Tag Archives: business

To Do Today

06/08/2012 By in Work Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

A few months back I listened to a training message on organization from Party Plan Coach Lynsey Jones. She’s got a series of training materials on what she calls the Diva Success System and so far I’ve really liked what she has to say. Lynsey tackles managing her business by establishing a series of tasks—daily, weekly and monthly, that she focuses on to ensure she’s dedicating the right amount of time to the things that matter most.

If you are interested in growing a thriving home-based business, here are three of the things she recommends doing every day…

 

1. Get “dressed to hair spray.”

I accomplish this goal most days, but will admit that every couple of weeks I decide to stay in my sweats for a good thorough housecleaning. No need to get bleach on the one pair of jeans I can still get buttoned, right? Wrong. If we “work from home” we’ve got to be ready to do business any time the phone rings.

 

2. Talk to three new people.

Lynsey’s requirement for achieving this goal is that all three meetings with these shiny new people have to be face-to-face.  She says that if we aren’t booking enough shows it’s because we aren’t meting enough people. Sounds like good sense to me.

 

3. Mail a physical note of gratitude or recognition.

This one’s fantastic for building relationships and also plays on the age-old law of attraction. What we give, we receive. I’d sure love three people contacting me about my business (and/or my sheer & utter fabulosity) every day. It’s really not a secret that we get back what we put out there.

 

Monthly Communications Strategy – Week 4

05/10/2012 By in Work Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s almost over! Our communications planning for the month is coming to a close and we’re saving the best for last. In week four, we’re sharing the business. In my core, I believe that owning a successful business is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for people to OWN THEIR OWN LIVES. What an awesome message to share with the world.

 

Week 4: Opportunity Focus

• Share your why. Open your heart and tell the story of why you got involved in your business. Share something you’ve learned. Celebrate a talent you’ve developed. Talk honestly about an obstacle being a business owner has helped you to overcome.

• Share your accomplishments. I saw a fun post on Facebook just last week where a business owner posted a photo of her new washer and dryer with the comment “Thanks Jewel Kade!” If you aren’t earning that kind of money have your husband snap a picture of you filling the car up with gas. Make the benefits of owning a business real and tangible for your readers.

• Show them the money. Most people join direct sales companies because they are looking for an additional $350 a month. Share your average party order for the prior month and what an entry-level salesperson could therefore earn.

• Share photos of team activities to highlight the incredible relationships that come from businesses like ours. Include photos from local hotspots and also from corporate events and incentive travel. Another big motivator for people is the opportunity to get out and about. If you want to grow your team, get out and about yourself. Have your team meetings at a fun new restaurant. Register for convention. Have coffee with a new recruit. Life is short. Make yours great!

Paying it Forward

05/07/2012 By in Love Tags: , , 2 Comments

I went to coffee with my dear friend Hala on Sunday. She’s starting her own business and one of the standards she’s building on is giving to others. She believes that her own success is intricately tied to helping others succeed and she’s right. So rather than look for an opportunity to get closer to my goals today, I’m going to look for a way to help someone else.

Big thanks to those who are looking out for me!

Monthly Communications Strategy – Week 3

05/06/2012 By in Work Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

In week three of your communications strategy I recommend focusing on hostesses. They are the best friend your business can have and it’s important to show them gratitude for finding you new contacts and customers. Hostesses are THE MOST IMPORTANT people in your business. The golden rule of direct selling: treat hostesses better than you hope to be treated.

 

Week 3: Be Our Guest

Fight the temptation to post a quick reminder of your company’s hostess benefits or special monthly promotion and check this off your to-do list. You are looking for an emotional connection with those interested in your business, so rather than share what hostesses get for free, share what they are doing with the gifts they received.

• Choose a hostesses from the previous month to highlight. Reach out to her and tell her you’d like to share her story on Facebook or in a customer newsletter, then ask how’s she’s enjoying her free products. Take photos of the hostesses and her friends at your party or ask her to send shots of how the products are working in her life. She’ll love showcasing her new outfit, her kids enjoying the cookies she baked, or that candle on her kitchen counter. Your readers will appreciate seeing something real and more meaningful.

• Highlight how easy hosting is. If your company offers drop-shipping directly to customers share that, and if you collate customer items and deliver them yourself make sure potential hostesses know that’s a service you offer. Remind them that parties work just as well during lunch hours, on coffee breaks, or at the park than they do in living rooms. (“Laurie’s trunk show on Saturday was just what I needed. It’s finally warm enough to be outside! I declare May the month of parties in the park!)

