Direct Sales Tools
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I love what a Direct Sales home business can do for a mom and her family. But I also know that it can get to be overwhelming.
This lens will focus on some great tools, ideas and helps to streamline your Direct Sales business both online and off so you can have your business AND your life!
Direct Sales Quick Tips
Helping you work your business smart
Find out more details on each video at DirectSellersUniversity.com
Direct Sales Featured Articles
Great articles to help you grow your business
Are You Interviewing Your Prospects? by Audrey Okaneko
There is nothing more exciting than someone contacting us to inquire about our business. We get so excited infact that sometimes we forget that what we are really doing is conducting an interview to see if our business is right for the prospect.
Back in the 80's when I started in network marketing, the philosophy was to sign up anyone who had a pulse. I remember some days I signed up 22 people in one day. I also remember thinking to myself, "how on earth will this person ever make it?".
I'll share one of my most memorable experiences with you. A girl called me, she had seen my flyer somewhere in town. I scheduled the interview for the following day. Now I knew from the address that this section of town was not the most desirable in our city, but hey, she had two things going in her favor, a pulse and an interest. When I arrived, the house smelled from beer, cigarettes and just general trash, I was thinking, she still had a pulse and she still had an interest. As I was scanning the house looking for a place to sit, she suggested we go into her bedroom, as it was clean and private. Knowing she had a pulse and an interest I followed her. After entereing her room, she dead bolted the door. I truly was scared at this point. I was very unsure what I had walked into. She explained that the folks she lived with were drug dealers and that all sorts of folks came in and out of her home thus the deadbolt. Well we made it through the sign up process, but I swore I would never put myself through that again. As I'm sure you have guessed, she never contributed anything to my organization.
After that experience I began more carefully screening those who expressed an interest in my business. I was actually beginning to interview those who contacted me. Through an initial interview I was able to determine who qualified for a 2nd interview, an appointment for me to come speak with them.
Read the rest of this article here:
Read the article here
There is nothing more exciting than someone contacting us to inquire about our business. We get so excited infact that sometimes we forget that what we are really doing is conducting an interview to see if our business is right for the prospect.
Back in the 80's when I started in network marketing, the philosophy was to sign up anyone who had a pulse. I remember some days I signed up 22 people in one day. I also remember thinking to myself, "how on earth will this person ever make it?".
I'll share one of my most memorable experiences with you. A girl called me, she had seen my flyer somewhere in town. I scheduled the interview for the following day. Now I knew from the address that this section of town was not the most desirable in our city, but hey, she had two things going in her favor, a pulse and an interest. When I arrived, the house smelled from beer, cigarettes and just general trash, I was thinking, she still had a pulse and she still had an interest. As I was scanning the house looking for a place to sit, she suggested we go into her bedroom, as it was clean and private. Knowing she had a pulse and an interest I followed her. After entereing her room, she dead bolted the door. I truly was scared at this point. I was very unsure what I had walked into. She explained that the folks she lived with were drug dealers and that all sorts of folks came in and out of her home thus the deadbolt. Well we made it through the sign up process, but I swore I would never put myself through that again. As I'm sure you have guessed, she never contributed anything to my organization.
After that experience I began more carefully screening those who expressed an interest in my business. I was actually beginning to interview those who contacted me. Through an initial interview I was able to determine who qualified for a 2nd interview, an appointment for me to come speak with them.
Read the rest of this article here:
Read the article here
Hire your kids in your direct sales business
Hiring your children in your business can be a great tax savings strategy, as well as a way to teach your children about business and money.
Wages paid to your children (between the ages 7 and 17) are a valid business deduction, as long as they do bona fide work, and they are compensated fairly.
Your children can earn up to the standard deduction amount before they will owe any income tax. Because you are getting a business deduction for the wages paid to your child, this is income that you also will not pay taxes on.
In addition, if your children are under age 18, you don't have to pay payroll taxes on them. This is a huge tax savings since you would have to pay these taxes on any other employee you hired.
Hiring your children does not raise a red flag with the IRS, but you should document your children's salary and services provided to audit-proof your tax return. To do this, keep a time sheet showing the date, hours and services provided by your children, and write them a check for their wages.
