| Can You Establish Credibility To Build A Business Online? |
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I have been taught that network marketing is a person-to-person business. How in the world can I build a networking business with this impersonal old computer?
I can tell you from personal experience -- you CAN develop close and long-lasting relationships online. You can be part of an online community with friends as close as your own next door neighbors you wave to each day. You can sign onto your computer and be LOOKING for email from your good online friends. You can cry when one of your friends has a loss. You can be happy when one of them marries or has a child. You can head for the virtual flower shop to send flowers for a birthday. You can look forward to sharing your thoughts and experiences.
I actually think you can become CLOSER to some of your online friends than to your next door neighbors. After all, if your online friend is annoying you, simply turn off your computer. If they ask what happened to you, it is easy to reply it was a power surge or something. Can you tell an annoying next door neighbor standing at your door that you aren't in the mood to chat right now? No, you almost HAVE to invite them in -- whether you are in the mood or not.
I'm sure each of you has met people online you have become good friends with. If not, you are missing out on a wonderful experience.
Consider that you have good online friends. You can certainly do business online and present your business and establish credibility, and build business relationships which can result in distributors joining your MLM and working with you. Don't you have offline distributors who came from among your friends and acquaintances? You can surely have online distributors who come from your online relationships.
How to establish credibility? For one, have a website which presents your business in a professional manner. Personally, I prefer a website that is clear and clean. When I hit a site full of flashing words, banners, links all over the place, and I have to trudge through all that to get my facts -- I lose interest and move on. I guess that type of a website appeals to some -- but my time is valuable. I want to get the information without having my computer bog down because of excess load time, excessive animation, too many links so I can't find my way to the facts. I want a site that gives me the basic facts up front, and if I want to learn more I can click to get the details.
A well thought out website can go a long ways toward establishing the credibility that I have a legitimate business offer. The ease of finding information establishes the fact that if someone joins my business, they will also be able to show others the business in a logical way. If I get lost on the website, won't my future prospects also get lost? How credible are you if you can't present your information in a logical, easily understood manner.
I always look for an address and phone number. I may not CALL that phone number -- but the fact that the information is there shows me that the person is not hiding behind anonymity. I have a phone number on my websites -- and I DO get phone calls from people before they buy. They just want to establish that I am real. And I have had every single person who called me after visiting my website buy the product or SIGN UP AS A DISTRIBUTOR IN MY BUSINESS. So I think that contact information on a website DOES establish credibility.
Other ways to establish credibility that leads to a working relationship would be email communication. When you write to the same person day after day -- you ask questions of them as an upline, and they answer and give you help to build your business -- this establishes that credibility and a real working relationship. You know that if you have a question, you can email your upline. Within a day usually, and sometimes even within an hour, you get that answer. And it does NOT cost you a long distance phone call -- it just took you a few minutes to write your question, and a few minutes for your upline to reply.
You can grow to have a really close relationship with your online associates who are available to help you so readily. You may NEVER meet them in person, yet work as closely with them as you would with a distributor in your own town. In fact, you may work BETTER with them.
If you are part of a newsgroup, or you frequent a business chat room, or are part of an email discussion group -- you learn to know your fellow participants, and they become credible to you through their contributions, the same as you become real to them with YOUR contributions to the discussions.
Don't you learn, after a while of being part of a group, who you want to pay attention to as you feel their comments are good ones which will help you -- who to ignore because they are just trying to beat their own drum and get someone to join their business -- and who truly wants to help others, whether others are part of their business or not? It doesn't take long for you to learn who you admire and who you avoid, even in this impersonal online community you are part of.
So my answer to can you establish credibility and build an online business is a resounding YES!!! Just look around you at the many friends and associates you have if you have been online more than 24 hours.
But don't count on JUST online to build your business. Be sure to continue to build with your offline contacts, but meld them with your online efforts, and build a truly diverse downline with members who are online, offline, in the same town, and halfway around the world. Your computer allows you to do this.
Kristi Rushing
If you have any questions or comments about this site:
Email - Kristi Rushing