Prospering in your Direct Sales Business Part 2

DEVELOP SYSTEMS

When you start a new job, you typically embark on a training system designed to teach you the expectations, tasks, procedures to effectively carry out the job. Companies have systems in place that enable you to work effectively, efficiently, and thoroughly. The same is true with your new direct sales business. Putting systems in place from the get-go will save you time, effort, and frustration over the long haul.

Customers

Devise a schedule and system for customer follow-up. It’s much easier to keep existing customers happy and satisfied than to continually search for new ones. In today’s impersonal world of voice mail, automated phone systems and email overload, people are craving the personal touch. A phone call, a card in the mail, a thinking-of-you email are appreciated and remembered.

CALL (notice I said CALL, not email, Facebook, or text) customers a couple of days after their products arrive to make sure there are no problems. Follow up a couple of months later to build customer rapport. If your company has regular re-orders, call or email customers two weeks before they’ll need new product to check in and offer your services.

After these initial follow-ups, establish a way to regularly stay in front of your customers. As your customer database grows, it will become impossible to stay in personal contact with every single person. Find ways to reach the masses as well as personal ways to keep in touch with your preferred customers. Does your company offer a monthly newsletter? If not, can you put together one of your own? Newsletters are great ways to keep your customer base informed about specials, sales, and company news. Consider sending birthday or half-birthday cards to your preferred customers.

Call your preferred customers when your company launches a new catalog or holds a giant sale.

There are lots and lots of ways to stay in front of your customers. The point is, pick a few, develop a system to help you stay organized, and work the system. You want your customers to think of you the next time they need a gift or a product for themselves.

Host Coaching

Another important system to put in place is host coaching. If you do any type of group presentation that entails one person inviting his or her friends for a presentation, you need to host coach. Companies will train you on effective methods, how to do it, when to do it, and what to say. They’ll provide you the schematics; you need a system to use the training in a timely, organized fashion.

Manila folders are a wonderful invention! When I set a date with my host, I create a manila folder for her. I write her name on the tab, staple my company’s host coaching checklist to the inside cover, write her name, phone, address, email, and date on the front, and put the folder in my Host hanging file. Then, every time I contact that particular host, I pull the file, take notes, and go through the host coaching checklist. I take that folder to her party and put all the guest order forms inside. That way, it’s all together, organized, and easy for me to manage.

Ordering and Tracking

The third system is ordering and tracking. To close out parties in a timely manner, you’ll want to make sure all the orders for a particular party get entered under the right host, determine the host benefits from the party, and physically enter the orders. Then, you’ll need to let the host and customers know when to expect their products. Once this is done, move those customers into the Customer Follow Up System discussed above.

Warranty

Finally, if your company offers a warranty on their products, devise a system to contact customers prior to the warranty expiration date to ensure their products are still in good working order. You can do this via email or phone. Customers will appreciate the extra effort, and you’ll be saved the headache of finding out too late that there was a problem with a product no longer under warranty.