In addition, you will need to prepare and file a W-2 for your child at the end of the year. Your child may need to file a tax return as well.
You can learn more about hiring your children in your business by reading IRS Publication 15, Chapter 3, Family Employees.
Click here to learn more about how hiring your children in your own business can help minimize your tax bill.
Wages paid to your children (between the ages 7 and 17) are a valid business deduction, as long as they do bona fide work, and they are compensated fairly.
Your children can earn up to the standard deduction amount before they will owe any income tax. Because you are getting a business deduction for the wages paid to your child, this is income that you also will not pay taxes on.
In addition, if your children are under age 18, you don't have to pay payroll taxes on them. This is a huge tax savings since you would have to pay these taxes on any other employee you hired.
Hiring your children does not raise a red flag with the IRS, but you should document your children's salary and services provided to audit-proof your tax return. To do this, keep a time sheet showing the date, hours and services provided by your children, and write them a check for their wages.
In addition, you will need to prepare and file a W-2 for your child at the end of the year. Your child may need to file a tax return as well.
You can learn more about hiring your children in your business by reading IRS Publication 15, Chapter 3, Family Employees.
Click here to learn more about how hiring your children in your own business can help minimize your tax bill.
Hire Your kids!
Take advantage of great tax benefits too!
My friend Kristine just put out this fabulous report on hiring your kids in your home business. There are some great tax benefits - check it out!
Other great sites to help you with your Direct Sales Business
Visit today
- DirectSellersUniversity.com
- Free courses, articles, resources and more to help make your direct sales business fun and profitable!
- Squidoo for Direct Sales
- Learn how to use Squidoo lenses (like this one that you're looking at!) to help promote your direct sales business. It's a great direct sales tool!
- Direct Sales website on Squidoo
- Another Squidoo lens to help you set up your own website and web presence to establish credibility and set you apart in your direct sales business.
Free Organizing ebook
My friends at Mom Masterminds have created this great little ebook that's perfect for direct sellers looking for ways to keep organized in business. Enjoy!
- Organizing Minds Free Ebook
- Enjoy this pdf ebook. Just click on the link on the link to start the download or to open the pdf in your browser.
Must Haves For Direct Sellers
- DSWA Build it Big Books
- I think this should be mandatory reading for any serious direct sales rep. These Build it Big books by the DSWA are focused books on making all aspects of your business a success. And now they're running a special for over $500 in bonuses when you order using this link. Do it now!
- Save time with an Autoresponder
- My autoresponder with aweber is my all time best investment for my direct sales business, hands down. With unlimited list capabilities, you definitely want this autoresponder to help automate your business and free up precious time. Fill in the form and you'll see how one works and give you details on how to create one for your downline training.
- Article Marketing Course
- Although much of this course talks about internet marketing, ALL of it can be applied to your direct sales business as well. Particularly useful for those reps in companies who don't allow any type of online advertising, this is a great "around" for you to get your name out there!
- Build a mailing list and drive traffic to your website
- Much of my success in Direct Sales comes from the traffic that I drive to my company and personal website. And I learned from the master in this inexpensive membership club. You must must must give this a try. You won't be sorry!
- Set up a Blog for Business
- Get a FREE 6day ecourse pdf in your inbox right away. Lynette has great tips on blogging and how to make your blog profitable! Enjoy! And thanks Lynette!
- Free "Using Audio in your Direct Sales Business" Ecourse
- Enter your name and email into the boxes when you click on the link above and you'll get a free 5 day ecourse in your inbox on how and why to use Audio in your direct sales business! I love audio and I think you will too!
- The edirectory of home based careers
- Are you still looking for the best home based direct sales business for you? Check out this edirectory for some great ideas!
- A FAB web meeting room for downline and recruit meetings
- My friend Lynette has a great way for you to meet with your team without using the phone! Interact with each other live, unlimited numbers and no long distance charges. There's a free ecourse on it here at this link too! Check it out!
- Easy Internet Survey
- A fabulous new program where you can create short surveys to find out more about what your customers, recruits and downline need so you can change your marketing plan to meet those needs!
