Today’s successful direct selling company understands that what their customers and potential sales people want is “choices.” The 3 Best Choices to Offer As customers, they want and increasingly demand to be able to choose when, where and how they interact with a business to buy everything from cotton swabs to automobiles. That demand to choose when, where and how they interact with a business or a product is why you can now buy everything online, including cars and … [Read more...]
How to Sponsor More Leaders
When working with field leaders, I’m often asked how to sponsor “good” people—ones who aspire to become leaders. The Right Approach vs. Wrong Approach On occasion, a leader will tell me she only talks with people who “prequalify” as a solid prospective consultant. Ouch! I believe, without hesitation, we can’t tell if someone will be wildly successful. We can have a hunch, for sure. But too many times I’ve worked with new consultants who just needed encouragement and someone who … [Read more...]
How to Create a Direct Selling Event Schedule
For virtually all of your conference planning, you need to start with the basic commitment trio. The “Big 3” are your theme, budget and schedule. And out of those three, your schedule is the one component that will require the most ongoing time and attention. Event schedules will be updated and revised constantly, circulated widely and universally depended on as projects move forward and your event unfolds. Since this is the time of year when most direct sales companies are planning their … [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...]
Time is Running Out for Your 2018 Event
If your company is like most, your annual event happens in July or August. That means it’s coming up soon, and you’re busy trying to get more attendees. You know what the best tools are to promote your event? Quotes, impressions and testimonials from your 2017 attendees. People want to know what’s in it for them. They want benefits, specific benefits. How to Acquire Testimonials Ask Reach out to attendees via whatever channels you can … email, social media, newsletters, … [Read more...]
Parcel Carrier Negotiated Shipping Rates: How They Work…
It’s 2018 and UPS and FedEx have once again raised their rates. If your business ships with UPS or FedEx, it is essential that you understand as much as possible about your negotiated parcel rates. Companies that have already negotiated with UPS or FedEx could be paying up to 45% too much on their shipping if they don’t completely understand how the negotiated rates and the negotiation process work. And companies that have never negotiated could be paying up to 70% too much. Who … [Read more...]
Ready to Habla Español? How to Tap into the US Hispanic Market
Many companies instinctively know the Hispanic market in the US represents a large opportunity, but they simply don’t know how to effectively tap into it. Companies need a well-thought-out strategy to effectively penetrate this market, but here are three key ways to start taping into the market now. 1. Offer a Spanish language website. US Hispanics accounted for 11 percent–or about $2.2 billion–of total e-commerce purchases made across the United States in the first quarter of 2012. … [Read more...]
Alan Luce’s Top 8 Reminders for Direct Selling Companies
Decades of experience has led me to much success, but more importantly, some failures. These failures have taught me more than I could have learned through only succeeding, which is why I want to offer my most valuable eight tips to help you succeed even faster. We believe the direct selling industry flourishes because its foundation is based on people helping other people succeed. That's really why we share useful articles like this one, and so many others, in simple, bite-sized … [Read more...]
How Much Discounting Is Too Much?
As executives and stakeholders in the industry, we know excitement and enthusiasm moves our business. This energy can come in many different forms: new products, a national convention, a travel incentive trip and most recently, via social media and public relations. Using Caution with Promotions When it comes to generating excitement in a direct selling business with promotions, caution is advised. Promotions, of course, have an important place in our toolkit of options to generate … [Read more...]
The Upside of the US Hispanic Market
As US-based companies think about expanding into other markets to grow revenues and profits, they should consider expanding into a market that is within their own backyard. The cost of international expansion is high due to setting up operational facilities, defining IT requirements, hiring management staff, and accounting for all the legal and tax matters related to operating in complex international markets. Expanding into the US Hispanic market provides companies with great upside while … [Read more...]
A Look Back at 2017
What a Year 2017 Was! If you’re like us, even in the midst of kicking off 2018, you’re still reflecting a bit on what 2017 was all about. Was it a good year? Productive? Did it go like you thought it would, or did it slide way off the tracks? At SCP, we're taking a look back at 2017, and all we can say is ... "WOW!" Sure, it was the best year in terms of total sales for our firm to date. But that's really not how we measure success here. Our job is to make the lives and businesses of our … [Read more...]
The Most Overlooked Factor When It Comes to Churn
You've all heard it before. It's less expensive to retain a customer than it is to acquire a new one. When customers leave, this is called churn. So if keeping customers and Consultants is the goal, we need to take a deep dive into what causes people to leave your company. The Overlooked Factor Brett Duncan, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Strategic Choice Partners, and Michel Bayan from DirecTech Labs discuss the most overlooked factor when it comes to customer churn in … [Read more...]
The 3 Must-Have Videos Every Direct Selling Company Must Master
Are you rethinking how you approach your videos? Direct selling has changed, and so are the ways we have to tell our stories. No longer will a single "opportunity video" do the trick. Video is a constant and consistent component of your marketing efforts. In this training, Clark Diemer joins Brett Duncan to discuss the three must-have videos every direct selling company must master. Get Instant Access to this webinar and many others. Create your free account now! 2017 Online Video … [Read more...]
Determining the True Cost of a Meeting
I just finished suffering through an almost pointless meeting. Happens all the time, actually. In fact, it happens all the time for most of us. So why is that? Why do we continue to spend so much time in meetings we all know are useless? Today, during the meeting, prior to paper-cutting my wrists with the agenda, I did some figuring. I tried to figure out what that meeting was costing us, simply based on hourly rates from the salaries of the people in the room. I came up with $210 for this … [Read more...]
A Fast Start Program for the Fast Start Program
It’s pretty standard for a party-plan company to have some sort of Fast Start program. While the names and details vary, the intent is the same. Helping new consultants experience success by rewarding them for incremental achievements during their first few months of business. These programs are carefully crafted to help new consultants quickly reach the first level of leadership, which has proven to be a solid indicator of future success. The strategy for achieving Fast Start challenges is … [Read more...]