We have ALL experienced what you are about to read.  I have not read a truer article in a very long time and I think Julie Anne Jones does an exceptional job explaining to us why it’s so important to “get real” with your direct sales business.

Successful relationships are the foundation of all success in life: both professionally and personally. Professionally, effective relationship building skills can mean the difference between triumph and defeat, particularly in a sales and/or service based environment. The importance of building strong, long-term professional relationships by taking the time to effectively “follow-up,” cannot be overstated. Yet many sales specialists such as realtors, pharmaceutical sales representatives and small business or home-based business owners simply fall short in this area, not for lack of trying, but simply because they lack guidance and expertise. Following-up is an art form that once mastered, will be an invaluable element for sales success. As Robert Collier once said, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

The Importance of Follow-Up? Everyone wants to feel special, valued and remembered. Our frenzied schedules often leave very little time to think about, appreciate or thank anyone in our lives, especially new contacts. However, that’s the essential ingredient to successful relationship building. By taking the time to make someone else feel valued you make yourself stand out in a crowd, helping to build a positive rapport of trust and respect with prospective and existing clients. To paraphrase the principles of the Law of Attraction, whatever you put out into the world is what you will get back in return. Thus going the extra mile, which might only take an extra few minutes a day, to appreciate your clients and/or prospective clients is a must to attaining your goals. Focus on giving instead of getting and remember that relationship building takes time, organization and perseverance but it is well worth it in the end.

ALWAYS Follow-Up With… -It’s always a nice touch to follow-up in both your professional and personal life. However, sometimes it’s hard to follow-up with absolutely everybody. Thus, professionally you’ll want to do so with associates and people you meet at seminars and other events; existing clients i.e. on their birthday; referrals from existing clients (make sure to thank the source of the referral as well); prospects from sales meetings; coworkers who have assisted you in some way; friends; people who may have sent you a compliment or congratulations on a sale/accomplishment, or remembered a special event, anniversary or holiday. Think of how nice it feels for you when you receive a follow-up call, email, note or card. The same is true for everyone else as well.

The Elements of Flawless Follow-Up – Set defined professional goals prior to attending networking/connection events, prospect meetings and collecting business cards. Some people you meet will be good for business leads and referrals, while others might act as mentors and/or coaches in the future. Thus, take the time to have an active conversation with new people to find out more about them and their interests and expertise. When you make a new contact, immediately afterward, make sure to take notes regarding why you want to contact them in the future, note something specific you discussed and how best to follow-up. This will help you stay organized and will allow you to maintain a personal touch in your follow-up. It let’s the other person know that you were actually listening and were genuinely interested in learning more about them.

Stay in on-going contact with your new prospects…in fact think of them as new “friends.” Consistency is key to building a positive rapport. The more of an effort you make to stand out, the more likely that they will remember you, your company and services/products as a resource for their own personal or professional needs down the line.

Most important is the type of follow-up you choose and there are quite a few options. Use the annotations you made after your initial meeting to assist in choosing the appropriate method of follow-up. The following are the tried and true of sensational follow-up:

• Thank you notes: Take the time to show your customers your appreciation. Not only will they feel great, they will also almost certainly refer other clients your way. Poor time management often leads Entrepreneurs to neglect this small but effective touch so if you “follow through” you’re one step ahead of your competitor. Consider opening an account with an online greeting card company that will stuff, stamp and mail for you. This is a fantastic and more cost effective way to track contact information, set scheduled mailings, set reminders all while providing that extra special touch.
• Remember to mark special occasions: Keep a database to track client information (online greeting card companies allow for this and will automatically remind you of your clients/prospects special occasions). Birthdays, anniversaries, baby on the way and the like, are important to your customers, so they should be important to you as well. Remember their special day with a greeting card and they won’t soon forget you!
• Send a thoughtful gift: For an extra special “thank you,” consider sending a well-timed gift. For instance, following a real estate transaction send a personalized greeting card along with a gift card for a home remodeling or design store. Or send a gift basket that includes a restaurant gift card, delivery menus for the area and a free movie rental to welcome new homeowners. Going the extra mile will engender lifelong loyalty. Once again, certain online greeting card companies provide the gift card option right on their website, thereby saving you time yet allowing you to go the extra mile…without actually having to physically “go that extra mile!”
• Send out monthly mailings: Use these pieces to provide interesting, fun and informative information. The goal is to make the recipient smile while simultaneously reminding them that you’re still around. Send postcards, pamphlets, newsletters or greeting cards with useful tips, monthly calendar fridge magnets, client of the moth profiles, contests to win free movie passes, recipes, community events etc…
• E-mail updates: Once a month email your clients to keep them updated on your latest sale, achievement, product/service updates and personal milestones.
• Face time: Try to schedule some one on one time with clients, either over coffee or a quick lunch. Take an actual interest in their lives and they will remain loyal customers.
• Quality assurance: Call your clients to inquire as to the quality of service they received. What worked for them? What, if anything, didn’t and could be improved upon? Most importantly, are they happy overall? Customer satisfaction is job one!
• Set up your own client referral program: Use your client database to generate business for them as well as for yourself. The sincerest form of flattery is a referral. Send business their way and they will do the same. Give to get back…it works!

