Archive for the ‘Customers’ Category
June 26, 2009
In my direct sales career, there are many small incidents that don’t seem worthy of a blog post all their own, yet I’d like to have a record of them for posterity or amusement. So I hereby present a random assortment of recent happenings:
* I have a repeat customer with a shopping compulsion that she hides from her husband. She refused to give me her credit card number over the phone the other night, because her husband was in the vicinity and would overhear her. I can’t imagine keeping secrets like that from my spouse. I feel a bit guilty that I’m somehow enabling her…
* When I do booths at fairs, I often put out some crackers and dip as a way to entice people to stop and check out my display and engage them in conversation. At a recent fair, a Board of Health inspector came along and told me that was illegal and I had to throw it out. I understood his position and happily complied, but I thought it was strange that I’ve done this at 30+ fairs before without anybody ever commenting on it.
* I was unloading my car in the rain before a recent party. I opened my trunk to grab the next round of products, and a cat leaped out! I would have got a shock if I’d been driving home and had suddenly discovered I had a live stowaway souvenir from my hostess…
* At another recent party, the glass screen door slammed behind me as I had my hands full of products, hard enough to knock some tchotchkes off a shelf in the next room. Everyone came running to see if I was OK. Fortunately the damaged teapot and photo frame didn’t appear to be of great monetary or sentimental value, but I felt awful! I am meant to be leaving the hostess with additional items, not breaking them!
Tags:craft fairs, credit card, customer, direct sales, display, Hostesses, Party summaries, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Party summaries, vendor fairs | Leave a Comment »
June 13, 2009
Recently I was at a fair when a pair of women approached my booth. They began admiring the products I had on display and chatting in an animated fashion. I quickly gathered that one of the ladies had previously hosted two parties with another consultant with my company. However, that consultant left the company a while ago, and since then the customer had not found another source for the products.
She was excited to find me and began filling out an order form; then, after very little persuasion on my part, she changed her mind and decided to host a party with me instead. I love these repeat hostesses, because they know what the deal is and how hosting works. Typically they have a circle of friends who also like the items and keep asking when the next party is going to be!
It got me thinking about what happens when a consultant quits. Usually when that happens, it’s because they feel they have exhausted their pool of leads. It’s rare to find someone who resigns with a calendar full of bookings! However, even with nothing scheduled, they presumably still have a database of past customers and hostesses. Those people liked the product enough to purchase it or be a hostess in the past (they weren’t all just doing the consultant a favor!). When their source decides to leave the business, are they left high and dry?
A couple of local women who were formerly with my company actually came to me and passed over their customer contact lists when they left the business due to changing circumstances. They sent a message to their customers explaining why they were leaving, and introducing me as the person their customers should now contact for products. I thought this was a very responsible decision, and I felt honored to be chosen (especially as I was not the consultant’s direct upline in either case, but just someone they felt would be reliable and provide good service). If you ever quit your direct sales position, I highly encourage you to “Think of the customers!” and do the same.
This is also a prime example of why you should try to stay in your fellow consultants’ good books. It doesn’t cost anything to be helpful and supportive of others in your wider team or company family, and you never know when they might quit and send business your way!
Tags:craft fairs, customer, direct sales, Hostesses, Other consultants, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Other consultants, Referrals | 2 Comments »
June 6, 2009
How many times do you sit down to make calls and you just get people’s voicemails? It can be very frustrating to leave message after message and not connect with a human. It could be customer service calls, or calls to get bookings, or calling leads for your business opportunity. Whatever it is, it can be tough to figure out what to say in that message that is going to make the person want to call you back.
This article by Al Pittampalli entitled “7 tips for leaving great sales voicemails” has some great suggestions. I plan on using it to come up with a script specifically for when I get an answering machine. Then I’m going to hit those phones and see what results I get!
Tags:customer, direct sales, Hostesses, phone, phone calls, Recruiting, voicemail
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Recruiting, phone | Leave a Comment »
May 27, 2009
Here’s an example of going above and beyond the call of duty in the spirit of memorable, unexpected service to your customers….
I was tallying up the orders after a recent party when I overheard two of the guests talking in the kitchen. Debbie was saying that she had purchased two pieces of a coordinating collection from our company a few years ago, and had then booked her own party with another consultant in order to complete her collection with the third item in the set, the most expensive. However, by the time her party date came around, the product in question had been retired! She was heartbroken, because that was the entire reason she had decided to host her own party.
Having overheard all this from the next room, I then eased myself into the conversation and inquired as to the name of the item she coveted. I recalled the name from a catalog a few years ago. I explained that I have a network of other consultants I am in contact with, who share leads, ideas and requests from discontinued products. I asked if she would like me to try and track down the item in question, and she agreed.
I posted the request and within 24 hours, a trusted fellow consultant replied that she had one available. An agreed-upon sum of money changed hands between the customer and the other consultant – I earned nothing from this arrangement, except goodwill. Today we received a thank you email from Debbie:
“I received it today. It looks great. I’m one happy customer. Thank you both so much.”
