Your Guidebook to Success in Direct Sales
New or old in the world of Direct Sales, you certainly need a thorough amount of guidelines, tips, tricks and cheats to master this trade, keep you motivated and help you upgrade. Your journey as a Direct Sales Representative is full of learning, growing and of course enjoying. Here, we have collected a series of tips and tricks that will help you be the boss of this business, recruit more and earn more!
1. Be Genuine and Ethical
One reason that direct selling gets a bad impression is that many representatives use hype and sometimes deception to lure in new recruits. If you love your product, your enthusiasm is enough to promote it. Just make sure you're not over-the-top or making exaggerated or false claims. Good business conduct will ensure that your customers and recruits don't feel duped, and as a result, will stick with you.
2. Don’t Barrage Your Friends and Family
Nothing will annoy your family and cost you friends more than constantly pestering them about your business. There's nothing wrong with letting them know what you're doing and seeing if they have an interest, but if the answer is "no," let it go.
3. Identify Your Target Market
One of the biggest mistakes that you could make is looking at everyone as a potential customer or recruit. Like any other business, you're going to have greater success and efficiency if you identify your target market and focus your marketing efforts at them. Someone who doesn't care about cookware isn't a good person to pester about your business.
4. Make an Effort to Share Your Product//Business Plan Everyday
Spreading the word out about your product or service can benefit your target market and it is the key to generating new customers and recruits. Some ideas include sharing a product sample, inviting a neighbour to host a product party, or starting a website or social media account.
5. Sponsor, Don’t Recruit
One of the benefits of Direct Sale module is the ability to bring in new business builders and profit from the sales they make in their business. While some see this as "using" others, the reality is that you're being rewarded for helping others succeed. But for them to succeed, you need to see your role not as racking up as many recruits as possible, but in being a leader and trainer. The focus then is on the success of those you help in the business, not on you. That means you need to take time to train them, answer questions, celebrate their successes, and be a support when things are tough.
6. Set a Goal for Parties or Presentations
Direct Sales is a person-to-person to business. It's the personal touch that sells the products and business, and retains customers and business builders. Based on your compensation plan and goals, determine how many people you need to show your products or business to reach your goals in the time you want. Doing so will ensure you grow your business rather than just sustain it.
7. Learn How to Market
Direct Sales can and should be marketed in a variety of ways that takes into consideration your target market, what it needs, how you can help it, and where it can be found. To that end, you can use a variety of marketing tools including a website, email, and social media to increase product sales and interest in your business.
8. Develop a System for Following Up
While you don't want to pester and annoy people, in many cases, with good follow up, you can make the sale or recruit at a future time. Sales is often about timing, and 'no' in sales doesn't always mean 'never.' If someone tells you no, but there was something in the dialogue that suggested they might be interested in the future, ask if you can put them on your mailing or email list, or if you can call in six months to follow up. Many will give you their email or phone number just because they want to be nice. Even so, use your calendar or contact system to remind you when to call.
9. Study your products and know them well
It's your job to sell these products, so you should dedicate yourself to knowing everything about them. You'll need to plan how you will pitch the product to potential customers, how to answer any questions or doubts they may have, and any relevant research or studies that support your products.
10. Attend company meetings and training calls
These will help you make new contacts and learn new skills. You can leave them better prepared to build your business successfully.
11. Build new leads.
In network marketing, leads are potential customers. You'll need to keep finding new leads if you want to keep making money. There are various ways you can find new leads, and you should use multiple strategies to attract the largest market possible.
- Social media is a cheap, easy way to generate buzz for your product. Start a page for your company on each of the major social media sites and update them all regularly.
- Cold Calling, though old fashioned, is still a popular method of finding potential leads.
- Personal interaction is also useful. Always have business cards on you and be ready to talk about your company. You never know when you may come across someone who is interested in what you have to offer.
12. Leverage Social Media
Social media is huge for building your business. It will allow you to reach far more people than you could speak to in a day offline. Stay connected with your friends, join groups and communities and share your stories online to inspire other people.
13. Accept NO
Objections are something that actually are building tools for your DCS business. But you NEVER argue or play verbal judo with them. Always respect their right to disagree. And always thank them for bring the objection up.
14. Thank, Agree & Show
Objections can be a great tool to build. It is a 3 step process that works. Thank, Agree, and Show. It is that simple. Try it. You will be surprised how it works.
15. Introduce & Explore
“For MLM Success, when you approach someone, be agenda less. Don't have the idea you are going to sell or recruit. Have the idea that you are going to EXPLORE what is best for them."
Make sure that your prospect is feeling the right thing. If you come across like you are a heat seeking missile out to recruit them they will close up. Just approach someone with the idea that this is an Exploration, and you are simply going to explore what is best for your prospect, whether it is product, business, or neither.
16. Learn the difference between Approach & Presentation
An approach is simply "reaching out" and nothing more. It is NOT a presentation about the company, products, or comp plan. Many folks seem to want to "spill the beans" when approaching. Don't. Simply start a conversation and do the presentation if they have an interest at a later time. Yes, if they ask to see one, by all means, go right ahead!
