The Big O – Organization in Your Direct Sales Business

Many of us have trouble with our abilities to organize our days/weeks/months/years. We may think that we’re good at it, but we can always get better. Even if you think that your organized, check out this post for some suggestions for how to organize your business and STAY organized (the big one for some of us).

 

The Big O - Organization in Your Direct Sales Business

Your Space

Where you work needs to be organized. It needs to be at least visually “clean” so that you don’t have visual distractions while you’re working. My office can get to be a mess – I will completely admit that. What I tend to do is work for a few months then throw everything in a box that isn’t necessary and get it out of my sight, then go through the box. Many of the things in the box, I find, aren’t necessary, or simply need to be filed.

Setting aside 5 minutes before you start working every day to organize your space can be a time (and sanity) saver. If possible, always start with a clean/organized work area. That way you know where to find everything and you’re not distracted.

Your Time

Your business is just that, a BUSINESS. You need to work, just as you do (or would) for another job. You cannot simply assume the sales will come “rolling in.” So scheduling time TO WORK is going to be important. Look at your schedule ( don’t have one? Look at the next suggestion) and figure out where you can work in 30 minutes (or more if you have it) per day and block it off. That is your WORK TIME. Let it be known in your home that you will be working during this time – let your spouse, roommates, parents, whomever know that it’s time for work. Let your kids know too (I use a visual sign – red light or green light sign on my office door). If you have kids, you may also want to have a pre-planned activity so that they can “work” as you do. Play-Doh time is a big favorite around here.

Once you schedule your time, stick to it. Put it in your calendar. You are BUSY. Don’t let other things (social media, email, phone calls) disturb you unless, of course, that’s part of your work. But if you’re “working” on Facebook, don’t scroll – do you work, message contacts etc., but get it done and move on. You only have 30 minutes. Make it work for you.

Set a timer when you start to work. Some people use a kitchen timer, but I just use the clock on my phone. 30 minutes ends, I finish up what I was doing, and then I review what still needs to be done and put it on the schedule for later in the day (if I have time) or tomorrow.

Schedule

This is a big one. Keep a damned calendar people. I don’t care if it’s paper, digital, on your phone, whatever. I personally use a paper planner to keep track of my team and their goals and my phone to keep track of appointments and touch base calls. I use Google Calendar so that my team can use YouCanBook.me to schedule appointments with me (Ninja Leaders – this is a great tool to allow your team members to schedule a call with you).

Plan

What will you do with your work time? What needs to be done? Make a list of everything that needs to be done (i.e., hostess coaching, setting up a party in your online office, emailing customers, calling customers, messaging team members, social media post scheduling [I use and enjoy PostCron], follow up, Daily 5, this list could go on). Make your list then prioritize it. Tops are things that NEED to be done today. Then move on, sequentially, from there. Once your work time starts, start on thing one, do it, and check it off. I find that putting a line through it is so gratifying. “Annnnnd you’re OUT! Next!” Work through the list until your timer goes off. Then keep the list for tomorrow, add to it, then reprioritize. If you can swing another 30 minutes, do it! Take a break, get a snack, get a drink, walk around a bit, then start over!

Review

What did you get done today? What still needs to be done? Add it to the list to be reprioritized tomorrow. What would you like to learn more about that you haven’t done today? List. You may realize this list can get pretty crazy. I actually have a small notebook with tabs and one section is for my daily lists, one is for to dos that aren’t daily (“read XYZ book” or “XYZ blog”), and one is for customers to follow up with on the go. While I work during my work time, I also use my down time (5 minutes between meetings during my day job, while waiting for the kids to get out of school) to knock a few follow ups off my list. Use your extra time, no matter how small, wisely, and then you can use the larger chunks for other things such as time with friends and family (or watching the 2^nd season of The Blacklist…wait that’s me).

So that’s our daily organization – but what about some other tips?

