Business Builder Tips

6 People Skills that Will Help Grow Your Business

By President of Sales & Marketing Tom Pinnock

We are in the people business so it only stands to reason that the more people skills we have the better we’re going to do. So with that said, let’s take a look at some things that we need to master.

Listen to Understand
At the top of the list is listening. It has been my experience that the best listeners are always the best networkers. It’s really simple; listen to what people want and show them how Reliv can help them get it. As a rule of thumb, we probably all need to talk less and listen more.

Act with Integrity
Another fundamental that is essential is integrity. It’s important that we act with honesty and never hype or exaggerate the products or the opportunity. Reliv was built on integrity, honesty, and always doing the right thing. If we say we’re going to do something, then let’s do it. Have that kind of reputation and people will follow you anywhere.

Work Diligently
Let’s be honest: To be successful in any business it’s critical to have a great work ethic. It’s not talent, good looks or IQ that will take you to the top. You must commit to working hard if you want to succeed. Indeed, if you treat Reliv like a business and work hard, then there is no limit to what you can accomplish. It’s an easy business when you work hard, but a tough business if you don’t. And never forget: if you love what you do you’ll shake the world to pieces and it will feel like you’re not working at all.

Think Optimistically
Be positive. Nothing in Reliv or in life is more important than having a good attitude. Stay away from “stinking thinking” and know that whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. Squash those snipers in your mind that tell you you can’t do it and fill your mind and social calendar with encouraging thoughts and people. Embrace the knowledge that if so many others have done it, so can you.

Embrace Inclusivity
Tolerance for others is essential in the people business. Remember, Reliv is for everyone so that means you will have folks in your organization who don’t agree with your political or religious views. Stay away from topics that divide and instead focus on the ones that bring us together. In Reliv, that means wellness, entrepreneurship, and feeding the hungry. We can all agree on these important issues.

Lead By Example
And finally, always lead by example. Nothing rings more hollow than someone telling you to do something that they won’t do themselves. The speed of the leader is always the speed of the pack. If you want people in your organization to sponsor distributors and customers, then you need to be sponsoring distributors and customers. If you expect your downline to attend conferences and win trips, then you need to be doing the same.

So there you have it. Be a great listener, always be honest, don’t be afraid of hard work, be positive, embrace differences, and lead by example. Do these things and we’ll see you at the top.

Business Builder Tips

Fore! Lessons for Life From Reliv’s (Golf) Pros

Reliv professionals have lessons to share from their time on the golf course. Their advice translates beautifully from the game into entrepreneurship and life.

Ryan Montgomery, Chief Executive Officer

Golf can be a roller coaster. One day can be your career best, and the next day it all falls apart. I’ve learned to keep my confidence from the game of golf. The key is to remember the good shots and forget the bad.

Patience and a positive attitude are better for your game, and also more enjoyable for those playing in your group. This translates to business when you’re in a situation that requires persistence and an optimistic outlook.

Don’t try to do too many things with your golf swing. It’s easy to get too many swing thoughts going on at once when standing above the ball. Find what works for you, on an off the course, and repeat that behavior. Keep it simple.

Continue reading “Fore! Lessons for Life From Reliv’s (Golf) Pros” →

Business Builder Tips

How to Grow Your Business Prospects Through Facebook

You’ve logged in, set up a profile and learned how to follow, post updates, and engage with others. Facebook can be a powerful resource for connecting with family and friends, but what’s the best way to use it to grow your business?

Should I use my personal profile to talk about my business?
Should you also have a business page?
Are Facebook groups useful for business?

It all boils down to this: How can you maximize the time you spend on Facebook?

Because there are so many options for how to use Facebook for business, it can feel overwhelming. Even more importantly, two of the above options are useful, while one can be a big waste of time. Let’s break down some of the options and best practices you should consider when using Facebook.

Your Personal Profile
Let’s start with your personal profile. It’s the page that you create when you join Facebook for the first time. Everyone who uses Facebook has a personal profile, even those who moderate business pages or groups. On this page, you set up a profile picture, cover photo and add some information about yourself. This is your most important Facebook asset, because it’s where people will come when they want to get to know you.

