Tan Bing Song

By: Tan Bing Song We're all aware of how difficult it is to find business builders. This can be tough...Even with the best recruiting techniques. For me one of the better ways to find business builders is to Retail to Recruit. Personally I think your MLM business should be made up of 75% retail customers and 25% business builders. Why? Having more retail customers ordering from you week after week, month after month, year after year creates that residual income we all want. Plus you now have an army of customers that are spreading the word about your products. People will talk more freely about products that are doing well for them, then they will about a business opportunity. In one case people feel they are sharing, in the other they feel like they are selling (guess which one?). When people talk about products they're sharing an experience, when they're talking about a business opportunity they feel like they're selling.  In my company we make great...

By: Tan Bing Song This is the second in a series of articles we will be publishing relaying thoughts and ideas from the Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago, which occurred June 5th through June 7th. Peter Kosciewicz, Director of E-Commerce for the Eastwood Company, and Chris Saito, Senior Director, Shopping Products for Yahoo! Shopping, delivered a presentation entitled "Social Networking: The Peer Pursuasion Marketing Tool." According to Kosciewicz, the Web today has grown into an "architecture of participation" that facilitates social networking through devices such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, and more. Forrester Research has published studies that show that traditional marketing is continuing to lose credibility. Social networking as a means of marketing overcomes this lack of consumer trust because it relies on the word of the consumer rather than the word of the producer. Research from Datamonitor reported that 85% of repondents in a survey indicate...

By: Tan Bing Song This is the second in a series of articles we will be publishing relaying thoughts and ideas from the Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago, which occurred June 5th through June 7th. Peter Kosciewicz, Director of E-Commerce for the Eastwood Company, and Chris Saito, Senior Director, Shopping Products for Yahoo! Shopping, delivered a presentation entitled "Social Networking: The Peer Pursuasion Marketing Tool." According to Kosciewicz, the Web today has grown into an "architecture of participation" that facilitates social networking through devices such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, and more. Forrester Research has published studies that show that traditional marketing is continuing to lose credibility. Social networking as a means of marketing overcomes this lack of consumer trust because it relies on the word of the consumer rather than the word of the producer. Research from Datamonitor reported that 85% of repondents in a survey indicate...

By: Tan Bing Song In my mind, small talk basically consists of 3 phases: <ol><li>The ice breaker</li>  <li>Get to know you better</li> <li>Graceful exit</li> </ol>So let’s go ahead and briefly touch on each phase and in turn give you some concrete takeaway strategies that you can apply immediately for each. <b>Phase 1: The Ice Breaker</b> So you attend a networking event… you make eye contact with someone you want to meet, you approach them and introduce yourself… now what? Well having a few powerful, open-ended ice breaker questions should certainly do the trick.  For example: <ul><li>A tried and true ice breaker is the proverbial, “So Jeff, what do you do?”  In other words “Jeff, what business are you in?  Now people love talking about themselves and their business so the idea here is to get them started talking.  Most people also love to hear the sound of their own voice so th...

By: Tan Bing Song If you’re networking with strangers, you’re wasting your time. A consultant friend of mine recently complained, “I’m doing 2-3 networking events a week – and I’m worn out.” When I asked why she felt networking was important, she replied, “One of my marketing goals is to do at least 1 networking event a week.” (I pointed out that she just admitted to doing 2-3 a week – and perhaps doing 1 a week is smart and doing triple that goal is causing some of the fatigue.) But there’s much more to the great American business myth of networking. Myth 1: The more you network, the more effective your networking activities become. Truth 1: It’s much more important to become well-known in 1-2 circles than to spread your networking activities over many different groups. Depth beats breadth every time. I then asked her how networking was working for her. She said, “I don’t think I have gotten a shred of business out of it in the last six months.” Her rationale for doing networ...

By: Tan Bing Song 1. Don't ignore your own "Acres of diamonds" - ask your existing clients to refer some of their family, friends and associates to you. If they're happy with your service they will be more than happy to do it and your job will be much easier since they are coming recommended by someone they trust. 2. Former employers and associates in other fields can be a great resource for finding new business. Give them a call, or better yet have lunch and catch up with them but don't be shy to ask for referrals! 3. Ask your current prospects who they know that may need your products or services. It may sound odd at first but give it a try and your opinion may quickly change. Especially if you've gone out of your way to help them. Remember that most good people generally enjoy helping others when you make it easy for them. When you ask the people inside your circle of influence to help you by referring new clients, you're helping yourself,...