Archive for August, 2014

Four Tips to Build Your Personal Brand

Four Tips to Improve Your Personal Brand
Four Tips to Build Your Personal Brand

Four Tips to Build Your Personal BrandAs a direct seller, your company has its own ways of promoting its brand. However, you are responsible for making it your own and improving upon the individual qualities you bring to your brand. In today’s post, we give you four tips to help you do just that.

  1. Give your clients ways to promote your brand. Engage customers in creative ways that will allow them to get a conversation going about your products and services. For example, use your Facebook page or Twitter feed to start a top ten list. A consultant for a company that sells manicure quality nail wraps held a contest in which her clients posted pictures of themselves wearing outfits that coordinated with their nails. Anyone subscribed to the page could vote on the best photo. The winner got a free gift, and the clients got new ideas for how to use their wraps as well as inspiration to try new ones. This type of engagement was the consultant’s way of getting to know her clients and giving them a fun way to promote her brand.
  2.  Always keep your word but also exceed it. In a business where you likely have many competitors who can offer similar products and services, your word is one of your greatest assets. If you say you will do something, there is no option other than to do it. Take this idea a step further whenever possible. For example, a customer needs her order rushed to be delivered in time for a loved one’s birthday. As the consultant, you say that you’ll personally put the order in first as well as double checking with corporate to make sure it was received and will arrive on schedule. After doing so, you get the product from the hostess when she receives it and hand deliver it to the customer. Going above and beyond your responsibilities increases your credibility; your clients will also associate your reliability with your brand.
  3. Focus on being the best at one thing at a time. Although it is important to have lofty goals for your business, don’t try to take on too much at once or you’ll risk burning out. Choose one aspect of your business at a time to become the best at. For instance, you aspire to be the best on your team at getting guests at your parties to book their own parties and keep their dates so the party actually happens. Invest your time and effort into creating ways to get potential hostesses excited about having a party and following up effectively. While working toward this goal, focus exclusively on it until you’re ready to move on to the next one. You’ll be able to make yourself stand out, therefore improving your brand.
  4. Continue to improve and be better than your competitor. The best way to begin besting your competitor is to gather information about how the competitor does business. The nail wrap consultant researched similar companies, emailed some of their consultants, and attended some parties as a guest. She was able to take mental notes about what she did and didn’t like about the business as a whole. When she signed with her chosen company, she knew exactly how she wanted to improve upon the competition’s ways.

Use your strengths and unique qualities to improve your brand. Your clients and prospects will associate you with those attributes and pass along a good word to their friends and families. How can you use the tips from our list? Please share your ideas in the comments below!

Targeting Potential Customers

Targeting Potential Customers
Targeting Potential Customers

Targeting Potential CustomersWhen you are on the lookout for potential customers, you want to make sure you’re focusing your energy in the right places. Remember that not everyone fits the profile, so spending time and money on trying to attract those outside your target demographic will be a waste of your resources. An effective way to find potential customers for your business is to ask yourself the following questions.

  • Can they afford your products/services? Of course, it’s impossible to know everyone’s financial situation, but you can get a good idea by looking for certain clues. For example, a consultant for a high-end ladies’ jewelry company should consider factors such as which town the potential customer lives in, if she wears designer clothing, if she drives a luxury car, etc. If your company sells products that range in price, consider the average and build an ideal customer profile from there.
  •  Are they the decision maker when it comes to the purchase? There are several different ways that people handle finances within their households. Some couples agree on a reasonable level of autonomy when it comes to making a purchase. Either person can buy groceries or even a new lamp for the living room without consulting each other, but neither would buy a car or book a vacation without both agreeing to it first. Be sure that the person you are targeting as a potential customer has the ability to make decisions about purchasing your products. This especially applies to products and services geared toward young children and teenagers. A skin care company’s acne treatment is mostly used by those between ages 15-21, but is almost always actually purchased by the parent. Whoever has the final say about a purchase is your potential customer. 
  • How much do they need the product/service?  Ask yourself if you are fulfilling a need or solving a problem for a potential customer with your product. Someone who will be returning to the work force after a long hiatus staying home to raise her children may need all new makeup and accessories to complete her professional appearance. A cosmetics or jewelry consultant would consider this person a potential customer because there is a certain level of need for the products and services offered. The most effective way to find out if a need for your product exists is to ask the right questions. Demonstrate a sincere interest in people by asking them questions about themselves. Give them an opportunity to talk about their family, interests, and hobbies. When you discover that the person needs your product, you’ll know you are talking to a potential customer.

