Cover Story
Raising The Bar
Our channel needs to update its recruiting message and practices and concentrate on the real motivations and needs to attract future prospects. Amazon, gig economy competitors and other market forces have taken some wind out of direct selling’s sales. After years of significant growth, our industry’s U.S. revenue was down 1.6 percent in 2016 and…
Read MoreBillion Dollar Markets
It was another record year for the direct selling industry, which garnered $192.9 billion (constant U.S. dollars) in estimated retail sales globally in 2018—a 1.2 percent increase over 2017—and produced 24 Billion Dollar Markets, according to research by the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA), its partner DSAs and direct selling companies around the…
Read MoreMake Your Mark
How to build a distinct, emotionally connected brand strategy. You’ve read the books, listened to the podcasts and watched the presentations. You’ve gotten the message: A good brand is great, but a great brand is gold. Often, though, messages about branding stop short of laying out strategies. They talk about the what and the why…
Read MoreA Lifetime Of Change In One Decade
Changes in the global environment for direct selling companies are happening rapidly on all fronts. Shifting consumer expectations, tighter regulations, increasing digital demands and new competitors are forcing us to examine ourselves inside and out—question who we are, what we’re about and how we want to move forward. We can shrink from these challenges, or…
Read MoreHitting Back At Fraud
Direct selling companies are coming up with creative ways to catch bad actors. As direct sellers, we’re intimately familiar with Amazon’s disruption of the retail market, otherwise known as the Amazon effect. We can’t deny that it’s driven millions of consumers online, giving both brick-and-mortar outlets and other e-commerce sites a serious run for their…
Read MoreBest Places To Work
12 finalists made the cut this year. Here’s what they can teach us about winning organizations. What makes a company a great place to work? It’s about more than benefits packages, flex days and foosball tables, although those are all attractive perks. Great companies have a clear sense of direction and a vision their employees…
Read MoreGet More Customers & Distributors On Base
Does your compensation plan reward the right behaviors? IF YOU’VE ever seen the 2011 film Moneyball, you can recall the premise: Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s (portrayed by actor Brad Pitt), sets out to rebuild his failing team. His strategy: turning to hard numbers to identify the diamonds in the rough who…
Read MoreAre You Sure Your Data Is Safe?
Vigilance, continuous learning are industry’s best defenses against cybercriminals. It has become a painfully common headline: “Cyberthieves breach company’s system, steal credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, birthdates, passport numbers . . .” High-profile corporations such as Target, Equifax and Marriott all have been robbed of massive amounts of valuable consumer data in recent years, proving…
Read MoreWhat You Focus On Grows
If you’re too spread out and trying to accomplish too many things, you’re setting yourself—and your team—up for a lot of frustration. If you were to ask 10 middle managers at your company what your organization’s top three priorities were, would all 10 give you the same answers? Or would those answers vary wildly? This…
Read MoreA Modern-Day Gold Rush?
Marijuana’s misunderstood sister hemp is projected to be a $22 billion market by 2020, but can it overcome the social stigma and federal regulations that threaten to hold it back? It’s been called the gateway crop. Thanks to its stalks topped with five leaves, hemp shares the same signature look as its intoxicating relative, the marijuana…
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