Unusual Way to Promote

Yard Sale???

That's what I thought when I saw this article about one way to promote your network marketing business. But then again, why not? People all over are looking for good deals now because of the economy and if you need to throw a yard sale anyway and will have people coming right to your doorstep, promote your business!

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Here's the tip of the day for those of you who are shy about approaching people with your business.

Have a yard sale...

This is a great way to meet people. They come to your house, (so now they know where you live). You get to impress them with your general enthusiasm for life ( get some from your upline if you don't have any ). And it gives you a nice relaxing atmosphere in which to pre-qualify people.

Advertise it in the paper. Make it original. We happen to have a large plywood cow that folds in the middle and is painted black and white. We put that in the ad along with some armor and handmade jewelry we make.

Here's the best part: Tell people about it. Everyone. Walk up to complete strangers and ask if they like garage sales. Describe yours in elaborate detail really, really, fast. Make it light and humorous. Get used to making eye contact and establishing rapport with total strangers. By the end of today, I had talked to more people than I have in the past week. I got very comfortable with it and they were comfortable with me. Even if they don't come, we both got something out of it; they got entertained by an enthusiastic pitchman and I expanded my comfort zone by another mile or two.

We did just that on Saturday with the following results:

One prospecting tape given out.
Many people prequalified.
Lots of new friends made.
Lots of room created in our house.
$300 of stuff sold.

We had a great time. The weather cooperated with an uncharacteristic display of sunshine. We had plenty of customers.

Every car that drove by was treated (?) to the sight of me bouncing on our mini-trampoline and pointing to the plywood cow. I waved and hollered and attracted lots of attention (and not a few looks of puzzlement and fear). When a car stopped, my wife, Rhea, or I would walk up to the people getting out and smile, stick out our hands and say,"Hi, my name's Steve and welcome to my yard sale!". People aren't used to this. Most yard sales are manned by zombies who ignore their customers. We took people around and described our goods in glowing detail. We got people to open up and talk to us. If they didn't respond favorably, we were automatically able to mark them down as, "Not Open", and move on. We met a couple of small business owners who are potential customers of commercial cleaning products (or distributors!), and quite a number of people who we can show the plan to. The one tape I passed out was to a young man who had just moved up here to pursue his dream of being an aircraft mechanic. We talked for quite a while, and I thought he might be interested in his own business. We'll see what happens.

Even if nothing comes of all the contacts we made, the sale was worth the time investment. Besides the much needed capital we raised, we improved our people skills and made new friends. I highly recommend this as a prospecting tool.

I've come to believe very strongly in the power and beauty of network marketing. The potential for improving lives is amazing. When people help other people help themselves, all of us profit in unexpected ways. (This article taken from Steve Belden's tip of the day.)

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Well, it makes a lot of sense to me. Weather should be co-operating for our northern neighbors now and it's a good time to clean out the garage. Get out of your comfort zone and meet some people!