Have you ever sat down to figure out the cost of your new customer?

I don’t want to scare you, but it can be expensive if you count the cost of the brochures, the time it took you to find the client, the advertising, the cost of delivery, and all of the other nuances along the way.

So keeping this hard earned, expensive customer happy and coming back for more is going to be the key for the overall success of your business. As you just figured out, finding new clients is expensive. The good news is that keeping them is at a much higher gross profit.

So let’s talk about how we can keep them happy and coming back time after time!

• Establish a report with them immediately. Take the time to chat with them. Ask about their family; their product likes and dislikes; their wish list. Make a mental note and then write it down in your office in a manner that you can keep track of your customers. You want to keep track of what they purchased as well.
• By tracking their purchases, you can then offer suggestions on items that will work well with their tastes and desires. Offering a special grouping on things that work well together can increase your sale and their gratitude. You take the guesswork out of their hands.
• Be consistent on placing orders and on deliveries. Don’t make your customer hunt you down to find their products. They should know when it is coming and if it’s late, let them know immediately. If you are in a party plan, make sure the customer knows they can reorder at anytime. Maybe set up a constant order day per week or every other week. .
• Drop postcards in the mail every so often to let your customer know about upcoming specials or new catalogs. Make sure to personalize the mailing, even with a simple “I thought about you when I saw this product. I’ll call you soon.”
• Call your customers after a delivery of a new product and make sure they love it and they know how to use it. Attaching instructions or tips for use with the product is a great service and greatly appreciated.
• Ask for feedback. How are we doing? What are your needs? Are we fulfilling your needs? Be quick to respond to any and all feedback.

You can spoil your customer with personalized service because you are getting to know them personally. Cherish that and respect that. Relationship building is so very important in this marketplace that you have to take the time to think ahead and do something just a little special. Maximize the dollars that you spend finding your new customers so you can make sure that they will be your satisfied customer for years to come.

Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved

Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site http://DirectSalesTalkradio.com/blog You can also find her at her business site http://ShopOnYourSeat.com

Home party consultants spend much of their time selling to large audiences of female clients. There are many direct sales tips on how to best sell to an audience of women, but there are a few tips that every consultant should always keep in mind. A good sales professional writes down the best direct sales tips and then alters them each time she learns something new. Women and men have different sales buttons that a good professional learns how to push.

• Eye Contact – Guys listen to words while women experience what you have to say. If you do not make eye contact with your female audience, then you will lose their trust. When making eye contact, it needs to be gradual contact. Avoid jumping from person to person. Your best approach is a slow sweeping look at your audience.
• Know Your Stuff – Women want to know what a product is, how it can be used and even basic maintenance tips for it. Men base buying decisions more on visual stimuli, while women want to feel comfortable with the sales professional as well as the product. You need to know your product and you need to know more than just the basic uses for it. This is especially true for adult product consultants. Women can see what the product is for themselves. They want you to tell them what it is for.
• Multiple Payment Options – Men prefer to use credit cards whenever possible. Women clients require a variety of payment methods to choose from in order to pay for products. When selling to an audience of women, it helps to be able to accept cash, multiple credit cards, debit cards and checks.
• Honesty – Men want what they want and they often do not care who they have to buy it from. It can take a few bad transactions before a man will purposely avoid a sales professional. Women have a low tolerance for incompetent and dishonest sales people. When you sell to an audience of women, always be honest and do not make promises that you cannot keep.

Men and women differ in many ways and that is extremely evident in the direct sales industry. When you are presenting products to an audience of women, you need to treat them differently than a room full of men.

Deb Bixler is a party plan educator and radio show host. Visit http://www.CashFlowShowRadio.com for free training worldwide!

When you ask sales people about questioning techniques most people don’t know how to ask a question that will get their prospect talking.

Many courses, books, and DVD’s on sales training tell you to start the sales questioning stage with an open question, one that will get the customer talking, and one that makes it difficult for them to answer with one word or a short phrase. But then they go on present that an open question is one that begins with: what, who, where, when, or how. This is absolute rubbish!

You can ask a question that begins with any of these words and the customer can still answer with a short, closed phrase, and in some cases just one word. Here are some examples I have heard while coaching sellers who have been on these sales training courses:

Question by sales person: What would you want from a product that will replace the one that you have now?
Answer from customer: To save money.

Question: How often would you use your new one?
Answer: Every weekend.

Question: What do you see as being important about the service?
Answer: Reliability.

See what I mean. All questions that start with words that sales trainers say will make it an open question and get your sales prospects talking, and yet the responses are short and closed. They don’t lead to a conversation.

