Do Games and Giveaways Build Your Direct Sales Business?

Posted by Chris | Posted on 12-03-2012

Category : Direct Sales Articles, Direct Sales Tips, Home Party Plan Tips

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Sometimes I really have to wonder when I look at my expense line if games and giveaways are bringing an increase to my direct sales business. Well, the answer to this question can be yes or no. So lets take a look at how games and giveaways can benefit your business or how they can hurt your business.

The types of games we’re talking about here are the ones you play at your shows. For example, some consultants play games or offer giveaways at their shows for the person who drove the farthest, brought the most friends, is the oldest, youngest, married the longest, has the most kids, etc.

While those games are fun, do they really benefit your business? Do they increase sales or entice people to host a show or even more importantly, do they really encourage potential new recruits to join the business? Maybe – Maybe not.

Getting to the right answer is going to depend on your company; what product you’re selling and how you go about the games. For instance, if you sell skin care products, then giving product away to the person who is the oldest or someone who loves cosmetics may be a great way to gain a new customer. Choose gifts that are appropriate and something they will actually use; new colors for the season, Skin Care Products, cleansers, etc. are all great items.

Look for items that are different than what everyone else gets. If you do multiple parties a week, always try and have something a bit different at each. Some people like the idea of getting something that is rare and unique; something that everyone else doesn’t have. The idea is to think through what you’re giving away. Don’t give away something just to get rid of it!

Also, if you choose to give away a gift to the person who brings the most friends, make sure your hostess informs their friends of this before hand and it is on the invitations too. This is a great way to get more people to a show. Also, make the gift worthwhile. You want the guest to really want it so they will truly work for it.

Some companies encourage their consultants to give gifts to people as an enticement to get them to listen to the business opportunity. While this can be a good idea, it can also be a bad idea. Again, think through who you are trying to recruit. You are looking to recruit people who really love the product; those who are interested in making more money or those who are looking to start a new career and who are motivated and excited. In other words, don’t give your business away in gifts to just anyone who is simply looking for free product only.

Be choosy about who you’re giving your product to and what you’re giving away. Games and giveaways can help your business when they are well thought out, targeted to a specific audience and used appropriately. Keep in mind; freebies can hurt your business if you’re just giving away for the sake of having something to give.

Use Article Marketing for Solid Business Growth

Posted by Chris | Posted on 29-06-2011

Category : Article Marketing, Direct Sales Articles, Ghostwriting for Blogs

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Copyright Chris Carroll and DirectSalesTalk. If you see this on any other site without my byline, please let me know.

When it comes to learning how to market yourself on the internet, things seem to come and go. First it was link farms, then it was forums. Article writing as a marketing method has been a round a long time and it is one that never seems to go away. In fact article marketing is one of the strongest methods of promoting yourself and your business on the internet.

The fact that it is a simple method of self advertising is one thing. But is also draws those that are interested in your articles to your website and introduces them to you and your business. The more you write and place articles out for distribution on article directories, the more exposure you are potentially going to get.

When someone picks up your article from a directory, uses of your article can be for print in newsletters, publications, on other websites and blogs as content and more. All of those articles contain your link to you and your business. This allows more exposure where you would not have been seen before.

Using article marketing in your direct sales and work at home business is a great tool for you too. People want to know how to use the product you sell. They want to learn more about the things that you know. Start slowly and develop your craft. You may find that you enjoy it and I know you will enjoy more dedicated traffic to your website or blog.

Copyright Chris Carroll 2011

4 Things to Think About Before Joining a Direct Sales Business

Posted by Chris | Posted on 10-05-2011

Category : Direct Sales Articles, Direct Sales Work at Home Business Tips, Home Party Plan Tips

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With the economy such as it is, many families are looking to home based direct sales business to supplement or replace an income. If you are looking for a direct sales or home based business, there are a few important things you need to consider before choosing a company to work with. You want to make the right choice the first time, so take is slow and so some research.

Although it may seem like working at home is a dream come true, it is actually quite difficult for some. Blending in family, household and work can be a challenge. Here are some tips for you to decide if this is right for you.

1. Depending on your product line, you may have evening parties. Are you and your family flexible enough to handle this? You can double book and hold several on weekend days, but many weekday eves are party nights.

2. You will have to allow time for trainings and meetings with your manger and her team. This is especially important when you are first starting your business. You need a much support as you can get! Can you manage to include this in your schedule?

3. Part of your profits will be spent on supplies, so while you may be thinking you are making 40 or 50% in reality you will be making less. You need to manage your expenses and keep them low in order to make a good profit.

4. You are the CEO of your new business that will entail a lot of work on your part. This will include finding customers, hosting parties, selling product and advertising your business. If your business is local, it may also include deliveries and many more tasks. Make sure you have time enough to handle all of the work so you will soon get overwhelmed.

Does this sound like something you would enjoy and have time for? Study this list well and think of other things that will be involved once you decide on a business. Your manager can help you. Yes, a direct sales business is fun, but it is also something that you have to manage and incorporate into your family as well.

4 Great Ways to Promote Your Business Online Easily

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Posted by Chris | Posted on 12-04-2011

Category : Article Marketing, Direct Sales Articles, Direct Sales Work at Home Business Tips, Ghostwriting for Blogs

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When starting a successful home based business in direct sales you cannot only rely on people that you know to advertise your business to. Many home based businesses turn to the web to promote their business. There are many things you can do that can help your promote and bring traffic to your business. But, you will have to work hard and have a lot of patience for these methods to pay off. But here are 4 methods that you can start easily and for little to no money outlay.

1. Blogging: This is a must these days. And it is easy to do. You will want to set up a free blog on blogger.com, wordpress.com or notepad.com. It is important to post informative content on your blog on a regularly basis but make sure it is content rich and not just spam about your company and products.

2. Link Exchange: Find like website or blogs to your own and exchange text links. You do have to be a bit choosy as it has to be somewhat related to your site as search engines can tell link farms from good quality sites.

3. Social Media: This is a huge plus. Social media networking sites like Facebook.com, Twitter.com and LinkedIn.com are important to your business. You will want to set up your profile page and then find groups of people to follow that have similar interests to your own. Spend some quality time with your social networking efforts for them to pay off for you and your business.

4. Article Marketing: If you enjoy writing, try writing a few articles related to your business niche and submitting those articles on your blog. There are article directory sites like Wahm-Articles.com and EzineArticles.com that you could also submit articles to as well. The benefit of this is the links from your resource box back to your site. Other blog or web site owners may use your article and then include your writers link giving your traffic back.

As you can see, there are many things you can do online to promote your work at home direct sales business that are easy to use and the only cost is your time and effort. Use them today to start your online marketing and promotion.

The Importance of Branding in a Direct Sales Business

Posted by Chris | Posted on 02-04-2011

Category : Direct Sales Articles, Direct Sales Work at Home Business Tips, Home Party Plan Tips

Tags: ,

Joining a direct sales company is a fabulous way to start a business for a small amount of cash outlay. One problem that needs to be addressed when you start your business is that there may be a lot of other representatives in your area or online where you hang out that is selling the same type of item. Your challenge is to become known for your product and who you are. We call it branding.

I know that if I ask you what the logo for Coca-Cola or Pepsi is, you could tell me pretty quickly what it looks like. This is their brand. It is also very important for a direct seller to be branded as well. Since the company that you are working with has the rights of the brand for the company its self, we as independent consultants need to come up with a brand that we can market to others. Now that really is not as hard as it sounds, so don’t panic!

One of the best brands that we can market is ourselves. You are an individual and own your own direct sales business that sells your particular product line. You want to be effective in getting your message across that you are an individual business, not just a consultant. One of the best ways to do that is to market you. How can we do that? Well one of the first ways is to purchase a URL that represents you. If your name is available, then by all means get that. You will be able to use it the rest of your life. If you want to create a special URL for your business, you can do that as well. Make it something that you can brand for example, Kelly’s Kandles, BeautySpot or something like that. Try and make it memorable as you will use that in your marketing.

So now you have your URL, start marketing yourself as your URL name. If your company has representative websites, redirect your site to the new URL. Your main goal and purpose is to set you apart from the rest of the consultants out there. You become the brand and people will remember you. So instead of being yet another representative out of thousands, you have become the individual business owner. Now that is branding and a smart way to market your business.

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