It’s proven and unequivocal, the essence of establishing long term, profitable business relationships is first-class follow-up. Time and time again, those who are the very embodiment of professional success; people like Jack Welch former CEO of GE and Real Estate Mogul Donald Trump, confirm that they make follow-up a top priority. If you want to turn that new lead or contact into a loyal client, the secret is simple…follow-up is foolproof!

Sources: Realty Tracker Online/LookSmart: Find Articles Online/Business Creator Pro/”Following Up Builds Business
Relationships” by: Kelle Campbell.

Barbara Theodosiou is the founder of Mommy Mentors. Mommy Mentors goal is to encourage and assist every woman to share her inspirations, hopes and dreams with other women throughout the world. We know that by sharing our weaknesses we can build strength, and by sharing our strengths we can become stronger. To learn more visit www.mommymentors.com

Why do so many women feel uncomfortable approaching others about their network marketing or direct sales business? They believe in their product, they believe in themselves, they know their business opportunity can literally change lives, yet they hesitate. Can you relate? If so, it’s likely that you’ve been taught a way to recruit others that feels a bit “unnatural.” You may have been instructed to use a cheesy script or “old school” technique that can leave you feeling like a bad used car salesperson.

Does It Have to Be This Way? – Absolutely not! Fortunately, there is a different approach to sponsoring that will make this experience so much easier for you (and believe it or not – you’ll even come to enjoy it!) Women who use this approach feel so much more comfortable and confident when talking about their opportunity (and therefore take more action and get much better results than ever before).

By following this simple five-step process you’ll engage people in meaningful conversations. They’ll trust you, be a lot more open-minded, and seriously consider whether your business opportunity can help them achieve their goals. The best part? You don’t have to leave your integrity at the door.

Five Steps to Elegantly Recruit New Business Builders

Step 1: Serve, Don’t Sell – “Recruiting with integrity” is about service, not about selling. You’re not out to convince people to join your business, but to see if you can make a positive difference in their lives.

Before approaching anyone about your business, decide to come from a place of curiosity and non-attachment. Check your agenda at the door and put other people’s needs and desires first. Your prospects will pick up on your sincerity, and be more open to your questions and suggestions.

Step 2: Listen More, Talk Less – Many women (blame it on our enthusiasm) talk too much when sharing about the business. We can go into (overwhelming) detail about the compensation plan, the history of the company, or the science behind our products. We can unintentionally hijack the conversation (and leave our poor prospects staring blankly at us with that “deer in the headlights” look)!

When you are recruiting someone, spend the majority of your time listening. Ask questions to find out what is meaningful to them. Ask about their job, income, family life and kids. What are their goals? What is their ideal lifestyle? Aim to spend 80 percent of your time listening and only 20 percent talking.

By listening and asking questions you’ll learn key information about your prospect’s main problems, concerns or dreams, and how your business could possibly help them in these areas. Without uncovering and connecting to their most important problems or desires, any information you share about your business won’t carry much weight.

Step 3: Have Nothing to Hide – Many of us have been taught ways to snag prospects into discussing the business (without being completely upfront about our intentions). Ultimately, this approach just doesn’t work. People can smell your insincerity a mile away. You may get them to agree to a meeting, but they won’t be truly interested in what you have to say (and chances are, will make a last minute excuse and now even show up).

