Tips for the frustrated Coastal Reps

Wait a minute garyd....I think you said it right in the end of your post when you said you are all over the place. First of all, focus on 3 marketing techinques. I would say you are looking at blogs, ppc and phone calls right now.

I am just starting with blogginig so I can't help you there. But there are many posts on this forum regarding blogging. (other folders). Just ask around.

PPC - make sure you go through all of the back office training for PPC. There is a lot of information. Also, there are free resources online. Are you using Google, yahoo, msn, what ones? I have found google to be expensive and yahoo more reasonable. If you are watching your budget, focus on yahoo or maybe msn for a while. If you are not getting satisfactory results, change your ad. Different title, etc. You can always go back to the original, but you have to test and track results.

Phone calls - People may disagree, but if someone opts in to my site, I would call them MAX 3 times. Then move on. There are ways to do this indicating that it is the last call, etc. The back office has some sample scripts for you to refer to. I would not take them out of my system because they are still getting emails and then maybe in the future they will come around. I am not in the business of trying to convince someone of this opportunity. If someone is looking for information, I am happy to provide and discuss the opportunity, however, I will not chase people down. Because I am looking for serious people. If somone is serious, they will make the call. Focus your energies elsewhere if you are not getting a response. You may want to buy some good quality leads and call them. You seem to be OK with talking on the phone, so maybe you want to take some of your PPC budget and focus on calling some Coastal specific leads. More expensive, but worth your while if you can get a sale or two.

What are you using for voiceshots? Do you have another autoresponder system besides WCYS? Don't forget you can send personal emails to all of your optins in addition to the set autoresponder emails. That may prompt some action.

Why would your director say you are unemployable? You seem to have a good set of skills if you have owned your own franchise for 22 years. Perhaps he/she meant you are not meant to be empolyed by someone else?? Just seems like a strange comment given you past success.

Don't forget to attend all training calls you can to soak up any information you can get. All I can say is this - read everything you can as far as training goes. Keep learning. This will work for you.

Noreen

hi decker2006
i didnt finish my thought, i realized it after i posted. being unemployable eas kinda what u said that i cant work for someone given the incaome i was used to. i tried a few diff. advetising options and i am sticking to ppc on google. i read alot about how to change words and title around and right now its my cheapest source.i will also place some paper ads and call them as needed. i did purchase coastal targeted leads, but i cant seem to get them to the live q& a call or i dont know if they went.my ppc is giving me a real decent amount of opt ins, but thats it,they are either not home or never call back and i have tried all the diff. scripts and answering machine messages. i'll just keep on keepin on until it clicks. same here i absoloutly will not chase my leads or opt ins. the opportunity is right there for them and i will be here for them if they join. youre right i want serious and depedable and trainable people on m,y team.i have sent my own emails from our autoresponder b/o as well, but nothing. thanks again for your support
garyd

decker2006
sorry for all my typos.next time i'll proof read it first.to much effort to start each sentence with a capital.im not getting paid for grammer.haha
garyd

I would try send people directly to the call center, not the Q&A. Try that. Or, don't forget, if they are $$ qualified and you have them on the phone and they are interested, you should 3 way them in to the call center. Even if it is after hours, you tell them who you are including your id# then ask Mr. X to leave his number and the best time to reach him and then someone from the call center will get back to him.

N.

I wanted to share something that I have done in this particular thread. It has proved to be very useful in creating my own leads and bringing them right into my system. A Capture page...Splash page. It gets the prospects info and gives an area for comment. It then can either redirect people to our movie page, main page, or a page that we design(sales letter). We chose to use the sales letter option and in that letter we have links for three of the opportunities we represent. Anyway the point I was trying to make is that this service (capture page) came pre templated. It was super easy to set up with our own text ,picture, and voice recording. It only cost us 56 bucks for the year. We can change it on the fly which is a great feature also. We are getting hits on it through free ads we have placed as well as some forum and newsgroup postings.
If your interested in seeing what we have come up with. Go check out the page. Its the same address that is posted below but its dot info instead. Oh and by the way gang I share this info with you freely. Please...Please...if you want to put in your info to see where the page takes you...go right ahead. but do us the courtesy of typing "Test" in the comment box or we'll have to call you and sell you a travel package...LOL
I hope this helps


Sean & Aviva
Level 3 Directors/ FTV SE Distributor

I should probably add to that last post that this is not creating a deluge of leads. its merely bringing me a constant stream. Between about 3-10 a day. But keep in mind these leads can be the same as premium high end Movie leads if you choose to direct them that way.
If this is something you would like to know more about email me with a request for more info.

hey sean & aviva. garyd again.you said you can change this on the fly. do you mean pics and links and text?what company is it from and its only 56$ for what i saw?video too? or only audio.do you reccomend this on top of my wcys movie site which has an opt in page?how long does it take to set up and see online?

ps is this anything like vac. power? i am doing so much research on all diff. avenues to go. i have a who is page (if you heard of that)and my regular wcys site.i want to generate opt ins in new way. ive been using ppc and i am getting pretty good at that( playing with the words and title)but its very costly, even though i figured out how to get clicks for dirt cheap,but i am getting so many and none are converting, its adding up. so i am trying to understand and learn these other ways.once i figure out something i get another suggestion from someone(which is great.i love the support)and then i am lost again. you see what i'm saying?
thanks garyd

Hello Howard

the tip I can give is to do 4 different things, every day.