Talking Business
To answer the first question above, yes, you can talk about your business on your personal page. However, as with any social space, there are some rules you should follow, and Facebook has some guidelines. When you talk about your business, the content should be natural and conversational, not like an advertisement or “spam.” Posting this kind of content will result in people “unfriending” you (unfollowing your profile). Facebook is clear about this: your personal profile is for sharing updates, not pushy business promotions. If you fail to adhere to these standards, they can shut down your profile.

What to Share
What sorts of posts are good to share that will promote your business? Think about your Reliv lifestyle! Share pictures of your shakes, create recipes, and talk about what positive changes Reliv has brought to your life in the areas of health, wellness and finances. Your posts should be educational, entertaining, interesting—or all three! Ask questions, and take a real interest in what your followers are talking about. This will provide you with a natural way to build relationships with your friends, followers and their networks.

Note: Facebook limits you to 5,000 friends, but you can have unlimited followers. That’s a wide enough audience to make this your primary online space for building your business.

Business Pages
If creating a personal page is like inviting someone to your home, creating a business page is akin to inviting them to your office. This is the space where you can make your business the primary focus, and you can speak directly about Reliv products and the Reliv opportunity. For many, it is the page that they direct their prospects to for more information.

Business pages have waned in effectiveness because of the Facebook algorithm (the way Facebook determines who sees what content in their news feed). Business pages no longer have the same reach or engagement that they once did. It is estimated that around 1% of the people following your page (likes) actually see your updates in their news feed. That means that you’re taking the time to create thoughtful posts, and very few people are seeing the content.

Advertising on Facebook
Why would Facebook do this? Although it is known as a social platform, Facebook makes money through selling ads. They encourage businesses to purchase advertising to ensure their content shows up in users’ feeds. If you want to create and run ads, a business page is the only place you can do it. These can be effective for reaching your ideal customers through targeted ads, but you must have an advertising budget for your business. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune! Even $5 can go a long way if you put the right message in front of the right audience. Add a note here about checking out our Facebook ads video tutorial to learn more at reliv.com/success-training.

Facebook Groups
The best, most cost-effective way to reach prospects and potential customers today is through Facebook Groups. These spaces are like a club that you invite people to join, and then the group can have discussions, answer polls, share photos and more all within a private space. It’s like an online shake party where you select the guests! These groups look like business pages, but they function very differently.

There are groups for nearly any interest you can imagine, and they are a great space to find other like-minded people. Think of a Facebook Group as a space where people connect with each other, share wins and tips, encourage each other and seek answers to their questions. It’s a great place for lead generation because the group is focused on a theme (e.g. fitness and weight loss, healthy living, entrepreneurs, nutrition). Because group members have elected to join, you can safely assume that they want to see your content and participate.

Facebook favors the content posted in groups because it encourages users to login and use the platform more often. That means that when you post things in a group, members are more likely to see it than they would on your personal or business page. When you post, Facebook sends them a notification that invites them to come view the update! It’s a win-win for business builders!

Where to Begin
Start by creating a robust personal profile online, and share as much as you’re comfortable about yourself. Then, consider using Facebook Groups to share content with your prospects and network. Remember that they will check out your personal profile when they want to learn more about you, so it’s the best place to start. A group that is based on a theme that is relevant to your Reliv business will attract people who are interested in learning more about what you offer. However you choose to use Facebook, remember to be positive, share your story and encourage others.

Business, Business Builder Tips, Business Success Stories

Top Skill Set for a Network Marketer

By President of Sales & Marketing Tom Pinnock

People ask me all the time what the number one skill a professional network marketer needs to have. Well, it’s really pretty simple—people need to know that you care. There’s an old saying that puts it this way: “People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Think of it as relationship creation. The more friends you have, the bigger you can grow your network. It could even be said that high earners get paid for the relationships that they have with their top leaders. Don’t think of it as “I need to sponsor,” but rather, “I need to make a new friend, and I want to help them to a healthier and happier life.”

