STEP 4: Ladies: Speak In Your Own Voice

(If recruiting isn't going as fast as you'd hoped, consider, instead of quitting, building a steady customer base. STEP ONE here. STEP TWO here. STEP THREE here.)

How are your going to speak in your own voice and stand out in a sales business where they tell you to duplicate everyone else?

How will you ever stand out if you say, write and do the same things as everyone else? And no, louder doesn't work.

STEP 4: Speak in Your Own Voice

One: Ignore everybody for a while. How else can you learn to speak in your own voice?

Two: Go inside and figure out what your voice is, your angle, your style, your little brazenness and weirdness and how you can apply it to your marketing style.

Here's how Mary Jane did that very successfully with her weight loss product - using morbidly obese as her angle (because that's who she was). Scroll down to Interview 1 and 2 here.

You must find a way to stand out if you want to be noticed, loved and followed.

"Be a small, ridiculously evolved, very rare and weird fish in a great big pond...Because the Internet is really big, and because you chose a gigantic pond, there will be a fair number of people interested in your topic who also resonate with your particular brand of weirdness. And that weirdness will shine like a little beacon to attract them. More here.

OK ladies, you ready?

P.S. In my experience over the last 20+ years, I'd say we, the women who comprise 80% of the MLM distributor force, have tried hardest to be what we (many of us) think we are supposed to be.

We emulate the men on stage

We try to be like little doctors

We try to be what we think is a good sales person, and parrot the company line about how great the management is, how great the product is, blah blah.

And when that doesn't work, we go into denial. "Is this sales?" "Oh no! We share!" Or we do catalog sales - we help others - anything but the dreaded "I sell stuff."

How about we back away, ignore everybody for a while, and learn to speak in our own voice?

One way to start is to find your product hot button. More on that in STEP 5. Your own voice is more than your style as it relates to the products you market. It's that special part of you which exists with or without the business.

Try out new own voice - tell in the Comments below.

UPDATE. Just read Maureen Dowd's NY Times column, Nuns' Story (in case, PDF here). It helps explain why some women have not been more willing to develop, much less speak in, their own voice.

"In 2004, the cardinal who would become Pope Benedict XVI wrote a Vatican document urging women to be submissive partners, resisting any adversarial roles with men and cultivating “feminine values” like “listening, welcoming, humility, faithfulness, praise and waiting.”

Whaa?

How to build a following of devotees

Found this and HAD to share, yep. Right in the middle of the 7 STEPS for building a customer base series here.

How do you present your ideas to so that others on a similar track look to you for guidance? So you become a leader of a tribe, so to speak?

Wonderful advice for writers, marketers, photographers - anyone seeking to build a following or an audience:

• Style is a voice, not a prop or an action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it is not a style. Don't look outward for your style; look inward.

• Know your stuff. Luck is a nice thing, but a terrifying thing to rely on. It's like money; you only have it when you don't need it.

• Never apologize for your own sense of beauty (or values-kk). Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a consensus.

• Say no. Say it often. It may be difficult, but you owe it to yourself and your clients. Turn down jobs that don't fit you, say no to overbooking yourself. You are no good to anyone when you're stressed and anxious.

• Learn to say, "I'm a photographer" (or whatever - kk) out loud with a straight face. If you can't say it and believe it, you can't expect anyone else to, either.

• You cannot specialize in everything.

• You don't have to go into business just because people tell you that you should!...MORE NUGGETS HERE.

Number one - finding your voice, your style - is a biggie for folks in a NM company. Most reps are marketing the same product line. How do you develop your style, your focus, and set yourself apart from the others?

By "others" I mean first others in the same company. And second, marketers who sell competing products. Hint: start with what's important to YOU about what you market (not the company or your upline or anyone else). You can see why I made some big changes in marketing approach here - based on what became important to me (free excerpt).

STEP 3: Get the Cred...

(If recruiting isn't going as fast as you'd hoped, consider, instead of quitting, building a steady customer base. STEP ONE here. STEP TWO here.)

Cred. Do you have any for the product you're selling?

Step 3. Do the thing; get the cred and the power (borrowed from Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Credibility. Do you have it for the product(s) you are marketing?

If not, you gotta get it. Authority and power are magnetic. They give you that air of credibility. You need that when you talk to the converted (see STEP ONE). And no degrees are necessary here:

Who wouldn't rather be coached for tennis by an experienced, avid tennis player, versus someone who doesn't play but has read a book?

How to get the power. Do it until you can't.

Mozart was gifted, but he also practiced playing piano so much that by the time he was 28, his fingers had become deformed. Michael Jordan was the top basketball player in the NBA, and Jerry Rice was the #1 receiver in the NFL when he played (receiving for 49er QB Joe Montana). Both Jordan and Rice practiced more during the week, in between games, than anyone else on their teams.

Similarly, if getting your weight back down is all you think about, you'll be doing much in your life around that theme. "It's all she thinks about and talks about!"

You read stuff online and off, talk about it, dream about it, it's a major life-focus for you. Soon you'll be talking to others who are on the path, or who have gone before you - converts. Of course you become knowledgeable - and when you recommend a weight loss product, you'll be suddenly credible.

If practicing sounding engaging is what you want to practice a few hundred times, there's a local, free and endless source of leads in the If My Product's So Great... book - in the chapter, Cadaver Calling. Wonderful stuff has happened to a few folks who did that.


P.S. Easily distracted by other products your company launches that are not related to your fave? Here's a quick house read to stay focused: Deadly Distractions right here.) (That's a free excerpt from book "If My Product's So Great, How Come I Can't Sell It?" If you love audio and want to get into customer building that way, consider the options here. Click on the text to see if that's the stuff you want to get the power in.

NEXT: Step Four

STEP TWO: Live It.

(If recruiting isn't going as fast as you'd hoped, consider, instead of quitting, building a steady customer base. STEP ONE here.


Scene. You're about to buy a new cell phone. Would you take the plain clerk or wait for the one who's a phone-gadget nut?

When a product you want to buy is special, who doesn't want to talk to an expert? By that I mean someone who lives and loves whatever it is already. The products they happen to be selling are just one expression of it. She already lives it.

STEP TWO: Live It. Show how the products you sell are an extension of your own life's values.

If that's you, you'll have cred. Your opinion will be valuable. Because you ARE one who embodies those values already. (You can get a taste of how to lead with who you are already, here.)

Nobody needs much help buying cheap stuff, including vitamins. But aren't your products:

"revolutionary breakthrough in cellular anti-aging"
"scientifically formulated to address the specific needs of your skin"
"anti-oxidant rich super fruits and energizing botanicals"
"blend of essential fatty acids from organic flax seed, sunflower, pumpkin and olive oils."

(Quotes from the websites of Shaklee, Nu Skin, Mona Vie and USANA).

If that's the kind of thing you sell, you cannot be a plain clerk who happens to sell this stuff. You need some cred. And I mean living cred, not a pedigree. If you sell environmentally friendly cleaners, it's only natural that you recycle and belong to a group that discusses how to improve our environment in your neighborhood.

STEP TWO: Live It. Show how the products you sell are an extension of your own life's values.

P.S. Do you know why I changed from teaching just recruiting to also building a customer base? See here.

How To Build a Customer Base in 7 Steps

If recruiting isn't going as fast as you'd hoped, consider, instead of quitting, building a steady customer base.

If you're curious why I began teaching customer building and not just recruiting, the answer is right here.

Step ONE. Seek not to convert. Seek the converted.

"To sell shaving soap to the peasants of Russia one would first need to change their beard-wearing habits." (Claude Hopkins, Scientific Advertising)

Is that really how to make a good income in your lifetime?

Each person's beliefs - about most things- are right to them. So if you are trying convert someone from a $6 jar of Ponds face cream to a $25 organic (and better version) you have a long road to travel. You're in the converting mode.

If you're trying to sell high-end vitamins to someone who just doesn't care about vitamins for whatever reasons, you are seeking to convert. Long and expensive process.

Unless the person is in the searching mode for a product based on the values of the one you are selling, i.e. whole food based vitamins, earth-friendly cleaners that work, etc. you will not likely make any friends pushing your views onto them.

Instead find the converted. Those who ALREADY share your values that make you pay extra for your product line and use it yourself.

How?

ASK for them. The same way you would if you were looking for someone with whom to play tennis. They already like tennis, obviously, and now it's - are you pretty good or just beginning?

Same here. Someone who already believes like you do about the importance of WHATEVER makes your product special and worth the extra money. Here are some tips on how to do that - assuming YOU believe in the values your products are based on, too.

Recession give away. If you're one of the ones who've been hit kinda hard by the economy, and you don't yet have the eBook, "If My Product's So Great, How Come I Can't Sell It?" comment below and ask me for a house copy. Put your email in there. First five get the link to the eBook on the house. Then there will be no reason not to learn how to do this right now.

UPDATE: OK first TEN.

Whose Fault Is Being fat?

Is it the bad influencers? Or are you just a weak person looking to point the finger?

In a recent post I asked "Is Being Fat Contagious?"

One recent study that's gotten lots of publicity says, yep.

"Obesity spread like a virus. Weight gain had a stunning infection rate. If one person became obese, the likelihood that his friend would follow suit increased by 171 percent." More here.

Not everyone gets fat being around fat friends. Reader Robin writes how the habits of her friends did NOT rub off on her,

"I have many friends that have battled weight - I stayed slim, they drank alcohol, I didn't..." See comments here.

It's the low quality food that made them fat, says Robin.

True. Fast food and other low quality foods makes people fat.

And. It this is also true: We are social creatures easily influenced by others. There are both bad and good influencers are out there.

Three years ago, my then 29-year-old nephew, AH, came to live with me for 5 months. For the first time in his life, he ate healthy 3 times per day. (All real (ER) foods.)

AH, 5'10", weighed 310 when he came in June. He dropped 45 pounds by that Thanksgiving. He looked fabulous and his energy came back. In December, his old girlfriend came to live with him. She was a junk food and carb addict and proud of it (she was 19, and already had various ailments.)

They moved in together down the block. In 6 months, AH had gained back the 45 lbs and 15 more.

16 months later. AH is now in CA, with a new girlfriend. They both wanted to lose weight, so together, about 9 months ago, they went on low carb regime. AH has now lost 75 lbs. She's lost about 35.

Moral. With respect to behaviors that matter to you, from eating to advertising to the treatment of other people, unless you are on a clear mission with clear values, and with good support from a few friends, you'll be easily influenced by others. I mean others who DO have a clear mission or set of values. Sometimes that's a good thing, and sometimes it is a bad thing.

So in an area of life where you are weak and want to improve, find someone whose values you agree with and hang out (online or off) with such a person as much as possible. So it rubs off.

And above all, TEST and experience the new behaviors so you can see for yourself if they agree with you and make you feel like a better person.