I would be really surprised if you’ve never heard about SendOutCards. It’s one of the coolest network marketing companies out there. Several top network marketers have realized the great value of SendOutCards and jumped aboard. While for some SOC is their main business most are using it more as an add-on to their existing business..

So what is SendOutCards?

SendOutCards, an online real greeting card company, officially launched in 2005, but the idea started way before that. It started as a promise founder and CEO Kody Bateman made after he lost his older brother, Kris, in a tragic electrical accident.

When Kody left Salt Lake City, UT, many years ago to take on an internship in New York City he ignored a prompting to go over to Kris and say goodbye because he was running late that day. Instead he just waved and drove off.

Three and a half months later, in the middle of the night, Kody got a call that his brother, an electrician, had been killed on the job.

Can you imagine, what must have gone through his mind at that moment? That tremendous amount of pain and regret. That was the moment the idea of SendOutCards was born.

In a nutshell, the very basic idea behind this incredible system is to provide an easy solution to “help people act on their promptings.”

SendOutCards lets you send out real physical greeting cards, that you type out on your computer, even in your own handwriting and with your own signature. You can upload your own photos to add to your message and even include a gift with your card. Then with a push of the magical “SEND” button it is on its way.

You don’t have to go to the store anymore, nor do you need to stuff, address, stamp or mail your card. It’s all done for you automatically with this incredible system.

Since those early days in 2005 the company has grown immensely. With total cards sent so far numbering 67.4 million (7 February 2012) no wonder it is now the largest first class mailing company in the United States.

And since it is the only greeting card company of its kind, there is virtually no competition!

Some of the incredible features of SendOutCards include…

• Pick a card from the Catalog of thousands of cards (I think they’re up to 15,000 cards at the time I’m writing this) and any imaginable category. Or design your own from scratch with the PicturePlus 2.0 feature.
• Set up a fully Automated Follow-up Campaign. Just set your cards up in a sequence and tell the system how many days, weeks or months apart you want your cards to go out and the system will send them out totally automatically with your handwriting and signature and any photos you want to add. And remember, you can even include a gift.
• The Contact Manager lets you add new contacts manually or you can import up to 750 contacts at a time from any tab separated file. For business people this is really a great feature. It also lets you organize your contacts in different groups so you can easily keep track and send out your campaigns to either specific people in a group or the whole group altogether.
• Send out a BIG Card…yes, SendOutCards now has cards that are about 4 times the size of a regular greeting card. It’s perfect for those occasions when you really want to make a statement. (I just recently sent out a Big Card “Thank You” card to one of my newest customers.)
• Also one of the newest, (and IMO) coolest features is the Video Card. Yes, you read that right.  I LOVE sending out video cards for people’s birthdays. The way this works is, SendOutCards uses QR Codes that you can scan with your smart phone. So when I sent a video card for someone’s birthday they can scan that QR Code an up pops a video right on their screen. By the way, this is not only super cool for birthdays, but also great for marketing, hint, hint.

According to David Frey SendOutCards is …

“The Ultimate Marketing and Personal Relationship Management System!”

I totally happen to agree.

What can you use SendOutCards for?

The possibilities are endless but here are just some ideas you can use this great system for…

• Keep in touch with family, friends, customers and business associates.
• Send out birthday cards
• Send out thank you notes
• Follow up with people
• Use it for lead generation campaigns
• Introduce a new product or service
• Use it to get more referrals
• Send inspirational cards to your team
• Send out heartfelt cards to people you care about

How much does SendOutCards Cost?

Depending on what plan you go with you can send out a regular two panel greeting card for as low as 0.98 cents plus postage. (Within the U.S. if you add the postage of 0.45 cents you can send out a card for as low as $1.43. Wow! Remember, you didn’t have to go to the store; you didn’t have to go to the post office and buy stamps; you didn’t have to stuff the envelope or mail the card, it was all done for you automatically for just$1.43. (If you are sending a card overseas it currently would cost you 0.98 cents for the card and 0.98 postage, total = $1.96)

There are currently two retail plans available:

1) Pay As You Go Plan — it’s exactly like it says, you pay for your cards as you go with points ranging from 99 cents per point to 49 cents per point depending how many points you buy.

(SendOutCards uses points instead of credits for the cards. So for example:  A postcard = 1 point; a regular 2-panel greeting card = 2 points; a 3-panel card = 3 points and so on.

2) Subscription Plan

For the tiny amount of $9.80 a month you can get a subscription and you can enjoy the full service of this incredible stay in touch system. Oh by the way, this subscription includes 10 greeting cards automatically. Don’t worry if you don’t use up those cards because they roll over from month to month.

What’s so cool about the Subscription Plan is that you automatically get the lowest price per point which is 49 cents a point!! [***If you choose the $31/month subscription plan you can even save MORE!]

