The Beach Coach...

My name is Tricia Bard, & I'm a Beach Coach... I enjoy living at the beach and working in my flip flops (those darned high heels are just too uncomfortable with sand in them!)... I come and go as I please. I invite my own money to myself. I get paid for thinking, and I think abundantly. I get paid for making a difference... I help others break-free from ordinary and break-through to extraordinary... Perhaps I can be of service to you as well...

Thursday, July 27, 2006

I Am the Beach Coach-- New Look!

Nope, I didn't change my hairdo. Simply changed the name of my blog and a few other things that I think fit me better at this point in my life.

I am the BEACH COACH... in case you didn't read the title of my blog today.

I live at the beach and work in my flip flops (those darned high heels are just too uncomfortable with sand in them!)...

I come and go as I please.

I invite my own money to myself.

I get paid for thinking, and I think abundantly.

I get paid for making a difference...

I help others break-free from ordinary and break-through to extraordinary...

Wahoo- It's going to be an amazing ride!

See ya at the beach!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Money talks...

Kim Klaver posted this compelling information on her blog today-

ARE THE MONEY-DRIVEN REPS STILL IN CONTROL?

In the 90's, NSA's top recruiters sold water filter packages of $5,000 - $125,000.The money-driven top bananas pulled in tens of thousands of dollars per month selling those big product packages. At meetings with thousands of newcomers, hundreds of reps lined up each night for the chance to tell their rags to riches stories on stage. Money was unbelievably good. Those who couldn't sell their product or get anyone else to buy in were belittled as complainers, uncommitted and negative, or small thinkers who couldn't see the big picture. (I was in those meetings.)

Understandably, the company didn't put on the brakes - it was good for them, too. Millions of dollars were rolling in each month. But when too many people complained they'd been talked into buying product they couldn't sell or get a refund for, the regulators stepped in. Tens of millions of dollars in refunds and fines were paid out by the company. Today they're very customer focused.

Enron also had a fabulous run because of their money-driven energy traders. Their management too, became very rich. And the stock zoomed. But the energy traders who led the charge were discovered doing all manner of unethical and illegal things, and the company collapsed when those stories were told. The company's stock price tanked and eventually, so did the company. The chairman, Key Lay, convicted of fraud last month, died of heart failure last week.


Quixtar (SIDEBAR FROM ME: This is the 'new' Amway) is also discovering what money-driven reps have done to the image of their company. Not being strong enough to put a stop to these practices (by terminating the offending reps) is one of the biggest reasons Quixtar's reputation is what it is. Who hasn't heard a story about those business meetings where no one will tell you what it's about until AFTER you get there - so fearful are they that people wouldn't come if they knew.

In an interesting post yesterday
(thanks, Ty), Robert Scoble notes that Quixtar is trying to shore up its image and declining sales.

Unfortunately, the image of any network marketing company is created primarily by the reps in the field. If the money-driven types are allowed to continue to hype and misrepresent income, and how easy it is to earn it, dead bodies will continue to litter the network marketing landscape, bringing down not only the companies who condone this behavior but the whole industry as well.

For things to change, the incentives need to change. For example, how about some big rewards and recognition for those who bring and take care of regular long term customers? (AMEN, KIM!)

So long as big recruiters get the most stage time, the most recognition, the biggest rewards and the most access to the company management, the image of our business will remain what it is...


---------------------------------

Kim, I couldn't agree more... Having experienced firsthand more than a dozen MLM companies, nearly all allowed leadership to promote building from the 'top down'- going after the business builders first. That's where the big money was at, or so they said. And I believed that for years too!

Nothing was ever really said about gathering real Customers and then retaining those customers. What they said was 'get the business builders first- you will slow down your business by years, if you go after customers first. Your business builders will also be your customers, and those that quit will still be your customers.'

I remember being with Rexall Showcase International in the 90's, and watching sales plummet in 2000 when the company changed the comp plan so that people weren't coming in with big $2,000 and $4,000 orders. (Front-end loading, anyone?)

During the years the company allowed those high front-end orders, we were told 'oh, you'll sell these products in 90-120 days', but I can't begin to tell you the number of distributors who ended up with closets full of products.

The products were great, but overpriced, and when business builders quit building, most did not remain as customers. Even though they might have lowered their cholesterol or lost weight, the first month the budget got a little tight, the first thing to go was those high-priced nutritionals.

Not to mention the fact that most people are not salespeople and HATE SELLING! But that's a post for another day (stay tuned for Network Sales vs. Network Marketing, and why most people are doing Network Sales and miserably failing at it!).

