Unsuccessful Sales Tactics to Avoid
Most direct sales consultants study ways to sell more and get new customers. Few, however, study what not to do. Here are some sales tactics that will not only lose sales for you, but they can truly sabotage your business if allowed free reign. Watch for them, and eliminate them from your direct sales business as quickly as you can.
• Becoming a one-size-fits-all-kind of gal. Treating every customer and prospect the same can be a big mistake in your direct sales business. You need to discover what each individual customer desires and work to fill that desire. Otherwise, you’re simply competing with other direct sales representatives who offer the same cookie-cutter approach, and with potentially hundreds of other reps in any company, being different matters.
Offering each customer or prospect specifically what she wants promotes you as the direct sales consultant who knows her customers and strives to meet their every need. That will ensure your customers keep coming back to you when they need what you have to sell.
• Failing to care for your customers. Customer care is critical to a successful business, especially a direct sales business. Direct sales is a personalized business by its nature, and it requires stronger customer-consultant relationships than standard retail businesses. That’s why it’s mandatory that your customers know you will care for their needs in any way you can.
Return phone calls promptly. Handle returns and refunds with a pleasant attitude. Work diligently to ensure they receive orders on time. Say thank you with a simple card or email. Anything you can do to let your customers know how much you value them will pay off in added sales for your business.
• Monopolizing the conversation. If you’ve ever read Dale Carnegie’s classic book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” you’ll know that the underlying premise of all the Carnegie teaches is to learn to listen to people.
Everyone wants to be heard. Becoming known as someone who listens will strengthen your relationships, and it will help you hear what it is your customers and prospects need. Knowing that will put you well on the way to solving their problems–and increasing your sales. The opposite, not listening or talking too much, will drive customers away quicker than you can blink.
• Not being completely honest with yourself and your customers. It’s sometimes easy to think you’re working hard when you’re really surfing the ‘Net, or when you’re daydreaming instead of making phone calls or answering email–like you know you need to be doing.
It may be easy to exaggerate the potential when you’re trying to recruit a new team member, or exaggerate a product’s capabilities when you know it can’t do what you say. It’s not that we intend to lie, we just want to make a situation sound better than it is!
But anytime you are less than 100 percent honest with yourself and your customers or prospects, you’re doing serious damage to your business. A successful direct sales business is built on honesty and trust. And without these important virtues, the foundation of your business is shaky at best. Be honest in every aspect of your business with both yourself and your customers. The results will be well worth the self-discipline in the long run.
• Wanting what you want and wanting it now. Building a strong customer base and a successful direct sales business takes time. It also requires dedication, persistent and that dreaded “P” word–patience.
Keep working at your business–contacting customers and prospects, booking parties, promoting and marketing your products, and it will pay off. Just give it time and one day you’ll realize how far you’ve come… one seemingly slow step at a time. You’ll be so glad you didn’t give up when the results weren’t immediate or instantaneous!
• Working as a lone wolf. Sometimes you may feel as if you’re totally on your own in direct sales. After all, you are the boss, and you usually work alone–making calls, following up on emails, placing orders, etc. But direct sales is about relationships and building strong ones will take your business farther than being a “lone wolf” will ever do.
Nurture your relationships. Get to know people in all areas of life. Learn to network with others naturally, through conversation and interaction. Doing so will not only enrich your personal life tremendously, but it will ensure you’re never at a loss for word of mouth referrals and sales leads from trusted friends.
Building a successful direct sales business can be challenging, but the rewards are amazing! The flexibility of working your own hours and raising your own kids while still being able to earn a good income are priceless. Do all you can to minimize the mistakes you make and your business will grow more quickly because of your efforts.
Train Your Direct Sales Team with a Weekly Newsletter
Keeping in touch with your direct sales team can be a challenge. There’s so much going in your life and theirs that weekly meetings are next to impossible. Even weekly chats, while easier than physical meetings, are hard to manage. But you can still “meet” with your team every week using an email newsletter, or ezine.
Weekly newsletters can provide training tips, sales meeting information, contest updates, new product reviews, discontinued product details, and much more. Here are some ideas for making use of this tremendous team building strategy to encourage and strengthen your direct sales team.
• Create an email list using Aweber, Constant Contact, or even Yahoo Groups. This will allow your team members to change their own email address as needed and update their preferences without your time and assistance.
• Encourage all team members sign up for the list so they can stay up to date on team news. You might let them know there will be topics covered in the weekly newsletter that aren’t covered anywhere else so they understand the importance of subscribing.
• Use trivia contests and virtual door prize drawings to keep interest. If you have a weekly winner, you can be sure your team members will be more likely to read the newsletter to see if it’s them!
• Highlight sales achievements by including a congratulatory note to the consultant with the highest amount in sales each week. Recognition is a strong motivator for a lot of people. It could encourage other team members to work harder to win that coveted spot in the next issue.
• Encourage consultant questions each week, and publish any you receive, along with the consultant’s name. Again, the recognition factor is a good thing. And it will help new team members know it’s okay to ask questions, while offering answers that others may have wanted to ask but didn’t.
• Clarify the purpose of your newsletter. Let your team members know what you hope to achieve through each issue. Perhaps you want to increase team sales, add new recruits, move the team to a higher level of community, host more parties. Whatever the goal, share it with your team so they know what you want them to aim toward.
• Provide interesting articles on topics that will help your team. Sales training tips, booking how-tos, getting past “no,” balancing work and family, party demonstration ideas, and anything else that your team needs to hear.
• Highlight new members and introduce veterans. People like to know who else is on the team, so use members’ names often. Let your team members encourage each other by asking for and sharing their tips and ideas with the rest of the team as well.
• Getting team members involved will go a long way toward motivating them, and your weekly ezine can do that in many ways. As mentioned, ask for tips and questions, and publish the responses you receive. You can also highlight the best party of the week, the one with the most guests, or any team member who brings on a new recruit. Ask for volunteers to write articles, submit photos or anything else you can think of to get them involved and give them a sense of ownership in the newsletter–and the team!
• Don’t assume that money is the only motivation for team members. While cash rewards or added income are sometimes motivational factors, many other things also work to bring out the best in people. Being a part of something (like the team), the fulfillment of a job well done, a sense of responsibility and more are strong motivating factors. Use each and every one in some way, along with prizes or cash incentives, to motivate your team to reach higher goals.
• It’s said about geese that the reason they fly in a “V” formation is that when each bird flaps its wings it creates uplift for the next bird, thereby giving the entire flock greater flying range. In the same way, team members who work together and share common goals and a sense of community can achieve greater results because of their shared strength.
Keep this thought in mind as you work to build your team through a weekly newsletter–and through all your other team-building efforts. It will serve you all well and help you reach your goals of more sales, bookings and recruits.
Have Fun & Increase Sales at Your Own Direct Sales Party
Direct Sales is one of the most popular work-at-home businesses these days. And more and more direct sales consultants are seeing a comeback in home parties. This is great for increased sales… and besides, home parties are a lot of fun!
People enjoy inviting friends and family into their homes and allowing you–their direct sales consultant–to offer them products at reasonable prices, while you earn a good profit, they earn free prizes and merchandise, and everyone has lots of fun doing it! But if you’ve started holding home parties and find that you just aren’t making the income you’d like to, you can change that with a home party of your own!
After you set a date for your own direct sales home party, the most important thing to help you make money is to get the word out. You can’t expect to invite a few of your closest friends over and be left with a lump of cash at the end of the party. Just as you can’t expect to hold one party and get rich. Successful direct sales party plan consultants hold several parties every month for themselves and other hostesses.
This is why advertising is so important. The more people who know about your party plan business and the products you offer, the more people will show up when you hold a party. And the more people who will book parties with you themselves. There is a direct correlation as to how many guests you have in attendance and how much money you earn.
As soon as you’ve set a date, begin sending out invitations. Invite your friends, relatives, co-workers, church family, and everyone else you know. Give them a flyer or a postcard instead of just asking them to “mark their calendars.” State clearly on the flyer that anyone who comes and brings a friend will receive a small door prize, or a small discount on the first item they purchase. Now you’ve invited two people for every one flyer you’ve handed out!
