There is one word that can make a huge difference for the growth and sustainability of your direct selling business when it comes to your customers. Drum roll, please! And that one word is … LISTEN! The Easiest Way to Show You’re Listening As customers, we want to know someone is listening. The easiest way a Customer Service Rep can do that is by summarizing the customer’s inquiry. Something like this: CUSTOMER SERVICE REP: “Let me make sure I have this right. You … [Read more...]
Upselling Can Work Against You in Direct Selling
I never thought this would be a high-priority topic—or even a blog post topic at all. But a recent incident brought it to my attention. A Story of When Upselling Went Wrong I was working on a training project out of town and realized I needed a rental car. Since I was already at the office, the company arranged for a car to be picked up at a nearby hotel. How convenient! My colleague and I headed over and found a very small rental counter tucked in a corner of the lobby. The … [Read more...]
10 Simple Ways Direct Selling Companies Can Provide Extraordinary Customer Service
You want your customers to be happy, right? Then don’t overlook investing in your customer service department. This is the perfect way to over deliver, increase rapport with your sales force and build trust between your company and its customers. So many direct selling companies settle for letting their Customer Service department simply focus on taking orders and answering calls. But they can be so much more. Here are ten tips to keep in mind as you look for ways to make your customer … [Read more...]
4 Ways for Direct Selling to Compete as a Modern Distribution System
Sooner or later this question pops up just about every time I have a conversation with a direct selling executive these days: What will direct selling look like in 5 years? 10 years? Can we compete with the online sales onslaught? If so, how? As a method of distribution, direct sales has some real challenges ahead. However, let's take a look at the basic competitive advantage direct sellers have always had over traditional fixed-location retailers. Alan Luce, Co-Founder and Managing … [Read more...]
Make Tracks to Great Customer Service
Your Customer Service department is your window into the world of your sales force. Customer Service Reps hear it all and deal with it all. Putting out fires is what they do. But that’s only half of their job. To be really effective, reps also need to carefully track what they encounter, so everyone in the organization can learn from their experiences and make future decisions based on what’s really going on in the field. Take Notes A little time spent taking the right notes in the … [Read more...]
The Power of “The Outbound Call”
In 1979, AT&T promoted its telephone services with their famous “Reach Out and Touch Someone” ad campaign. Today, almost 40 years later, much has changed in the way we use our telephones. But one thing remains the same—reaching out to your sales force members (rather than waiting for them to contact you) is still one of the best ways to build sales force loyalty and assure productivity. Why Not Use Technology? Please note–I’m referring to “real” outbound calls, not robo-calls—a … [Read more...]
5 Critical Mistakes that Plague New Party Plan Companies
“What are the mistakes I should avoid?” At Strategic Choice Partners, this is one of most common questions we hear from a start-up or young party plan company. I’d like to say that the best answer is “Avoid them all!” But unfortunately, by the time we’re brought in to help, it’s often too late. Avoidable mistakes have already happened. It doesn’t have to be this way. Alan Luce, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Strategic Choice Partners, recently outlined five of the most detrimental … [Read more...]
Big Changes for Direct Selling
Anyone who is even remotely involved in direct selling knows that the changes in the space over the last few years only pale in comparison to the changes that are quickly coming upon us now. Alan Luce, Sr. Managing Principal for Strategic Choice Partners, recently shared his timely insights on some of the areas where these changes will be most apparent and have the biggest impact in a guest article on the World of Direct Selling News titled, "The Wave is Upon Us: Big Changes for Direct … [Read more...]