Rexall merged with Enrich, and I remember being totally amazed at not only Enrich's annual sales volume in previous years (much more than Rexall's), but also the phenomenal Enrich 'culture'- their passion for the products and their incredible customer retention rate. From what I've heard, the merger 'killed' many of the Enrich reps' businesses because the culture after the merger totally changed.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy had this to say in his book, "Prospecting Sucks!" (don't you just love that name?!)

"Make no mistake about this: the long-term prosperity of an MLM company as well as the distributors' businesses depends much more on the retention of inactive distributors as lifetime wholesale customers than it does on what the active business builders do."


This is an extremely powerful statement. My advice to anyone looking at affiliating with a Network Marketing company is to do your homework- find out whether the company focuses on customer acquisition and retention, and if you will be compensated well for gathering long-term customers.

Be forewarned: Oftentimes, you will not be able to discover the customer retention rate- generally because it's too low to advertise!

I also would recommend you ask yourself this question- Would I buy these products (at this price) if I were not participating in this business opportunity? If your answer is "NO", I'd advise you to keep looking! You will not be able to create long-term residual income in that environment.

If you are, in fact, looking for income diversification, may I recommend our free 7 Day Insider Secrets online seminar? You will learn what really works and what doesn't work in Network Marketing. You will also learn the critical factors necessary to create long-term residual income.

I just wish I had known this stuff 12 years ago when I first got into the industry. I would have saved myself lots of trial and eroor, not to mention time and money!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

When I get in the mood...

When I get in the mood, watch out! Don't get excited, Bill- I'm talking about blogging! :-)

Bill and I have had these two exciting business ideas for a few years now, and one of them is coming to fruition in our minds. It's something we think can be hugely successful, and it's time we got it going before someone else has the same idea. My latest online research shows that a few folks are trying to do something similar, but they're going about it all wrong. At least, in my humble opinion! We love multiple streams of income, and this one could be a nice 'supplement' to our Network Marketing business.

We have the perfect business partner in mind- our daughter, Erin! She is an entrepreneur/producer/accountant/promoter in Brooklyn, NYC. Love Ahoy is her brainchild- she produces this once a month, and it's a hit!

Erin, I know you read this, so call me when you do! You don't even have to move to Florida to do this!

I just found the funniest thing- scroll down the right side of my blog, and check out the "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards". The one that's up right now is a 'cat hater', and it's funny. This is too cool- as new ones are done, the card will change automatically on my blog. I just love all this modern technology.

We do rock. Yea!!!

Wow, we had a hot Fourth. No rain here that I can remember (except some sprinkles a few months ago) since Christmas! According to the newspaper, this is the driest year on record for our county since 1940. I didn't really even want to leave my house on the Fourth- there are lots of woods around us, and I was fearful of someone catching them on fire with a few home-blown fireworks. But all is well...

I have been 'lobbying' for years for a Whole Foods or Fresh Market or one of those types of wonderful stores to open in our area, and I had great news yesterday. FreshMarket is coming 15 minutes from my home. Yahoo!! In fact, I found a Mango Salsa recipe on their website that I'm making tonight to accompany grilled fish.

Speaking of food, we've done nothing but eat for the past few days. We've had family and friends visiting at various times over the Fourth weekend, and I dread to get on the scales again.

My Tri-Sigma sorority 'big sister' from FSU was in town, so we got to spend some time together. Hadn't seen her in 5 years, so it was really fun to catch up (and eat together!).

One recipe I found in this month's Coastal Living magazine is the best version of this dish I've ever tasted- Low-Country Shrimp and Grits with Vidalia Mustard Greens. The addition of mustard greens and sausage made it very scrumptious. We actually had enough left over to have it for breakfast the next two mornings (poached eggs on top were so.o.o.o...... good!). We made Bar-B-Qued Oysters on the grill, as an appetizer for this meal. They were to die for!

Kim Klaver has just started a new topic on her blog, and I find it very interesting- The Top 40 Network Marketing companies, according to Alexa's Traffic ranking.

The ranking is based on the number of visitors to company sites, tracked weekly by Alexa, the #1 traffic ranker on the Internet. The number to the right of each company's name is its Alexa rank. The lower the number, the better. I'm delighted to say that the company I'm affiliated with is near the top of the list!

I usually am not impressed with these types of lists, for various reasons. However, what I find so significant about Kim's list is the credibility it lends to the Network Marketing Industry. According to what Kim says, the top 7 companies outrank GNC (9,899), and Whole Foods (10,685), and the top eight outrank Trader Joe's (20,344). The top 10 NM companies on this list attract more visitors than the WalMart site at 23,456.

This, in my mind, shows that many people want to know about these companys' products, and their career alternatives.

As Kim says, "We do rock. Yea!!"