By recognizing this very important step, you will go from “salesie” to sincere. The most successful Distributors quickly find out what people want and go to work immediately to see that they get it. In other words, find out what their needs are, offer them a solution, and show them how you can help. This simple action is essential to starting a relationship with your customers and Distributors, and it’s these actions that will show them that you care.

Isn’t it true that in the beginning all of us wanted to know what Reliv could do for us? That’s why the more personal and engaging the conversation is the more effective it will be. If you don’t develop meaningful relationships with others, you’ll never know what’s on their minds. “Our greatest resource is our people,” says Reliv CEO, Ryan Montgomery. “Reliv will always be a people and relationship business.”

With that said, doesn’t it make sense to find out what people need, offer them a solution, and show them your willingness to help? Indeed, our unique conversational advantage is our greatest resource to beating the competition. It’s the caring and the personal touch that sets us apart from everyone else and all the other ways people sell products.

After all, we are about using our brilliant products and our simple business to build up an ever-growing community of amazing people. To do that, we must continue to focus on helping others, getting them to believe in themselves, and coaching them up so that they can achieve their dreams. Sometimes I think of myself as a bridge builder, building the bridge between people’s goals and showing them how Reliv can help them achieve those goals.

I think we can all agree that our core beliefs in Reliv are to help other people and add value to their lives. If we all do that, we’ll all be rich in relationships and in growth. As our founder Bob Montgomery taught me many years ago, “Help enough people get what they want, and you’ll get what you want.”

Business, Business Builder Tips, Business Success Stories, Reliv ambassadors

How to Face Your Fears as an Entrepreneur

By Reliv Ambassador Joyce Ferguson

What was I so afraid of? Have you ever asked yourself that question, and isn’t is usually once you’ve tackled something and pushed through it?

A character in a novel I’m currently reading just spoke these words of advice to a young friend: “Don’t follow fear. Fear makes you stupid.” I thought these words were poignant, especially given the context. The character spent twenty years of his adult life walling himself oﬀ from fear and risk. His fear was the risk of loving, and it made me think that often times our fear is the risk of doing.

No doubt, fear and risk are our partners when we start our businesses or take action to actually build them. When we risk believing in ourselves, our products and business model, we fear the outcome as we step into the unknown and take chances with our future.

We fear the unknown.

What appears to be the easier, more secure way tempts us back into the known with every step we take. It invites us back into the box we’ve made for ourselves, even though it may be a box we’ve long outgrown and often hated.

It seems such an easy choice to return to that box…to take a job and give over our future career and professional life to some corporation’s keeping. For some of us, “the known” may mean working for someone else, and for others, “the known” may involve not having worked outside the home. That’s our box, and we know it well. Who wants to chance living outside of it?

Many, if not most, of the spoken and unspoken excuses thrown my way from prospects and Distributors over the years revolve around the fear of the unknown path that network marketing seems to represent. The business of working with and through others to reach joint goals just seems too risky. The business of growing oneself and helping others do the same seems too fearful. Many of us crave the seeming security of a job that rarely pays us what we’re worth or provides the long term security we seek. We’re afraid to take the step, chase the dream, and choose freedom.

Funny, once we’ve taken steps away from fear and dared the unknown, we ﬁnd there’s a path to follow and a clearer direction for our future than we expected. We realize there’s a large company of wonderful friends for our new journey.

Fear can indeed make us “stupid”— unaware of our prospects, uncertain of our steps, unsure of our own value. Action in the face of that fear … refusing to follow it … awakens us to knowledge and growth and purpose. Our future success becomes our own to build.

Business, Business Builder Tips

Keep It Short & Sweet: How to Form Your 1-Minute Reliv Story

By Reliv Director of Marketing Erin Koch

When you get great health results on Reliv products, you can’t help but want to share your story with the world — and you should! After all, that’s how you’ll build your business as an Independent Reliv Distributor. But because we have incredible products and a fantastic business opportunity, it can be easy to overwhelm a new person with your excitement. If you’ve seen the deer in headlights look, you know what I’m talking about.

