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Getting Customers: What Not to Do

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Life sure does give me plenty of blog fodder. I had yet another encounter today that affords me the opportunity to share what not to do when you’re trying to reach new customers for your direct sales business.

I stopped at a garage sale – or “Good Junk Sale” as I refer to them. Signage on the street was bold, plentiful and even had balloons to draw my attention to it – so far so good. From a marketing standpoint, this potential trove of treasures was starting off doing everything right.

lemonadeI parked and immediately saw that it appeared to have mostly baby/little kids stuff, i.e. nothing I would be interested in. But since I was already parked, it was too late to do a drive by so I decided that I would get out of my air conditioned car and venture into the 98 degree garage to see if perhaps there was good junk that wasn’t for young kiddos.

I immediately noticed an enterprising little girl, approximately six years old, manning a lemonade stand. Gotta love young entrepreneurs. Good for you honeypie, it’s hot out here, I hope you make a few bucks.

Then she bellowed:

“Fresh lemonade and cookies twenty five cents!”

She spoke up clearly and loudly. Very good.   But then “¦. She said it again. Again loudly and in a very irritating sing-song chant.   And then she said it again. And again. Sing-songy, repeated, repeated, repeated. [Read more…] about Getting Customers: What Not to Do

Are You Memorable?

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Is Your Direct Sales Business Memorable?

My feet didn’t even hit the floor this morning before I had an internal conversation. “What day is it? What do I have to do today? Oh. It’s Wednesday. It’s humpppppppp dayyyyyyyy!” I instantly thought of the Geico commercial where the camel walks around an office trying to get people to say that it’s hump day.

Recalling that ridiculous commercial, I smiled, felt ready to take on the day and launched myself from bed. As I was shuffling down the hallway to go make coffee, the commercial was still on my mind and I may have even continued to say “humpppppppp dayyyyyyyy!” [Read more…] about Are You Memorable?

Are You Open for Business?

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open for business

Do your customers know you exist?

A few months ago a local small business closed. Not long after that we saw a construction crew in there remodeling for a new business to open in the same building. After a period a time there was new signage out front.   It was a tiny pet grooming salon. Yay! My hound dog always needs her nails trimmed.

Every time we drove past there was never any cars in the lot, nor did we see any lights on. It was a small corner building, so it appeared it could have easily been owned by a sole proprietor who worked limited hours. That’s not terribly uncommon with start-ups.   At some point a paper “Open” sign appeared in the window.

I’ll cut to the chase – it’s been months. Literally months, and I have never once seen the lights on or anyone inside and certainly no cars outside. This building is right up the street from me so I drive past it frequently. There aren’t any posted hours on the door either – just the paper OPEN sign. Yet it is never open. I have also never seen any kind advertising or marketing about the place.

This made me think about some independent consultants with their direct sales businesses.

People have to know you exist and know how and when to contact you before they’ll consider doing business with you.  You can’t just sign up, get a website and hope the customers will flock to you. [Read more…] about Are You Open for Business?

Do Your Neighbors Know What You Sell?

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partiesI heard a sad direct sales story recently.   A consultant was invited to a home party by one of her neighbors. She was hosting a party for all her friends, relatives and neighbors. It was going to be a big bash and fun time. The consultant felt ill when she learned her neighbor was hosting a party for the same company that the she represented. The consultant who was going to be facilitating the party was not even on the consultant’s team.

When the consultant told the neighbor that she too sold for the same company, the neighbor looked perplexed and said, “Oh. Did you just start?”   The consultant hung her head in shame and mumbled that she had been a consultant with that company for almost five years!

WHY DIDN’T THE NEIGHBOR KNOW THAT?

To make matters worse, the night of the party there were cars lined all up and down the street. Some even parked in front of the consultant’s house. The consultant listened to the guests having fun outside by her neighbor’s pool. There were laughing, and playing games and having a great time.

THE RIPPLE EFFECT

It doesn’t end there.   A few days later the neighbor saw the consultant outside by the mail box and asked her why she didn’t come over to the [Read more…] about Do Your Neighbors Know What You Sell?

Networking With Your Target Market

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Ok, so once you select your target market – then what?

Go where “they” are.   If it’s young moms, look for play groups.   If it’s working moms, look for day care centers.   If it’s college students, go on campus and to cafes around campus.   If it’s business executives, look for chamber of commerce meetings, BNI groups, after hours networking events, or Toastmaster groups.   Perhaps your target market may be disgruntled current WAHMs looking for a change in venue; vendor events might be a good place to find them.   If it’s seniors, you may find them at senior communities or at the gym.

Then next is very important.   Do not go to your target market looking to sell.   No, no, no.   Let me repeat that.   Do not go to your target market looking to sell your ware. Instead go with the intent of building relationships.

What is one thing that people, most all people, like to do most? [Read more…] about Networking With Your Target Market