Person to Person Sales Means More Money in Your Pocket

Posted by Chris | Posted on 19-11-2010

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

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Person to Person Sales Means More Money in Your Pocket

In the direct sales business, it is so easy to just have a customer call you with an order, especially if she is a regular client of yours. But sometimes we forget that this is a person to person business that we are running and actually seeing your customer face to face can mean more money in your pocket.

In past articles, I have talked about the difference between an order taker and an order maker. Just taking a customer’s order; thank you very much; and hanging up the phone is really cutting into your potential profits.

Become that order maker. Make an appointment with your customer to stop by and get her order. That is a very personal touch and while you are there, you can recommend different products to try. Show her your traveling basket filled with new items that have arrived recently. Have her sample something new; maybe recommend an add on item that ties in with her original order. Tell her about upcoming specials and new products that may interest her. Talk to her about your business.

You know that it is so much easier to tell someone “No” on the phone than it is in person. When you are recommending a product in person, you have become an advisor. You have gone out of your way to offer a special service and that will stand out to your customer. You have increased your professionalism a few notches. Cementing your relationship with your customer will not only add money and profit into your pocket right now, but in the long run, the results will be clear. That customer will be yours for life.

Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved
Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site DirectSalesTalk. You can also find her at her business site ShopOnYourSeat If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

Holiday Sales Techniques for the Direct Seller

Posted by Chris | Posted on 18-11-2010

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

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Since we right in the middle of the holiday push, I thought it would be a great time to send out some tips on getting your special Holiday products seen and sold!

Holiday Sales Techniques

Capitalizing on holiday sales is an important function in your direct sales business. Holidays are an important time in the year for anyone in Retail, even the big conglomerates. Everywhere we go we are blasted with ads to buy this or that. You cannot live without it, whatever It is. So how can a work at home business get a piece of the pie?

Here are a few things you can do to sell your product this season.

First of all, you need to market yourself correctly. Are you focusing your ads on the correct customer base for your business? This may seen like a simple concept, but the tighter you market your products, the better your ads will work. You will see a higher return on your ads.

Write an effective ad! Focus on a few items instead of the whole book. Use catchy titles. Create the need and be descriptive. What service are you offering? Product, shipping, wrapping?

Look for something to set your business apart from the masses. Find a niche with respect to your holiday line. Does your company have special lines, or scents for the holidays?

Create special groupings and price them accordingly. Do gift baskets and market them to men for their wives. Wish lists work well too for wives to hint to their hubby’s of their desires. Dress up regular items with holiday flair.

Craft shows are an excellent way to make a hit. Open houses are an Awesome way to treat your customers to some time with you and some great items as well. Don’t forget church bazaars or get together with other vendors and do your own show.

Do a special sale by flyer or phone. Check out consignment shops. Carry product with you and some cute wrappings and have gifts on the fly.

Put on your thinking cap! Each of our businesses is unique because we are all unique. Capitalize on that and do something out of the norm. Remember the phrase, expect the unexpected? That’s how you need to look at your business and you will become the unexpected! What an awesome business you will create!

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Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved
Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site DirectSalesTalk. You can also find her at her business site Beauty On A Budget. If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

Direct Sales Business Tasks: Money Making Activity or Time Suckers?

Posted by Chris | Posted on 01-09-2010

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

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There are so many aspects in running a successful direct sales business, it can get overwhelming if you let it. Do you find yourself continually running out of time and not getting anywhere in your business? If so, you are probably spending your time on “time suckers” instead of money making activities.

Well, here’s a little evaluation you can use to ensure you’re spending quality time building your business instead of wasting time on activities that are keeping your business at a standstill.

When working on an activity, ask yourself these questions to determine if it’s a task worthy of your time.

~ Is what you’re doing going to help your business grow and make you money immediately? The most obvious money making activity is holding shows and selling product. Does the activity you’re working on involve booking and holding more shows? Does it involve selling your product? If the answer is yes, then that is a money making activity.

~ Is what you’re doing going to help your business grow and make money in the near future? Planning ahead for future business is always smart and in direct sales this also involves recruiting new people to your team.

You don’t want to waste your time trying to force someone into the business who isn’t interested, doesn’t love the product or have the time to put into the business to make it successful. This is a real time sucker a lot of consultants get stuck in because they are trying to recruit anyone and everyone into the business. Following a few tips when considering having someone join your direct sales team will ensure you are not wasting your precious time.
When your are interviewing potential recruits, there are 3 things you want to be sure of in order for them to succeed.

