Lead Generators

Remember the day you told your family and friends you joined a "party plan/ direct sales" business?  At first, they were excited for you and eager to try all of the new products that you had to offer.  Then the realization sunk in that now THEY were EXPECTED to hold parties and help you.  Okay, so the words may not have ever been said but the thoughts were there.  I mean realistically, how many parties a year can you have for the same company? I would think it depends on how many catalog changes you have in a given year, for me and my company - it is three.  So, you now have family and friends locked in for 3 parties a year but your goal is 2 or 4 parties or more a month.  Where are you going to find those people?

All direct sales companies will tell you that the best place to book a party is at the party.  Okay, so you now have maybe 2 or 3 more parties a month on the calendar but you want to GROW your business.  Some here are some ideas from a top selling direct sales coach that may help you on the quest to find new customers, new parties and EXPAND your circle.

Deb Bixler talks about The Fish Bowl Lead Generator.  We have all seen those cute little fish bowls at the register of your favorite restaurant or store.  Usually, they are encouraging you to enter a drawing for a free meal or for a chance at free products.  Did you really think that they threw away all of those business cards or leads if you weren't a winner?  The idea is to put your fish bowl someplace with foot traffic, offer a chance to win your direct sales products, then advertise the winner after all is said and done.  Maybe it is a business where the manager loves your product and you can offer them a percentage of the sales from the parties that you book.  How about a bank that may highlight local businesses.  Look at your connections and determine if it is the type of customer that you are looking for then GO FOR IT!

Another tip from Deb is "Go to Vendor Events as a Guest".  This is a GREAT way to network with other vendors as well as the guests who are attending the event. I never thought about this since I was doing ALOT of vendor events but I tried it a few times and IT WORKS!  In fact, at one event where I was a guest - I booked a party and took orders.  Visit vendors that you already know are doing the event PLUS stop and meet new ones.  I ALWAYS have my product with me as well as catalogs.  Selling all kinds organizational products in the form of totes and bags helps ALOT.  It is simple: Go up to the table and let the vendor do their thing.  Always answer questions or talk in 10 seconds or less and always end in a question. Finally, wait for the right moment and say "How is this event?  I was thinking of bringing my business to it next time.  Is this vendor event a good one?"  The vendor will then ask what you do - remember the 10 second rule when you share and see what happens.

Follow-up is the key to fortune.... I have heard this many times in the workshops that I have been attending hosted by the Entrepreneurial Think Tank for Moms.  So, if you are not good with follow-up, PRACTICE.  Remember it takes 30 days to become a habit.  Set a small goal to follow-up with the leads (so many each day) and go from there.  Generating leads is not going to get the people to walk through your door (or buy your products) BUT if you follow-up with them, you can build a relationship and THEN they may become your best customer or hostess.

How do you generate leads for your business?  We would love to hear from you about what works and even what hasn't worked for you.  Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

Finding My Confidence

Last week was a whirlwind of AHA moments as I listening to training calls, coached other direct sellers, attended a business plan class and then an AMAZING network meeting.  It all reinforced a posting that was on the Direct Sales Education Foundation's website about "Finding Confidence".

Self confidence has always been a struggle for me.  I have talked about it often in my blogs but it seems that I have been blessed over the last week with a bombardment of positive energy that is propelling me forward.  I am going to relate it to some of the tips that I found in the article.

• Practice makes perfect.   I used to play the piano and I heard this ALL the time.  As we get older, at least for me, continually practicing my scripts for parties, etc seemed silly.  So I started small after our business plan class on describing my business.  I used to say "I am a Thirty One Consultant.  We sell purses, totes and accessories".  Well, the truth is we do much more than that so I have been practicing "I CELEBRATE, ENCOURAGE, REWARD hardworking women with simple solutions to life's organizational challenges while helping them to fulfill their dreams by offering them opportunities".  A mouth full but let me tell you, it changed the entire perspective for people on Friday when I introduced myself.  NOW, they were interested.  Without practicing, I would have resorted to my old intro.  
• Find a mentor.  I have an amazing upline, Hope Shortt has been supportive and know just when to challenge me.  Find someone who you want to be like, ask them if you can shadow them.  Find someone who you can trust and respect and build a relationship.  I now also have an AMAZING group of women at Entrepreneurial Think Tank for Moms  who without knowing it have mentored me.  From blogging to dressing for success, they have helped me to find my confidence that I lost so long ago.  Thank you Nicole Borato from Jersey Cookie Girl for inviting me to the first meeting.
• Find a partner.  Find a close friend, family member or even your spouse who can share in your accomplishments and help to bolster your confidence.  My hubby is my partner.  He shares in my accomplishments but he is also the first one to call me out when I am making excuses.
• Dress for success.  This is something else that I have heard since my college days.  Wear something that makes you feel good when you go to a presentation or a meeting.  It should fit well and be put together with accessories and hair style.  Someone asked me the other day if I had a makeover.  I was THRILLED.  No, not a formal one but I did in my head.  How?  Hair style instead of just long hair hanging.  Out of my jeans for meetings and into a pair of khakis (capris right now) with a nice shirt and jewelry.  Makeup.  I never leave the house without some even if it is just mascara.  You never know who you will run into on the trip to the grocery store to grab a gallon of milk.

Simple tips but for those of us who have a small comfort zone, this is a BIG deal.  Things that I have heard for years but seemed to think they wouldn't work anymore - guess what, they do!  Are you ready to grow your business?  Are you ready to challenge yourself?  Try one of these tips, if not all of them.  DREAM BIG!  The sky is the limit.

How did you find your confidence?  Please share, I would love to hear and at the same time, you may help someone else.  Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

Anchors - Not the Boat Kind

I was looking for inspiration this morning when an email popped up about the Entrepreneurial Think Tank's Conference -  Power of Connections in September.  One of the speakers is Jennifer Tuma-Young who wrote the book Balance your Life, Balance the Scale!

I was curious so I clicked the link to check out what Jennifer had to say.  Anything that will help me to balance the scale and reach goal weight is of interest to me!  I found an interesting posting on "Identify Your Anchors".  To say the least, I was curious because I THOUGHT I knew what my anchors were but it seems that I had balance and anchors a little mixed up.  To me balance is having everything in a row or running smoothly - no ruffles in my feathers.  WOW!  Did she ruffle these feathers!  Anchors are core values - those that are part of who we are and yes, I had forgotten what my core values were in the midst of this crazy thing called LIFE.

So, I took the challenge to identity my list of values.  For some this may be easy but for me as I am peeling off the layers of who I am versus who I think I should be, it was a little bit more difficult. I have a hard time deciding what are MY values and those that are imposed by others.  So, I read the list (click the challenge link to see them) and begin listing all of them that I thought applied to me.  Okay, so now the true test - praying and deciding what were my anchors.  Here goes:

• Faith
• Marriage
• Family 
• Financial Independence
• Giving 
• Inspiration (I couldn't decide between that or Encouragement)

These go along with my 4 Business principles that I had to identify during a recent training:

• Positive Attitude
• Customer Satisfaction
• An Encouragement to Others
• A Balanced Life

What are your anchors?  Take the challenge.  Come hear Jennifer at the conference.  Read her book.  I can't wait to hear what else she has to say.  Share your thoughts and comments, I love to hear from you.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!  

Overcoming Doubts

Advice from Direct Selling Education Foundation (yes, I do love their stuff) was about overcoming your doubts in business but why not apply the same principles to weight loss.  Being so close to goal (7.2 pounds), I have doubts.  Many would say doubts are fears and fear is a lack of faith.  GUILTY!  So, here are some ways for me to face my fears and get rid of any doubts.  

