Direct Sales Is Changing -- Why You Should Get Involved

Direct Sales used to mean trying to talk your friends and relatives into joining the business. There were all kinds of tricks and strategies you were supposed to use to get prospects to come to your home for a meeting, spend time with you on the phone, or read your faxes and mailed sales letters.

Pretty soon a lot of the people you knew would start avoiding you. They weren't interested in the business and didn't like being pressured to join.

Not only that, but you had to purchase all the marketing materials from the Direct Sales company. The cost of brochures, mailers, slick sales letters, envelopes, stamps, and endless long distance phone calls really added up.

And remember the piles of product you had to store in your garage? How many people reading this still have an unused box of supplements that's been sitting in the basement for years?

If that's your view of Direct Sales, you should take a fresh look. The industry is changing very rapidly and for the better. Gone are the days of having to lick stamps and spending your evenings on the phone or holding home meetings.

These days highly sophisticated online marketing systems pull in thousands of warm leads almost automatically. Search engine advertising is used to send very large numbers of targeted prospects to professionally designed web sites. These sites fire up the prospects and send the most promising and enthusiastic to a top-notch sales team. The team talks with each prospect, separating the genuine leaders from those who are merely looking. Then only the best new customers are sent to you ready to buy.

Sound easy? You bet it is. Your web site can be completely automated right along with your hands-off marketing system. I know people, including myself, who spend as little as 7 minutes a week attending to their Direct Sales business. All we do is check our stats to see how much money we're making, the rest -- from advertising, to selling, to product delivery -- is ALL done AUTOMATICALLY.

But I haven't mentioned the most exciting aspect of today's Direct Sales. Commissions are now MUCH higher than they were with $20 bottles of potions and lotions. Today, when I make a single sale, I receive $1,100 to $3,000 per order!

The key to these huge commissions is the superb automatic marketing and selling system. When you've got this kind of high powered selling capability, there is no point in wasting it on low-cost pills. Instead, Direct Sales is very easily selling expensive products and services that earn a much larger commission.

I learned a long time ago that the key to making big money in business is to find a way to increase your prices. The guy who makes a lot of $1,000 sales is going to be earning a much better income than the guy who is making the same number of $20 sales.

Today's high-powered marketing and high-value products make Direct Sales the best and easiest way to earn a very good part-time or full-time income from home. Do yourself a big favor and get involved!

Balance In Direct Sales: Take Time To Watch The Horses

As my direct sales business has grown over the past couple of years, I've had seasons where my life has been completely out of balance... it's then when I have to pull back and reflect and get some perspective on life... including my home business.

A while ago, my daughters and I were out running errands... the usual mega-store run for everything you've ever needed or not in bulk, off to deliver an order to a friend and then back home again. We live in a small town and anytime we want to go ANYWHERE outside of our lovely town we have to drive through a beautiful community of horse farms and grand estates.

One horse farm along our usual route is magnificent...rolling hills, lush green grass, beautiful white fence. Each spring the mares and babies are out on the pasture by the road where we drive. I have to be careful when we pass by because we're all ooooing and aaaahing - people in the cars behind me get mad because I slow down, people in front of me better not slow down because I'm not watching the road and I might rear end them... something about a colt running along side it's mamma... breathtaking.

What does this have to do with doing a direct sales business? Not much really... except to say that there IS more to life than the business And sometimes you need to stop and watch the horses. It's amazing - I can be driving along that country road and have my mind completely focused on what I need to do for my business... where I need to be, what I need to get, who I need to call... so much so sometimes that I don't even hear the kids asking me a question as I'm driving. But when I get to the farm and I hear the kids say, "Oh oh oh.. mom look there's a baby running"... immediately all the brain rush shuts off and I gaze and admire and remember there are other things to think about.

I am passionate about direct sales. But the reason I'm passionate is because of what I believe it can DO for the women (and men too) that are in the field. Unfortunately I hear of too many women (sorry guys, that's the majority in our field) who spend too much time NOT taking time to watch the horses... those moments of quiet rest, to reflect on life rather than business.

I guess it's all about balance. This is nothing new to you I know. So find your horse farm... and enjoy the moment... but remember to keep part of an eye on the car in front of you just in case!

Friends, Family and Neighbors

Copyright 2006 Shannon Lavenia Friends, family and neighbors - the do-gooders who are always willing to give you advice about your life. Ever wonder why, when you are about to take a leap of faith into something awesome, your friends, family and neighbors are all too eager to warn you of the pitfalls. I call it the "Get By Rule". What's this you ask? Well, if you asked your friend for $1500.00 to pay the bills and feed your kids b/c you were down and out, your friend, brother, sister, neighbor would most likely say "Sure Thing - Always Here to Help a Friend in Need." They are happy to help you GET BY. After all, being charitable makes people feel good. So does knowing they are in a better position than you - it's a sense of accomplisment. Now, ask the same person for $1500.00 to start a new business and they'll spend time telling you about how many people fail at "those things", about the times that they failed, that only a few people succeed in business, etc. etc. They'll ramble on giving you tails of unsubstantiated BS to deter you. And, they won't lend you the money. Why? Because although they are willing to help you Get By they aren't willing to have you PASS THEM BY. It's as simple as that. This became so clear to me after listening to Caroline Myss' audio program Invisible Acts of Power. What invariably sets the people who succeed apart from those who never take a chance is the decision to move foward towards their goals regardless of what other people think. My personal success has evolved by choosing carefully who I am willing to take advice from. When someone wants to offer me advice, direction or guidance, I simply look at the results the person is getting in that area of their life and decide whether or not I'm going to choose to listen to them. For example: If someone wants to give me financial or business advice, I look at the level of success that person has had in business or financially, and then I'll choose whether or not to take on their advice/direction. I personally wouldn't take advice from someone making less than $100K a month. I wouldn't have someone with no experience in real estate tell me how to invest in it. If you are about to venture into a business, decide what you want and go for it. Don't allow your friends, family and neighbors to prevent you from passing them by. Many people simply fail in MLM because the company they are with tells them to go out to their friends, family and neighbors - the black cloud of success. Doing so, for the person who chooses to NOT be deflated, can be very profitable. It can also be the kiss of death if that is your only way of marketing. When selecting a company to work with, choose a company with a well formulated system and marketing plan. One that teachers you how to advertise in a wide variety of media to get your phone ringing with people eager to speak with you. And if you need to borrow the money to start your business, use the money you'd pay your bills with and ask your friend for money to pay your bills!