After inviting the people you know, expand your contacts. You can invite people you don’t know in a number of ways. Leave brochures at the grocery store or pin up flyers and posters wherever you see public bulletin boards. Leave a stack of flyers at different churches if they will allow it. Drop some off at the doctor’s or dentist’s office. You might even consider taking out a small ad in the newspaper advertising your next home party.
Once you’ve handed out flyers and made phone calls, you can start to focus on how you’re going to make money at the party itself. The key lies in having fun, and making sure your guests do, too. Providing plenty of simple food and drinks at your home party is a no-brainer key to having fun. People feel more at ease if they have something to munch on or a cup of coffee to sip on. Make sure there’s lot to go around and people will automatically start loosening up and enjoying themselves.
Standing in front of a group of people and telling them about your products can be nerve-wracking. Just remember to relax, remain calm and enjoy yourself. No one wants to sit and listen to a boring lecture on your product for an hour or two. By the time you’re done, no one will be interested in hanging around to buy your products; they’ll just be wondering how quickly they can make their exit. But if you have fun, laugh with your guests, and really open up and talk to them, everyone will be more at ease and no one will want the fun to stop!
It’s tempting to want to hold the product for all your guests to see. But guests will be much more interested in the product if they can hold it in their own hands and look at it and explore all the things it does. Of course, you can explain everything your product can do while the guests are passing it around. But letting them touch it and hold it themselves will increase their interest in it. And they’ll be more likely to want one for their very own!
Having fun at your home party is the biggest advantage you can give yourself when you’re trying to turn a profit in direct sales home parties. So invite as many people as you can and make your party fun. You’ll appear less “showy,” and it won’t seem as though you’re trying to push your product on anyone. You’ll simply be showing your friends that you have a great product line and you want them to be the first ones to know about it.
Create Fantastic Flyers to Market Your Direct Sales Business
Advertising your direct sale business with flyers is a great way to find new customers, team members and hostesses. But not everyone knows how to design a “killer” marketing flyer that will attract attention and get results. Here are some things to consider when designing yours:
• Keep It Simple Sister. Don’t go overboard when designing a flyer. One nice graphic, one or two fonts and lots of white space make for a cleaner design, and one that’s easier to read. Since response will come only if a flyer is read, that’s your objective, and keeping your design simple will help you accomplish that goal.
• Consider what you want to accomplish with your flyer. Are you looking for orders? Hostesses? Recruits? The purpose of the flyer will determine the content.
For instance, if you want a flyer to recruit hostesses, be sure to include the benefits of hosting a party, the free gifts available, the flexibility of holding a catalog show or online party instead of an in-home show, etc.
If you’re looking for recruits, focus on the benefits of being a consultant for your company, the earnings potential, flexible hours, joy of owning your own business and more.
Let the desired outcome help you decide what information to include.
• Include full contact information. Name, phone number, email address and website URL are all important. You can even include a cell phone number if you want people to contact you that way.
• Create an interesting, eye-catching layout. One of the most common graphic design layouts follows a “C” pattern.
Look at a flyer or magazine ad that you like. Your eye typically gravitates to the top right side, then moves to the center left, then drops back to the bottom right. The effect is a visual “C”. It has a natural flow and works very well for ads and flyers.
Use this principle when creating your own flyers. Place a graphic or element at the top right, then another element in the middle of the page to the left, then let the eye naturally follow down and to the right as shown below in this sample from a Microsoft Publisher template which is included with the software.
• Another simple, yet effective design is a center line. Create your various page elements–heading, graphic, content, contact information–and center the entire flyer on the page. This is especially good for inexperienced designers who still need an attractive layout.
• Use the largest font that will fit your headline on the page. Never let words break in the middle or use hyphens in your headlines, though. But you can let the headline break to two lines if you use a natural split.
For instance, if your headline is “Earn Free Hostess Gifts!” you wouldn’t want your line to look like this:
Free Hostess
Gifts!
But…
Hostess Gifts!
would work. You don’t want to split your line too much or it will take up to much room. But you can use a much larger font with the second example and still break your headline in a natural spot for easy reading.
• Give benefits rather than features. Telling people how your products or business opportunity will solve their problems will achieve much better results than simply telling them what products are available or what the sales commission is. Focus on the emotions you want readers to feel and create a flyer to draw out those emotions for the greatest success.
