Direct Sales is a business model for those that work at home or want to supplement their income. One fact that is for sure and is found throughout the industry, is that most people that are in a Direct Sales business are in it for the money, and believe me, there is money to be made in Direct Sales, if it is done correctly.

That is not a profound statement, I know. Anyone in a small business is working it to make money. So why is it that so many Direct Sales business owners struggle to see a profit?

There are a few solid reasons that will kill a business pretty darn quick.
1) Failure to track expenses
2) Failure to track ad placement and where it is working
3) Giving away too much product or worse yet,
4) Giving away discounts or free shipping

The fastest and easiest way to increase and/or keep your profit in any business is to control your expenses. Your expenses are directly correlated to your bottom line. If you normally make 30-40% profit from the sale of an item, but you incur 10-15% in expenses, you have dropped your income substantially.

If you try and increase customer or hostess participation by discounting the price or by giving away free shipping and the like, you are really impacting your bottom line. This money comes right off of your profit and income. You have no way to recoup that money. Use demo items or free goods you earn from your company to encourage participation. These do not impact your bottom line as fast since you can control how much you give to a customer or hostess. And furthermore, these items can be a tax deduction at the end of the year.

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If you are with one of the Direct Sales companies and trying to build a portion of your business online, it is very important to get involved with popular online social media networking sites like Twitter.com. When new business professionals start marketing their businesses on Twitter, they often make a big marketing mistake by tweeting out massive amounts of business spam messages instead of trying to network and get to know their followers.

When people join social media networking sites, they don’t want to be spammed 24/7 with business messages. They do want to learn more about the company or business they are following along with the products you are marketing…but…they also want to engage in meaningful conversation with that company’s consultant who is doing all of that Tweeting. In the case of Direct Sales…that means they want to engage in meaningful conversations with YOU.

When it comes to marketing your business on Twitter, here are a few important tips that you should know.

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Sales presentations can be daunting, and nothing is worse than an audience who is completely losing interest. If you can’t keep your audience motivated during your presentation you lose your chance to deliver a great impression about your company and what you do. In order to keep your audience on their toes, you have to make sure they remain involved in the presentation throughout, and the best way to do this is to ask them questions along the way.

Successful direct sales strategies every time- ask questions, don’t invite them

Many people have offered sales presentations in the past and tried the classic approach to audience interaction- asking members of the audience if they have any questions themselves. However, this type of approach too often results in awkward dead air and takes the confidence out of even the most expertly prepared messages. Turn the tables and ask the audience questions you’ve prepared instead, and you will be surprised to find audience participation and attention increase simply because you are asking for their input.

Direct Sales strategies that work- make your audience feel important

When you offer a sales presentation, your audience wants to know that they hold value in your eyes. After all, they are the ones taking time out of their day to listen to your ‘pitch’, so you need to make sure you prepare questions ahead of time that will require thought on their part for excellent (and useful) feedback. What you’re doing when you ask pertinent questions of your audience is passing on the message that you need their input and value their participation. When people feel needed and important, they are more likely to listen to your presentation eagerly and value what you represent more as well.

Your audience is a very valuable key to your success with a sales presentation. It doesn’t matter how expertly designed your sales presentation is, how detailed and to the point you are, if your audience can’t be bothered by what you are putting in front of them. You have to give your audience reason to pay attention, and asking them questions is a fabulous way to keep them perked up to your message the entire time you present. Not only will you get invaluable feedback your company can benefit from, but you will gain the respect of the people you present to by asking for their input all along.

Your presentation is your best direct sales and marketing strategy so make sure that it is the best it can be and you will surely reach your goals.

Deb Bixler provides direct sales training for consultants on how to increase cash flow at home by putting systems into place that create a consistent cash flow.

Direct sales business depends largely on your ability to get new clients. In my day to day conversation with those who are in the industry, I meet people who have 5 exceptional skills but struggle to make ends meet. The culprit is the inability to find new clients due to fear of rejection. Since fear of rejection is an internal struggle, the best approach to overcome it is also internal.

3 Mindset Tweeks To Overcome Rejections

Ask Yourself: What Is The Worse That Can Happen?

If someone you invited to your home party presentation turns you down, what is the worse that can happen? For one, you lost a client. You might also feel rejected by your potential client, especially if she is a close friend of yours.

But if you really think about it, you’ve got nothing to lose but everything to gain. Instead of feeling blue, give yourself a pat on the back. Be proud of yourself for doing your friend a favor. You invited her to check out a great product or a service. Be proud as well for having the courage to share it with others despite your fear.