Targeting your niche toward the right people will help you spend your time and marketing resources efficiently, which will in turn allow you to have long term success. By asking the above questions, you are creating a sort of customer profile that can be used to identify potential customers.

How have these questions helped you find your own customers? Are there any other questions you would add to our list? Please share your comments below!

How to Get People to Join Your Team

How to Get People to Join Your Team

How to Get People to Join Your Team from http://dsef.orgWhen you’re ready to take your direct sales business to the next level, recruiting others to join your team is the place to start. You have the potential to create a steady income stream while helping people achieve their own financial goals. In today’s post, we suggest some ways to build your downline and grow your business.

  • Share great ideas that help everyone. Whether the idea is your own or someone else’s, if you think it will help others, don’t hesitate to share it with your prospects. While presenting your opportunity to a recruit, for example, share an idea for having a successful launch party that worked for you. Your method will help the recruit by giving him or her a jump start on the business, and it will help you by finding customers for your downline. By sharing great ideas that are mutually beneficial, you generate excitement and enthusiasm about your opportunity, which will in turn increase your chances of signing your prospect.
  • Do both big and small things to help make your team members’ lives better.  After a team member’s initial launch and first few months working the business, it can be easy to lose touch or at least frequent contact. One small way of making your team members’ lives better is to check in regularly with words of encouragement, a motivational quote, or even a little gift of appreciation. On a bigger scale, you might host a weekend brunch at your house or local restaurant to reward your team’s hard work and accomplishment. Take the initiative to be a positive force in their lives. You can recruit others to join your team by introducing them to people in your downline who will attest to your role in their professional lives.
  • Stay optimistic and enthusiastic. Even if a prospect seems skeptical, unsure, or even confused about the opportunity, it is important to maintain a positive attitude and enthusiastic outlook about the business. If you don’t falter, he or she will notice that you are confident enough not to be shaken by a possible rejection.
  • Always do the right thing. There may be times when you are faced with some sort of conflict or dilemma. One direct sales consultant was excited to sign her very first recruit, but it became clear during the presentation that this person was so eager that she didn’t think to ask a lot of important questions that might sway her decision about whether or not to sign with the company. The consultant was tempted to ignore that fact and let the recruit sign on the dotted line anyway, but she listened to her conscience and offered the important information to the recruit as well as a chance to ask more questions. The recruit wound up signing, but even if she hadn’t, doing the right thing will allow you to never have to look back at your past action and feel guilty. Direct sales is about helping people, so your actions should always reflect that.
  • Listen more than you talk. A prospect wants and NEEDS to be heard. He or she may want to tell you why joining this business is even a consideration. And although, he/she may have lots of questions for you and provide you with plenty of opportunity to speak, make sure that you are doing most of the listening. By truly listening to others, we can tune into what their message is, and find effective ways to help.
  • Stay humble. No matter how high you climb to the top of that proverbial ladder of success, ALWAYS stay humble. Remember that there are always improvements to be made and higher levels to reach. Continue helping those who are just starting out, take compliments with gratitude and grace, and pay it forward. Your sincere humility will increase your likeability and have a positive effect on your business.

Building your team requires a lot of preparation, patience, hard work, determination, and the right mindset. We hope our list above gives you some guidance in getting started. What would you add to the list? Please share your comments below!