Building Interest
I have come across four types of customers while I’m doing this business. There are probably more types out there but I haven’t learned about them yet. (Notice the YET. I will learn about them but I don’t know about them today)
So, today, we’ll stick with these four types:
01. They see you talking about oils once and they buy. Usually quickly.
02. They ask approximately 900 questions, you send them the link 3 times and they order eventually.
03. They don’t ask even one question in months of you talking about oils, never throw you even a tiny little LIKE and then one day they send you a message that says “How do I get the oils?”
04. Referrals
😍 I’d be the happiest girl on planet earth if I had about 100 of Type 1. I’d send out 100 links, make a quick five grand, half of them would start the business and they’d sign up 100 other Type 1s and we’d all live in our magic bubbles with unicorns and rainbows making thousands of dollars for doing nothing.
But, the TRUTH is that that VERY FEW of my customers are Type 1. Like maybe 5%...maybe. I’d say the other 95+% is spread out evenly amongst the other types.
/// WAIT...GO AHEAD...FESS UP!!!! which one are YOU?????
I was somewhere between 3 & 4... I'd done my own research so I knew I wanted oils and when I saw someone mention YL I just asked for her member number. Crazy RARE case, for sure. But what were YOU??
ACTIVITY 1 :: how about the last 10 people you enrolled? What kind of type were they?
Haven't enrolled 10 people yet? How about the last (however-many) enrollments and the lat 10 people you discussed oils with... what type are THEY? How did that conversation start?
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Okay. Let’s talk about that.
For around 60% of your customers, your overly analytical, type A friends and your referrals who don’t know a single thing about you other than they know one of your friends... well, to be honest, you’re going to have to do some work.
It may not be easy.
You’re may have to research questions and you’re going to have to do some digging for them.
MORE IMPORTANTLY though, you’re going to have to work on relationship building and asking open-ended questions and you’re going to have to LISTEN to their responses. You may need to follow-up many times. You’re going to have to follow them on Facebook and show an interest in their lives.
It's highly likely they aren’t outright ignoring you and are still asking or answering a question here or there but they aren’t really chomping at the bit to order that kit right up. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I FEEL YOU.
That, my friends, is WORK. That’s your JOB. That’s one of the tasks that comes along with owning your own business. I get it. It’s not fun. But, it is one of those things like filing your taxes that just HAS to be done. You don’t have to love it. You just have to DO IT.
That leaves about 30% of your customers that you have to do absolutely nothing for other than to keep talking. That’s it. Be you. Don’t quit. Refuse to Fail. KEEP TALKING.
That’s a BIG chunk of people that are going to require absolutely nothing from you other than to hear your voice and to know, over time, that you are serious about what you say. You aren’t buying into some fad and are going to be selling some other other product next month, you love oils and you are just going to keep going on with your bad self.
Let people into your life.
Let them see what kind of person you are. KEEP TALKING in a casual, light-hearted way. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT post a couple of well-thought-out, funny oil statuses, not get the interest you wanted and then start blasting your audience with every deal and special and marketing material under the sun assuming that your market is different than my market and that you must just need to show them the beautiful graphics and give them a “deal” and they’ll buy. 👈👈 STOP. Go back and read the italics again. NO FOR REAL. Read it again.
Because, I promise you, that’s just not the truth. There is NO ONE in the entire land of Facebook that wants to click on the little Facebook app icon sitting in the carpool lane and find four thoughtless, “message me for information” posts in four days from you.
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NO ONE.
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guys! did you read that!?!??
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If they don’t unfriend you all together, I GUARANTEE they now have an imaginary filter over their brain and every single time they see a post from you, they are going to skim right over it. Do you hear me? They aren’t even going to read that super cute post about your dog because you have already landed yourself in the “she only wants to sell some crap on Facebook” category of their brain. You don’t even exist to them in their newsfeed anymore… they just skim right over your name because they have categorized you and you have never made them laugh or made them smile or made them understand what you’re about before.
PLEASE remember what Social Media is and where its power comes from. Retrain your brain that the power of Social Media is NOT solely about reaching a large group of people with a single click… it is about BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS with a large group of diverse people over the course of many, many thousands of clicks.
Every time you post/like/share/comment on Social Media, you are working on your brand. You are building a network. You are building relationships. Think about that. It’s POWERFUL and is a bigger deal than you probably have ever even considered. Please guard it fiercely.
