Do You Have An Emergency Plan in Network Marketing?

As I was at the hospital today visiting a friend, it made me ponder how many people in network marketing have a back-up plan. While my friend is going to be ok, she had a few days of being unable to respond to everyday questions.

We don’t always think about the many ways we are involved in our business. I’d like to offer some things to consider:

1. Does someone know your email password? If you were suddenly unavailable, is there someone who could answer business questions that came in? You might consider using an away message that is easily put into place should you become unavailable. Show someone living in your home how to put up this away message. It will let writers know that you’re unavailable and will return their email the following week. This allows a week for you and or your family to make a new plan.

2. If you have an order in transport, is there someone who knows where to find your receipts or order forms so that your shipment gets taken care of? Consider a system in Excel where you put the date the order was placed and the date you’re expecting the order to come in. If you keep this spreadsheet right on your desktop, it’s easy to find for your family. Consider keeping a list of the products ordered either with the spreadsheet or a hard copy right on your desk.

3. Does someone know how to check your voice mail messages for customer leads or business leads? Do they know what to do with these leads once they come in? I’d like to suggest that your family consider calling the people back and telling them that while you’ll be just fine, you are out ill for a few days and will call them back as soon as possible.

4. Does someone know who your upline is and how to reach your upline? Right on your computer desktop, keep a phone list containing your upline’s name and phone number and your companies name and phone number. I actually have a company folder on my desktop that contains this information.

5. Do you have a company website page? Does it need to be checked? My company email happens to be associated with my company page. I know not all companies operate this way. Is this website password protected? Does someone have the password to the site? Again, I suggest someone answering any correspondence by saying you’re unavailable for a few days and will answer them upon your return. You might even pre-write something today that your family could use for both your personal email and your company email should you become suddenly unavailable.

These are just five ways to keep your business running should you fall ill and not be home to take care of your business. Create a plan that works for you and your family and then let them know what to do so that your business stays afloat in your absence.

Audrey :)

Direct Sales - Your Online Photos

Something happened today that led me to want to write this article. I’m a huge Facebook fan. It’s an awesome tool for any network marketing business.

Whenever I get a friend request, I go to the page to see what information is there. I’m very picky about who I’ll accept friend requests from. Among my friends are my kids and also my mother. I do not want “friends” who say things that I don’t want my kids or my mother to read.

So, I got a friend request today from a man. I went to his page. His front page photo is him flipping someone off with both hands. I quickly hit “ignore” to his request and moved on.

I want interactive relationships with those I’m “friends” with. That means I’ll speak to them both privately and publicly and I hope they’ll do the same. I do not want a photo on my page of someone flipping others off. I find it offensive and am certain others would also.

I have no idea why this person asked to be my “friend.” He did not send me a message. He did not put any reason down with his request, just the request.

When you are networking online, it is my suggestion that you choose photos that are a bit more conservative. None of my photos are professionally done but I tend to stick to photos of me, me and my kids and I even had one of me and the dogs.

I know that both customers and team members are part of my social network on Facebook and so if I ever have photos I don’t want public, I make sure not to tag myself and to keep them rather hidden. And I never use those photos as my profile photo.

The same is true for blogs. I’ve seen really offensive photos on blogs and shake my head in sadness when they post that business is slow or that they don’t have many customers. I’m a strong supporter of letting others know you and sharing who you are but I draw the line at what could be offensive photos.

As you choose photos to put on social medial profiles and your blog, think about who might be visiting these pages. If you’re in network marketing and you’ll be friend requesting strangers, consider this also. Choose photos that let others get to know you while keeping it on a professional level.

Audrey :)