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Are You Spending Your Online Time Wisely?
Social media. Social networking. Forums. Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Tumblr. Google+ and countless other online websites give you plenty of opportunity to be social. Connecting with others online opens up so many possibilities and opportunities for independent business owners and direct sales consultants.
Online networking has a plethora of positive aspects to it, if done properly. It can also be detrimental to your business if you are spending an abundance of time online, all in the name of ‘networking’ but actually, all you are doing is chitchatting. True that in order to be successful online, building a rapport and reputation are key, but just who are you taking to and can it help build your own business?
To illustrate this point – consider the direct sales consultant who hangs out at their company forum. Companywide forums, where all consultants, from all teams gather to ask questions and share ideas can be a big help to some, especially if they feel they are not getting the support they need from their own upline. But is spending hours each day chatting with other consultants who are not even on your team giving you the return on your time investment? Continue reading
Are You Sacrificing Your Current Month?
Many corporate conventions take place in the summer. It’s an exciting event full of exciting announcements. New products will be released in the fall; incentive trip locations are announced; awards are given and have I mentioned – it’s exciting. The Pomp! The Circumstance! The Rah Rah! The Pep Rally! Conventions can be motivating and give consultants a needed boost to their somewhat slow summer season. The future looks bright and you are pumped up!
You return from convention on fire! You’re ready to tell the world about all the fantastic new products coming in the fall. Your mind is racing a million miles a minute and you are thrilled with your new found motivation. Mission accomplished.
But wait; reality check a moment: are you sacrificing your current month because you’re so overcome with excitement for things to come in the fall? I know many consultants certainly are. They’re emailing the upcoming catalog to everyone they know; they’re offering special offers and they can’t stop talking about anything other than the future changes.
It’s true that direct sales is a business where you need to keep on keeping on. It’s like exercise; you can’t just do it once in a while and expect grandiose results. Direct sales also requires forward thinking. If you start to fill your calendar for Christmas sales in November, it’ll be too late. That said, one could argue that it’s good that consultants are hyping up September products in early August. It is important to fill your calendar for September. Though you already knew during the slow June and July months that there would be a new catalog in September; then would have been the time to contact hostesses to lock in a September date. Continue reading
Surviving the J-Months (January June July)
January can be a letdown for some direct sellers who are coming off a busy Christmas season. June is hard to get bookings with grads and dads. July can be just as difficult with summer heat and planned vacations. Because of the above mentioned challenges, successful party plan consultants often find themselves working harder during the J-months than any other.
It would be a mistake to take these months off. Some consultants have the attitude that if it is slow, they might as well just wait until it picks back up again before they start working. The problem with that logic is that the party plan direct sales business requires constantly planning ahead. Planning for the current month, in the current month isn’t going to be very fruitful. The time to schedule June Open Houses or July pool or patio themed parties is in May.
November and December can be very busy months for direct sellers. They are also months when sales and bookings come much easier and don’t require working as hard to get them. Because of the easier sales during the holiday season, it’s also the prime time to challenge yourself by setting up for January.
The J-months could require being creative or, in some cases, going back to basics to keep your business running at an even pace. If you’re struggling it may be because you’ve veered too far off the simple system that your company has set up for you. Or just the opposite, sometimes it requires you to do something a little differently. Figure out which adjustment is needed for your business.
Use the five ideas below to help prevent your J-Months from being a snooze-fest. Continue reading
Is Your Direct Sales Business Seasonal?
When something is said to be seasonal we generally think of it as pertaining to one of the four natural divisions of the year, spring, summer, fall, and winter. When I ask if your direct sales business is seasonal, I’m sure a handful of consultants would agree that they have a fall business – meaning October and November are extremely busy for them due to the rich gift giving season. But then not much going on during the other three seasons.
In order to have a successful, thriving direct sales business you really need to have a business that operates in all four seasons: spring, summer, fall AND winter; not spring, summer, fall OR winter. To illustrate this concept, consider what regular tasks need to be accomplished during each season.
Spring: A time of new growth, and also lots of weeds and possibly spring cleaning of remaining fall leaves. If you don’t keep up with this task regularly the weeds will choke out all non-weed plants and if you don’t pick up the remaining leaves it could kill new grass that is trying to grow. You can’t just work it periodically.
Summer: Weeding and mowing the lawn are regular occurrences. If you have a swimming pool, you’ll need to test the water, add chemicals and skim regularly. You can’t just work it periodically. Continue reading
Direct Sales PLR Articles Can Help Grow Your Business
Looking for ways to work smarter, not harder? Consider purchasing articles that have been written by a professional writer for you to use as though you were the author. It is a perfectly accepted, common and ethical practice.
PLR stands for Private Label Rights. As it pertains to sets or packs of articles, you have the legal right to use PLR articles as your own. You don’t have to modify them at all if you don’t choose to, though changing them up a bit is recommended. Having your own “original” (reworked) content will help with your own search engine ranking.
Having fresh and frequent content on your website or blog is one of the best ways to increase traffic to your site. If the direct sales company you represent allows you to have an external website, blog or Fan Page, then providing your team members and most importantly, potential recruits, with informational articles will allow you to provide added value to your readers and give them reason to return often.
You’ll have one less thing to worry about. This will in turn give you more time to focus on: hostess coaching, mastering and teaching your compensation plan, helping new team members understand the direct sales alphabet soup (PRV, GWV, PWV, XYZ), preparing for your fundraiser, setting up your vendor event, following up with past customers and bagging, tagging and delivering the product shipment you just received.
Direct sales is a fabulous industry to be a part of, one that requires you to able to balance your own sales business with recruiting, mentoring, supporting and leading all of your team and group members too. You’re not successful if your team isn’t successful, right? That’s quite a balancing act. Continue reading
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