During the DSA’s Annual Meeting in June, a group of exceptionally accomplished Fellows, Dr. Victoria Crittenden, Professor & Chair, Marketing Division of Babson College; Dr. Haya Ajjan, Associate Professor of Management Information Systems of Elon University; Dr. Anne Coughlan, Polk Bros. Chair in Retailing & Prof. of Marketing of Northwestern University; and Dr. Robert Peterson, John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business Administration at University of Texas at Austin, shared new insights on how to empower a salesforce during a panel discussion titled “Your Distributors as Social Media Agents, Skilled Professionals and Emerging Market Entrepreneurs.”

This all-star panel covered how positive and negative sentiments exchanged on Facebook through “likes” and “shares” affect sales performance and satisfaction; which types of turnkey technology, training and communication are empowering direct sellers in emerging markets; and the 14 professional skills gained through the direct selling experience and how to use them to market and recruit.