. If they have a need for money it should be investigated why and how they arrived at the place they are right now. If this is neglected and a presentation is forced on them like “fire hosing” them they very likely will be put off. Instead you need to  show them how the solution you have in mind might work for them, by prompting things they might know, expanding  a little so that their knowledge can expand and then let them arrive at their own conclusions.

This again meets the general knowledge that “people like to buy but don’t like being sold. Nobody wants to be a “number” in your “numbers game”!

These things apply likewise if you are selling yourself or if you are promoting your network marketing opportunity.

Stay tuned for more!

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

A while back I read a letter sent out by Robert Pauly – I have it in German so I cannot actually quote it here and have to tell you what he said in my own words:

A happy man, let’s call him  Jack, was taking a nice walk in the sunshine. It was a wide pasture yet with a few swampy patches. He enjoyed his outing thoroughly.

 All of a sudden Jack heard someone calling. He followed the voice and came to a big deep hole which was a bit  marshy in its level area. Down there he saw a man calling out for help. When Jack was close enough he talked to the man who was begging for help and finally so Jack grabbed a big branch and put it down the hole like a ladder. The man tried to climb up on it, but some tiny twigs broke so he slipped back – he tried again, came up a bit further and slipped again. Jack suggested he should take his hand once he came up again, yet the man down in the hole sat down and said –I really tried, but it is far too hard for me to get up far enough to grab your hand – just leave me where I am.

Jack was a bit sorry for the man in the hole, but he could do nothing but accept. So he walked on. After a little while he again heard a human voice. When he came close he again saw a man in a very similar hole. He was lying on his back on the marshy ground singing a nice tune and enjoying the soft wet surface he ways lying on. When Jack came close he called down to the man if he wanted help to get out of the hole but the man on ly grinned and said – I like it down here. – itIt  is soft and humid and the sunshine is warming me ! -  Jack couldn’t believe his ears, wished the guy a good day and walked on wondering why a person would be happy in a trap like this.

 Since it was a beautiful day Jack decided to extend he walk a little further. After another  half hour he again hear somebody call out for help. When he came closer it was another man in yet another one of those big marshy holes. Jack called down to him if he needed help and the guy in the hole at once said – of course I want help – I want to get out of here , I don’t like being trapped in a place like that. So Jack reached down with his arm as far as he could and the guy in the hole make a big effort to climb the slithery side of the hole far enough that he could grab the hand and with a big strong effort climb up the wall to the surface.

He thanked Jack for his rescue and Jack and his new companion continued their walk together.

When you look at this story you will realise that it shows you clearly what is happening in network marketing today. When you build a business you will meet up with those who want, but don’t have the stamina to carry on and really make an effort, those who are just happy on their couch a would not move a little finger to improve their situation and those who were waiting for some support to get going and make a big difference in their lives.

As a mentor with a servant’s heart you are called to find out in which category people are and it sure makes no sense to try and drag somebody who is not willing to do what is required.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor with A Servant’s Heart

Looking back 20+ years at the time when I first met up with MLM in Austria and was thrilled with what I saw I can only wonder.

In those day “positive thinking” and personal development as we know it today were only in baby shoes in this area.

Since at the time I joined MLM I had been a successful entrepreneur in my study field for some 15 years I was sure that network marketing would not present a problem provided the work was done diligently. I started out and did a thorough job and achieved …….. no progress……Hm….

Meeting with other folks at weekly meetings I of course wanted to find out what was still missing in my work schedule and to my big chagrin all that was being discussed were personal development issues. Things like “dream your vision and work on it, you attract what you send out and more – all those things which are being discussed on a large scale nowadays, which are being investigated and propagated in considerable detail in books like “The Secret”.

In those days I could not understand at all, but fact was, those who obviously were into those matters succeeded in building their business and I didn’t.

Eventually, years later “I got it” and once that happened my business grew miraculously.

Therefore you can conclude that personal development, attitude, and willingness to work on these issues are the big secret for success in network marketing today just as much as it was in those days.

Don’t hesitate to step on this path – the time is well spend and the rewards will be incredible.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart

Being the master of your life is a conscious choice.

It is a choice that also resonates with building a network marketing business today. Let me explain:

It is never the big things in life which leave you stranded, which stop you from doing your daily slight edge activities.

It is the small, trivial little things that eat up your time – may it be phone calls or mishaps or perhaps having a low day altogether, there are so many “reasons” why the important things don’t get done in a nicely structured way. This shows up in your daily life when you consider it clearly.

Backlogs in daily household things like washing the dishes, doing odd cleaning jobs, or in your work environment perhaps a backlog in filing papers or some book keeping work that is over due; perhaps you have on the back of your mind that your car should finally be washed and cleaned up, yet there does not seem to be time to do any of the listed chores.

Unless you make a conscious choice that you do what you need to do “NOW” nothing will change.

It is this conscious choice that will change your life!

All of the above also reflects on building a network marketing business today. All the issues in your life which are hanging around “undone” will prevent you also from doing the small regular activities which are required in building such a business successfully.

While in your daily life it  may very likely be enough that you make your personal choice to get on with things, it may be a good idea that you have a coach and mentor for business to help and support you so that you stay on track.

However – your conscious choice is the foundation for your success as much as your WHY that represents the driving force to keep you going even at times when things get tight.

Choose to Master Your Life – Build a Network Marketing Business Today – A Life You Can Only Dream of Will be Your Rewards.

To Your Success

Frieke Karlovits

A Mentor With A Servant’s Heart