Partnering with Your Hostess: Pathway to Recruiting Success, is an entertaining book that provides you with tips and techniques to that will help both your hostess and you to reach your goals. How well you work with your hostess will directly determine how successful you are at making sales and recruiting people into the business. It’s vital that you do all you can to establish a win-win partnership with your hostess. You want to make her feel as if she attained her dreams also.

You’ll find useful resources and a great deal of information in this book. It will assist in creating parties that are fun, informative and (over) loaded with potential.  Simply follow what the book teaches and the techniques will work for you.

Partnering with Your Hostess: Pathway to Recruiting Success is of of those books that you’ll find yourself referring to over and over again. I encourage all direct sales managers to share the book, or at least the techniques that you learn from the book, with your downline. You can use it as a training tool.  Simply suggest to everyone on your team and all new recruits that they get the book to study before hosting their first party on their own. Use it for team meetings, covering one topic at a time. Watch your entire team’s success grow!

Being a direct sales representative is a great way to bring in extra money. If you want to be successful at it, as in any career, you need to understand exactly what you’re doing and you should know the best way to do it. If you host a lot of parties and they are a big part of your direct sales marketing plan, then this is the perfect book to add to your reference library.

Click here to purchase your copy of Partnering with Your Hostess: Pathway to Recruiting Success

The #1 Biggest Mistake

The first mistake practically everyone makes is trying to sell. We are not sales people. We’re mentors and teachers. If we’re doing this correctly, we are spending much of our time building relationships, not trying to get people to take our best deals.

People can feel the difference when you’re talking to them about things you personally use and can recommend, or when you’re just trying to sell them something. You don’t like that, and neither do they! You know you don’t like to be sold, and you don’t like that icky feeling you get when you try to sell. It just doesn’t sit well, so stop it! Build the relationships, and success will follow. Relationship building is the key!

This  Is Mistake #2

Not checking the background of the leaders in your company. Make sure that they have MLM experience, with integrity. You’re asking, why is this so important? Well, ask these questions also. Do you want to build your business once, build it big, and build it for your children’s children and future generations? It’s so important to be sure that the people running your company know what they’re doing and that they respect the men and ladies out there in the field who are helping to build it.

The best and easiest way to do this is to read the company’s policies and procedures. You may be surprised to find that some of the things will make you scream! When you read them, it won’t take long to realize who you are really building the business for and, sometimes, it’s not you! Please, please, you are urged to read the policies and procedures of any direct sales company that you are thinking of working with.

Here Is Mistake #3

Not knowing how many people it takes to earn the income you want is a gigantic no-no. So you think you want to make $10,000 every month? Then you’ve got to know how many people in your organization it takes, on the back end, to make your goal. Now how viable is that? Do you find yourself having problems with just keeping 10, 20, or 30?

In most comp plans, in order to make $10,000 a month, you’d need somewhere between 1,600 and 5,000 people. Of course, this depends on how your compensation plan is set up. How doable is that if you can’t manage to keep 30? There is one compensation plan out there that requires less than 400 people to make a $10,000 monthly income. It’s probably much easier to keep people in that plan. Be sure to know the numbers, then crunch them to see if it’s doable for you.

Finally, Mistake #4

The final (and most deadly) mistake that many direct sales reps make is going after their friends and families. Unfortunately, most direct sales companies use this “technique” as a main source of lead generation for new reps. Ouch! You need to know right now that your “warm market” is most likely the coldest market there is! This technique will not work. If it does work for you,  then chances are you have the best, most supportive family and friends in the world.

So where do you get leads from? Well, the absolute best leads are the ones you bring in yourself. If your company, team, or upline doesn’t have a system in place to implement, it may be very tough if you’re just starting out.

With some basic skills and a lead generating system in place, you can avoid making these mistakes in  your direct sales business. If you find you’re having problems,  see if you’re not making one of these common mistakes in your own business.

Yes, you heard that right, you get them at no cost whatsoever. The best newsletter publishers run their publications specifically to share their expertise in the industry. They share insights and tools that could possibly be beneficial to you in your direct sales business. It’s amazing how much information there is to be learned from others in the business.

