Turn the Naysayers Around

We all have that family member who asks us why we’re doing direct sales. They ask if it’s a “pyramid scheme” (how tired are you of that question??). You also have the friends who just won’t buy from you, no matter what the sale or the promotion.

Negative people...downer (image from Psychologytoday.com/)

Today we’re going to talk about some strategies to bring those people to your side. Why is it important to do this? Well, we want to be surrounded by positivity in our business.

Negative Nancys are draining people aren’t they? You have all this energy, come bopping along, and you see them, and they’re all doom and gloom, and bam, energy sucked.

First, a couple of things to know. When I teach introduction to social psychology, these are the first things I teach so that students walk out of Day 1 with information they can use. Now YOU get to hear about it for FREE.

I call these Wright’s Rules of Social Psychology:

• I am the most important person in the world (says everyone).
• Everything related to me is important.
• I am always right (and will even say/do things that are incorrect to maintain face).
• Everyone wants to be heard (and heard out) [because they are right].
• Everything I do, say, or am involved with is right (because I wouldn’t be right if I were involved with a group that wasn’t right).
• I have great ideas (and I’m always right).
• I don’t want to be told what to do (in fact, being told what to do causes psychological reactance whereby the person starts to want to do the opposite to maintain their independence of not being told what to do).

OK so that’s a start. Think about these rules as you interact with people – why might they say and do the things that they are saying and doing? Which rule is “governing” their behavior?

So let’s apply this to our Negative Nancy’s behavior. Telling them they’re wrong (“No, actually it’s a really great company and I love my team mates”) isn’t going to get you anywhere. How can we help them to make an independent decision to change their own mind about your business or your product?

Make them feel important

Find a way to bring the person into your business to make them feel important. Start by telling them you value their opinion (which you do, you’re not lying – otherwise you wouldn’t be trying to change their mind). This can be seen as part of the Compliment Approach that Liz Ross of Chloe + Isabel advocates for.

• Asking them for their opinion and truly listening (not interrupting to answer back) will be important here. If you sell jewelry, tell them, “I’ve always enjoyed the outfits you put together – you have a good eye. I’m trying to decide between two necklaces to get for my collection – which would you suggest?”
• Ask them why someone might like your product. If you sell makeup, remind them of the benefits of your company then ask, “Which of those do you think people might find the most important part of my business? Which should I focus on?”
• Ask them about networking – “I’m trying to expand my business and I know you have lots of experience with this, so I value your opinion. I have two opportunities – a vendor event or spending the same money making flyers. Which do you think would benefit my business the best?”

Making them a partner in your business and having them help you can make their attitudes towards your business more positive. If they already have a positive opinion of you, then through getting them to think about the benefits of your business you can help them relate your business to you (and their positive thoughts of you).

What are some other ways that you can use an understanding of others’ behaviors to help them think more positively about your business?

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Why Passive Sales Strategies Aren’t Working

We’ve all heard that one strategy for increasing visibility of our products is to leave look books/flyers in different places (hair salons, doctors’ offices, coffee shops), and this is a great passive sales strategy.

What’s the difference between a passive and an active sales strategy? Passive strategies involve “dropping and going” – by that I mean that there is no human (you) there to talk about your products.

Leaving catalogs would be considered a passive sales strategy, and if you think about it, many of our social media posts would be considered a passive sales strategy too. In posting on social media, we’re really “posting and going,” meaning that not everyone we want to see it will see it, and they may scroll past it without activity because there’s nobody there to say, “Hey, Jennifer, LOOK AT THIS. I think you would love this particular product.”

         Passive sales strategies may help us to build brand recognition in the community (“Oh I have now heard of XYZ company”), but they may not lead to sales because there is no human interaction. Let me give you two quick examples.

Wednesday my father had in-patient surgery. I was on my way to pick my parents and take them to the hospital, so I quickly grabbed two catalogs (that I always have at the ready with my contact info) and placed them on the tables in the waiting room when patients signed in. I didn’t have a chance to make the catalogs more personal because I was running and it was a last minute idea. I observed a woman pick up a catalog, flip through it, and put it back down. It was an experiment to see what she would do. She did nothing – she didn’t take down my contact information, she didn’t take a card out of the book, she simply put it down.

