Generating New Leads for Your MLM Business

A constant source of new leads and prospects are the life blood of any business. If you are a relatively new business owner, hopefully your sponsor has helped you put a plan in place that will fill this need. For those of you that are hearing this for the first time please pay close attention as your chances of success are directly tied to you understanding this concept.

There are a number of decisions that you will need to make as it pertains to the generation of new leads and just as important the process by which you will manage those newly acquired leads. Below are just a few of the questions that you need to be addressing:

*Where are these new leads going to come from?

*How will I rise above the crowd in order to standout as someone that will attract new leads?

*Once I have acquired these new leads, what is the process I will use to convert them to qualified prospects?

*When does it make sense to pick up the phone to call prospects?

*Now that I have qualified prospects how do I move them through the sales cycle?

*How will I know when it is time to try closing a prospect that has been through the sales cycle?

While the above questions will be treated differently for various marketing methods I am going to focus purely on attracting new leads via the internet.

Time and time again it has been proven that one of the most effective methods for obtaining new leads is by simply offering something of value to people that will provide you with their contact information. Start by offering something of value (free workshop, training, tools, tips, hints, a process) that will be of interest to your target market.

Once you have their attention and they are at least considering providing you with their contact information, make sure that you are only requesting necessary information. If you make the process a long process whereby they have to complete a long survey or too many details you are likely to reduce the number of new leads and/or collect lots of bogus information.

Make sure that you let them know upfront that you are Guaranteeing their privacy as many people are very leery of giving out personal information to people they don’t know.

Always provide a call to action to get people to act right now. If you have information that is time sensitive or offers of great value that expire after a given time, you are much more likely to get people to act on impulse.

Make sure to setup various marketing channels/strategies that will provide you leads from a variety of sources. This process will give you the ability to measure the quality of leads/prospects that you are collecting from the various sources and improve on strategies that don’t seem to work as well.

Now that you are collecting all the leads that you need you should have a process whereby you will begin to qualify these new leads as true prospects.

Be sure to always provide the value offered in a very timely manner. If you promised an ebook your newly acquired lead is going to be expecting an email with a link to download their requested ebook in a very short amount of time. Remember, like it or not we live in an age of instant gratification. Drop the ball here and you will have a very hard time converting any leads to qualified prospects.

Make sure you have a process in place to be able to know details about your newly acquired lead:

*Where did they come from?

*What did they click on to ultimately provide you with their contact information?

*Any additional information they may have provided you in the process?

*Do you have an indication of their immediate needs? What’s the pain they are dealing with?

Each time you communicate with your new lead make sure to ensure that you are communicating your value proposition. By all means if they were willing to provide you with a phone number it is highly probably that a phone call is in order.

This is where most processes or business owners begin to break down. Remember you have a new lead/prospect: Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up until such time that you convert them to a sale or get a definitive NO. If you get a no that simply means that the time is not right, but they may be ready to take action down the road.

Once you have these prospects in your database continue to build and develop that relationship. Through a process of value based email information you can build on that relationship and eventually convert that lead into a sale. Create email stages that filter your contacts based on their interaction with the emails so you can cater specifically to them and follow-up knowledgeably. Again learn what your prospects need and supply a solution to that need.

Once your process has moved your leads to qualified prospects whereby you have a better understanding of their needs provide them with a call to action to get them to purchase additional products/services that you may have to offer. If you are promoting your business opportunity, spell out the main benefits for them acting now. If there is a special promotion that you can offer, or bonus programs available to help them get a quick start, be sure they understand what is available to them if they act NOW.

Stay personal. When offering them your promotion, relate to their preferences you’ve noticed. Mention things you’ve discussed or discovered from their interactions with your email.

Help them remember you by referring back to your last contact. This also shows them that you value this relationship by keeping track of them.

Give your prospects advanced notice of promotions in case they need time to plan, budget, etc. Then be sure to build some anticipation leading up to the first official day of the promotion.

Now, just because you’ve closed the sale and your efforts have produced a new customer or business associate don’t disregard this relationship. Current customers can become loyal customers and your biggest supporters. New business associates are going to need guidance and mentoring if they are experience the success that you have achieved. So continue to build these relationships and watch your business grow to levels you never dreamed possible.

To Your Success!