Let me start by saying WELCOME! In Direct Sales we like to say, “you are in business for yourself, but not by yourself”. So…welcome to the community!
Each direct sales company is a little different – different pay structures (and bonuses), different sponsoring and leadership incentives, different selling structures (party plan vs one-on-one selling). But whichever company you sell for, here are five steps to ensure success with your new endeavor:
ONE.
Stay close to whoever sponsored you into your company. If they are not full time consultants, then make sure you get connected to someone in your upline that IS doing it full time. Regardless of whether you want to make millions, or you just want to do this as a hobby, you’ll need good support and training on all things product- & company-related. So make sure you plug into that community first.
TWO.
You want to know the REAL secret to success? Go to all of the training and earn all of the sales/sponsoring rewards that are put in front of you! Most companies will offer a monthly bonus, an annual incentive trip, and other various perks. EARN. THEM. ALL. Not only will you make more money, but you’ll have a lot more fun. 😀
I’ve never met anyone who was successful at earning, without LEARNING.
To earn those rewards, you’ll need to attend every training possible. That includes small unit meetings, regional meetings, and your company’s National Training! It is crucial for you to learn from the other people in your company before you go out purchasing training and coaching from a general sales coach.
THREE.
Hopefully you’ve started with a company where you are in LOVE with the products, because that is absolutely vital to you being able to SELL it! So make sure you try out as much as you can. See it. Touch it. Smell it. Feel it. Taste it (but only if it’s food). And become a Product Expert. You don’t have to know every ingredient or how it’s made. But you should be able to say “This product is amazing! I used it for ______ and it did (this) for me”. People are much more likely to buy a product when their consultant tells them how they personally used it and why it’s perfect for them, too.
FOUR.
Talk about your business! When your mouth is closed, your business is closed! You can open the most beautiful shop in the world, but if you never invite anyone to come inside to see what you’ve displayed on your shelves, you’ll never sell anything!
That means you have to post product photos on social media, tell your friends and coworkers what you’re up to, and create a community online. A lot of consultants will create a VIP group on Facebook to keep their customers plugged in. But that should NOT be the only place you promote your business. You’ll want to constantly add new people to your community, and that means you should always be thinking:
Who ELSE needs my product?
When you’re first starting out, invite your friends and family personally to purchase, host, join your VIP group, etc. And make sure you reach out and tell them what you have and why you thought of them.
FIVE.
General Housekeeping. You’ll want to set up a few things to make life a little easier:
- Business Bank Account – to keep your finances straight. Yes, you can use your regular bank account but it is easier to keep your side hustle money separated from your family account.
- Payment Accounts on Paypal, Venmo or wherever you want customers to pay you (linked back to your business bank account)
- Customer Contact Manager – some companies will offer you one for a monthly fee. If your company doesn’t have one, we’ve got one here at YouCanFollow.Me you can use – it allows you to set reminders when you need to call your customer next, and will let you write notes to keep track of your past conversations.
- Business email – you can use Gmail or Yahoo for a free account, and use YouCanFollow.Me to send out your email broadcasts 🙌
- Get Business Cards printed! They are much cheaper than handing out catalogs and samples! VistaPrint is a great place to start. Don’t forget to add your QR code to the back!
If I’m allowed to add a bonus step, it’s this: Touch your business everyday. Don’t let a day go by where you don’t do something to promote your products or your company. I love the analogy of the parked car. It’s much harder to push a car up a hill when you don’t have momentum. Keep that car rolling by touching it everyday.
All of this is going to take work. No one said it would be easy. But it will be worth it.
Your customers are going to have a lot of questions…
They will need guidance on where to find you on social media, where to buy your products, how to pay you, and so much more. You can make all of this much easier by opening your YouCanFollow.Me account. With YCFM you can have all your links in one place, so you don’t have to memorize 5 different sites. Just one. YouCanFollow.Me/YourName
Click here to see what your page could look like in less than 5 minutes