Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

I am my E365 Class Champion.

I held the #1 position from the start and relinquished it only twice, in the third month and in the 8th month, but regained it as quickly as I could. I made it a goal to be the champion and did so.

However, I also realize that, some new affiliates may not always see the importance of the E365 Contest until it is rather late, although the competition is preeminently featured for both the affiliate, their sponsor and co-sponsor. There is a constant reminder that is visible to the affiliate and their direct upline, to stay above the green line and remain in the contest. Still, many affiliates drop out of the contest before the 6th and final round begins on the affiliate's 31st day with SFI. .

But, it is not a total loss, yet. There is a second chance. If an affiliate is eliminated from the E365 contest and wishes to get back in, they have the opportunity to do so. The details are outlined in the "Second Chance Program" within the E365 rules:

www.sfimg.com/E365?tab=info_and_rules

Every sponsor needs to be familiar with these rules and be ready to help their affiliates, if not to stay above the green line, at least to offer them the alternative for getting back into the contest.

You may tell your affiliates who got eliminated in the first 5 rounds of the E365 contest, that, if they wish to get back in the competition, they need to reach the rank of Bronze Team Leader (BTL) within their first 60 days with SFI. They will be inserted back into the competition if they meet these requirements.

They will be included into the Finalists Drawings and will remain eligible until the end of the contest when they reach their 365th day with SFI. However, there is a clear condition to this. The second chance affiliate has to always maintain the minimum rank of BTL. If at any time, they were to lose that BTL rank they would be permanently eliminated from E365.

less

I am my E365 Class Champion.

I held the #1 position from the start and relinquished it only twice, in the third month and in the 8th month, but regained it as quickly as I could. I made it a goal to be the champion and did so.

However, I also realize that, some new affiliates may not always see the importance of the E365 Contest until it is rather late, although the competition is preeminently featured for both the affiliate, their sponsor and co-sponsor. There is a constant
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Hello, Dan.

There are professional Ad writers and there is the rest of us!

The highly rated Advertisement Agencies are known to steer emotions and trigger impulse buying. They do with great skills and art.

The rest of us do it by trial and errors.

The most successful marketers write several ads and test their audience's reaction. The difference between two ads may be few words, capitalization of all words or just the title, changing the picture that accompany that ads, etc.

The sophistication of the tests will vary depending on the resources and the time we want to allocate to thess tasks.

There are marketers who outsource the writing of their ads. Those outsourced experts have various levels of skills. Two countries stand out as the least expansive and the most cost effective outsourcing expertise: India and the Philippines.

Surprisingly those two countries also rank among the four most active countries within SFI.

Basically, writing an effective ad boils down to:
1. Knowing your audience
2. Selecting the keywords that will catch that audience's attention
3. Selecting the style of your message
4. Carefully matching the accompanying pictures, and
5. Choosing the most appropriate fonts and colors

These determine the overall impact of your ads, how potential customers will respond to them and your rates of conversions.
less

Hello, Dan.

There are professional Ad writers and there is the rest of us!

The highly rated Advertisement Agencies are known to steer emotions and trigger impulse buying. They do with great skills and art.

The rest of us do it by trial and errors.

The most successful marketers write several ads and test their audience's reaction. The difference between two ads may be few words, capitalization of all words or just the title, changing the picture that accompany
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Hello, Christopher!

This is a question on which every SFI Affiliate has their own opinion. It would not surprise me that you get numerous answers. Most of them will be valid to some extent.

But, first let's define success and then look at the strategies and actions that will lead to that understanding the fastest and most efficient way.

I. How to Understand Success with SFI.
It is the fulfillment of the goals for which we joined: improving our standards of living, being wealthy, gaining financial independence, retiring early, spending more time with our families instead of wasting hours on commute and dead end jobs...

All the above goals can be summarized as having the ability to control the use of our time and earning a comfortable living to fully provide for our loved ones, and spend quality time with them.

This is the opportunity SFI offers us.
Now, how to reach this goal we all have?

II. Building is The Most Effective Path to Success with SFI.

The money is in building:

We have to build a team, build sales and build a successful online store

The most straightforward answer is also with the SFI rules of success.
Many people will tend to try re-inventing the wheel.

But the most efficient strategies and the actions that implement them can be found right here. If they are understood properly and applied flawlessly, there is no doubt that they will lead to success relatively fast.

We have to build a team, build sales and build a successful online store

Building a team is through sponsoring and duplication
Building sales is through marketing and social media presence
Building an online store is similarly through advertising, and networking through friends and partners throughout the web.

All these require sound strategies, in marketing, networking, and sales.


less

Hello, Christopher!

This is a question on which every SFI Affiliate has their own opinion. It would not surprise me that you get numerous answers. Most of them will be valid to some extent.

