For many direct sales consultants and other home business owners, September marks the start of their busy season. For some it may be the time to gear up for holiday sales and for others it’s simply a time to refocus and work harder after a more laid-back summer. Whatever the reason, here are some tips to help you handle a more hectic season:

1. Make a plan. A good plan is the basis of a successful busy season. It helps you prepare for the sudden increase in customers and orders and gives you a concrete system to follow when things seem overwhelming. Think back to previous years to incorporate what worked and improve on what didn’t work.

2. Consider hiring help. Small business owners are sometimes reluctant to hire help because it cuts into profit. But often, it has the opposite effect. When you can get more done you can make more sales.

3. Use all your available resources. If possible, let your direct sales company or wholesale distributor drop ship to your customers. If you’re packing and shipping yourself, use online shipping services and have the packaged picked up to save time driving the post office or shipping store and standing in line. Even fifteen minutes saved here and there can be a big help.

4. Don’t be afraid to say no. You may have to turn away some customers. It’s better to be honest and turn away orders that you won’t be able to fulfill than to take orders and not deliver. Make sure you cut off holiday orders early enough to get them all shipped and delivered in plenty of time.

5. Keep communicating with your customers. Even though business may be hectic, customer service should continue to be a priority. Be sure to address the needs of all your customers. If you have problems fulfilling an order or it’s delayed, notify your customer right away and offer an alternative. Customers will understand that problems occur and are much more likely to be forgiving when you communicate openly with them.

Your busy season is an exciting and hectic time that can also be very stressful. With a good plan system in place, you can make it through relatively calmly and profitably.

With the Internet becoming more and more of an everyday convenience for most people, and with more and more interest in running an online business, turning to the Internet to market a direct sales business naturally follows. Marketing online can be very effective, but sometimes direct sellers become so engrossed in Internet networking tools that product sales takes a back seat.

Social media marketing can be particularly tricky. It works if worked right. And it’s fun. But if you aren’t careful, it can consume a lot of time – time that could be spent direct selling for immediate profit.

As Lisa Young says in Twitter Tips For Direct Sellers, “…social media and online marketing does not replace your home party business.” Marketing and selling is a balancing act. Use online social media to build relationships that can lead to business, and continue to sell use the proven, basic direct sales methods like home parties and face-to-face sales.

Starting your first home business doesn’t have to be too difficult or overwhelming. Here are six relatively easy and inexpensive home businesses for beginner entrepreneurs.

1. Become an independent consultant for a direct sales company. One of the biggest advantages to starting out as a direct sales consultant is that most companies provide training and support to help you succeed. Additionally, it’s relatively inexpensive to get started, you won’t have to stock a lot of inventory, and the company usually offers sales and promotional materials at a reasonable cost.

When looking for a company to join be aware that while there are hundreds of legitimate, worthwhile companies to join, there are also others that are more interested in parting you from your money than in helping you make money. Take your time, do your research, and ask lots of questions before joining any company.

2. Turn your craft into a business. There are many ways to sell your crafts both in your local community and online. If you are a creative person and your friends and family always say “you should sell these,” you might want to consider selling at local craft shows and fairs, through consignment shops, or online through sites like eBay and Etsy.

Keep in mind that your business will be limited to the number of items you can make and sell so you may not be able to make a full-time income selling your items. If your crafts are well received you can expand your business by selling kits and instructions or conducting classes.

3. Clean out your house and sell what you don’t need. While this is just a temporary income, you might be surprised at how much you can make by having a yard sale or selling through online auction sites like eBay or other marketplaces like Amazon. If you find you have a knack for organizing and running a yard sale, you can start a business providing the service for others.

4. Sell a service locally. Your neighbors and others in your community are always looking for someone to perform all kinds of services including lawn mowing and other landscape services, home repair, painting, dog walking and dog sitting, organizing, and tutoring. Anything that requires special skills or that will save people time is marketable.

The hardest part of getting started is finding your first few customers. Consider offering a neighbor a free hour or two in return for a reference. Once you do good work for a couple of people, you’ll like get referred to others and word-of-mouth will become your best advertising.

