How DOES your garden [oops! I mean business] grow?

Guest Post:  Teresa Romain

Spring is here! YAY!

Which means my husband and I are spending a LOT of time in our HUGE vegetable garden – preparing the soil, planting, weeding, watering. We’ve even begun HARVESTING some things – like the lettuce we planted on our cold frames in March.

This, combined with a coaching call I recently had with one of my direct selling clients inspired this post.

You see, there is much to be learned from growing a garden that applies to growing a thriving direct selling business.

Create Connection to Build RAVING Fans

Guest Post:  Elian Evans

I’ve talked before about connecting with your clients through a website for your business and have mentioned the use of an email contact service like MailChimp. I love MailChimp for their humor and I refer my clients to them all the time. Best of all, for small lists, their service is free.

Connecting and establishing positive rapport with your customers is so very important. You want them to shop with you over and over again. You want them to refer all of their friends to you. You want to be “top of mind” to them. You want them to be your RAVING fans regardless of what company you represent and what products you offer. By developing and nurturing your relationships you will create that long term connection. Some quick tips to do that:

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:

Take The Pressure Off!

Guest Post:  Teresa Romain

Take the Pressure Off…  “Stay Loose”…

I love to use sports analogies. I think it stems from being involved in sports year-round when I was in school.

No matter what sport it was, each of my coaches kept advising me to…

“Take the pressure off” and “Stay loose”…

Like most athletes, whenever I put too much pressure on myself (to make a basket, to get a hit, to win the match, to run my fastest race), my muscles would tighten up and I’d get tense – then I’d miss an easy shot, throw a bad pass, strike out, make a careless mistake.

The key to performing my best was to “stay loose”… to play the game in a relaxed, focused, clear-headed, energized manner – something that was impossible to do under pressure when I was “attached” to the results.  (FYI – Being “attached” is the exact opposite of “staying loose”.)

This same “stay loose” principle applies to building your business and accessing the lasting abundance you desire.

Does Your Direct Sales Business have a “Junk Drawer”?

Guest Post by Melissa Dery

Even if we don’t want to admit it, everyone has one: that one drawer (or even a room) in the house that collects “stuff.”  And you know what kind of “stuff” I’m talking about:  everything from the “clearly outdated” that we somehow can’t let go of to all the gadgets we’ve collected to make our lives easier.

Have you collected a junk drawer full of tools and gadgets for your direct sales business? Here are a few common ones I see: