Starting a direct sales business is easy. Staying in it is the hard part. When it comes to the success of your direct sales, network marketing business, getting new leads is the lifeblood of your business.

The ease of leveraging the power of the internet has never been easier or more abundant. Here are easy tips to finding leads and making money in your direct sales business by leveraging the internet.

Start with a blog. If you don’t have one, I highly recommend setting one up. You can download my FREE ebook to get started with blogging. Enter your email on the right sidebar and you’ll get instant access.

Once you start posting articles on your blog, syndicate your article automatically to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. These are the three big social media platforms.

You can also sign up for Digg and other social bookmarking sites and submit your articles there too. The goal is to drive traffic back to your blog and build SEO for your blog.

Your goal with social media is to build your business and not make friends (unless that’s your goal). You will get different responses and results depending on what your objectives are with social media.

Post the same article to social media directories such as LinkedIn Groups.  Syndicate to as many places as possible because there are multiple platforms to connect with potential customers.

Use a conversation as a starter. Example: if you’re writing an article on how to be more productive with your direct sales business in the summertime, start a conversation with something like “how do you stay productive during the summer months?” and then attach your article to the conversation.

LinkedIn Groups is a great place to look for potential prospects and start connecting with people that are already in your business. You can do the same with Twitter search and Facebook fans and groups.

With LinkedIn Groups, if you belong to direct sales and network marketing groups, you’re already positioned to connect with thousands of other like-minded business builders in your industry.

There are potential prospects and customers to connect with everywhere online. Start by commenting on their comments or private reply and ask if they would like to connect. Do not allude to your business, mention your business, or attempt to recruit or sell in any way. The goal is to connect and make new business contacts.

The more you talk about your products or business opportunity, the less likely people will connect with you. Remember that most people in these niche groups are already in direct sales but there’s always a percentage of people who are not or looking to join another company.

More importantly, no one likes to receive a “friend” request that alludes to joining their business opportunity.

The key is to be patient. Give yourself time to write valuable articles for your blog and syndicate through social media platforms, and give other people opportunities to connect with you. Continue to share your knowledge and actively participate in these groups and you’ll see people responding to you.

The best way to get people to connect with you is to start by connecting with them first. A retweet of their article on Twitter is a great way to make a connection. Or a reply to someone else’s comment on a LinkedIn discussion.

There are potential prospects everywhere online and it is up to you to reach out to them. Don’t wait for someone to connect with you, start a converstaion first, and don’t take it personally if they don’t connect with you.

There are so many ways to use online to connect and find prospects. How do you use social media to find prospects in your direct sales business? Share your tips or leave a question.

’til next time,

Janette

p.s. As always, kindly share if you find this helpful .