For some direct sales consultants it becomes difficult to maintain a steady schedule of sales parties. Direct sales business coach, Lisa Young shares some of the secrets to staying booked.

In Direct Sales – 5 Secrets to Fill Your Calendar Without Overcoming Objections
By Lisa Young

With the grim economic outlook, some direct sales consultants are pulling out their hair trying to secure bookings and keep their calendar full. Some of the most experienced consultants are scrambling, buckling down, and “getting back to basics” in an effort to fortify their fading calendar.

But the savvy direct sales and home party consultants are still holding a consistent book of shows, with calendars that are full and steady. As a business coach, I work with consultants with many different companies, and the successful consultants are revealing their dirty little secrets to massive success – even during the economic slump we’re facing today. At first blush, these “secrets” are common sense ideas that will make you roll your eyes into the back of your head. Before you get dizzy, however, ask yourself how well you are implementing these secrets.

1. Create a schedule and stick to it. Top direct sales consultants will tell you that they work when they want to, and fill their work calendar around their life calendar. This is a critical component for any successful consultant. You need to know WHEN you want to (and are able) to work. Mark it down and do your work when you’re working. By scheduling and utilizing time that is set aside to work, you’ll be a million miles ahead of the consultant that prays for bookings to fill the empty white space on her calendar. When you know your next two or three available work dates at a moment’s notice, people take you and your business more seriously. And if you don’t have a show planned on a day you have scheduled to work? Work anyway! Practice your demo, download a teleclass, read up on product knowledge or network. Do SOMETHING to grow your business.
2. Desperation stinks. Customers and clients can smell desperation a mile away. When you need shows, and start doing “Crazy Eddie” antics to get them, people stop taking you seriously. You don’t see Bill Gates jumping up and down on begging people to buy Windows. Neither should you. This is where most consultants develop their fear of “being too pushy”. You should ALWAYS present the opportunity to join, host, or buy, but once a client says no, and you’ve answered her questions, leave it alone. I can’t count the number of recruits I’ve signed at a later date because I was patient and didn’t sit on their doorstep waiting for them to join my opportunity. Attraction marketing (aka gravitational marketing) helps you create an identity, establish yourself as an expert in your field and draws interested, like-minded people into your circle of influence. They naturally gravitate to you and, ultimately, choose to do business with you – no desperation required.
3. Touch your business daily. While you can bet that Donald Trump isn’t sitting in the office every day making deals, he is touching his business in SOME way every day. Be it a public appearance, speaking engagement, television episode, or contract closing, he’s busy being an entrepreneur and making sure that his delegates are tending to business in his absence. Likewise, you as a consultant need to be making contact with your business on a daily basis. Your store is essentially “closed” any day you’re not working. Working doesn’t mean doing parties. It means preparing hostess packets, making coaching calls, holding recruiting interviews, doing customer care and follow up. You don’t have to work all day everyday, but you should make a point of doing SOMETHING connected to your business that propels you and your company forward. By the way, YOU are the CEO of your own company as an independent Direct Sales consultant. Legitimate networking, travel and mastermind groups all count as toughing your business. Organizing your desk, socializing on the phone, cleaning your stapler and vacuuming the floor do NOT count.
4. Keep in touch. Regardless of the method, hostesses, customers and recruits want (and need) to hear from us. A Hostesses number one complaint is that their consultant didn’t make enough contact with them. Most coaching programs recommend ten different times to contact a hostess before, during and after a party. Customers should be contacted at least once every two months – and preferred customers at least monthly. Attraction marketing pros use ezines, conference calls, and newsletters to keep in touch, automatically and en masse, with a personal feel. These lead generating, rapport building tools are only part of the arsenal that propel the big money earners to the top of their company rankings.
5. Be “REAL” and talk to everyone. This is not exactly the same as the old-school 3-foot rule, where you would talk to anyone that would listen about your “amazing, ground floor opportunity.” Rather, this is an invitation to release inhibitions and strike up conversations with anyone and everyone about anything and everything. Be friendly. People like and gravitate toward friendly. Opening channels of communication help you to discover common interests, and open doors to natural conversations about booking, sales, and recruiting. When you are likable, and easy to talk with, people enjoy your presentations more. Enjoyable presentations lead to more bookings, more sales and more recruits – without having to beg for “just one more host” at any party.