Helpful Tips to Find the Best Newsletters With the Best Information to Help Build Your Direct Sales Business

• Check out the subscription page. Does it have ads all over it? If it does, this can mean one of two things:
  1. The newsletter publisher is simply defraying the cost of hosting the web site. This is okay, OR,
  2. They MAY be selling your contact information for profit. This is probably not okay.
  • If the page clearly describes what it’s designed for and is without hype, it’s a good sign that the newsletter is legitimate.
• The best way to recognize the difference is to make sure there is a clear and visible privacy policy on the site. The privacy policy should always inform you of any intent to sell or share your information. Beware, this is a “red flag” to be aware of, if they intend to sell your contact information.
• Spam compliance should also be clearly indicated in the policy. You’ll want to know that you can unsubscribe immediately, if it’s poor quality or not what you were looking for.

• Next, you must subscribe to see if it delivers what is promised. If not, simply unsubscribe. On the other hand, if the content is of good quality, and you’ll be learning new techniques or tips to build your business, then congratulations! You’ve found a great newsletter!

When looking for online publications, take your time. Find the best direct sales newsletters to suit your personality and business and soon you’ll look forward to reading all of the incredible articles, tips, and insights.

With that said, it’s recently been realized that online marketing has more than its share of industry terms for the newbie to learn. Since marketing in any form is all about getting and keeping new customers, it’s obvious that online marketers have a bit of an image problem. This was pointed out very plainly by a colleague who was interested in working online, and seeking an explanation. He stopped me mid sentence with the words “speak English geek” that was a wakeup call.

Here is a short guide to online marketing terms. These terms will help anyone on the outside of the internet marketing circle get on the inside much quicker.

• Ebook – although very popular this still causes some confusion. A ebook is just an electronic book that you read on your pc. It can be a .pdf file, plain text file or an executable file (one which is actually a self contained program to run on your computer). Ebooks sell really well online because no shipping charges are involved and delivery is instant.
• Joint Venture – a partnership. Simply two or more people work together to increase their sales, or to complete a product or service. Often shortened to JV, joint ventures can be very profitable.
• MLM – the initials of one of the least understood of business models, Multi Level Marketing. Also known as network marketing or referral marketing, MLM is the ideal business model for online marketers. It’s easy to get the message out about a new business, and it’s extremely low cost to advertise online. The problem with MLM is that it’s also easy to mistake a pyramid scheme (also called a ponzi scheme) for an MLM opportunity. There are many unscrupulous people who will sell pyramid schemes as an MLM opportunity. The biggest difference is that a genuine Mutli Level Marketing plan has a worthwhile product to sell, and money is also made by referring other sellers of the product, whose sales in turn generate a commission for you. Pyramid schemes often have a worthless product, or no product at all, and usually pays people mainly from new members joining.
• Niche Marketing –act of selling to a particular group of people. There are many untapped niches, which are small groups of people interested in a specific subject. These people are willing to pay for information. It’s pretty easy to target these niche markets online by monitoring search engine results. You want to find a specific word or phrase which is being searched for, but not near the top of the list of popular searches. An example of a niche market is poodle owners. They’re dog owners, but are specifically searching for information about poodles. These markets can be very profitable because they’re not directly targeted by many other businesses. If you offer products tailored to a niche market, you’ll have little or no competition.
• Online Marketing – selling any product or service on the internet. Marketing is merely the act of selling something. Selling on the world wide web costs less than having a real world, brick and mortar business. The low cost of entry is an attractive reason for starting your own online business.
• Subscriber List – sometimes known as an email list, newsletter list, or an ezine list (ezine is short for electronic magazine). This is a list of people who have given permission for the marketer (you) to send them emails which may contain advertisements. It’s also known as an opt-in list, because subscribers ‘opt in’ to receive the emails. This prevents people from claiming an email is spam because there will be a record of them signing up and agreeing to receive them. In relation to this term, another popular snippet of jargon is double opt-in, which simply means after filling in a form, the potential subscriber then receives an email asking them to verify that they agree to accept future emails. They must agree and confirm before they’re added to the email list they wish to receive.
• Viral Marketing – used to describe a way of increasing your business, or websites reach, by using a “viral technique”. In real life, a virus spreads out by people contacting one another, and computer viruses are spread by contacting other computers. Some clever marketers realized they could use the power of people sending each other information, and watched information about their own business being spread in the same way as a virus. If you give away a free gift, which includes a link to your business, and then you allow others to give it away, it works like a virus spreading the word to others as people send it on to their friends. This technique works extremely well, providing your freebie is something of worth that people would give away in the first place.

