How to Dominate in Direct Sales

Direct selling has come a long way from Avon ladies and the Tupperware parties, especially now that social media is in the mix.

In 1951, the retail world was transformed when Earl Silas Tupper pulled his storage containers off of store shelves and presented them directly to the consumer. With the help of a charismatic single mom, Brownie Wise, Tupper developed the direct-selling strategy that would turn into a phenomenon—The Tupperware Party.

Today, the grandmother of all home party systems is still going strong. In 2011, Tupperware Brands had over 2.7 million sales professionals in almost 100 countries, generating revenues exceeding $2 billion.  From Tupperware to adult novelties to children’s toys, direct sales companies and home parties have been a force to be reckoned with. Sales figures in the U.S. are nearing $30 billion according to the Direct Selling Association. Not only is the industry growing year-over-year, but is outpacing growth by the U.S. economy.
Women (and men) are turning to direct sales to supplement incomes, explore career opportunities and, in many cases, fulfill their desire to be a business owner, help determine their own fate and have a little fun while doing it.

Social Media Boost

Companies like costume jewelry designer Stella & Dot are creating a new breed of consultants, where making a lucrative income is not only plausible, but attainable. Stella & Dot cultivates its stylists helping them to become small-business owners, finding passion in their merchandise and their company.
What was once reserved for at-home parties and catalog sales only is now being bolstered through social networking sites like Facebook, Pinterest and even Twitter. Thanks to social networking, consultants are expanding their networks, hosting online parties, offering online specials, sales and orders.
Stella & Dot is forging the way, bridging traditional home parties, called trunk shows, with social selling.
Tysh Mefferd heads a team at Stella & Dot which was responsible for over $16 million in revenue last year. She credits social media with much of her success and uses Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest on a daily basis to help promote grown and engage with her customer base. “I use social media for building my personal business. I have a fan page and invite my customers to be in the know on style tips, FLASH sales, etc.,” she says.
Stella & Dot stylist Alexandra Gay agrees, and saw her online sales grow dramatically when she became more visible on Facebook.  “Our generation is dialed into social media and people are always looking for a better opportunity, easier and quicker way to shop. You name it and social media can really be a game changer,” she says.
In addition, Mefferd turns to social platforms to help build and stay connected to her team, which has recently grown to over 3,500 members. “We have Facebook groups set up for our various teams and our leadership team. We use it all day long for quick communications, reminders, recognition, etc. It allows for all entrepreneurs to feel connected to a community and a place for brainstorming, sharing best tips and the like.”

No Success Without Passion

For Allison Price, an independent representative with Miessence certified organics, what started off as a mission to find products that were purely organic turned into a career selling products she not only believed in, but felt passionate about. “It takes a few things to be successful. First, you need to be truly passionate about the products you’re selling. Second, you need to be self-motivated. And third, you need to have the spirit of an entrepreneur,” explains Price.
Price says it’s up to the individual rep to decide how much energy they want to expend on growing their business. For some, it’s just an opportunity to make a little extra spending money or enjoy a night out of the house, but for others it can be a lucrative career choice. “People on my team are making anywhere from $400 a month to $125,000 plus a year, depending on the time and effort they have invested in their business,” she says.

Not a Hobby

Toni Van Schoyck, an independent advanced director with Gigi Hill, a company offering fashionable and functional handbags agrees that building a successful direct sales company takes investment and dedication. “Direct sales is about 100 percent accountability and responsibility,” she explained, saying that the business must be cultivated daily. “Get in and stay in. Work your business consistently every day,” she said.
Van Schoyck’s formula has worked for her. Through her dedication and business savvy she has worked herself up, earning a six-figure income after only three years. “You make this what you want it to be,” she says. Although she has been successful thus far, she’s also quick to note that she has much work to do to continue building her business.
As in any business venture, direct selling companies are not all created equal. It’s important to do research on the company prior to investing your money or your time into the corporation. Some companies will offer you direct commissions on your sales while others require you to recruit a sales team before you see any significant earnings. Some companies will also require you sell a certain amount or percentage in order to stay active within their system. “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” explains Mefferd.
Mefferd also recommends speaking with consultants that have been top performers in their respective industry. “My best advice is to learn all you can from those that have experienced success and then go out there and follow the steps or process that is proven to work.”  Mefferd adds that success in any business, and especially in direct selling takes “tenacity, determination, huge belief and working together as a team.”

