Keeping your Direct Sales Calendar Full

Written by Annette Yen

As you probably already know, the way to money and success in a direct sales business is to keep your calendar full and happy with parties, vendor fairs or other events focused on selling your company’s products. There are many ways to insure a full calendar when you first start with your company:

1. Host your own open house to introduce your business. The goal of an event like this is not to sell a ton of product (although that’s sometimes a nice side benefit) but to encourage others to hold parties for you.

2. Offer to do a class or presentation at your local park district or chamber of commerce meeting. This gets your name and your business known to a lot of people who can spread the word for you!

3. Ask your dearest friends to do an open house or party for you. I know, this drives fear into the heart of a lot of new direct sales reps but really, all you have to do is ask and the worst thing they can say is “no, I’d rather not”. But you’ll never know unless you ask!

4. Participate in local craft and vendor fairs to get your name out in the community. These might cost a bit of money for a booth or table but it’s a nice way to reach a lot of people in a short amount of time. Make sure you have some type of give-a-way or drawing to get names to add to your mailing list.

5. Advertise – both paid advertising as well as press releases and other forms of free advertising. A small ad in your local paper can do wonders. Notify your local “neighborhood” reporter of your business too.

Once you’ve got some events and direct sales parties scheduled on your calendar, the key is to keep the momentum going and continue booking. There are some great ways to do this as well:

1. Use the open date cards – at every party and event that you have, have your next open party dates listed on a calendar or index card and offer premiums for anyone who books those specific dates.

2. Play booking games at your parties.

3. Ask ask ask – at every party and event as each and every customer and guest if they’d be interested in having their own party. Don’t be shy! Start your presentation with a simple statement like “And because I don’t want anyone to feel left out I’ll ask everyone if they want to have a party with me. In fact, if I don’t ask you to host one, I’ll give you free shipping on your order!” That way you’re committed to asking and people are expecting it!

4. Whenever there are holes in your schedule pick up the phone and call those folks on your mailing list who expressed interest in possibly hosting a party or schedule an event yourself like a past hostess appreciation event, I love my customers fiesta or similar. And again, at that event, book more!

Once you’ve really built some momentum, it’s good to actually overbook a bit for a while. Start looking for other team members locally that you can pass your extra parties on to and you’ll really start to grow!

Tags: Direct Sales, Direct Sales Marketing, party plan training