I hope if you’re a newbie that these brief explanations of online marketing terms will help you to more clearly understand some of the things the experienced online marketers say and write about. If you’re a seasoned marketer, I hope you’ll try to use less of the jargon we take for granted with your newbie colleagues and friends.

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What is pampering?  Well, direct sales businesses in the pampering realm provide products that help people de-stress and relax from work and life.  Products can be equipment including facial spa machines, paraffin wax, massagers, and tub Jacuzzis.

There are also clothes for pampering like terry cloth robes, massaging shoes, head wraps, gloves, and socks.  Then of course, the pampering products:  oils, creams, body scrubs, candles, and music.  There are a lot of products.

A direct sales business can either include all of the above or just focus on one area of pampering.  For you, it’s a finding a way to get people to believe they can’t live without your products. This means, you know what — you have to try them for yourself.  Unless you do this, your sales pitch is going to sound forced.

Everyone wants pampered but they don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it. It’s good to know your clientele. If they’re not willing to pay $100 for a massager, you’ll either have to change your target audience or change the products you’re offering them.

The first and easiest step when you start any direct sales business is to host an open house. Open houses are a great way to introduce your business and your products at the same time.  Unless you bribe your family and friends into hosting a party for you, no one else is going to want to do it without at least knowing something about you.  That’s the main purpose of your open house.

Many open houses have food, a product table with catalogs or brochures, maybe samples of products, and you there to answer questions. These are just the basics. In the pampering business, you can do so much more. You could hire pampering professionals to demonstrate your products on guests for a small fee. For five dollars they’ll get a professional fifteen minute massage. Offer them a choice of two or three products for their massage.

The massage professional can share product information and let them know it’s for sale. Others can win a chance at a massage or facial when they sign up to be on your mailing list. If they buy products, that’s another chance. You can do this at hostess parties on a smaller scale.

You can give products away as door prizes, free gifts for booking a show or buying a certain dollar amount of product. One thing you never want to happen is to run out of “freebies” at a party. Always bring more than the number of guests to make sure there’s one for everyone in the event that they all buy something.

Pampering is about making people feel good. You can give your potential customers that extra special feel-good vibe by offering unique product demonstrations and added incentives for signing up and booking shows.

Photo by dan taylor

Easy Ways To Make Use Of Company Resources

• Use the supplies your company provides or recommends. Most often a starter kit is provided to a new sales consultant when they sign on with the company. The starter kit might be a small amount of sample products or a very large kit with many different products.  These are usually designed to help you become acquainted with the products you’re going to be representing and selling. It’s recommended that you use them to that end.  You can use them for your demonstrations as well as for educational purposes.
• Use the hostess gifts provided or recommended. Some direct sales companies offer structured hostess coaching and an incentive program. Again, others let the direct sales consultant create a coaching and incentive system that works best for them.  Either way, it’s recommended that you use the coaching materials your company provides. You should assume they’ve done their research and have a history of success with their coaching and incentive plan.With that said however, if you find that some things just aren’t working for you, then revise it to suit your needs.  Don’t hesitate to tell your direct sales company what works, what doesn’t and the solution you found.  They can use your experience and advice to tweak their program, thus making it more effective for all consultants.

• Use the company marketing supplies. Marketing supplies can be one of the most expensive to create and the most difficult to produce effectively.  It’s best to use your company’s marketing supplies to the maximum of your ability.  Brochures, invitations, flyers, catalogs, scripts, thank you cards, business cards and even direct mail pieces are all things that can be used to help grow your business in an effective and efficient manner.
• Use the provided or recommended technology. Many direct sales companies have embraced the power of technology. Several now offer website hosting, templates, graphics, links, buttons and even shopping cart systems so you have your own business website with very little effort.  Of course each company is different and all websites vary. It makes sense and makes your job much easier if you use the technology resources and aids that your direct sales company provides.

Use Other Recommended Resources

Last but not least, some direct sales companies may offer discounts and resources that will help you save money and build your business. For example, discounts on insurance, office supplies, printing and more can all help you grow and build your business. By making your direct sales company work for you, it puts you that much closer to building the business of your dreams.

Wellness includes the whole body.  A direct sales business that specializes in wellness products most likely sells vitamins and minerals like any health business.  In addition, they’ll have products that belong in the realm of natural healing.  This can be herbs, supplements, flower extracts, and other natural ingredients that alleviate aches and pains with minimal side effects.

Wellness businesses are huge money earners.  You can do the same with your business with just a few useful marketing tips.  Since your competition is steep, finding a niche within your business attracts the type of customer base you’re trying to build.