Angela Stringfellow is a PR and MarComm Consultant and Social Media Strategist offering full-circle marketing solutions to businesses. Angela blogs via Contently.com.

4 Success Secrets to Improve Your Direct Sales Bookings

To tackle how to keep your sales up and your calendar full of direct sales bookings, use this helpful list:

1. Be consistent.

While this statement may seem trite, the truth is that many direct sales women and entrepreneurs need to keep this tenet of sales in the front of both head and heart. With the multitude of obligations that women deal with on a regular basis--full time job, second job, family chauffeur, child care, parent care, house cleaner, home chef, physical fitness, and maintaining our sanity with our own interests and hobbies--a system for juggling competing duties is necessary.

As a professional sales woman and entrepreneur, the importance of keeping the calendar full is key. The more gaps you see in your party bookings, the harder it is to regenerate momentum.

2. Develop the Habit of Making Daily Contacts.

Along with consistency, value a sustained effort to obtain sales appointments and home party bookings. Actions speak louder than words. When you uphold that making daily contacts and connections is vital, and just as immovable (such as you would with a critical doctor's appointment), you will fill your slots for parties. Make sure to convey this professional approach to your customers through your actions and words. They will perceive you as someone who is serious about your business. If you are lax to make daily contacts, you will suffer the stress and financial consequences of inconsistent business. It is a vicious cycle. Strive for 5 contacts a day; and watch your business thrive.

3. Appreciate Your Client's Time.

When you reach out to invite someone to book a party, keep the contact focused, friendly and on point. Pre-plan what you will say and make some notes about why you are contacting them, what is your compelling offer and why someone would want to book a home party or schedule a sales presentation with you now. Make sure that during your conversation you set the stage for business and mention that you will call later to catch up on personal matters. One of the pitfalls that many entrepreneurs and sales women encounter is that they chat too long about topics unrelated to what they initially contacted the prospect to talk about.

While this helps to build rapport, it also undermines your effort, product and profit. Further, it strips professionalism from sales and booking efforts. People appreciate brief and direct. Be warned, however, that this does not mean to be abrupt or cold. Strike a nice balance by referencing something from the last time you met or a memorable moment from a previous conversation.

4. Eliminate Emotion from Rejection.

If you do not track aspects of your business, you will measure your successes by feeling rather than performance. This leads to an emotional sales roller coaster. When sales are up, you feel great. When you get more than a few no responses to asking for a direct sales booking, you feel down. However, if you establish a system for measuring your contacts and results, you will identify a base sales closing ratio. Knowing your closing ratio allows you to track and reference your growth. Additionally, when you incorporate these success tips such as consistency and steady daily booking contacts, your tracked figures will reflect success, and will ultimately shine in comparison to those who book sporadically.

So, avoid emotional direct sales booking discouragement by following your contacts to create your sales closing ratio. By using tools for measuring your success, you can chart your growth and identify areas for improvement.

These success secrets are simple to say, yet take effort to do. Follow these 4 strategies to improve your sales and build your direct sales bookings. Before you know it, you will have turned tips into habits; and your business will flourish.

by Barb Girson
 

No. 1 Success Tip For Women In Business: Do More Than You Know

“What are the top 10 things you learned about thirtysomething women – their tricks and tips that helped them define and find their success?” I answered that question when I delivered a Masterclass at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland last month. This is post #1 in a series that brings the Masterclass to you. 

Kat Cole is a self-made woman. She grew up in Jacksonville, Florida with her mother and two sisters, living on $10 a week for groceries. In high school, Kat worked part-time as a Hooters girl serving beer and chicken wings. At age 19, studying to become an engineer, Kat got her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to Australia to help Hooters expand internationally and she dropped out of college. At age 32, she became President of Cinnabon. And she got her MBA. How did she do it? Her success begins with a powerful belief, “I have an intense belief that I can do anything (sometimes more than I should), always believing I can do ‘more than I know,’ so I take chances,” says Kat.
Kat adds on: “A lot of things have happened over time that I could have worried over or that could have made me feel that I’m not worthy. I see that happening with young women. If that first question or doubt enters your mind, that’s ok, but then you’re responsible for the second thought and any related action. Choose to believe in yourself; that determines your place in the world and affects whether or not others believe in you, too.”