But, first let's define success and then look at the strategies and actions that will lead to that understanding the fastest and most efficient way.

I. How to Understand Success with SFI.
It is the fulfillment of the goals for which we joined: improving our standards of living,
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Usually, people who have money to invest are on the look for the best opportunities, low risk and high potential returns. The wealthiest of them are the target of professional money managers. However, some of them are open to getting into business ventures, when their investment criteria are met.

They are also consumers who want good quality products at competitive prices

We need to take into consideration all the above when approaching them while realizing that we have better chances to convince them to join SFI as Personally Referred Members (PRMs) or E-Commerce affiliates (ECAs),

Another segment is made up of people who are not among the wealthiest but have disposable income. Their goal is to increase their financial security and their monthly spendable. These are the best targets for SFI Affiliate marketing.

Hence, attracting such potential members should be a three tier strategy, the first aims at referring PRMs; the second, to enroll ECAs; and the third, to sponsor SFI Affiliates.

Social Media, email marketing and advertising seem to be the most suitable tools for prospecting such markets.

The average annual income of LinkedIn members has been identified at around the six figure bracket. I would recommend you specialize on marketing at this website. Your second activity can focus on advertising both online and offline, aiming at the appropriate income brackets and levels of wealth, keeping in mind that you are after very sophisticated prospects that are very much aware of the realities of world of business and discerning of the values of business offers

To attract and retain prospects from these market segments, it will be very useful to interact with them, educate them about SFI, give them information on how to succeed here, stressing the need of patience and long term view focused on residual income.

You may want to have a website and/or a blog to which you drive your prospects, and built a list with which you will communicate through emails, and press releases.

When such prospects sign-up with SFI, they will more likely be very active and willing to stick around.

less

Usually, people who have money to invest are on the look for the best opportunities, low risk and high potential returns. The wealthiest of them are the target of professional money managers. However, some of them are open to getting into business ventures, when their investment criteria are met.

They are also consumers who want good quality products at competitive prices

We need to take into consideration all the above when approaching them while realizing that we have better
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Introduction
Building a downline is vital to a sustainable, long lasting success with SIF. However one challenge has been facing us: finding and keeping truly active affiliates that are hungry for success
Keeping in mind that meaningful recurring/residual income depends on an active successful dowline, the mistakes to avoid are those that will impede or thwart the process of generating such an income. Sizeable residual income is generated when an SFI Affiliate business reaches the momentum, the point where a large team of Affiliate leaders and e-Commerce Associates are producing commissions for their sponsor.
Some build such teams rather fairly rapidly, while others struggle to make it happens. The mistakes the later are making are the one to avoid.
There are five major of such mistakes all of which will have an impact on whether our dowline will be active or sleepy.
(i) Not fully working our warm markets and not giving opportunities to the people we personally know to be exposed with SFI;
(ii) Relying exclusively in one form of sponsoring and neglecting to diversify the sources and origins of their affiliates;
(iii) Not having an effective communication and not building close business relationships with their downline;
(iv) Not helping their Affiliate be independent, self-motivated and able to find solutions to problems and challenges facing them; and,
(v) Motivating their downline only with material rewards.
Let examine each one of these mistakes in details
A. The Warm market as a source of Active Affiliates.
It is a major mistake not to market SFI to our family, our friends, our co-workers and the people with whom we interact on a daily basis. First, we are robbing them of the opportunity to make their own decisions whether to join or not. Second, we forego an opportunity to have affiliate we know personally and help them grow their businesses. Were we to fully exploit this opportunity, we would find it easier to keep contact with them and help them be successful.l
B. The Need to diversify one’s sponsoring methods.
If we were to use only one single sponsoring method, we would likely only get one kind of affiliates. The probability for them to be active would also likely be very low. We all have experienced new sign-ups who do not give any sign of being alive, or who stop working just after they accumulate few points. We have even seen affiliate reach team leadership status and stop logging in. All our attempts to motivate them remain futile. Because, seemingly, we get them from the same sources, they are plagued with the same ineffectiveness. To avoid this it is important to diversify our sponsoring methods
C. Effective Communication and Strong Business Relationships are vital
Sticking the right balance and appropriate timing of communications will help us maintain close contact with our downline. This is necessary to keep out team members active and duplicate our efforts to build their own teams.
D. Training our Team Members to be Independent and Self-Reliant Team Leaders
True success with SFI is when we reach the momentum of having our business work in auto-pilot. In other words, when we have built a team that is working successfully and independently of our own actions. We have in our downline team leaders who can find solutions to their problems, motivate their own teams to work and produce the results from which we earn commissions. When those commissions flow in regardless of whether we work or not, then we have a hand free operation.
We can obtain such results only if we avoid committing the mistakes of making our affiliate dependent on us.
E. Motivating our Affiliates with material rewards only
There is a natural tendency to motivate people thing tangible benefits. It will work for a while. But to be sustainable, our motivation methods should focus on helping our team members see the true benefits of being successful on their own, independently from any material rewards me may bestow on them.
The true lasting rewards they will enjoy by building their own team are those that will last and keep them striving to do more.
This is the correct answer to the question about mistakes made while building a downline.


