Annihilate Your Phone Calling Phobia

If you are already having success with the strategy, then tell your team members and direct sales friends – they will thank you for it!

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 http://www.TheMindAware.com/Linda

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You’ve dreamed of being a stay-at-home Mom.  For years, you’ve had to wake your babies early every morning, bundle them up and drop them at the babysitter.  You missed all the school field trips and had to beg for time off when your child was sick.  Finally, you gathered your courage and said good bye to the business world.  Now you are ready to pour all your energy into your home based business and make it a success. 

One of the biggest challenges for home based businesses is achieving goals.  While it sounds wonderful to work from home, there are an abundance of distractions at home.  The dishwasher needs to be emptied; the bathroom needs to be cleaned.  Kids get sick and stay home from school and your mother-in-law drops in for a visit because you are now “available.”  The day to day work on business goals is often set aside and after a week or a month you wonder what happened to that goal anyway?

What is a goal?

 A goal is “an observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed timeframe.”

Why Set Goals?

In 1979 Harvard MBA Graduates were surveyed and it was found that 13% had set goal for themselves; 3% had actually written their goals down.  Ten years later the graduates who had committed their goals to paper had earned 10 times as much as all the others combined! 

How to Set Goals?

The single most important attribute about a goal is that it has to be something you will enjoy when you get it.  It has to be exciting!  For example, if your home based business requires going out and doing parties in other people’s homes, a goal to “do two parties a week” just isn’t exciting when the weather is inclement.  Instead, think about what you’ll actually get by doing two parties a week: such as money for a new car or a vacation.  That goal will not be forgotten so easily.

Keep Your Goal Front and Center

The next step is to make sure you remember your goals!  Commit the goal to paper, keep the paper where you can see it.  Get pictures of Hawaii and put them up around your house if your goal is a Hawaiian vacation.  Create a bank statement with the amount of money you want in your bank account, if financial security is your goal.  If you cannot create a picture of your goal, then it’s not a goal. 

Once your goals are written down and reminders are posted you’ll be ready to get to work and create your successful home based business. It keeps you going when the distractions appear as they most certainly will!

You’ve heard it over and over, that goals are essential in the success of a home based business. Your goals are defined and they are written down.  What’s next? 

 5 Steps to Successful Goal Achievement

 1. Check to make sure your goals are SMART:

 Are your business goals SMART goals?  Here’s what I mean:

1.  Specific – when you state your goal to another person does it create a picture in their mind?  Earn more is vague; earn $50,000 or more net this year is specific.
2. Measurable – how will you know when you achieve the goal?  Can someone else compare your goal sheet to your results and see that you’ve accomplished the goal?  For example, can you add up all your business income and it equals $50,000 or more net?
3. Attainable – Do you believe it’s possible?  Do you have the resources you need (such as a computer, training, knowledge)?  If not, do you know where to get the resources you need?  If you don’t believe it, it won’t happen. 
4. Relevant – Is it important to you?  Are you excited about achieving this goal?  Do you want this goal so much that you’ll do what it takes to achieve it?  Think about the challenges you may encounter in your home based business and ask yourself if you want this enough to overcome the challenges?
5. Timely – Specifically, when will you achieve this goal?

 2.  Keep Your Goals Front and Center

Put reminders of your goal around your workspace, in the car and around your home.  Pictures are ideal as they act as subliminal reminders of what you are working toward.  For example, put up pictures of Maui or the exact make and model of the new car you’re going to buy with your income.  If financial security is your goal, create bank statement with the exact amount of money you want to have in reserve. 

 3.  Define Specific Action Steps

Brainstorm as many specific action steps you can to achieve your home based business goal.  For example, decide how much you need to earn each month and then figure out how much and what kind of activity you achieve that goal.  For example, how many home parties or presentations are required?  Or how many people do you need to talk to in a week?  Make sure your action steps are specific and measurable; and that they are based on reliable data.

 4.  Schedule Your Action

You are the boss in your home based business, so create the structure you’ll need to be successful.  Open up your business calendar and make a decision when you’ll do the action steps you’ve decided will accomplish your goal.  For example, if you know you need to do 3 parties a week then decide which days you’ll do parties and block those times out in the calendar.  If you need to make a certain number of phone calls a week, then decide what days and times you’ll make the calls.

 5. Set up Accountability for Yourself.

Finally, set up accountability for yourself. Decide what consequences you’ll dole out to yourself if you don’t take the action steps.  For example, if you don’t have 3 parties scheduled in a week, then you’ll spend the time you would have been doing a party to make customer calls, or attending a networking event to meet potential new clients.  Think about what will motivate you and set up a system to reward or punish yourself.  For example, 1 hour of TV time for making 1 hour of customer calls.  Then be a good boss – don’t watch TV until you make the calls!

Make it a habit to implement these five steps and your goal achievement will be part of the standard operating procedure in your home based business!

The key to a successful direct sales business is meeting with and talking to people.  Usually we do this in the context of a show or meeting.  However, when your calendar is empty, it’s time to get on the phone and make contact with people!  Click here for my Strategy to Overcome Phone Calling Phobia and make those customer connections!

 Do you get frustrated by Show Cancellations? 

Shows are the foundation of a Party Plan Business.  No shows = no business!  These three steps are like an Insurance Policy to make sure your scheduled shows turn in to actual shows!

1)  Followup every booking with an immediate Thank You Phone Call on the morning after you schedule the show.  You can be sure that your new hostess went home after booking the show with you and immediately became immersed in her own life again.  The kids needed to be tucked in, lunches need to be made and within moments she has forgotten all about her show!  When she receives your Thank You call the next day it puts that show right back on the top of her mind.

2) Send a Thank You Note immediately following the phone call.   How often do you get a hand written card in the mail these days?  It’s a real treat and your new hostess will feel really appreciated when she receives it.

3) Always get her Guest List within the first week.  Your new hostess’s enthusiasm for her show is at it’s peak during the first few days after booking her show.  Take advantage of it by getting your on-line invitation set up and encourage her to get her guests invited immediately.  

Make these 3 steps a habit for every show you schedule and watch your calendar fill up and stay filled up!