• Offer a solution to a problem. Consider your target customer and ask yourself why she would buy your products. Is she an aging career woman who wants to look younger? Does she want to redecorate her home without the hassle of hiring an interior designer? Let her know what you can do for her!
If you’re creating a flyer to recruit your ideal team member, ask yourself the same thing… why would she sign up with your company or your team? Is she a stay at home mom who wants something to do while the kids are in school? Or is she a single parent who needs to earn extra income? Once you decide what your prospect is searching for, you can create a flyer to let her know how you can meet her need and solve her problem.
• Remember Marlon Brando in The Grandfather making people an offer they couldn’t refuse? Do the same with your flyer. Add a discount coupon with at least 20%–most people won’t even bother with a 10% discount anymore. Or promise a surprise gift free with every order, or specialized training free to new recruits. Whatever you offer, make it exciting and something your prospect can’t live without!
• Add customer testimonials. Something simple like “Marie is the BEST direct sales consultant I’ve ever met!” –L.N., or “I am so glad Marie told me about this business opportunity! The money I make has saved my family from bankruptcy!” –A.R. Always include a name or at least initials with testimonials.
Just be sure these are real testimonials, never manufactured ones! If you don’t have any, ask current clients or team members if they feel comfortable giving you a recommendation. If they do, use it on your next flyer. It can make a huge difference in your marketing efforts.
Creating a fantastic flyer for your direct sales business will require some time and planning, but it’s a simple task that anyone can do. And you can use your flyer to promote your business in so many ways. Why don’t you get started on yours right now!
Ideas to Promote Your Direct Sales Beauty Business
Sometimes it’s difficult to find sales promotion and marketing helps for specific direct sales businesses. Here are some ideas to help direct sales consultants whose business is selling beauty and skin care products.
• Invest in business cards that are die cut in the shape of a lipstick tube, eye make-up case or hairbrush.
• Spritz a bit of cologne on your business cards so they pick up the scent.
• Use your own skin care and make-up products, then when people comment on how wonderful your skin looks, you can tell them they could have the same results using your products.
• Print “You Are So Beautiful!” with a photo of some of your beauty products or your company logo on note card forms from the office supply store. Use them to thank your hostesses and new customers.
• Print “This Business Can Beautify Your Life!” with a photo of some of your beauty products or your company logo on note card forms. Send them to prospective team members with details on your business opportunity.
• Put a sample lipstick in a small zipper bag and staple it to a business card.
• Give your weekly ezine a title that relates to your business such as “Beauty Tips & Tidbits” or something similar rather than just using your company name. It reminds people of what you do every time a new issue arrives.
• Give skin care and beauty products as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and more to anyone and everyone you know. Try to choose products the recipient will enjoy, but let it be known that you love your products and assume everyone else does, too.
• Offer free makeovers to local customers. Have them invite their friends and make a “spa day” or do one-on-one beauty and skin care consultations.
• Host a monthly drawing for a free skin care product. Have people sign up on your website. Be sure to include a current catalog and business opportunity flyer when you send out the prize.
• Write articles about how to care for aging, dry, or oily skin, how to use eye make-up, the difference between skin care products, how to make money selling beauty products, how to make beauty products last longer, what to do with broken lipsticks, and more. Submit them to article directories and publish them on your blog and website.
• Offer to give free classes on beauty tips and skin care at local clubs, senior centers, libraries and churches. Provide plenty of catalogs and business opportunity flyers for participants.
• Donate discontinued skin care products and fragrances as prizes for drawings on other Websites or at local businesses. Include your company literature, of course.
• Offer a discount to area salons and hairstylists who would allow you to leave your brochures and catalogs in their shops.
• Take part in church bake sales and craft sales where you can rent an inexpensive booth and set up your product display. Hold a drawing for a free gift so you can collect names and addresses for your mailing list.
• Partner with other direct sales representatives in non-competing companies to market your products to each other’s customers. For instance, find a home decor consultant or candle sales representative and have her promote your beauty products to her mailing list while you promote her products to yours.
• Host an online candle party filled with beauty tips and tricks. Play games, chat, and have fun while selling products and booking other shows.
• Get a web decal or vinyl cling printed with your company name or logo, a lipstick graphic and your website address, and display it on the back of your car.
• Wear a pin-back button that says, “My business is Beautiful!” or “Free Makeover! Ask Me How!”
While there are many more ideas to promote your direct sales beauty business, these should help get you started thinking about creative ways to beautify the world around you.
Direct Sales Basics: How To Hold an Online Party
Have you been wanting to hold an online party for your direct sales company but didn’t know how, or even where to begin? Good news… it’s much easier than you might think! Here are instructions to help you plan and hold your very first online party. You can start right away building your business with added online sales using this technique.
• First, invite a friend or family member to serve as hostess. You can host the party yourself, but it’s nice to get others involved. If you choose a hostess up front, she can work with you to promote the online party and invite more guests.
You can also hold a “Mystery Hostess” party where you draw a name at the end of the party from all the guests who stayed for the whole show. This can be a lot of fun and is added incentive to get your guests to stick around the whole time.
• Decide on a date and time for your online party. If you have a hostess, work with her to set a date that’s convenient for you both.
• Next, you’ll need a chat room. If you plan to do online parties on a regular basis, you can add a chat room to your site using one of the many services available online. While some of these chat rooms do cost, there are added benefits to having your own customized room.
But if you only want to hold an occasional party, are just getting started, or simply don’t want the hassle of setting up your own chat room, there are several free party rooms available online. Just search for “free WAHM chat rooms” and pick the one that looks best to you. You can always go for the paid, upgraded version later on.
• If you’re using someone else’s chat room, check to see that the site you’ve chosen limits parties to one rep per company per day. That way you’ll be able to get more guests to your party and you won’t be competing with another consultant from the same direct sales company.
• Once you reserve your chat room, you may want to play around with the mechanics of it a bit to familiarize yourself with how everything works before the day of the party. If the chat room offers an online tutorial, read it thoroughly so you’ll be comfortable. You don’t want the technical aspects of the chat room site or software to affect your comfort level during the party itself.
But don’t worry! Chat rooms are extremely easy to navigate and you’ll feel like a chat room pro in no time.
• Your next task is to invite guests. Just as with a live party, the more the merrier–and the more orders you’ll get! Some ideas for getting the word out include:
==>Invite everyone you know.
==>Have your hostess invite everyone she knows.
==>Offer a gift or a discount to anyone who brings a friend.
==>Add a note about your party to email or forum signature files.
==>Post a note on your website.
==>Blog about your upcoming party.
==>Tweet about your party on twitter.
==>Announce your party on Facebook.
==>Send out a postcard (electronic or print!).
==>Do anything you can do to get more guests–without SPAM, of course!
Guests are the lifeblood of a party and without them, your party will fail. Spend as much time promoting and inviting as you can!
• Plan two or three games to play during the party. If you play games that involve searching for items on your website (and you should!), ask your guests to open another browser window so they can keep the chat room window open at the same time.
• You can find several possible games online. A couple popular and easy ones include Word Scramble, where you scramble the name of a product and the first one to decipher the word wins that product, or Product Search, where you give guests the name of a specific product and the first one to find the description and type it in wins that product.
• Create a script to use the day of the party. That way you can cut and paste snippets of text to eliminate the need for typing everything. This will also ensure you remember all the things you want to say.
• Keep in mind that an online party operates much like a live party. But instead of verbally saying what you want to say to your guests, you’ll be typing what you want to say. The activities and conversations will be much the same, though.
• Start by introducing yourself to your guests. Tell them a little about you and how you came to be involved in direct sales. Then invite each guest to introduce herself. This is a good time to play an icebreaker game if you have one planned.
• Allow time for your guests to ask questions about your products, if needed. Just as when hosting a live party, explain various products, how they work, and give tips for their use. Include sales and specials for party guests, booking incentives, hostess gifts, etc. You can do almost anything online that you would do at a live show. Just keep in mind you have to explain it via text rather than verbally.
• Remind guests that every order they place will give their hostess credit (another reason for having a friend serve as hostess). And help them place their orders online if they need your help.
• Be sure to create a “party atmosphere” by providing fun and entertaining activities, games and lively discussion. You want every guest to be glad she came so she’ll want to attend the next party you hold–and ideally, book one of her own with you as well!
• After your online party, send a quick email thank you to everyone who attended, whether she ordered or not. It’s a nice gesture and will leave a positive impression with your guests.
The ABCs of Getting Your Customer’s Attention
Offering something just a little bit different, caring for your customers just a little bit better, and creating content that’s just a little bit more interesting will take you a long way in your search for direct sales success. Here are fresh ways and some tried and true concepts for building interest and attracting attention from your customers and prospects.
Accent important information on your flyers, website and printed articles with paragraph borders, colored fonts, larger size type and other attention-getting changes.
Buzzwords excite your readers and get them emotionally involved in your content. Consider proven words like Free, Money, Health, Easy, Yes, Quick, Benefit and others.
Clear envelopes draw everyone’s attention to what you’re mailing–even postal service workers!
Die cut business cards shaped like your products are much more effective than plain rectangles–and they’re less expensive than you’d think. Sell beauty products? Use a lipstick shaped card. Sell Home decor? Try a wreath shape or a house. Sell toys? Use a teddy bear shape. Think of something that matches your business and add extra impact with a specially shaped card.
Everyone loves freebies! Use free samples to promote your business and get prospective customers interested in buying from you.
Fill a distinctive shape that relates to your business–such as a hairbrush, doll shape or drinking glass–with text for added interest when creating flyers, fillers or other print information.
Graphics strategically placed to draw the reader’s eye will enhance your content and make your writing practically jump off the page.
Hand-written Post-It® notes are guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention. Stick one on the top of your sales flyers before posting or mailing them.
Involve your reader by using “you” and “yours” in your articles, titles, headlines and website content.
Join a filler swap for a fabulous low-cost way to promote your business to women, in particular. Find a group that will let you submit your fillers (coupons, bookmarks, samples, business cards, etc.) free for inclusion in other direct sales consultant’s customer shipments, and you could see a tremendous increase in added sales and prospects.
KISS your customers and prospects for the best results… Keep It Simple, Sister!
Leave catalogs in unusual places such as inside a shopping cart at the grocery store, or on a library shelf that holds books relating to your topic.
Make sure you treat your customers better than they expect to be treated and they’ll repay you with repeat orders and referrals to friends and family!
Neon colors make printed materials such as flyers, bookmarks, mint books and more stand out from the rest of the filler packs.
Over-deliver on everything you do and you’ll become known as the direct sales consultant who offers more than is expected.
Print a sales special on your shipping labels along with your website address for free advertising every time you mail a package.
Quotes are a great way to get your message across. There are thousands available online that you can use to add interest to articles, flyers and other content.
Remember that the customer is always right–or thinks he is! So treat him with respect and kindness. Even irate customers will typically relax and calm down when they see you’re on their side.
Sidebars in your articles and on your website are great for attracting attention to important points you want to make and for adding visual interest to your content.
Tuck a handful of confetti inside your catalogs when mailing and create an instant party when the recipient opens your envelope.
Unleash your creativity! Think outside the proverbial box when looking for ways to advertise and promote your direct sales business and your customers will notice the difference.
Vary your marketing methods. Run print ads this month and online ads next month. Write articles one week and send out a press release the next. Reach different demographic markets by using different marketing tactics and strategies.
White space adds visual interest and makes for easier reading copy.
eXtend your marketing efforts past your own community by advertising in national publications when your budget allows.
Write thank you cards and letters to customers, hostesses and downline members. They’ll notice and remember your personal touch.
“Z sky is z limit!” where promoting your business is concerned. Have fun and you’ll be amazed at the results!
Ideas to Promote Your Direct Sales Candle Business
Often when searching for direct sales promotion and marketing help, you can only find general tips and generic information. Wouldn’t it be great to have specific ideas to help you build your direct sales business–whether it’s related to beauty, home decor, kitchen items or toys? Here are some ideas to help you if your business is selling candles and candle accessories.
• Invest in business cards that are die cut in the shape of a candle.
• Rub a strongly-scented candle on your business cards so they pick up the scent.
• Keep candles burning in your home and office all the time.
• Print “You’re the Light of My Life!” with a photo of a candle or your company logo on note card forms from the office supply store. Use them to thank your hostesses and new customers.
• Print “This Business Can Light Up Your Life!” with a photo of a candle or your company logo on note card forms. Send them to prospective team members with details on your business opportunity.
• Put a few wax chips in small zipper bags and staple to a business card.
• Sell discontinued items on eBay or Craigslist. When you ship, be sure to include a current catalog and business opportunity flyer.
• Make use of every catalog you buy. If you can’t get them passed out before they expire, slap a “Call for Current Catalog!” sticker on the front and pass them out, anyway.
• Give your weekly newsletter a title that relates to your business such as “Candle Craze” or something similar rather than just using your company name. It reminds people of what you do every time a new issue arrives.
• Give candles as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and more to anyone and everyone you know. Try to choose a scent the recipient will enjoy, but let it be known that you love candles and you assume everyone else does, too.
• Host a monthly drawing for a free candle. Have people sign up on your website. Be sure to include a current catalog and business opportunity flyer when you send out the prize.
• Write articles about how to care for candles, how to use candles safely, the difference between soy and wax candles, how to make money selling candles, how to decorate with candles, what to do with broken candles, and more. Submit them to article directories and publish them on your blog and website.
• Offer to give free classes on candle safety or decorating with candles at local clubs, senior centers, libraries and churches. Provide plenty of catalogs and business opportunity flyers for participants.
• Donate discontinued candles as prizes for drawings on other Websites or at local businesses. Include your company literature, of course.
• Print colorful flyers and post them on local bulletin boards to promote your products and business opportunity.
• Leave a couple catalogs everywhere you go including the doctor’s office, dentist, hairstylist, etc.
• Offer a discount to area realtors who would like to give their new home buyers the gift of a candle. Attach your business card to the package.
• Take part in church bake sales and craft sales where you can rent an inexpensive booth and set up your candle display. Even if you don’t make many sales that day, you can host a drawing and collect names and addresses for your mailing list.
• Partner with other direct sales representatives in non-competing companies to market your products to each other’s customers. For instance, find a beauty consultant and have her promote your candles to her mailing list while you promote her beauty products to yours.
• Host an online candle party. Play games, chat, and have fun while selling products and booking other shows.
• Get a web decal or vinyl cling printed with your company name or logo, a candle graphic and your website address, and display it on the back of your car.
• Wear a pin-back button that says, “My business is Hot Stuff!” or “Free Candles! Ask Me How!”
While there are many more ideas to promote your direct sales candle business, these should help get you started thinking about creative ways to light up the world around you.
6 Ways to Market Your Direct Sales Business Locally
While it’s easy to get involved in online marketing, a successful direct sales consultant needs to make the most of offline and local marketing as well. Here are some ideas for advertising and promoting your direct sales business in your local community.
1. Sponsor a sports team.
Dozens of little league baseball teams, adult and youth softball teams, soccer teams, football and basketball teams, bowling teams and more are looking for someone to sponsor them.
While this could involve paying the team’s entrance fee into the league, or buying full uniforms, it often involves buying only T-shirts or bowling shirts. That can make sponsoring a team affordable for almost any direct sales consultant who’s serious about her business.
The goodwill generated in the community along with having your company name on the backs of 10-12 team members two to three times every week can be a real boost to your business.
2. Place an ad in a local newspaper, magazine or newsletter.
This is especially affordable if you live in a small town; advertising in big city newspapers and magazines can cost as much as national publications. But even then, you might be able to find local print newsletters published by computer user groups, gardening clubs, home associations and others who would allow you to run a business card size ad for a very reasonable price.
Locate potential publications by searching online for “newsletter advertising” (with quotes) and include the name of your hometown. Or ask friends and families if they know of any possibilities. This could turn into one of your best marketing methods ever.
3. Advertise on a billboard.
If you can find a privately owned billboard, in particular, the cost may be less than you think. And often, billboard ads are left up long past the expiration date of the ad. The price could be out of your range but it’s worth a few phone calls to find out before you write off this advertising option as totally unaffordable.
4. Have magnetic signs or window decals made.
You can get a pair of magnetic signs for under $50, and window decals are much less than that. While you may not receive any traceable orders from the signs, getting your name out in the community and letting others know what you do will pay off. Put a set on every vehicle you own, if possible. You may be surprised at how many people call you and say “I’m so glad I found you. I’ve been looking all over for a consultant!”
5. Use pin-back buttons.
Another very low-cost option, pin-back buttons are an excellent advertising option. Instead of only printing your company name and phone number, however, try something like “Ask Me for a Free Catalog!” or “I Have a Free Gift for You!” People will see the pin and comment, and there’s your open door for sales and bookings.
Have buttons made for anyone you know who’ll wear one as well. Your spouse, kids and other family members can wear a button that says “My Mom / Dad / Sister / Daughter sells…” (with your company name or products). Successful direct sales representatives almost always have help from their friends and family. Make the most of all the help you can get!
6. Have business cards professionally printed.
While you can use cards that you design and print yourself, nothing says “professional” like a well-designed, professionally printed business card. For the minimal cost of a box of business cards, you can’t go wrong with this local advertising option.
Post cards everywhere you go, leave them on counters, tables, on the sink in the ladies room. You never know where someone will see your card and need what you have to offer.
These are just a few ideas to get you thinking about marketing and advertising your direct sales business locally. Hopefully, your increased sales and exposure will help you see that it’s well worth the time and money you spend to improve your local marketing efforts.
10 Tips for Successful Hostess Coaching
Making your hostess happy (and keeping her that way) will help tremendously in ensuring stronger bookings, more and better parties with larger attendance, and ultimately higher sales. Hostess coaching may not come naturally to every direct sales consultant, especially a new one, but it can be learned.
1. Book your parties within two to three weeks maximum. Booking farther out tends to encourage more cancellations since most people don’t keep their calendars that far in advance and many things can come up. This will give you and your hostess plenty of time to create a guest list, get invitations sent out and (hopefully) get another booking or two from your hostess’s friends.
2. Give each hostess a packet filled with information to help her prepare for her party. Include:
• At least 3-4 catalogs
• About 10 order forms
• A sheet for her to begin a “wish list” of the free and discounted products she wants
• A guest list with room for complete contact information for the guests she wants to invite
• Information on your business opportunity
• Any other information you think may motivate her toward a better party
• A thank you card to let her know you appreciate the booking
3. For best results, ask your hostess to return the guest list to you so that you can send out invitations rather than leaving the task to her. This has proven to bring much greater success and more guests in attendance at parties. You can then send a postcard invitation to each guest and follow-up with a phone call the days before the party.
4. Encourage your hostess to get as many outside orders as she can since this will greatly increase her party sales, thereby increasing her free products and discounts (not to mention your sales!).
5. Follow-up with your hostess one week after the booking to be sure she has everything she needs and to answer any questions she may have. Also call her one to two days before the party to re-confirm and cover any last minute details. Ask if she’s gotten any outside orders, and how many guests are planning to be there.
6. On the night of the party, recognize your hostess and publicly thank her for inviting you into her home. Give her a free hostess gift just for holding the party, and offer a free gift right then to anyone who books a party off hers.
7. A day or two after the party, call your hostess and thank her again for all she did. Send her a postcard or note card in the mail to say thank you more formally. You could include a business card magnet so she can call you if she has questions, needs anything, or for when she’s ready to rebook.
8. Collect all the outside orders your hostess collected and finalize her party as quickly as possible. After all money is collected, be sure her order arrives on time and intact. Communicate with her often to deal with any issues that may arrive such as damaged products or delayed shipments.
9. Call your hostess after all orders have been delivered to be sure she and her guests were pleased with their products. Ask her if she knows anyone else who may want to book a party or join your team. Encourage her to call you if she has any questions at any time.
10. Call your hostess again about four to six months after her party and invite her to book another. Tell her about any new hostess products or incentives you have to offer and give her an added discount such as 10% off any one item for being a repeat hostess.
Hostess coaching may not come naturally, but it can make a world of difference in the success of your direct sales parties. Do all you can to coach your hostess to success and you’ll be building your own business success in the process.