What lessons can be learned from this experience?
* It pays to keep your ears open.
* Develop connections with others in your company that you can call on for assistance and pool resources with.
* You can completely change a customer’s attitude towards your company with one interaction.
* Word of mouth recommendations and a positive mental association between your name and good service can be worth far more than money.
Tags:customer, direct sales, Other consultants
Posted in Customers, Referrals | Leave a Comment »
May 7, 2009
Have you ever tracked where your parties come from? It can be a worthwhile exercise and can help you refine the best places to concentrate your marketing efforts. I believe it is Karen Phelps’s site where I first read about the idea of tracking your parties to see how long each chain lasts.
For example, I met Annie at a fair I did at the hospital where she works one Spring. At the fair itself I didn’t sell much, and I had to waste a lot of time and energy dealing with a bounced check from a customer – so when I thought about the event afterwards, it left a sour taste in my mouth. But Annie booked a party, and from that original contact I ended up with 9 other parties and thousands of dollars’ worth of sales…all from people I never would have met if I hadn’t booked Annie.
Or there’s the more recent example of Caroline – I set up my display in a restaurant foyer for their “girls’ night out”. Caroline took my card, and called me a few days later to order a small item. Even though the order wasn’t large, I tried to provide extraordinary customer service, going out of my way to deliver the item (and probably canceling out my commission in the process!) However, Caroline was impressed and told several friends. Three of them then contacted me about the business opportunity, and I’m working with them now, and Caroline wants to have a party in her swanky new city apartment, introducing me to a whole new clientele.
So if you’re feeling like you are stuck in a rut or can’t break out of your circle to get any bookings, remember: it might be that next call or one single contact you make at a playground, mall or fair that turns your fortunes around!
Tags:customer, delivery, direct sales, Hostesses, Marketing, Recruiting, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Marketing, Recruiting, Referrals, vendor fairs | 1 Comment »
April 6, 2009
Recently I was at a vendor fair when a woman approached my booth and asked if I would consider selling her my database of customer names so that she could promote her line of children’s clothing. While the monetary offer might have been momentarily tempting, I said no for a multitude of reasons:
- I am a big advocate of permission marketing. Seth Godin may not have invented this concept, but he can certainly be credited with popularizing it. In short, the people who are in my database have given me permission to email them about my products. They did not agree to be contacted by other people or about other things. I believe this would apply equally to commercial as well as non-commercial interests. Not only would I not sell my list, but I wouldn’t use it to ask for charitable donations either.
- Once I sell my list, I lose control over the content my customers receive. This could reflect badly on me if the other business has poor quality products, horribly written advertisements or bad customer service. By default they become associated with me and could negatively affect the goodwill I have taken years to build.
- I put myself in the customer’s shoes. I don’t like it when I receive calls from vacuum cleaner salesmen saying that they’ve received my name and number from friend X (or should that be ex-friend!) So why would I do that to other people on a large scale?
- I have taken the time to cultivate those relationships with customers over many years. Their trust and respect was not gained overnight, but it could certainly be lost overnight with one bad decision from me.
- I’m in this business for the long-term relationships. I’m not in it to make a quick buck by any means, fair or foul, and then disappear into the night. My primary objective is to build a trusted brand so that when people need something I can offer, they will remember me and seek me out. I couldn’t see how allowing this woman to harvest those names was going to do me any favors in the long run.
Here’s my advice when it comes to building a customer database. Ask people if you have their permission to email them every (month/week/quarter) with your latest product news and information – and then do precisely that. Offer them something of value, be it exclusive useful information or a readers-only discount. Allow them to opt out and be gracious about it if they choose to do so. Don’t email them every other day if what they signed up for was a monthly newsletter. Don’t sell their names. Just be consistent in doing what you said you were going to do, and gradually build up your presence and authority in your given market niche. Make it easy for people to recall your name and contact you when they need what you have to offer. Offer incentives for referrals. Over time, I think you’ll find that your efforts are amply rewarded in terms of the business that comes your way, simply as a result of your consistency and credibility in this area.
Tags:customer, direct sales, Marketing, vendor fairs
Posted in Customers, Marketing, Referrals, vendor fairs | 2 Comments »
April 3, 2009
I read the daily tips from The Success Factory and they sent one this week that made me smile. Their suggestion: when someone asks how your business is going, say “UNBELIEVABLE” (it covers all realms, good and bad!)
This got me thinking about how important our attitude is when talking to others about our business. I happen to know another direct sales consultant who always looks on the gloomy side of life. A recent conversation with her included such blanket statements as,
* “I don’t know how much longer I can hold out with no parties in the pipeline.”
* “I’m getting tired of chasing people.”
* “I don’t know how any of these home party companies are staying in business.”
* “I’d give anything to have 2 parties a month at this point.”
