9 Tips to help you build your business.

Tip #1

Customer Care

The number one place that business is available is from people who have already purchased from you.  Are you staying in touch with them?  Even if it’s been a really long time since you last spoke with them, you should reach out and follow up.  The truth is that we are ALL so busy that they will not really care how long it’s been.  It’s not like they have been sitting by the phone waiting for you to call.  Just call them up and let them know that you are thinking of them and even though it’s been a crazy busy summer you wanted to let them know that you are there to help them.

Customer care will reap you huge rewards and it only costs you time!

Tip #2

Referrals

There are 5 magic words that you must memorize and use daily! Are you ready?

WHO DO YOU KNOW WHO….?

That’s it,  who do you know who….is getting married, is moving into a new home, just lost their, loves to eat?  Asking for referrals is another business building thing that will only cost you time and build your business significantly!  When you ask someone a specific who do you know who (insert specifics here) it is more of a conversation and not a sales pitch.  It also stops you from asking yes no questions.  You never want to ask a question that only requires a yes or a no, you want to ask open ended conversation making questions.  So I challenge you all to ask yourselves first who do you know who????

Tip #3

FREE Advertising Outlets

I will open this up with saying I am not a fan of Craigslist ads….personally I have not had great success with using it for direct sales marketing. I do however know of some people who have had good results from it.  Just please be careful with posting personal information like addresses and things that leave you vulnerable to unsavory people.

There are a great deal of outlets though that you can use to advertise your business that are a better platform.  You will find that there are a lot of other people using these as well.  THAT’S OK!!

Never forget that the one thing those people don’t have that you have is YOU!!!  Your brand of connecting, customer care, and caring are your’s exclusively. What works for one person and how they connect may be completely different for you, so never view lots of activity from other people as competition.  The only competition should be with yourself and how you want to better yourself.

Tip#4

Party Swaps

I know that you ALL know someone who does some sort of direct sales business that isn’t about healthy eating necessarily.  Why not call up one or two of those people and set up a party/workshop swap!  Now I would also say don’t just do an online swap or a catalog swap.  Set up an actual face time, people connecting swap that allows you to reach out and share in a meaningful way! While social media is a definite outlet that offers some results, I believe it’s a little overused.

Tip #5

Hold an OPEN HOUSE

Many of you may say that you have tried this and it really doesn’t work… I would say that the success of open houses has to do with first WHO you invite and secondly HOW you invite them and then finally HOW MANY do you invite.

If you invite people that you have no connection with you will have very poor results. If you simply go onto Facebook and put out an open invitation to come, you will have very poor results. I counted the other day on Facebook and saw that I had 87 invites to attend something somewhere!  87 invites that frankly I never even looked at other than to delete.  The power of Facebook and Social Media is not to just throw random things to the wind and hope it blows success your way.  People are busy and must be given a reason to slow down and notice you.  It won’t happen from a Facebook post.  I promise! Finally, you must also consider how many you invite, the numbers in direct sales say that 1 in 4 people who are PERSONALLY invited in some way, meaning an invitation in the mail, a phone call or even a text message will attend a party/workshop. Make sure that you are over inviting.  If the worst problem you have is not enough seats for everyone that shows up you have just succeeded!

We all have an amazing opportunity to start some new business with an open house in the month of September!  We have a new catalog, new products and new pricing to share.  There couldn’t be a better time to start building your business by holding an open house. I challenge each of you to look at your calendar and schedule an open house in the month of September!!

Tip #6

Social Media

I know I just did a bit of social media bashing. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think it has a place in our business, far from it!  Social Media has opened so many doors for so many, but I think that it has done so for those who use it wisely. Don’t overuse it and exclusively use it!  Set time frames for when you will use it and stick to them.  In direct sales face time is what actually works. Connecting with people and sharing your personal story is what will help people gravitate to you and want to be a part of what you are doing.

Tip# 7

Networking Groups

The great thing about networking groups is that this is where you will meet people who like you are looking to do business!  These people got up off the couch and did something that day to move themselves forward.  These people are who you want to know and grow with! There are so many groups out there that are completely free or nearly free to be a part of.  Reach out and surround yourself with likeminded people and watch your business soar!

Tip#8

Gardening

I love to garden literally and figuratively in business.  Planting seeds in business WILL open the doors you are looking for.  I would say that if you are not booked up as solid as you would like to be then it’s because not enough people know what you are doing.  You must plant seeds and garden to grow things. If you have ever gardened before you also know that you cant just put a seed in the dirt and walk away.  You must cultivate it and care for it.  Be always cultivating the seeds you plant.  Do you have your seeds ready to plant ie: catalogs, business cards and samples.  How will you garden this week?

Tip #9

This one is the most important of all!

FACETIME

You MUST, simply MUST spend actual face time connecting with people at large.  You MUST leave the house with intention of building relationships.  Get off of Facebook, get out of the house, go join groups that interest you. Build relationships on everything but business first.. Join a walking club, or a gym. Join a moms group, take a cooking class.  Do things that open doors to building meaningful relationships. When you do this you will find what you are looking for, you will find first real people with real time to spend with and from that you will build and share what is important to each of you.

So the number one challenge for this week is find someone to share actual face time with.  Go have coffee or tea with someone you have been wanting to get to know.  Do something with someone that requires you to open yourself and your doors.