InkBig - Moxie Mavens Playground!

Know Your Numbers

Everyone in Direct Sales has numbers in their mind all the time.

What is our minimum?

How much to earn my downine override?

how many recruits do I need?

 

Numbers are a huge part of our business.

But do you really know your numbers?

How much in sales does your average party produce?

What is the average each person spends at a party?

What is the average each person in your downline sells each month?

What is the average of new recruits added to your group monthly?

What is the average number of recruits who promote to the first level?

 

Every direct sales professioanl needs to know their personal numbers and their company numbers.

If you don't know these numbers it is impossible to really own or track where you would like to be.

If you want to sell $1000 more each month and don't have this information you are probably working really hard in areas that have no bearing on the outcome.

Which is wasted time. And I don't know about you but I have NO extra time to just throw away each day.

So this week figure out your numbers

Identify your number one goal.

Identify what exactly you need to do to reach this goal. EXACTLY

AND start tracking right now.

You will never know if the actions you are focused on are working if you are not tracking your numbers.

 

Be Inspired!

 

Lisa

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Direct Sales and Social Media

As some of you know we do a weekly free newsletter that focuses on using social media effectively in your direct sales business.

 

Blogging, Facebook, and Twitter are the areas we really focus on.

These are the big 3.

I think they give you a huge return on your time and are super easy to master. And that is important because your job is not social media, you job is selling, recruititng and training, right?

 

We are researching information right now on Pinterest and how it can be used to further your business. Those of us who are Pinterest addicts already know this baby is super fun and so addicting and truth be told can be a real time vampire if not managed well.

But can it help the profitability of your business?

We will keep you posted on what we find.

 

I am a huge believer in traditional face to face direct sales businesses.

I want to see my customers, interact with them, invite them into my home and visit theirs.

So when I talk about Social Media, it is in relationship to how it can support your traditional direct sales business.

 

So how does that work?

More and more people every day are using facebook, twitter, and reading blogs. Your customers and future customers are on line and you need to meet them where they are.

AND if you are interested in younger customers, those young professionals and young moms, you are hugely missing out  if you aren't on line.

You stay in front of them, add great value to their days, their interaction with you on line is seen by their friends who are on line, etc.

You can get weekly inspiration and direction by subscribing to our free weekly newsletter.

And if you want even more check this out

And here is the number one rule of Social Media and Direct Sales:

Social Media is not free advertising. It is not "look what's on sale", "come to my event", "sign up today", "be a hostess and get more free goodies".

Seriously, everytime I see this I just want to scream, "no, no, no, you are hurting your business!"

Social Media is your chance to add real value to your customers lives by sharing and adding to their conversations . It is your chance to become an expert by freely sharing tips, techniques and ideas to make their experieince better.

 

So join us by subscribing to the newseltter and really elevating your business to the level it needs to be at!

 

Be Inspired!

 

Lisa

hang out with us on facebook

follow us on twitter @inkbig

Sign up for our FREE Social Media Newsletter

 

Customer Service Will Make You Stand Out

Want to really stand out in your Direct Sales business?

Well, I have the answer!

It's a little crazy and out there, so prepare yourself.....

 

Follow Up with Your Customers!

 

I can't even begin to tell you how few, if any, direct sales professionals I work with have a strategy for following up with their customers.

 

So someone purchases your product or hosts a party for you, what do you do next?

How about giving this a try:

1) Write a thank you note

Thank the person for their time, their purchase....We all talk about how important relationship building is in Direct Sales, but I am not sure a lot of us really walk the talk

 

2) A Follow Up Phone Call

Oh boy, not the dreaded phone!!!!

Yep, after your customers receive their product how about calling to make sure they got the right products, they know what to do with the products, and if there is anything they discovered they needed that they didn't get

 

Now if you bought a scrapbook kit from me and you got a thank you note letting you know I enjoyed meeting you and appreciated your order

AND

I called you after you got your kit and said I just wanted to make sure you got the right product, do you have any questions about how to use it, is there anything else you need from me....