1. Establish an advisory group.  My Thursday morning Weight Watcher's meeting is THAT group lead by the wonderful Nicole.  They have been AMAZING during my ups an downs.  In my business, I have a Director, Hope Shortt  and a team (Beacon of Hope) who is beyond words when it comes to giving advice or support.  Both of these groups help me on a daily basis to gain a fresh perspective and boost my self-confidence.  Mind you the fresh perspective is easy, it is the boost in self-confidence that is a little tougher.
2. Get a mentor.  A mentor provides more personalized guidance.  Both of mine were mentioned when I talked about the advisory groups.  See, they are also there to help on a one-to-one basis when things get tough.
3. Step away and clear your head. Being a recovering addict, getting "into my head" and getting overwhelmed is what I do best!  So, I need to move away - move away from the tempting cookies or candy, get my butt up and take a short walk.  As far as my business, when I get stuck and  am focusing on what I need for a given month, I step back and change my perspective.  I look at the blessings that I have been given through my business and then focus on my customers and what they need.  
4. Do more research.  For me, doing more research involved talking to a Wellness Coach, Jodi Greene Strumeier who helped tweak some of my eating habits.  As for my business, I began networking with successful business owners like those who are part of Entrepreneurial Think Tank for Moms.  I have learned about blogging, and tweeting (which I actually like to see updates better than Facebook).  The professional development that they offer is presented through a general business perspective instead of just for direct sales.  Don't get me wrong, my direct sales company has amazing weekly training and my Director has launched "Super Star University" which are semesters filled with information that will help me (and all levels of her team) to grow our business.  Talking to others in business helps me to remember that my direct sales business is just like every other business with similar challenges.
5. Calculate your risks and create a plan.   I love the first line of this section "Much of our doubt normally comes from our fear of failure". Seems like a no brainer, right? I have goals - personal and team goals when it comes to the number of parties, the number of new recruits and the number of sales.  Sounds like a plan, right?  I haven't planned for everything though - what happens when there are set backs (a bad month) or how do I keep from straying off the track - trying other things?  This is when the need for a comprehensive plan comes into play.  As far as my weight loss - the plan is simple track, move more and you will reach your goal, that is the Weight Watcher's concept.

It is human nature to have doubts, some of us focus on the doubts more which leads to "negative nellie".  I am working each day to overcome my doubts...I will reach goal by July 24th when I walk across the stage to get my hug from Cindy Monroe, CEO, as a new Director.  The plan is already starting to formulate on where I want to be next year at conference for my business.  As for my weight loss journey, once goal is hit - the tough work begins and that is to maintain my weight goal.  What are your doubts?  Write them down, confront them and move on!

Devotions, prayers and keeping a journal are all part of how I am going to overcome doubts.  Let's hear how you are going to overcome yours.  Have a ThirtyOne-derful day.

Blogging Week 1 Complete

WOW!  I did it - a whole week of blogging completed and I actually am enjoying it.  Who would have thought that this technically challenged woman would be able to accomplish such a thing.

I just wanted to share a few thoughts:

• Blogging is not as hard as it seemed if you talk about what you know.  Thank you +Vanessa Coppes and Entrepreneurial Think Tank for Moms for helping me to see that.
• Be yourself!  
• People actually read what I write.  I know this sounds crazy because why else would you blog, right?  I didn't think I had anything to say - SURPRISE!  I love sharing about things that mean something to me.  Who knows somewhere along the way, it might actually help someone else that is struggling.  
• Along with this goes the fact that if people read it, you may be asked to step out of the realm of cyber space and actually share in person about what you have written about in your blog.  Welcome to "stepping out of your comfort zone"!  
• Lastly, the easiest way for me to keep up with the blogging (since Vanessa said do it for 30 days - EVERY DAY) is to make a list of things as I think of them.  Then in the morning I can look at the list if I can't think of anything to write about, and I have a list of topics or ideas to get me going.

I will share more of my life's journey - the good, the bad and the not so pretty - as time goes on.  

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!