Choose what you are good at, placing free ads, writing articles, writing press releases, posting in forums or chat boards, blogging...whatever it is, just do it.

The days I do nothing it shows. Personally I have received the best leads from my website in the organic searches on google. I have spent some time optimising and it has paid off. But that should be a long term goal. In the short term, make a plan to succeed and don't give up on yourself.

There are plenty of marketing ideas on my website under advertising help and I will be posting a lot more this weekend under the tools links.

hope this helps

maria porter
level 3 director

ps I made 11 sales in my first 2 weeks but that was back in 2001. Nowadays I would have had to do 3X the advertising and work to get the same results.

hi again. does anyone know of a good forum or a place to blog that i can promote my biz w/o spaming.the links in wcys b/o are no good. too much work just to find it once you click the links and if so nobody is there.unless i am doing it wrong, but i dont think so.

Hello Everyone!

I am soo glad I found this place!
I am a new Level One Director with no sales yet, but a lot of passion for the business. I'm taking my time getting set up and have done some local advertising without much success and have decided to do retail sales to local businesses. I have my web site, business cards, postcards, merchant account, and business folders all personalized and a lead capture page. I have lists to call and have started meeting with appointments.

I can glean so much info just by reading this blog than I've been able to get from weeks/months listening to calls.

Two questions:
One, I'd like to hear from other Directors who work businesses on the retail end and their tips for success...do's and don'ts.
Secondly, what's with worldwidetravel.com?
They don't want to honor ANY locations except for Florida timeshare sales pitches? At least I haven't had any luck with them.

Seeing as that was the "Your personal dream vacation" I was offering everyone as a freebie (for fund raising and for listening to my pitch), and it seems no one can get booked properly. Me included.

Also, please identify the vacations in the package that ARE NOT worth promoting.
This is just for me to separate the wheat from the chaff, as I DO believe Coastal is a very worthwhile business opportunity.
Thanks for sharing.

Lindy

Lindy,
I am actually on a condo stay with tht "your dream vacation" brochure as I type this. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hi Lindy,
I heard from another director that if you don't like the vendor you can send it back to shipping and then they will send you a different vendor's voucher (Actually I think it was Harold)
I just received their info (WWT) last week as well and I don't like how they want you to give them 3 choices of places as it is supposed to be your destination and I only want to go local in Ontario and there is only one listed. I also wanted to go with a friend rather than my hubby and it says you must travel with your spouse. I think I will return it with these concerns and see what happens.
I also want to give out the best voucher to my friends and family to promote this business so I hope some of the big guys will tell all -what is good and what to avoid to have the most hassle free holiday for ourselves and our prospects.
Welcome to the business and let us know how it is going. I know I will be sharing how I got my 2 sales very soon (hopefully).

Judy

Thank you hsimpsonjr. It wasn't the "Dream Vacation".

I knew there was something wrong because I wanted to go to Myrtle Beach, or Charleston or Hilton Head and NONE were available at all for the foreseable future. Only Florida and with timeshare presentations. So, I went back to my Coastal package, and lo and behold it was the "Your Personal Vacation", 3/2 at over 80 destinations....that was giving me the problem. Sorry about that.

I realize you're in Myrtle Beach, and you're enjoying yourself. Let me know what your cost was, the travel company you booked with (worldwidetravel.com??), how soon in advance you had to book, and what your hotel was like. I'd like to make it out there myself this summer as I live in NC.

Thank you Judy for your comments.

I just got back from Ontario as well, but didn't use any of my Coastal packages as there wasn't enough time. I think I might send the WWT voucher back to NB management for another. If anyone here knows it can't be done, please tell me.

I gave one to my son for his birthday, and he's getting booked into a hotel in St. Petersburg, Fl. (he lives in Florida). Said there was a time share presentation. I told him to go anyway (he had to give a $50 deposit). If any other members here are having problems with Worldwide travel, please say so.
I believe the reason they say you HAVE to travel with your spouse, is so that you can both sit through the time share presentation.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

I want only to promote the best that Coastal has to offer. I believe in the company and the packages, but I do believe it would make our job easier if they had a list of their vendors who currently weren't living up to their advertising, so we could avoid them.
I appreciate if any of you here could guide me which vacations to steer away from.

