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Team Building

Understanding Target Markets

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Who is your target marketWho is your target market? If your answer is “everyone” or “several” then you don’t have a target market. If you try to sell to “everyone” then you’re hurting yourself and diluting your efforts. There are no shortages of markets. If you pick a market to hone in on, then you can refine your marketing and networking efforts for that particular group.

Some potential markets could include:

Moms with young children
Pet owners
Empty nesters
Single men
Corporate gift givers
People with disabilities
Military folks
High income
Low income
College students
Night Schoolers
Apartment complexes
Nurses [Read more…] about Understanding Target Markets

Are You a Direct Sales Rep or Business Owner?

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We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. – Swami Vivekananda

If you are a direct sales consultant, do you think of yourself as a sales representative for the parent company or as a business owner? If someone asks you what you do, do you respond “I’m a Scentsy (or Velata, Grace Adele, Tupperware, Tastefully Simple, etc.) consultant”?   Or do you say, “I have candle (jewelry, gift) business”?

Our words reflect what is in our heart. There’s a Proverb that says “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”  

If you enrolled in your direct selling company for personal use or to sell a little to family and friends or maybe to earn a little extra and you refer to yourself as a consultant or representative for the company, there’s nothing wrong or inaccurate with that designation.   If however you joined the company because you want to build a business, earn a full time income and work out of your home, then you need to speak and believe that you are a business owner.

If you’re going to be a business owner, you need not only to get into that mindset, but your words and actions need to reflect the same. Successful business owners are responsible for accounting, marketing, logistics, operations, human resources, procurement, managing, leading, legalities and product knowledge. Whether you are a solo entrepreneur or you outsource some of those responsibilities, they are still requirements that need to be fulfilled. Don’t diminish or minimize the importance of the work you put into your business. You perform a number of different functions to keep it running.

The efforts you put into your business will be indicative of what you get out of it. Put a little in, or treat it as a hobby, and you’ll get a little in return.   Although if you RYBLAB (Run Your Business Like a Business) you’ll realize much greater results.

It absolutely is possible and realistic to expect that you can earn a full time income with direct sales – providing you view yourself as a business owner and not “just a rep, consultant, distributor”.

About the Author: Laurie Ayers is a Michigan work from home mom and a Superstar Director with Scentsy Wickless Candles. She enjoys helping men and women start and maintain a home based business in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Germany, Ireland and the UK. To download a FREE Start Up Guide which provides more details about how to start a home business as well as to learn about our compensation plan go to https://www.thrivingcandlebusiness.com/how-to-start-a-candle-business/

Think Before You Spend

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Cost Benefit Analysis.   Wow those three words sure sound b.o.r.i.n.g. don’t they? Especially if you have a direct sales business and you’re just so excited about sharing your fabulous products with others. Phooey, who wants to be bothered with something as dull sounding as cost benefit analysis? Whoa now – if you’re interested in turning a profit with your exciting direct selling business you may want to pause a couple minutes just to see what I’m talking about. (Really, what else are you in such a hurry to do that you can’t just skim the rest of this riveting article?)

First of all, what am I even talking about? A Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project or decision. CBA has two purposes: 1. To determine if it is a sound investment/decision, and 2. To provide a basis for comparing alternatives. It involves comparing the total expected cost of each option against the total expected benefits, to see whether the benefits outweigh the costs, and by how much.

Huh?

All that means is before you spend money in your business, make sure there’s a high likelihood it will be worthwhile.

  • Before you invest hundreds of dollars to participate in a vendor event, determine how much product you’d need to sell just to break even; and factor in all your other expenses (travel, lodging, meals, marketing collateral, display items, etc.) when you’re doing the math. [Read more…] about Think Before You Spend

Short Term Pain for Long Term Gain

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Many, many years ago I attended an exercise class with eccentric, fitness guru, Richard Simmons. He bellowed, “It took you more than 10 m&ms to get those thighs; it’s going to take you more than 10 leg lifts to get rid of them!” Interestingly that statement has never left me because it is so relevant to many areas in life. It can even pertain to a direct sales business.

To review: a direct sales business is comprised of a two-tiered compensation model. Part of the sales consultant’s income is derived from personal retail sales and the other portion of the pay comes from team building by helping others. The compensation is such that for optimum benefits and highest income potential, you need to do both – sell personally and help others. One cannot stand on its own – at least not for very long and not for very far.

Which brings me to my subject: Short Term Pain for Long Term Gain. Let’s do the math. We can use Scentsy as an example, though the math will be similar with many direct selling companies. Personal retail sales commissions are paid at a rate of 20-30%. Team building bonuses are an additional 2-9%. At first glance you would think that the real money is in personal sales. If you sell $2000 and earn 30%, that’s $600 in your pocket, right? Yes it certainly is. What if you sold $4000? That’s $1200. Receiving a $1200 check for the month sure would help with family expenses, wouldn’t it?

Consider the concept of working smarter, not harder. How much do you think you’d need to work to sell $4000 in one month? If you take an average party of $500 in sales, you’d need to do eight parties for that month. If you figure an average party takes four hours – that includes preparation, host coaching, set up, presentation, order taking, closing out the party, inventorying, bagging and tagging orders and delivery. So you’d need to work 32 hours to earn that $1200. That’s still $37.50 per hour – nothing to sneeze at. [Read more…] about Short Term Pain for Long Term Gain

Direct Sales Lessons Learned from the Secretariat Movie

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The Secretariat is a movie based on the true story about the life of a thoroughbred race horse Secretariat, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973.  Diane Lane portrays Secretariat’s owner, Penny Chenery, and John Malkovich plays the trainer, Lucien Laurin. The movie has been out since 2010, but thanks to DVDs, I just watched it this week. In addition to being a movie about a horse, there are so many nuggets of wisdom in this movie. Nuggets as it relates to direct sales lessons, specifically lessons for direct sales leaders/managers/directors.

Taken from an online review of the movie: “The theme of “girl power” is played up in this movie. Penny finds herself a woman taking on a male-dominated world, having to stare down everybody from the loud-mouthed owner of Secretariat’s rival Sham who dismiss her as “just a housewife”, boorish hecklers in the stands at the races, pushy reporters who questioned her horse’s ability, Ogden Phipps, the richest man in America, and closer to home, her unsupportive husband who pressured her to sell her father’s money-losing farm and horses rather than complete the mission of owning the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. In the classic “underdog” storyline, she stands up to them all and wins.”

If you haven’t seen this movie, I give it a two-thumbs-up and it is definitely worth the rental. I found it at my local library; perhaps it’s available at Netflix or Redbox too.

Whether you are currently a direct sales leader or you are in the process of becoming one, consider the summary above.   Even without seeing the movie, can you identify somewhat with a girl-power theme in a male-dominated world? Sure a majority of independent direct sales consultants are females, but consider the senior ranks of managing and leading a large organization. You’re essentially CEO of your direct sales business, responsible for most facets of your business – marketing, sales, human resources, accounting, operations, logistics, transportation, etc. [Read more…] about Direct Sales Lessons Learned from the Secretariat Movie