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Customer Service? Or Crappy Service?
Got a Problem, Ms. Customer? Too Bad So Sad
As we look forward to a competitive 2011, superb customer service is going to be vital to your success. I recently heard a story of a consultant who was made aware of a customer problem. She went onto a forum to ask other consultants for advice since the problem originated with another consultant. On the forum she received suggestions from fellow consultants, some of them veteran Directors, to tell the customer to call the corporate office.
This consultant missed a golden opportunity to salvage the customer’s poor experience. She received bad advice. We may be sales consultants, but we are in the service business. If we don’t service our customers, someone else will.
Independent consultants should not give a customer their corporate phone number and tell her to call to try to solve her own problem. Obviously if the customer requests the corporate number, we should oblige; yet that is not what I’m referring to in this situation. We’re all about customer service, or certainly should be. Continue reading
Ask for Assistance With Your Direct Sales Business
If you need assistance, ask for assistance.
You read that correctly; that’s the text I saw today on a sign displayed on a retail store shelf: If you need assistance, ask for assistance.
At first I thought, “Well d’uh.” And then I continued to talk to myself, “That’s a stupid sign”. Yet after I had a chance to chew on it a minute I decided that I really liked that sign. In this particular case I surmise the sign was there because the merchandise was way up on some high shelves. Perhaps in the past someone climbed on the shelves to reach the goodies or just left without making a purchase because the treasures were out of reach.
My mind quickly turned to direct sales and recruits; and how this sign applies to us as well. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve heard struggling and former consultants lament that her sponsor never did anything for her or that she never hears from her sponsor. We’ll leave the merits of what a good leader should be doing for her team to another post. For now, I want to focus on the comment that the recruit “never hears from her sponsor.” Continue reading
Unique Affordable Stocking Stuffers
Whether your Christmas shopping is just about complete or you have yet to begin, Scentsy can help you with unique, affordable stocking stuffers for men, women and children. Take a look at what we have that will tuck neatly into this year’s Christmas stockings. Click on the product image or title to take you directly to the secure web store to have them delivered right to your door. Don’t delay – order by December 18, 2010 for to arrive before Santa does!
Scent Circles $3 each
Air Fresheners. Hang freely in cars, lockers and closets. Packed with fragrance, each will give you weeks of Scentsy wherever you go. Available in over 80 scents, including Leather and Christmas Tree (hang in your artificial tree for that fresh pine scent!)
Travel Tins $5 each
Portable and convenient, simply open your Travel Tin to release the fragrance. The more you open it, the more fragrance you release. Great for your purse, car or gym bag – anywhere you need Scentsy fragrance! Available in 25 fragrances.
Fragrance Foam $6 each
Anti-bacterial emollient-rich, lusciously scented, and alcohol-free, Fragrance Foam kills germs without drying hands. Won’t dry your hands like alcohol based sanitizers do. Leaves your hands feeling clean and soft. Available in 5 fragrances.
Scent Paks $7 each
Fabric pouches filled with non-toxic scented beads. Toss one in a drawer, closet or anywhere you’d like a touch of Scentsy. You can use your Scent Pak to make your backpack, gym bag, or school locker smell good, too! Available in 15 fragrances.
Room Sprays $8 each
Perfect for closets, linens, vehicles and hotel rooms. One simple spray can fill a room with your favorite Scentsy fragrance. Available in all over 80 fragrances including Odor Out, which eliminates unwanted odors, not just masks them.
Your Christmas sweeties are probably expecting their stocking to be filled with the usual candy, fruit and typical do-dads. Won’t they be surprised this year to wake to up Scentsy!
Creating Time to Work Your Business
So I’m sitting here in Food Avenue Express, the little snack bar inside of Target, waiting for my daughter and her friend to finish shopping. They’re the class reps who have the distinguished honor of purchasing toys for the family their class adopted for Christmas.
What does this have to do with running your own business? It may be a stretch, but hang with me a moment. What’s one challenge independent consultants often state as a reason for their business not taking off? NOT ENOUGH TIME!
Many newer consultants also work a full time job – either at home raising children or outside the home as an employee for someone else. Don’t forget all the other obligations such as being taxi driver for the kiddos, cleaning the house, head chef, banker, homework helper, wife or head of the household. When would you possibly have time to start a home business?
The answer is that you don’t have time – you have to make time. You’ve heard the tired cliché “Where there’s a will, there’s a way?” This is definitely true of making time to start and grow a home business. It’s not too often that people complain that they have too much time, right? So from the start just come to terms with the fact that you likely will not have nearly as much time to devote to your business as you would like. If you accept that from the beginning, then you will not always feel like you’re failing or have that uneasy feeling that there’s never enough time. Continue reading
She Lost Money on That Vendor Event
As I have discussed many times, vendor events can be worthwhile. They can also be a huge waste of time and a vacuum for your hard earned money if you are not wise in selecting the right ones and then not optimizing your space once you get there.
I attended a vendor event as a customer last week. I am fairly certain the consultant lost her shirt by participating in this one. What do you think?
- It was a first time event. It was advertised mildly on Facebook and there were yard signs dotted around town.
- It was $7 just to get in the door as a customer.
- Vendors were charged $750.00 booth rental for this three day event.
- The consultant had quite a bit of marketing collateral that she liberally handed out, at least $300 worth.
- She also had a medium size amount of inventory (medium meaning not spectacular and not nearly enough for a show of this caliber, but at least a showing. It wasn’t a totally pathetic display; I’ve seen worse.) She had approximately $1,000 or more in inventory. Continue reading
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