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.

One Hour Per Day To A Successful Direct Sales Business

by Jen Fitzgerald

“One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you’ll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.” — Earl Nightingale

I truly believe this is true for your business as well as your relationships with your customers.  If you spend adequate time on your business, then it is bound to grow.  This is not just looking at your catalogs, but truly building your business.  Finding ways to advertise, people to host shows, marketing, etc.

This also follows suit with your customers.  If you spend just one hour a day following up with your customers: getting to know them or sending them an e-mail about their vacation, hobby, family or work, it will pay off for you and your business.  Building relationships takes time.  No one said customers would pour in overnight. But if you are diligent and spend one focused hour a day doing follow-up and building relationships with your customers, your return can be tremendous!

Stop Boring Your Customers! 5 Tips To Keep Your Demonstrations Fresh And Effective

As a direct sales coach, one of the questions I see regularly is on the topic of keeping things interesting during a home show or demonstration.

Before I offer my tips, I want to take a moment to offer a warning:

Just because YOU think your demo is boring doesn’t mean your customers do. When a consultant gets used to a routine, it can seem monotonous or tedious to “perform” the same show or demonstration over and over at every event or home party. For you, this is “same stuff, different day”, but for your host or clients, this may be entirely new for them.

In the advertising world, it’s said that when the company is tired of seeing their commercials on TV, that’s when they’ve finally started being effective, because people now recognize them. In that instance, change would be a bad thing, but very often, that’s exactly what the companies do.

The result is often counter to their desired outcome.

Think of it this way: if a musician or an actor has been practicing the same part for months on end, it can get very monotonous for the player. However, the audience will only hear them perform it once. Twice if it’s exceptional. Three or more times if it was recorded AND exceptional.

The audience will rarely get bored. And it would be in poor taste for a performer to show up and decide they were going to do something completely different just to “spice things up” for the show. Imagine the shock and horror if a saxophonist decided that, just for tonight, he was going to play some jazz instead of the Mozart piece everyone else was scheduled to play. Or an actor shows up ready to do Neil Simon, only to find out the director decided to do Shakespeare tonight instead.

Before you get itchy to change things up in your demonstration, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Your boredom is not necessarily the right reason.

That said, if you find yourself doing the same presentation over and over to the exact same audience, you may find it’s time to change some of the elements of your presentation to keep listeners engaged. Here are some suggestions:

Reduce Cancellations in Your Home Party Plan Business

by Deb Bixler

If you are involved in conducting home party plan shows, there is a good chance that you have been in plenty of circumstances where your party ended up being canceled. In some cases, a cancellation simply cannot be avoided. Don’t let this fact get to you. In these cases, it is almost always possible to reschedule the party.

There are other cancellations that can be prevented, however. Generally speaking, these types of cancellations can be avoided long before they actually happen. Often, parties are cancelled because not enough guests are invited, or not enough have shown up. Here are some suggestions to help you understand what you can do to reduce cancellations in your direct sales business.

Online Holiday Shopping Parties

The holiday selling season can be the busiest for direct sales professionals. It can also be difficult to pin down a date with potential hosts. Your hosts may complain that everyone is travelling, or that it’s too difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time to host a party.

One possible solution: hosting an online holiday shopping party.

Online parties are similar to offline parties, in that there’s a host, a presenting consultant, and guests. Beyond that, though, online parties can be very different – and maybe even a little complicated for a host or even a direct sales consultant to figure out. They can also be an incredibly lucrative source of additional sales from a party, so it is worth your time to learn more about online parties.

Here are a few tips for understanding and using online parties during the holidays: