Direct Sales Home Business
photo credit: Aitor Escauriaza
There may come a time when you hit a bump in the road with your direct sales home business. Here are some great ways to help you over that bump and on down the road to success.
3 Easy Steps To Improving Your Business
I know we are all on the look out to try the newest marketing method or jump in to another way of promoting. Before you do start some new method of promotion, read this first.
Not only will this help you stay better organized, but give you direction as well. Follow these steps to build a better business right from the start.
1. Make a list
Start by making a list of what ideas you would like to put into motion. Go over your current marketing plan. Do you have a newsletter? Build it more. Do you have a website? Tweek it so it converts better. Do you book parties? Set a goal to book more. Regardless of what methods you are working on, focus on building on them.
2. Organize your list
Take your list, and put those ideas in order and decide where you should start. For example, let’s say you have a personal website you want to work on, a newsletter, and you also want to work on bringing more visitors in to the site. Your first task should be working on the website to make sure it’s pulling in enough sales. Working on increasing your traffic is going to be a waist of time until your site is working like it should.
3. Stick to it!
With so many marketing ideas out there, it’s hard to focus on just one. However, making a goal to work on just one type of idea can be a huge benefit.
If you are lacking in ideas or direction, you may consider picking up a copy of Direct Sales Success Kit to help get you organized. Good luck!
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About the Authors: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers.
Your Phone, Your Friend
photo credit: Lorenz Walthert
Never forget the power of your telephone. It is the main connection to your life blood, Your Customers! Some people embrace their phone. Others cringe at the thought of calling someone. But it is a critical element in our business, whether you run an online business or offline business. You need your phone!
Is your business a bit slow? Pick up the phone and connect with your customer. How is that product you have been using? Did your friend like the candle that you bought from me to give her? Do you need help cooking with or seasoning the new cookware or pottery? How did that new jewelry look with your dress?
Thank of some reason to call and check. You will be amazed at how people remember that and respond to a personal call. Email is ok for casual use. Not for professional contact! Why is it that spammers are happy with a 1% response rate? It is not personal and they know they can’t get much better through impersonal usage. Personal connections are powerful!
Hey, have a sale! Anyone you talk to, throw an item on sale for them; this week only save 25% on X product. Surprise! You may sell something as well, but what you gain will be ten times better! Satisfied customers that will remember you and refer people to you. Customer Service will make the difference between your business and your competitors.
Give it a try! You have nothing to lose and only Satisfied Customers and a growing business to gain!
Customer Loyalty: Getting People to Become Regular Customers
Question:
I started my food business in September of last year. What has been hard for me is that everyone loves the products. I just need to get them in the mood to buy. I mailed out flyers and have sent e-mails but I did not get a huge response. I want to advertise and keep in touch with my clients but I do not want to be spending all my money on that with little to no return. I have some clients that use the products everyday and have made it part of their grocery lists, and some that only use them on special occasions. I need to get more of the first clients….
Response:
The key to this is creating customer loyalty. We all strive for customer satisfaction, but do we create loyalty? We want our customers to come back to us again and again and remember us, our business and our names when they need a product or service. Remember, it is much easier to keep a customer rather than find new ones.
Here are some tips. These are based on a gourmet food business, but can be tailored for any direct sales business.
*Follow up with your customers 2 – 5 days after the initial sale. Ask them if they have any questions or need suggestions on how to use the products.
*Ask for an email address so you can put them in your email club. Email club members should get specials, discounts, recipes, and more. Tell them to expect this newsletter once a month around the 15th. Now make sure you do this! If they are expecting it, they will look for it.
*Follow up again via phone 30 – 45 days after the sale. By now they have used the product up or have fallen in love with it and will want more. A quick phone call saying “Hi, this is Louann with Megan’s Pantry. I wanted to see if you needed any more products. I’m offering a special today…with any $50 order you can get a free spinach dip (or something like this)
* Follow up via phone before major holidays. You’d be amazed at how many people want/need products before Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter etc
*Let your customers know where you will be. Are you doing a craft fair or an expo. Tell them this. Pick up the phone and let everyone know you will be at the XYZ expo on Saturday June 1st. Be sure to leave your phone number in case they have questions
*Create a buyers club. As a member, they can get free shipping with any order over $50 or for every $200 spent they’ll receive a full size product of their choice. Be creative. See what works in your area, but remember to keep it simple.
You’ll notice I recommend using the phone rather than mailings. You will have a much better success rate spending time on the phone rather than via mail. Think about all the things you get in the mail and TOSS. Or they end up in a pile of things to do later. A quick phone call develops a personal relationship that will take your business to the next level! Plus phone calls are practically free, where sending things in the mail gets pretty expensive very quickly.
Spend 5 hours a month (That’s only 1.25 hours a week) on the phone making these calls and you will see your customer loyalty SOAR.
Louann Cormier
Direct Sales Online Party
photo credit: gcoldironjr2003
When you are planning your direct sales online party, you need to make sure you use your time to the fullest during the party to attract more sales. You will have the potential there at the party so implement the following tips to convert more sales.
4 Tips to More Online Party Sales
I know most of us have held our own online party, been to one, or at least read about them. Many of the materials online are general, and the average online party (for individuals) has around 5-10 guests at the most. Maybe more, maybe less, depending on several factors. But really for those that do not belong to party groups, and are holding their first party the attendance is going to be very low.
After some thought, I realized the way we are holding these parties is wrong. In a previous article we talked about stepping out of the wahm zone, and searching for your specific customers. When looking for guests for your online party, it should be no different. Instead of mass submitting party invites to wahm groups, let’s take a step back and see what should be done FIRST.
1. BUILD a newsletter
Before you have your next party or even start to plan it, set up a newsletter. This is something you should have already for your business, no matter if it’s an informational newsletter or one that lists your specials – you NEED a list of potential customers. If you haven’t started to build one, start now! I could go into detail as to HOW, but newsletters are an entirely different subject of their own.
2. USE your newsletter list
No I don’t mean take advantage of them, but I do mean send your party notices to your list. Your list is the most important, targeted sources of free advertisement you have!
3. Give good REASONS to attend
Simply saying “online party – join us” isn’t enough. Not even saying “games and prizes” is enough anymore. Get creative and have a good reason for having your party. Such as announcing a new product not released yet, giving away free items (be specific in your email!), or featuring a specific type of product on your website. Informational chats are good as well, such as one that explains what a certain non-familiar product is.
4. Make a SCHEDULE
If you have monthly parties introducing or featuring specific products, the attendance is going to be better than if you just have them at random. Weekly is the best for repeat guests, but you also do not want to burn your guests out offering them the same products. Monthly would work best, since it’s not as often but still creates that habit. Make sure you have it on the same day every month (such as the 1st, 10th, 15th…something easy to remember).
Don’t forget to get creative with your parties! With so many offering online parties today, you really need to make yourself stand out. Granted if you do follow the first two steps, you WILL have a much better response since instead of just other wahms you will have a targeted group that may not be familiar with online parties. Even still, there is always room for improvement. š
Good luck with your next online party!
Article by:
Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers – DirectSalesHelpers.com
How do I get More Traffic to My Site?
Question:
My website (SloCountyMoms.com) was created late last year by a web designer. She maintains the site for me and I have absolutely NO knowledge of anything having to do with web construction or maintenance. I have very good results with people who have visited my site and asked to be contacted, but my problem is driving more traffic to my site. I do quite a bit of online advertising, but I’m thinking maybe I need to branch out from WAHM sites and start advertising on other types of sites. Any ideas? I’m drawing a blank as to what other types of sites I can advertise on. Or, is there a better way to drive traffic to my site? Ellen
Response …
Hi Ellen! Thank you for this great question and for being willing to be my example. Your question is a great one, because it applies to so many Work at Home Moms. They may have purchased a site through their company or be in a situation like you where you don’t know or necessarily want to learn Search Engine Optimization. You just want TRAFFIC!
The best news is that you are getting a good response from the visitors that come to your site. That means that your content on your site is working! That deserves Congrats!!!