• Database – create a database of your customers and use it to follow up (more on this next week)
• Prospect database – keep a list of contacts who haven’t purchased, how to contact them, and what they may be interested in
• Leadership Database – create a database of your team, their sales, their trends, what skills/strategies they need help with, and when is the best time to contact them (and when was the last time you had a touch base call with them)
• Recruits – Again, a database of people who have expressed interest in your opportunity will be useful. Keep their name, contact info, last contact, and what they said last time you chatted about the opportunity handy so you can know when to follow up with them.

Keeping your databases up to date is definitely part of your work, so work it in every day. What else should you schedule every day? YOU TIME. Everyone needs it. 30 minutes (at the least) to read your current favorite book? To meditate? To do what interests you? To draw? To hang out with friends? To scroll around Facebook? To scan Pinterest? We all need down time. So make sure you get it. It rejuvenates you and makes you a better YOU.

What’s your favorite organization strategy? Share it with me below! I’d love to hear some of your ideas!

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!

Collaborating with Others *Ninja Coaching Tips*

         Our company has a thriving online community both for merchandisers across the nation and for leaders. Two weeks ago I had an idea to collaborate with six other leaders across the country to “invade” each other’s team Facebook pages. Lots of ladies were interested in participating and the first six and I started a chat to decide who would cover which dates. This chat turned into a week of discussing leadership challenges, helping us all realize that we experienced similar challenges.

         Each leader has their own Facebook page for their team, so we made sure we were all friends then we added the other leaders to our team pages. Each leader took a day and “invaded” the other 6 pages by posting about their favorite tip/trick or about something currently relevant (such as a promotion we were having).

         As leaders, many of us talk to our regional leadership team members daily but may not really get a chance to get to know other leaders in the nation. This opportunity let me “meet” ladies from all over the country and brainstorm ideas for challenges we all faced. It was also amazing to see everyone’s takes on different ideas for their posts.

         What did we learn about? All of our leaders posted about amazing topics, but this end of week summary from Freya Chapman, a fellow Manager, was spot on and super helpful.

“- Liz Solomon Wright kicked off the week by talking about FOLLOW UP being the key to landing those sales and finding your hostesses.

- Then Joyce King touched on the importance of building and keeping MOMENTUM by front-loading your month with pop-ups!

- Jen Winegarden's topic was something we've been talking about a lot -- the effectiveness and higher ROI of IN HOME POP-UPS.

- Briana Holmes Daniels then had us focus on ourselves to reflect on who we are and define our PERSONAL BRANDING.

- Melissa Barrett Wheeler's post was centered on the power of BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS by getting to know them, connecting with them and most of all BEING GENIUNE.

- Then yesterday Marisa Grier gave us some fabulous ideas on NETWORKING and growing your customer base.

On this final day of MM invasion, I will share with you the best way to take all this great advice and effectively apply them to your business.

The path to success is not always easy. Scratch that, it's NEVER easy. I've been turned down when trying to score business partnerships, have had dismal engagement at my online pop-ups, held pop-ups where zero to two people showed up, and have had my fair share of $0 pop-ups. What keeps me going is the love and support from this amazing community, consistently going back to my WHY.. and these THREE THINGS.. which was advice that my own mom gave me when I had a slow first few weeks during my Fast Start.

• 1) STAY POSITIVE. When you have a bad day, a bad pop-up or a bad month... take a deep breath, reflect on it, and I'm sure you will find something good from the experience. I know it sounds so cheesy and cliché, but there is always a silver lining, a lesson to be learned, and ALWAYS something to be thankful for. Your ATTITUDE plays a huge role in the success of your business. Not only does staying positive give you the ability to rise above challenges.. your customers and network will want to shop and support you because of it.
• 2) STAY PATIENT. Truly successful people did not get where they are overnight. There is so much hard work behind that success that you might ever know. Some of my relatives and closest friends didn't start buying from me until very recently. It took a while before my online popups and social media posts started picking up on engagement. Building your network and customer base takes time, so be patient and ENJOY the process.
• 3) STAY PERSISTENT. Along with the first two P's, this is what will truly make a difference in your business (and any other goal you want to pursue in life). When you get knocked down you get back up. When you get a NO, keep going to find your YES. Keep planting those seeds right now and when the holiday rush kicks in, you will be thankful that you did. (Just be careful and don't confuse persistence with being annoyingly sales-y and stalking your customers. There is a way to balance that out and I'm sure with your MM's help you'll figure out how not to cross that line.)”