Believe in yourself. That determines your place in the world and affects whether or not others believe in you too. Graphic credit ImageThink

Believing in yourself gives you the power to ask for what you want and deserve. Dr. Christina Greer, a 35-year-old Assistant Professor of Political Science at Fordham University says, “As a woman, especially a woman of color, many people think I am supposed to be apologetic about being smart and pushing for what I want. But I’m unapologetic for things that are important to me. If I don’t stand up for myself and call attention to the things that I need and want, how am I going to get them? It means that I can work within the system to make change, but with an attitude of, ‘we need to start breaking some eggs because this omelet isn’t going to make itself.’ When I see my colleagues in the hallway on my way to teach, I often say, ‘I am off to influence the youth of America.’ In many ways, that is what educators do. We teach new ideas, unteach old/outdated/antiquated concepts and ideas, and we give them confidence to go out there and change the world.” It’s working — here’s what a 21-year-old female student told Christina: “I appreciate you being young, smart, black, fun and unapologetic about it. It tells me that it’s possible and I should be a version of that.”
What would have happened if Kat and Christina allowed that ugly voice to enter their world, the voice that nags, “Are you good enough? Are you smart enough? Can you handle it? Do you deserve it?”

Denise Restauri ,

Contributor

I amplify the emerging voices of girls and women.

How to Find Real Customers for Your Startup

Successful enterprises go through four stages of maturity. Each one makes extraordinary demands of its leader, who must undertake new tasks, acquire new organizational skills and expand his or her leadership abilities.
In this post we’ll focus on stage one, or finding your company’s target audience. This stage truly begins when you commit to turning your idea into a tangible business. For starters, make sure your idea is something you believe in and are genuinely enthusiastic about. Once that’s done, the real work begins. Your primary task in this initial stage is customer validation, i.e. figuring out whether you can turn your idea into a product or service people will pay money for. Start by talking to as many potential customers as you can. Meanwhile, seek advice from a network of donors, employees and advisors.
At this stage, your startup is like a special project. There is no schedule or routine -- instead, you should simply be doing whatever is necessary to make daily progress. This lack of routine and of process drives ‘manager-personality-types’ crazy; where some see creativity, they see chaos. That’s why managers who have been highly successful in big corporations often fail when they try to start a company of their own.

How do you lead an organization that is almost 100 percent sheer effort and 0 percent process? Start by calling a huddle, i.e. an informal meeting with your team, whenever there is a significant development, positive or negative, in capturing that first set of customers. These discussions are a good way to strategize about what comes next and avoid any miscommunications among your team members.
As the product or service comes into clearer focus, make sure you answer the following three strategic questions:

• What is the most efficient way to find real customers? Because you likely have a limited budget, it’s important to be quick and cost effective.
• How can I make a very basic product -- also known as the minimum viable product or MVP -- attractive enough so customers will agree to try it? This requires that you accurately understand the value of your product.
• How can I deliver the MVP to customers?  Answering this question forces you to understand the processes required to make and deliver your product.

Now comes the hard part. Many entrepreneurs are excited about their idea, but find few potential customers share their enthusiasm. Such rejection can hurt. For most people, changing an idea they are passionate can be difficult. Nevertheless, you must be open modifications. It’s the first big test of an entrepreneurial leader.
Related: Deal or No Deal? Here Are 7 Ways Due Diligence Can Help Before a Final Commitment.
It’s not easy. Determining which parts of your original idea are valuable and which aren't is an emotionally draining exercise. You may feel anxious and disoriented because you feel you’ve lost control. You are likely exhausted because you have to consider and evaluate so many possible directions for your fledgling venture. There's a good chance you are burnt out from having to contact as many potential customers as possible in order to test your assumptions about who is buying your product. As your idea evolves, you will need to change your prototype or your service description or your specifications over and over again. This is an enormous amount of work.
Unfortunately, instead of staying tightly focused on customer validation, many entrepreneurs pour enormous amounts of energy into devising a business plan. It’s a mistake: You cannot have a meaningful business plan until you know what your customers want. Virtually all of your time, and your team’s time, should be spent listening to customers and modifying your prototype in response to their feedback.
When speaking with customers, don’t let yourself be deluded by casual compliments. Just because a customer says some nice things about your product doesn’t mean he will buy it. Most people hate to deliver bad news. Only when a potential customer declares something like, “I must have this -- how soon can I buy it now?,” can you be sure you are on the right track.
This initial stage only ends when you can describe, with a high degree of certainty, who will buy your product or service and how you will deliver it to them. Accomplishing this isn’t for the faint of heart -- many smart entrepreneurs fail to answer these questions. The good news is people are eager to accept products or services that will improve their lives and make them happier.
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." That’s the essence of the challenge in stage one of a startup. As an entrepreneur you selfishly want your product or service to change people’s lives. But to do so you must selflessly listen to potential customers and be prepared, even eager, to change your original idea.

