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Laurie Ayers Scentsy Independent Consultant Blog

Direct Sales Lessons Learned from MSU

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The staffers at Michigan State University can teach us a few things about direct sales.

Huh?   If you think I’m really stretching to find a correlation here, read on.

The MSU Spartans for eight years in a row have held the title of the Top Public University when it comes to Study Abroad involvement.   One quarter of their entire student body have participated in at least one Study Abroad experience. With 49,000 students, that’s a lot of people who said Yes to the opportunity.

Can you imagine if 25% of your team were business builders? Or if 25% of your team attended your annual convention or monthly meetings? Or if 25% participated in the corporate training modules offered freely to all consultants? How would your direct sales business look if 25% of all your hosts opted to enroll as a consultant? What if 25% of all your customers reordered each month?

The possibilities are endless if you consider a 25% success rate for all aspects of your independent direct sales business.  To put it in perspective, loose statistics for the direct sales industry is that 2% will hang in there to advance to top ranks. If you get 10% attendance of those you invite to parties or convention, you’re doing well.   Of those consultants who enroll 50% will quit within the first two years.

The Secret to MSU’s Success

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Pumped Up From Convention!

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doubleyayMany direct sales companies just had or are soon having their annual convention for their independent sales consultants.

Woohoo! Yay! Double Yay! Pumped up! Rah! Refreshed! Rejuvenated! Reconnected! Ready to rock and roll! So Excited! Motivated! Inspired! Life Changing! “¦ and all sorts of other adjectives.

That is exactly what convention is supposed to do. So mission accomplished. Aren’t you glad you went? If you didn’t go, aren’t you bummed you missed it, especially after you see all the excitement your fellow consultants are experiencing?

Start planning to attend next year, and start planning today.  Whether that means you start setting aside money each week or each month or it means you work your tail off and earn the trip (if that is an option with your company) but the point is to start TODAY.

Now that convention is over what are you doing to keep up the motivation?

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing that’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar [Read more…] about Pumped Up From Convention!

Active vs. Passive Recruiting

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active vs passive recruitingOne of the biggest challenges for some independent direct sales consultants is recruiting new team members.   This is in part because it requires getting out of their comfort zone, and building relationships with people.

In the age of technology, face to face dialogues are becoming less common in some circles.  The newer generation rarely talks on the phone, let alone meeting face to face. They’re more comfortable texting each other. It’s effective; but it’s also impersonal.

There are two type of recruiting activities that you can engage in for your direct sales business:

Passive and Active Recruiting

Passive would include activities such as marketing your website; blogging; social networking; posting flyers; and passing out business cards. Passive recruiting is good and necessary to build your business. However it comes with limitations. It will only take you so far if you’re not building personal relationships. Passive recruiting should be viewed as extra activities – not the only activities and not the core methods of building your team. [Read more…] about Active vs. Passive Recruiting

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?