1.Truth About Traffic – What works and What is a waste of your time and money. This course is great for your situation because it shows you mostly what NOT to do. And, it’s great for those who are interested in Search Engine Optimization, too, but, for you, I’d recommend listening to the first half on what not to do and the rest is optional.
2.Write Articles – This can be a hard one to understand and to get started. I hope my step-by-step lesson helps!
3.Press Releases – Take this press release tutorial and learn how to get FREE exposure for your business. Placing ads in newspapers all over the country can get expensive … unless you know how to play the Press Release game.
4.Write an Ebook – It’s a great way to promote your products!
*Want to start today? I recommend the OneMinuteEbook.
5.Newsletter/Ezine – If you’ve followed my advice, you’re doing a lot of writing for Articles and Press Releases. Take full advantage of all the great things you’ve written and start a Newsletter and build a membership.
*It’s All In The List – Why start an Ezine?
*11 Ways to Quickly Build Your List! – How to Make it Grow?
*Autoresponder – An good autoresponder makes selling your products and promoting your affiliate programs so much easier! I use this and can’t live without it. If you have questions, contact me.
6.Blog – Start a blog and talk about your business.
7.Promote Your Website – Read these ways to promote your website offline and online.
This is just a partial list and I’ll add to it in the coming weeks as I come up with more resources and ideas.
I hope this helps you plan your marketing strategy!
Self Promotion in Your Direct Sales Business
photo credit: dresdendoll
One of the most frequent things I see as a leader or upline is the fact that someone will call me and say I have no sales! Of course you ask them, “Well what have you been doing?” And the answer 9 times out of 10 is “oh, I talked to my mom and her friends and I have gotten nothing.” “OK”, I say “what else have you done to promote yourself?” “UMMM, nothing. I pass out books but nothing happens!”
Here is problem number one…I pass out books and nothing happens. Ok, do you get the person’s phone number and call them and ASK them for an order? Do you call them and just leave a reminder, “Hey my order is going in this weekend in case you need something!” Do you order extra books and pass them out like water? Do you make flyers and mail them out to everyone you know? Do you TREAT your business like a business?
Honestly, most of the time the answer is no. The most self defeating thing in our business is our self!! I will say it again. The most self defeating thing in our business is our self! WHY? Because we are afraid to promote OURSELVES!
I have seen ladies hang their head and mumble while trying to push a book into someoneās hands. Would I order from someone like that? Probably NOT! I have seen ladies cringe at the thought of talking to a stranger at the grocery store. Be proud of your business! If you truly love your business, why are you ashamed to talk about it and shout it to anyone who will listen???
Stand up and say “I sell ___ and I LOVE my job!” Wear pins, carry books or business cards with you everywhere! Put stickers on your car; signs on your lawn; notices or biz cards in your mail; talk to the other moms; network locally; tell the world! You do not have a neon sign above your head that says you sell ___. So if you don’t promote it, who will???
Take a hard look at your business and how you act with it and see what you can do to improve yourself and your attitude about it. Everyday, work on improving your business visibility in your community and with other people, your potential customers. And remember, customer service and consistency is key! Then, watch your sales rise!
Increasing Your Sales
photo credit: shareski
This is an area that we all want and need to work on. Some of us are in businesses that are very cyclical; high sales at certain times of the year. Some of us have consistent sales, but it you want to change it. How do you increase your sales?
One of the first things is KNOW YOUR CATALOG! This is YOUR STORE! It is the only thing that your customers can see. We donāt usually have ALL of the items that are available for purchase. We donāt have the money for that type of inventory, so how is the customer going to know you have it, or know that it is good quality, or maybe not so good quality and you recommend a different piece or item? You are the only one between you and the customerās money! You need to make them want to spend it with YOU! HOW?
The first thing to look at is if you are an order taker or an order maker. An order taker just says, āOk, so you would like 2 eyeliners. Thanks for your order. I will call you next week.ā An order maker will say, āOk, so I have 2 eyeliners for you. Did you see that we also have mascara on sale this month as well. Did you know that mascara only lasts for about 3 months and you should change it often? Can I add one or two on for you?ā This is linking one product that is similar to another.