5. Sell a service online. Many people make a living as a virtual assistant providing all kinds of administrative and marketing help to other business owners. Some of the most in-demand online services are writing and technical help.

Learning to market yourself online is the biggest challenge you will face so be sure to do a little research to see what it takes to get noticed before you take the leap to an online service provider.

6. Write an online blog. If you like to write and are well-versed enough on a topic, blogging can be fun and profitable. You can start for free, but I recommend making a small investment for your own domain and web hosting.

There is a technical learning curve to get started, but there are plenty of tutorials and lots of help from the blogging community.

When you’re ready to start a home business try one of these ideas, or use them as a springboard to come up with your own idea. With a little creativity you can turn almost any skill or interest into a product or service people want to buy.

Need more help deciding which direct sales company to join? Grab your free guide to choosing your opportunity.

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Yesterday marked the official launch of Willow House a home decor party plan company that resulted from combining Southern Living at Home (SLAH) and Entertaining at Home. The making of the company started back in 2009 when Entertaining at Home purchased SLAH from Time Inc.

Consultants seem to be very enthusiastic about the new company which offers decorating, entertaining, and organizing products.

Learn more about the company and contact an independent representative by visiting the Willow House company page in the Internet Based Moms Direct Sales Directory.

You’ve decided to start a home business, but now the big question looms in front of you. What kind of business should I start?

1. Do what you know. Turn your skills and experience into a successful business. There are hundreds of direct sales companies to choose from and you’ll certainly be able to find one that matches your interests whether it’s food and cooking, candles, home decorating, jewelry, scrapbooking, or almost anything else.

The same applies if you’re starting your own company. If you have spent twenty years writing and editing company marketing materials or you love to groom and care for your many pets, consider how you can take your experience and turn it into a successful business.

2. Do what you love. Success will be an unhappy struggle if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing. Many people try to choose the business that will make them rich and end up regretting it. You may get rich running your own business but if you’re not enjoying what you do you’ll likely be stressed and unhappy.

Note: Many people will advise you to “follow your passion” when choosing a direct sales company or starting your own company. That’s not what I’m saying here. Your passion may be extremely difficult to turn into a profitable business. And trying to turn it into one can completely ruin your passion for it. What I’m suggesting is that you should do something you enjoy enough, and that you know enough about, that you can do it everyday for the long term.

3. It’s okay to do what other people are doing. You may often see direct sales consultants advising you to “get in on the ground floor” of a new company or to join a company where the market isn’t “saturated” in your community. It’s not necessary to be amoung the first consultants to be successful. In fact, selling a well-known and trusted brand may be easier than selling something no one has heard of before.

If you are starting your own company, consider what you want to do, evaluate your competition, and investigate what you can do differently or better than they do. Maybe you want to own an online store that sells camping equipment. Well there a numerous stores that do that already. Is there a market that you can focus on? A niche? Maybe you can sell camping equipment designed for the physically challenged or a camping store just for women.

4. Focus on a niche. The last tip leads right into this one. You can market a popular product in a different way or to a group of people others may be neglecting. Many businesses have gone broke trying to be all things to all people. Try to identify a niche that you would enjoy working in and think about starting a business therein. If you love to work outdoors, consider starting a landscaping business or joining a garden supply direct sales company. Be a specialty shop, not a big box store. Focus on a niche and become an expert in your field.

If you make wise choices in the beginning you’ll be much more likely to follow through to success.

For many direct sales consultants, selling at craft shows is a great supplement or alternative to home parties. Success starts with choosing the right craft show and in her article below, Chris Carroll offers tips to help you choose.

Why Use Craft Shows in Your Direct Sales Business? Part 1
by Chris Carroll

The greatest thing about home businesses and the direct sales type of business is the flexibility in how you can market your products. We are not relegated to one type of selling so therefore the opportunities are endless! Brick and mortars stores are somewhat limited as they wait for the customers to find them. We on the other hand, go and find ours.

One of my favorite ways to increase customers, hostesses, business partners and newsletter signups is through craft shows and expos. Looking at the venue of the show, it becomes apparent that this IS your target market ~ Female; usually with extra disposable income And looking for unique products. All of these attributes fit our business perfectly.

Choosing the right venue will be important to your success. Make sure the show is in your market area. Traveling 50 miles to do a show looking for customers may not be a good idea if you have to deliver products after the show. Think about parties as well. If your hostess is an hour away and then her guests are a no show Or maybe you get 5 bookings, Are you willing to keep driving to that area to service those customers? Set yourself a radius of how far you are willing to travel.

Another thing to check out when choosing the right show to do is the amount of the booth. Figure out how much you have to sell to re coop your expenses. If you are doing a one day show for $150 and you sell $2 – $5 items, you are going to have to move a heck of a lot of items to break even.

Make sure that you are selling product that goes along with the theme of the show before writing that check for the entry fees. Specialty shows like scrapbooking or quilt shows may not be the best return for you if you are selling makeup. Several years ago I did a Home and Garden type of show and while my product line fit in wonderfully; there was a cosmetic company there. She was not moving a heck of a lot of product and did not do very well at all. I am actually surprised the promoters allowed her in. So make sure you are not wasting your time with the wrong show.

Check to see how long the show has been in existence. What type of turn out do they get? Sometimes doing a newly formed show is a good risk if it is a local show. Traveling great lengths to go to a new venue may not be something I would recommend. Also check on how they advertise the show. Very important in that you can have a huge amount of vendors attending, but if the event is not publicized well, you will not so well.

Overall, craft shows are an awesome tool for your business if they are researched and handled properly. Building your business in unique ways is the key to the longevity with your business.

Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved
Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site DirectSalesTalk. You can also find her at her business site ShopOnYourSeat If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

If you’re looking for a direct sales party plan company with a proven track record, Watkins, Inc. may be the perfect choice. Founded in 1868, the “J.R. Watkins Medical Company” originally sold health “remedies.” While the company still sells it’s premier Red Liniment pain reliever, the product line now also includes gourmet food products, natural cleaning products, personal care products, and more.

In addition to their commitment to providing natural products for its customers, the company works hard to protect the environment through responsible manufacturing and recycling programs, and they help the community through charitable programs.

Some of the benefits of becoming a Watkins, Inc. Associate are:

• You’ll be joining a proven, well-known company.
• Consumers are more and more interested in natural products.
• Selling consumable products makes it easier to gain repeat customers.
• You can get started for under $50.
• The company offers rewards and bonus programs.

For more information and to contact a consultant who will help you get started, visit the Watkins, Inc. page in the InternetBasedMoms.com direct sales directory.

Image courtesy of Patrick Hoesly.

I came across several bits of news about a few cosmetic party plan companies.

Affordable Mineral Makeup has a new owner, Arlene Sherman. According to the announcement, customers will be receiving the “same great product and service.” There was no mention of whether or not the consultant opportunity will change, but the sign-up options are still available on the website.

Although I have no idea when it happened, Mineral Girlz also has “new” owners and doesn’t seem to be accepting new consultants at this time.

Again, I don’t know when it happened, but Beautiful Diva seems to be out of business – their website is gone.

In other cosmetic company news, Kay Napier is coming up on her one year anniversary as Arbonne International LLC’s CEO. Having recently emerged from bankruptcy reorganization the company is looking to build success by supporting its consultants and producing new products.

In their recent release of the “DSN Global 100″ Direct Selling News listed the top companies based on 2009 wholesale revenue. The top five companies all sell makeup. They are Avon, Alticor Inc. (Amway), Vorwerk & Co KG (JAFRA), Mary Kay and Natura Cosmeticos. There are probably more than another two dozen cosmetics companies on the list, including Arbonne International LLC and Tupperware (which owns BeautiControl).

It seems makeup continues to be a popular product for direct sales consultants and customers.

How often have you read about a product and service and thought, “I would never buy/use that because it sounds so complicated”? Now imagine if within this same article, the author was trying to recruit you to sell their product or service. You’d be flipping the page, or moving to another web site in a heartbeat.

You know your business – and you’re extremely good at what you do. Yet that can sometimes work against you when you’re trying to recruit people. Why? Because their perception of what’s involved is that – quite simply – it’s too involved! When you add to that the lack of face-to-face contact that occurs with methods such as article marketing, blog posts, or social media, there’s even more focus on what you say.

Step back for a minute and go over what you do when you recruit face-to-face, and determine what must change with your approach when only written communication is involved for recruiting.

To help your thinking process, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I being overly enthusiastic about the product/service? There’s a difference between having true passion for what you do and being overly zealous. Passion speaks from your heart and is more than simply words on a page. To show this passion, make positive statements consistently throughout the article about your product/service. Write something such as “I am so grateful that I found this opportunity since I can now stay home with my daughter full-time.” That’s far more effective than writing, “This is such a great company to be associated with.”
• Do I give specific details about the benefits for what I’m offering? Remove the words great, fabulous, amazing, etc. from your article vocabulary. Now, write about what this opportunity can really do for the reader. For example, instead of writing, “the money you make is amazing,” switch this around to become, “The money I’ve earned has allowed me to take a vacation to Europe that included a private tour of Windsor Castle.”
• Can I deliver on what I promise? Potential “recruits” will have some hesitation – especially when their first exposure to you and the opportunity is via an article. Therefore, when they contact you via email after reading your article, your inclination might be to offer help to keep the process moving (and the interest up). However, the definition of “help” can be on opposite ends of the spectrum. Nip this in the bud before it happens. Inside your article, explain – in detail – just what you offer in the way of help. Even better, share why the training you deliver is, hands down, better than what the next person does!

Recruiting can be a very stressful thing: there is pressure to expand your down line, increase your sales, etc. Add to that, the fact that you are making your pitch using articles as your marketing tool. Switch up your thinking and view this article as a more passive way to help someone else realize the same dream you once had: to be successful doing something that delivers a return of tremendous satisfaction coupled with financial reward.

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For some direct sales consultants recruiting team members has always been a numbers game. Others prefer to sponsor consultants they think are more compatible with their own goals and practices. Shelly Hill is a successful direct sales consultant with more than 20 years experience. And in her experience, quality is better than quantity. She explains in her article below.

 
Direct Sales – Recruiting Quality vs. Quantity Team Members by Shelly Hill

When it comes to recruiting new team members for your Direct Sales team, it’s not about signing up every Tom, Dick, Harry, Jane and Sue. Sure, You can bring in twelve new members every month, but how many of those members will work the business? How many of them will stay with the business and become successful with it?

I have been in Direct Sales for over 20 years now and I often see consultants too focused on adding massive numbers of teammates to their teams. If you are looking at quantity and not quality in regards to your recruiting efforts, you will be tempted to hype, mislead, brag and make it all seem too easy to your prospect. Sure, they will often join your company…However, they quickly become frustrated, lose interest and move on to something else.

If you want to build a strong and healthy team, you need to look at quality and not quantity. Personally, I would rather recruit two new team members a month who are serious about building a business, who are hard workers and go-getters, compared to ten team members who are in it just for a little pocket change.

One way you can find serious business builders for your Direct Sales business is by interviewing your prospects. When it comes to the interviewing process, you need to be honest with them. You need to let them know that Direct Sales is not a cake walk, customers do not magically find you and that this type of business takes a lot of hard work. Let your prospect’s know that you are serious about your business and they will need to be serious about theirs.

A strong and healthy Direct Sales team is built on quality team members and career business builders. Any seasoned professional will tell you that Direct Sales is not for everyone. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. Take your time when it comes to building a team and concentrate on adding quality business builders and watch your team succeed to it’s fullest potential.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. Shelly believes that team building is more about adding quality members than quantity of members. You can visit Shelly’s work at home business options site at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com for Direct Sales articles and home business tips. You can also contact Shelly at http://my.tupperware.com/Ravish30

Article Source: WAHM Articles