Network marketers who want to build stable and successful businesses know it is more important than ever to be able to respond and follow up using multi-function software. In the “Renegade” world of network marketing, business owners are no longer promoting just their primary company and products. They are generating leads by attraction from multiple modalities and require the software to support lead generation and management, marketing campaigns, customer service, and team support, as well as duplication. They are essentially marketing and branding themselves and understand the importance of having turn-key systems.

The traditional options don't work for the "Renegade"

Many network marketing companies create their own lead management and prospecting programs for you to “lease” through them. Why? Because they want to control the message and the data, since they ultimately operate under the premise that your customer is their customer. Other companies work out agreements with known lead generation and prospecting entities. Cutting Edge Media Prospector, My Earn Pro Leads, and PM Marketing are some good examples of successful companies who partner with leading mlm companies, even customizing systems of support for some. These allow for a little more flexibility on what and how you market, more control over yourleads, lead capture page options, etc. However, the big drawback for Renegade Network Marketers is the focus on purchasing leads, limitation of a single company focus that is directed on recruiting, the inability to control the default marketing campaign messages, and the lack of post conversion support. Most of us are promoting affiliates, generating leads from social networking and content sharing sites, and generally doing business out of the box. Follow-up goes a bit beyond the message of “join my network marketing company”, and focuses more on building relationship, providing value, and attracting the right person to join You in business…not just your company.

Software catering to the Network Marketer

Since the dawn of Web 2.0 technology, new software is being introduced into the market place or old software updated with the emerging inter-network marketer in mind. I’ve looked at two of these in depth andbothoffer features needed to market yourself, provide added value to your leads and clients, and help you find the right people for your business.

IContact

IContact is remotely hosted, which means your data is stored on their server and can be accessed from any computer by simply logging on to your account. IContact has been around for a while (formerly as Intellicontact), has a good reputation for deliverability and the interface is easy to use. You can create multiple lists and IContact doesn’t require permission first, as many other applications do, so you can import existing leads and start marketing without an opt-in. Through transparency and the listing of IP addresses, they’ve managed to stay clear of internet blacklisting, which should be something you look at when choosing a provider. The tracking is a great feature and you can view click-throughs, bounced, delivered, and unsubscribed, as well as forwarded emails.

The product itself is easy to use, the interface looks great, the editor is Web 2.0 based which means you don’t have to know html, and there are a number of excellent templates to choose from. Customer service is fast, reliable, and includes phone and chat options. You have 15 days to try the product, which allows you time to explore the features and usability for your personal application.

The downside is small, but was a big factor in my decision. First, as your list grows, your charges increase on a sliding scale. That’s fine as long as your list stays small, but as you grow your business, if you already have a large team or prospect list, or if your conversion rate is small compared to the amount of people you’re marketing to, the extra costs might not be worth it. Secondly, even though they have a good contact manager for building lists, it lacked the ability to track tasks, set up a calendar, and create a campaign that included call and task reminders as follow-up. The last thing was that they didn’t have a lead capture page feature. In fact, many auto-responder software applications do not offer that as an option at this time. If you are looking for a good marketing email auto-responder program, IContact is an excellent option.

Oprius

Oprius is also remotely hosted, has automated back-ups of your data and 128- bit encryption for your security. A complete contact management system allows you to set up a calendar, create to do lists, schedule phone calls, and customize lead lists for campaigns. The lead capture page option offers multiple templates to choose from with video code capabilities, customizable forms, and a thank you page with each lead capture page you create. You do have to develop your own capture pages, but the user interface is intuitive and video tutorials are available for each feature you use in their system. They also offer video classes weekly and the support has been immediate and helpful.

At $14.99 a month, with no graduating fees as you grow your list, this is a very affordable program that consolidates all your business needs into one application. Oprius allows you to manage your prospects easily, with the ability to save personal email templates you create for further use, use broadcast options, attach documents to outgoing email, and create extensive campaigns that include tasks, calls and appointments at designated times and days in the campaign. Home page reminders keep you on task for those things that produce results in your business. The Web 2.0 software is extremely user friendly and intuitive, making it easy and fast to set up. Contact management history allows for tracking what you have done and where you are in marketing and relationship building. Beginning and advanced computer users can set up a system before they ever have to pay since there is a 30 day trial. I had numerous campaigns and emails created and saved before importing my leads, which allowed me to have a seamless transition between a system I was using and Oprius without having to pay for both.

The onlydrawback I see is the requirement to get permission from the lead before campaigns are launched, and the lack of extensive tracking on what emails are opened, viewed, bounced, etc. If your focus is mainly marketing and tracking marketing results, IContact may be a better solution for you. If managing a growing team, duplicating with turn-key solutions, as well as creating a lead list through lead capture pages and follow-up that is extremely use friendly is what you are seeking, then Oprius is the better program and one that I chose to use and promote to my team.

The fortune is in the Follow-up

Whether you select IContact, Oprius, or another application, creating a campaign to market yourself first and then ongoing support for your clients and team members is absolutely crucial to long term success in network marketing. Remember the saying “The fortune is in the follow-up”? Relying on your primary company or other prospecting systems to do the job will fall short of everything you need as a Renegade Network Marketer.