The main reason I'm writing this blog is to share my experience, and the experience of others, with distributors in our team. I certainly don't profess to be an expert in network marketing, website design, direct selling etc. - but it is possible that some of my experiences could be helpful to others, even if it only helps them to avoid making the mistakes I did when starting out.
Most of the feedback I've received has been very positive - thank you all very much - but because I'm so greedy I would like even more. What I would really appreciate very much is if you could leave your comments telling everyone what your experience is.
It may be different from mine, you may agree or disagree with what I've said, you may think I've taken leave of my senses. Great! Take a couple of minutes and enter a comment to tell the rest of the team what your experience and/or opinion is - you could be doing us all a BIG favour.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Abdul Al-Mudhhafar who has just got his sixth customer and achieved QE status only a few short weeks after joining - some of which was the Christmas holidays. Enjoy the CVC Abdul, next stop SE!
Referrals
You know that I like marketing on the net, but it's not the be all and end all in this type of business. Last week I got a phone call from a nice retired gentleman in Dorchester who was interested in saving money on his gas and electricity.
Now I've never been to Dorchester and I don't know anyone who lives there. I had to look up a map of England so I could check who the gentleman's "local" provider was for electricity. After getting his details I asked how he had come to contact me - I wanted to know if it was Google, MSN, Yahoo etc.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had been personally referred by one of my customers in Edinburgh. My Edinburgh customer signed up 18 months ago and she and the gent from Dorchester speak on the phone once a year around Christmas. It was cold when he phoned and, as they are both senior citizens, they were having a good moan about the cost of heating their houses. She told him how to save money and gave him my details. Serendipity or what?
Or what actually. I keep records of my customer's addresses and, whenever there's an especially good new service released I send them letters with a new brochure describing it. I had sent my Edinburgh customer a brochure describing the new More Talk options in October, telling her how she could get free calls to people she knows.
Of course, I do this whenever a customer signs up but I also keep customers updated with new developments. So T+ was (fairly) fresh in her mind and my details were to hand. Now I have a new customer.
It's also worth noting that my new customer in Dorchester was originally interested in gas and electricity only as he had "a great deal" from Sky for his phone. I mentioned that T+ were bringing out their new line rental deal in February and that, since he was signing up anyway, wouldn't he like the convenience of one bill paid by direct debit for all his utilities?
It was enough to make him look at the phone service and it turned out he could save another £5 a month. Not a huge amount to be sure but, coupled with the single bill, it was enough to make him go for the phone.
I also made sure that he was aware that his friend in Edinburgh would shortly receive a gift voucher for Boots as a small token of my appreciation for referring him. Additionally, I advised that I only offer this for senior citizens - because the only thing better than getting something for free is getting something for free that isn't available to all and sundry.
Finally I advised him to make sure that anyone he referred to me mentioned his name. I hope I don't have to wait 18 months for my first referral from Dorchester - but if I do then that's okay too, I can be patient when I need to be.
So think about this:
- Always ask your customers for referrals. Even if you don't get them immediately you might get them later.
- Keep in touch with your customers if you have their contact details. Don't pester them, but let them know about any new services that become available from time to time. Even if they don't want them themselves they may know someone else who does and they will have your contact details to hand if any of their friends are complaining about their bills.
- Never underestimate the attraction of a single bill for utilities. Some people will go for it just for the convenience, even before you start talking about savings.
Now think about this:
Some of you have signed up energy only customers since Express Day. Annoying isn't it? Well why not send them details of the new T+ line rental option when it comes out next month? You'll double your CVC and effectively get a new customer in your Genie.
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