Direct Sales Success: Multiple Companies Is Like Chasing Two Rabbits

Visit the Direct Sales Classroom Store to take advantage of the special offer on Direct Sales JUMP Start. The sale ends October 31, and after that, the product will never be available again in any format.

If you’re curious to see what I’m up to that’s causing all these changes, take a look at the Business Action Hero blog for more details on the 90 day Webadventure challenge.

Becoming Friends With Your Customers

By Jennifer Fitzgerald

I just had to tell you all about my encounter with a good friend of mine and how it is so relate-able to building relationships with your customers.

My friend has a condo that she rents out. She is thinking of selling it and buying another home in Florida, as “snowbirds” often do.

She was telling me about her Realtor, who sells residential as well as commercial real estate. Each year, he sends out calendars with his family’s picture  on it. He also sends her a card or e-mail every few months to ask how she is doing.

When she was talking to him, he told her it was not a good time to sell her condo because she would not get as much out of it as she would want. She mentioned that the commission on her condo was probably peanuts compared to what he would earn for selling a commercial building.

His comment to her was that “it was not about the money…it was about the friendships”.

He gets it! This Realto does what you need to do: become your customer’s friend. Stop selling just to sell and focus instead on building those relationships. That’s when the sales will consistently roll in!

When I asked her who she would use if she ever sold any of her property, of course she emphatically said “HIM! And I recommend him to everyone I know!”

That is what we want in a customer. That is what your customer wants from you.

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About The Author

Jen Fitzgerald is the owner of The Client Angel, the proven tool for the Direct Selling community.

The Client Angel is an online customer relationship management tool designed to work with your company’s website to catapult your business to greater heights. Give yourself the organization you deserve. Stop worrying, and start succeeding with the “gentle reminders” you need to effectively follow-up and build relationships with your customers – for a lifetime. Visit Jen’s website for a free demo of The Client Angel today.

Direct Sales Leadership: Dovetailing Tips For Success

In the direct sales industry, the act of “dovetailing” a show is commonplace and problematic. Leaders, with an abundance of shows, often “dovetail” a show to one of their team members to help them launch (or re-launch) their business.

The trouble comes when expectations aren’t set (or met), and what should be a seamless transfer of clients becomes an attitude war. Here are just a few problems I’ve come across in my coaching career (and in my own direct sales experience):

• Leaders pass off clients they don’t want to an inexperienced consultant that can’t “handle” them.
• Consultants develop an entitlement mentality, expecting their leaders to just “give” them shows when they need it.
• Clear expectations aren’t set when the show is dovetailed, and the consultant resents sharing the income from the show with their leader.
• Clients get confused about which consultant is “their” consultant.
• Consultants don’t follow-up, and lose the new clients, forcing the Leader to step in, which creates friction in the organization.

Let’s have a look at where the word “dovetail” comes from:

My grandpa was a carpenter, and explained to me long ago that dovetail joints are the strongest way to join two pieces of wood together. They’re also a bit complicated and time consuming to create, but worth the effort if done well.

If you examine the picture, you’ll see two boards coming together. Where the notch (called a mortise) receives the tab (called a tenon), you create a dovetail joint. When properly constructed, it is incredibly strong, resists coming apart, and is often used in high-quality construction of cabinet drawers.

Simply put, a dovetail is designed to last for ages. I have cabinets that have lost their bottoms, their knobs, and even other parts, but those dovetail joints are solid. Even without glue, a well-crafted dovetail will have a tight-fitting hold.

So it should also be in your direct sales business.

The leader is the tenon, extending their clients to a consultant, acting as the mortise (the notch that receives the dovetail).

There needs to be a tight fit. Leaders can’t just “pass off” their shows to a consultant and expect them to be successful. This is a gift that you extend as a courtesy for their demonstrated efforts at building their own business. Dovetailing is NOT a handout. Leaders need to set clear expectations with their consultants before, during and after the dovetailing of a show. These are my top suggestions for helping your consultants make the most of the “gift” you’ve given them:

1. Pre-screen your consultants. Let them know that they have demonstrated a level of responsibility in building their business, and you’d like to reward them from your abundance by sharing a show or two with them. Make it clear that this is your investment in them, and you want it to be a “good fit” for your clients as well as the consultant. You’re not just “giving them a show”, you’re making an investment, and you expect a positive return on thst investment.
2. Set clear expectations. Make it plain to your consultant how you will be compensated for dovetailing the show. In exchange for giving them your clients, at the minimum, you need to set an expectation that there will be some form of compensation. It doesn’t need to be money, but half of the profits from the show is typical. I often encourage my consultants to have better shows by telling them they’ll earn 90% (instead of 50%) if they hold a $1000+ show.
3. Work with your consultant. Unless this is an established consultant, and you are sharing a show because of a scheduling conflict, it is incumbent upon you, as the leader, to make sure your consultant knows how to appreciate and fully utilize the gift they’ve been given. If they are weak at getting bookings in the first place, “giving them shows” will create a dependency, and possibly an entitlement mentality. Offer the dovetail in exchange for some one-on-one practice with their booking talk, or whatever area of their business needs improvement. I have heard a number of horror stories from leaders that dovetailed a party with 20 guests and the consultant doing the show got zero bookings.
4. Prep your hosts. Let your hosts know about the dovetail. Make it clear that they always have a choice in who they want to work with. Also inform them that the consultant will be “theirs” unless and until the customer decides otherwise. Explain the nature of dovetailing, and give your clients the option to choose. There’s nothing worse for a new consultant than to do a show and watch all the bookings go back to her leader.

What about you? What other tips have you shared when dovetailing shows? Leave a comment below and share your ideas with the community.

Using Twitter to Build Your Online Business

As a direct sales professional, my first taste of success came when I discovered the power of the internet. In less than 90 days, I built a national team in a party plan company and promoted to leadership for the first time after more than a decade in the industry.

Then came social media. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and YouTube created an entirely new landscape to reach prospects, build business, and grow my organization.

And I was scared out of my mind.

See, I didn’t “get” the concept of social media. I was socially awkward myself. Plus, with all the confusing rules that most companies have about “internet advertising” I couldn’t figure out a way to navigate the social media landscape without pulling out my hair.

First, I went to MySpace, but with so much spam, and “fake accounts” I couldn’t tell who was real and who was scamming me. So I left.

I set up my twitter account and started following people. I didn’t understand why people were talking about what they ate for breakfast. How’s that beneficial to business?

So then I went to facebook, where it seemed like everybody I knew was “hanging out”. But there were so many applications. People were “poking” me, asking me to be in their “mafia war” or help them work on their garden in “farmville”, and it was maddening. Then, I got sucked into one of those games myself, and found i was spending more time playing than I was building relationships.

And I was too scared to do video. In fact, if it weren’t for a contest that Mark Joyner put together, I probably would never had made a video in the first place. In fact, I didn’t even use a video camera in my first video, just a picture, my voice, and some music I wrote. I ended up with an honorable mention in the contest, and a little less fear about doing video.

But I still wasn’t keen on the idea, so back to twitter I went.

This time, I just watched for a bit. Trying to figure out who I really wanted to connect with. I figured that if I was just talking to myself, I wouldn’t be too productive. So I started following people I wanted to learn more from. I watched what they were doing, who they were talking to and what they were saying to generate followers.

It didn’t take long to figure out I was doing some things wrong – and a few things right. That first year, I earned more than $30,000 because of twitter. Plus, I made some great contacts and new friends. REAL friends, which surprised me. And while I still don’t have fifty gazillion followers on twitter, the relationships I have are high-quality, conversational and engaging. I actually know most of the folks I “follow back” on twitter, and that’s a good feeling. Here are some lessons learned that may help you use twitter to grow your own direct sales business.

Direct Sales Success: Offline Marketing Ideas

In most direct sales circles, I’m known as an online marketing coach. When you’re looking to build a web presence, get into social media or expand your reach online, I’m one of a few “go-to girls” in the Direct Sales industry. It’s how I got my start as a successful direct seller, and online marketing will always be part of my arsenal of marketing tools.

However, if you’re relying solely on marketing your business using online methods, you’re severely limiting yourself.

Sure, it’s possible to build a successful, nearly passive revenue stream using online marketing strategies and techniques. I’ve done it myself and helped hundreds of other people do the same. But it takes more time than it used to, and most direct sellers don’t have the patience or freedom to wait several months for the leads to start coming in.

Not only that, but you’re leaving good money on the table if you ignore offline marketing methods. Outside your regular shows or sales presentations, there are still a variety of effective means to market yourself and your products or services. Consider adding one (or more) of the following to your marketing mix:

4 Pillars of Direct Sales Success

In all my years as a consultant, coach and trainer, the one thing I’ve NEVER heard anyone say is this:

“When I was a kid, I always dreamed of becoming a direct sales consultant.”

I’m still waiting for that day.

The reality is that nearly every single direct sales professional comes into this industry because it is a means to achieve something else.

• Paying for a child’s college education
• Getting out of debt
• Having some extra spending money, or to just make ends meet
• Earning a few vacations (all expenses paid, of course)

And yet few direct sellers understand that when they sign on the dotted line, they are actually going into business for themselves. You have just started your very own business! Now you have a whole new set of challenges: