Archive for the ‘Recruiting’ Category
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 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 15, 2009
1. It gets complicated when you have two team members with the same first name and you have to constantly sub-label them as Mary from Iowa or Mary from Florida.
2. Having a team member in another time zone gets very confusing when you are trying to figure out acceptable hours to call.
3. You will have team members who are under witness protection. In other words, they will sign up and then you will never hear from them again. You can phone, write or email until you are blue in the face, but for whatever reason they will refuse to engage with you.
4. Some of them will never read the manual or watch a training video. You will be the only conduit of information they ever use.
5. When it stops coming easily, the majority of them will quit. Unfortunately, perseverance is a rarely-exhibited character trait among direct sellers.
6. Another frequently absent virtue is personal responsibility. It will always be the customer/hostess/economy’s fault, not theirs. Suggest they do something differently and you’ll be met with a barrage of excuses.
7. I promise, you are thinking/worrying about them way more than they are thinking/worrying about you!
8. Occasionally one of them will really surprise you by taking one of your suggestions and running with it, and going above and beyond your expectations for her business. You will beam with pride like a mother hen watching her chicks learn to walk.
9. We all have our quirks. You’ll quickly learn which one goes to bed at 8pm; which one responds to your emails within 30 seconds of hitting send; which one enjoys teasing you by putting in a minimal order on the last day of the quarter to maintain her active status, just when you’ve written her off for good.
10. At least one or two of your team members will become your lifelong friends. Cherish them!
Tags:direct sales, Recruiting, Team
Posted in Recruiting, Team | Leave a Comment »
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 20, 2009
I’m been working with quite a few potentials lately. It was recently announced that the Body Shop At Home will be closing its doors on April 30th. So all their consultants are looking around at other direct sales options, and a few of them have come my way. Working with leads always throws up a few good anecdotes. So far I have:
* the person who listed her phone number as 999-999-9999. I’m just guessing, but I think she might want me to mail her all the information…
* the lady who is planning to simultaneously sign up with 4 different companies to cover all the perceived demographic bases in her small town
* the person whose name is only one letter removed from that of another existing consultant with my company, resulting in lots of confusion
* the woman who has a very ordinary name but shares a phone with somebody with an unpronounceable foreign-language name, throwing me off every time I see the caller ID
* the person with a distinctly male name, who turns out to be a woman
* the new recruit who signed up before she ever saw a catalog or even talked to me on the phone
It remains to be seen how many of these people turn out to be long-term team members. It would be nice if their entertainment value was exceeded by their productive contributions to my team!
Tags:direct sales, Recruiting
Posted in Recruiting | 1 Comment »
January 8, 2009
Diane Darling wrote a great blog entry today about hybrid networking. What really jumped out at me was this line:
“And do not forget the invention from Alexander Graham Bell. In many cases, picking up the phone and having a conversation will cut through many layers of clutter and expedite your efforts.”
This spoke to me, because (as I’ve alluded to previously) I’m beginning to think I suffer from a clinical case of phone phobia. On many occasions I will do ANYTHING to avoid picking up the phone and calling a lead, customer or potential hostess. It is my least favorite requirement of having my own business. I’m fine face-to-face, love email, enjoy blogging and I’m a confident public speaker. But I would rather scrub my toilet or go for a Brazilian wax than pick up the phone and follow up with a lead or ask for a booking. Many times, I have “call A and B” on my to-do list for days at a time, looming depressingly over me as I endlessly put off the task from one day to the next.
Why is this?
a) A few bad experiences
b) A fear of interrupting someone
c) Finding it much harder to explain myself over the phone than in writing
d) I hate putting someone on the spot to give me an answer immediately
e) I can never figure out how often I should leave a message, or how many times I should call someone before giving up
I welcome any and all suggestions for overcoming my phone phobia!
Tags:direct sales, phobia, phone
Posted in Customers, Hostesses, Recruiting, phone | 2 Comments »
April 28, 2008
Right now I have three potential recruits for my team.
One doesn’t have the money for the startup kit.
One doesn’t have an email address or a working computer.
One doesn’t want to do any home parties.
Houston, we have a problem (or three).
Tags:direct sales, Recruiting
Posted in Recruiting | Leave a Comment »
