New Year, New Ninja Leader? Direct Sales Coaching Resolutions

This week I’m specifically talking to my leaders, my Ninja Coaches, people who excel at a particular skill or activity (i.e., coaching their direct sales team).

I resolve to…

• Lose 50 pounds.
• Save $1,000.
• Increase my customer base by 200 people.
• Get a beach body by going to the gym every day.

As we know, January is a time for resolutions. It’s a “new day,” a New Year even, and people are out there making these wild predictions. As a psychologist (and a watcher of people in general), I always wondered why. Why now. Why not, like, oh, I don’t know, last week. I’ve talked to a lot of new direct sellers who signed on in December who said they were going to wait until January to start their businesses.

I don’t get it.

Start now. Like NOW. Go. Now. Bye. GO.

BUT here’s what I do get. A new year is almost like a new “slate” – it’s an opportunity for you to make a goal and have a start date (January 1) and we all know that goals need start dates. And assessment dates (because we have to assess progress and make changes). And end dates (or why would we have the #EOMHustle right?!).

As a leader, you can do this too.

Take an honest look at yourself last year as a leader and a coach for your team. What did you do? What didn’t you do that maybe you should have? Where did you focus the most of your time?

• Leading by example? (This is huge by the way, and it IS part of coaching).
• One on one coaching calls?
• Pop up/party prep coaching?
• Stroking egos of team members who are feeling down about their business?
• Social media posting?
• Putting out fires?
• Telling people where to find shit that they should know how to find themselves?
• Sending out team incentives?
• Creating and managing team incentives?

Be honest with yourself. Write down what you spent your time doing last year (or at least for the last two quarters because we know November and December are cray-cray and not normal).

Now the next question. And it’s a hard one.

Did what you were doing get you where you wanted your team to be?

*Pause*

Clears throat.

Now, if it did? Fantastic! Fabulous! Do more of THAT!

If it didn’t…let’s assess.

Think about your ROI (return on investment). If you spend 10 hours per week posting to your team Facebook page and nobody is working…something ain’t working. If you spend 10 hours per week trying to get your team on the phone for one-on-ones, and they aren’t calling you back or scheduling a time…something ain’t working.

Side Bar…

I have heard leaders from different companies say, “People just don’t want to work!” So wait…your team member shelled out $99/$175/$50 for…what? A kit? Maybe but probably not. Team members typically don’t work their biz for two reasons: 1) they don’t know how to, and/or 2) they can’t find the time to work it into their already busy schedule.

Remember that whole resolution bit I talked about at the beginning? THEY resolved to start a thriving business in [enter start date here] and…nothing. Maybe they didn’t do the 60-day trainings, maybe they didn’t know how to, maybe they got caught up in life. For whatever reason, they had a dream, an idea, and it came in a box (all kits come in boxes right…?). And right now it’s on the back burner. It’s fizzling. (And by the way, they probably blame their network for not supporting them or the company for not helping them because humans are typically loathe to take the blame for something themselves).

So if you’re feeling frustrated with your team not working, if you have $0s on your team, think about those two things. Do they have the tools to be successful? If so, do they have the time? Something else to think about – sales is like addictive substances. And we all know this. Once you get a sale, you want another one. So if you have lifetime $0s on your team, their goal (in your mind at least) should be 1 sale. Get that 1 sale. Get it done, get it over with, log in to your dashboard and see a sale and get The Bug. If a team member says they’re too busy (and cheers to you for getting them on the phone or getting them to text back by the way), then coach them to that one sale. If it happens like we’ve seen it happen, The Bug will bring them back to you for help with time management. I have even told team members to copy my social media posts if that’s what it takes to push them into “drive.”

Because sometimes they’re not creative (or they don’t think they are).

Sometimes they are shy or don’t want to harass their network.

This is where our jobs, as leaders, comes in to remind them that they ARE creative in their own way, and that they AREN’T harassing their network if they truly love their product. And that’s the massaging egos part of our job.

Side Bar Over.

OK so back to work on you and your team. Some questions for you.

