The Definitive Guide To Choosing The Right Home Based Business - Part 2 of 6

The definite guide to choosing the right home based business opportunity simply boils down to the questions you ask yourself before you start your search. Understanding your goals for success, and how your perceive a home based business to get you there, will have a profound impact on your decision making process. In fact, knowing what you need ahead of time will make the process go much more smoothly, allowing you to weed out unsatisfactory business opportunities rapidly.

Note: There are no specific businesses listed in this article so your use of this guide is not hindered by a constant sales pitch. If you would like to discuss specific ideas, please contact the author within the profile area where you read this article.

The following lists distinctive aspects of a home based business that you should consider:

1. Primary Prospecting Source: Internet, Phone, or Direct Mail
2. Prospect Application Process: Free, Paid, Non-Existent  <-- This Article
3. Commission Structure: Up-Front and Residual
4. System: Organization, Support, Accessibility, and Content
5. Leveraging Time, Capital, and Experience
6. Marketing Style: Anonymous Sales vs. Personal Branding

2. Prospect Application Process: Free, Paid, Non-Existent

Generally, if you are interested in selling a product, then there is no application process required or expected. The quicker you can get the prospect from advertisement to payment, the better your returns will be when it comes to retail. Since you are just selling a product, you want to attract the impulse shopper through free classified ads or Google AdWords (or some other search engine paid advertising like Bing and Yahoo).

However, if you are interested in marketing a business opportunity that requires personal coaching or mentoring from you, then an application is very helpful when weeding out the "tire kickers". Business opportunities that offer personal coaching and mentoring are some of the most successful ones out there today. But they can be very time consuming if you are constantly dealing with people who are only vaguely interested. Time is money, so in the case where you are personally branding your business opportunity, a paid application (small fee between $30 and $50) will reduce your prospects to only the serious entrepreneurs.

A small application fee is also helpful for business opportunities that require a substantial start-up cost (over $300 for instance). The tire kickers will get past your initial lead capture filter, then stop when they come to your application page on your website and see a fee. There is no need to list the complete start-up cost on the application page. That information should be reserved for serious entrepreneurs only, those not looking for a "free ride" or a "get rich quick" solution. Those that are "somewhat" interested enough to pay the application fee but not follow-through with the overall business opportunity purchase at least helps you pay for some of your advertising costs.

The previous business aspect discussed mentioned internet, phone, and direct mail as prospecting sources. However, as you have just read, when it comes to a paid application, it is wise to only offer this in your internet based prospecting sources. Sometimes people need to be slowly opened to the idea of a paid application as they think about the benefits of your business. That is where lead capture pages come in on the internet. If a person becomes a prospect by entering their name and email address into your online lead capture page, and then do not follow-through with an application, you can still activate their auto-responder drip campaign with an email every few days (or weeks) until they either unsubscribe or return to your web page and complete an application. You should be comfortable with that mindset. If your business is expensive to start or requires your personal coaching time (or both), then you should prefer someone who is careful when signing up and not the spontaneous type that starts strong and quits within a few weeks. Slow and careful prospects make loyal members of your business.

Aside from paid applications and no applications at all, free applications are helpful if your business opportunity wants to present itself as legitimate and professional or if you just want to capture more information about your prospect to market to them more effectively. Business opportunities that do well with free applications are those that do not require personal branding, such as MLM or businesses with a huge brand associated with it (famous person, known entity, etc.). These business opportunities should have a start-up cost between $150 and $300 for a free application to make any sense. Free applications tend to just get in the way of businesses with start-up costs under $150, where the prospect is more spontaneous than those seeking businesses with larger start-up costs.

When searching for your home based business, knowing why applications are used will also help you when you come across them in your search process. For instance, a paid application for a business opportunity that is not personally branded typically signifies that the person makes most of their money from the application or are very new to network marketing. If personally branded, Google their name and see if they qualify as a mentor or coach by rating the quality and quantity of their articles and videos from the search results. No search results -- not a mentor!

Do not shy away from applications in both home business opportunities you are searching for, or businesses you are already running. They are necessary for qualifying only the serious entrepreneurs. If presented properly, priced according to opportunity needs (or free), and contains proper questions (goals, work ethic, experience, marketing capital, etc.), applications are the critical filter your business opportunity needs to manage your many prospects.