Would you think I was being pushy or I was providing good customer service?

 

Well, obviously it is good customer service.

So why is there so little of that in Direct Sales?

 

Set up a system for providing high quality customer service.

It will set you apart and it will make a huge impact on your business

 

Be inspired!

 

Lisa

hang out with us on facebook www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsellers

follow us on twitter @inkbig

Sign up for our FREE Social Media Newsletter HERE

3 Steps to Recruiting Success THIS Month

So we are coming to the end of January which is known as the best month to recruit in Direct Sales.

So how have you done so far this month?

 

Whether you have had a rock star recruiting month or a "hang your head in shame" month, we can change that in 3 easy steps and be sure you end the month ahead of where you are today!

 

1) Identify ALL the Perks of Your Direct Sales Business

It can be discounted and free product, great income, fun and socializing, flexible hours, great company support, awesome tax write offs, etc.

Make a bullet-ed list of everything you can think of that makes belonging to your direct sales business fabulous.

 

2) Identify Who Could Benefit from These Perks

Go thru your list of customers, hostesses, and former downline, friends, family, and co-workers with your bullet-ed list beside you. As you go thru each name, jot down which perks would most appeal to them.

Be thoughtful. What does your company offer that would really be of interest to them?

 

3) The Connect

Now write each of them an email letting them know that you were thinking of them and have something that you think would be a great benefit to them.

"Hey Jan, my company is doing a great promotion on our starter kit and I thought of you right away. I know how creative you are, and people like you have great success in our company and you would love all the fabulous ideas they provide for us. I would love to talk to you about this, let me know when would be a good time "

 

"Hey Michelle, my company is doing a great promotion on our starter kit and I thought of you right away. You are so stylish and organized, and people like you do great in this business and I know you would love all the support and direction the company offers. I would love to talk to you about this, let me know when would be a good time."

************************

the key to this is to be personal.

Don't send out a generic "hey sign up today and get..."

When you tell people you think they would be good at it and you let them know why, it creates a more honest and connected conversation.

The focus needs to be on what they are looking for, why they will succeed and not on YOU!

And don"t be afraid to put your personality into it. I am fairly casual in my business speak and pretty straight forward. So my customers hear this:

"hey girl! I have been thinking about you all day! My company is doing this awesome promotion and I definitely want to talk to you about it! You are so successful in your business and people like you become rock stars in this company. I want to share some of this with you today so let me know asap when is good. I can't wait!!!"

 

These 3 easy steps, plus your personality,  will make sure that the month of January is a great recruiting month for you and a month that will change the lives of the people you reach out to!

 

Be Inspired!

 

Lisa

hang out with us on facebook www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsellers

follow us on twitter @inkbig

Sign up for our FREE Social Media and Direct Sales Newsletter here

 

PS.

If you really want to rock your business this year make sure you have purchased our 2 E-Books, "Social Media and Direct Sales:Step into the Spotlight" AND "Make Your Blog Stand Out from the Crowd". 

 These are 24.95 each or you can bundle them 2/35.00 and will DRASTICALLY change your business. Your customers and future customers are on facebook, twitter and read blogs. YOU need to be where they are, and you need to do it right!

Email us at lisap53705@yahoo.com to order your books and to learn about our Social Media and Direct Sales Boot Camp: 90 days to Social Dominance

 

 

3 Steps to Train ALL Your Recruits to Succeed

In my 12 years of direct sales business I have recruited A LOT of demonstrators. Some have had amazing success and some have, well, not had the easiest time.

 

This is not surprising right?

But what surprised me so much in the beginning was that those recruits who were determined to build a business were no more likely to achieve success than those who go in it "just for themselves"

 

Now there are lots of theories as to why this is. But rather than focus on why this happens, I like to focus on what to do with the information.

 

And here is what I determined very early in my business, and truly made the biggest difference in my award winning career.

 

Regardless of why someone signed up or what their initial goals were, I always trained them for the business.

I had what I called a "Roadmap to Success" and set all of my new recruits up on it.

It wasn't anything to tough, it was something every one could do.

