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Working Smart
Working Smart articles are written by a supplier company, contributor or consultant, these thought leadership pieces highlight the expertise and experience of the author.
It’s official. Direct selling today looks little like the party planning business of the past. The digital age has brought with it powerful social networking tools, mobile technology and readily available content, all of which are ways for consumers to connect with large brands on a new level. The advent of social media alone has fashioned a different world in which we communicate. Connections can be initiated and fostered through social networks, extending our abilities to engage and enhance those into more personal relationships.
It’s simple—when the salesforce grows, your company grows. And there’s only one surefire way to make that happen: consultants sharing the opportunity. Making recruiting the foundation of the company and the culture of your business from the inside out is what will grow the company and the salesforce.
Most of my 35-plus years in direct selling have been spent building and managing new or established companies, either as a senior executive or an outside consultant. While the companies changed, one thing did not: They were almost always party plan companies.
This is an exciting time for the average direct seller to embrace new technologies and the multitude of offerings for communicating. To share a product in seconds with 1,097 Facebook friends or tweet to more than 500 prospective customers instantaneously is something none of us imagined even five years ago.
Most salespeople understand that they need to get on the phone, yet days, months, even years go by (yes, years!) without them following up with their customers. Why? The challenge is that they do not know how to do it and they do not truly understand why. As an expert in the field of sales training and having worked with CEOs and thousands of direct sellers, I believe that the answer to improving sales, decreasing attrition and increasing profits is found in an often-overlooked success recipe all great marketers implement: follow up.
Building millions of customer relationships, one sales leader at a time.
It would be difficult to find a company that didn’t believe it had its customers’ best interests at heart. In an age of “consumer centricity” and customer relationship management (CRM), most companies have incredible amounts of data on their customers and prospective customers. We have the ability to reach out to finely honed segments of the population to acquire new customers, form relationships with them and nurture those relationships. Social networking, blogging and all forms of online interaction lead to even more data segmentation and strategizing, so it’s no wonder companies believe they have their customers’ needs and wants front and center.