Direct Sales:It’s All About The Momentum

Written by Nicole Dean

What do you think of when you read the word momentum? Think of a marathon runner, keeping the pace, never slowing down to let the person on his tail overtake him. Just as a marathon runner holds a steady pace, so as to not expend his energy too quickly and sputter out, so should we in direct sales.
How do we do that? What is a steady pace in direct sales and how do we keep from sputtering out? Here are some tips and suggestions to help you get the momentum and keep the momentum going to help build a strong direct sales business.

1. Start off strong but steady. Don’t take off too hard and fast. Book your first six shows but no more. Book them over a two week period, 3 in the first week and 3 in the 2nd week. From there you will get other bookings for the following weeks, taking everything nice and steady. You don’t want to overbook yourself from the start because you will feel tired out and then get burned out from the get go and your family probably won’t like that you’re gone all the time. Having a lot of shows to deal with – until you create a system to handle it all -makes it harder to keep records then you get behind and feel unorganized. Starting out with a steady pace will keep you organized and going strong during your direct sales career.

2. Keep the momentum going by setting a goal of getting at least two bookings from every show. Be sure to book your new shows the same as in step one; 3 in one week and 3 the next week. In many direct sales businesses, holding 3 shows a week is enough to earn a good income. You will probably have a team meeting one day a week and the fourth day you will need for record keeping and organizing. If you need to hold more shows, choose the 3 days in a week and hold 2 or 3 shows each day. You could do a morning and afternoon or evening show. Be sure you are prepared with meals and check with your family first. You don’t want to be gone 8 hours a day, 3 days a week when your family needs you.

3. Set aside one day a week for record keeping, organization and follow up phone calls. This is very important. You need one day to update your records, record your sales and receipts from the previous week and make follow up phone calls to your new clients, new hostesses and old clients and for sales calls. If you keep a steady pace in doing these things, you will keep up your momentum and your business will grow and succeed. You won’t get behind and then have piles of receipts to catch up on, sales to record and phone calls to make. You will be offering your customers good customer service by making regular phone calls they can count on.

4. Set your long term goal and then set smaller, weekly goals to reach your long term goal. Some good weekly goals to keep the momentum are:

Hold a set number of shows a week. If you don’t get your bookings at your shows then make phone calls to those who showed some interest but didn’t book at a show. Maybe the time wasn’t right or they didn’t think they could fit it in their schedule, but now perhaps something has changed. You never know unless you call. Make those calls – it’s your job. If you were working in an office and didn’t make the required calls you would probably get fired. Just keep repeating, “The phone is my friend.”
Set a dollar amount in sales to reach each week. How much money does your family need to pay the bills or to buy those extra things you normally can’t afford? Take into account what your commission is and then set your goal to sell a certain amount each week. You will need to know how many shows you will need to hold to reach the dollars in sales that you want, so set your show goals accordingly as well.

5. When you find your momentum slowing down a bit, and it will, re-energize your business by making some warm market calls and some cold market calls. In these tough economic times, your resources like friends and family and their friends and family may run out, so you will need to find some new resources. Warm market and cold market calls may be just the ticket you need to reach a whole new set of people you wouldn’t have probably reached otherwise, so don’t be afraid or intimidated by making those phone calls.

6. Perhaps your momentum is slowing down because you didn’t reach some goals and you feel like you’ve failed. Remember this: You only fail when you stop trying. To get your momentum going again, set some new and exciting goals. Is the company offering any new incentives for sales or recruits? Then set your goals to reach those incentives You can change your goals, but never stop setting them and striving to reach them. If you always have goals to reach you will never stop growing.

Just like a marathon runner, when you start out steady and strong, keep a steady pace and look toward the goal, you will keep the momentum and your direct sales business will grow and be successful. Simply follow these steps and refer back to them often when you need some reenergizing and to get the momentum going again!

photo credit: Lindsay N. Kelly

Tags: building momentum, building your direct sales business, Direct Sales, Direct Sales Marketing, Starting a direct sales business