The Truth About Your Top Leaders

There’s a good chance I end up regretting that I wrote this article.

I can feel the hostility and defensiveness forming now. The “virtual vegetables” being thrown my direction. The accusations of blasphemy, even.

I’ve talked myself out of writing this article several times this year. While the topic continually pops to the front of the line in my brain when I’m up for a new post, I’ve desperately searched for other subjects to write about to avoid it altogether. I figured I didn’t need the hassle the will inevitably come with it, and maybe it wasn’t the right audience for it.

But, alas, it’s a topic that won’t leave me alone. I guess its time has finally come. So here we go.

A few disclaimers before we dive in:

1. I work with corporate executives of direct sales companies. I have served as one myself in the past. So, while this article will be talking a lot about top field leaders, its target is actually the corporate executive.
2. I’ve shared these thoughts we a few companies over the last year or so, and I’ve always been surprised at just how well it has been received. Which only underscores the fact that it’s as much of a challenge and issue for direct selling companies as I observe that it is.
3. I love direct sales, and I love direct selling leaders. You will likely question my sincerity on this one several times over throughout this article, so I will likely repeat this fact throughout.
4. More importantly, I respect what top leaders have accomplished, immensely. I haven’t done it myself, and I probably couldn’t do it. On top of that, the character and work ethic that is required to make it happen is something I find beyond honorable.

OK, now that we have that out of the way, shall we get started?

The Game Has Changed

But first, an allegorical reference that I think could help.

I played baseball growing up, all the way into college. In many ways, it consumed my life until I was 20. I was pretty good at it, and played for a great program. Specifically, I was a pitcher. I was quite successful, and the last game I pitched in was in the College World Series. It was a good run.

Now, I have a 12-year old who is involved in Select Baseball, and I get to help coach the team. I love it. It takes a lot of our time, but it is so worth it. My son is also becoming quite a pitcher, so I’m trying to steward that talent in him the right way.

Here’s what I’ve realized, and I’ll keep referencing throughout this article: Baseball has changed since I played it last in 1997. I didn’t want it to, but it did. And my coaching for my son and his team in 2021 will only go so far until I accept, and adapt, to this fact. It’s as simple as that.

And while baseball has changed a lot over the last 25 years, I think direct selling has changed even more. And yet, I watch so many companies revert back to tactics and strategies that worked so well 10,15, 20 years ago. And I see so many companies hide behind the bravado and type-A personalities of their field leaders, while they hesitate to make the bold decisions that are necessary to adapt to the way the game is played today.

As I’ve shared with them what I’m about to share with you, I’ve seen heavy burdens lifted from their shoulders, and sparks of enlightenment twinkle in their eyes.

I know The World of Direct Selling has its fair share of both corporate executives and field leaders, so let me just say this again: This article’s primary audience is the corporate executive, but I’m also hoping it provides some enlightenment and guidance for field leaders to consider, too.

Two Undeniable Truths About Your Top Leaders

Corporate execs have such an interesting relationship with the top leaders in the field. They are the Distributors you will hear the most from, interact with the most and include the most in your planning and strategizing. On the one hand, you covet their buy-in and praise for everything you do. On the other hand, their constant requests, frequent complaints and occasional drama can push you to the edge at times.

It’s an interesting relationship, but it’s a necessary one. So learning how to best navigate it is of utmost important, for both parties.

Here’s truth #1 about your leaders: We love them, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without them. And, we want nothing but the best for them.

I’m going to assume we can all agree with this.

Here’s truth #2: In a direct sales company that’s 15 years old (maybe even 10?) or older, your current top leaders cannot be the source of your future growth.

I’ll wait just a second to let the sting wear off of that one for a bit.

I’m not speaking to the skills or capabilities or heart of your leaders. I’m simply speaking to the extremely logical facts surrounding their situation and yours. Let me break it down for you in three core points.

Direct Sales Has Dramatically and Fundamentally Changed

Many articles have been written here about the changes we’re facing in direct selling. I even wrote about 2019 as The Year Direct Selling As We Know It Changed Forever. So I don’t think we need to spend time making this point.

What we do need to spend time on is taking the next step in our thinking: If things have changed so much, then we must recognize that what worked well before might not (probably doesn’t) work so well now.

Your top leaders obviously did something right. There’s no disputing this. The real question is… “What is right for right now?” At least some of what your top leaders relied on before as a key part of their success doesn’t work the same and/or as well as it did when they were climbing the ranks. And yet, that’s the system they know the best and believe in the most. Because it’s the system that worked for them!

We all like to lean on “tried and true” methods. But too many of them aren’t “tried” as much anymore, and many aren’t quite as “true” as they used to be.

Let me dip back into my baseball allegory. There are mechanics and principles of pitching that I swore by, and my coaches swore by, as I was developing in the 1990s. They worked for me then. But as a coach, I’m realizing there are some key elements that I would swear by that professionals are telling me is not longer seen as a best practice.

For example, above all else, I was taught to keep the ball low. If I could keep most of my pitches down in the zone, then everything would be alright. Now, hitters have actually been trained to change the path of their swings, so that keeping the ball low on every pitch no longer makes sense. And it’s batting, not pitching, that has required pitchers to rethink this principle. Put another way, if I was pitching now, and I lived by the creed to keep all of my pitches down in the zone, I wouldn’t experience anywhere near the success I did in the ‘90s. Because the game has changed.

Don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of principles from the ‘90s that do still apply to today’s game. But sometimes even those need to be applied a little differently to adapt. Now that I’m a coach, I owe it to the kids I coach to learn the new principles as best I can, and teach them that. It won’t help them for me to show them the now outdated approach that I swore by in the ‘90s, no matter how much I loved it or how well it worked for me.

Harsh statement alert: Your top leaders aren’t the experts they think they are. It doesn’t mean they aren’t experts, and it certainly doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about at times. But my experience is they often lose sight of the fact that the game has changed, and those principles that worked so well for them, like 3-way calls or leading with opportunity or even in how they position their income claims, just don’t work the same way today (thanks to technology, the regulatory environment and the marketplace).

And even when what used to work still does work, it often doesn’t work as well, and requires a lot more work to get the same results.

They Don’t Have the Growth Mindset Like They Used To

Now I’m really stepping on toes.

It is very rare for your top leaders to truly have the growth mindset needed to grow your business. It’s not their fault; it’s human nature. If I was in their shoes, I would be the exact same way.

Your top leader has likely earned a great income with your business, and established a strong recurring paycheck. And this is awesome, because it is one of the great benefits of our model. So, your leader’s primary driver right now, especially if your company has experienced a recent decline in sales, is to keep what they have. Like I said, this is human nature. Your leaders will innately prioritize anything that keeps them from losing what they have over anything that will increase what they have.

This is an extremely understandable mindset. But it is not a growth mindset.

When your leaders started, they most definitely had a growth mindset. All they could do is grow. They had nothing to lose. Now, they have so much to lose. To expect them to not protect what they have for the good of the company overall is ridiculous. They have a maintenance mindset.

Hear me out: I’m not saying that your top leaders don’t want to grow. As a matter of fact, I can promise you that most of them do want to grow. But they want to grow without risking what they’ve already built. And that is where the friction lies.

They Don’t Have the Energy or Time They Once Had

Your top leaders have worked really hard for a really long time. And yet, it seems most companies continue to ask for even more from them because of their status. Which only exhausts and burdens them more, which ends up being unproductive.

Sure, these are the people that were your road warriors before, who would stand in front of the state until 1 a.m. talking with anyone and everyone who wanted to chat. They had a drive and energy that was unmatched, and, especially in those early years, the business essentially rose and fell with them.

Now, they are in a different place in life. They’ve been successful. They’ve reaped rewards for their work and commitment. To expect them to have the same drive and tenacity now that they had 15 years ago to get their (and your) business off the ground is unrealistic.

And yet we keep asking our top leaders to do the bulk of the work. Not only is it unfair to them, but it’s actually not the way our model works.

Direct selling is not made to succeed from the work of just a few top leaders. By its very nature, it rewards everyone the most when more people are doing a little bit of work and buying a little bit of product.

On top of that, especially if your company is experiencing a decline (which is inevitable if your 10 years old or older), that means your top leaders’ income has also dipped. And I’m sure, for many of them, that they are frustrated by the fact that, in some ways, they have to start all over again. At least it can feel that way sometimes. I’m sure many of them didn’t think they would still have to work this hard or this much to keep the business going.

So as the corporate leader, how much are you burdening amazing leaders to accomplish a mission they’ve already accomplished? Could it be that the corporate team is relying on those top leaders even more than the top leaders want to be relied upon?

There’s a Necessary Cycle to Direct Sales

The very design of this model creates the very issue we’ve been talking about. It’s an issue that rises up every 10-15 years. It has to do with generations of leaders. And I would daresay it is the fundamental component of longterm success for a direct sales company.

If your company is not seeing a new generation of top-performing leaders rise up every 10 years, you can almost guarantee a decline until you do. If your company continues to burden your top leaders with the responsibilities that should be given to that next generation of leadership, then you will stumble and shrink. Because this model celebrates the development of the next generation of leaders.

There are so many components to the “growth formula” for a direct sales company. To be honest, it’s no formula at all; every company is different. But I do think you’ll find these three elements at the core of any growing company in our channel:

• New People (Customers and Distributors): If new people aren’t coming in at a regular pace, then growth will not occur.
• Young Leaders (not in age, but in tenure and ranks): If new leaders aren’t rising up, then growth will eventually stall out.
• Market-friendly Offer: If you don’t have a great product and/or a great program to introduce those products that’s easy to share, then eventually people stop talking about you.

As a corporate executive, you are the steward of your business. And while it’s unfair to expect everyone to have a growth mindset in the field, it’s not unfair to expect you to always have it. In fact, that’s your job. The best way you can support everyone involved in your company is to nurture growth at every turn. I believe that starts with making sure the three components above are addressed and re-addressed on an ongoing basis.

And, it also means that you have to know how to receive the feedback from all of your constituents, and filter them accordingly. It’s not easy, but it’s necessary.

I hope it’s obvious that I value top leaders, and their opinions, and all they do and have done. I wouldn’t exchange it for anything. I’m in no way saying you should ignore them or overlook them. But my challenge to the corporate executive is that you can’t stop there. You have a lot more people you’re responsible for beyond your top leaders. And to rely solely on their input, or to not use discernment or understand the context, is lazy leading.

It’s a paradox, really. Ultimately, the thing that will help your top leaders the most is growth below them in the organization. So focus on a growth mindset at all times, even when all the input you may be receiving is rooted in a maintenance mindset.

My high school baseball coach had an interesting saying. He would always tell us, “There’s no such thing as staying the same. You’re either getting better, or you’re getting worse.” He typically would tell us this right before we were going through a hard round of conditioning. While I would finish those burpees or run those foul poles, I would ponder that statement a lot. I would think, “Wait a second, I think it is possible to stay the same.”

And yet, the more I played baseball, and, more importantly, the more I’ve lived life, the more I’ve realized how true his statement is. There ain’t no staying the same. You’re either growing, or you’re shrinking.

Commit to growing. It’s the best thing you can do for everyone (whether they know it or not).

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Here is a list of areas where you can see the significant early warnings:

Number of New Members

Newcomers constitute the lifeblood of a direct selling business. They boost growth. Check if there is a decrease in their rate of inflow.

Number of Those Who Quit

Some of your field members will leave the organization for a variety of reasons. This is inevitable. However, it is not desirable at all to witness an upward trend in their numbers. Especially dangerous situation is an increase in the ratio of those who give up to the existing direct sellers.

Ratio of New Members to Those Who Leave

As a rule of thumb, the number of those who join should be greater than those who leave at a given period. The opposite would indicate that the field organization is shrinking instead of growing.

Activity Among New Direct Sellers

There may be a downward trend in the sales made to new members. This could be in the form of less number of orders placed by this group or reduced average order size. The worst is a decline in both.

Activity Among Existing Sales Force

There may be a situation where newcomers lose their motivation after being active for a period of time (i.e. when they are no longer considered “new”). This may be due to many reasons each of which require immediate action.

Average Order Size

Within a year at most, a statistically reliable average order size establishes at new direct sales start-ups. A declining trend in the average order size is also alarming: Either the products are not seen as attractive anymore for some reason or the organization is not pushing them to the market as before.

Field’s Reaction to New Products or Campaigns

The sales organization may be getting less enthusiastic about your newly launched products or campaigns. This would be present in the number of orders per member, order sizes or the number of new products ordered from that offering, as compared to previous ones.

Activity Towards the End of a Commission Period

A flat activity throughout the period happens when the field members are not as motivated by climbing the career ladder in the compensation plan. As a result, they don’t work harder to close the period at a higher level. This is a serious problem!

Attendance to Meetings, Webinars and Conventions

If you see less and less people attending your events, this is just another sign of lost enthusiasm. Seeing the same faces come to your gatherings time and time again is just as dangerous.

Demands Coming from the Sales Organization

By nature, a sales organization has to be coming up with new demands, bringing in new ideas. A decrease in the inflow of these from the field shows that the members are losing faith in your business.

This list has not been intended to be in any order of importance. When any of these occurs, it should be considered as an alarm and taken seriously. Once a hiccup has been diagnosed, immediate action is always recommended. If the ball is left rolling in the adverse direction, after a certain point it might be impossible to stop.

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Hakki Ozmorali is the Founder of WDS Consultancy, a management consulting and online publishing firm in Canada, specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. WDS Consultancy is a Supplier Member of the Canada DSA. It is the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication since 2010. Hakki is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals. You can contact Hakki here.

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The post Early Signs of a Failing Direct Sales Business appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

Direct sales companies are no exceptions when it comes to making mistakes in managing sales organizations, probably their most valuable assets. Some of these mistakes are minor in nature so they might not hurt the whole operation much. However, some others can make real damages. Below are six areas where if mistakes are made, the consequences on the sales organization might be destructive:

Failures in Commissions Payments

For many individuals, the opportunity provided by a direct sales company is a means of making a living. And for a much larger group, it represents additional income or pocket money. They all work during the set commission period and trust their company will pay their compensation on time and at the right amount. You don’t want to pay them at a date later than you promised or miscalculate their commissions.

Stock-Outs

Individual field members need to promote and sell products to earn money. This is why they are there for. In this process, direct sellers naturally must provide their customers with the exact items at the exact amounts that they ordered. While occasional stock-out situations can be tolerable, it is obviously a major headache for the field force if this happens frequently.

Poor Distributor/Consultant Services

Representatives on the field require company’s support in a variety of areas while conducting their businesses. At the very least, they want prompt and accurate answers to their questions from the home office. It is imperative to provide field support at the highest quality and as fast as possible.

Negligence in Communications

So, you have launched a new product or a promotion or have made a change in your policies… If each and every individual in your sales force is not made aware of it on time, how would you expect the field to react the way you wanted? Some managers think their job is done when the mass e-mail goes out to the sales force. Well, that is a big mistake!

Insufficient Training

Each direct selling company has different products, a different compensation plan and different policies and procedures, not to mention the corporate culture. There must be a comprehensive onboarding and training program made available to the field force, both offline and online. Without this, hoping the representatives meet the company’s expectations can only be a dream.

Lack of Motivational Efforts

Direct sellers work 24 hours a day and seven days a week, and usually all alone! Just close your eyes for a few minutes and try to visualize their daily challenges for yourself. Companies must provide the necessary motivation to their field members through various means and must do this repeatedly.

And one might think these are all no-brainers and no company in the industry would make such simple mistakes. I can say this is not the reality…
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Hakki Ozmorali is the Founder of WDS Consultancy, a management consulting and online publishing firm in Canada, specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. WDS Consultancy is a Supplier Member of the Canada DSA. It is the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication since 2010. Hakki is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals. You can contact Hakki here.

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The post 6 Easy Ways to Lose Your Sales Force appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

As an Associate with Strategic Choice Partners, Rick helps companies update their sales efforts in a way that works in today’s direct selling climate while also taking into account the quickly moving landscape from a regulatory perspective.

Becoming Brilliant in the Basics: What is the Company’s Responsibility for Sales Training?

“Pay attention to detail; leave nothing to chance.” My mentor in direct sales stood on this maxim daily, and I watched as he proved its value again and again.  It is timeless wisdom we would do well to heed.

One of the “detail” items that can be amplified and accelerated in our companies now is the development of “specific guidance for people to use in their selling conversations”. Why? Let’s reflect for a moment on things we already know:

• The vast majority of our associates have never been in a sales venture.
• Many, if not most, have no appetite for “selling”, even though it’s what we do.
• They will “share “ the product with others if they believe it to be high value.
• They either “fly solo” in their efforts, or are directed by their upline to “just do what I do.”
• Statistically, and for many reasons, most stop trying fairly soon.

So, what do we do with all that? In an industry that, for years, has relied so heavily on a “This is just how we do it!” mentality, the corporate team finds itself at an interesting and recurring crossroads when it comes to sales training. Here are some approaches I’ve seen over the years:

* Leave all sales-training to the upline leaders; let them train as they choose. After all, they know best, don’t they? They have the track record to prove they know what it takes to be successful. This is problematic; the company is ultimately responsible, and accountable, for all content produced.

* Provide some resources on websites or in conferences, but with little energy or planning. The problem with this approach is it takes more of a “check it off my to-do list” approach. Sure, you can say training is available. But is it any good? Is it actually what you want to see duplicated? If it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing with excellence and energy.

* Employ the motivational challenge of “You’ve just got to talk to more people.” The content of the training doesn’t matter quite as much as the sharing of that content. But, of course, the content does a lot.

We are better than any of that. Or at least, we should be.

Before serving for 20+ years as an executive in direct sales, I worked as a registered representative for a financial services company. The sales training I received during that tenure was unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. It was thorough, detailed, accurate and, most importantly, effective. I understand fully that what we do in our industry is not the same as my previous engagement. Yet, I see a tremendous opportunity for us to find some healthy, engaging and profitable middle ground for our companies to “own sales training”. What if our efforts here increased retention, engagement, and sales by just 5%? Would that be worth the effort?

3 Reasons the Company Must Take on Full Responsibility for Training

The rationale for a company to fully own sales training and provide associates with the needed guidance is sound.

First, from a regulatory standpoint, each company is 100% responsible for any messaging presented to consumers by the company, by associates, in any form and via any method / tool. That’s sobering, but it’s true. We do well to own this, and certainly can engage key associates to help create and refine it. But the company must be its owner, ultimately.

Second, our messaging shapes the way consumers view us. So, it’s a big deal. Our websites, videos, promotions and imaging are meticulously reviewed to ensure a “best foot forward” effort. Why not apply that same diligence to a simple, cohesive and duplicable guide for the entire associate base?

Third, simple processes can be duplicated quickly by existing associates and absorbed quickly by new associates. Duplication is a key part of what we do; it’s wise to standardize tools and move away from many versions of trainings that result in confusion. This confusion consumes precious time that could be given to business-building activities. With the participation of veteran leaders, companies can establish  content in a standardized guide and drive it deep for the entire organization. An environment wherein everyone uses the same messaging – along with their respective styles, strengths and personalities – will unify and solidify key components of the business.

It is worth noting that today some US companies are being very specific and directive with messaging, and strongly recommending that it be employed across the company. It appears that a unified message is actually quite successful. Simple, clear and duplicable works well.

Training Basic Selling Skills: Where to Start

What selling skills do we train? With so many companies and products inside our industry, any recommendations will have to be modified to accommodate the company’s unique offerings. That said, here are intentionally simple, duplicable examples of the training we can and should provide for our associates. They are not intended to be scripts, although the language is solid. But if you’re not exactly sure where to start, creating training that addresses the topics listed below is a perfect guideline for you.

1. Your Mindset for a Relaxed Conversation

• I’m meeting / talking with a valued friend.
• I’m sharing good things with my friend…things that matter to me.
• I’m a bit nervous since I just started, and it’s OK to share that with my friend.
• I’ll own what I know, and what I don’t know.
• My friend may or may not have interest; either is OK.
• I will learn a lot about me and about this process; that’s a win!
• I’ll get better with repetition.

2. Sharing Your Story in 2-3 Minutes

• Invest some time affirming your relationship with the prospect.
• A question: “May I share with you something I have found?”
• Where I was when I learned about this.
• What I saw and heard, and what I felt.
• What I did (purchased / used product, enrolled, etc).
• The results I’ve seen and value I’ve found here.
• A question: “Does any of that pique your interest?”

3. Being Comfortable with Questions

• Questions are to be expected; we all ask them.
• Affirm the question with a smile.
• Questions are most often signals of interest.
• Give simple answers if you can; say “ I don’t know” if you don’t.
• Pledge to get the answer if you don’t know.
• Ask, “Are there any other questions that come to mind?”
• Continue the conversation.

4. Asking Good Questions and Listening Carefully

• Have you ever used products like this?
• What was your experience?
• What did you like or not like about it?
• Why did you stop?
• May I ask what kind of support you received?
• Would you be open to trying my product?
• May I offer you a plan to get started?

5. Language for Moving to a Decision

• Summarize: “So, here’s what I’ve heard you say… did I get that right?”
• Identify: “I understand… I recognized I needed to do something new.”
• Affirm: “I really believe I can help you here, and I pledge that I will.”
• Recommend: “Here’s what I recommend for you today…”
• Ask: “Let’s go ahead and place your order, okay?”

As simple and obvious as these may seem, they work and can make a massive difference in how associates develop in pursuit of their goals. My experience with so many companies today is that they bypass these simple, foundational trainings and instead seek out trendier topics or novel approaches, hoping to find a shortcut to success. Online marketing and social media techniques have certainly accelerated this approach. But ask yourself this question: what happens when my new associate makes a connection on social? Won’t they still need to address the same questions I’ve listed above?

Regardless of the medium used to share these message, the content itself needs to be crystal clear to your new associate. From there, sharing gets so much more comfortable, across any communication channel.

Make the Transition in Your Training

Our respective teams of associates are precious gifts, and we should steward them with the very best we have to offer. Equipping them to be competent, comfortable and confident in the marketplace is a privilege and responsibility that rests on our shoulders. If we do this well, they can accelerate their growth…

• From mechanical to relational
• From tense or intense to relaxed
• From monologues to conversations
• From “telling” to partnering
• From heavy promotion to attracting and drawing others to join

Finally, I repeat the initial quote from my mentor: “Pay attention to detail; leave nothing to chance.”

Footnote: Video presentations with PowerPoint and two “live” trainers guiding the conversation are effective. And, utilizing role-play scenarios in the videos will amplify the learning notably. Additionally, making the text versions available for download from your website can be useful to many.

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Alan is a US DSA Hall of Famer and a member of the DSEF’s Circle of Honor. He’s served in executive roles at Tupperware, PartyLite, DK Family Learning and other companies, and has been a part of launching more than 30 direct selling companies over his career.

Alan Luce
Lessons from the Lockdown: Part Two (*)

Recent discussions with direct sellers have expressed feelings ranging from surprise to astonishment about how well their companies are doing during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Three things have happened that have produced these good results: First, millions of people have lost their jobs and are open to direct selling opportunities that can help them make some money while staying socially isolated at home; second, the millions of people isolating at home and with little else to break the monotony have been willing to join direct sellers for online product demonstrations, and third, direct selling sales forces have adapted to using online selling techniques much more rapidly than anyone would have or could have predicted. The combination of these factors has produced outstanding, even record-breaking sales and sponsoring results for many direct selling companies in April and May. June appears to be going in the same direction. All is good, right?



Maybe yes and maybe no. Many are doing well at this time in these unique circumstances. But can we expect things to stay the way they are now? No. Sooner or later the pandemic will recede and the economy will come back. We may not come fully back until a vaccine is readily available and the populace has been mostly vaccinated and that may not be until next year, but we will eventually come back. We do not know whether we will resume our lives as we lived them before the pandemic lock down or something less social. The unemployment rate will go down again to something below 10% and many jobs will be hiring again. It is likely that that due to automation and robotics that more full-time jobs will be eliminated and, for that reason and others, gig work will continue to be a major competitor for part-time income opportunities. As that recovery occurs, the market environment will likely look more like the pre-pandemic period than now.

Knowing those things will likely occur, how do direct sellers maintain some of the momentum and advantages that have been enjoyed during this shelter-in-place lock down period?

First, figure out what your folks are doing now that they were not doing or not doing as much before the lock down. If your company is like most, your sales force has quickly adapted to using online platforms such as Zoom, Facebook Live and Facebook Rooms and other platforms to arrange opportunities to show their products and services, generate orders and attract and sponsor recruits. Exactly what are they doing that is the most successful and what can you the company do to make the salesforces online activities even easier. Have you provided improved images and content designed to assist online presentations? Have you implemented one of the many smart phone applications that allow sales folks to show products and videos and place orders? Have you adopted a new seller kit program that fits a sales activity that needs fewer actual product full size samples and more single use sample packets? Does a new seller need a physical kit at all? What are the best online sales and sponsoring practices? Are you spending anytime trying to learn the answers to these questions and create new support materials, training and programs?

Second, have you considered that selling on line may require your sellers to spend less time to make a sale? Online selling does not involve travel, and is often less social than one to one or one to many in person sales. Yet, for many companies this important difference from in person selling may not have been considered or even thought about. But it is an important difference and one that may become a competitive advantage for thoughtful direct sellers when the employment figures go up again and things post vaccine begin to return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy.

Historically direct sellers have not talked about or even tried to calculate a dollars earned for time spent or, as more commonly thought about, the dollars per hour opportunity associated with selling their products and service. We have avoided this topic because our sellers are not employees and direct sellers do not pay salaries or wages. Rather, direct sellers receive commissions for the products they sell or they make retail profits from the difference between what they pay for the product when they buy it from the company at wholesale and what they sell it to their customers for at retail. Out of an abundance of caution to protect the independent contractor status and, in some cases, because the retail sales profit reward does not tell a good story, we simply stay away from the subject. However, I not only think we can safely tell this story, but will be forced to do so as we come out of the lockdown and have to once again aggressively compete for gig workers to sell our products and services.

Here’s how: Do the research surveying your sales force to find statistically supportable data as to the time it takes to make the average sale to a buying customer. Data should be gathered for one on one in person sales, one on one online sales and one to many (party) in person sales and one to many online sales. Match the time data with the average customer purchase amount data and you will come up with an average retail commission or profit for average time spent making the sale. Most companies will find this data very revealing. First, do your sellers make a decent profit for time spent selling your products or services. If your average profit for time spent is less than $15 an hour, you may not be competitive with other direct selling or gig part-time income opportunities. On the other hand, if your average profit for time spent making a sale is $25 an hour or more, you may have a recruiting advantage. In either case, this is information that is well worth knowing. Can you use such data in promoting your opportunity without damaging the independent contractor status of your sellers? I think you can so long as your data is statistically accurate and supportable and you clearly state that this data is a composite of all independent seller activity and not a dollar per hour income promise. Of course, before publishing any such income hypothetical please check with your legal counsel.



Summary:

Many direct sellers are experiencing strong sales and recruiting during the pandemic lockdown. It seems clear that it is the very limitations the lockdown places on customers and part-time income seekers that is working to direct sellers’ advantage. The sales forces of the companies have adapted to selling and sponsoring online more quickly than most companies were prepared to support. The companies can learn from what their best online performers are doing. At some point, science and medicine will defeat the Covid-19 plague and the limitation of the lockdown will be lifted and some degree of pre-pandemic employment and social norms will return.

The companies that take the lessons learned during the lockdown and do the work to have supportable accurate data as to the competitiveness of their part-time income opportunities will survive and prosper when the pandemic is finally over.

Do not simply enjoy these strong months! Learn the important lessons from the lockdown and prepare for the post lockdown period.

(*) Click to read the first part of Alan Luce’s article here: Lessons from the Lockdown

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Chris Clark
5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Working with a Back Office Provider

If you’re reading this article and you’re in the process of launching a company in the direct selling space, it’s fairly safe to assume at least two things:

One, you’re not planning to be a “nonprofit” organization, and two, you’ll be working with a back office provider. Suffice it to say, how you establish things upfront with the latter will greatly impact how well you avoid being the former.

As a company that sells a product, being able to actually sell products and scale well are the two biggest objectives you have right now. There are a lot of BIG decisions to be made in a relatively short amount of time, and it can be easy to get bogged down and lose momentum when you begin to run into some of the more nuanced operational considerations that aren’t typically covered in the vision-casting phase of things.

Below are 5 things that are easy to stumble over when you’re on a launch timeline. If your back office company is worth its salt, they already have answers to each of these and should be more than happy to share them. Don’t hesitate to ask for their recommendations upfront.



It’s also good to remember that there are a lot of ways to skin this cat so don’t hesitate to ask around for other options—a good back office provider will be honest about the limits of their system but still try to accommodate what you feel works best for you.

1 .Your Website
It’s no secret, web experience is paramount and there’s a lot we could say about that. Ultimately though, when you’re trying to launch a company, getting caught up trying to build the *perfect* website can waste precious time and resources. Prioritize simplicity and function and just get that website live! Rest assured, your sales force will tell you what they want to change so when it comes time to improve your web experience, you’ll have both the revenue and the field insights needed to make it truly great.

2. Payment Processing
Reducing friction at checkout is a big part of creating a good experience for your customers. There are a lot of options when it comes to payment processing so discussing this with your back office team early can help you avoid internal headaches with system integration and external frustration when your salesforce loses sales because of poor transaction experience.

3. Tax Calculation
If you’re looking for Alice’s metaphorical rabbit hole, look no further. Understanding the nuance of tax law, especially as it applies to direct selling, is not for the faint of heart. Fortunately, there are a handful of companies who are tackling this issue well and can take the ball and run with it. Getting your tax structure in order takes a little time, so discussing this early will give your accounting person/team enough time to get everything in place by the time you start selling to the public.

4. Distribution
You’ve probably already thought about how you’ll handle distribution. Whether you’re doing it in-house or using a 3PL, integrating your distribution system with your back office is an art—do it right and you’ll be shipping product in no time. Do it wrong and the headaches and lost product costs can plague you for months.

5. Salesforce Reporting
Every direct selling salesforce relies on a relatively standard set of metrics and data for running their businesses. And for the most part, this set of tools is baked into any good back office. One way to really set your experience apart is to consider what sort of long-term promotions, reporting, and other functionality your field may utilize and discuss that with your back office provider now. Gratuitous functionality for functionality’s sake isn’t the goal, but the more flexibility you create during your setup, the better you can grow and evolve with your field in the long run.

It’s been said several times already, but a great back office partner should be able to help you answer all of these questions and discussing them early will not only help you avoid losing momentum but also open up a rich dialog to help spot other areas where common pitfalls can become new opportunities.

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In 2007, Daryl transitioned to the supplier side of our industry as the Director of Technology for ByDesign. His strategic contributions led to his appointment as President in 2015 and CEO in 2018.

Daryl Wurzbacher
Social Selling Made Simple

The way that consumers interact when buying and selling products has evolved towards multi-channel forms of communication. No longer are they just purchasing an item, but they are becoming part of a community with other buyers around the world. Instead of being passive shoppers, they are actively taking part in what they buy with the ability to influence the ultimate success of the products, brands, and companies they support.  



Engaging customers is all about meeting them where they are and making it memorable. Social shopping hasn’t replaced relationship-driven or in-person sales experiences. Instead, today’s shoppers are looking to interact with brands in a way that creates an integrated and cohesive customer experience no matter how or where a customer reaches out.

Social selling is one of the fastest-growing areas in direct sales for a good reason — it works! If you have a company account for any social network (Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn), you’re passively involved in social selling already. At its core, social selling is a lead generation strategy intended to connect representatives directly with prospects via social platforms. This can be as simple as a social post with a link to buy, or more dynamic through live selling events.

The personal connection that social selling offers helps to create a positive customer experience for shoppers. The Customer Experience (“CX”), is your customers’ holistic perception of their experience with your brand and products. It is a result of every interaction a customer has with your company, from navigating the website to talking to customer service and receiving the product/service they bought from you.

When you build your social selling strategy, start with the ideal Customer Experience, and then work backwards to implement. Consumers today expect a seamless shopping experience, whether they’re face-to-face, at a home party, online from a desktop, tablet or mobile device, on social media, or a live selling platform. They want continuity in their experience that lets them sign in on one device to start an order and have their cart follow them to finish their order on another device. No customer wants to build their shopping cart from scratch if they switch devices. They want their information, like shipping, wish lists, credit card details, and saved items to sync across all their devices. Essentially, they want to buy from anywhere, on any device and have consistent, personalized experiences that culminate in secure, frictionless payments.

Three Keys to Successful Social Selling

1. Live Selling 

No longer a novelty, online selling events have quickly become a preferred way to reach, engage, and sell to busy customers.  As popularity grows, so do customer expectations. It is critical to ensure that your representatives can interact with customers, no matter where they are online. As part of your onboarding, representatives need to be trained on how to leverage social media to effectively increase their marketing reach, build relationships, and establish strong communities with their target audiences.

When it comes to live selling, social media platforms with “Reply to Buy” functionality makes the sales process easy for both customers and representatives. Additionally, investing in livestream selling capabilities, where customers can join the live event, comment, and complete buying transactions without ever having to leave the event, will add a competitive advantage for your brand.

2. Hybrid Sales

Today’s buyers are sophisticated. They expect the 24/7 convenience of e-commerce combined with personalized one-to-one relationships. Direct sellers have a distinct advantage over other distribution channels when they give representatives the tools to deliver both. Build your representative tool kit with hybrid sales in mind, giving representatives the flexibility to engage customers with an integrated mix of sales platforms, live selling options, and in-person sales that allow customers to walk out with their new favorite items.

Make it easy for your representatives to keep the focus on the customer experience. Leverage your technology to handle all the other details from inventory management to sales tax calculations and payouts for representatives.



3. Organizational Visibility

When you’re growing a successful direct sales business, you don’t have time to hassle with signing into multiple databases to bring together the information you need to identify trends and make decisions. Look for technology that will give you access to all your data, all in one place.

It is more important than ever that corporate has a holistic view of the entire organization’s operation and flow, including retail receipt visibility from the warehouse through to the end customer. This will enable you to be confident that you are in compliance with FTC regulations, compensation structure rules, and sales tax laws.

With nearly half the world’s population now active on social media, social selling is more relevant than ever. Companies that want to be ahead of the curve rather than chasing it would be smart to implement a systematic social selling practice for their organizations.

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Alan is a US DSA Hall of Famer, and member of the DSEF’s Circle of Honor. He’s served in executive roles at Tupperware, PartyLite, DK Family Learning and other companies, and has been a part of launching more than 30 direct selling companies over his career.

Alan Luce
Lessons from the Lockdown

The two most commonly asked questions I get from clients these days are first, “How do we cope with the shelter in place situation?” and second, “How is this social isolation experience going to change direct selling going forward?”

The “lockdown – shelter in place – social distancing” experience, regardless of what you call it, has radically altered nearly every aspect of our work, family, neighborhood, social, community and civic life and brought the economy to its knees in 6 weeks or less. This is completely unknown territory to every living soul on earth. Everyone is searching for answers and speculating as to when things many return to normal, whatever that means, and what “normal” might look like when we get to whatever that is?

But, for direct sellers, there are certain things we should agree on and there are “path-finders” out there who are successfully navigating the road to the future of a healthy direct selling business. As direct sellers I believe that we should agree on the following:



1. The coronavirus pandemic is not the cause of the changes impacting direct selling.

The pandemic has simply but dramatically accelerated the changes that were happening anyway. Changes that were already underway due to the impact of the Gig economy competition for sales people, the best of e-commerce company practices concerning delivery and 7/24/365 access and one-contact solutions for customer service issues along with evolving regulatory guidelines.

2. The company and sales force reputations on social media are now ever present and highly influential participants in our sales force recruiting and retention processes.

What our sales force, former sales force members, customers and former customers are saying about the company, its products and/or services and the income/business opportunity afforded by selling for the company is much more influential than what the company is saying. Companies need to pay much more attention as to how their business, products and opportunities are being reviewed on social media. Use this time to attend to and polish, if necessary, your online reputations. There are experts at social media reputation repair and management who can help with this effort. Cleaning things up now and keeping your reputation positive will pay big dividends as we come out of this pandemic.

3. Direct selling companies must find ways to be more accessible to customers and the sales force members who may have complaints or problems.

The best e-commerce companies have created new levels of expectations among customers: They now expect every company to be accessible on a 7/24/365 basis and, what’s more, they expect that their problem of complaint will be resolved quickly and at the very first contact whether it be by phone or online. This new expectation of all-hours accessibility carries over to our sales force. They too, have come to expect quick all-hours access to their company for help with their problems or their customers’ problems. Direct sellers have a long way to go to match world class practices in these areas, but we have no choice but to find ways to do so.

4. Direct selling companies must focus on retail selling to end-user customers.

The rapid growth of e-commerce and the customer expectations that it has created requires that every form of selling focus more than ever on the customer experience. Is the buying process as easy and convenient as possible? Is delivery on time with a nearly perfect record of getting exactly what the customer ordered to that customer on time and in perfect condition? Is the after-purchase customer care easily accessed with one stop problem solutions? Does the company/sales person keep in touch with the customers in a regular basis? Does the company offer a preferred customer program which mixes the best of high touch direct selling with the best of e-commerce marketing techniques?

Added to the trends and movements these questions engender is the fact that federal regulators increasingly want to look at whether the companies derive a majority of their revenue from retail sales to end user retail customers as an indication of legitimacy. Focusing on providing an outstanding retail customer experience is the future of direct selling and something with which we should all agree.

If these are the things we can agree upon, where do we find the “path-finders” who will show the company the best ways to present and sell your products and/or services to retail customers and promote the business to folks looking for a low investment part-time income gig.

The path-finders more often exist within the current sales force rather than in the corporate headquarters.

It has always been thus: The sales force path-finders innovate in times of change. Generally speaking, creative members of our sales forces are way ahead of their company partners in adopting new technologies, finding better language to enhance their sales presentations, exploring social media platforms for ways to better communicate with their customers and sales team members. This was true of online order processing, adopting to email and the internet, using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, What’s App and Tick Tock to support their businesses.

What smart companies are good at, and all companies should adopt, is the practice of paying attention to what the best of their sales force innovator path-finders are doing. Who is really selling a lot in this time of change? What are they doing that most of their colleagues are not doing and that their company does not train or support?  Why is Mary’s team growing and flourishing with good productivity when most of the sales force is struggling? Even in the worst down times every company has sales path-finders who are doing well. Go to school on your path-finders. Learn what they are doing and find ways to develop company training to make what the path-finders are doing duplicatable. Develop the communication, technology, incentive and other types of support programs to help all members of the salesforce adopt these new ways of doing things. Be sure to update your new seller onboarding incentive programs to incorporate the new techniques and methods.

It makes sense when you think about it that our sales forces will find the best new practices to be successful sellers and sponsors in this time of change. They are on the front lines trying to respond to what the market forces and their customers are demanding. It has always been so just as it has also been so that the best and most successful companies understand that their wisest course through change is to follow the lead of their most successful sellers and find ways to support them.

For direct sellers paying attention to and following the lead of their sales force, path-finders is the most important and useful lesson learned from the lockdown.

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In 2007, Daryl transitioned to the supplier side of our industry as the Director of Technology for ByDesign. His strategic contributions led to his appointment as President in 2015 and CEO in 2018.

Daryl Wurzbacher
Technology That Empowers Your Reps

To be competitive in this modern marketplace, you have to ensure that you have the foundation right. When you look at the landscape of the Direct Sales space, the majority of companies haven’t gotten the basics right. Getting these basics right WILL give you a competitive advantage in our industry. Today, we will discuss automation, the third and final pillar for using technology as a competitive advantage. The first two pillars were included in my prior posts on credibility and simplicity.

What comes to mind when you hear the term “automation”? Does it conger images of huge assembly lines with their conveyor belts running from end to end in a manufacturing plant? Automation is that, but so much more. Automation is the result of technology that enables a wide range of manual processes or procedures to be automatically completed and repeated with minimal human assistance. Through this lens, it is easy to see how solutions such as washing machines and dishwashers leverage automation to help us be more productive, freeing us of some mundane and time-consuming tasks so that we can have additional time to focus on the things that drive more value in our lives.

Now, what if you could apply automation to the mundane and time-consuming tasks in your business? Let’s explore how you can get to your results faster while you stay ahead of the curve and your competition.



DRIVING REPS TO TAKE ACTION

Are you currently able to build upon the excitement of a new enrollee joining — inspiring them to take ACTION based on what you know works? Are you trusting the field to provide the right introduction and training on your brand and products? Our field adoption specialists regularly hear that poor onboarding experiences are a leading cause of Representative churn. When you look at one of the attributes of many successful Gig Economy companies – you’ll see they’ve built automated onboarding systems, to DRIVE ACTION.

The first step in driving your Representatives to take the right action is DEFINING THE REPRESENTATIVE’S JOURNEY. This may seem like a very task simple, and indeed it is — which is why most companies skip over this step. Completing this process will set you up for greater success and will put you ahead of what the majority of companies are doing. Before you can efficiently automate, you will need to understand the manual process that is currently in place. This is the foundation for how you automate your onboarding.

Start with two questions:

• What do your Representatives need to know?
• When do Representatives need to know it?

Frequently we see Representatives join a business, and then they are directed to view countless hours of videos and books of content to read for their onboarding. With attention spans currently estimated at 8 seconds, people do not retain large amounts of information.

But, an amazing thing happens when you break those countless hours of videos and books into small pieces of training. It becomes easy to learn and remember. From a technology perspective, at its simplest level – you can set up automatic emails from most systems. Another option would be using a solution such as Constant Contact or Hub Spot to set up a sequenced set of emails that can easily support new Representatives into the funnel.

As the onboarding journey evolves, this will develop into driving Rep activities based on events that are occurring in their business. Uber drives action by dispatching cars to pick up a rider when they request a ride. Being able to drive activity based on what’s happening in a Rep’s business is going to be vital to automating the onboarding experience long term.

Example of long term automated onboarding:

The types of events that are important for your representatives to know include: New Enrollments | New Customers | New Sales |New Ranks

ASSESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH

To start the process of leveraging automation to accelerate your business growth, take a few minutes to complete this assessment of your current state.  Move forward with clarity on where you are hitting the mark and where opportunity is knocking.

For existing companies, I encourage you to assess your company’s performance in each of these areas. If you have not yet launched your company, then these are areas to consider when you are evaluating the technology for your company.

View the comprehensive assessment of all three pillars 

I hope you have gained a new awareness of how you combine credibility, simplification and automation to gain a significant competitive advantage for your company. Feel free to reach out to me at if you have any questions or would like to chat about how you can move forward in leveraging technology to be your competitive advantage.

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Andi Sherwood
Is it Worth it?

I recently spoke on a panel at a direct selling conference and was asked, “What is one thing that companies should consider about their compensation plans?” My answer was “Is it worth it?”

The question “Is it worth it?” can have tremendous value and impact in and out of business. Whether consciously or subconsciously, this simple question is a primary driver of human behavior.

Earnings-Per-Hour Proposition

The earnings-per-hour proposition, or in other words, how much money someone in your field makes for the time they spend on the business, has a significant impact on “Is it worth it?”. In fact, the earnings-per-hour is the biggest factor when it comes to retention of your field and is particularly critical to new representatives and to those with little or no downline sales teams.

Just earning minimum wage is not sufficient for your field. If you consider all that our sales force face, there are a lot of places they could go to earn minimum wage that would be far easier than what we are asking them to do. For most demographics, 2.5 – 3.5 times the average hourly minimum wage is a good target for new representatives to earn, as quickly as possible.

There are three main components that impact the earnings-per-hour proposition: The amount of money someone earns, the amount of time they spend, and their monetary investment in the business. It is important to evaluate each of those areas, not just one or two.

• Earnings – Ensure that you have strong rewards that can be earned at each stage of your field’s career path. The profit from customer sales can be one of the easiest ways for someone to achieve strong earnings-per-hour but is often one of the weakest aspects of a compensation plan.
• Time – Can you reduce the amount of time an individual spends on their business while netting the same results? This could include improved technology tools, skills training, marketing communication automation, and more.
• Investment – How much money does your field spend on a monthly basis for business materials, samples, website/back-office fee, hostess gifts, etc? In some cases, you may be able to improve their earnings-per-hour simply by reducing or removing unnecessary fees and providing opportunities for your field to purchase materials at a reduced cost or earn credits that can be applied towards those costs.

Manipulation

Is it worth it to your field to manipulate your comp plan by buying product to achieve a title requirement, enrolling a customer or bogus entity as a new representative to receive a bonus, or asking a downline to not qualify or worse, to quit, because it unintentionally ends up being beneficial to the upline? Is it worth it to use “join for a discount” as a primary driver for enrollment because your retail price is artificially high?

Ask yourself, “What would someone do to provide the highest reward for the least amount of work?” If the benefit outweighs the risk or effort, you will find representatives that will manipulate the plan which is costly both from a budgetary and legal standpoint. Often, a mixture of policies and comp plan rules can help minimize your exposure.

Enrollment Options

What value do you provide for individuals who want to use your products but don’t want to build a business? Is it worth it to them to be a customer or are your customer prices too high? Is there too much incentive for someone to be a representative, despite having no intention of engaging in representative behavior, that they choose that over being a customer?

Multiple enrollment options (i.e. Retail Customer, Preferred Customer, and Representative) are essential to many companies, particularly those in markets where bona fide customer sales from non-representatives are vital to the company’s legal viability. Evaluate your pricing strategy, the cost of entry for customers and representatives, and the ongoing business cost versus the benefits of each category. Put your consumer hat on and ask, “If all I wanted was to use the product, how would I feel about the different enrollment options?”

Providing multiple enrollment options is not only beneficial for legal reasons, it also has value in terms of communication strategy, training, and the time a representative spends on their business serving customers versus representatives.

By applying the measuring stick of “Is it worth it,” you will find that making effective decisions to positively impact your sales force is clearer and (hopefully) easier. In doing so, you and your field will find greater meaning and success in your business.

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Guest Post by Daryl Wurzbacher
Succeed Faster with Simplicity

Earlier this year, I introduced the concept of the three pillars of “Credibility, Simplification, and Automation”. I believe by strategically focusing on these three areas; it can enable you to leverage technology “the right way” to compete in the modern marketplace and win.

Today, we will focus on the second pillar of “Simplification”, or how to use technology to simplify the experience for your representatives and customers. To learn more about the first pillar, Credibility, see my article from September 30th. 



According to a study by Statistic Brain, in 2012, the average human being now has an attention span of eight seconds. This is a sharp decrease from the average attention span of 12 seconds in the year 2000. The quote you commonly hear is that “Humans have a shorter attention span than a goldfish.”

If you look at the shifts in consumer behavior, you can see this driving many cultural trends, such as the rise in popularity of:

• Short videos – With Snapchat/Instagram Stories, or newcomers like TikTok.
• Sped up activity videos on Facebook – From cooking, crafting, to life hacks.

 
But why are we so obsessed with watching these bite-size videos? 

It’s all about simplicity! People expect to get what they need, NOW, in a SIMPLE WAY. When they get what they need and want, they repeat that behavior.

How to Simplify for Greater Success

The first place to look to simplify is your enrollment. I’ve seen a wide variety and extensive types of enrollment processes, but one key to success always stands out — keep the product choices and other decisions as simple as possible. When you simplify the decision-making process, people need to think less about the decision. Enrolling can become a no-brainer because they understand everything that they need to know to say “YES.” A best practice is to go through the entire enrollment process yourself as if you were joining the business for the first time.

Pay close attention to:

• The number of decisions you have to make
• How much information you are required to provide
• The length of the terms and conditions you are expected to read and agree with to join

 
We constantly hear that companies are surprised at how their website and shopping cart work from a new user perspective. You will want to review your website and shopping experience, end-to-end, through the lens of a new user to truly understand what they are experiencing.

• Can they understand without needing to know jargon?
• Are the packs easy to understand?
• Does this work on mobile?

 
Simplify Sharing the Products

You will want to ensure that your representatives can easily share your products and shopping links on social media and other communication channels. The most important part here is to confirm that the end-to-end experience looks good and will inspire/motivate a customer to “click.” Experience for yourself what happens when you share a product link from your phone.  Does a customer have to do any particular actions to properly share? Is the process intuitive?

Beyond ensuring the experience looks good, you will need to validate the proper association is in place. This will confirm that the correct representative is paid the accurate commission. The fastest way to lose trust is to have this process not work.



A Simple Way to Keep Representatives Engaged! 

Your representatives must have access to the information that matters most to them. If representatives have to waste time trying to get to data, that’s time they’re not productive. At the most basic level, you will want to confirm that they can pull a report on their qualifications and progress towards their next rank or payout level. This can easily be configured, so they have quick access to this information right on the dashboard of their Back Office. Knowledge is power, and when representatives can easily see where they are for the month, and what they need to achieve to progress in your compensation plan, it inspires them to strive harder to reach their goal.

Another best practice is to reduce the complexity for new representatives by eliminating menus and reports that aren’t relevant to their ranks. This will enable you to align the data they need; with the journey, they will go through. It is essential to provide representatives what they need at the time they need it. This goes back to the core principle for simplifying: Walk through every step of your brand experience through the lens of a NEW ENROLLEE. What do they need access to quickly and easily? What can be removed to simplify the experience?

There’s Profitability in Simplifying!

An article from Forbes reported that simplifying the number of decisions during the purchasing process was the number one driver of the likelihood to buy.

Most interactions are designed with internal systems and perspectives in mind, and not driven by the needs of the customer. The complexity of many business models means that companies struggle to do things that, to a customer or representative, should be easy.

By relentlessly focusing on ways to simplify the processes you use to acquire representatives, sell to, and serve their customers – you will make it easier (and often less expensive) for representatives and customers to get what they want and need from you. The results will drive meaningful value for them – and you.

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Guest post by Daryl Wurzbacher
How Your Competitors Use Technology to Stay Ahead

By leveraging technology in the right areas, it enables direct sales companies to create a frictionless experience that eliminates or significantly reduces the obstacles representatives and customers typically experience when interacting with your brand. Delivering this type of experience not only improves the likelihood of a sale, but it also allows your business to operate at much faster speeds gaining dramatic increases in economic efficiency.



When given a choice between companies that just leverage technology, and those that choose the RIGHT technology and RIGHT solution that impacts the overall brand experience –  the companies with the “right” technology win every time. So what can you do to leverage technology the right way to compete in the modern marketplace? I believe this boils down to 3 pillars:

1) Credibility – Your technology has to provide credibility for your brand and elevate the reputation of your Representatives. You must build and maintain credibility for Representatives to put their reputation on the line by sharing their replicated website, the products and your overall brand experience with their Customers. I believe one of the biggest “risks” Direct Sales companies face comes from the field putting their credibility on the line; if the company fails the credibility test it’s a huge issue.

2) Simplify – Your technology has to simplify the experience for Representatives & Customers. It is essential to avoid the tendency that I see in technology where things become more complex. The quote you commonly hear is that “humans have a shorter attention span than a goldfish.” If you watch consumer behavior, you can see this with the rise in popularity of sped-up cooking videos on Facebook,  and the increase of short videos on Snapchat and Instagram. People expect to get what they need, NOW, in a SIMPLE WAY

3) Automate – Your technology has to provide a consistent onboarding and ongoing experience for your Representatives. You need to be able to deliver training and coaching at the time when it’s needed. When a Representative gets their first Customer sale, you should be coaching them on what they need; or when they’re close to the next rank you should be mentoring them on the specific actions they need to take to promote. Additionally, your technology should provide relevant education that is delivered in bite sized trainings that can be immediately applied.
 
Today, we will focus on what credibility means in direct sales. At the core, credibility is a feedback loop:

This feedback loop is moving faster than ever before, and inadequate technology fuels an instant reaction. There is a zero-tolerance to slow or down websites and poor online experiences.

When a new Representative joins your company, one of their first actions it to look at their replicated website. While they’re new and excited, this is the time when they’ll share this website with their community – putting their credibility on the line. Your replicated websites should include:

• A modern user interface with a beautiful design
• Intuitive navigation with accurate menu titles
• Be fast with no delays
• The Representative’s photo, their story, and other personal information they choose to share.

 
Today consumers expect an easy online experience regardless of the device they use – phone, tablet or desktop. I’ve heard stories of Representatives being ashamed to share their website due to the poor user experience. If your Representatives are embarrassed to share their website — they’re not going to stake their credibility on your brand or product line.



How does your e-Commerce experience stack up against Amazon? That is the comparison your customers are making when they evaluate your credibility. To deliver a modern experience to your customers, think about including:

• Authentic product reviews
• Beautiful images
• Related products linked to each product
• Clean categorization of your products
• Wish List
• Links for Social Sharing that are associated with an individual representative for commissions

 
When you take a step back and intentionally design your online experience for the user’s journey, it enhances your brand. The key is that you must make it EASY for people to buy from you. The best advice I can give you is to go through your website as if you were a consumer. What does the experience look like? What needs to be changed? If you aren’t sure what to look for, ask a family member or friend whose opinion you respect to give you honest feedback.

As you build your credibility, you also build recognition, loyalty, and competitiveness. As an added benefit, you will discover that credibility has a direct connection to a customer’s intent to purchase. We all want to buy from companies we trust, like, and know.

Credibility, like respect, must be earned. I hope that these tips will assist you in laying a foundation of trust and consistency that will grow into a solid reputation based on credibility.

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