It’s better to be direct and sincere. Tell people you have a business opportunity that could possibly be very helpful to them. Point out the benefits that are relevant to them (and you know what’s important to them because you’ve listened, asked questions, and uncovered their motivation). Share how you think your business can help them reach their goals, then ask if they’d be willing to sit down over lunch or coffee to learn more.

Step 4: Take the Pressure Off – When you meet over coffee, start by taking off the pressure. People will fear that you’re going to try to sell them something they don’t want. Tell them upfront: you’re not there to convince them of anything-you just want to educate them about your business so they can make an informed decision. Let them know you only want them to join the business if it’s an absolute fit (and mean this!) and there are no hard feelings if they say “no.”

By being completely honest and up front, people will trust you more. They’ll feel more comfortable answering your questions, and you’ll be more “attractive,” especially to the more polished professionals or business people in your warm market.

Step 5: Be Willing to Not Sponsor People – So you’ve come from a place of integrity, listened, asked questions and removed any pressure. You’ve finished your coffee, but your prospect seems only mildly interested-what now?

You’re far better off sponsoring a few people who are serious about your business than many people who are not. Trust your gut (as hard as that may be!). Don’t waste time and energy trying to recruit someone who’s just not a fit – it won’t be a workable situation for either one of you.

Knowing when to let go of a prospect (and move on to someone more qualified) will give you the confidence to act with integrity. There are plenty of people who want what you have. Be brave enough (and picky enough) to find them-then everyone wins.

Sonia Stringer is a professional speaker, coach and popular mentor to women in the network marketing/direct selling profession. Known as “The Women’s Business Coach,” she is fast becoming the “go to expert” for women who want to build a 6-7 figure business from home. Sonia’s unique approach can help you earn a great income AND set up your business so you have more time (to spend with your family or doing what you love). Visit her website and to grab a free copy of her audio CD, “Six Figure Success Secrets for Network Marketing Women”. http://www.SavvyNetworkMarketingWomen.com

So your business is doing well. You have a very happy customer base. And you’re tempted to just sit back and relax. You even ease up on your marketing campaigns.

Hold on a minute. Let’s get it straight. You may be getting the results you want and you seem to have happy customers that keep on coming back for your products and services. But this doesn’t mean that your good service will keep and retain your customers. Good service is not enough anymore to maintain a stream of loyal customers returning to your business again and again. With an ever-changing economic climate, as well as your customers’ needs and wants constantly evolving, you also need to evolve yourself so you can keep up with the changes. Your business need to be dynamic and receptive to ideas to make your customer service even better. By improving your customer service, you are more likely to keep your existing clients, as well as get new ones to further grow your business.

Here’s how:

Improve on your employees. Train them with new and better ways to reinforce satisfaction on your customer service. Some of your employees may need to learn how to react to specific difficult situations albeit their expertise in treating customers very well. Still others may need more guidance in covering certain scenarios that need immediate response. No matter what the situation entails, training your employees is one of the best means to further improve on your customer satisfaction of the services provided.

Make sure that your employees know where you are when it comes to providing customer service. Let them in on company goals and vision. And although they are competent, you still need to spell it out and make it clear to them how you need them to respond on certain situations. Encourage people to react appropriately and teach them why they need to make certain decisions when faced with a particular difficult situation.

Provide a strong rewards system. Offer rewards and incentives to employees who have been exemplary in providing great customer service. By providing incentives, you can get your employees to work hard to achieve your goals. Your customers will surely notice the difference with the way your staff handles your customers.

And you don’t even have to re-arrange your budget to accommodate a pay raise as an incentive. Get to know your staff and provide them more personal incentives that are inclined towards their interests rather than the salary. And don’t forget that the best incentive to increase employees’ efforts is to praise them constantly. A word of approval can boost self-esteem and company morale.

Be responsive. Be sure to respond right away to your customers’ feedback, questions and complaints. Be sure to have all the necessary contact information in your marketing collaterals to make it easier for your customers to get in touch with you. And if you still don’t have a printing company to produce quality materials to exemplify the kind of quality service you provide, look for offline printing company reviews, as well as online printing reviews, to get you the best printer to provide you with the collaterals that are appropriate to convey your message.

