Thursday, August 30, 2007

Using Signature Lines To Prospect

Reprinted with permission from MLM - Behind The Curtain

Signature lines are a great way to prospect and make the most of a medium you are already using. You already send e-mail’s to friends, family, and business colleges but perhaps you don’t want to present your opportunity outright to them. Let’s face it, most of us have been in more than one network marketing opportunity and have “burned some bridges”. Adding a compelling signature line to your e-mail’s allows you to say whatever you want, provide a “link” to your marketing web page and do it without any pressure or obligation.

Think about it, how many emails do you send out every day? How many of these forwarded jokes, pictures, stories and things of that nature, do you receive every week?

Why not put your email to work for you by adding a link or two to your signature file? That’s all it takes! You can start as simple or as fancy as you’d like. You do want to get your readers attention though. Your signature line should make a statement, ask a question, or intrigue them in some way.

Right now, a lot of people that you email on a daily basis may not be interested in building a long-term residual income with your business opportunity. But imagine if one of them just found out she is pregnant and wants to explore options working from home. Or another gets injured on the job, and needs to make ends meet with something they can do lounging at home. Your link is there, quietly beckoning. “Click on me, I am offering you a chance to change your life”. Okay, I am exaggerating a little, but you get my point. A compelling signature line is a must.

In most email clients such as Outlook, Outlook Express, and some online email sites, you can create more than one signature file so that you change it up from time to time. And you should use a different one when emailing the same group more than once a week. You should never miss an opportunity to display your links though. You never know when someone’s situation or circumstances change or they are secretly unhappy with their present occupation. Suddenly, someone you least expect may be interested in what you have to offer, whether it’s a product or a business opportunity.

The idea is to get as much exposure for your business or products as possible. Maybe one of your friends has a slow day at work and clicks on one of your links out of boredom and ends up making a purchase. Cha-ching.

You may also want to consider all the funny stories, pictures, jokes that inevitably end up in your inbox. Imagine what would happen if you just forward them to 5 people, who forward them to 5 of their friends. Suddenly, your signature links have the potential of reaching hundreds of people. And did I mention, it’s free?

To make this even more effective, take it a step further and add your link right above the story, joke or picture, with a little “brought to you by www.your-domain-name.com.”

Now, I am making a couple of assumptions..

a) I am assuming you have a “place” to send your prospects that explains your business opportunity for you. That’s the www.your-domain-name.com we were talking about.

b) I am also assuming you have a method there for them to “raise their hand” when they are interested. They have to be able to let you know in some way.

These are absolute requirements to make the most of this method of prospecting.
Purpose of signature line

* Helps you sort and prospect without talking to people initially
* Provides *people* an opportunity to see what you are doing without pressure
* Makes it “their” idea
* Gets forwarded to other people, extending your personal reach

Sort People Effortlessly

Now, let’s go into a little detail about each of these. What do I mean by “sort”? Well, let’s say you send an email to a group of friends, perhaps a joke you received or a link to a particularly good website or YouTUBE video. Some of those people are successful in what they are doing, and some are not. It’s not up to you to decide which is which. THEY’LL do that. If they are unhappy in their current situation, they will be open to looking elsewhere, meaning they just might click. If they are happy in what they are doing, they might click because they know someone who isn’t happy or could use extra money.

Get Your Message OUT There, With Zero Pressure

Signature lines are your silent partners in that they “prospect” without pressure, without obligation, without you having to say a word! You didn’t ASK them to click a link or read more about your opportunity.. your signature line is just there, taunting them, intriguing them. A well-written signature line can be more powerful than the *3 foot rule*, your circle of 40 or whatever other “marketing” ideas your upline has.

It’s Always Better When It’s Their Idea

See, it’s MUCH better when taking some action is their idea. Most people will resist, JUST TO RESIST. It’s ingrained, particularly if they have had, or know someone who has had a *bad* network marketing experience.

Extend Your Personal Reach

There is another advantage to signature lines in emails. It extends your reach for you. When you send an email to a friend or family member that is cute, funny, news worthy and is passed along, your signature line is passed along with it. Think about the possibilities here. Imagine sending an email that lands in someone’s inbox who is unhappy with their income/job/situation. They might not know you, or maybe only know you only by name, but here is a chance for you to reach out to them.

Let’s cover some examples of signature lines and where you would use them.

  • On All Outgoing Emails You Send (even replies)
    On All Posts You Make In Forums
    On All Replies You Make In Forums
    On All Posts You Make In Your Blog
    On All Comments You Make On Other Blogs

Let me give you an example to help you understand the value here. Not long ago, I joined a new network marketing company called Nussentials. I built a website and started advertising “Work From Home And Create Wealth” on Google’s Adwords. At that time, less than 3 months ago, 100% of the traffic (or visitors) I got was from those paid ad’s. Once I started using signature lines posting in my blog and submitting articles to the article directories, I started getting traffic I wasn’t paying for. Now, just 3 months later, almost 30% of my web traffic comes from these sources. Those are visitors I didn’t pay for.

30% of my web traffic by taking a few minutes and setting up a signature line. Hmmm.

I also created a video to help demonstrate this process which you can view here. It's also called Using Signature Lines To Prospect

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