How to Ask Open Sales Questions

Forget all this sales classroom nonsense that says start your open questions with certain words. When you get to the stage of your sales pitch where you want to get your prospects talking about their needs, wants, and desires, use this proven questioning technique:

The first questions should start with phrases such as: Tell me about. Describe for me. Give me a picture. Tell me what you think. Can you give me some details. What would it be like.

When you ask these open questions it is very difficult for the prospect to answer with just a word or a short sentence. If they do try to answer with short or closed replies then they are either a really low responder, or they are trying to get rid of you and you need to start again with a good reason why you are there that will be of benefit to them.

Once you have asked your open question and the prospect has started talking, then you should use the sales questions that start with Who, What, Where, When, and How. These questions should be used to direct the focus of the conversation with your prospect. At this stage of your sales pitch you want to keep the prospect talking. You also want to use sales questioning techniques that are customer friendly and help them relax. Good open questions will do this but closed questions, that can be answered with short replies, will make it feel like an interrogation.

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Are you properly filling out your customer’s order form correctly? Are you using the order form to it’s fullest potential?

I see a lot of consultants who just put their name and phone # on the customer’s order form and that’s it. Well…I am here today to tell you that you need to do more!

Every order form that you hand out to the guests at home parties, to direct customers or even if you are just stuffing those order forms into catalogs and handing them out should have a lot more information on them than just your name and phone number!

About 10 years ago I started using my customer order forms as an important sales tool. I made sure that EVERY order form had my full name, my office phone number, my cell phone number, my email address and my consultant web site address on them. Why? Well, sometimes customers don’t want to pick up the phone to call you with an order or a question and some of these customers would rather communicate with you via email or they would rather just go to your web site store and order directly thru that.

If you don’t want to “write” all of that information onto your order forms then get a rubber stamp or self-inking stamper made up with all of your contact information on it. You can then use it to stamp your catalogs and to stamp your order forms so that your customers always have ALL of your contact information.

Just a few weeks ago I attended a party for a candle company and that consultant ONLY had her first name and phone # on the order form and on the catalogs. Later that night I went home and thought about adding something else to my order that I handed to her earlier that day. I would of been “more” inclined to add on to my order if I could of sent her a “quickie” email or I could of went to her web site and just drafted up & placed another order.

In my professional opinion you are doing a disservice to yourself & your business if you do not include ALL of your contact information on both catalogs & customer order forms.

They should have the following (if applicapable)

Name:
Home/Office Phone:
Cell Phone:
Email Address:
Web Site Address:

Matter of fact…every flyer, recruiting brochure, catalog, order form, business cards, etc. should all have more than just your name and one phone number for the contact information. You will find that some people don’t want to call you to ask questions or to place orders…some people would rather just email you or go directly to your consultant site to place their orders.

Shelly Hill has been working in Direct Sales for over 25+ years and owns the popular Work at Home Business Options web site at www.workathomebusinessoptions.com where Direct Sales consultants can get free business tips, read Direct Sales articles and get free business related resources geared towards those in Direct Sales.

When you hold home party games, you can benefit in many ways. It is a great way to showcase your items; you can give your products as prizes, get all of the guests in a great mood, and hopefully generate more parties on your calendar.

It is very beneficial to have party games when you have a home party. A game is the best way to break the ice and allow everyone to get to know the names of all of the guests and a little bit about each other. Games allow the guests to feel comfortable and even in the party mood. The more relaxed and comfortable your guests are, the more likely you are going to sell your products.

Playing home party games requires space in your home if you are the host. If you have your own business then you want to be sure the host has enough space for the type of game you are planning. If the home is really small then you will be limited and not be able to play interactive games that require the people to all stand and move around. Always have a few different types of games that can be played from the home in case you come across a problem with space.

When you have activities it is important to integrate your products into the games. This is an excellent method for nonchalantly showcasing your items and allowing people to see the great products you have for sale. You should integrate your products because it allows people to get a good look at what you have.

One of the best things you can do when you are making home party plans is to use your products as the prizes when you play games. Prizes are an excellent incentive for playing a game but they also are perfect for creating motivation of all of the guests. Giving your products is the best option because the other guests will have the opportunity to buy the neat prizes too.

Guests should be feeling great and having a good time. This should be the ultimate goal to make all of the guests as comfortable as possible. If everyone is having a great time then they will want to have their own event too. This will be a really simple method of filling up your calendar and making more dates for additional bookings.

It is important to plan based on the space the host has in their home. You can integrate the products being sold into the game by making them prizes for the winners. You want the guests to be as comfortable as possible and ensure they are having a really good time. This will ensure you sell as many of your products as possible and get as many new dates on your calendar as you can.

For more home party games, business ideas, and tips on increasing sales, visit http://www.craft-selling-parties.com for great advice on making money from home in your own home party business.