When countless leaders talk about your personal brand being important, we aren't talking about marketing materials and we aren't talking about a cute, bright-colored blog representing you. But we ARE talking about how you interact with the people in your life. HOW you comment on their Facebook statuses. How interested you are in them and in their lives.
I really believe that you can spend literally YEARS working on building relationships and all it takes is one single act of being pushy/too political/too snotty or one week of too many impersonal, BUY THIS posts to have it all crumble and at that point, you have to start all over building that trust. Is it possible to rebuild? Yeah, it is but it will take much longer. If you want to build a business in NETWORK marketing, you must tenderly and very loving cultivate your NETWORK first.
Cultivate your network first.
Let me say that one more time.
Cultivate your network FIRST.
Work very hard on making it clear WHO YOU ARE and what you are about in your posts, in the way you comment, in how you treat people in person. If you don’t know… don’t have anything interesting to post about… you need to look harder.
Volunteer at an animal shelter. Join a Bunco group. Learn how to quilt.
I don’t CARE what it is, figure out who you are outside of oils. Figure out what you love and go for it.
I’m giving you permission to selfishly spend a bunch of time learning or doing something you’ve always wanted to do with ZERO GUILT. You know why you should have no guilt about it?
Because you’re working on your NETWORK. You’re building relationships and I will PROMISE YOU something, those relationships are going to matter in your life FOREVER. For every single thing you do. They are the secret sauce to building a successful business. They are the secret sauce to building a successful ANYTHING you want to.
Have I made my point on this clear?
Because, I absolutely PROMISE YOU that following up and closing the sale gets INFINITELY EASIER and less painful for you and your customers once you have that relationship built and they trust you and they already know you aren’t going to push them into something. You don’t have anything to prove. You’ve already proven it over the course of many thousands of tiny little clicks and likes and comments. When you go to send that “Hey, you wanna hear about this oil business stuff that changed my life? Feel free to punch me in the face and say no but it is my job to tell you it’s out there and I’m pretty sure you could knock it right outta the park and into next week.”
You can write it just like that because they already know you. In this case, they know me… they can hear me saying it, they know I’m a trustworthy person and even if they don’t sign up and sell four hundred kits, they are now aware that there is a business side and that I think they could rock at it. That seed has been planted.
If you're not sure how to go from looking at that starter kit, loving those oils, and turning that into something dreamy and promise-filled, listen up.
You don't have to SELL anything. Let the oils speak for themselves. Don't defend them, don't even bother arguing with the people that say that they don't heal. Use your oils regularly, TELL YOUR STORY (don't have a story with your oils, USE THEM MORE), and help people join this INCREDIBLE team. This is where we sometimes say "we don't sell oils, we SHARE oils."
Back in the early days, something about SHARING instead of SELLING clicked with me and I decided that I was going to give it a go. I shared my story about Graham sleeping through the night and all the magical unicorns that came to sing me a sweet lullaby of peace and joy... and then suddenly people were interested.
At that point there wasn't much to lose, I figured. I decided that I was going to share my story, that I was going to help people learn about oils and I was going to help people understand how I sincerely believe they have a place in EVERYONE’S life. That I was not going to sweat it when people decided oils weren't for them or if they’d rather buy oils from someone else.
I decided I wasn't chasing sales and that I was going to be honest and open and let people do it their way. I made a vow to try to be a positive light in people’s lives, not only for them, but for ME. And the rest, the outcome of it all, well, whatever happens happens.
It has been one of the single biggest blessings of my life. Outside of my husband and my perfect little children, THE biggest blessing. I've made new friendships and reconnected with old friends that I almost forgot how much I love. I've helped people learn how to use oils. I've helped people build oil businesses. I've built an oil business. I've taught and I've supported and I feel like I have been supported and most days it doesn't even feel like work. Most days it feels like helping friends, like learning something new, like being part of an awesome and supportive team. It feels like changing lives for the BETTER and I cannot adequately put into words just how good that feels.
My life now is centered around helping others find solutions for their own wellness... it's about teaching families how they can have true financial freedom built day after day through hard but intentional work... I teach people how to build influence in the world around them and how to take their knowledge and use it to grow friendships and relationships. And it's the most FUN thing ever. I literally wake up in the morning with my mind FULL of ideas and people and ways I can make someone else's life better.
Best. Job. EVER
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