This is an easy, fun an inexpensive program to help set you up above the competition in your direct sales business. - Great idea for referral and keep in touch marketing
- In this day of unending email spam communicating with your customers, hostesses and downline via email by itself just doesn't cut it. I'm a big fan of automating things as much as possible and this system at www.directsalescards.com is brilliant in helping you stay in contact with everyone in your business (and personal life) automatically. Just set up the system once and with the click of your mouse, your virtual "virtual card assistant" sends the mail for you...personalized and everything. I avoided getting this for a long time thinking I could just do it myself...and when months went by and I wasn't sending anything, I decided to give it a try. Can't live without it now!
- Goal Getting Info
- Here's my article on "Goal Getting" for direct sellers. At the bottom you can sign up to get the free worksheet I mentioned! Enjoy!
- Smart Moms - Smart Business
- Smart Moms ~ Smart Business,LLC is a resource for women; teaching how to create multiple streams of income by working from home. Free tips & tools, forum, eBook, and consultation.
Penny Pinching Publicity
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The Recruit Interview
Take your recruiting to the next level with these tips!
The recruit interview:
Ask the top recruiters in any direct sales company and you will discover that they attribute much of their recruiting success to using the recruit interview. Email is a fabulous tool and can be used to the maximum for your business but there is nothing like the telephone or personal meeting to take your recruiting from average or below to super recruiter.
Whether on the phone or face to face your chances of closing your potential new recruit are best if you spend most of your voice to voice time listening and asking questions and less time telling about your opportunity and spilling your story.
So here are some ideas for questions you can ask your new inquiring potential recruits that will get HER talking more and help you determine what she's looking for and how your direct selling business can help!
***Read the rest of this article CLICK HERE***
Ask the top recruiters in any direct sales company and you will discover that they attribute much of their recruiting success to using the recruit interview. Email is a fabulous tool and can be used to the maximum for your business but there is nothing like the telephone or personal meeting to take your recruiting from average or below to super recruiter.
Whether on the phone or face to face your chances of closing your potential new recruit are best if you spend most of your voice to voice time listening and asking questions and less time telling about your opportunity and spilling your story.
So here are some ideas for questions you can ask your new inquiring potential recruits that will get HER talking more and help you determine what she's looking for and how your direct selling business can help!
***Read the rest of this article CLICK HERE***
Audio Tools for your Biz
Take your customer, hostess and downline communication to the next level with Audio!
Tired of having people ignore, delete or just skim your emails? Worried that your print newletter is getting stuck in the "maybe later" pile? Want to make sure your message is HEARD? Check out these links for more info on using AUDIO in your business!
- Audio Acrobat
- By far the easiest and most flexible way for you to record and upload audio for your business. You're gonna love this one!
- Skype.com
- Skype is a great interent phone service where you can set up up to 10 phone numbers with free voicemail. A great way to leave voice messages for your downline or hostesses, and you have the option to even answer these numbers via your computer! Cool!
- ILife 06 by Apple for Macs including Garageband
- I use a Mac computer and use Garage Band to record my audios and convert them to MP3s to upload to my websites. If you have a mac, ILife can't be beat. Check it out and see what you think!
Things I love and you will too
- A Print Newsletter that's GREAT for all WAHMs
- I love this newsletter and look forward to it coming in my mailbox (you know, the one out by the street). I grab a cup of tea, sit on the couch and devour every word. Love it!
- Build an easy website here!
- Many of you can't promote your company website on line, but you can build a gorgeous "side" website in about 5 minutes using this tool that can tell people about you (without mentioning your company) and give you a place to gather names for your mailing list, etc. There's a free trial too... give it a whirl!
- WAHM Talk Radio
- I never miss a week of listening to Kelly McCausey and her WAHMTalkRadio podcast every Monday!
She's got great tips for all moms who work at home and it's just plain fun! You'll get ideas about promoting your business and more!
Enjoy! - Chele's Treasures Promo NotePads
- These little promo notepads are great for fillers or just to give out to your regular customers and hostesses. Can't beat the price either!
- The DSWA - Direct Selling Women's Alliance
- Join this great organization to not only help support our fabulous profession but to get great ideas, inspiration and more. You'll get discounts on products, articles to use in your downline and customer newsletters, tremendous training calls and other opportunities.... it's really great!