In fact, thanks to technology, our attention spans as humans are getting shorter and shorter. According to a study by Microsoft, we’re now clocking in at a whopping 8 seconds. But there are some smart and easy ways you can shape your story so that you do catch someone’s interest. Here are my top tips:

• Write it down. If you’ve never written down your story, this could be a really good practice. What are the main points you want to get across? Try putting them in bullets, which will make you stay more focused. Whether you lead with the products, the business or both, have these stories formulated on paper to make sure you’re staying on track. Remember to keep your health or business story focused on benefits. For example, “My product 24K® helped me get the energy I needed so I could tackle my to-do list.” Or, “The Reliv business opportunity helped me work from home, so I didn’t have to feel guilty about dropping my kids off at daycare every day.”

• Be relatable and compliant. This is a big one. You may have the most incredible health results that you’re dying to share because of Reliv products, but not everyone is going to relate to your specific health history. What people can relate to are more general health benefits like needing more energy, improving their digestive health and anti-aging just to name a few. In fact, use our product wheel for ideas on this! And remember, Reliv products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, so don’t mention any specific health conditions. The same goes for your business story. People relate to things like getting out of debt, having more time, flexible work schedules and being their own boss. That’s going to resonate with them much more than spectacular income claims that can feel like too much of a stretch for them to ever reach.

• Be flexible, not rehearsed. If you’ve been sharing your story for a while, it can be a challenge to not sound rehearsed — after all, you’ve probably shared your story a million times. But when you talk to someone new about Reliv, they’re going to give you clues about the things they care about. Use these clues to work them into your one-minute story. For example, if you’re talking to a mom who shares that she’s exhausted all the time, be sure to weave in how Reliv products gave you energy to check off everything on your to-do list. This way you’re reflecting back to HER needs while using your own personal health results.

• Time yourself. Get out your phone or stop watch and practice your story out loud. When writing marketing scripts for videos and audio, we use this method all the time to make sure we’re staying focused on the main points. If you’re going over the one-minute mark, you need to be more concise.

What tips do you have for sharing your one-minute story? Comment below or on our Facebook page and let us know how these tips worked for you!

Business, Business Builder Tips, Business Success Stories, Reliv ambassadors

Why Listening is Key to Good Communication

By President of Sales & Marketing Tom Pinnock

For many years, I have written and spoken about the importance of communication and how it is the single most significant thing to master if you want to become a professional network marketer. After all, it’s what our business is all about. Reliv makes our amazing products, and it’s up to us to tell the world about them.

In my experience, there is no better way to present our products than to wrap it around a human being. When we talk about the Reliv difference and present it from our hearts, it comes off as it should — authentic. Good communicators tend to spread the word quickly and reap the financial rewards of this industry at rocket speed. However, after being in this business for as long as I have, I’ve found that new Distributors have a tendency to over-communicate or talk too much. If you see your neighbors skedaddling out their back door when they see you coming, you’re probably overdoing it. Or, if you’re “that someone” who brings a flip chart to Thanksgiving dinner and starts showing the compensation plan, you probably need to reconsider your tactics.

It’s impossible to become a great leader without being a great communicator. Notice I didn’t say great talker because there’s a big difference. To be a good communicator you must first become a good listener. That’s why God gave you two ears and one mouth. He expects you to listen twice as much as you talk. Good listeners are worth their weight in gold. They understand that they can never learn anything while they are talking. The key to being a good listener is to take a sincere interest in the other person. People enjoy talking about themselves and their families, and while they’re talking, it’s the perfect opportunity to gain invaluable knowledge — by simply listening. In other words, find out what people want and then go to work and help them get it. If this becomes your strategy, you will build an organization that stretches around the globe.

Many times, people will tell you that they’re unhappy with their jobs, or that they work too much, or that they don’t like their boss, or that they don’t have enough money to send their children to college. Such comments give you the perfect lead-in to talk about the opportunity available to them in Reliv.