It looked a little like this:

1) Send an email out to all your friends and relatives and let them know you are now a demonstrator, how to reach you, and how to place an order with you

 

2) Schedule an open house to share your product. My company had a title promotion and free product when they hit $1000 i n sales and I wanted to make sure they got that little tast of success right away

 

3) It is always fun to do something new with a friend, so get a friend, co-worker, family member to do it with you. Now they have a recruit and a partner in crime.

 

Once my recruits did these 3 things they have started to build a customer base, had the fun of being recognized for their efforts and shared the business opportunity.

Before they knew it they were well on their way to having a business, not just a hobby.

 

So don't let your recruit determine your training. Prepare everyone for success.

 

You never know who will be the rockstar, who will be the steady builder, and who will be on to the next shiny thing tomorrow.

 

Be Inspired!

 

Lisa

hang out with us on facebook www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsellers

follow us on twitter @inkbig

Sign up for our FREE Social Media and Direct Sales Newsletter HERE

 

How to be Open for Business

Are you open for business?

 

In direct sales it is so important to be open for business all the time.

Since we don't have a set retail space or business hours, everywhere we go there are potential customers, hostesses and recruits. And we need to be ready to interact with them and give them the information they are looking for.

Now I 'm not a big fan of approaching people I don't know and handing out my information. I know I would be uncomfortable if people came up to me and just started handing out their information without some type of personal connection or a really good reason to share.

 

So, what is a good conversation starter?

How do we open the door to sharing what we love?

 

Well, being open for business means always having business cards, newslwetters, invitations to upcoming events, recruit materials, catalogs, etc with you.

And I like to carry them in what a I call a business bag. My business bag is a beautiful bag with my company name VERY prominenelty displayed.

Why does this work?

Well if you see my bag and say

"Oh, do you work for..."

OR

"Oh my gosh, I love...."

OR

"Hey, when does the new catalog come out..."

 

I can now talk to you about my business.

If you look at my bag and don't comment on it then I do not bring it up to you. It is obvious what I do, that I really love it, and I am proud of it. But I don't need to share it with everybody. I just need to be ready to share it with those who are open to the conversation.

 

Being open for business means creating opportunites to talk about what you do and being prepared for talking and sharing all of your business opportunites.

So schedule time this week to get your business bag together and be open for business.

 

Be Inspired!

 

Lisa

hang out with us on facebook www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsellers

follow us on twitter @inkbig

sign up for our free Social Media and Direct Sales Newsletter here

 

Skip the Pitch - Be a Social Media Rockstar!

We just sent out our FREE Social Media and Direct Sales Newsletter,

 

If you don't get our newsletter, you can sign up on our side bar or here

 

Our theme this week is "skip the pitch", you can find it posted on our facebook page

 

I am not going to repeat it here, you can check it out if you want, (and I know you want to) but I do want to share with you one part that is so critical  in your direct sales business:

 

You are more important than the product you sell.

Your story, your persepctive, your charm, wit, warmth is what will draw people to you and your business offerings.

 

So be sure to invest yourself, show up,

 

be the rockstar you are and your business will grow!

 

Be Inspired!

 

Lisa

hang out with us on facebook www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsellers

follow us on twitter @inkbig

Sign up for our FREE Social Media Newsletter here

9 Million Said Yes

I just read an interesting article that stated 25,000 people join a Direct Sales company every day in the US.

That's 175,000 a week

 

750, 000 a month

 

Over 9 million a year

 

So how many people have you recruited in the past year?

Yeah, those numbers are pretty humbling.

We can look at that and think, "man, I just want a couple recruits"

But I think it really makes us look at ourselves and ask "how hard am I really working to recruit and build my team/downline?"

 

And I think most of us really have to own that we are not working as hard as we could.

And I will bet the single biggest thing that gets in our way is self doubt and fear.

What if they say no?

What if they think I am bugging them?

 

But look again at those numbers. Over 9 million people a year!

That is a lot of people.

Which means there are plenty of people who are saying yes.