         So…there’s that. Nothing happened. Now that doesn’t mean that nobody will ever pick up my book and find some things they love and take down my contact information order from my site. But it’s less likely than if there is a human attached to that book. I have had friends who booked parties off of a catalog drop, but in order to do that we need to be way more active (more about that later).

What about social media?

I posted an image of a myriad of earrings available and that the earrings were currently 25% off. I posted my link. Again, an experiment to see what happens (and example for this blog post). I boosted the post on Facebook for $5. Four hundred thirty eight people saw it. Twenty five liked it. 4 commented on it. One new like for my business page. Zero sales were made.

         Again, this is an example of a passive “drop and go” sale strategy. While they may be slightly useful, it’s a long shot. It’s a hope. And you can’t pin all your hopes for building your business on passive sales strategies. If you think you can, you’ve wasted your start up money. It may not seem nice, but it’s the truth. Passive sellers don’t make money – active sellers do.

Turning Passive to Active

         Active sales strategies are where we intentionally interact with a potential customer – we are active in the sales process. While both should be part of our sales arsenal, which do you think is going to bring you more return on investment (ROI)? Exactly – active strategies.

         When you’re leaving your look books or information at places, make it visually enticing. Include information about yourself such as a card with your picture on it. Use little sticky arrows to point out things you want customers to be drawn to. Use colorful signage on the front of your book. Make it visually enticing. Include a note in the front thanking people for looking through your book and telling them your “why.” Visually indicate your own personal favorite items.

         What about with social media? How can you best turn a passive post into an active post? Ask customers to use your website to post their favorite product and COMMENT BACK to them. Don’t simply see and like the comments. “I love that too Marsha – what would you wear that with?” “That’s a great choice Jana – let’s figure out which color foundation would look best for your skin tone. I’ll message you.” “That is currently 25% off – I’ll message you and can help you place an order!” Here you’re being active rather than simply throwing something up on social media and hoping it sticks.

The Best Active Sales Strategies

         As your sponsor/mentor/company has probably told you, home parties are where the sales are at. Now, after reading this post, you may understand why. There’s action on your part – you’re there presenting your product. There’s interaction with customers. They are seeing YOU as a human with a face and a personality and a story.

There’s also an “expectation” – if you go to a home party as a customer, it’s as if there’s this unspoken expectation that you will buy something. You, as a customer, feel obligated. I have had party attendees that came for the wine and friendship apologize to me for not buying anything. Here’s my response: “Jamie, I’m just glad that I was able to meet you. I’ve loved our conversations. And I know that if you ever need a gift, you know where I am. Tell your jewelry loving friends about me, and I’ll pour you some more wine.”

Relationship building doesn’t happen in passive sales strategies. It just doesn’t. And that’s where the building of lifelong customers starts – in the relationship.

         Your company may offer to send your customers a group email telling them about a promotion, and that’s great – the more visibility a promotion has, the better it will do. But on your end you want to be active about it (because the promo email is passive). Think about your customers/potential customers and the promo/new product launch you have going on. Who might be most interested in it? Contact them personally. Get on the phone (the phone?! Who does that? YOU DO). When you call don’t just “go for the sale.” Remember, relationships. How was their holiday? What did their 2-year-old think of Santa? How was their recent trip? During the conversation, find a way to work in your reason for your call.

         Customer: “Girl, I am STILL Christmas shopping! I have been so busy I haven’t been able to get out!”         You: “Who do you still have to shop for? Maybe I can help!”         Customer: “My sister, my aunt, and my Mom are still on my list.”         You: “What are they into? I could send you some possible pieces and we could see if we could get it all done for you. We have free 2-day shipping with a $125 purchase right now if that could help – it would be there by Christmas and you could drop it in a gift bag and voila, done!”

By listening, asking questions, and allowing the customer to do most of the talking, you’re showing them that they are important to you, not the sale. Because nobody wants to be sold to (I mean seriously, do you? Think about those people at the mall in the kiosks – you know they’re selling – and you avoid them).

So how can you turn your passive strategies into active strategies? How can you focus on active strategies instead of passive ones to increase your ROI?