How much time did you spend planning? Planning your own personal business month, planning your social media posts to your team, planning your emails to your team, your texts to your team, scheduling your days when you will do one-on-ones (if you’re doing them haphazardly and whenever you can, I REALLY suggest you create office hours and do them then consistently and do an outside touch base with a team member only if they aren’t available during your office hours). Work your business (of coaching) like a business. We open at X and we close at Y (although good luck with that closing at Y bit, team members will text you at all hours sometimes). Hell, even plan to plan. I plan on Sunday nights. Every week. Here’s what I’m going to do and on what days. Team Member Jane has a party on Tuesday so I need to call her Monday and do a walk through (and remind her of that constant calendar). Write these things down. Don’t have a planner (or use your phone calendar or Google Calendar)? My gosh are you kidding me? How do you stay sane and organized? Do you? Git’r done.

What does your team snapshot for the last 6 months look like? Who’s consistent? Who are your rock stars? Who’s inconsistent? Who seems to have lost interest? Now, some silly questions. Where do you make the most money? Rock stars (and consistent rock stars are like whoa I love you). Are your rock stars self-sufficient? What do they need from you? A “good job” every once in a while? A shout out on a corporate Facebook post? Now look at your lower-level team members. I break them down into consistently over $1k, $500-$999, and under $500 (and then the lifetime $0s). Push all your consistent ladies to go just a LITTLE higher every month. In your monthly planning, look at their sales average for the last 4 months (don’t count November and December), add on some bucks, and talk to them about their goal (with your goal for them in mind). No comfort zones ladies – push them outside.

Do you track your team? I use an Excel spreadsheet and created tabs for overall sales (so there’s a new column every month with their sales from Dec-15 etc.), contact info (in case my phone dies a painful death), and then there’s a tab for “focus.” Sally hasn’t had a sale in 2 months. She’s on my January list. Rhonda hasn’t responded to my Facebook posts or emails for a few weeks, what’s up with that – she’s on my January list. So the focus tab is a work in progress and is based upon the overall sales tab. I also track their pop ups/parties in a calendar and contact them 2 weeks, 1 week, 2 days before, and 2 days after to talk about the different things that need to be done (especially initially – veteran team members are like ya ya I know – and as long as they do it, I’ll leave ‘em alone).

Do you break the goals down into bite-sized bits with your team? Team goal is $50k. 50 team members. $1k/team member. 4 weeks in the month, $250/week per team member. Average party is X, that means we need XYZ numbers of parties to reach our goal. Be sure to add in a cushion of a certain number of parties that will be $0 or get cancelled. I even break it down into daily goals sometimes (especially if there’s a promo going on like a sale – “Today we want to do $50 each – that’s 2 $25 sales or 5 $10 sales”). Think about that. Every single team member has a goal of 2 $25 sales today. That is a) easy, but b) forgettable (“I’ll just do it after I get out of work” NOT). So just like I drink 20 oz of water before I can have my morning coffee (so I can reach my water goal for the day), we need to coach them to work the sales early rather than late. “Get your goal met by breakfast and then maybe, heck, double it and feel awesome for the rest of the day…”

And last of all (because this is a long post), Do you have a growth mindset? Are you encouraging your team to recruit/find their +1/whatever your company does? Most well-thought-out recruits do wayyyy better than a random who joined off the website. Are you, in your head, increasing your monthly sales goal by $1k or so per month? Are you helping your team members grow as business people who new business knowledge and suggestions? Are you growing your own business?

You're still reading! High five!

Let’s close this out because I’m on page 8 and that’s just crazy. So your team didn’t do as well as you’d hoped last year. Or they did and you want them to do even better (growth mindset). Here are the Cliff Notes:

• Planning.
• Intentional contact with team members to encourage goal setting and reaching.
• Track and break down goals.
• Think in terms of growth.

Now do two things – first, pat yourself on the back for reading all of this, and second, high five. You got this. Now go be MORE awesome. How are you planning to be more awesome? Comment below and let me know!

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!

Objections Overruled! Dealing With Objections in Your Direct Sales Business

I am often asked by my team members how I deal with objections – objections to purchasing, objections to hostessing…we all hear these (WHEN we ask for the sale and WHEN we ask someone to hostess, and you have to do those things to hear objections by the way…).

 

Today we’re going to focus on how to deal with these types of objections.

 

Get There First

The first and best way to deal with an objection is to know it’s coming, and to talk about the answers before the objection comes.

Use these three words when you talk about your objections:

·      Feel

·      Felt

·      Found

For example, “A lot of customers feel that the X is too expensive. When I started with X company, I felt that the X was out of my price range too. But what I found is that because of Y, the price wasn’t that important to me.” Y is your reason for overcoming the objection.