Ways To Swell Your Wellness Business

1.  Know your customers. While you have a catalog full of products, your circle of influence may be the geriatric set or even the younger generation.  Give them the products that they’re likely to use instead of trying to sell them your entire catalog.

2.  Set up your own website. If your company allows for online selling, they probably give you with a website.  Their website will showcase all of the products for sale. They’ll also provide a storefront so customers don’t have to order from you in person.  But, there’s only so much you can do with such a cookie-cutter website.

For instance, the search engines won’t pick it out of the thousands of other similar websites that are associated with the company.  To bring in website traffic, you’ll need to create one of your own. Have a catchy domain name and you’ll also gain more control over how the site looks.

3.  Add engaging content to the website in the form of a blog. People will need something to see when they visit your website, and most likely they’re looking for something specific.  Since you’re into healing the mind, body, and spirit of a person, short articles talking about these three can be posted on your blog easily. Updating is a snap.

Sometimes it’s your articles that hook visitors and get them to buy, and not just the way the product is displayed.  Helpful, informative content will be search engine optimized (SEO) so it will be ranked by the major search engines.  Always include links back to your business website so your blog visitors can become customers and purchase your products.

4.  Offer your customers discounts. Everyone loves to save money.  Buying direct from you doesn’t change that fact.  With every purchase made, you can include a professional-looking coupon for a certain percentage off of the price of their next purchase.  Your customers are deserving of a few perks now and then, especially if they buy lots of products or bring in a lot of people to view your product. They will appreciate the savings and ultimately come back when they need more.

Wellness is, naturally, based on the premise of helping people to live longer, healthier, more enjoyable lives.  Use your products and then be sure to always give your honest feedback to customers.

Photo by House of Sims

What types of child products are out there?  There are several to choose from. You can sell books, educational video games, clothing, and toys – just to name a few.  Of course, each of these products can be found in other places, so your work is definitely cut for you with product sales.  Don’t despair, it can be done.

A website of your own is a very useful marketing tool if you sell kid’s products. Almost all direct sales companies offer a website for their sales representatives. They’re cut from the same one or two layouts, and feature the associate’s information plus the products that they are selling.  It’s pretty basic and just like all the other websites that all your company reps have.

It’s highly recommended that you consider setting up a separate website. On your own website you can have a blog, start your own newsletter and do SEO to bring in organic traffic. As far as getting customer website traffic to your company site, you’ll need to come up with interesting ways to do this since the search engines will likely not rank you.  One reason is because your group has too many sites in the same group and search engines don’t like that.

Here are a few more great reasons for setting up a website of your own:

• Can be creative with layouts and colors
• Opportunity to offer discounts, coupons or other incentives
• Interactive displays
• Interesting content for parents
• Other media like videos and audio links

Adults like to test products, so it only makes sense that kids like to test them also.  For parents, offer content and detailed information about the products.  If your products offer some new technology for toys or an extra durable fabric composite for their clothing, talk about that in a few short articles that link to the clothing page on your company website.  If you give parents a good reason to choose your products over any other, they will try the products.

Now for kids, giving demos of some of the videos you’re selling or videos similar to yours gets them engaged very quickly.  Kids have the opportunity to play and judge for themselves if they want the game.  Show them an interesting part of the game, this will make them want to see more.  You can also include printable coloring pages for younger kids and puzzles for the slightly older.

On your website, navigation is as important as the incentives you have there.  Don’t make it difficult for people to get from your website to your company website, the one with products for sale and their descriptions.

Offer kids fun and parents solid proof that your products are dependable and worth the money. You can offer free merchandise, drawings, and coupons for referrals. These will help parents and kids decide to at least purchase an item and experience what it’s like.

Photo by JuJups Studio

Teaming up is a great idea. When you each pool your resources, it helps everyone involved. Everyone likes to believe that our ideas are the best and the most cutting edge, but in reality, we all have something to learn.

Teaming Up Is Easy

There is a method to this teaming up thing. It’s a process that takes time to build up. Begin by finding someone with similar interests as you have. Places to look for potential partnerships are:

• Through social networking
• Attending conferences
• Going to networking meetups
• Joining local associations
• Posting on forums

Social networking online is all the rage. It’s the here and the future. You can meet interesting people from around the globe using already established social networks. Create a profile and begin to build a friend list. Ask family members, co-workers and others in your circle of influence to be your friend. The more popular social networks for business are:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• MySpace
• Ning
• YouTube

By utilizing social networking, it’s fairly easy to find other direct sellers stand out in their area or product niche. Since you’re doing the same with your business and products, you each can be an added asset to the other.

