John Dilbeck Musings

Ken Evoy, President of Sitesell, has always promised that the 5 Pillar affiliate program will be a great way to build a business for anyone who was willing to do the work necessary to make sales.

After all, why join an affiliate program if you don’t want to earn commissions from making sales?

He’s also promised that, eventually, he’ll close the program to new affiliates so that the people who have worked to build the company can maintain good sales and lifetime commissions. While closing the 5 Pillar program to new affiliates isn’t imminent, it’s closer than it was.

If you are a person who has access to webmasters and people who want websites that work — and make sales — then you may want to look into the 5 Pillar affiliate program. Earn generous residual, lifetime commissions from selling webhosting and infoproducts.

Ken’s always invited people to join the program and see what it’s all about. He still extends that invitation, but, now, you’ll be expected to work the program and not just read the newsletters. Don’t miss the chance to learn from one of the best online marketers. Sitesell’s products are outstanding and so is the company.

It’s an easy company to represent, because the infoproducts are leaders in their field and they offer great content for very reasonable prices. And, Site Build It! is simply the best web design, web hosting, and web promotion system on the planet. I’ve looked for years for a better service and haven’t found one yet. Sitesell delivers on that promise — as long as you follow the guidelines that have been proven to work.

(More information: Site Build It!, Case Studies of SBI users, Sitesell.com, Make Your Site Sell!, Make Your Knowledge Sell!, Sitesell 5 Pillar Affiliate Program.)

Hi,

This week, I’ve been thinking about a couple of issues that are gaining in importance for reasons I’ll mention below.

I was a bit out of the loop last week because my mother was scheduled for surgery on Thursday. The surgery was a success and she’s back home and doing well.

(You may not know that I’m a full-time caretaker for her after her cancer surgery a couple of years ago. I help her during the days and do most of my marketing work from the next room during the nights and early mornings.)

So, now, my mind is back in the game and I’m looking for ways to help you grow your SFI Marketing Group business.

Some thoughts about marketing and selling

As I’ve said before, we are a sales organization. No sales, no business.

Most people hate selling, but that may be because they have a misconception about what selling is all about.

Look around you. Everything you see was sold by someone and bought by someone.

Selling is difficult when you are trying to convince someone to purchase something she doesn’t want.

Selling is easy when you talk to your customer and find out what he or she is most interested in. If she’s interested in what you have to offer, tell her about it.

Selling is easiest when you find what a group of people want or need and then you find a way to provide that product or service to them.

It is much easier to sell ice to a hot person in the summer than it is to sell it to a cold person in the winter. Few people can sell refrigerators to Eskimos, but practically anyone can sell a cold soda to a hot sweaty person in the summer.

You don’t have to do a hard sell. Just mention the benefits and how to get it.

Don’t know how to define the benefits? That’s pretty easy once you know the trick.

First, take out a sheet of paper and draw a vertical line down the center of the page. On the left side, list all the features you can come up with. On the right side list the benefits of each of the features.

How?

A benefit must answer the question “What’s in it for me?” or “How does that help me?”

Try to think as your customer would think and then list how each feature will be of benefit to him or her.

Once you know the benefits of your product or service, don’t list the features any more. Tell about the benefits, because that’s what we’re all interested in.

Now, you’re not trying to make someone buy what you have to sell, you’re offering a list of ways to help someone get what he or she already wants.

Are you selling when you tell someone that you saw a good movie they would probably like?

Are you selling when you recommend a good restaurant?

Are you selling when you tell someone about the SFI business opportunity?

Sure you are.

You may or may not be getting paid for your selling efforts, however.

That’s the beauty of affiliate selling. All you have to do is get someone to go to your gateway or a specific page in your Veriuni store and purchase from that link, or sign up as your sponsored affiliate. Then you get paid.

It’s not hard, it just takes some effort. When someone likes what they see, buying is easy. Remember how easy it was for you to become an SFI affiliate? That’s just how easy it will be for someone else to sign up as your affiliate and that’s how your sales team will grow.

The more you learn about selling, the more money you make in commissions.

Of course, it’s not just about learning. You must take action. Knowledge without action accomplishes nothing. Action without knowledge may or may not accomplish something. Sometimes it can work against you.

So, make sure you know what you’re going to do before you just start doing it. Set your goals and plan how you’re going to accomplish them.

Then, work your plan.

Does your upline answer your email?