Bridge selling is taking someone with an order for one item and hooking it up with another item that could go well with it. Your customer is ordering a foundation; you can bridge them into a blush or a powder. If you donāt sell makeup, but sell home decor, then it would be similar if they are buying a floral piece and you recommend a pretty picture that picks up the colors of the floral arrangement. You are enticing them, teasing them, if you will. You want them to have to have it. Offer a small discount if they buy both items. Your profit will go up since their purchase price has just gone up. This can also be accomplished with Group selling. Grouping three or more items together that work together and selling them at one price, with a discount of course. You just tripled your sales to one person. Donāt be afraid to try something new! You cannot read peoples minds so you donāt know how much they are willing to spend.
Another thing to look at is how much time do you spend in training? Do you go through company training and then that is it? āHey, I read my manual. I know all there is to know about my company and business. Heck, Iāve been in sales forever! āOr do you read and research as much as you can about your business. Listen to speakers, read business books, get others opinions, share with others. By expanding your knowledge, you will be able to come up with different ideas about promoting your business. You will find out what works for others. You will learn that improving your self also improves your confidence and that reflects positively to your customers. Your customers will buy more if they think you REALLY do know everything there is to know about your business and they will feel confident that you are a professional and not just doing this business to make a fast buck and then never hear from you again. Most sales are made by relationships, not by the fact that they want your stuff. By investing in you, you are investing in your future with your business.
One last thing you can do to increase your sales, is focus on your companies top items. What are the most popular things that move? A lot of companies list these out for you. Ask them. Why? Because these are the top sellers, the things that everyone wants. If you do parties, then make sure you are focusing on the top sellers AND the higher price items. Make them WANT IT! Get personal. Talk about the one you have just like it; how you can live without it; how it was the reason that you joined this company. āI just fell in LOVE with my Bean Pot. OMG! It is so awesome and the food is so wonderful in it!!!ā AND SO ONā¦.. Get them hooked on it and then move them into the rest of the items that go with it. Link them! And then watch your sales and profits soar!
Home Party Games
photo credit: flinchbaughj
While you are planning your direct sales party, remember to keep it fun so the guest’s attention will not start to wonder other places. Here are 5 fun home party games that will put jive into your party plan.
5 Fun Party Games for Direct Sales That Will Boost Your Business
If you are in direct sales, the money is all in the parties you do. You want your hostess and her guests to have as much fun as possible, but at the same time, you need to educate them on and interest them in your products. You may also want to plant the idea of one of them becoming a consultant. Party games can accomplish all of this while providing entertainment to the guests. Here are a few of our favorite games. Give them a try and watch your business grow.
1) Bingo
This is an easy all-time favorite and an easy way to introduce a wide variety of products to the group.
Create some bingo cards by drawing a 4 by 4 box grid on a piece of paper. Write āFreeā on the center box. Then write the names of your products on the remaining boxes in random order on each of the bingo cards and make yourself a set of cards with just one of the products on each card. You will use this set of cards to draw the bingo ānumbersā. You may want to have a sample of each of the products with you and show it and talk about it when the product is drawn during the bingo game. As in ordinary bingo, the first person who has a row of items checked off wins a prize.
2) Get To Know Each Other Game
This game makes for a nice icebreaker, especially if most of the guests donāt know each other. It can also provide you some clues about who may be a potential prospect.
Pass around a bag of M&Ms. Tell everyone to take as many as they would like. Quickly ask them to count the number of candies in their hand. Each person then takes a turn standing up and telling as many things about themselves and their family as they have M&Mās. Of course no one is allowed to eat their M&Ms until they have had their turn.
3) How Well Do You Know Your Hostess?
Give a piece of paper to each of your guests and have them number it from 1 to 10. Then ask them to answer the following questions.
1) What is your hostessās favorite color?
2) If she could have any vehicle, what would it be?
3) How many kids does she have?
4) What is her favorite hobby?
5) Who is her favorite actor?
6) What is her favorite animal?
7) What is her favorite TV show?
8) What is her favorite food?
9) What is her favorite scent or smell?