As direct sales consultants around the globe are waking up to the power of the Internet, and the potential of automating contact with their prospects, more leaders are growing into powerful, marketing savvy machines. These attraction marketing whiz-bangs are raking in recruits, selling up a storm, and breaking booking records – without ever having to overcome a single objection, because people are seeking THEM out for their expertise and professionalism. They have become the hunted, instead of the hunter. Begin implementing these five secrets today and watch your business soar. Who knows? Maybe YOU’LL be the next top achiever at your company’s National Conference.

Tired of trading hours for money, Lisa Young gave up her 8 to 5 for a direct sales career that now spans over 10 years. Lisa’s blog, Real Life Marketing, reveals the realities of what it takes to be successful in the eyes of your customer, using real-life examples you can learn from today. You can visit Real Life Marketing at http://lisamrobbin.blogspot.com

Unlike other industry writers, who left direct sales to pursue speaking careers, Lisa is still in the trenches, running her direct sales business and leading her teams to success. Her book, Home Party Solution is a step-by-step method to harness the Internet to boost bookings, sales and recruits. Read the first chapter free and subscribe to the monthly business boosting e-zine, “PartyOn!” at http://www.homepartysolution.com

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For more home party tips, visit Direct Sales Assistant.

Ask any experienced business owner how important their customers are and they will tell you that customers are the lifeblood of their business. Because of that, many direct sales consultants believe that the key is to constantly find new customers. Successful consultants know that it’s just as important, perhaps even more important, to develop long-standing business relationships with existing customers and to keep them coming back.

Recommended Resource
Not sure how to ask for repeat business? Enroll in
the Magnetic Followup Video / Audio Workshop
today and stop leaving money on the table.

There are many benefits of repeat customers.

First of all, when customers come back for repeat purchases, you will not need to spend as much time finding new customers.

Your business income will be more consistent with purchases coming in regularly, instead of always having to chase down new customer orders.

It is also a more cost-effective way to do business. You won’t need to invest as much in marketing and advertising campaigns.

Happy, long-term customers are also more likely to send referrals to a business. If a satisfied customer runs into a friend or colleague needing what you offer, they will give that person your contact information resulting in a new customer you didn’t have to chase after.

If you like the sound of enjoying repeat business with your current customers while spending less time and money attracting new clients, here are some tips on how to keep your customers happy and coming back.

• Offer quality products
  Without a quality product, there really no reason for your customers to come back.
• Provide exceptional customer service.
  This is one area where direct sales consultants really have a chance to shine by providing the personal attention that is often missing from the big box stores. A general rule of thumb is to always treat your customers the way you would like to be treated. That simple statement will ensure you will have customers coming back time and time again.
• Practice effective communication.
  Stay in touch with customers and keep them informed of new products, special offers, and notify them of any problems like delivery issues or back orders.

Keeping your existing customers happy is one of the most effective and efficient ways to build your business.

Again, the Recommended Resource
for gaining repeat customers is:
Magnetic Followup Video / Audio Workshop

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If you are thinking of starting a direct sales business or you are already a consultant and wondering what to sell during a recession, here are some tips.

First are the bare necessities of course… food, clothing, shelter, basic personal care (toothpaste, soap, etc), health care, and utilities (heat, electricity, etc). Then there are other items that people are slow to give up such as education and television and Internet. Additionally, consumers will show increased interest frugal living and in do-it-yourself products and information.

However, while consumers will continue to buy food for example, they are cutting back on higher priced organics, choosing budget family dining instead of fine dining, and are more likely to choose a less expensive generic over their usual brand. Some adjustments to your marketing message may be necessary to meet customers’ current preferences. Market gourmet food mixes as a less expensive alternative to eating out. Or sell spices and recipes that make budget meals more appealing. Demonstrate how your cooking tools can be used to preserve the nutrient value of foods and how storage products prolong self life.

Think about why people don’t give up television during hard times. Perhaps it’s because they give up other forms of entertainment like going out to the movies or skiing. Since the family is staying home more, they rely on television for entertainment. But other inexpensive family entertainment products such as board games and movie rentals may be good sellers now too.