Now granted, she was expressing her frustration to someone else in the industry. But her negative attitude certainly isn’t going to attract anyone to want to join her team or host a party for her! In contrast, I already have more new team members in the first 3 months of 2009 than I did in the whole of 2008, and my average party sales are actually UP.
Of course we all need a dose of realism too – the economy is in the toilet right now, and nobody should be pretending otherwise. But how can you take that reality and turn it into a positive for your business? Maybe focus on the ways you bring joy into people’s lives by facilitating a small indulgent purchase like a lipstick or jewelry that can cheer them up? Do you offer products that can improve the look of someone’s home, and can you promote this angle of budget decorating now that people are staying home more? If you’re in the cooking field, why not share how people are less apt to eat out at restaurants but your gadgets or seasonings can make it simple to prepare a gourmet meal at home? Can you market to the medical community or the health conscious, both of which continue to be growth markets?
I’m not going to offer exhaustive suggestions for every direct sales field out there, but you get the idea. Take a bad situation and find a way to turn it around and find the silver lining. There are still people out there who want what you have to offer, and they are much more likely to turn to you for the solution if you present an upbeat, positive attitude.
Tags:attitude, customer, direct sales, Other consultants, Recruiting
Posted in Customers, Marketing, Other consultants, Recruiting, success | 1 Comment »
March 27, 2009
A career in direct sales is not a good fit for those who like predictability and routine. If that’s what you crave, I suggest an office job.
When you walk into a hostess’ home, you never know what will greet you. Will there be giant slobbering dogs, a deaf grandma, or rude children? Will the house be a chaotic mess or look like an uninhabited museum? (In both cases I am often scared to touch anything, but for different reasons!)
When the phone rings, will it be your next hostess calling to cancel her party at 12 hours’ notice, or an enthusiastic lead who wants to join your team? It could be a $300 order out of the blue or a team member calling to complain that “no-one wants to have parties anymore.”
At your next party, will you get 3 dates booked and a new team member, or will the crowd stare at you blankly as if you are speaking in Martian? Will there be 20 guests who won’t stop talking, or 3 guests who don’t say a word?
At the end of the month, will your sales and recruiting be enough to promote to the next level in your company, or will you be scrabbling around for sales or worried about missing out on your leadership bonus?
You just never know! That’s what makes this job interesting. You have to be prepared for everything. You have to expect the worst and hope for the best. It keeps you on your toes.
Let’s just say my toes are getting a good workout this week….
Tags:children, customer, direct sales, Hostesses, Pet peeves, phone, Recruiting
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Pet peeves, Recruiting, phone | 1 Comment »
March 12, 2009
1) What’s more annoying: (a) the customer who says they need to think about their purchase and then an order never materializes OR (b) the customer who orders but then their check is returned to you due to “insufficient funds”?
2) What’s more annoying: (a) the team member who emails and calls you multiple times a day with incessant mundane questions OR (b) the one who disappears off the face of the earth after signing up and won’t return your calls at all?
3) What’s more annoying: (a) having no orders OR (b) having a few orders but not enough to meet your company’s minimum for a party, forcing you to purchase inventory yourself to reach the minimum or risk disappointing your customers?
Tags:check, customer, direct sales
Posted in Customers | 3 Comments »
February 28, 2009
I met a realtor at a recent party. She fit the stereotype – fully made up, designer business suit, immaculately dyed hair and manicured nails, 50-plus but trying to look 10 years younger. I found out the name of the firm where she worked and mentioned that I have an acquaintance who is also a realtor at the same agency. Her expression turned sour and her response was, “Oh yes, Susie Smith- well, she has a real job now.” (The emphasis being hers, not mine). My acquaintance had mentioned that in the current market she wasn’t doing much, but the strength of this lady’s reaction surprised me – she was practically dripping with disdain.
Later on, as I was helping people complete their orders, I asked the same woman if she would be interested in hosting a party herself. She actually rolled her eyes at me and said in the most patronizing tone you can imagine, “No, dear.” It was as if I was 13 and had just asked her if she wanted to see my cool new pink iPod.
I just don’t understand how people like that convince themselves that they are so superior to the rest of the human race. The rest of us mere mortals sometimes have circumstances that force us to get “real jobs” if we need to make ends meet. Some of us attempt to treat everyone equally and not prejudge who might be interested in our products or opportunity. Then people like her come along and act like those they don’t perceive to be on their level might as well be a piece of gum they’ve just scraped off the bottom of their shoe.
She might live to regret her dismissive rudeness once she learns how many people I’m going to advise against using her services. They say the average person who has a bad experience with a company representative tells 9 others. Well, let’s just say I know a lot more people than the average person, and I like to talk. She picked the wrong person to look down on. In this economy, you can’t afford to be less than pleasant to anyone you’re interacting with. You never know where your next referral will come from.
Tags:customer, direct sales, guest, Referrals
Posted in Customers, Referrals | 2 Comments »