10) If you were in need of something, would your hostess give it to you if she can?
After everyone writes down their answers (including the hostess), read the questions again and have the hostess tell everyone her answers. The other guests mark on their papers if they got it right or wrong. The person with the most write answers wins a small prize or discount on their purchase.
You can change and rearrange any of the questions, but leave the last one in place. It provides a nice lead- in to mention that the hostess will get free product if they purchase a certain amount, and/or book their own parties.
4) Left Right Game
This game is a great way to start a party, right before you go into your presentation. Pass out one or two small gifts. Tell your guests that you will read them a story and that they should pass the gift to the person to the right when they hear the word ārightā and to the left when you mention āleft. The person holding the gift at the end of the story gets to keep it.
Here is the story:
I left my house and was on my way to (insert hostessās name) house. But I soon discovered that I had left my directions at home, right by the phone! Well, I knew right away that I needed to have the right directions to (insert hostessās name) house, so I turned left and I turned left and I turned right and made my way back to my house for the right directions. Sure enough, there they were, right where I had left them, right next to the phone.
Finally, I was on the right track. I arrived right on time and set up my (insert your company name) presentation right over here. You all arrived and sat down. Iām going to get right down to work and tell you about (name of company). I hope nothing will be left out. In a moment Iāll show you our new line of (insert your type of products) products. If you left home with the intention of shopping for gifts tonight, youāll find we have the right gift for everyone. Think about upcoming birthdays and holidays, we donāt want anyone left out. Iād be happy to help you find the right gift for that special someone.
(Insert name of company) has a (insert number of days) āday return policy. When your merchandise comes in please check it right away. If something is not right please call me right away and you can be sure I will take care of it right away. You donāt want to be left with something you are not 100% satisfied with, right? If youād like to be a hostess and earn free and discounted merchandise, this is the right time for you to explore hosting a party.
Iām enjoying being here with all of you tonight and I hope you are having fun, too. I know you canāt wait to see if we have that special item you have been looking for, so without further delay I will get right to the point of this party, which is showing you our great products! So, there is really nothing left for me to do except congratulate the winner, right?
5) Ask Me About My Job
This game is a great way to get your guests thinking about joining your company.
Get or make up some tickets.
Tell your guests that for the next 3 minutes you are going to play ā Ask Me About My Jobā. The first person to come up with a question will get 3 tickets, the second person will get 2 and every question after that earns one ticket.
You will hear questions like āHow long have you been doing this?ā and āHow many hours a week do you work?ā Answer them as positively as possible. Good answers to the questions above would be āIāve been doing this for 12 months and Iāve never had so much funā and ā I only work evenings and weekends because I want to be home with my kidsā.
After the three minutes are up, tell you guests to hang on to their tickets. You will have another short Q&A session towards the end of the party (your guests will have thought of some additional questions by then). After that have a drawing for a small prize.
This game is a great opportunity for you to teach your guests about your business and they may see how could benefit them.
Give a few of these games a try and put your own spin on them. All of these can easily be adapted and modified to work for you and the particular direct sales company that you represent. Go out there and have fun!
How to Stay Focused On Your Business Everyday
photo credit: JoelZimmer
One of the most important things for a Work At Home Business it that we HAVE to work our business everyday to stay focused. What happens if we do not do that? Well, we would not have any income coming in. I, for one, would have a problem with thatā¦ I mean the whole reason I work at home is to have income. So what can we do every day to keep our business in the forefront without it running our lives??
Depending on the type of business that you have is going to determine if some of these are workable for you, but in general purposes, everyone should be able to do these things.
Make customer service calls. What does that mean? Stay in touch with your customers. Call someone to check and see if they are enjoying X product they bought from you. If it is makeup, make sure it is working properly, and that they like the results. If it is home decor, see if they have used the product yet. Are they enjoying it? Have they gotten complements on the results? Maybe these complements are referrals that your customer can make to you. Offer a small discount for referrals.
Send Thank You notes. Send out Birthday cards, if you keep track of your customerās b-days. How about Thinking of You cards to those you havenāt heard from in a while? Offer a small discount on their next order. This may get an order for you.