1) They are truly interested in the business or learning more about it
2) They love the product and excited about it.
3) They are ready and have the time to start a new business.

Is what you’re doing helping you be a better consultant? If you are working on getting more organized or learning to speak better in front of people, those are definitely not time suckers. Bettering yourself will always help you be more successful in all you do. Just be sure you use what you learn and don’t let it go to waste! Knowledge without action is a time sucker! What’s the use of knowing something but never putting that knowledge into action?

Below are some additional time suckers which are easy to get caught up in:
• Talking to the same people over and over about holding a show for you or becoming a recruit when they’ve already told you they’re not interested is a time sucker. Move on into new territory and don’t continue wasting time on them.

• Being unorganized is a huge time sucker that a lot of people have to learn to overcome. When you are unorganized, you waste valuable hours trying to find a sales order, or the phone number of that customer whose call you need to return.

• Being unprepared for your shows or interviews is a time sucker. You may think that preparing for a show or going over questions to ask a potential new recruit is a time sucker, when in fact the opposite is true. When you go into a show without having gone over your check list first and organizing your products and displays, you will waste valuable time trying to arrange your products or displays. Plan ahead how you are going to set your products up for your shows; be sure you have all the items necessary to display your products professionally and in an organized manner. That means packing your displays and products away properly at the last show, so get a system set up that makes this process smooth and easy. It will save you hours of valuable time; hours you can use making money.

Whatever task you are working on make sure that the things you are spending time on are in fact money making activities. Doing this simple little exercise each time will ensure you are spending your time wisely, getting you closer to your business goals.

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Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved
Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site DirectSalesTalk. You can also find her at her business site Beauty On A Budget. If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

Do You Have What It Takes To Succeed In Direct Sales?

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Posted by Chris | Posted on 28-05-2010

Category : Best of Direct Sales Talk, Direct Sales Articles

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You’re so excited. You just had an awesome party for your favorite skin care or home décor products and your consultant knows you’d be perfect at being a consultant too. After all you just had the best show she’s had in 6 months. That must mean you’re cut out to do direct sales, right? Well…maybe.

Before you go diving into joining a direct sales company, there are a few things you need to ask yourself. You’ll then find out if you are ready to make direct sales a way of life and really make a successful career out of it. After all, you wouldn’t want to invest in something that isn’t right for you, right?

Sit down with a pen and paper. Jot each of the following questions down. Then, think about the honest answer for each one. The answers should be true for where you are right now in life and your current situation. I’m not trying to discourage you from starting a career as a direct sales consultant. I’m trying to help you see the areas you may need to work on while building your career and help you avoid a possible costly mistake. Believe me. I’ve made them and I hate to see others do the same when it could be avoided altogether. What should you ask yourself before making the jump into direct sales?

1. Do I have the time, right now in my schedule needed to work and build my business? I know too many times a recruiter will tell you they only work a couple of hours a week and make hundreds of dollars. While their actual shows or parties may only take a couple of hours a week, you must consider the set up time, the bookkeeping time, driving time, organization time, meeting time, etc.

When you account for all of those things that are necessary to make a direct sales business successful, do you, right now, have the time for that? Do you work another job full time or part time? Do you have a family that obviously requires nurturing and caring for? Do you attend church regularly or belong to other organizations that take up some of your time? Okay, that’s more than one question, but you need to consider all of these things when accounting for what free time you have available.

2. Do I absolutely LOVE the products I will be selling? Are you 100% sold out? Do you already tell your friends and family about it and essentially “sell” them on it? One of my biggest pet peeves is to have a consultant who really isn’t sure about the product themselves. Maybe they got in because of the lure of working only a couple of hours a week and making a ton of money doing so. Perhaps they were looking for a way to make more money and their recruiter made it so appealing to them by saying, “This product will sell itself, you don’t even have to try. Once a person tries it or sees it, they will buy it”.

I know I’ve fallen for those words myself. You must truly know your product and love it. I can’t sell something I don’t love. I just don’t feel right about it. It’s like I’m lying. I don’t LOVE every single product I’ve sold for a particular company, but I loved the main product or the products that were right for me (i.e. my skin type), but you must love the products you are using, and you have to use them yourself.

3. Am I driven and motivated? Do you have the desire deep in your heart to really work your business? Are you a goal setter and strive to always reach your goals when you set them? I believe that in order to be successful at anything, you must have a long term goal and short term goals that will help get to your long term goal.