5 Fun Party Games For Direct Sales That Will Boost Your Business

If you are in direct sales, the money is all in the parties you do. You want your hostess and her guests to have as much fun as possible, but at the same time, you need to educate them on and interest them in your products. You may also want to plant the idea of one of them becoming a consultant. Party games can accomplish all of this while providing entertainment to the guests. Here are a few of our favorite games. Give them a try and watch your business grow.

1) Bingo

This is an easy all-time favorite and an easy way to introduce a wide variety of products to the group.

Create some bingo cards by drawing a 4 by 4 box grid on a piece of paper. Write “Free” on the center box. Then write the names of your products on the remaining boxes in random order on each of the bingo cards and make yourself a set of cards with just one of the products on each card. You will use this set of cards to draw the bingo “numbers”. You may want to have a sample of each of the products with you and show it and talk about it when the product is drawn during the bingo game. As in ordinary bingo, the first person who has a row of items checked off wins a prize.

2) Get To Know Each Other Game

This game makes for a nice icebreaker, especially if most of the guests don’t know each other. It can also provide you some clues about who may be a potential prospect.

Pass around a bag of M&Ms. Tell everyone to take as many as they would like. Quickly ask them to count the number of candies in their hand. Each person then takes a turn standing up and telling as many things about themselves and their family as they have M&M’s. Of course no one is allowed to eat their M&Ms until they have had their turn.

3) How Well Do You Know Your Hostess?

Give a piece of paper to each of your guests and have them number it from 1 to 10. Then ask them to answer the following questions.

1) What is your hostess’s favorite color?
2) If she could have any vehicle, what would it be?
3) How many kids does she have?
4) What is her favorite hobby?
5) Who is her favorite actor?
6) What is her favorite animal?
7) What is her favorite TV show?
8) What is her favorite food?
9) What is her favorite scent or smell?
10) If you were in need of something, would your hostess give it to you if she can?

After everyone writes down their answers (including the hostess), read the questions again and have the hostess tell everyone her answers. The other guests mark on their papers if they got it right or wrong. The person with the most write answers wins a small prize or discount on their purchase.

You can change and rearrange any of the questions, but leave the last one in place. It provides a nice lead- in to mention that the hostess will get free product if they purchase a certain amount, and/or book their own parties.

4) Left Right Game

This game is a great way to start a party, right before you go into your presentation. Pass out one or two small gifts. Tell your guests that you will read them a story and that they should pass the gift to the person to the right when they hear the word “right” and to the left when you mention “left. The person holding the gift at the end of the story gets to keep it.

Here is the story:

I left my house and was on my way to (insert hostess’s name) house. But I soon discovered that I had left my directions at home, right by the phone! Well, I knew right away that I needed to have the right directions to (insert hostess’s name) house, so I turned left and I turned left and I turned right and made my way back to my house for the right directions. Sure enough, there they were, right where I had left them, right next to the phone.

Finally, I was on the right track. I arrived right on time and set up my (insert your company name) presentation right over here. You all arrived and sat down. I’m going to get right down to work and tell you about (name of company). I hope nothing will be left out. In a moment I’ll show you our new line of (insert your type of products) products. If you left home with the intention of shopping for gifts tonight, you’ll find we have the right gift for everyone. Think about upcoming birthdays and holidays, we don’t want anyone left out. I’d be happy to help you find the right gift for that special someone.

(Insert name of company) has a (insert number of days) –day return policy. When your merchandise comes in please check it right away. If something is not right please call me right away and you can be sure I will take care of it right away. You don’t want to be left with something you are not 100% satisfied with, right? If you’d like to be a hostess and earn free and discounted merchandise, this is the right time for you to explore hosting a party.

I’m enjoying being here with all of you tonight and I hope you are having fun, too. I know you can’t wait to see if we have that special item you have been looking for, so without further delay I will get right to the point of this party, which is showing you our great products! So, there is really nothing left for me to do except congratulate the winner, right?

5) Ask Me About My Job

This game is a great way to get your guests thinking about joining your company.
Get or make up some tickets.

Tell your guests that for the next 3 minutes you are going to play “ Ask Me About My Job”. The first person to come up with a question will get 3 tickets, the second person will get 2 and every question after that earns one ticket.

You will hear questions like “How long have you been doing this?” and “How many hours a week do you work?” Answer them as positively as possible. Good answers to the questions above would be “I’ve been doing this for 12 months and I’ve never had so much fun” and “ I only work evenings and weekends because I want to be home with my kids”.

After the three minutes are up, tell you guests to hang on to their tickets. You will have another short Q&A session towards the end of the party (your guests will have thought of some additional questions by then). After that have a drawing for a small prize.

This game is a great opportunity for you to teach your guests about your business and they may see how could benefit them.

Give a few of these games a try and put your own spin on them. All of these can easily be adapted and modified to work for you and the particular direct sales company that you represent. Go out there and have fun!