It occured to me yesterday that there may be several reasons why you don’t get a reply when you email someone for help.

One of you — I won’t mention who — sent me an email last week that I almost never saw.

Because of all the virii (viruses) and worms, I no longer open an email with the subject of just “Hi”, “Heya”, or “Hello”. I have programmed my email program to drop those directly into the trash without seeing them.

I get over 1,000 email messages every day and several hundred are spam. Of the others, I have a couple of hundred filters defined that send the messages into over 50 inboxes. Some — such as my SFI inbox — are a high priority. Others are low priority.

When I check my email, I read the messages in the high priority inboxes first, and if I have time I eventually get to the others, but it may take days or even weeks, if I ever get to them at all.

Last week I got an email from an affiliate with a subject of “Hi” and a body that consisted only of “What do I do next?” No name. No company mentioned — and I represent several. No discussion of what had been done before to lead up to this point.

It was automatically filtered into the trash. I only read it because I had a few extra minutes that day — unusual — and recognized the email address.

It took a while to respond to the message, because I had to find the affiliate’s name, and what he/she may have done already. It would have been much easier and faster with some basic information in the email.

So, I’m going to ask you, whenever you write me, to please include the following:

1. Your full name.

2. Your SFI affiliate ID.

3. Your city, state, and country — whatever is appropriate.

4. Put “SFI Affiliate” at the start of the subject line.

5. In the body, ask questions that can be answered and provide information about what you have already done and what I can help you with.

6. If you reply to a message from me, please quote the previous conversation so I don’t have to go searching for it. These simple steps will make sure I see your message and will make it much easier to respond to you.

That’s assuming, of course, that some ISP between us doesn’t throw the message away or refuse to deliver it for whatever reason.

Because email is getting more and more unreliable, I’m opening up alternative forms of communications. I’ve created a Residual Income Forum and I invite you to register and participate there. We can discuss SFI in the SFI Marketing Group section.

How do international affiliates become MIQ?

I define “international affiliate” to mean anyone who lives in any country other than the United States.

As you may know, it’s sometimes difficult for international affiliates to purchase anything online. We’re getting more and more international affiliates in our sales team, and I welcome you! I want to find a way to help you transfer money back and forth between the US and your country.

There are two issues: how to buy something here and how to get paid there.

Be aware that you are never required to purchase anything from SFI. You can become MIQ by selling rather than buying and I highly recommend selling. However, you may have decided that you’d like to join the IAHBE, but don’t have a way to do it if you don’t have a credit card.

I have to admit that I was rather ignorant of this whole situation until recently and now I’m trying to find a way or ways to help you. I’ve sent some information to a couple of you. If you find it helpful, please tell me and I’ll pass it along to the entire team.

I’d also like to know if it wasn’t helpful.

I think SFI must find a way to make it easier for international affiliates to play a bigger part in the company and I think that’s under development. After all, Gery Carson — the founder of SFI — has announced that he’s changing the name of the organization from Six Figure Income Marketing Group to Strong Future International Marketing Group, and if he’s going to position it as an international organization, it’s necessary to make it easier and more profitable for anyone who lives outside the US to be a part of the effort — and to reap the rewards.

I’ve also learned that it is difficult for some people to receive their commissions from SFI. Some of you have to pay very high fees to cash a check from the US. Som you may want to accumulate your commissions until they reach a certain level before SFI sends you a check, so the fee will be a lower percentage of what you earn.

I’m still looking into this and I’ll be checking the SFI discussion board every few days to see if any news is forthcoming in this regard. If you learn something that works for you, please share it with us.

(Update: September, 2006 - SFI has made some dramatic improvements in working with international affiliates. I’ve written about some of them in my SFI Sales Team blog.)

That’s all for today.

As usual, if you have any questions, comments, feedback or want to talk to me about any of this, I look forward to hearing from you.

I’d like to recommend that you read the SFI discussion forum on a regular basis and post there if you have questions or comments. We’re a friendly bunch and there are some very helpful people there. Just remember that you can’t post contact information on their forum.

If there’s anything I can do to help you grow your SFI business, please let me know at your convenience. I always try to answer my email within two or three days or so.

All the best,

JD

PS. Want your own SFI business? If you’re willing to learn, set goals and work to achieve them, and have at least a couple of dollars per day to invest in growing your business, please click the link and join my sales team today.

This message was sent to all members of my SFI powerline on 2/21/2004.