Tell Yourself: You Don’t Need To Hit All The Pitches

Even the most successful direct sales marketers get turned down from time to time. It is normal. It is a fact of life. They call it the law of averages.

Not all the seeds that you plant will grow into a full grown tree. Even the best baseball players hit only one out of four balls thrown by the pitcher. The best NBA player makes only 50% of his basketball shots. Here is a great acronym to inspire you: “SWSWSW”. Some will, some won’t, so what….

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Whenever you bring up the word success to a room full of entrepreneurs and business people,you will always get a wide variety of definitions.

While there is no hard and fast way to define home business success, the business world does tend to allow for criteria that result in more substance.

Measuring success in your personal life is much different than the success you will find in business. Your personal feeling of success is no one else’s concern. But the way you define success in your business life affects your employees, suppliers, customers and your family.

Set Goals

Can you define home business success by using numbers? Yes, you absolutely can. A business is created to generate revenue by providing a product or service. As a responsible business owner, you can track your own success by comparing your actual numbers to the ones that you put in the projection part of your business plan. You can gauge success by how often you achieve your goals and by the changes you make when the goals are missed.

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Entrepreneurship isn’t easy for anyone. With so many people involved in similar services or products, differentiating your business from your competition is key to great sales.

Learn some great tips to find out how you can differentiate your business from everyone else’s so you can really stand out from the crowd and boost your sales.

How is your product/service unique in your direct sales business?

This is the first question you should ask yourself, and the best way to find out how your approach stands out among your competition is to visit the competition yourself. You’ll never know how you differ from other businesses that follow your niche unless you check them out. Visit websites, gather business cards, and visit meetings your competitors have and compare their strategy to yours. You may find yourself wanting to start a website, blog, or vamp up your sales pitch so you can beat out the other businesses that are directly competitive with yours.

Is your direct sales business really unique?

It’s all about personality to make your business stand out. If you rely solely on uplines and booklets provided to you to help boost your sales, you are doing your direct sales business a great disservice. Throw your bubbly go-getter personality into the mix to really make your customer service appeal stand out. It doesn’t matter how stand-alone your product is, if you can’t back up your business with stellar customer service, you may find your sales falling flat. Put yourself out there with personal phone call follow-ups, emails, and even personally written letters to make your customers know how much you appreciate them.

Presentation really is everything

Imagine your products all lined up next to a competitor who has the same or similar products as you do.

How can you differentiate your display from theirs? Color schemes, advertising, and even basic placement can make a huge wow factor for you even if you have the same business as someone else. Try visiting a craft or vendor fair and see how similar vendors strive to make their service or product unique, and follow suit.

You want your business to stand out, and the best way to do that is to know what your competition is doing, throw your personality into the mix, and not rely upon the sales tools you already have to create profit.

Even small change makes a huge difference in the world of direct sales. Take advantage of direct sales training to fine tune your business style and presentation to set yourself apart.

Deb Bixler provides direct sales training for consultants on how to increase cash flow at home by putting systems into place that create a consistent cash flow.

There is no doubt about it – we are living through a recession. Unemployment is high and the economy continues to sputter along. Though home party sales remain strong, the industry is not immune to the effects of the recession. However, there are some essential tips for sales consultants who want to stay one step ahead of the struggling economy and keep their home party plan business going strong throughout the year.

The Top Five Strategies for Maintaining a Year Round Business

1. Marketing. Yes, you have to market. You have to market throughout the year. Marketing is the cornerstone of any business, and it is especially vital in the home party business. You are often referred to as a sales consultant or a direct seller – you must sell to stay in business. Sell yourself, your products, and your business. Use the telephone, attend trade fairs, have hostess training meetings, sell bookings at your parties, and make use of networking and referrals. Keep your marketing simple, fresh, unique, and interesting. Once you stop selling, your business will stop making money.

2. Determine Quantitatively What Type of Marketing Works Best. You need to keep records of what type of sales approach was the most effective. Your marketing plan should always be evolving and adapting to a changing environment. If you find something that works, stick with it, but continue to explore other avenues. If you attempt a marketing strategy that falls flat, dispense with it and move on to something new. To determine what works and what doesn’t, you will need numbers. Having a reliable and efficient record keeping system is essential to the financial health of your business.