• Consider opening your own home for hostesses’ parties and advertise open dates. I’d recommend offering this on a weekend so you can line up two or three events on the same day. Send the kids to the water park, swing by Costco for those tasty little brownie bites & you’re in business. Advertise openings at 10:00, 1:00 and 4:00. First come, first served!

• Leverage holidays and special occasions. Book a bridal shower, housewarming or special birthday party where the guest of honor acts as the host and earns free and half-off items on the gifts others are buying for her. Share that story in your marketing efforts to inspire outside-the-box thinking. Parties are fun. Highlight the good stuff.

Monthly Communications Strategy – Week 2

05/01/2012 By in Work Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Okay friends and neighbors, let’s talk about products.

In our first week of a systemized attack on managing communications we covered all the things we’re excited about for the month. In week two we’ll share our passion for our products, and in so doing, we’ll ALWAYS focus on how what we sell can make life better for the people who buy it. (I personally don’t believe there’s much success to be had in selling folks stuff they don’t need.)

 

Week 2: Connecting Products to Needs

Hopping on Facebook and sharing a fact about your product is tempting. It’s easy and the information is usually readily available. (Our brand new super-duper product X comes in 14 colors, for example.)  If that’s all you can come up with or have time for, better to post a fact than nothing at all, but whenever possible skip the obvious and share something meaningful. Social networks are for making connections. Catalogs are for providing features.

• Highlight customer stories. There’s no better way to showcase the difference your products can make for people than sharing a real-life story of how it happened. If you don’t have your customer’s permission to share her story refer to her in the third person (one of my favorite customers has three children under the age of five…). ALWAYS paint your customer in the best possible light and make the post or article an opportunity to honor her as well as share product benefits.

• Reference issues in the media. (I read an awesome article in Real Simple last night about getting organized. Products A,B,and C have really helped me… or Did you guys see Jennifer Aniston’s interview on ABC last night? Her necklace reminded me of our new product Q. I always feel like a superstar when I wear it!)

• Share top sellers. Amazon does not tell you that “customers who bought this item also bought…” for nothing. Let’s take a lesson. People buy what other people buy. Share your top five sellers for the month of April and start your list with something people-focused like here’s what my customers were loving last month.

• As you are choosing customer stories, media topics or personal testimonials to share, give some thought to which products you’re highlighting. It takes just as long to take a photo or write a statement about a ten-dollar product as a fifty-dollar one. At the same time, you never want to give the impression that all your company offers is high-end items. Create a balance.

And speaking of balance, posting an update on Facebook about your business more than once a day will get you unfriended, hidden and unsubscribed from faster than Bobby Brown got ousted from Whitney’s funeral. Bless all their hearts.

Next up, week 3: hostess happiness.

Monthly Communications Strategy – Week 1

04/27/2012 By in Work Tags: , , , , , , 3 Comments

Life can get complicated. Most days I have the best of intentions…be nice, work hard, write three blog posts, send a thank you note, wash the car, etc., etc. But more often than not, those awesome plans wind up run over by flat tires, traffic and deadlines at the office. Somehow, I wind up grumpy and bitter in line at Little Caesars. Again.

One of the things that helps me combat the chaos the most is creating systems for tackling the things I have to do over and over again. Over the next few posts, I’m going to share a simple strategy for managing communications & marketing on social networks. You can implement parts & pieces of what I’m sharing on Facebook, Pinterest, You Tube & Twitter, and combine your favorites to create a monthly customer newsletter.

Week 1: Customer Incentives & Promotions

This is the week when you share your excitement about everything going on in your business this month.

• Post a photo of the customer incentive for the month. If your incentive is always the same, post a reminder & share an idea of how a customer might use the discount or special offer…”with our 20% off offer you can get your hands on one of our most popular sellers for less than $40!”

• Remind followers of your incredible hostess benefits. Rather than say something generic like “Hostesses earn tons of free stuff,” figure out your average party total and share the actual dollar amount most hostesses earn. Now you can say, “for sharing a few fun hours with your friends and family, my hostesses typically earn $80 for their own personal shopping spree.” On Facebook, the more comments you can get your followers to make, the wider your exposure, so end the post with a question. “How would you spend that $80?” (Make notes of any comments your customers make so you can reach out to them when their favorite product goes on sale.)

• Share your excitement over any company-sponsored incentives going on this month. If your company if offering a free item to customers, buy it, use it & take photos of the product in use. Showcase the item on your kitchen counter, around your wrist, or with your kids. Rather than highlight the product’s price and function, share how the promotion will make life better for everyone who takes advantage of it.