- Mom Masterminds Free 9 day ecourse
- One of the best investments I ever made in my business was joining a great group of moms called Mom Masterminds. It took me about a year to jump in and try it because it was pricey in my mind, but now that I'm "in", I know that it's well worth every penny!
That said, the ladies there have created a great 9 day free course for you to give it a whirl. Click on the link and have fun!
More great books and resources
again...never stop learning!
I know, I'm an info junkie but I'm telling you that 99% of the success I've had in direct sales is because I spend a big ole chunk of time reading and listening to other people and applying the information I hear and read.
Never stop learning!
Never stop learning!
- The Accidental Millionaire
- I've got this book in my "travel bag" in the car for those times I'm sitting in a doctor's waiting room or waiting while the kids are at a practice, etc. Excellent read with really fabulous ideas to go from ordinary to spectacular!
- Magnetic Sponsoring
- Sign up for this free 10 day bootcamp and learn all you can about getting potential recruits to come to you!
- Boost Your Business with Ezines
- I love Ali Brown's down to earth approach to business. Although most of her specific information is geared toward more of an online internet marketing type business, you can definitely glean some fabulous tips and hints that apply to Direct Sales. Sign up for her free newsletter and see what I mean!
- Octara Pay per Click
- Pay per click marketing is a great way to get your direct sales website seen and get some qualified leads for customers and potential recruits. It's usually pretty pricey depending on how you do it but this is an interesting place to give it a try.
- VistaPrint
- Most direct sellers already know about vista print but I'd be remiss if I didn't put the link here for you. Great resource for "sizzle" cards and other inexpensive promo materials for your business.
The Hot Seminar Series
- Hot Seminar Series
- I'm a big fan of Kelly McCausey of WAHMtalk radio and she's got this great series of conference calls every summer that I try to NEVER miss. This year's calls have been really TOP notch and on EVERY call so far I've found something that I can use to better my direct sales business.
The best thing is she has the MP3s for sale so you can get the calls you missed too. Sign up for the whole series...you'll be glad you did!
Direct Mail for Direct Sales
Direct Mail for Direct Sales by Annette Yen
Although I love the possibilities of the Internet for marketing and building your direct sales business, there's nothing like the good old mail system for getting your name around your community and in front of your customers. Here are some tips for a successful direct mail marketing campaign for your direct sales business.
1. Get a system. Before you even start with the first mailing, think about your plan of attack. Think through your mailing budget, your goals for the mailing, and your system of follow up, etc. Without a good plan and system, direct mail campaigns can really be just a major waste of money. Sit down right now and write down:
*** To read the rest of this article, click here:
The Rest of the Article here
Although I love the possibilities of the Internet for marketing and building your direct sales business, there's nothing like the good old mail system for getting your name around your community and in front of your customers. Here are some tips for a successful direct mail marketing campaign for your direct sales business.
1. Get a system. Before you even start with the first mailing, think about your plan of attack. Think through your mailing budget, your goals for the mailing, and your system of follow up, etc. Without a good plan and system, direct mail campaigns can really be just a major waste of money. Sit down right now and write down:
*** To read the rest of this article, click here:
The Rest of the Article here
Keeping your team strong!
Communicate with your downline and watch your team soar!
Congratulations! You've got a strong direct sales downline or are beginning to build one! This is one of the best parts of being a direct sales consultant, - the fact that you can share your passion for your business with others, help them to earn a little extra money and get paid for helping grow your company as well.
Now that you are a leader of a team, you'll need to build a strong relationship with downline members to not only help them stay strong in their business, but to help your business grow stronger as well. A strong downline relationship will be one that's mutually helpful and everyone benefits.
But you may be wondering how to insure that downline members feel cared for while still maintaining some type of balance with the rest of your life. Here are 5 easy tips for maintaining a great upline/downline relationship.
1. Start off with a bang. When a new recruit first signs up, it's vitally important that you communicate often with her. One thing that I have found very helpful here is to develop a series of emails to send to new downline that talks them through those first days "on the job". It will help them feel like they are connected to the company and to you. Each day while your new recruit is waiting for her kit she should hear from you. This is very easy to do with an autoresponder system, but can also be done by just copying and pasting into an email message every morning.