Do you find my posts useful? If so, sign up to receive emails in your in box whenever I post – on the right put in your email under Follow By Email! Also, sharing is caring – share my posts with other direct sellers you know so they can check it out! Join the Direct Sales Mavens Facebook Community here and let’s help each other achieve our goals!

Personal Goals – In Life and Direct Sales

When I was a kid, I was a big reader. I read everything. My grandmother, Missy, would buy me books (Nancy Drew, Babysitters Club), and I would be done with them by the end of the day. Book-a-saurus Rex.

Then I went to college.

Since there was so much required reading, I didn’t have time for personal reading. Or I felt guilty reading for “fun” when I was supposed to be “working” (i.e., reading college textbooks).

Liz finally reading for fun...

After undergrad, I started graduate school and most of my “outside reading” was related to my content area (psychology). I wouldn’t really call it reading for “fun.” I finished my MA and found time for hobbies again and started reading more, but still I was usually reading non-fiction.

Then I started my PhD program. After that reading anything that wasn’t a textbook or journal article (or textbook for a class I was teaching) was laughable. I do that all DAY, why would I want to read for FUN?! And then there were kids…and reading for fun really just wasn’t feasible for me.

So why do I tell you this? For two reasons. This year, in January of 2015, I was on Goodreads and saw that they were doing a reading challenge. It basically asked you how many books you wanted to read in 2015 and would track it for you (and remind you, “Hey, you’re behind yo”). I thought, “Well, I could definitely do one per month if I read at night after the boys went to bed.” So that would be 12. But instead of just putting my goal at 12, I put my goal at 15. While this may not seem like that much of a difference, for someone who went from reading nothing every day for “free reading” to reading more than a book a month would be a stretch. Creating a goal that was outside of my comfort zone pushed me to go outside of my comfort zone. I knew 12 would be easy, so I made it a little above easy. I also wanted to do this because I remembered how much I enjoyed reading – I could get lost in a good book, and I wanted to be able to do that again. I needed a hobby that would increase my happiness.

How does this apply to you? This should be you in your business.

• Think about your goal for the next year. Remind yourself why this is your goal.
• Add some to it.
• Break it down month by month, week by week, heck, day by day if you have to!
• Write it down.
• Make yourself accountable (but Goodreads won’t email you to stay on track).

My goal for the next year is to hit a lifetime milestone of $30,000 in sales with my jewelry business. I am currently at $21k. I would like to do this before my 2-year anniversary (May 1) but that would mean I would have 4 months to do that, and honestly I think that would be setting myself up for failure because I know the months that are between then and now are not high sales months. So my goal is to do it before my 40^th birthday, which is November 14^th.

That means I have 10 months to do $9,000 in sales – that’s $900 per month in sales. Let’s go for $1,000 per month since we receive $50 in credits for every $500. I could even break that down further into $250 per week in each month.

Since a goal without a plan is a wish, my next step is to sit down and figure out exactly how I’m going to do that. Three parties per month (with approximately $300 in sales each) minimum plus one vendor event (to expand my network) plus consistent online selling. There’s my plan, but now how to implement – find vendor events, find hostesses, you get the deal. Set up my calendar to figure out when my available dates are. Look for (and book) local vendor events that I could attend. Figure out when important dates for possible fundraisers are and commit to donating a percentage of my commission to a related cause. Over-schedule parties around holidays (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day) to make up for months that may not possibly do as well (i.e., SUMMER).

Now that I have a plan, I need someone to be accountable to besides myself. My team leader, Leslie, is a good friend and can give me the “B please” talk when I need to hear it, so my next step is to talk to her about my goal, show her my plan, and help her help me be accountable. If she wants, I’ll even poke her about her own personal goals as well.

And the writing it down part?

Just did it.

You read it.

$30k by November 14^th, 2016 baby.

Breaking down goals like this may seem like a lot of work, but you know what? The work is “front loaded” meaning it happens a lot at the beginning but once you implement it, you check in on it to make sure it’s working (and adjust the work, not the goal if it’s not). I’d love to add an “and that’s it” to that but…making $9k in sales in 11 months for someone who usually sells $500 or less per month isn’t a “and that’s it.”

But I’m doing it.

Watch me go.

So what’s your goal? Shout yourself out in the comments. I want to hear your business and/or personal goal. Read more (how much more)? Lose weight (how much)? Make sales? Grow your team? Save for a house? Whatchu got?

Do you find my posts useful? If so, sign up to receive emails in your in box whenever I post – on the right put in your email under Follow By Email! Also, sharing is caring – share my posts with other direct sellers you know so they can check it out! Join the Direct Sales Mavens Facebook Community here and let’s help each other achieve our goals!

Positivity – It’s Not Just a Pretty Word

Being involved with three direct sales companies, I follow a lot of Facebook groups and direct sellers.

I love seeing how ladies (typically in my industries) push each other, cheer each other on, and help each other to succeed. I love seeing that. It makes me so happy to see a positive post in the communities I follow.

And then…

You know where I’m going.

• Our quality sucks.
• Our shipping is slow.
• I can’t make any sales, how is everyone else making so many sales?
• Why won’t anyone buy from me?
• Why can’t I get customer service on the phone RIGHT NOW?

I could go on and on. But I won’t because that’s anti the point of this post.

You’ve heard it before – you get back what you put out into the world. As a leader in one of my companies, I see these “I can’t make any sales and the company sucks” posts and think, “Well…hm. I wonder if this same attitude is the one that you throw out there to your customers.” Because, well, that would make sense.

If we are positive in our lives, if we are optimistic and positive in what we put out into the world, then we will see the positive results.

The direct sellers who are the most successful aren’t the ones with the most friends (although I’ll talk about that in a second). They are the ones that are optimistic about their business even when it isn’t going as well as they want and are persistent. By persistent I don’t mean they call the same customers until they buy – by persistent I mean that these ladies (and gentlemen) continue to push even when they are not reaching the goals that they want.

As a leader, the hardest thing I hear is, “I’ve been with the company for 2 weeks and I haven’t made a sale. This isn’t for me.”

What?! If you’re job searching for 2 weeks and don’t get hired, do you give up? If you’re dating someone for 2 weeks and you haven’t discussed marriage, do you move on? One of the leaders I worked with early in my career told me, “Direct sales isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon” and this is what I remind all of my team members. You’re not going to “get rich quick.” You’re going to build and build and build to reach the goals you want (which includes a sustainable business). Period. And I will tell you, a lot of the people who start off “with a bang” (making $10k in their first 60 days, for example) end up “burning out.” Their network dries up, they don’t expand, and by the 3^rd month it’s hard to make a sale because they have exhausted their network.

So why do some direct sellers have a lot of friends, what I alluded to before? Because they are a beacon. Because people are drawn to them like a bug to a light. They are bastions of positivity. And I’m not talking “kittens and rainbows” positivity where “EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!” all the time. Successful direct sellers are the people we want to emulate, personality-wise and behavior-wise. And who wants to be a negative crank ass? Very few people in the world would check that box on purpose.

Successful people are optimistic (but not unrealistically so) and despite adversity, they keep going. The way to get customers to you is to be the person they want to be. Listen more than you talk. Remember things about people that are important to them. Ask people to talk about themselves; notice what interests them and pursue that conversation.

Does this mean that you should walk around pretending to be happy about everything and pasting a fake smile on your face? No. It means that you need to take a good hard look at what you’re putting out into the world (and what you’re posting on social media). If I see one more “My life sucks” post followed by a “Shop my boutique” post, I swear, I’m going to send the link to this post to EVERYONE who posts like that. Selling and negativity JUST DON’T WORK. People associate you with what you do, say, post, etc.

So, any ideas why you can’t make a sale? Do you need to focus more on long-term positive outcomes (optimism)? Do you need to bring more positivity to the world (and your sales)? Do you float your dirty laundry to the world on social media then expect people to buy from you?

Just sayin…

Do you find my posts useful? If so, sign up to receive emails in your in box whenever I post – on the right put in your email under Follow By Email! Also, sharing is caring – share my posts with other direct sellers you know so they can check it out! Join the Direct Sales Mavens Facebook Community here and let’s help each other achieve our goals!