• Remind customers of any special events they may need to shop for this month & make specific recommendations of what would make a great gift for…teachers, graduates, brides, mothers-to-be. Most importantly, make your comments personal. “I received THREE wedding invitations in the mail last week. It’s official, love is in the air! If you are looking for a fun gift for a wedding or bridal shower this month, our XXX is always a favorite.”

• If your company isn’t in a special promotion period, create your own. It may be too late to order gifts for Mother’s Day, but you can always offer mothers a 10% discount on any order they place on Mother’s Day, or the week of Mother’s Day, or the whole month. If you have kids in school, share how much you appreciate their teachers & offer $5 off any one item a teacher purchases through the end of the school year.  Be creative but not overly complicated. If your company is offering an incentive, don’t add another one. If you choose to honor mothers, stay true to that message and save teachers for next month.

Coming soon…

Week 2: Product Focus

Booking Basic

04/17/2012 By in Work Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s almost May. Is your calendar full?

For as long as I’ve been training, the number one question I get from salespeople is this one…“How do I get more bookings?” It’s a good question, but unfortunately getting bookings is painfully the same as losing weight. There is no magic pill or secret formula. You just gotta do the work.

A few years back I heard a booking presentation from an Uppercase Living top seller, the ever-charming Marcie Rumfeldt, (who was also one of the very first rock stars for 31 Gifts) and I think she said it best. She HATES being on the phone, so she chooses one day a month to work on bookings and literally doesn’t put the phone down until every open date on her calendar is full.

Here’s her approach:

1) Open a blank calendar page for the upcoming month and fill-in all the faith, family, and “other” responsibilities you already have planned.

2) Choose and highlight all the dates you’d like to have parties.

3) Call EVERY person who’s expressed an interest in hosting, offering them a choice of the first two available dates on your calendar. Remind them of the hostess benefits, any special promotions or incentives, and let them know that dates fill up fast. If they can’t make one of the open dates work, they may have to wait four or six weeks for an open slot. Oh no!

4) Don’t put the phone down between calls. Seriously. Don’t even think about it.

5) Write the names of those who are interested but didn’t commit on a post-it note & stick it on the blank calendar page for next month. You’ll call them back during your next booking blitz & won’t have to worry about chasing down their contact information.

And that’s it.

Try it and let me know how well it works for you.

 

Everything I Know About Business

04/03/2012 By in Work Tags: , , , , , , 8 Comments

I learned at a home party.

For the most part.

My favorite aunt first introduced me to direct sales. She was a distributor for a cosmetics company, and maintained a wonderland of product displays and samples in the basement of their brand new starter home. She would allow me to help stock shelves and arrange the pretty bottles in her display cases on weekends when I wandered over to play. And occasionally, she would take me to product demonstrations, using me to illustrate the lengthening capabilities of her new mascara or the subtle shimmer of her “truly blue” eye shadows. I loved it. I loved the attention and all the free makeovers, but more than that, I loved seeing her in action. She was a capable and confident businesswoman, who understood that helping people look pretty was one thing, but helping them gain their freedom and financial independence was something altogether different. She made a difference in the lives of all the women her business touched, and I knew then that she was on to something special.

Direct sales found me again just before I graduated from college. The first “real job” I ever had was as a junior copywriter for a network marketing company in the town where I went to school. I started out writing flyers and contributing to the catalog, but was eventually promoted to writing feature articles about top distributors in the company. As I interviewed each of them, discovering the details of their various successes, I imagined them behind the counter of my aunt’s basement store; smiling, confident, secure.

Since then I’ve held a few new positions at various different companies, learning what works best in terms of positioning, communications and strategy. I’ve been involved in multi-million dollar product launches and training events. I’ve been on casting calls, photo shoots & proofed catalog copy into the wee hours of the night. I’ve been in a car, for weeks at the time, driving from home to home training ladies to do the only thing I really know. And that’s this…

To make a direct sales business (or any business for that matter) WORK, we’ve got to be the very best people we can be. We’ve got to find our strengths and find our passions and work when we don’t really feel like it. We’ve got to recognize that our contributions ARE NECESSARY in the world and we’ve got to create strategies for getting them out there. We’ve got to love ourselves and serve others and get on the phone. And that’s it. The first step to being successful is believing we are a SUCCESS already. That’s the hard part. Master it, and the rest will be easy.

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