Never forget that what you say is never as important as how you say it. If you’re excited, you’ll never go wrong. People are always attracted to people who love what they are doing. Learn to talk from your heart and not your head. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, so never miss an opportunity to zip it up and listen! The greatest form of discourse takes place within a conversation, and not a lecture. And let’s also remember that good communication skills include letters, emails, and texts.

Most people have not been taught how to properly communicate the value of products and opportunity within our industry. Focus on the benefits 80% of the time and the details 20% of the time. Most people have this reversed. Talk in ways that personalize solutions:

• “My products can help you lose weight and feel great!”
• “My products can help you fit into your skinny jeans, sleep better and have more energy.”
• “My business can help you to retire early.”
• “My business can help you spend more quality time with your kids and be a hands-on mom.”
• “My business can help you quit that job you dread getting up for every morning.”
• “My business can help you make a real difference in people’s lives.”

In other words, sell the destination and not the airplane. People want to know what Reliv will do for them. The more personal and engaging the conversation is the more effective it will be. If you don’t develop meaningful relationships with others, you’ll never know what’s really on their minds.

Business, Business Builder Tips, Reliv ambassadors

Mindy’s “Top 10” Things to Help You Qualify for Hawaii!

AlohaHawaii BLOG

By Platinum Ambassador Mindy Jones

Reliv’s Aloha Hawaii Promotion is an amazing opportunity for growing your business and a free vacation! Here are my top 10 tips to help you qualify for Hawaii:

Start with the right mindset. Make a decision that you are going to earn the Hawaii trip no matter how long you’ve been with Reliv, even if you signed up today or have been in Reliv for 20+ years.
Visualize yourself in Hawaii. How is it going to feel? What activities will you be enjoying? Put pictures of Hawaii around your house. Look at them daily and visualize yourself there for motivation.
Get familiar with the promotion. How can you earn points? Lay out a game plan. How many autoship customers? Quick Starts? Master Affiliates? Who can you help your organization qualify?
Put up a tracking sheet where you can see it daily.
Start filling your pipeline by having a daily plan of action. How many NEW people are you talking to on a daily basis? How many appointments are you doing weekly?
Reach out to customers and Distributors. Find out what is new in their life and tell them how excited you are about all the great things that are going on with Reliv. Connect them to stories and share the promotion. Show them the benefits of becoming a Quick Start or a Master Affiliate. Find out who wants to work toward the Hawaii trip and work with them!
Send videos to prospects, customers and Distributors through Reliv’s Mobile App and then make sure to follow up.
Plug into conference calls, meetings, trainings, webinars, Facebook Groups and in-home presentations. Talk to your upline and any organization you have available in your area. Do these with other people!
Draw out your organization and see how to get to your next Director level.
Just do it! Make it happen! You deserve it and it will definitely be worth it. See you in Hawaii! Aloha!

Business, Business Builder Tips, Reliv HQ

What Does A New Distributor Do in the First 48 Hours?

officeengagement

By President of Sales & Marketing Tom Pinnock

Congratulations, you just signed up as new Reliv Distributor, so let’s talk about what you need to do in the first 48 hours. If you haven’t done this already, your first step is to get with your upline and let them know what your goals are. For example, let’s say that your desire is to become a true entrepreneur and do Reliv full time. That was my goal when I first started, and it was the smartest thing that I ever did. Indeed, there is nothing like being your own boss and having the freedom in your life to work when you want, play when you want and never miss an important event again because you’re stuck at the office.

Now, if you have an amazing sponsor who is actively doing the business, you are on your way. Be a sponge. Learn from your upline and don’t hesitate to use them as you go out there and talk to new people. The truth is that all successful network marketers learn to master a set of very simple and repeatable skills.

For the purpose of this blog, let’s pretend for a moment that I’m your sponsor.

Now that I know you want to be your own boss and become a professional network marketer, let’s get started. Let’s begin by understanding that we need to treat our business like a business. I like to say, “See it big but keep it simple.” As entrepreneurs, we need to be both disciplined and focused, we need to be plugged into the company as well as our local systems, and we need to know how to find and use the fabulous tools that Reliv provides for us.