Here’s an example from my business (jewelry).

“A lot of ladies, before they try my jewelry, feel that that it is too expensive. When I first started, I felt that some of the pieces were out of my price range too. What I found was that if I didn’t love a piece, or worst case scenario, my favorite piece lost a stone, I could get a refund or get it replaced quickly through our amazing customer service. To me, having that piece of mind, is amazing – you don’t get that at other stores.”

 

We’ve talked previously about how stories sell (while facts tell) as well – you can add a story to negate the objection as well. One objection I hear about jewelry is, “I have small children and they will break it.” After the previous statements, I add, “I had a piece that I loved, a glass bead necklace set. My youngest son grabbed and yanked one day and beads went EVERYWHERE. The next day I called our customer service and they replaced it for me, no questions asked. They even sent me a return shipping label. How amazing is that?”

 

Know Your Objections and How to Respond

What are the top three objections to purchasing that you hear? These are the three that I hear often:

·      “It’s too expensive.”

·      “I don’t have money right now for X” (X meaning your type of product).

·      “I don’t buy X.”

How would you deal with these?

 

“It’s too expensive.”

          I come right back to our quality and policies. 30-day money-back guarantee and lifetime warranty. This is why it is important to know your company’s policies and values. Are your products tested on animals? Are they made in the USA? Are they backed by a guarantee? Are they strength tested? All of these can help you walk through the “Feel, Felt, Found” with a prospect who indicates the product is too expensive.

          You also want to focus on your benefits and how much money a prospect might spend on those benefits elsewhere. If you sell health products, you could say, “I have talked to a lot of people who feel that way. They felt that paying for their yearly gym membership was more economical, but they found they weren’t using their gym membership but they WOULD use this product.”

 

“I don’t have any money for X.”

          Responses to this are again going to relate back to your product. Is your product something someone can use every day? If so, that is a value – break it down by daily price (“If you use it for 30 days that makes it only $X per day, which is less than my morning coffee, I don’t know about your coffee!”).  Is it on sale? People love sales (and sales are especially good to turn a prospect into a customer who will buy again at full price).

          This is also an opportunity for two things: gifting and hostessing. Does the prospect have a birthday, anniversary, or something special coming up? They could let another person know this is on their list. Do they have something special such as their own graduation coming up? “Gift yo self!” Even if they need to save up or use gift money, have them print out a picture of what they want and keep it next to their computer so they remember (and see it all the time).

          Have someone with a large list of things they want but can’t afford? Hostess! This is why it’s important to know your hostess benefits. Let your prospective customer know they can earn X in your product for every $X their party sells. Give them two options for how to do a party and let them know your available dates. You could even give them themes that they can choose from. Let them know that you will do these things, they will do these things (so setting up their expectations for the party), and then schedule!

 

“I don’t buy X.”

          Depending upon your industry, you may hear this more often than some. When I first started with Chloe + Isabel jewelry, I was not a jewelry person. I had a few pieces I wore here and there, and a lot of cheap costume jewelry that I bought for specific occasions/outfits, but I didn’t wear it consistently. When I did begin wearing my pieces consistently, people noticed and asked about it, which gave me the opportunity to talk about my business. Seeing it consistently caused a lot of people who I saw every day to consider purchasing, even if they weren’t “jewelry people” too. The more people see it, the more they will want to try it. Focusing on the benefits (“I was never a statement bracelet person, but when I wear this I feel like a rock star even when I’m running errands – I love it!”) without going for a sale can help people see why they might want to try your product.

          If your prospect doesn’t use your product, then they may know others who do. “I don’t use X” is a great opportunity to ask for referrals.

“I can totally understand that – some people just don’t! Could you do me a favor? If you know of someone who does, could you give them my card? I’d love to share my stuff with them!”

A lot of people who don’t buy will easily give referrals for you as long as you’re trustworthy and already have a relationship with them (see my previous post on that HERE). Gifting can also fit here as well. You may be talking to someone who doesn’t use your product, but their Mom does – does she have a birthday coming up? Is there a holiday on the horizon? A prospect who doesn’t use your product may be able to see the value in gifting your product to others.

 

Learn More

So these are the most common objections we hear. We hear a bunch more as well, but I could write on all of them for days! I have started a Pinterest board solely related to overcoming objections (both in sales and in recruiting) – follow it HERE!

