Direct Sales Talk ~ Ongoing Chatter

In direct sales there are always opportunities to become a leader of
other people. Sometimes known as down line or recruits, they become a
part of our team. Sometimes leaders feel compelled to become
responsible for their teams overall performance. They fret and
sweat and break their own backs to try and make others successful.
Giving others leads and recruits to boost their numbers. Finding
new customers to place orders to keep the sales where they need to
be. Basically doing everything to support someone elses business in order to make yours successful, to get that extra bonus check or promotion.

But my question is Has It Been Worth It?

If you have been doing so much work for others, have you been able to
keep your business where it should be or could be?

And if the other rep is not as compelled as you are to be successful and
quits their business in a few months, you have just lost everything you
put into that others business.

I would suggest that you take the time to step back and look at your
business and how much you actually do for others and maybe look at
some tough questions and alternatives.

* Are you helping or hindering that other persons business?
* Are they going to be able to learn and grow their own without your
help someday?
* Interview your new potential people. Do they have experience in
sales? How much are you going to have to help?
* Learn when to let go and let them fly
* Lead by example and they can copy You
* Give them the tools and the expectations and they can be successful
if they want to.
* Know that some will and some won’t. Don’t take it personally.
* Know that they have to have the drive inside but you can inspire it.

Teach your recruits to fish. Don’t give them the fish and expect then them to have a strong business. Teaching is powerful and it will make you a stronger leader.

——————
Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved
Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site DirectSalesTalk. You can also find her at her business site ShopOnYourSeat If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

When we first start our Direct Sales business, we have made a commitment to that company by writing the check and ordering the starter kit. While signing on the dotted line of the agreement is a commitment to that company, it is a commitment to you and your business?

Have you committed to any of the following things lately?
• Doing the best we can to build our business
• Treating our customers with integrity and kindness
• Being helpful and caring to our customer
• Spending at least 15-20 hours per week dedicated to growing our business
• Talking to at least 5 people a day about our business
• Doing whatever it takes to earn the amount of money needed to pay our bills, feed the bank account or save for that trip

Why not take some time today and configure a commitment form for yourself and your business. Sign it and post it on your bulletin board. Seeing that each day you will know that you have cemented your career goal and revitalized your business. How inspiring can that be?

It can be overwhelming the first days of a new Direct Sales business. There is training to complete, product information to learn, business tools to order and create and most of all, notifications of your new business to be sent out. We always want to let our friends and family know about our new business in hopes that we can use them for bookings for those important starter parties.

Another thing to remember is that even if we are super busy getting the business off the ground with our friends and family, we also need to notify those around us, such as neighbors, acquaintances, people we know in the community and local businesses.

One way to do that is through a letter of introduction. This is a simple letter that tells the reader who you are, how long you have been in the community, a little about you and your business and a call to action. A call to action can be to call you for a book or to visit your website. It can be to place an order and get a gift or anything that you want to reader to do.

One important thing that I have found that works is to make sure that the reader understands that you are local and that you live and work in the neighborhood. Furthermore, make sure they know that this is your business and that you will be there when they need you. An important thing to remember and for you to embrace is that your business may be a work at home Direct Sales business, but it is the same thing as a brick and mortar business. The only difference will be the fact that you don’t pay rent on a building and your level of professionalism. And that level of professionalism is going to be up to you to determine.

The best way I have found to use this letter is by incorporating it in with a mini mailer or catalog drop. This way the recipient can see your product and it adds more branding power to you and your business. You want them to remember you and associate your name to your business. The more you can do that, the better and faster your business can grow.

Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved
Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site DirectSalesTalk. You can also find her at her business site ShopOnYourSeat If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

Here is a post by a guest blogger, my friend, Deb Bixler . Enjoy!

Define Sales Marketing

Sales is the art, science, and skill of creating more and more desire in the market place for your opportunity, product or services. Sales comes from a Scandinavian word that means to serve. Sales is a service business. When you serve your customers well you will make more sales. Businesses that operate with a sales or service focus are said to provide good customer service. When a business has good customer service, there will be more desire for their product, opportunity or services, and that in turn will result in sales.

Marketing Your Direct Sales Business

Let’s look at all the different parts of the direct sales marketing concept separately.

Art is closely tied to emotions. People connect on an emotional level. Using the art of connecting to people individually by focusing on their needs is truly the art of sales. When you do not include a focus on others in your sales pitch, then the sales are all about you or your products. Asking open-ended questions that give you more information about your customer, whether or not those questions actually relate to the sale, is a terrific way to learn more about your customers’ needs and how you may be able to serve them.