Take Aways:

Merchandisers/consultants, what have you learned from your leaders that has helped you in your business?

Ninja Coaches, how can you collaborate with other leaders in your community to help your teams succeed? What would be your #1 thing you would want to tell another team if you could “invade” them? What have you learned from other leaders?

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!

The Anatomy of a Promotion for your Direct Sales Business

“PROMO!”

“SALE!”

“BOGO!”

We think that these words will bring prospects and customers out of the woodwork right? I mean, who doesn’t love FREE or SALE or DISCOUNT? Hello???

How should you work a promo your company is offering? Should you offer your own promos? Let’s chat. Grab a cup of coffee (or wine, or water, or whatever).

Working Company Promos

         Our companies typically offer promotions to promote new products or to balance out months that may not be as good with sales. There are also typical promotions such as holidays, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the like. How should you promote these if you know about them ahead of time?

• Prep your network – let them know what is coming, what they can earn, and how it can benefit them. 
• Let your VIPs or those who shop with you often know early if you can.
• Make sure that all of your promotion materials have the dates and times that the promotion begins and ends on them – make sure that your customers know when to shop.
• Send out a customer newsletter announcing the promotion before it starts.
• In your social media posts, give the customer a reason to shop NOW to avoid missing the promotion.
• Contact customers or prospects that you think might be interested in this promotion and let them know exactly what you think they might benefit from (could they get something they have wanted for free with a certain purchase amount?).
• Post daily on social media about your promotion and make sure there is always a story and a call to action – “This necklace is my favorite from the new collection because it is so versatile – I have to make myself NOT wear it every day! Until Monday, when you get your necklace you can choose matching earrings for free with our spend $100 and get a free gift promotion. Shop now so you don’t miss the promotion!”
• Always remember, selfies sell.
• Contact customers the day before the promo ends reminding them about the promo and its end date and time.
• Follow up with all interested customers/prospects up until the promo ends.

Creating Your Own Promotions

A lot of direct sellers offer their own promotions where the promotional fees (i.e., free shipping, free X) come out of their own pockets. While these may create “buzz” on your social media, you should do them sparingly. Do not utilize promotions too often – if you do, people will begin only buying when there is a promotion (because one is bound to come up, since you do them all the time, right?).

A couple of ideas for promotions:

• A monthly “never before purchased” (or product virgin) promotion. I offer a set of birthday studs to a person who has a birthday in that month who has never purchased my jewelry. This gives them a free piece to try, and also may serve as a “gateway product” to get them to purchase more. Also, people who receive free items may feel compelled to purchase because they feel indebted to you for the freebie.
• Free gift with purchase – I typically offer a free beauty bag of surprise swag to any customers who purchase in the last few days of the month.
• Free gift with referral – I sometimes offer a free beauty bag to current customers who refer a friend who purchases (usually during the end of month as well).
• Free shipping – can you offer a “bulk order” where customers pay you for their product via PayPal or Square and you place a large order and hand deliver the items? This can save on shipping costs and make ordering easier for your customers (which will help customers make a purchase).

Use the same strategies for promoting these as you would a company-provided promotion. Send emails, post on social media, and most importantly, for any promotion…

MAKE IT PERSONAL. 

Personally contact your VIPs and close friends who purchase from you. Don’t make it generic. Make it about them. “I saw this piece and thought of you – it would look amazing with that dress you want to wear to so-and-so’s wedding! And, how cool is this, if you buy this weekend, we can get you the matching earrings for free.”

What has been your most successful strategy for using company-sponsored promotions? Share it with us below in the comments!

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!