 

Apply It!

So how do you apply what you have learned here?

·      Use the Feel, Felt, Found approach to dealing with objections and deal with them before they occur.

·      Practice! The more you practice dealing with objections, the easier it will be for you to do so “on the fly” at a party or when you’re talking to a prospect. Get with another person on your team or your leader and role play – you be the prospect, and they will be the merchandiser, then switch.

·      Don’t be dissuaded – we will hear a lot of “Nos” in our business. Typically 1 in 10 or 2 in 10 people you talk to about your business will buy. Using these strategies, you can increase that though! Learn more about what to do with No from a previous post I wrote HERE too.

 

What's the funniest objection you have heard? How did you deal with it? Comment below and let us all know!

 

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!

 

Selling is About Relationships – Including Ninja Leader Coaching Tips!

“Hey you wanna buy something?”

We are constantly barraged with messages about sales – from advertising on Facebook to emails from our favorite companies to billboards to friends telling us about their new favorite shoes.

 

 

We are all sales people if you think about it.

We advertise on our clothes, on our shoes, on our accessories, and even our vehicles (what do you drive?).
 

But when we’re approached with a purchase opportunity (for example you’ve been added to an online makeup party), who are you most likely to listen to and to buy from? Who is most likely to influence you to part with your money?

We are most influenced by people who have a relationship with. Thus sales is all about cultivating that relationship. I want to talk today about two types of relationships – relationships leaders have with their team members and relationships merchandisers have with their customers.

 

Your Team, Your Relationships

The purchase process isn’t the only thing influenced by relationships. If we’re in direct sales, we’re influenced by our team, by our leader or upline, even by our company leader/CEO. If we have a positive relationship with those people, we’re more likely to feel positively about our company and our products. Don’t believe me? Here’s a quick story.

The other day I was messaging with a woman who is a rep for my company but also reps another company. We had just had a launch and I asked her what she was going to add to her collection. She told me she wasn’t active with our company anymore and was planning on leaving. As we talked further, I found that she felt that she hadn’t connected well with her leader or her team, but that she felt an amazing connection to her team for the other company she represented.

Hello?

I find that the team members on my team who interact, whether it’s via our Facebook team page, our company’s national page, or any other way, are more active. Period. They are more likely to make sales every month and to set and reach goals. If a new team member isn’t on our Facebook page, I can almost guarantee (but I try not to think this way) that they will eventually leave the company. I’m not saying my team’s FB page is THE thing but being a member and interacting is one way to show how connected you are to your business and your team (and your leader).

The takeaway? Ninja Leaders need to cultivate connections. Period. Use everything you’ve got to make a connection with your team members and to “bring them into the fold.” Encourage your team to build relationships among themselves. Connect. Part of your daily leadership tasks should involve seeing what your team members are up to – if you follow them on Facebook, what are they posting? Are they posting about their kids, their struggles, their achievements, their family life…keep up with them and encourage them as a coach and mentor AND a friend.

 

Your Customers, Your Relationships

Building relationships with your customers is exactly the same – the better the relationship, the better the, well, sales relationship. If you cultivate relationships with your customers by simply throwing product at them (“Hey did you see our new launch?”) then they will associate you with being salesy. And nobody wants that. And if a customer buys from you and you maintain that relationship, then they are more likely to buy from you (and not somebody else).

The other day I was talking to a team member and she told me that a woman at her in home pop up said she had already bought our product from another merchandiser. The team member asked if it was ethical for the customer to now buy from her. She said the customer had never heard from the merchandiser after the sale and that she (the customer) didn’t feel “an allegiance” to that merchandiser.

Rut-roh Raggy.

Don’t get me wrong – customers can buy from whomever they want! But if you get to know them as a person, what they like, what they dislike, what their needs are, what’s going on with them, how their job is, all those things, if you actually have a relationship with them, then a sale can come easily and without the salesy feel. And the customer will feel allegiance to you (and your product).

 

The Takeaways

Build a relationship not a sale.

After the sale, maintain the relationship.

Team leaders need to build relationships with their team members in order to coach effectively.

 

Talk to Me

In the comments below, tell me about your relationship with your company, your leader, your team. Do you feel that you are a part of something larger than yourself? Do you feel connected? And how do you connect with your prospects and customers?

 

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!