less

Introduction
Building a downline is vital to a sustainable, long lasting success with SIF. However one challenge has been facing us: finding and keeping truly active affiliates that are hungry for success
Keeping in mind that meaningful recurring/residual income depends on an active successful dowline, the mistakes to avoid are those that will impede or thwart the process of generating such an income. Sizeable residual income is generated when an SFI Affiliate business reaches the momentum,
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi,WILFREDA SERIOSO,

In my experience, he or she is actually asking for help if an Affilate contacts you expressing their concern and intention to quit because of lack of result.

Yes, it is a disguised request for help.

I have had affiliate who quit without any form of notice.

I also had affiliates who expressed their disappointment over their results and contemplating the option to leave SFI.

There was nothing I could do in the first instance.

In the second case, I was able to convince them to keep trying.

To fully answer your question, it is important to address the disguised help request.

In other words, how can you help them stay and succeed?

First step: Help them make a thorough audit of their sales and sponsoring strategies and actions. Let them do that under your supervision, But let them be the ones to conduct such an audit. You will help them identify their weaknesses and where they will gain in improving their tactics.

Second: Offer them support within the SFI Sponsoring tools (including them in your S-Builder Co-op, giving them gift certificates and Tcredits, for example).

Staying within these confides is what will help you also boost your business. By doing so you are gaining twice: (i) retain an affiliate and, (ii) increase your VP scores

Third give them sponsoring and sales tips. Direct them to do tasks in those areas under your supervision and help them improve the quality of their work.

By doing so you are:

(a) giving them critical skills for success
(b) avoiding a mindset of dependency from their part, and
(c) helping them improve their results.

We also must recognize that there may be situations where an affiliate may still quit sooner or later.

If they do not have the basic skills and unwilling to learn;

If they are not willing to work on their warm markets while you help them build their skills and improve their results;

If they do not have the resources and/or are unwilling to invest the adequate time and money to grow their businesses;

In such cases, it may be better to recognize these facts and focus on the affiliates that are willing to work.

This is mere common sense and it is actually part of the SFI guidelines on sponsoring and "Rules of Success".

Good luck with your affiliates.

less

Hi,WILFREDA SERIOSO,

In my experience, he or she is actually asking for help if an Affilate contacts you expressing their concern and intention to quit because of lack of result.

Yes, it is a disguised request for help.

I have had affiliate who quit without any form of notice.

I also had affiliates who expressed their disappointment over their results and contemplating the option to leave SFI.

There was nothing I could do in the first instance.

In
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi, Cislyn Campbell.

I have been using Gift cards very early, since I joined SFI and I have had a fairly decent success with them.

I am attracting both PSAs and PMRs. It is common that my PRMs become also my Affiliates. I encourage them to register with both Tripleclicks and SFI

Gift cards are intended for two kinds of markets:

(i) our warn market (people with whom we have some form of relationships through family, friendship, work, and business interactions) on the one hand;

(2) on the other hand, online marketing and promotions

For our warm market, a gift card is a good introduction in casual settings. It is important that we make sure that we have the corresponding redemption code handy to give out with the gift cards and clear procedures typed on index cards explaining how to redeem the gift card.

It does not serve any purpose to hand out a gift card without the redemption code and instructions where to go to redeem it.

On this point, one can say that hand to hand is a excellent method to distribute gift cards.

Online promotions and prospecting is another excellent method.
Through email marketing, blogs, business groups in social network websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, you will find a large market of prospects who will be attracted to gift cards.

Here a caution is in order: Never display the redemption codes in random postings.

If you search the Forum posts, you will find stories of affiliates going through disappointing experiences because they made the redemption code available to public view. The gift cards were redeemed without any sales or registrations, and without even knowing who did it.

To protect yourself against this, always give them out to an individual with whom you have established a previous contact and through their private email.

less

Hi, Cislyn Campbell.

I have been using Gift cards very early, since I joined SFI and I have had a fairly decent success with them.

I am attracting both PSAs and PMRs. It is common that my PRMs become also my Affiliates. I encourage them to register with both Tripleclicks and SFI

Gift cards are intended for two kinds of markets:

(i) our warn market (people with whom we have some form of relationships through family, friendship, work, and business interactions)
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Hello, Mary Bird!

Doesn't SFI say: Aim High! Dream Big?