As mentioned in Recession Proof Your Business Using the Lipstick Theory the best positioned companies in a recession sell what economists refer to as “inferior goods” – products that people substitute for their favorites that they can no longer afford. So again it follows that if you focus on selling your less expensive product line as an alternative to the more “luxury” products they’ve been buying, your customers are more likely to continue buying from you.

It’s really a lot of common sense – think about what people will continue to buy when they are being very budget conscious and sell those items.

There’s also a major advantage direct sellers have during a recession that makes customers want to buy from you – personalized customer service. While the department stores are probably cutting back on personnel, you can go the extra mile to provide the attention your customers want.

It’s not the time for business as usual, but if you make adjustments you may be able to maintain your usual amount of business.

If you’re looking for a company to join, be sure to also read, How to Choose a Direct Sales Company During a Recession.

The terms “marketing” and “selling” are often used interchangeably and can be confusing to new business owners. In addition, since home business owners typically perform most tasks associated with their business, the lines between marketing and selling can become even more blurred.

Then why bother distinguishing?

Knowing the difference between marketing and selling can help identify and clarify where your efforts are successful and where they need improvement. To succeed you have to identify and build on your strengths and correct your weaknesses. Your marketing efforts may be producing hundreds of leads, but if you don’t know when and how to switch gears to make the sale, you won’t produce the income results you want.

Marketing can be thought of as all the activities that go into making people aware that your company and products exist. Selling involves the steps taken to convince your potential customer to make the actual product purchase.

Marketing makes your company and product known to potential customers. It creates a demand for your company’s products or services.

Marketing involves a good deal of research to identify groups of potential buyers. That research determines what customers want and what they’re willing to pay for it. Your marketing message conveys why someone should choose your company or product over all the others. It describes how you can meet your customers’ wants and needs; how you can solve their problems.

Marketing produces leads.

Selling is what turns those leads into paying customers. It is more closely associated with a process called overcoming objections. Part of the marketing process is to actually uncover potential objections which might prevent a prospect from being converted to a customer. Selling is where all that marketing research is applied at the point of sale. It is a much more intimate, one-to-one technique where a buyer “assists” a prospective customer in making a “buying decision”.
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If you want to open an Internet store, the decision about what to sell can seem overwhelming. Here are some tips to help you choose what type of products to sell.

1 – Consider the availability of products. Many items that can be found by going to your local store are not items that will successfully sell online. Why? It is a matter of convenience and cost.

Items that can be found readily in town offer the satisfaction of immediate gratification. Additionally, by shopping locally customers avoid shipping fees and avoid the risk of delayed deliveries or lost items.

2 – Choose products that are not currently “hot” items on the market. The bigger conglomerates will be able to buy in bulk and offer these items cheaper than you can. Additionally, selling “hot” items requires that you continually keep ahead of that market and adjust your inventory accordingly.

3 – Successful Internet stores are full of special orders items, hard-to-find items, and rare collectibles. Products that are less and less available in the local quick stop stores sell well on the Internet.

4 – Keep in mind that even though you and a few of your friends may like a specific item, it doesn’t mean that it will be a big seller online. Research what sells online and try to find an under-served market.

5 – Be prepared to change your inventory as necessary to keep up with market changes.

Whether you are stocking and shipping your own inventory, marketing for a direct sales company, or using drop shippers, use these tips and some creativity to build a successful online store.

To increase the number of sales that you receive, learn to look at your business from the customers point of view.

One objection that a customer might have to purchasing your product or service is the risk that they are assuming by purchasing it. This objection is easily overcome by offering a good guarantee.

The guarantee is often overlooked or played down by many businesses today. The reason for this is many business owners fear they will be taken advantage of, if they make their guarantees well-known. This is a poor assumption and one that should not be made in any business.
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It sounds like a contradiction. Long sales letters convert better than short ones, yet we all know that online you have only a few seconds to grab a reader’s attention and most people only skim long copy.

But ask any highly successful Internet marketer and she’ll tell you that the long letter is better. It gives you more time to present the features and benefits of your product and convince your readers to buy.

So how do you grab and keep attention in a long sales letter? Here are some tips: Continue Reading

By Jane Deuber of the DSWA

Do you know how to row a boat? That’s right…row a boat. If you answered yes to this question, then congratulations, you also know one of the greatest secrets to creating lasting success in Direct Sales.

Growing your business the “smart” way is very much like rowing a boat. Let me explain. Continue Reading