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There are thousands of games and exercises for a team leader to use in sales team training. Most of these games provide exercises that improve team bonding or problem solving. Team leaders need to make the games fun, dynamic and interesting in order for them to be effective. If the games are boring and dull, sales people may tune out in the middle and not reap the full rewards from the games. No one wants sales team training that is boring and ineffective.

One of the best ways to make your team meetings fun is to play games that work both sides of the brain. The human brain is a paired organ; it consists of two separate halves. These halves, called cerebral hemispheres, control two different types of thinking. It is known that the right hemisphere is connected to left hand movements and the left hemisphere of the brain is connected to right hand movements. The right side of the brain is connected with intuitive, creative and holistic thinking, while the left brain is more analytical, rational and logical. Our world is often packed full with left brain activities such as writing, typing and paperwork. Since the majority of the population is right-handed, much of the business world is stuck doing left-brain work with right-hand movements. This means that many of us have a lopsided brain. As an enlightened team leader, you can help balance the brains of your team members.

One of the best ways to get your sales team to start using their right brain is to get them to use their non-dominant hand for simple tasks. Have them write, comb their hair, throw a soft object or catch something with their other hand. Games can be created for non-dominant hands. Break your sales staff into teams and have a writing relay race or relay race that involves throwing a Nerf ball. Any type of relay race that involves the non-dominant hand will help work the right brain.

Another fun team-building exercise is to have a day where everyone is expected to use their other hand. Basketball or baseball coaches often do this to give their teams a fun practice, and you can use this in your sales meetings or for a portion of the workday. It is fun and may provide for some helpful right brain stimulation.

It is also engaging fun to stimulate memory and sequential thinking by playing games. Crossword puzzle races are a great way to stimulate thinking. Break your staff into teams and give each team the same crossword puzzle and see which team finishes first. Team Scrabble and Team Concentration are two other great games that build chemistry and stimulate left brain thinking.

There are hundreds of brain games that can be adapted to sales team training. Use games that work each side of the brain and you will be helping your sales staff improve all types of thinking. Using a greater percentage of their brains will definitely help them become better salespeople.

Deb Bixler provides direct sales training for consultants on how to increase cash flow at home by putting systems into place that create a consistent cash flow.

There is no doubt about it – we are living through a recession. Unemployment is high and the economy continues to sputter along. Though home party sales remain strong, the industry is not immune to the effects of the recession. However, there are some essential tips for sales consultants who want to stay one step ahead of the struggling economy and keep their home party plan business going strong throughout the year.

Direct Sales Conultants Should Blog

When you mention to some direct sales consultants that they should start a blog, they cringe in horror at the thought of writing. No one who wants to promote a business should be afraid of blogging. Embrace it and it will love you back! Blogging is a great marketing and promotional tool; it should be an integral part of your direct sales business marketing plan.

Though blogging may seem difficult at first, once you give it a chance, you realize how easy it really is. Blogging is just an expression of who you are and what your business entails. You have probably spent many hours talking about your business; blogging is just turning those conversations or presentations into words on a page.

How To Pick Your Blog Topic

* Teach others about your products.
* Teach others about the direct sales business.
* Write about your successes and failures in the business.
* Write about how you started out.
* Describe what goes on at a sales party.
* Discuss the details of giving a presentation.

Blogging is usually very simple and straightforward writing. If you can add some humor or interesting stories, that will make your blog much more enjoyable to the readers. If you think of blogs as merely one-way conversations written down, it will be easier to write one.

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If you are with any of the Direct Sales companies, I am sure that you are aware that if you want to make the big money, you need to be out there recruiting and adding new team members to your team. However, the real question is, Is Team Building Right For You?

When you are considering building a team with your Direct Sales business, there are several things that you need to consider. When you build a team, you are responsible for training, supporting, motivating and communicating with your team on a consistent basis. Before you start adding new consultants to your business, there are a few things you need to consider.

1. Experience: How long have you been with your particular company? Do you know everything you need to know about your company, their business policies and their products? If not, then you should not be recruiting. When a new member joins your team, you are responsible for training them and supporting them. If you don’t know what you need to know about the business, there is no way you can effectively help them. I suggest you work on learning everything that you need to know and get some experience before adding new consultants to your team.

2. Time Commitment: When you start training and managing your own downline team, you will need to be committed to giving up several hours a week of your time to just lead and train your team. You can not just sign people up and push them off to others. As their recruiter, it is your job to help them and that can be very time consuming. If you don’t have several hours a week to spare on just leading your team, you should not be recruiting.

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