Hi,

It’s John Dilbeck, again, and I’m either your sponsor or Powerline Team Leader with SFI — or both.

We’re getting more members on our team every week and it’s gratifying to watch our group grow. As we put more effort into marketing the SFI opportunity and into selling products, the whole team will benefit.

Have you read the special report, “Six Steps to Six Figures,” yet?

There is a very-well-defined path to success with SFI, and that’s what makes it, in my opinion, such a great company with which to be affiliated.

You can read the special report at:

www.sfimg.com/Training/SixSteps.sfi

Note that you have already completed Step 1: Become an SFI Marketing Group affiliate.

Sometimes the first step is the hardest. You’ve made the decision to see what SFI is all about and to determine how it fits with your desires, goals, and plans.

Why did you join SFI?

I joined because I was already earning commissions from several companies, but they were all one-time commissions whenever I sold something for them. I was looking for two things that would help me grow my income and improve my financial security: residual income and leveraged efforts. Plus, I love working from home and not having to deal with a boss or a commute to work. I love setting my own goals and doing my best to create my own destiny — and I absolutely hate asking anyone for a day off when I want to do something else.

Just by joining SFI, I — and you — have already started leveraging our efforts, because SFI has thousands of people helping to brand the company on the Internet, and because they provide us with quite a few gateways to promote the company and the products we offer. We offer training, support, and encouragement through direct contact and through the SFI discussion board.

SFI offers over 600 products you can sell, and earn a commission for each one.

I love the middle of the month when my SFI check arrives and I get to deposit it in the bank. How about you?

One thing that’s required for getting a check from SFI is to complete Smart Start. That gives you a quick overview of SFI, the compensation plan, and some of our products. When you complete SmartStart, you’ll have your gateways activated so you can start promoting them.

To become an affiliate with SFI, you already responded to one of my gateways where you filled out a form and joined as an affiliate — and I thank you for taking that step.

Perhaps you wanted to build a home-based business. Perhaps you wanted the free Secrets of Internet Millionaires offer:

Secrets of Internet Millionaires

Perhaps you’re just kicking the tires to see what SFI is all about.

One of the beauties of SFI is you can take all the time you want to look at the company from the inside and it won’t cost you a single penny. Take all the time you want.

We’re here and ready to help you grow your business whenever YOU decide you’re ready. It will take time and effort to get there, but there is a very good chance that you can increase your income by the amount you desire in a couple of years or so. There’s no guarantee, but there’s a much better chance with SFI than you’ll ever have with your current boss.

One step at a time is how you get from new affiliate to Group Leader.

If you complete SmartStart within ten days of joining as an affiliate, you’ll be a FastTrack affiliate.

Finishing SmartStart gives you 5 SVP and that makes you half-way to being Multi-Income Qualified. (That’s Step 3 on the Six Steps.)

Once you complete Smart Start, your gateways are activated and you can earn a one-time commission when you sell something. But, one of the reasons SFI is so attractive is that you can earn income from several other income streams, too. Becoming MIQ opens up three more income streams. You’ll start earning residual income for any sales you make. That’s like being paid to work this week, and getting another commission check every month that particular customer purchases again.

(Some of our products don’t pay residual commissions, they only pay a one-time payment. Some of the new telecommunications products are like that. It’s such a competitive jungle with cell phones, long distance, and such that we only get paid a single sign-up commission for them, but this is no different than it is with other companies with which I work.)

All of you getting this message today have completed Step 1. You’re an SFI affiliate and the company and I are here to help you progress and earn.

Some of you have completed Step 2 (Smart Start) and now your gateways are active and you can start promoting them. There are lots of ways to do this, and you can find much more information at www.sfimg.com, the SFI discussion boards, or I’ll be happy to help every way I can if you email me at jd@johndilbeck.com. Please put “SFI” somewhere in the subject line. I’m here to help you progress and earn more.

I can recommend places to build your website, places to advertise, and things you can do online — and offline — to market our products and grow your business. Just don’t bother your friends and neighbors or take the short-sighted route and send any spam emails. When you start becoming successful, your friends, family and neighbors will ask you how you did it.

Spam will just kill your business before you even get started. It doesn’t work, it’s rude, and SFI will terminate your affiliation without recourse if you do it.

SFI is a business and is here for the long haul. Slow and steady will build your business, too.