Derek Lidow

Contributor

Teaches entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity at Princeton University, author of Startup Leadership

The 5 Essential Hires Needed to Grow a Business

When your business is just getting off the ground, it’s often just you and your partners burning both the midnight oil and the candle at both ends. Once you’re going somewhere, it can be a great learning experience to handle all components of business operations — but eventually, you’re going to need help.
As your startup gets bigger and you start to bring on team members, it’s important to think about not only the kind of person you’re hiring, but also the role they’ll play in your growing business. You may think that with increasing interest in your product or service, you’ll need to hire more and more salespeople, but salespeople don’t grow businesses alone.
You’ll need a support system built on highly specialized expertise that you may only get through hiring outside professionals.

Here are five people with the skills you need to help you grow your business:

1. PR/Marketing

The time comes when you can’t rely on word of mouth alone to market your business. You also can’t depend on the banner ads or email blasts you’ve been doing yourself, on top of everything else you have to do.
You’ll likely need marketing help, especially if you’re a consumer-facing company trying to grow your brand. A marketing professional will not only have the skills to carry out your marketing plan, but they will also have the know-how to develop a marketing strategy that looks at the long term.
Depending on what your business does, it may be helpful to hire a press or public relations professional. Companies looking to increase their standing in their industries or expose themselves to new potential partners and clients will likely want to get their name out to news outlets, trade publications and conferences — all of which are in a PR rep’s rolodex. Finding a marketing professional specific to your industry will increase your exposure immensely, and they’ll be able to find you opportunities in places you never thought to look.

2. Payroll/Human Resources

When it was just one or two of you, handling payroll and any other human resources tasks was likely no big deal. However, as your business grows, so will the responsibility when it comes to background checks, tax forms, payroll and benefits.
Take all of that off your plate, and avoid a mutiny over late paychecks, by hiring someone to do HR or payroll for you. These days, you can outsource human resources and payroll easily — saving you time and worry about employee procedures being done right, like employee onboarding, benefits, taxes and payroll.

3. Maintenance

Sure, you can break out the vacuum cleaner or the disinfecting spray every once in awhile, and you may even be pretty handy with a screwdriver. When it comes to the big aspects of your business, however, you probably shouldn’t be handling maintenance yourself.
Especially for retailers or other businesses with storefronts, maintaining them can be a big job. Hire an outside company to do any big work on the outside of your building. Things like brick cleaning, concrete restoration, and window repair should be left to the professionals.
Related: 5 Ways to Make Your Company's Hiring Process More Fair

4. IT/ Tech Professionals

Being computer literate these days is a necessity, and the majority of startups wouldn’t even exist without a bit of computer knowledge. However, your small business will inevitably reach the point where even a tech savvy entrepreneur can’t solve a tech issue.
That’s when you bring in the IT professionals. When your team starts to grow, it’s important to have someone there to install new computers, set up the team’s emails and manage the centralization of certain information and data. They’ll have the skills to keep your tech up and running — so you don’t have to waste time hitting CTRL + ALT + DEL and crossing your fingers that it works.

5. CPA/Financial Accountant

Sometimes hiring an accountant goes along with hiring a human resources professional, but it doesn’t always. Small businesses and solo entrepreneurs can usually get away with using simplified versions of the accounting process in certain software systems.
Once your business does start to increase in size, though, your billing gets more expansive, and the books aren’t so easy to do yourself. As the owner of your startup or small business, you need to hire an accountant you trust and who will make sure you need to be involved in as little of the day-to-day invoicing and bookkeeping as possible.
Good accountants don’t come cheap, but the time you’ll save yourself, along with their know-how, is worth it.
We all want to be a Jack-of-All-Trades, especially when it comes to a small business or startup that’s close to our hearts. Even the best of us, however, eventually reach the tipping point between ‘Jack-of-All-Trades’ and ‘Master-of-None.’ When we do, it’s time to call in these rock-star specialists to help.