I'm almost afraid to start this post but the heck with it. Let's start out with a definition. What is/are the Coastal Forgotten? There are a few categories I can think of and believe you me there are probably more you can come up with. 1- Members who bought a package and their director ran away with no support. 2- Members that are qualified but stuck in a rut and being qualified cant get alot of support from their up lines. 3- Members with CV but their teams or up lines have went on to a new travel venture. 4-Members that believe in Coastal but aren't happy or comfortable being salespeople This thread is for you. I'm opening up myself to answer your questions concerns and find solutions to what ails your business. Now of course other directors are more than encouraged to chime in. Why am I afraid to open this up, well this obviously can become a b___tching session but hey its about time people got a chance to vent. Plus im afraid to hurt my coaching business as I usually get paid to do this (resolve Coastal business issues) but I see a need and am jumping to fill it. So lets the fireworks begin. Adam Frederick Internet Entrepreneur and Coach 302 613 4632 [email protected]
My personal advice for anyone that is in any of the above categories is to attend the Coastal seminar in Orlando on March 28th and 29th... Get to meet everyone and rub shoulders with everybody
ateamfuntimer: Plus I'm afraid to hurt my coaching business as I usually get paid to do this (resolve Coastal business issues) .............. Sorry - I have read this a few times - and I have to ask. What is this service you offer? Who pays you & to do what specifically? This is just over my head. Maybe I am not alone? Maybe if more knew what you do in this service - maybe you will get some more business? What do you offer? and can you tell what you charge here in public? I'd understand if you cannot. Maybe I am just to dense to get it? What CV business issues are there to resolve? Bob
Great questions Bob. Having had success in CV and having been in many other opportunities in the past (as well as presently) my experience is unique. As everyone for years past have been huge on buying leads ( I do suggest that members buy the leads they can afford) I took a different approach. Much of this approach was for the fact many of my teammates and associates were struggling to pay at the time $150 for their websites and then had an advertising budget to contend with as well. With this being the case my goal became how to generate my own leads in a cost efficient manner. We became big advocates of home parties, customer appreciation days, and other methods to generate our own targeted leads. In addition I became adept at web design and began creating my own lead capture pages. By learning the skills needed to create my own leads I was able to cut my advertising budget and show others to do the same. In my studies I found that the leads I generated on my own were more receptive. The reason behind this is that people buy from people that they like. It gave me my own type of branding and separated me from the pack in the marketplace. If any of you search on the internet for Coastal Vacations you will see various leaders doing the same thing. Many of these leaders use PPC and other methods to get their own targeted leads. Now there is nothing wrong with buying leads at all I've just found that cold calling someone that filled in information on a survey while it does works isn't as effective as having someone call me or calling someone that had seen my personal ad with my personal story. There have been some great points given on this thread that relate to the upcoming seminar which I believe is a great resource for many in CV. My experience from my teammates has been different than most about the event. It really comes down to applying the information given at the events. Don't get me wrong they are great avenues to meet and greet the leaders, to meet teammates you haven't met before and some actually have that moment of clarity at these events and get it. Now here comes the but. Please read this carefully so everyone understands my position on live events. Being a public speaker myself I promote live events all the time. But lets look at this from a standpoint of a new business owner or a business owner that is trying to get through some business challenges. Let's think about all of the technology we have at the point of a mouse click. Webinars, conference calls, webcams and video conferencing as well as the wealth of free and inexpensive learning material on the internet. Imagine a live telecast where all the leaders that attend the event came on and could promote their message to a larger audience. How cost effective is that? All of the leaders could really reach a massive audience and think of the savings involved for the business owner that has to decide to either buy more leads to grow their business or spend those funds on plane tickets or gas to get to an event. I wont say the accomodations as we get great deals. The same info could be given at a substanstial savings. Again I think conferences are great. I've attended many and even spoke at them. I've loved meeting my team as well as all the attendees. But, again with the but, my goal has always been to show people the practical business principles needed to be successful. My trainings center around doing just that. I don't want to ramble on any more or get people to feel that they shouldnt go to an event. My issue is with anyone saying that if you aren't at the event you arent serious about building your business. There are probably ten's of thousands of Coastal Distributors. So by saying that if you aren't at an event you aren't serious about your business you are in essence saying ten's of thousands of people that have made money in CV aren't serious. That's a slippery slope I care not to go down. Why not make things open for everyone especially with the technology available and become more inclusive. So much has been done to break the groups apart and pit them against each other in the past it's time we all understand we are all CV business owners and embrace each other. Yes we all have different methods to run our businesses but this is America and we have the freedom to do so. Again we are all CV business owners. Hope that cleared up a few things. If you can attend the event do so but I encourage you to not only take notes but to apply those notes to your business. Adam Frederick Internet Coach + Entrepreneur 302 613 4632 [email protected]
Hello "Coastal Forgotten" (if you fall in this category)! We usually call people who are in this category ... for whatever reason it may be --- Upline left, quit, turned out to be a poor fit with your personality, didn't have the skills to teach or did but they are so far into some market you can't work that you have to find other support ... Coastal Orphans. Our own business is actually made up of about 70% (or a little more) of exactly the people that are in that situation. It doesn't matter what the reason, if you are out there and in Coastal and needing support, there's only a couple of options open to you. 1. Find someone willing to help you for free. Give you their time, their energy, their training, etc. --- and just call it "giving back" and they are willing to do that. 2. More realistic ... find someone or another group to join. They will make you "join again" by paying, buying a package again but they may be more to your liking, or stick around to help. Of the "join a different group options, there again, not all are created equal on many levels. What sort of cost is their for their site? Do they have a site? What's the training availble? Do you have to make your own calls to leads? Will someone call leads with you and not force you to split sales? Do you have to give up 2 sales again? Because of the tremendous amount at stake for people who have invested in Coastal already, we have created special options you may want to know about. Just ask and we can visit. Coastal is a business that has the power to and has weathered many storms of all sorts from economy to terrorist to whatever. Making it work for you ... especially our Coastal Forgotten is our main goal. See you at the top....
A while back I coined the term "The Coastal Forgotten". My goal was to interact with members that had been left behind by directors that had either dropped out of Coastal as they had went to other opportunities or their directors had either dropped out. It's a tough position to be in. First off lets say that if your director has moved on for any reason their is no reason to be upset with them. This is your business and whether you have a mentor or not it's up to you to succeed. So what do you do if you are forgotten. My suggestion is to contact a member of this forum. Ask as many questions as you need to but as the street saying goes "keep it real". If you are on a fishing expedition then say so. If you are ready to get started again then tell the person you call. Their time is valuable as they are running their business and as you probably have a package already there is no immediate financial gain to them helping you so understand that and the business aspect of Coastal. But if you are forgotten you are not lost. Hope is alive. Many of us have helped many Coastal Forgotten to renewed success. Adam [Post edited - Admin]