I also think the BOD should organize a new Coastal binder/portfolio and eliminate the old looking brown zippered case with the OUTDATED cassettes and video (no one would use it in a presentation), and get rid of all the useless stuff that cheapens the package (free camera and rolls of film, road "service", "dining" coupons) ....stuff that people who can pay $1,295 for a package aren't going to use anyway. I ordered some of the restaurant coupons just to see what they had, and it looked like somebody actually clipped them out of local papers or magazines with expiration dates within 3 weeks.

The package needs cleaning up and modernized. There's just too much useless stuff in there that's confusing. Take this as constructive criticism please.

I look forward to everyone's input.

lindy, i couldnt agree more. the package is not impressive at all. the cassettes are down right embarassing.whats the deal with the time share. dont we promote this over and over that there is NO TIMESHARE! please someone on the bod listen to us. to be number 1 you have to at least look the part.the time shares must go. they are the reason we have this package.isnt it?
gary d

OK guys, before pointing out all that is BAD with the package, let's refocus.

First of all, when I got my package, I immediately went out and got a three ring binder with transparent pages and put all of my vouchers, cards and books in it. It is about 40 pages long, both front and back. That's a lot of vacations. Yes, there is some fluff, junk whatever you want to call it. But you know what? Chuck it! There is enough in the package that you are really not focusing on the big picture. I put the Carnival postcard on the front and now I have a nice little binder that I can show people.

Timeshares - no one can force you to go on a timeshare presentation. Of course they are going to offer it, but to the best of my knowledge, it is not a requirement of booking a condo. I don't think anyone can "force" you to hear a presentation, but here is a tip I heard, maybe on this forum. I think it was from Jay, but I may be wrong. (Sorry if this came from someone else) Go to the timeshare presentation. You will be amongst people who probably paid top dollar for their vacation. Take your business cards and network! I have not had the chance to do this yet, but this is an incredible marketing strategy. You have people considering spending 10s of thousands of $$ for a timeshare. Don't we have something better to offer??

I would love to hear what is the top rated #1 vacation to give away, since I have not had a chance to do that yet. Anybody have any thoughts on this one? I agree, I would not want someone who got a vacation from me to be pressured into a timeshare presentation, but there are plenty of options to choose from. Surely you can find something that is appropriate for a give away??


Noreen

Hello folks, thanks for the comments. At all times remember, I am a newbie who WANTS to be successful with Coastal. I believe in the company and the product, which I state in every post.

I just feel rudderless and without all the pertinent information I need to run a successful business.

Decker, I DID re-focus immediately. I went to the Orlando conference recently and spotted someone's nice presentation portfolio. The first thing I DID when I got home was go to Office Max, and buy a nice zipped black binder and all my cards and vacation packages and pertinent Documents are in a great presentation folder. No problem with that. My presentation is great.

My complaint is that now I am romancing the high end clients and am trying to figure out how NOT to be embarrased when they get their package. The only thing I can figure out is to to have it shipped to me and re-package it myself and throw out the useless junk (sorry guys, it's useless and cheapens the package). If Coastal wants to compete, they need to upgrade their package. The BOD could ask for help on this........I'm sure Coastal Directors wouldn't mind throwing in extra money to have a better package for their clients.

Comments appreciated. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Get rid of the cassettes and video and add a CD and/or DVD. Join the high tech revolution. This is 2007.

Hi Noreen,

And I would agree....time share presentations aren't all that bad. You can certainly give out your business cards, but I wouldn't want it to be the FIRST booking my new clients tried. It was (unfortunately) my first one....maybe it was the marguerita glasses...;~) that enticed me.

I recently became a member of our local business association and tonight they held a fund raiser for one of the member's neices, who has bone cancer at age 21. The family of five just lost their father from a heart attack several months ago and are in dire need of help.

Last month I donated the "Personal 3/2 vacation" from WWT. Told them just to give it to the family and re-iterated tonight that there was (unfortunately) a time share presentation with it. To smooth things over, I gave them an activated 3/2 Funtime vacation to to the Bahamas. I hope they get to use it, or give it away and feel there's some value in it.

NOW, during dinner, I spoke to two of the closest people to me, and both had bought vacation packages within the past few years(one was Coastal) for the family restaurant's business and the other a premier package for personal travel. Both were pleased.

Great topic. I have to admit im guilty of what im going to lay on you guys myself. My product knowledge isnt the best it could be. Now my wife and business partner is an expert so we can get by but from the post I see product knowledge should be more of a priority for everyone. I have witnessed 7 figure earners in Coastal (not you Jay other 7 figure earners) that know how to market the business plan but have no idea what the product if about. Now I could complain about how we should all learn the product but id rather give some solutions.

1- Give away vacations to friends and family to learn more about the vacations. Use them to "test" out the product.

2- Go on vacation yourself. There is no excuse not to. Plan out one of the unlimited vacations (taxes only) and try it yourself.

3- Lets begin to share experiences on vacations in the forum

I think if we all share we will all learn and be better equipped to market our amazing package. People say it doesnt work but in 2 years we have saved over 12k on vacations so in my book it does work.

Adam