Other Options To Look At

Online business forums can also be quite useful. It’s a sort of way to cold call via the Internet. At forums, you can start threads on business partnership opportunities. Just state what you’re looking for, then evaluate the takers. Take a look around the forum. Is there someone interesting posting that you’d like to get to know? You can always private messenger someone you think you’d like to work with.

Direct sales partnerships are begun all the time. In direct sales, the partnership can be either online or in person. When it’s an in-person partnerships, both of you can combine resources and host shows together. When you do one show combined, your guests are getting a two for one fun time. This puts a whole new spin on the concept of a home party. Your invitees may not only be more willing to attend, but they may also be more enthusiastic about spending.  A larger party with twice the products is a pretty exciting event.

Compliment Each Others Business

Most common kinds of partnerships are ones in which you each sell complementary products, but not the exact same products. For instance, if you sell dog grooming supplies, you can team up with another consultant who sells doggie apparel. Your hook can be that after a dog is all freshened up, they can walk proud and tall in a spiffy new outfit. On the other hand, you don’t want the products to be very different. The dissimilarities may be a turn off to potential customers.

Like all good partnerships, be sure that all involved understands the terms of the relationship. Too many great businesses have been ruined because of simple mis-communication. Just iron out the kinks, if any, and have fun together making profit.

Go ahead and partner with other direct sellers. It will help to maximize your knowledge, customer base, and business potential, and will do the same for their business. And who knows? One venture can lead to future ventures and before you know, you could have formed an entirely new network.

Continue reading Team Up For Direct Sales Success, Part 2 here.

Photo by Unbowed

Networking Adds Tremendous Opportunity For You Both

Teaming up with another direct seller allows each of you to be able to expand your market.  This is perhaps the largest potential opportunity.  When you reach out to other direct sales consultants, ideally reps whose products complement or supplement your own, then you’re widening the prospect reach for each of your businesses.  For example if you sell candles and you team up with someone who sells bath and body products, when you combine the two niches, you have a pretty large reach of people to market to – imagine women taking long, luxurious baths by candlelight.

Additionally, by teaming up with consultants from other direct sales companies, you will broaden your knowledge about the direct sales industry. Each person has their own unique approach. Teaming up with a rep who is successful may help you attain your own personal sales goals.  Additionally, if you pool resources like printing, outsourcing and so on, you’ll both create a very effective and efficient business model for your downline to emulate.

More than likely you know a lot of people in your community, and a few of them may even be in the direct sales business. However until you begin to reach out to others, you just never know. Your child’s music teacher or your neighbor from down the block may be the perfect person to team up with.

More Places To Find Consultants To Team Up With

In part one of this article, we talked about a few ways to find consultants to team up with. Here are a few more:

• Post a  notice in your church and/or school bulletin
• Look into local real estate brokers – many distribute newsletters and offer free advertising
• Publish a notice in your home owners association publication
• Network at local craft and trade shows

It’s likely that you’ll connect with a few wonderful people. You can then start to establish the parameters you’d like to work within. Once you’ve created the  relationship with other reps, then follow up. Make sure they know that you’re very passionate and serious about your business, and about teaming up with them in order to elevate each others’ sales.Establish a working relationship that is agreeable to you both. This partnership has to be mutually beneficial, or it just won’t survive long-term.

One of the easiest and quickest ways to begin the relationship is to host a party for them and vice versa.  The also happens to be one of the best ways to begin expanding your prospect and customer reach. All you have to do is reach out, take action and host parties.  Every party you host for each other brings in new customers for both of you.

Continuing The Relationship As A Team

After you host your party for her,  it’s crucial to follow up with a thank you to the attendees, the hostess and the consultant you teamed up with.  It’s also a good idea to follow up with postcards and notes to all of the party attendees. The reason this is vital is because each new person you meet is a potential hostess of a future party and/or a repeat, loyal customer.

Teaming up with other direct sales reps can almost immediately more than double your business, for each of you. Teaming up also adds a little extra excitement and enthusiasm to the direct sales business. It offers your customers a fun experience that is hard to beat.

Read Team Up For Direct Sales Success, Part One here.

Photo by Unbowed