By Joe Rubino

Prospecting is a numbers game. How often have you heard this clich̩? Well, it certainly is true that you must speak with enough people if you plan on winning the MLM game. But success typically goes way beyond the numbers. Have you ever wondered what separates those who can speak to 20 prospects and enroll 15 of them from those who can prospect 200 without ANY success? The answer lies in the energy we give off that either is attractive to others Рor not. One way to be more effective in attracting others to you is to develop yourself as a powerful, attractive, prospective sponsor and business partner.

Check Your State of Mind and Maintain Your Posture
When you contact a new prospect, do you ask yourself, “Who am I being that would either attract or turn off this prospect?” Are you organized, calm, and focused-or are you nervous, rushed and flustered? Is your presentation enthusiastic and powerful-or weak and whiny? Does your prospect sense any urgency or desperation in your voice? Have you conveyed to them that you would love to work with them in building a business-but you do not NEED them to join you?

Do you project success and confidence? Have you checked your belief level? Do you have any unresolved objections about what you are doing? Do you understand the powerful network marketing concepts well enough to share your belief in them with others? What is your interpretation of sharing your opportunity with your prospect-i.e., are you intruding and bothering them or offering them the gift of the awesome power of possibilities? Closely examine your presentation. If you’re prospecting in person, do your dress and appearance speak of success? Do you value your time and your prospects’ and convey this to them, or do you seem to have all the time in the world, implying that you’re really not up to much? When you speak, use the combined credibility of your company and its most successful leaders. Be proud of what you do. Convey your certainty that it is a privilege to work with you and your company. Got the idea?

So, what I’m really asking is, “Would you want you as a business partner…?”

Examine the following list to see which of the qualities are ones you now possess. Then, go on to identify those qualities that, if further developed, would enhance your ability to attract others.

50 Qualities of a Successful Leader and Business Partner

Authentic
Disciplined
Charismatic
Focused
Willing to Sacrifice for the Future
Able to Bond with Others
Believable
Visionary
Supportive
Does Not take Rejection Personally
Inspirational
Confident
Powerful
Enthusiastic
Interested in Personal Growth and Development
Vulnerable
Compassionate
Sensitive
Organized
At Peace
Persistent/Consistent
Teachable
Empowers Others
Ambitious
High Level of Physical Energy
Positive, Up-Beat Attitude
Committed
Good Self Image
Positive Expectation
Happy
Works in Partnership
Burning Desire to Succeed
Intuitive
Empathetic
Happy to Serve
Genuinely Humble
Willing to Contribute to Others
Interested in Others
Entrepreneurial
Doesn’t Dump Information
Takes Initiative
Good Communication Skills
Has Integrity-can make and keep commitments
Is Proactive-takes initiative
Is a Team Player
Follows Up and Follows Through
And, a Good Listener who listens…
For what’s Important …
For what’s Missing …
For what It’s Like in the Other Person’s World …
For Contribution …
For the Fit …
For the Gold …

Assuming that you are prospecting enough people, your tally sheet will reflect positive results if you possess those qualities that are desirable to and valued by others as they consider the viability of the partnership you are offering.

Unfortunately, we’re usually the last ones to know how we “land” with others-how they perceive us and interpret us and what we say. People tend to be oblivious to facets of themselves that can often be very apparent to everyone else. The key to becoming more attractive as a potential sponsor and business partner is to create a structure for developing those qualities that would contribute to increasing your personal effectiveness.

In order to enhance your personal power, you will need to create some structure so as to develop whatever qualities you decide to take on .

Some possible structures include:

A- Recording your telephone conversations and asking your upline to give you feedback asking what worked and what was missing, that, if put into place would make the next conversation more effective.

B- Hiring a mentor to coach you in putting into place whatever is missing around those qualities you seek to develop.

C- Rating yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 after each interaction you have with another person, regarding how successful you were in implementing the quality you are working on. Again, look at what worked, what was missing, and what you need to put into place next time to be more effective in the area you are developing.

D- Keeping a journal detailing your daily intended result in your chosen area of development. Again, record both what worked and what was missing.

E- Keep a sign with the qualities you are working on visible by the telephone and consciously work on being these characteristics.

F- Asking others for feedback. You might say something like, “I am working on the quality of…becoming more charismatic, a better listener, more powerful in my communication, developing an appreciation of what it’s like in the other person’s world…etc.. Could you give me some feedback on how I came across for you?”

Your commitment to put yourself in research around which qualities would most impact who you are in the world as well as your willingness to create a structure in supporting these commitments will do much toward increasing your personal power. Taking on the process of enhancing your personal effectiveness can only translate into greater success in building your networking business.

Creating A Structure To Support Your Development

1) Make a list of all of the qualities you like about yourself.
2) Make a list of all of the qualities you dislike about yourself.
3) List at least 5 qualities that you would be willing to further develop in yourself.
4) Create a structure for developing these qualities.

At the end of each day, week, and month ask yourself the following questions to quantify how you did in the areas of your personal development:

1) What did you learn about yourself and about others?
2) In what ways were you effective in your interactions with others?
3) What was missing in your interactions that if put in place would make you more effective?

Tim Padden
National Sales Director
Citizenre

Sometimes we all face a customer who dismisses your best Citizenre pitch with a waive of the hand and the statement, “I’d rather own the system myself so I could get the electricity for free.” At first you may be a bit concerned how you are going to quickly tackle the challenge of convincing this person that it’s better to pay the equivalent of, say, 10 cents a kilowatt hour for Citizenre’s fixed price plan than to pay ZERO for electricity that comes off panels that a homeowner owns outright. The good news is, like all things Citizenre, this is easy. I just say:

“That’s an interesting point, and I’ve talked to a lot of customers about the trade offs of owning a system vs. signing up for Citizenre’s solar service. But it turns out that you are financially better off signing up for Citizenre than buying a solar power system yourself. Here’s why: The average solar power system for a home costs at least $30,000 (1). But even people with $30,000 ready to invest rarely choose to buy solar panels with it because of the very low return on investment of traditional solar installations. Depending on the cost of electricity that you are comparing it to, residential solar installations will break even only after a number of years well into the teens, something like 14 years. That means it takes 14 years just to get you back to zero…it’s not until your 15^th and 16^th years that you actually start to get the RETURN part of the investment. This is why you don’t see solar panels on a lot of houses yet, because it’s got a high upfront cost with a very slow return on investment. What you could do instead is put that $30,000 into a mutual fund for 14 years and you’d expect to do a lot better than just break even. In fact, that is what you should do instead buying your own system: sign up for Citizenre solar power system and then put $30,000 in a mutual fund for the next 14 years. You’ll have solar power in you home and you’ll be much better off financially.”

There may be this follow up question: “We’ll how can you afford to offer this then?”

My answer is this: “Because Citizenre is  taking all of the pieces of the solar power value chain in-house that are currently done by different suppliers…from the manufacturing, to the warehousing, distribution, wholesaling, retailing, installation, maintenance, and billing, even the sales that you and I are doing right now…all of those profit margins for all of those different players are brought under one roof, then with the volume and consolidation efficiency, Citizenre is going to be able to put a solar power system on your property for a fraction of  the cost of what you could do if for. So in our earlier example if you’re not interested in investing in a solar power project for your home that has a 14 year break even, we can do the same thing for about a 7 year break even, and we’ve found investors that are willing to fund a 7 year break even contract if we lock your rate for 10-20 years, because they are still going to have  years left on the contract after its paid for. But you don’t mind because you are happily enjoying a fixed price solar rental system we maintain to provide your energy at a “Locked in” price. The investors are happy because they get to make money on the back end of the contract. And the environment benefits because another house was taken away from polluting power to clean, renewable energy. It’s a true win, win, win.

Click the photo to open the PDF

Click here to view the embedded video.

From trade shows or face to face sales

When you have a blank FRA completed and signed, you do not need to send the customer the three copies and have them sign and send the FRA’s

• Make sure ALL areas of the blank FRA are filled out(if you don’t understand the information that is being asked for, ask your sponsor)

• It must be signed

• Go to your back office web site and enter your FRA under new customer.

• First enter the customer information and submit

• Second scroll down and enter the house information and submit

• Third print the FRA

• Fourth enter the CIDN number from the printed copy in the box at the top of the page of the signed copy

• Sign the same copy that you had the customer sign and enter your IDS number in the box below your signature

• Make sure all the info in section 2 is completed

• Make 2 copies of the signed FRA

• Staple the signed original FRA to the printed corporate copy and send them to the corporate office

• Send a copy of the signed FRA, the customer copy, and the REnU thank you letter to the customer

• Keep a copy of the signed FRA and you associate copy for your records

. I would suggest making copies of the blank FRA with the TBA in the rate box whited out, because you will need to fill in the correct rate.