SendOutCards has quickly become the most important marketing tool I use in my business! Actually, I call it my “Appreciation Marketing System.”  Oh, and my husband uses it in his mortgage business as well.

I made a short ANIMOTO video featuring
some of the cards I made …Check it out here!

SendOutCards – It’s not just cards anymore

There’s a lot more to SendOutCards than meets the eye. Recently the company added the SOC Photo Store where you can create your own photo books, calendars, posters, canvas prints, vision boards, business cards and coupon cards. You can get as creative as you want to.

What do you think? Would you like to test out the system for FREE?

I invite you to send out a greeting card to anyone you like today! My treat, I even pay for postage. Just CLICK HERE! Click around, play with the features, upload some pictures and let your creativity go wild. You’ll see why I have so much fun with this system.

If you want to find out more please watch this detailed Introduction to SendOutCards with my friend David Frey.

To Your Massive Success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

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There are 36 million kids ages 5-13 in the United States, and more than 93 percent of them report going trick-or-treating, according to the Washington Post.

Do you realize that all of those little ghosts and goblins who will be coming knocking at your door for some tricks or treats can help you spread the word about your business?

Absolutely! Halloween presents a great opportunity to get really creative and think outside the box as far as your marketing is concerned.

Here are 5 creative marketing ideas that will
make this Halloween both fun and profitable for you….

1. If you are planning on giving out Halloween themed suckers, (or any other kind), they work really well with your business card tied on to them.
2. The pumpkins on your front door make for ideal advertising spaces.  Just carve your company logo into them. Or if you are really talented with the carving tools then carve in a QR code leading to your website.
3. Hand out little bags of candy with your company logo printed on it or use Halloween themed baggies and include your business card.
4. Send Halloween cards to your customers and clients to keep on top of their mind. Maybe attach a coupon for special Halloween savings on your favorite products.
5. For those of you who love marketing with videos, why not make a special Halloween marketing video. You could dress up as your favorite scary character and present your marketing message in a frightful way they’ll be sure to remember.

One of my favorite Halloween marketing ideas I shared earlier on this blog, but I’ll repeat it here again.

Trick or Treat…

Why not make your own Halloween Mix? Here’s my favorite recipe…

2 cups of candy corn
1 cup of nuts
some M&Ms
some salted peanuts
& some Apple Jacks cereal

Each of these stand for something. Mix them all up and put them into a fun plastic back or other fun container. Tie your business card to it and a note that reads:

“Are you mixed up thinking about how you pay for Christmas gifts this year? Consider a mix that’s the answer. If you like to have fun and you are a little nutty consider joining XYZ company. You decide how many zeros you want on your paycheck. If you’re curious about mixing it up and making a little more money, let’s get together so I can tell you about our treats.”

I hope these ideas gave you some inspiration. For more creative marketing ideas for the holidays and beyond check out my post … “Thinking Outside the Box in Your Marketing? | Creative Marketing Ideas for the Holidays and Beyond.

Do you have any other  ideas  for creative marketing you would like to share? If so, feel free to leave your feedback in the comments below. (PLEASE READ the Commenting Rules here!)

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

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Refer Business to Competition

Reading that headline you might think, “Gosh, has she gone nuts? Why would I want to refer business to my competition? Why would I deliberately want to lose a sale?”

But, I’m telling you, referring business to your companies competition, might actually be a good thing.  And like any “act of giving” it might come back to you manifold.

In my nutritional business I sometimes ran into customers who had an issue with the price of the flagship product of our company. They thought it was too high and told me that they could get the “same” thing for half the price at COSCO.

Perceived value versus price.

Since I often felt their objection most likely had more to do with perceived value than it did with the price, and since I was familiar with the product at COSCO I explained that our product was very different from theirs. I went on an explained the superior quality of our product and pointed out the extensive science behind it.

If all that didn’t help, I politely told them to go on and try COSCO’s product and if they didn’t see the results they wanted, I would be very happy to sell them ours.

Referring my (potential) customer to the competition showed…

1) That I cared more about satisfying their needs than making a quick sale.

2) That I had confidence in myself and in my product.

3) It was a polite way of saying (without actually saying it out loud), “If you want the cheaper, inferior product go there. And if it doesn’t bring you the desired results come back”.

You might be thinking, “well, did anyone ever come back and bought your product?” The answer is a resounding “YES!”  To this day, I still have former COSCO customers.

My husband does the same thing in his home mortgage business.

Sometimes he comes across clients who “shop around”. They think they can get a better rate elsewhere.

Randy is very knowledgeable. He knows what’s going on in the mortgage industry. He keeps a close watch on rates and knows when they go up or down. He is also very confident on what he can do for his clients and delivers great value on a continuous basis, (even after the loan is closed).

So if someone tells him, they can get a better deal elsewhere he knows if that’s true or not. And he will encourage his clients to go check it out and therefore refer business to his competition. After all, he only wants the best for his clients.

