Create Desire At Your Show
Sell The Benefit Not The Feature
In order to create desire at your home party you must focus on the benefits. You will improve your party plan presentation with these quick tips.
Benefits sell products, features do not. When you are talking about your products at a show, be sure that you are creating pictures for your guests using the benefits of a product.
What is the difference between a feature and a benefit?
A Feature Is About The Product
- The ball is orange.
- The whisk is stainless steel.
- The lip balm is petroleum free.
- The vest is a polyester/cotton blend.
A Benefit Is About The Person
- Lots of kids came up to Johnny to play because of his bright orange ball.
- The ball was easy to find when Johnny kicked it into the woods.
- You can put this stainless steel whisk in the dishwasher.
- This whisk will last a lifetime because it will never rust.
- The lip balm does not dry out your lips even more.
- This lip balm will stop the lip balm addiction, as it actually soothes your skin instead of drying it out more.
- You can put this vest in the dryer because it is a poly blend.
- You will never worry about this vest shrinking.
Relates to all products
This feature and benefit comparison will work with any product or service. Just sit down and list the features of all of your products, offers or services, and then write a list of benefits to the person next to the feature.
People Buy Emotionally
The next step is to create an emotionally charged statement with each feature and benefit on your list. People shop and purchase emotionally, so create and memorize statements that draw out the emotional benefits of a product.
- Johnny is so excited with all the new friends he made at the park today while playing with his orange ball.
- I can’t believe I will never have to buy another wire whisk in my whole entire life! And it goes in the dishwasher too!
- Ever since I started using this lip balm, my husband has commented on how soft my lips are.
- Today I was rushing around and just pulled this vest straight out of the dryer and threw it on. Wash, dry and wear. It is so simple!
100 is the Key to Success
photo credit: Grzegorz ?obi?ski
Did you recently join a Direct Sales company? Or have you been with a company for awhile and stalled?
The question I hear most from frustrated moms is — “How can I gain and keep momentum in Direct Sales?” or “How do I build my business?”
I ask them “Did you make your list of 100 people to contact?”
Here are the most common responses:
1. “No. Why should I do that?”
Because I’m telling you to! Ok, so that only works with my kids. The reason you need to make this list is because it is your starting point. Your list of 100 contacts is your warm list of people who already like you. These are people who will be open to helping you start and build your business.
2. “Isn’t 100 an awfully big number?”
Sales is all about statistics. If you reach out to 3 people, you may make a sale. If you reach out to 10 people, you will likely make a few sales. If you reach out to 100 people, you’ll make a lot more sales than reaching out to 10!
3. “I don’t KNOW 100 people.”
Baloney! Everyone knows 100 people. Add the following people to your list right now.
Friends
Family
Acquaintances
Holiday Card list
Co-workers from all your old jobs
Co-workers from your husband’s jobs
Neighbors
People you know through Church
People through Scouts
Children’s friends parents
Chat friends
Message board friends
Your bridesmaids/groomsmen
Your favorite waitress
The moms in Library Story time
The checkout clerk at your favorite grocery store
The other moms sitting at sporting events
Childhood friends
Your old high school friends
Your old college friends
Parents of friends
Friends of parents
The wives of your husband’s college friends
Old fraternity or sorority friends
Friends at the Gym
People you work with in the community
People you volunteer with
Teachers
Local shop owners
Friends on your sports teams or community leagues
Your dentist, doctor or nurse
If you’ve been doing sales for awhile, reconnect with everyone who ever expressed interest in your products and all past customer
Anyone who’s ever been a hostess for a party you attended
And anyone who you’ve bought something from or done business with over the years.
If you do fundraisers, add
Daycares
Preschools
Churches
Organizations
Charities
4. “Yes, I emailed ALL of them and didn’t get any response.”
Well, the key word here is email. Most people will glance at an email and set it aside. You need to talk with them and — here’s the hard part — ASK them to do what you want them to do (host a party, purchase something or sign up on your team). Tell them why it benefits them, be warm, genuine and truthful. If your contact is not personally interested, ask them if they know anyone who would be interested. Always ask for referrals.
5. “Yes, and I called all of the people on the list but I still ran out of leads.”
When’s the last time you called your list? Part of customer service is to contact your list on a regular basis to see how you can help them and to let them know they are appreciated.
6. “I went through my list and I contact everyone regularly, but my business is stalled.”
I have three words for you Referrals, Referrals, Referrals! Unless you reach beyond your circle of friends and go into a new market of people, your business cannot grow. Therefore, referrals are a critical part of building your business. Don’t be shy! People like to help. Also, offer your contacts an incentive and they will send customers to you. Tell everyone you talk with that you appreciate referrals. Say “I give a gift of thanks for every referral” and make sure that those words are printed on every piece of paper that leaves your hands. Rewarding for referrals is part of customer service and should be done automatically. The gift can be something as simple as a small gift certificate, a sample-sized product, or something unrelated to your business like movie tickets. Your friends will keep you in mind when they run across someone who could be interested in your products and your business will benefit from it.
So, make your list, contact or reconnect with every person on your list, and make sure you ask every contact for a referral! Your business will grow.
FREE Leads – Take ‘em Or Leave ‘em
Anyone who does not have enough business is not taking advantage of the unlimited FREE leads available to them. There is unlimited leads our there and if you do not have enough business then you should take advantage of the free direct sales training available to learn where to find more business.
Here is a starter list of where to find unlimited free leads.
- Bulletin Boards: Bulletin boards are all over town you can be picking up leads at every mini market, grocery store and bulletin board. This is multi-tasking because you are putting out your marketing material, picking up leads and generating an income tax deduction by logging your mileage to and from everyday errands.
- Public speaking is one of the best ways to have an unlimited supply of free leads for any business. It doesn’t matter if you are selling vitamins, coffee, plumbing supplies, or financial services, becoming a free local public speaker will generate business for you and create an unlimited source of FREE leads. I know that you are probably saying that you hate to stand up in front of people and talk. Some of you probably say you hate to speak, yet already do it in your direct sales business. Let’s face it, performing an in home demonstration is public speaking. If you do not have more leads than you can use, then you really deserve to take advantage of public speaking as a lead generation factory. Check out the local clubs. Many of them need fund-raising opportunities and a weekly or monthly speaker. Again, you will be multi-tasking when you make calls to clubs, churches and organizations offering your services as a fund-raiser program and also a speaker.
- Expos: Most people think of fairs and expos in the traditional sence, Pay to set up a table and network. That is awesome and you should go to a fair or expo at least monthly. It doesn’t always have to be a paid vendor event though. You can go as a guest. Pay your $2 or $7.00 to get in and network with the other guests as well as the vendors from the guest side of the table. It works!
- Internet: Most direct sales professionals never think about all of the options of networking on the internet. Your own web site is the obvios way and there are hundreds of leads for the taking on the internet. Maybe you are a home décor rep. Have you ever Googled home décor and checked out the possible leads that come up? Are you a company who is looking for professional reps, then try Googling other sales professions like realtors. You will find lists of people who actually answer their phone and may have an interest in your company.
When you take advantage of all of the lead generation sources available to you, then you will never be hurting for sales. This is only a short list of where to find UNLIMITED FREE leads. Check out other ideas at www.CreateACashFlowShow.com