 

So hear is what I did with that number:

I printed up an 8 1/2 x 11 with the number 9,000,000 on it and posted it in my office.

Everytime that self doubt starts to sneak in, and we all know it does, I look at that number and think, "all I need is one this week, that is so doable"

 

So commit to getting your  1 of the 175,000 this week.

They are out there, waiting for you to ask, waiting for you to believe they have what it takes.

 

Be Inspired!

 

Lisa

hang out with us on facebook at www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsellers

follow us on twitter @inkbig

sign up for our free social media and direct sales newsletter HERE

 

The 1 Degree Difference in Your Direct Sales Business

One of the speeches I gave at a Leadership Event was built around the 1 degree theory.

Water boils at 212 degrees

At 211 degrees it is just hot water

 

There are times when we feel like our business is "just hot water" and needs a 1 degree tune up to reach that boiling point

 

So the question is, What is your 1 degree difference?

 

 

When we look at our direct sales business and want to improve/change what we are doing we start to make lists of all the things we need to do differently.

We are going to call more people every day

We are going to do better hostess coaching

We are going to fine tune our presentation

We are going to do better follow up

We are going to write and send thank you notes

We are going to recruit more

We are going to do better training

We are going to offer downline incentives

We are going to do more events

 

I got tired just typing all those out!

So let's get real.

Very few people are going to be able to overhaul their entire business. It is too much change, too much to get our arms around. Which means we start out gung ho, ready to rock the wold and after a couple days we get overwhelmed and just go back to the same old ways.

And the worst part is that then we feel bad because we failed.

 

So pick one thing that will be your 1 degree difference and MASTER it.

Schedule it

Own it

Make it part of your everyday business.

And rock it.

 

If you decide to focus on hostess coaching, be the best at hostess coaching.

If you decide to focus on training, be the best at training.

Because if you do one thing with all your heart and intention it will make a difference in your business.

And it will make a difference in you.

You will feel successful.

You will be honoring your intentions.

And there is nothing that will boost your business like honoring and investing in what you think is important.

 

It is so easy to get sidetracked in Direct Sales.

But when you stay focused on your goals and fill your days with powerful actionable steps, you will develop confidence and you will have added that 1 degree difference that takes your business from "just hot water" to "boiling"

 

Be Inspired!

Lisa

check us out on facebook www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsales

follow us on twitter @inkbig

Sign up for our free social media and direct sales newsletter here

 

 

 

Direct Sales and Blogging: "Make Your Blog Stand Out" E-Book

Woo Hoo!

We are celebrating as we are launching our newest training tool, our new E Book, "Direct Sales and Blogging: Make Your Blog Stands out from the Crowd"

 

This 38 page E book is full of tips, ideas, and how tos to make sure your blog stands out and helps you reach your business goals.

In this book we go over:

How to Create Your Blog as a Home Base

The 2 Big "S"s of Blogging

Over 60 Ideas for Posts that will Draw in Readers

Getting Your Followers to Be Your Biggest Cheerleaders

Google Search and SEO, What are these and how to OWN them

How to Create a Community on Your Blog

And of course, How to Be Sure Your Blog is Making Money For You!

 

If you are not blogging you are missing out on connecting with your customers and future customers.

If you are blogging but making some big mistakes, you are wasting your time and energy

 

So ask yourself, would I like to make more money in my direct sales busineess?

Is my blog currently making me money in my direct sales business?

 

For the price of a couple of lattes you can get all the tips and tricks to make sure your blog is on track, supporting your business, and making you money.

 

this 38 page book is yours for just 24.95,

and if you don't have our "Social Media and Direct Sales:Step Into the Spotlight" e Book you can bundle them for $35 for both.

I totally recommend this!

If you skip our Social Media book it is like skipping dinner and just eating dessert, you need the foundation

So email us at lisap53705@yahoo.com to get your copy today!

 

Be Inspired!

Lisa

come hang out with us on facebook www.facebook.com/inkbigfordirectsellers

follow us on twitter @inkbig

Sign up for our FREE Social Media Newsletter HERE