17. Warm up to the conversation
Don't be an Attack Recruiter, and a Bait and Switch artist. Give your prospect some respect, and work your way into a conversation about your business and products. After a little bit of conversation, say "You know, I have run across the most amazing thing...have you ever heard of ABC product?"
18. Right & Positive Energy
What people feel from you will either magnetize them, or repel them. Your energy will either work for you, or against you. It is much like a bell curve. Too little energy promotes apathy. Too much energy promotes hype. Be in the middle, and raise your energy level a little as you go. The prospect will follow your lead step by step.
19. Channelize Your Emotion
Get familiar with this Rule: First People FEEL, then they HEAR! What are they FEELING from you? Hope and Dreams or Doubt and Worry? Get your business in MOTION with the right EMOTION!
20. NEVER GIVE UP
Failure+ Failure= Success
You read that right. Millionaires in this industry all have one thing in common: They were willing Failures at first, to build the Success that lasts. (READ THAT AGAIN!) You MUST be willing to fail, as you build your will to win. It is the setbacks and the devastations that build Success in MLM. be willing to fail, but then get up, and keep going. That is the secret.
21. Perfect Presenting Presentation
What makes a riveting presentation? Get the prospect involved. Ask lot of questions. Let them answer. Let them hold the product if you are there. Let the audience raise their hands. Keep focused on engaging the prospect as you present. And tell a story about what the products have done, and make it emotional. Then ask them if they know anyone that they can relate to that story.
22. Value Building Statements
Here are what we call Value Building Statements that can ROCK a presentation! Ones like, "What this means to you is..." or "What this can do for you is..." or "This means this to you..." or "How your family will benefit is..." or "The value to you and your family is..."
23. Potential to Success
You need to learn this: People do NOT care about your MLM Success, it is ALL ABOUT THEIR Potential Success. Yes, you need a good personal testimonial, but down play it and make your Success a STRONG possibility for your prospect or new leader, and then show them that you will work hard to help them achieve it. It is NOT about You, but all about THEM. If an ego needs stroking, stroke their ego, not yours.
24. From dreams to reality
The most powerful thing you can do to a prospect or downline, is make their dream real. We used to carry brochures of cars, exotic vacations, resorts, boats, million dollar homes, and pictures of enjoying life with us. And we were constantly reminding the prospect or downline what they were working so hard for. We showed the pictures to them. And we also reminded ourselves of what we were working for. Plug them into the HOPE of a bigger car or home, a lifestyle of TOTAL freedom, and let them look at pictures of what it looks like, and feels like.
25. Opening Possibilities
What is the last word in CLOSE? Lose. And that is the way many distributors look at closing. If they don't close the prospect, they have lost. Let's shift paradigms. You don't need to close. You need to OPEN possibilities to the prospect, and OPEN a future that they have only been dreaming about. Open their minds and heart to what CAN BE, not just what is. And after you do that, and If they tell you no, it is not you that is closed, but the prospect is. They are closed to creating their Dreams and building a life of Success. They live a life of permanent hope, not Powerful success.
26. It’s all about one word- YOU
People are looking for someone to recognize and praise their efforts. The word YOU pays attention to that person, and drives value to their life in ways we could never comprehend. Their name is also a Value Drive. Use the word You a lot, and you will become a pied piper.
27. It’s all about two words- I understand
People today want to be understood. They want to feel like they matter. And the greatest 2 words you can say, are "I understand." Agree with them in part, by jumping over to their side of the fence, and seeing it from their perspective. You may not totally agree with their view, but you can understand it, and that will go a long way to connecting you to that prospect. Understand first, then take a stand second, with that in mind.
28. It’s all about three words- Yes you can
There are people out in the world that have never really succeeded at much of anything. They have built a "Doubt Wall" around them, and it is tough to penetrate. But these two words can. "Yes you can" are three words that are music to people's ears. When they realize that someone is telling them they can do it, and will help them, it turns on a Fire that will burn a hole in that Wall of Doubt, and then, they can walk through to freedom.
29. Show More People
Having a bad day? Show more people. Tires flat? Show more people. Not feeling good about your current results? Show more people. Spouse doesn’t believe in you? Show more people. SMP, SMP, SMP, SMP will pull you out of ANY funk, help you with ANY circumstance and is the ONLY way to actually change your results. Keep in mind it is your habits that created your results so change those habits and…SHOW MORE PEOPLE!
30. Clarity is the genesis of fast success
If you want people to join you in building a network marketing dynasty, become an expert in everything network marketing is. The better is your understanding, the clearer will be your explanation.
31. Have fun – stop taking yourself so freakin’ serious
If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.
To be successful in anything that requires leadership, you’ve got to learn to have fun. Otherwise, people won’t want to be around you. Besides, if you’re successful and don’t enjoy what you’re doing, what’s the point?
If you stop taking everything so serious you’ll actually be a more effective network marketer and more effective recruiter. You’ll be less prone tobe offended easily or get defensive.
32. Don’t Fabricate. Don’t Fake
When you enrol somebody with false expectations and convince them it’s going to be easy, it shouldn’t be any surprise when they quit. The reason they quit is because they didn’t sign up for what it really takes to build a successful network marketing business.
It’s hard work. It’s consistency. It’s personal development. It’s growth over time.
If you want a team that’s flourishing, the best thing you can do is tell them the truth.
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