Send out flyers for a special sale or Open House. Are you doing a booth at a local craft show or festival? Here is another reason to send out a quick flyer. Again, offer them a little discount or free gift if they mention the ad and then show up at the function.
Get on the phone to past hostesses and book parties, shows or whatever your business. Make yourself make 2-3 calls per day. Put it on the calendar.
Go in the internet and research your industry. Find articles that you can learn from.
Go to sales seminars, read sales books and how to books.
Get all of the training that you can from your company. If they run out or you have taken it all, find other sources.
Get on the internet and take advantage of all the free advertising avenues out there. Join groups and free WAHM sites. The more you get your name out there, the better your sales will increase.
Work on your calendar. You need to do this everyday.
Join local groups that you can network at. Again, getting your name out there is crucial for name recognition.
Go back to the chapter on How to Kick Start Your Business and work on some of those items.
Doing these types of things for even a few minutes a day will keep you in the Work At Home mode. It is easy to say, āOh, I am just going to take today off. Oh and maybe tomorrow too.ā Before you know it, you have taken off more time that you have been working and what has that done for your sales? NOTHING! You have to stay in a working frame of mind to be successful.
Ways to Use an Autoresponder in Your Direct Sales Business
Are you in a direct sales business and trying to figure out, like me, how to streamline your systems so that you can spend more of your precious business time working on income generating activities?
Well, I’m here to tell you that there are some simple steps you can take NOW to help your business for the long term and an Autoresponder is one of those ways! An autoresponder is an online program that takes a prewritten email message or series of messages that you’ve created and sends it out automatically when someone signs up either via email or a web form.
That sounds a whole lot more complicated than it really is. So let me give you examples that might work in various aspects of your direct sales business to help you see how easy this really is:
Lead follow up and tracking.
Do you advertise either online or offline? With an autoresponder you can put an email address into your advertisement and when one of your potential customers/recruits emails you to find out more about your company, they are automatically sent your initial packet of information instantly. Take it one step further and you can even put a different email address into each ad, making it easy to track which ads are producing results.
Lead Generation.
Do you have a coupon or e-book that you can give away to potential new customers or recruits? Set it up in your autoresponder and create a web form (all free with most systems) that you can place in your blog or on your website. Then just add a quick statement of “Request more information on my business today and receive a free gift” sending interested prospects to your autoresponder where the gift and the information are sent to them automatically!
Downline newsletters.
If you’ve built a team of distributors under you, you’ll want to stay in contact with them regularly. An autoresponder can do that easily, first with a “welcome to my team” email and then later as you broadcast your team newsletter through the list.
Help your new consultants get off to a great start in their new business with a series of email training messages geared toward those days when they are waiting for their starter kit. It’s a great way to keep the enthusiasm high during those first days!
Is there a specific area in your direct sales business that seems to generate the same questions from all the distributors in your group? Set up another series of emails specific to that business topic and set up your team members there as the questions come in.
Leadership communication.
As your direct sales business grows you’ll promote leaders from your team. Set up a series of emails congratulating them on their promotion and encouraging them in their new role as leader. Many people in direct sales have no idea what it means to lead a team of their own and you can set up a system to get them trained and equipped as well. and have it work for
you continually.
Customer newsletters.
Stay in contact with your customers by using an autoresponder series just like you do with your downline. Have a welcome series for new customers to keep your name and information in front of them.
Customer classes.
Set up a series of emails that highlight a product of the month from your product line, or an email class on how to use some of your products.
Contests
Set up a series of contest emails for either your customer base or your downline. For instance, have a “scavenger hunt” through your catalog and use the autoresponder system to create the excitement over a series of
days.
I’m guessing that most of you, unless you’re brand new to direct sales, have much of the information for many of the above ideas already in your computer somewhere. With an autoresponder it’s just a matter of transferring that information into the system where it can work for you, even when you’re off doing other things. Give it a try. Many autoresponders have a free trial offer so you can check out how they work before you take the plunge. but after just 6 months of using it with my own direct sales business, I can tell you it’s well worth every penny!