Is the nice car your long term goal? What do you have to do to earn it? Earn x amount of sales or recruit x amount of people? What are you going to do to get your first recruit, your second and so on? How are you going to motivate your down line to success? How many shows do you have to hold a week to reach the ultimate dollar amount in sales to earn the car? Are you ready and motivated to do this? Is it your desire to be able to quit your job and work from home full time in direct sales? Then you’re going to have to work twice as hard. You’ll need to work your full time job and work your direct sales business in the evenings or on weekends until you can afford to leave your current job.

4. Can I speak to a group of people? Do you have the ability to talk in front of a group of people? If you are shy and timid, certainly you can overcome shyness, but if you have trouble standing in front of a group and speaking, how are you going to hold shows, parties and presentations?

You will want to work on overcoming your shyness before diving into a direct sales business. You can practice by holding shows for your close friends and family, which is where you usually start anyway. Each show will get you more and more comfortable speaking in front of others. Another way to help you overcome shyness is by reading books about building your confidence or public speaking.

Once you sit down with and ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly, you will know whether you have what it takes to be a success in direct sales. As you answer them, you may find you are qualified in some areas, but not all. If this is the case, then maybe you do have what it takes to be successful at starting a direct sales business, while working on one or two of the other areas to give your business the kick it really needs to be a success.

Be honest with yourself, determine which characteristics you already possess and determine which ones you need to work on and go from there. And don’t let a recruiter convince you otherwise. Sit down with your hubby or best friend and ask them how they would answer these questions about you. You don’t have to make a decision on the spot and a good recruiter will give you the time you need to really consider these things. A good recruiter will want you to succeed because it will help them be more successful as well.

Where are Your Habits Leading You?

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Posted by Chris | Posted on 19-05-2010

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

Tags: , , ,

I have a guest Blogger today. Bill Bell is one of my upline and he wrote such a great article I had to share it with you all! Thanks for the inspiration, Bill!

Where are Your Habits Leading You?

Copywrite 2010 ~ By Bill Bell

You are an accumulation of your habits. From how you get out of bed to how you shower; how you dress; how you walk, sit and talk; how you respond to the world; how you act in front of others; and how you think, you are living out your habits. Habits are necessary. They free up your mind so that you can concentrate on how to survive every day. You don’t have to think about how to drive your car so you can be on the lookout for danger while you are driving. You don’t have to think about how to walk so you can concentrate on where you are going.

Unfortunately, habits can also keep you locked in self-destructive patterns, which will limit your success. To become successful, you will need to drop bad habits and develop new ones that are in line with the life you want to live. People do not suddenly appear in the life they want to live—habits determine their outcome! What are the habits you have that are keeping you from achieving your goals? Are you always running late? Do you return phone calls within 24 hours? Do you get enough sleep? Do you speak clearly and look people directly in their eyes? Do you eat healthy meals? Ask others what they observe about you and make a list of all the behaviors that keep you from success.

Imagine what your life would be like if all those habits were their productive counterparts. What would your life be like if you ate healthy meals, exercised and got enough sleep? What would your life be like if you saved money, stopped using credit cards and paid cash for everything? What would your life be like if you stopped procrastinating, overcame your fears and began networking with people in your field? Write down the more productive habits and visualize your life as it would be if they were your habits right now.

Decide to develop four of your new habits each year, one for each quarter. Create a method that will support your new habit. What will keep you motivated? How will you remind yourself of your new habit? You could write it down on a card that you keep with you and read over several times a day. You could make it a part of your daily visualization. You could enlist the help of an accountability partner who also has habits to change. Be specific about the steps that you are willing to take in order to drop an old habit and adopt a new one. Do not be vague about how you will change your habits. Spell it out for yourself so that you can recognize situations that call for you to act out your new habit.

Once you have picked your habit for that quarter, make a 100 percent commitment to stick to it. Do not tempt yourself by making it optional every time a situation arises. If your new habit is to go to bed by 10 p.m., then go to bed at 10 p.m., even if you are not feeling tired. Just go there and relax, read a book, visualize or meditate, but don’t compromise on your new habit. If you make an exception once, you are more likely to make an exception the next time, and soon you will be back to your old habits.

Even four new habits a year will dramatically shift your life to be more in line with your vision. And the more in line it becomes, the easier the other habits are to replace because your perspective is shifting and you see more clearly how your old habits are not serving you anymore. You can do it!

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