It is imperative to develop as many first generation stars as possible, for the following reasons.

A. The Essence of SFI Success is to build wide and deep.

We earn from our genealogy up to 12 levels deep.

That income cant be compounded in multiples if our first Genealogy Generation is wide enough.

B. It is not Wise, from the business standpoint to rely only on a handfull

1.The more successful team leaders you have on your first genealogy level you have, the easier will it be for you to reach and keep your top SFI Rank.

2. The bigger your SFI active team, the stronger and lasting your success will be.

It is true that some affiliates may feel that managing a small team would be easier than having to deal with a larger team. However, if we use the tools available within SFI, the amount of work is nearly the same, if our team members are trained well enough

3. Life is made of ups and downs that will affect everybody's activity. We cannot predict health and sickness which are part of life and will impact anybody on their ability to work and perform at the level they used to.

5. Accidents and Death are unpredictable.

They have nothing to do with age or even health at a given moment.

One or two top performing stars on our team may be going through life changing circumstances which will affect our overall achievements if we were to rely only on a handful of strong team leader.

Good luck to you

I wish you the best success and to everybody

Aim High. Dream Big
less

Hello, Mary Bird!

Doesn't SFI say: Aim High! Dream Big?

It is imperative to develop as many first generation stars as possible, for the following reasons.

A. The Essence of SFI Success is to build wide and deep.

We earn from our genealogy up to 12 levels deep.

That income cant be compounded in multiples if our first Genealogy Generation is wide enough.

B. It is not Wise, from the business standpoint to rely only on a handfull
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

Hi, Balau Carmen.

Tripleclicks give us the ability to do both.

And that is my preference as well as my approach.

We should not let ourselves be caught in a mentality that will be limiting our possibilities and our potential for success.

It is worthwhile to advertise the whole Tripleclicks store using our specific gateways.

http://www.tripleclicks.com/xxxxxxxx

Each of the major Tripleclicks departments has it own gateway.

When we do so, we are targeting the wide online retail market with an extremely large market and potential customer base.

We also will be well advised to promote specific Tripleclicks products through niche marketing

For example the "Pricebenders" auctions are a sous-category of the Tripleclicks store.

http://www.tripleclicks.com/xxxxxxxx/pbgw

In the same way, health products, fitness, metals (gold and silver) can and should be advertised separately because of the large market niches that cater to their demand.

We can use the Silver Gateway in the Gold and Silver market market niches to that end.
http://www.tripleclicks.com/xxxxxxxx/Silver

less

Hi, Balau Carmen.

Tripleclicks give us the ability to do both.

And that is my preference as well as my approach.

We should not let ourselves be caught in a mentality that will be limiting our possibilities and our potential for success.

It is worthwhile to advertise the whole Tripleclicks store using our specific gateways.

http://www.tripleclicks.com/xxxxxxxx

Each of the major Tripleclicks departments has it own gateway.

When
...more

Affiliate since: 12/31/1969, Power Rank: 99999999

When I started, I quickly built a core team by recruiting offline, from my warm market. I still believe that this is the best approach. There is a major problem if we do not have a trusting relationship with our family members, our friends and our co-workers. If we have that trusting relationship, it would not be that hard to communicate to them the enthusiasm we have for SFI in the first hours of our joining.

For one, It is much easier to speak to people we know than to initiate a conversation with strangers. Two: with offline recruiting directed to our warm market, often we may not even have to initiate the conversation. SFI offers us a variety of offline marketing tools that will draw the attention of people with whom we interact on a daily basis. Example are the SFI shirts, bags or the Fast Track pin. We can have any of those items with us and they will play the role of conversation starters within our warm market. There are numerous opportunities for such interactions.

However, I do not believe in making a dichotomy between offline and online recruiting. They are not mutually exclusive to one another. Actually, they should be combined and put to work together.

After we have gained more knowledge about SFI and more confidence as business owners, recruiters and sponsors, we can transfer the experience we gained to the recruiting side we have not fully addressed. For instance, if we started with offline recruiting, we can apply the lessons we learned there to online recruiting, and vice versa.

It is true, though, that online marketing requires a different set of skills and strategies. But, the confidence we have gained is the most important part. We can easily acquire the online recruiting skills and learn its most effective strategies while we are working on recruiting offline.

Then, when we are finally ready to address the online market, we are more equipped to be resilient and make steady progress.
less

When I started, I quickly built a core team by recruiting offline, from my warm market. I still believe that this is the best approach. There is a major problem if we do not have a trusting relationship with our family members, our friends and our co-workers. If we have that trusting relationship, it would not be that hard to communicate to them the enthusiasm we have for SFI in the first hours of our joining.

For one, It is much easier to speak to people we know than to initiate a conversation
...more