Science on the other hand is systematic. All successful companies are based on systems. If you are not getting the results that you want in your business, then take a look at your systems. Systems may be incorporated into your operation on many levels, including a system for presenting your product or opportunity, a system for closing the deal, a system for processing orders, etc. Systems make your business simpler and gives you a sales advantage. With good systems in place, you are freed up to focus on the emotional aspect of selling, which is essential.

Skills on the other hand, are based on practice. Practicing the art and science of selling gives you better skills. Practice brings sales and the more you practice, the better your skills, which in turn continues to generate more sales.

Good salespeople have the ability to generate desire in the market place for their product or service. Desire is when the customer wants what you have. When they want what you have, it is easy to sell or to serve their needs. How do you get them to want what you have? By sharing what is in it for them on an emotional level and understanding that everyone on earth is not going to have desire for what you are offering. It is important to realize that it is OK, because the person standing in front of you will not make or break your business. Sharing your wares on an emotional level takes practice. For example: A stainless steel whisk won’t sell well. A dishwasher-safe whisk may sell better. A whisk that will clean up in a snap and whisk you out of the kitchen to spend more time with your family will probably sell best.

Where is the marketplace? For a direct sales professional the marketplace is everywhere you go. That doesn’t mean you are talking business everywhere you go or every minute of every day. It means that you are connecting with people emotionally and sharing benefits of your company’s products, opportunity or services when appropriate, and using systems to fine-tune your skills at providing awesome customer service even when no sale is involved.

When you put art, science and skills to work in your business, sales will skyrocket. Learn more about Direct Sales Marketing at Create a Cash Flow Show.com

I saw this article posted on a forum the other day and asked the author, who happens to be my upline in a past business, if I could repost it here. Jackie Ulmer has created and developed her business online and has mentored hundreds, if not thousands of people in the years she has been in direct sales and in mlm’s. Her knowlege in this business is remarkable and I always learn something new when I chat with her or read her articles and posts. I hope you learn something new or get a “Ahh Ha” moment as well.

Keys to Direct Selling Success

There are three very specific things you MUST have to be successful in YOUR business -

Desire - you have to have a burning desire. It’s hard for me to explain this if you don’t have it; and if you do have it, you know exactly what I mean. You lay in bed at night, tingling with the excitement of what you have your hands on. For me, it gets me BACK out of bed for an hour or two in the wee hours, because I can’t sleep and am excited to do things. And, because this is inspired action, when I go back to bed, I fall right to sleep and wake up rested, ready to do it again. My husband thinks I am nuts, but he appreciates the efforts!

Willingness to Work - Full Time or Part Time, but NOT spare time. I guess that goes along with getting up at 2am, ha! No, you don’t have to, but you MUST be willing to actually work your business. Take action steps to move you forward. Nothing great comes without some effort. Check your “Willingness to Work” meter and super charge it if you need to.

Teachable Spirit - Are you truly coachable in this business? I wasn’t in the early days. Boy, I am now! Do you read something in the training manual and think ” I’m not doing that.” OR do you neglect to get on coaching calls, or read at all? Again, check your “teachable spirit” meter, and decide to make a change if it’s not registering high. Great things await you if you are willing to make the effort.

Here are three things we all have in common, for the most part. Some of the specifics will vary, but we share some common ground here.

Products - we all have a product that hopefully offers a benefit to the end consumer, at a fair market price. Hopefully it is something that people outside of your opportunity also see value in and would purchase regardless of the payplan. And, we know in our own companies, the products are identical for us. So what makes one person do so well with the sale products that another swears don’t sell?

Opportunity - we all have a similar opportunity. Yes, each payplan is a little different, but when it all comes out to it, almost all Direct Sales companies pay out within a small margin of each other. The costs of doing business don’t vary that much and only a certain amount can pay out and keep the company viable. And, in our own companies, it is identical, isn’t it? So, again, what makes it go gangbusters for one group of distributors and not for all? If we are in the same company, the pay plan is the same for me and you. Isn’t that great? When you reach each position on the pay chart, you have the same pay available. When you sponsor someone new, you are paid the same as me. Awesome, isn’t it? You may be in Maine and I am in California , and we have so much in common.

You/Me – We all have that in common. We are us, and YOU are the one who determines what your income will be. YOU make the difference. YOU determine it for YOU, I determine it for me. Either way, it comes down to you!

Bad news - it’s YOU who makes the difference. Some people don’t want to take responsibility for their success and want to blame others for failures.

Good news - YOU can make the difference! YOU have so many amazing abilities to make it happen. You have gifts and talents waiting to be uncovered and let loose on this business. It’s your desire. You must go through a process to get there. Understand the process. I mentioned that on Monday’s call. UNDERSTAND and accept that there is a process. You can speed up the process through your efforts. Know the process!