By responding to your customers, you are telling them that they are special. They may even be pleasantly surprised that you took the time to listen to them and would be more encouraged to go to you every time they need to satisfy a need.

And as always, be sure to turn a negative into a positive. Don’t be discouraged when a customer expresses his or her dissatisfaction. Instead, take it as an opportunity to provide exceptional service by turning the situation into something that will benefit both you and your customer. Respond to the situation as promptly as you can. Be diplomatic in answering their discontent and frustration. The effort you put to appeasing an irate customer will go a long way in building a relationship with your client that would ensure that you have his or her loyalty for a very long time.

For more information, you can visit this page on www.printplace.com/printproducts/customer-reviews.aspx

In any direct sales business there is the opportunity to lead, develop and train a team that you have brought together by recruitment. Some recruiters may be experienced at leading and developing a team. Some may be inexperienced. There certainly is a lot to learn and an even greater amount that you need know to be able to train others.

One thing that is imperative as a team trainer is to lead by example. Sure, it is easy to tell someone how to properly run a business and how to recruit and train a team. But in a direct sales business, leading by example is the easiest way to teach and show others how to be successful at their business of choice.

If you as a leader and team trainer expect your recruits to book and hold 2 shows a week, then you need to be booking and holding 3 or more shows a week. Similarly, if you tell people that it is easy to recruit 5 people a month, you need to be adding 5-7 a month.

Showing people how to work their direct sales business speaks so much louder than someone who tells people how to run their business. Your team will respect you and follow What you do if you are showing them How you do it. You know what happens if you tell people what to do… some people may get their back up.

If you want to be a strong and effective team trainer, take your knowledge that you have learned through trial and error and share it with your team. I think that leading by example is the only way that you can be truly train and lead your direct sales team into higher levels of success.

What do you think?!

Copyright Chris Carroll and DirectSalesTalk.  If you see this on any other site without my byline, please let me know.

When people attend direct sales parties, they have certain expectations. There’s probably an expectation to have a good time. However, you can go further than that. Here are a few easy tips to make your direct sales parties more fun, to make sure everyone has a great time.

1. Include A Contest – One great way to get the party off to a fun start is to host a contest to get people talking and mingling. For example, if you’re selling makeup, you can have a “name that lipstick” contest to see who can come up with the most creative or interesting name. If you’re hosting a party for home goods, you could choose one of those items whose job isn’t apparent and hold a contest for people to guess what the item is used for. You can also fill a jar with money, ask people to guess how much is in the jar and give them the jar as a reward – a jar full of money will put anyone in a good mood!

2. A Smile Goes A Long Way – A good, old-fashioned genuine smile is contagious and it’ll spread like butter on a hot day. Welcome each guest like you would a long lost family member and make them feel welcome and appreciated.

3. Use Background Music – Parties can lull and when they’re too quiet it can become awkward. Have some festive music playing to set the mood – not too loud, of course, because you want people to be able to hear each other speak.

4. Use Decorations – Decorate a bit to make the party feel like a party. Now you don’t have to put up balloons and streamers, but a beautiful bouquet or two of flowers, some candles and smaller decorations can make it feel like a party. And hey, if you want to put up some balloons and streamers, go for it!

5. Food…Always Food! Feed them! Food has a way of bringing everyone together and it can make an average direct sales party a superior one. A few tasty appetizers and some decorative cocktail napkins is a nice touch.

6. Have Plenty of Product Available – Let attendees handle the products. People love to be able to touch, examine and explore products and many sales experts agree that once a product is in the hands of the customer, the sale is almost guaranteed. Let your party attendees handle the products. In fact, if you can display them on a table and let people explore that’s a great way to decorate too.

7. Play Games – Play a game or two. We already talked about contests; however, a game can also lighten the mood and make a direct sales party more fun. For example, a hostess scavenger hunt is a fun way to get people to work together and have fun.

Making a direct sales party fun just takes a little planning and a desire to make each party you hold the best it can be.

And now I would like to invite you to receive Free Instant Access to my niche marketing and advertising blog, The Project Marketer. It is your complete resource for absolute victory in marketing and advertising online: http://www.ProjectMarketer.com