Increase Sales: A Fun Way to Interact With Your Customers

Guest Post:  Jen Fitzgerald

I am always looking for creative ways to interact with my customers either at a home show or by sending out an email to get them excited about something!

Here is an idea I love and a way for your customers to think they are playing a game while you get them to look over your catalog.

At a home show or through an email to all your customers (this will work in either situation) tell them to look through your catalog and count something to give you a total.  Here is an example of what I mean:

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Creating Connections with a Website

Guest Blog by:  Elian Evans

Last time we talked about an overall strategy for tapping into free or low cost resources to connect with your growing team and customers.

Today we will dive in further to the topic of utilizing a website to connect. Like I mentioned before , I recommend Blogger. It’s simple to operate and there is no charge to use it. If your time is limited, I would start with developing a site for your customers.

Here are some considerations:

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Customers Are Everywhere, If You Know Where To Look

Take a good look at the picture. This is solid proof that customers are everywhere around you.

You just have to keep your eyes open.

This is what I’ve coined the “Sales Cycle” – and it’s where you can find customers at any point in your business. Some people you are just meeting, others, you have been doing business with for a long time, while others still have known you, but never done business with you.

It works kind of like a wheel. You are at the hub, and each “spoke” represents a public-facing point in your business where you could potentially meet new customers. The right half of the image is where most people think of meeting new clients (Meet, Lead, Client), but customers are also found on the left half of the Cycle.

But like Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work“. The left side of the Cycle takes a little more work, but produces far better customers as a result.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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