Posted by David Roberts 02 Dec 2007

I’ve run into a lot of sentiment along the lines of this comment thread — harumphing about how weak and insufficient the impending energy bill is — and it seems crazy and wrongheaded to me.

I urge you to check out this post by Josh Dorner on the post-2000 history of energy bill negotiations. Remember what it’s been like.

Since I started at Grist, I’ve been writing about a Republican president and Congress trying over and over again to pass energy legislation focused on drilling, mining, and doling out subsidies. Their greed and overreach were such that they bungled it again and again, until the 2005 Energy Act, which was a slightly scaled down version of the same old thing.

That act was part and parcel of what energy policy has been in this country more or less since Ronald Reagan walked in the White House: a monomaniacal focus on extraction and supply coupled with generous corporate welfare.

In just over a year, Democrats, with a small majority in the House and a knife-edge margin in the Senate, have pulled together an energy bill that contains:

1. The first CAFE boost since 1975. Even if you don’t think CAFE is crucial energy policy (I don’t), it ain’t nothing, and it is of extraordinary symbolic significance. It’s going to be the headline.
2. A 15% Renewable Energy Standard — a clear statement of support for a new energy direction, echoing and amplifying state-level efforts.
3. Billions in subsidies for clean energy.
4. Boosted energy efficiency and green building standards.
5. Yes, yes, a massive, horrendous boost in biofuels, but even on that front there are environmental safeguards attached that were absent in early negotiations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Photo: speaker.gov.

The distance between this bill and where were were a year ago is remarkable. And it is a credit to the leadership.

If you’re determined to think that all politicians are craven simps, go ahead, but it’s hard for me to see what would count of evidence of boldness and commitment on Nancy Pelosi’s part if this doesn’t.

Don’t think she’s been tiptoeing around. Sen. Pete Domenici, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, is so pissed off at her he’s pulling out of the energy bill process. He’d gotten the impression that the RES (aka RPS) was off the table, but Pelosi’s pushed it back on. Says the irritated and possibly soon to be steamrolled Domenici:

RPS may not be the only deviation from the negotiated bill text, as the Speaker appears willing to take advantage of the lack of a formal conference committee process and institute other changes in the bill as she sees fit.

You’ll recall that when they were in control, Republican leadership regularly pulled procedural shenanigans that made this look like patty cakes. But still, Pelosi isn’t playing by Queensbury Rules. She’s throwing elbows.

It wasn’t just leading Republicans Pelosi had to outmaneuver. As this NYT story makes clear, she’s also gone head to head with Rep. John Dingell, one of the most powerful committee chairs in recent history, and pulled him in line:

Mr. Dingell said that all sides had compromised to get a good deal on the energy bill, and he took credit for safeguarding the interests of the auto industry. In a telephone interview, he praised Ms. Pelosi and said his disagreements with her had been useful.

…

Outside observers, however, said Mr. Dingell had capitulated after realizing he could not win, especially given high oil prices. “The speaker basically took him on and won,” said Dan Becker, an environmental consultant.

Pelosi’s been fighting hard and smart, and she’s done so out of what everyone who knows her describes as a genuine passion for renewable energy.

Please explain to me why the first reaction to this should be grumbling about how it’s not enough. What kind of political message does that send? What incentive does that give anyone to follow Pelosi out onto this limb?

You know what nobody likes? Nobody likes people who do nothing but judge and condemn and enforce in-group purity and piss on everyone’s shoes, including their friends’ shoes. Nobody wants to make any effort to please those people. Nobody even wants to get stuck in an elevator with them.

Of course this bill is not enough. Nothing will ever be enough, I guarantee you. But it’s a victory, and you know what people do like? People like winning. They like being on the winning team. They like winners. They want to hang around the winners, and act like them, and date them, and name drop them.

So please, take a moment for some strutting. Take strength from this victory, and give strength. Hand out some props for a job well done. Make politicians feel like there’s social and political capital to be gained by going green — if you do that, they’ll be back for more.

The arc of history is bending in our direction. Celebrate it.

Tell everyone you know about it. Tell them about this

Click here to view the embedded video.

http://online.wsj.com

U.S. electricity demand is growing at twice the pace new supplies are being added, an imbalance that, if it persists, could lead to supply problems in a couple of years, an electric-industry group said.

In its latest 10-year forecast, the North American Electric Reliability Corp., or NERC, found supplies thinning fastest in California, the Rocky Mountain region, New England, Texas, the Midwest and the Southwest.

NERC, which oversees the reliability of bulk power systems in the U.S. and parts of Canada, said peak demand is expected to increase 18%, or about 135,000 megawatts, for the U.S. during the next decade.

<More…>

Rock Your Presentation with the Right Tools and Apps

At some point in your career as a student or professional, you’re going to have to give a presentation—and when you do, you want to be prepared with the right content and applications. Whether your demo’ing software or explicating Melville, a computer hooked up to a projector can either give an audience a great audio/visual experience, or a bullet-studded snoozer. Whether you’re using a Mac or Windows, PowerPoint or Keynote, or simply presenting straight from your web browser, there are a few power tips, apps, and tools that can make your slideshow or demonstration smooth, entertaining and memorable. Photo by jurvetson.

Ditch the Bullet Points

If you’re doing a straight PowerPoint or Keynote slideshow, do your audience a favor: forget bullet points. While they’re easy to write and easy to read off your screen, they’re hard on your audience. Pick up a copy of Clif Atkinson’s Beyond Bullet Points and make yourself fill in the template he offers for download, to structure your presentation into an engaging story, not a lifeless collection of bulleted lists. See our original review of Beyond Bullet Points.

Pre-program Typing with Text Substitution

If you’re showing off software or doing any sort of interactive demonstration that involves typing, don’t waste your audience’s time watching you fumble with the keys because you’re nervous under the pressure of your their collective gaze. Pre-script any text entry you have to do using text substitution, with free software like Texter on Windows, TextExpander on the Mac or Snippits on Linux. Not only will your audience be impressed with your efficiency (and lightning-fast typing), they’ll love you for being prepared and keeping things moving along with ease.

Zoom and Call Out Sections of Your Screen

Want to show off a detail in an image, enlarge a small video or draw on screen like a football coach choreographing a play? There are a few ways you can zoom into and freehand draw right onto areas on screen while you present.

• See closeups of screen areas with ZoomIt (Windows)—free software with configurable keyboard shortcuts zooms in on areas on screen and draws on it with different-colored pens.
• Zoom into any area of your Mac’s screen—using an accessibility option built into OS X, zoom into an area of the screen, no additional software required.
• Call out anything on your screen with Highlight (Mac)—draw on your Mac’s screen.

Tip: consider screencasting these types of show and tell techniques to ensure no operator error during the live presentation.

Dim the Background Clutter

Want your audience to focus on the foreground application, dialog box or maybe just the video playing in the middle of the screen? Both the Clutter Cloak for Windows and Doodim for Mac are free apps that can darken everything on-screen except what’s important.

Increase a Web Page’s Font Size

If you’re presenting a web page with text on it, assume it’ll be illegible to your audience unless it’s enlarged. In Firefox, a simple Ctrl++ can increase font size after a page is loaded; even better, preset your presentation pages to more legible sizes using the excellent NoSquint Firefox extension.

Before You Leave the House: The Hardware Checklist

This should go without saying, but I showed up at my last public speaking gig without my Mac’s DVI to VGA adapter. So before you head out to your presentation, make sure you’ve got:

• An extra ethernet cable (as lengthy as possible)
• A DVI to VGA adapter to hook up your laptop to the projector (if necessary)
• A thumb drive with your presentation file stored on it

More Presentation Power Tips

A few more tips for making your presentation great:

• Split the screen and use your computer as a giant clock or to simply display the notes view of your slide show
• Get your PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts straight
• Publish and share your slides with SlideShare
• While you should be prepared for your venue having faulty or no internet connectivity at all, you can host and give your presentation on the web with Google Documents (now with Presentations), Zoho Show or Preezo
• Check out Merlin Mann’s roundup of tools he used to perfect his recent Inbox Zero presentation

What are your favorite presentation tricks and tips? Let us know in the comments.