Speaking of, let’s go through the Reliv website starting with the product wheel so that we get a basic understanding of our powerful nutritional lineup. All of us begin with our core nutrition which is either Reliv Now® with Soy, Reliv Now® with Whey or Reliv Classic®. You must be a product of the product because you can’t sell what you don’t use or believe in. I go as far as to tell new folks that if they don’t love our products, you can’t be a Distributor.

The next thing I’m going to do with you is to go through our lucrative marketing plan so that you have a basic understanding on how you’re going to make money. Again, all of this information is readily available on our website, which makes teaching today so much easier than ever before. “I just show people how to push buttons,” said Reliv Hall of Famer Jim Schaben. “It’s so simple and duplicatable.”

Now that I know your goals and you have a basic understanding of our products and business, I want to go to the next step. So let’s get you signed up for the Reliv Mobile App, get you hooked up with your own Reliv Personal Website and dedicate a nice spot in your home to do your business. Having an organized area just for your Reliv business is important, and now that you’ve got all the right tools, you’re now ready for the next step. Let’s go through the basic training together. We call that ICSAR, and it stands for the five simple steps that we do over and over again: Identify, Connect, Share, Ask, and Register.

Let me mention, too, that when I’m showing new Distributors the Reliv Mobile App or the website, I let them do the navigation because it helps them learn faster. Also, in today’s world, you can go online and help your new prospects through these steps even if you live across town or across the world. That’s one of the major reasons that today’s network marketing is so much easier and more powerful than ever before!

And here’s the most important part: Together, I want to make a list of at least 50 people you know who either need these products or this opportunity. Then, we will begin calling them and setting appointments. The truth is, I know of no better way to teach you the business than being right there with you whether it’s in person or on the phone as we share the hope of Reliv with others. Furthermore, nothing gets a new person more excited than putting money in their pockets right away. And to keep you excited and on track during these first 48 hours, I’m also going to introduce you to leaders and stories throughout our close knit community so that you understand that you’re in business for yourself but not by yourself.

So that’s your first 48 hours! Our kickoff to building a mighty business together! And let’s not forget that as we go on this journey that we are going to have fun, get healthy, we will grow and change peoples’ lives, we will nourish the hungry with the Reliv Kalogris Foundation, and travel the world together! Indeed, we are going to do life together and put a dent in the universe. Here we go!

Business, Business Builder Tips

How Do I Plan On Earning Hawaii?

AlohaHawaii BLOG

By Senior Director Dawn VanAmberg

How will I earn the Aloha Hawaii Promotion? For starters, I am asking everyone I meet if they would like to go to Hawaii together, which of course leads to questions that I am happy to answer regarding this amazing promotion. I have some simple guidelines I share on how they can earn the trip too:

Set Your Goals: Ask yourself how many points you want to earn. Are you going for the 60pts minimum or the extra nights and cash? My goal is to be in the top 5 with lots of new and excited Distributors in my organization who want to travel the world together. By building my business with passion and excitement for Hawaii, others will want to follow.

Talk To Everyone: I’ve been talking up a storm with everyone including my hot, warm and cold markets, active and inactive Distributors and customers. I am filling up my pipeline with new Quick Starts, customers and future prospects. With consistent follow up of stories, some are becoming Master Affiliates, and if I help, four frontline Distributors earn the trip I will earn it too, which is a win-win for us all.

Stay Focused: This promotion is so exciting because it isn’t just about me and personal volume; it’s about doing what we’ve been taught to do—focus on helping people get what they want and you’ll get what you want. So I am focusing on the islands of Hawaii with 100 points and lots of fun people all around!

Motivation: I keep the Hawaii promotion in front of me all the time by displaying the tracking sheets, aloha signs and lei’s hanging in my office, on the refrigerator and bathroom mirror. My motivation is to take whoever wants to go with me and watch their lives change with a Reliv Trip.

Inspiration: Hawaii is on my bucket list to return to with my husband to celebrate our anniversary. There’s nothing better than celebrating on the sandy beaches of the most beautiful place on earth than with all your friends in Reliv. Follow your dreams and help others do the same. Let’s go to Hawaii together!