The two most commonly asked questions I get from clients these days are first: “How do we cope with the shelter-in-place situation?” and second, “How is this social isolation experience going to change direct selling going forward?” The “lockdown-shelter-in-place-social distancing” experience, regardless of what you call it, has radically altered nearly every aspect of our work, family, neighborhood, social, community and civic life and brought the economy to its knees in 6 weeks or less. … [Read more...]
4 Fundamentals of Reversing a Sales Decline in Direct Sales
Here’s a familiar story: Your business has entered a period of decline in sales and recruiting. After a period of years of solid growth in sales and sales force numbers, the momentum has not only stopped but appears to be working in reverse. The management team pulls out all the stops using various promotions and incentives that have worked in the past to stimulate sales and/or recruiting. These tried and true “get back to basics” promotional techniques mean that the company is spending more … [Read more...]
AdvoCare, Neora, an Ever More Aggressive FTC! What Now?
In recent weeks, the direct selling industry has been shocked by one revelation after another involving the Federal Trade Commission’s actions against direct selling companies. The stunning transformation of AdvoCare from a marketer with an MLM compensation plan to a single level plan due to an FTC enforcement action was still being absorbed when, BANG!, along comes the FTC action against Neora (formerly “Nerium”) and Jeff Olson and the counter civil suit by Olson and Neora challenging the FTC’s … [Read more...]
Winning Back the Trust
In times of change, companies often find themselves at odds or even in an adversarial struggle for dominance with their field sales leaders. There are many reasons why these divisions occur, including declining sales, changes of ownership (especially when the founder(s) sell out or retire), and rising competition from other gig/part-time income opportunities. These divisions lead to a lack of trust and belief on the part of the field sales leaders and will obstruct, if not outright sabotage, … [Read more...]