On numerous occasions clients came back to him after shopping around and even referred their friends and family to him after they closed on their loans.

Unfortunately it also happened that he lost some clients to what they thought was the better deal…But, they came back to him when it was time to refinance their home again.

So it pays to refer business to your competition. Don’t be worried that you would lose a sale, because more times than not you DON’T. On the contrary, you gain a loyal customer who knows that you provide value and that you care more about their needs than you care about yourself. And you also might gain some really great referrals.

To your success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Thank You!

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Instant Gratification or Lifelong Customer?

Instant gratification or delayed gratification?

Would you like one marshmallow or two?

Marshmallow? Okay, now you may think I have completely lost it. But please stay with me for a moment and I will explain where I am going with this.

A study was done on a group of four year old children. They were taken one at a time into a room with a two-way mirror and given a marshmallow. They were then told they could eat the marshmallow right away, (instant gratification), but if they didn’t and instead waited until the person who gave it to them returned from an errand they could have two marshmallows. (Delayed gratification).

Some children grabbed the marshmallow and ate it right away others waited up to 20 minutes until the person returned.

Watch this video of a similar Marshmallow Test...

The same group of children was tested again at age 18. Those who had waited for the second marshmallow scored an average of 210 points higher on their SAT tests.

Researchers find that the group of kids who could force themselves to wait, tend to have better lives and better relationships.

Hmm, tough choice … Instant gratification or a chance for a better life? But a four year old is just that, a four year old.

So, how does that relate to your network marketing business?

Well, you can either go for the quick sale by promoting your opportunity every chance you get on Facebook, Twitter or any of the other social media sites.

Or, you can really make a conscious effort to cultivate and nurture the relationships with people you meet in your social networks.

Let’s take a look at the marshmallow study example above and substitute the marshmallows with customers.

Let’s say Sue is your newest friend on Facebook. You exchanged “nice-to-meet-you” messages and now you just can’t wait to tell Sue all about your business opportunity. So you keep sending her messages telling her how great your products are and that she surely could benefit from using them.

Sue breaks down and buys something from you. (Quick sale – Instant Gratification.  But, she is so turned off by your method, that she deletes any further messages you send to her or even ‘unfriends’ you altogether.

Different scenario…

You and Sue have exchanged messages for several months, maybe even talked on the phone a couple of times really getting to know each other.

One day she calls you up saying … “You know, I am really glad we connected and got to know each other. I have been checking out your products on your website and I think I would really like to try some. As a matter of fact, I have talked to my friend Jill and she would be interested in learning more about them too. Would it be possible to set up a time to do a 3way call so you could tell us more about your products and your company?” (Lifelong customer or maybe even business partner).

So which would you rather have?

One marshmallow or two? Quick sale or lifelong customer/business partner?

It’s really not that hard to figure that one out, is it?

Do you think relationships count in business? Just think, how much of your product would one customer treated well buy in a lifetime? How many referrals would he send your way?

The value of a relationship build and nurtured over a lifetime is worth much more than a quick sale.

By delaying gratification you could actually win big. Therefore it is very important to build customer relationships and nurture them.

So, my question for you …Do you want one marshmallow or two?

To your success,

Ilka Flood
The EnlightenedNetworker

P.S. You don’t have to share this, but I would sure appreciate it if you did. Thank you!

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“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

Building rapport is the first step in building a relationship with your customers, clients or future business partners. It’s a skill anyone can learn and like anything else, it takes practice. The more we practice, the better we get at it. Eventually it comes naturally. My husband is great at this. He has a unique gift to make the person he talks to laugh within the first 30 seconds. Humor is a great ice-breaker.

Here are 3 important points that will help you become a great rapport builder:

1) Ask questions. You can find out a lot about a person by asking questions. Listen to the answers they give you and you will find out what their needs are. People love to talk about themselves.

2) Listen. I mean really listen to what they are telling you. Keep eye contact and give them your full attention. Looking around while listening is not only rude, but it will give them the impression that you are distracted or don’t really care. Make them your total focus and show genuine interest. Let them have the feeling that there is nothing else more important at that moment than they are. Do participate in the conversation but listen more than you talk.

3) Compliment. There is nothing that will give you faster or stronger rapport than a genuine compliment. Emphasis is on ‘genuine.’ Really mean what you say. People will see straight through a fake or insincere compliment and that would only hurt your trying to build that relationship. So be totally sincere. It makes us feel good when we get a sincere compliment and we open up. If you don’t know the person very well or you have just met, compliment them on their smile, their outfit or anything else that strikes you at first glance.

Building rapport can be a lot of fun and it’s different with every person you meet. The more you practice, the better you get.

How do YOU build rapport? I’d love to hear your comments on this.

To Your Success,
Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

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