5 Tips for More Leads & Reorders

by Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso
http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

Recently I wanted to contact a representative whose business card I had. The business card had an email address however, when I emailed her, it bounced. I checked the business card for a website address which had none. I had to find the company's corporate site and hunt her down through her name. I had no personal website link and no representative number. A word of caution, an average customer won't go through all the trouble.

Here's 5 tips to make sure you are making it as easy as possible for customers to contact you:

1. Contact Information on Promotional Materials
Make sure your contact information is on all materials you hand out (ie: brochures, catalogs, business cards). Your materials should have at least your name, company name, consultant number, email address and website url.

2. Business Cards
Have at least business cards on you at all times. If you have smaller brochures, pamphlets or something of that nature you can pop in your purse, bring those too.

3. Signature Lines
Utilize signature lines. I don't know how many emails we've gotten from folks who don't use signatures. It's a super-easy method that can used with little to no effort. Check out your email program to find out how to set one up.

All you really need is a catchy little tag-line and add your website url. I've also seen signatures that look like a business card. It includes their name, business name, consultant number, email address and url. I do not however, recommend the business card graphics in your email. Don't forget that there are some who don't allow html in their email and they take up way too much space. They're almost as bad as using fancy stationery on your email. Almost all message boards allow you to have a signature line also. Use them!

4. Reordering Information
Include a business card, pamphlet, catalog or something of this nature in every order you send out. You already have the customer, now make it easy for them to reorder.

5. Return Labels
The next time you buy return address labels, include your website address. For example:
MyWebsite.com123
Any Street
Any Town, Any State 12345
Use these labels whether you're sending out your next order or paying your electric bill.

The above are only a few ideas that can be done with little to no effort and inexpensively. Use your creativity, it can be your best friend. Think about the things that you're already doing and alter them just a bit to your businesses benefit.

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/ for free weekly tips.

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Once you’ve been in direct sales for a few years it’s easy to get in the “I know what I’m doing mindset.” You stop reading articles, training manuals and books. “I’ve been doing this for ten years, what can I possibly learn that I don’t already know?” Simply put … a lot. Are you still using the same booking methods you used five years ago? Everyone in your community knows you’re the person to see for your particular product line, right? Or do they?

It never hurts to try something new for a change. Liven up your presentation or display. Play a new game or try a new technique. Don’t get yourself in a rut doing the same things over and over again.

We’ve all had it happen … A group of friends get together and book parties to help each other out. The next thing you know; you have four or five parties and the guest list is almost exactly the same. Just because the guests are the same, doesn’t mean the party has to be the same too. Change the format for each party. Play different games or change the presentation. Keep it interesting and keep them guessing.

Pull out that old training material or better yet, go online and search for a new book. But while you’re reading this material, remember that your mind needs to be like that book. You’re not going to get anything out of it unless you open it. Ever do that? “Wow! What a great idea!” And that’s as far as it goes? Are you actually applying these things?

I don’t know how many times we’ve gotten feedback thanking us for the great tip we shared. We of course reply with the usual – glad to help type response. The next time we’ll say, “Great! Now let us know when you’ve applied it.”

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly.

Are You A Good Team Leader?

When and how was the last time you contacted your downline? Keeping in touch with your downline and proper training is a very important aspect of being a team leader. I don’t know many people who were born “just knowing what to do”, how about you?

Setting up a Yahoo Group is a great way to train your team members that comes with many benefits such as:

- Members will be able to check old posts to see if some questions have been asked and answered.

- Eventually, you’ll find that other team members will start to help answering questions (saving yourself a lot of time).

- Files such as printable brochures, price lists, frequently asked questions etc. can be uploaded your group.

- You can create databases with important information.- Calendars can be created with important dates to remember.

- You have access to a reminder program that you can set up to send out a reminder on a certain time, date etc.

- You can send out articles, tips and tricks to help your team build their businesses. You can sign up to have weekly direct sales articles sent to you via email at http://direct-sales-team.blogspot.com

There are many, many other benefits of doing this. Setting up a yahoo group is very easy to do and best of all … It’s free. You can set up your own yahoo group by going to http://groups.yahoo.com

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly tips.

Is Your Downline Needy?

Of course as a team leader, it’s your responsibility to be there and help your downline as much as possible. However, having overly needy team members can be detrimental to your business.
Taking each of your downline members by the hand for every single step makes it very difficult to do other things such as …

- Take care of other members who might need quite as much help.
- Build your team by recruiting.
- Promote your own business.
- And worst of all, you run out of time to take proper care of your customers.

You know who I’m talking about…

- The ones who ask the same questions over and over again.
- Those who ask the very same questions that are listed in the training manual you just gave them.
- Those who ask questions that can be answered by simply using a little basic, common sense.

Everyone (hopefully) wants to be a good team leader and wants to help their downline be as successful as possible … so, what do you do?

- Start keeping track of these questions. Start yourself a “FAQ” list with the answers and give them to every new team member.

- Start answering questions that you know are listed in training manuals or other materials like this:

“You will be paid commissions via paypal on the 10th of each month. This and other details are listed on page 22 in the Getting Started Manual.”

By doing this you’ll not only answer the question, but also hopefully this will remind them to check other materials before asking you. If you were to ask where they looked; more times than not you’re going to hear “Nowhere, I just contacted you.”

- Sometimes you’ll find that recruits are so deep into trying to do everything “perfect” that they forget that some things are just common sense. Have you ever heard of “Book Smart – Common Sense Dumb”? Politely remind your recruits to not make things so difficult and answer questions like this …
“Think about it this way … your customers can have their orders dropshipped to the recipient, so yes, you can have your orders dropshipped directly to your customers.

Don’t ever discourage your team members from asking questions. But do help them learn how to answer some questions on their own. This will not only help you have more time for more intense training and motivation but also will make your team members a lot more independent – eventually turning them into a much stronger business owner.

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly tips.

Vendors Are Customers Too

One of my problems with being a vendor at craft shows is making too many purchases. Since there are always two of us at the table, we often walk around and talk to other vendors. Which of course, leads to buying stuff. Many vendors do this, often times before the show or when they can "sneak away" for a few minutes.

A few weeks ago at a large craft show I was making my normal rounds before the show actually started. I came across a very large, nicely set up display of homemade gourmet mixes. You know the kind - dip mixes, teas, breads, etc. The table was set up for the most part, with samples already set out. There were cute signs and information carefully layed out on the table for customers to read, and at least 2 vendors working this table. The name itself caught my eye, since it's one I had thought I'd seen online, so I wanted to ask them a few questions.

I stood there for a few seconds, waiting for one of the vendors to finish her conversation with a personal friend. After a minute or so, they began to talk about a mutual friend of their's and his medical conditions, which happen to be something most wouldn't want to hear when looking at food. I couldn't get away from their table fast enough, I was disgusted! Not only did the vendor not acknowledge me in any way, but proceeded to talk to a friend about matters you do NOT want to hear when around food. Several hours later, I purchased a beer bread mix from their competition just a few tables down.

Some might say, "What's the big deal? The show hadn't started yet and you were a vendor!". While it's true the doors hadn't been officially opened yet, there were still other people around. Don't forget that vendors are customers too. There hasn't been one single show that I've been to where I didn't buy something from another vendors, or a vendor didn't buy from us. We treat EVERYONE like a customer, and because of that sell to several of the other vendors every time.

Basically what can be learned from this is don't ever write off a person as not being a customer. It doesn't matter how nice of a set up you have, if you aren't giving your full attention to every single person that walks by regardless of who they are, you are going to loose out!

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. For additional help at offline events, visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/offline-events.htm