2. 15 minutes a day. Set aside fifteen minutes of each workday for downline phone calls.
Read the rest of this article By clicking HERE
Now that you are a leader of a team, you'll need to build a strong relationship with downline members to not only help them stay strong in their business, but to help your business grow stronger as well. A strong downline relationship will be one that's mutually helpful and everyone benefits.
But you may be wondering how to insure that downline members feel cared for while still maintaining some type of balance with the rest of your life. Here are 5 easy tips for maintaining a great upline/downline relationship.
1. Start off with a bang. When a new recruit first signs up, it's vitally important that you communicate often with her. One thing that I have found very helpful here is to develop a series of emails to send to new downline that talks them through those first days "on the job". It will help them feel like they are connected to the company and to you. Each day while your new recruit is waiting for her kit she should hear from you. This is very easy to do with an autoresponder system, but can also be done by just copying and pasting into an email message every morning.
2. 15 minutes a day. Set aside fifteen minutes of each workday for downline phone calls.
Read the rest of this article By clicking HERE
Please sign my guestbook!
Let me know what you're looking for in your Direct Sales Business!
Sign my guestbook and then... Put me to work!
I want to know what Direct Sellers need for their businesses to thrive. So here's a place for you to say, I could really use something to help me do "this" better, etc. Thanks for the feedback.
quantumguy wrote...
Nice lens! I know from
experience the most important aspect of succeeding online in the direct selling & sales
industry is to join with a top
income earner so they can show you how to start earning fast!
Posted June 24, 2009
quantumguy wrote...
Well done! Great information for the Direct Selling industry!
Posted June 24, 2009
moneymakingsystemsreviews wrote...
A lot of ideas for home business here, thanks a lot for the informative lens!
Posted May 29, 2009
easy-internet-income wrote...
This is a very informative lens. There is a great deal of information that any work at home mom (or dad) can use to build their business. Thanks for sharing! :D
Posted March 30, 2009
CarrieGeyer wrote...
Hi You have done a nice job creating this lens...5 stars. Lots of good ideas for us marketers. If you love Dove Chocolate then you need to visit my Dove Chocolate Discoveries lens
Posted March 28, 2009
Great Stuff on Amazon
Check out these books for Direct Sales Representatives
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Amazon Price: $14.96 (as of 07/06/2009) 
Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Revised Edition
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/06/2009)
Words that Sell, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Thesaurus to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 07/06/2009)
Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/06/2009)
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 07/06/2009)
Everything Techy - all the time
Lynette Chandler's Blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byGrow your vocabulary
with a Word of the Day
Never stop learning! :-)
Share Photos with your friends and family
(and it's a great internet business too!)
By far the BEST photo sharing and digital imaging/archiving site out there... check out Photomax!
- My photomax page
- Get 20 free 4x6 photos here for free from me when you sign up!
A list of reasons why I love being a Direct Sales Work at home mom
...the best "job" out there!
- I can sleep in if I want to
I get to work with my daughters
I can turn off the computer and the phones on Sunday and just rest
I determine how much money I make by the amount of effort I put in
I get to work with fabulous women across the country
I get to network with fabulous women across the world
I make new friends every day
I can eat M&Ms while IMing
I can work in my pjs if I want to (but I don't)
I can stop at any point during my day to do housework,
play or garden
I can take a vacation without asking anyone for permission
TwoMoms Moms in Business Blog
...a little sanity for WAHMs
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byWhere to find Annette
So you don't have to write it down!
- Direct Sellers University
- This is my Direct Sellers University site with more helpful tools for your Direct Sales Business
- Help your kids to become entrepreneurs
- My daughters and I have worked our direct sales business together as long as we can remember so my friend Nicole Dean and I put together this free resource site. We both love working at home together with our kids and see the value of helping our kids to learn how to start their own businesses too. Great ideas to help your kids get going toward being young entrepreneurs! This is a free resource too!
- The Expo-Connector - online networking
- I love networking with my friends at the Small Business Referral Network. Here's my expo "table" and you can get one too! Networking is a great way to build your business and the added links that an expo table bring helps draw more traffic to your company site!
