5 for tips on organization).
✔ Attend one or more of your sponsor’s or leader’s parties or interviews in your area. Learning from others who are already experienced in this business is a great way to become more comfortable with the presentation, selling, and recruiting aspects.
✔ Create an outline for your presentation (see Chapter 9).
Once your kit arrives:
✔ Set up your kit display and take a photo. Post it on Facebook to show your friends and family.
✔ Familiarize yourself with the catalog and products.
✔ Place your first order.
✔ Order additional business supplies.
✔ Set up your kit and practice your presentation and invite someone to come over to help you get some practice. Your presentation will include your product demonstration as well as the other elements of a successful party, like the opening talk, booking talk, and closing. For more information on all this, see Chapter 9.
✔ Open a separate checking/savings account for your business.
✔ Invite more friends to try the business with you. Recruiting or sponsoring new team members is usually a component of your company’s “Fast Start” program. You should be able to attract new recruits from your launch party and other parties (see Chapter 14 for more on recruiting).
✔ Familiarize yourself with your company’s Fast Start program. This program is designed by your company to help you succeed in your first 90 days of business.
✔ Familiarize yourself with your company’s compensation plan. Your leader will be able to walk you through this.
✔ Learn how to coach your first host. Check out Chapter 10 for more on host coaching.
It may seem confusing, or even overwhelming. Don’t worry. That’s why I wrote this book. Most people join a company and then ask themselves, What do I do first? What does this jargon being thrown around even mean? And what do I really need to know, right now, to get moving so I can earn some money?
That is where the list of steps comes in. Keep coming back to it if you begin to feel lost. You will have a shorter learning curve and feel more confident if you pay attention to the list, read the related chapters in this book, and seek additional guidance and training from your company – and especially from your sponsor and your upline.
My Introduction to direct sales
I was bitten by the direct sales bug at a young age. When I was 14, my mother was invited to a Mary Kay cosmetics party, and I really wanted to go. Most likely, she was looking forward to a nice evening spent with other adults, because she said I couldn’t come. But as a teenage girl, I simply could not resist the appeal of makeup and a party, so I hopped on my bicycle and rode over to her friend’s house. My arrival was perfectly timed – it was too dark for her to send me home alone on my bicycle.
The Mary Kay director (a top position in a direct sales company) quickly assessed the situation and graciously asked me to be her special helper for the evening. Apparently, she was pleased with my assistance, because at the end of the party she asked whether I would be interested in helping her a few days a week after school. Of course I said yes. At the time, I had no idea that accepting that part-time fun “job” as well as meeting company founder Mary Kay Ash a year later would lead to a 35-year-long career working in direct sales, as an independent representative just like you, in corporate roles, and as a sought-after-speaker, trainer, and expert.
I love this industry and it is my pleasure to share its power with people like you and help you experience as much success as possible by providing practical training, specifics on how to grow a successful business, and tips on what to avoid on your business journey.
Why the Direct Sales Model Succeeds
Direct sales models are successful because they offer the company an opportunity to market products directly to consumers. In direct sales, as mentioned, the products are sold by independent representatives who are not employees. These reps are independent contractors who work on a commission-only basis.
Because the independent representatives are the sales arm of the company, the company only pays commissions for actual sales. Independent representatives are also the main way the company advertises and markets its products. Many traditional companies with ordinary sales channels utilize social media, for example, to help increase brand and product awareness. But direct sales companies don’t use typical advertising strategies like radio or TV to market their offerings. Direct sales companies mainly utilize their representatives to help market their products because they believe the products will do better with word-of-mouth advertising and in-person demonstrations.
As you explore the different products available through direct sales, you will find that the products are often positioned as cutting-edge, unique, made from superior raw materials, and basically better than products that are available in stores. Although that may not always be the case, generally speaking the products do stand up to scrutiny and tend to inspire a type of “super fan” convinced of the supremely high quality of each product.
It is a fact that direct sales product lines often are the first to bring new ideas to market. The companies are often led by mavericks or risk takers who are looking to get out ahead of the pack and incorporate the latest research and the newest “miracle” ingredients. People in this distribution model who have been laughed at in the past are the same people who first brought things like super foods, vitamins, healthy energy drinks, and supercharged, nutrient-enriched shake powders to market. All of these things are now, of course, carried widely in health food and grocery stores around the country and are no longer considered fringe.
There is also a lot of truth to the cost-savings and cost-reallocation made possible by skipping the middle man and delivering your products direct to the consumer through volunteer sales people (independent representatives). Rather than pay a big portion of company revenue for advertising, which, studies show, continues to have less and less real impact on consumer decisions, these companies can and do spend a higher percentage of their budgets on creating high-quality products through product research and product development.
Combine products that are typically superior to what’s available elsewhere with a sales model that leverages social connections, and you have a social selling model that has been proven to be very effective and profitable over time, for both the companies themselves and the independent representatives who build businesses with them.
Today, you can find a vast array of products and services sold through direct sales. Here are some popular products:
✔ Cosmetics, beauty products, and skincare products
✔ Clothing and fashion
✔ Food and wine
✔ Home decor, including candles and fragrances
✔ Jewelry
✔ Kitchen items and cookware
✔ Nutritional supplements and diet aids
✔ Organizing and scrapbooking supplies
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