——–
Article By Jackie Ulmer of Jackie Ulmer.com All rights reserved.

The Direct Sales business can be a bit tough at times. Tough to get started after you go through your warm market. Tough to get new customers all of the time. Tough to get sales online. And sometimes it is tough to promote yourself.

How do you think a couple of hundred or thousand people seeing your product and visiting your website would help promote your business? Product reviews can be a great way to drive traffic to your site.

Getting your product highlighted with your links and your name all over cannot help but drive you traffic.

There is a new site that my friend and I together created and it focuses on direct sales and indie business product reviews and giveaways. We do most of the advertising for you and you get the traffic and the benefit.

Your job is then to continue to promote yourself, your brand and your service to continue to drive the traffic. But what a way to kick it off!

Come by and visit us. You may decide that driving traffic to your site would be a good choice for you. Two Classy Chics is the name. Give us a follow.

Do you know what the best thing about having a direct sales business?

When you need some cash, you can have a party and get paid right away!!

Don’t party? Well, have a phone sale!

Point being, we are in control of the cash flow. Not your company, not your upline. You do! Our business is geared towards having a continual cash flow. The only thing that stops the flow is you.

So, no waaa waaa - ing allowed. If you are crying the blues because the cash flow is tight, figure out what you can do to get it flowing again.
Book parties?
Phone Sales?
Home Parties?
Open House?

See ya on the positive cash flow side!

Successful fundraising can be accomplished online as well. If you are one of the direct sellers that focuses her business online only, you will want to be able to offer fundraising as an option to your business plan. So how do you go about finding potential clients?

First and foremost, networking is going to be the main way of getting the information out there. Adding a sales page just for your fundraising options that you offer will be important to the salability of your program. While networking you will not have the ability to fully explain your program, but you will want to send them somewhere professional to get the information.

Write your sales page as clear as possible without confusion. If you know your program can be confusing, highlight the important specifics and have then contact you for more information. Do not try and explain the entire program. You want to sell the Product and the idea of your program. Killing the deal with details is easy to do.

Highlight the important factors such as the amount to be made by the customer, quality of the product, uniqueness of the product and the Why to choose you and your products.

Target the correct market for potential clients. Do some research to find the correct venues. If you are trying to market only to work at home moms also trying to market their own products, you may be wasting your time. But certainly add a tag line to your signatures on message boards and such. You never know who you may run into there.

Do not forget your offline friends, family and customers. You can direct them to your sales pages online and gather information there. Having a contact me form would be a great idea as well as a sign up sheet for future contact on specialty programs you may have.

Cross promote with someone else you know to help get the word out. Don’t forget testimonials as well!

Enjoy developing your custom fundraising program. It can certainly boost your sales!

———————–
Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved

Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site http://DirectSalesTalk.com .You can also find her at her business site http://ShopOnYourSeat.com . If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

We hear from all of the guru’s that we are to set goals at this time of year for your business. It is amazing to me the amount of posts, emails and tweets I get about goal setting.

But I have a few questions… If we do set these goals, we then have to follow up and make sure that we are accomplishing or moving forward at least. Right? Who is going to sit like a birdie on my shoulder and make sure I am writing my goals, tracking my success and refocusing my goals as the year goes on?

I don’t know about you, but I think we need an automated system to help us out. As fast as the year goes by, by the time it is time to track month 1, it is already month 6. Yikes! How to keep up?

OK, you know I am just kidding with you, right? Well sort of… I do think the automated system is something I need to work on! :0)

Yes, we have to sit and figure out where we want our business to go this year. No wimping out, now. Lets get with it. Get that pen and paper out and get to it. Maybe even update your dream board while you are at it. I know my board needs it desperately~

We know that our brains are stronger with visuals, so by writing down your plans, you are reinforcing your path, your business direction. I know that my path is blurry right now, but maybe by the time I sit quietly and focus on my business, the vision will clear and I will be lead down the path I am supposed to be taking.

Here’s a New Years toast to clearer vision and uncluttered paths!

We all have a certian vision of what we see our business looking like when we created it. Money coming in. Customers buying product. Lots of referrals. Big website with tons of traffic. Lots of people that join your organization. Steady growth each year.

Sound familiar?

How far off of your vision has your business become? Are you seeing that steady growth from month to month and year to year? Is your business even the same as when you started it? Has it evolved to a business that you are loving or not loving so much?

For 2010, why not recreate your vision and take steps to bring it back into focus. A fresh vision for a new decade.

That’s what I am going to do. I have some ideas for recreating my business completely and I am excited to get started!