If you’ve made the commitment to complete Step 3 and become MIQ, then you’re really starting to make progress. Remember, you don’t have to pay anything to become MIQ. However, if you want to get off to a quick start, you can set up a standing order for IAHBE and for $29.95 you’ll be MIQ every month. I recommend this approach.

Why?

Because, you won’t really make a lot of progress before you become MIQ. You have to open the residual income stream.

But, you won’t really be spending $30 every month, in the long run. For every month that you are MIQ, you’ll be banking a share of the PTL bonus pool, which generally averages in the mid-$20 range every month. So, if you become MIQ and remain so for several months (with no breaks!), you’ll be banking one PTL bonus share for each month you remain MIQ. When you become PTL, you’ll receive a check for all the banked shares at the amount they are worth that month.

(If you skip a month and drop your MIQ status, you’ll lose any banked shares, so that’s why it’s easier to set up a standing order for any of the 10 SVP products. Then you don’t have to worry about it.)

So, if you remain an IAHBE member for, say, six months before becoming PTL, you’ll have six banked shares. When you become PTL (which is Step 4, by the way), you’ll get a check for six times the current PTL bonus pool amount, because you have six banked shares. If it is $25, then you’ll get a check for $150.00. This reduces your cost of IAHBE to about $5 per month, and the free book that’s available every month is worth more than that!

(Or, perhaps you prefer to buy the liquid nutrition or cleaning products. For instance, my mother was just diagnosed with gall bladder problems and has had to change her entire diet. I’ve decided that with such a restricted diet, she needs extra vitamins and minerals and the Veriuni liquid nutrition supplement looks like a perfect solution. So, I’ll be buying a bottle for her every month. On top of her getting a product that she needs, I get 10 SVP points and my sponsor will get a commission. Win-win-win.)

Plus, IAHBE contains a great selection of materials to help you learn how to be successful in marketing. It’s a great deal, and even if I were to leave SFI (and I have no plans for that), I’d continue to be an IAHBE member.

You can learn more about the International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs by going to www.iahbe.org or, if you’re already an SFI affiliate, you can join by going to the affiliate store at:

affiliate store IAHBE page

(If you’re reading this and you’re not an SFI affiliate yet, you can learn more about IAHBE at:

International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs

and you can choose to become an SFI affiliate at:

Become an SFI affiliate )

But, you don’t have to do this (purchase a standing order for IAHBE) to become MIQ!

You can also become MIQ by selling enough products to earn at least 10 SVP each month. Sign up 1 IAHBE member, sell one bottle of liquid nutrition, sell any magazine subscription with 10 SVP or more, or any combination of products, and you are MIQ for the month.

(Step 4, by the way, is to become a Powerline Team Leader, PTL, and to start building your own powerline team. To become PTL, you need to personally sponsor at least three affiliates and produce at least 40 SVP of sales volume every month.)

You CAN progress through SFI without spending ANY money out of your pocket.

You’re not here to be a consumer; you’re here to build your home business.

YOUR BUSINESS.

And you don’t have to pay a penny for all the SFI employees, computers, Internet access charges, bandwidth, or anything else. SFI provides that to you for nothing. So, you don’t have to build the infrastructure and manage the systems and employees. You don’t have to stock products and ship or deliver them. You don’t have to arrange contracts with suppliers.

That frees you up to do nothing but market products and services. The more you sell, the more you earn.

When I start a new business, and I’ve owned several, I expect to spend thousands of dollars and take at least 3 to 5 years to earn a profit. It’s been just over a year since I joined SFI and I’m earning a profit, already.

You can do it, too. I’m even hoping you’ll be much more successful than I am.

New Riser Leads Co-op.

Last month, I expanded my marketing efforts and decided to start a Riser Leads Co-op. It’s in place and working.

If you’re in my powerline, I’ll be sending affiliates your way in the coming weeks and the only requirements to accept the affiliates as your personally-sponsored affiliates is to complete SmartStart and then become MIQ. I’m going to send up to three affiliates your way. If you don’t take me up on the offer, it will rise up to someone else in the powerline. If nobody takes me up on the offer, the new affiliate will become my personally sponsored affiliate.

If you pass on the offer three times, you may not get any more affiliates from my co-op. I’m willing to help you grow your business, but you have to do your part, too.

I think that’s enough for one message!

I hope you have a great weekend and enjoy some time with your friends and family.

All the best,

JD

(For more current information, please see SFISalesTeam.com.)