- My Direct Sales Company Website - Noah's Ark Workshops
- Ok, I've been in direct sales a LONG time and this is a fabulous business. If you're looking for a direct sales business where you can work with your kids, it's ideal. Pop over and check out my website, sign your kids up for the birthday club (free give-a-way every month for kids clubbers) and sign yourself up for more information on the business. Come play with me!
I'm a Pooh - How about you?
Learning from the Hundred Acre Wood
When my girls were growing up we absolutely adored reading the Winnie the Pooh books together. In fact, now that they're 13 and 15, we actually still love the original series (not the Disney remake books) and often will just pick them up for fun.
There is benefit, however, to reading Pooh as a direct seller too. Hang with me here, I'm very serious. Pooh and his friends from the hundred acre wood provide a metaphor for the people in our lives in general and more specifically to our direct sales teams.
So let's have some fun and explore a bit more about Winnie the Pooh and his friends and see if you have someone on your team or a potential recruit that looks like:
Pooh himself: Pooh is pretty much the eternal optimist. He looks at every opportunity of life as a chance to get more honey and won't be shy about asking for honey when he sees it nearby and if his tummy is a little rumbly. He cares about his friends, sings while he's walking and basically is fun to be around. Though not always the brightest bulb in the lamp, what Pooh lacks in street smarts he makes up in caring and optimism.
Direct Sales Poohs - Poohs make great team members because they are pretty teachable.
Read the rest of this article when you CLICK HERE
There is benefit, however, to reading Pooh as a direct seller too. Hang with me here, I'm very serious. Pooh and his friends from the hundred acre wood provide a metaphor for the people in our lives in general and more specifically to our direct sales teams.
So let's have some fun and explore a bit more about Winnie the Pooh and his friends and see if you have someone on your team or a potential recruit that looks like:
Pooh himself: Pooh is pretty much the eternal optimist. He looks at every opportunity of life as a chance to get more honey and won't be shy about asking for honey when he sees it nearby and if his tummy is a little rumbly. He cares about his friends, sings while he's walking and basically is fun to be around. Though not always the brightest bulb in the lamp, what Pooh lacks in street smarts he makes up in caring and optimism.
Direct Sales Poohs - Poohs make great team members because they are pretty teachable.
Read the rest of this article when you CLICK HERE
What Does Wikipedia have to say?
Multi-level marketing (MLM), (also called Network Marketing)
is a term that describes a marketing structure used by some companies as part of their overall marketing strategy.
The structure is designed to create a marketing and sales force by compensating promoters of company products not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of other promoters they introduced to the company, creating a Category: wikt - :downline|downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation.
The products and company are usually marketed directly to consumers and potential business partners by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing.
What Does Wikipedia have to say
Direct Selling is a retail channel for the distribution of goods and services. At a basic level it may be defined as marketing and selling products, direct to consumers away from a fixed retail location. Sales are typically made through party plan, one to one demonstrations, and other personal contact arrangements. A text book definition is: "The direct personal presentation, demonstration, and sale of products and services to consumers, usually in their homes or at their jobs."Michael A. Belch George E. Belch Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, 7/e., McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006
Industry representative, the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA), reports that its 59 regional member associations accounted for more than US$114 Billion in retail sales in 2007, through the activities of more than 62 million independent sales representatives.WFDSA - What is Direct Selling?
According to the WFDSA, consumers benefit from direct selling because of the convenience and service it provides, including personal demonstration and explanation of products, home delivery, and generous satisfaction guarantees. In contrast to franchising, the cost for an individual to start an independent direct selling business is typically very low with little or no required inventory or other cash commitments to begin.
The United States Direct Selling Association (DSA) reported that in 2000, 55% of adult Americans had at some time purchased goods or services from a direct selling representative and 20% reported that they were currently(6%) or had been in the past(14%) a direct selling representative.DSA - What is Direct Selling
Most direct selling associations, including the Bundesverband Direktvertrieb Deutschland, the direct selling association of Germany, and the WFDSA and DSA require their members to abide by a code of conduct towards a fair partnership both with customers and salesmen. Most national direct selling associations are represented in the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA).
Direct Selling is distinct from Direct Marketing because it is about individual sales agents reaching and dealing directly with clients. Direct Marketing is about business organizations seeking a relationship with their customers without going through an agent/consultant or retail outlet.
By far the majority of Direct Selling companies use a multi-level compensation plan, where the agent is paid not only for their own sales but also a percentage of the sales of other representatives they introduce into the organization and help train.Direct Selling by the Numbers - 2007
Some of the world's largest direct selling companies include Avon Products, Amway, NuSkin and Tupperware.
Direct Sellers-
How to Motivate Your Team - by Jane Deuber
It is a well-known fact that managers who focus on the number of shows being held by their team have higher monthly sales. By learning early in the month how many shows are already on the books, you will discover how you can support your team members to achieve more success.
For example, a team with lots of shows scheduled will need guidance on hostess coaching and reducing postponements. On the other hand, a team with fewer shows may need a short-term booking challenge or ideas on how to schedule shows.
Here are just a few ideas for coaching your team:
1. Be informed. Prior to the first of the month, ask each team member to share how many shows they have booked. Give lots of appreciation and praise and offer guidance on how to book additional shows.
2. Offer a booking challenge. Challenge each Consultant to ask for a booking from five people every day for one week and watch her schedule fill. Because this challenge depends on the "honor system" keep your reward small but give it with lots of praise.
3. Reward results. Offer a "Consistency Award" to anyone on your team who holds one show a week for two consecutive months. These are potential stars.
4. Get the bigger picture! Record your team's shows on one big show calendar! This helps you project group sales and provide support to help ensure their success.
5. Know your team show average. Helping your team members increase their show average is just as important as helping them book more shows. Since hostess coaching has the greatest impact on sales, ask Consultants to complete a Hostess Coaching Checklist for every show.
6. Emphasize sponsoring. Take advantage of the fabulous recruiting opportunities at shows by challenging your team to discuss the opportunity during their presentation and then offer it to every guest while writing up their order. Make sponsoring a natural part of your team's shows and you will soon see results!
7. Lead by example. This is perhaps the most important tip we can offer because your team will follow your lead when it comes to holding shows and sponsoring. Be sure you are setting a good example by consistently holding shows of your own!
Jane Deuber is a Co-Founder of www.mydswa.org (the only association dedicated to the needs of the independent party plan and network marketing professionals). Discover what makes the DSWA so unique. Listen to three motivating and informative free teleseminars by visiting www.mydswa.org/tele_class.asp
For example, a team with lots of shows scheduled will need guidance on hostess coaching and reducing postponements. On the other hand, a team with fewer shows may need a short-term booking challenge or ideas on how to schedule shows.
Here are just a few ideas for coaching your team:
1. Be informed. Prior to the first of the month, ask each team member to share how many shows they have booked. Give lots of appreciation and praise and offer guidance on how to book additional shows.
2. Offer a booking challenge. Challenge each Consultant to ask for a booking from five people every day for one week and watch her schedule fill. Because this challenge depends on the "honor system" keep your reward small but give it with lots of praise.
3. Reward results. Offer a "Consistency Award" to anyone on your team who holds one show a week for two consecutive months. These are potential stars.
4. Get the bigger picture! Record your team's shows on one big show calendar! This helps you project group sales and provide support to help ensure their success.
5. Know your team show average. Helping your team members increase their show average is just as important as helping them book more shows. Since hostess coaching has the greatest impact on sales, ask Consultants to complete a Hostess Coaching Checklist for every show.
6. Emphasize sponsoring. Take advantage of the fabulous recruiting opportunities at shows by challenging your team to discuss the opportunity during their presentation and then offer it to every guest while writing up their order. Make sponsoring a natural part of your team's shows and you will soon see results!
7. Lead by example. This is perhaps the most important tip we can offer because your team will follow your lead when it comes to holding shows and sponsoring. Be sure you are setting a good example by consistently holding shows of your own!
Jane Deuber is a Co-Founder of www.mydswa.org (the only association dedicated to the needs of the independent party plan and network marketing professionals). Discover what makes the DSWA so unique. Listen to three motivating and informative free teleseminars by visiting www.mydswa.org/tele_class.asp
