Are you properly filling out your customer’s order form correctly? Are you using the order form to it’s fullest potential?

I see a lot of consultants who just put their name and phone # on the customer’s order form and thats it. Well…I am here today to tell you that you need to do more!

Every order form that you hand out to the guests at home parties, to direct customers or even if you are just stuffing those order forms into catalogs and handing them out should have a lot more information on them than just your name and phone number!

About 10 years ago I started using my customer order forms as an important sales tool. I made sure that EVERY order form had my full name, my office phone number, my cell phone number, my email address and my consultant web site address on them. Why? Well, sometimes customers don’t want to pick up the phone to call you with an order or a question and some of these customers would rather communicate with you via email or they would rather just go to your web site store and order directly thru that.

If you don’t want to “write” all of that information onto your order forms then get a rubber stamp or self-inking stamper made up with all of your contact information on it. You can then use it to stamp your catalogs and to stamp your order forms so that your customers always have ALL of your contact information.

Just a few weeks ago I attended a party for a candle company and that consultant ONLY had her first name and phone # on the order form and on the catalogs. Later that night I went home and thought about adding something else to my order that I handed to her earlier that day. I would of been “more” inclined to add on to my order if I could of sent her a “quickie” email or I could of went to her web site and just drafted up & placed another order.

In my professional opinion you are doing a disservice to yourself & your business if you do not include ALL of your contact information on both catalogs & customer order forms.

They should have the following (if applicapable)

Name:
Home/Office Phone:
Cell Phone:
Email Address:
Web Site Address:

Matter of fact…every flyer, recruiting brochure, catalog, order form, business cards, etc. should all have more than just your name and one phone number for the contact information. You will find that some people don’t want to call you to ask questions or to place orders…some people would rather just email you or go directly to your consultant site to place their orders.

During the holiday season many direct sales consultants will see an increase in their business and one thing you can do during the holiday season to generate even more customer sales is to come up with a Holiday Wish List Program that you share with your customers. How do you do this you might ask? Well, I am going to tell you!

You will need to print up some flyers with all of your business contact information on them along with an order form or area on the flyer so that you customers can make a list of the items they would love to receive as gifts for the holiday season. Have your customer fill it out with the item #, product description, price and have them rank the items in order of preference…like #1 nautical necklace #2 seashell earrings and so forth. In addition on this form have them list the name, address, email address and/or phone number of the person they want you to give the list to. (in most cases it is their significant other).

It is then your job to contact their “SO” and present the list to him/her so that they can do their holiday shopping with you for the items that the customer would like to receive as their holiday gift(s). It is an easy way for their “SO” to do their holiday shopping and get gifts for their “SO” that they want to receive.

An added bonus would be if you went to your local discount store and purchased some dollar gift wrap, cards, ribbons and/or gift bags and offer FREE or LOW-COST gift wrapping service to them. Once the items come in it is your job to deliver them to their “SO” so they have them in time to present to their “SO” come holiday time.

When I was in direct sales I did this each and every holiday season and it always generated additional product sales for me! Give it a try this holiday season and see for yourself!

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out this site!

Over the past 2 1/2 years I have written several blog posts on promoting your direct sales home business during the holiday season and how to utilize this season to make even more money than what you usually do!

It is now November 4th and you need to GET BUSY booking your holiday parties NOW (if you have not already begun to do so) and since it is the beginning of the holiday season I thought I would make a little list of some tips I have posted over the years regarding direct sales and the holiday season.

You can click on each title/link below and it will take you to the post that I previously made on this blog regarding the subject title.

Fun and Interactive Holiday Party Ideas

Direct Sales – 9 Fall, Winter and Holiday Party Theme Ideas

Are You Booking Your Holiday Parties Now?

Direct Sales – 20 Seasonal Home Party Theme Ideas

In addition…browse around the Direct Sales category here on my blog and you will find 100′s of blog posts to help guide you to a successful holiday selling season!

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out that site!

Many consultants who are with Direct Sales companies are turning to online party bookings as a way to help bring in additional bookings and income with their home businesses. A lot of these Direct Sales companies even have online party options that are connected to the consultants “company provided rep site” that a consultant can utilize with their business.

However…many consultants are telling me that they don’t know how to promote an online party…online! Today I am going to give you a few tips. The first thing I do want to say is that if you have a party host…it is HER JOB to promote her own online party and not yours! With that said, if you are trying to get people to book online parties from you and you want to target people online for those bookings here is a few things you can do.

1. Take out an advertisement over on Facebook.com. These ads vary in price but can be effective when you use the right wording and marketing strategy when purchasing them. Facebook has millions of users so you only want your ADs to target those who are in your area or at the very least…in the same country as you. So, don’t waste your advertising dollars by targeting everyone, everywhere, around the world.

2. Utilize Twitter.com as part of your marketing strategy. You will need to spend time on Twitter conversing with your followers, finding new followers, etc. You can NOT just open up a Twitter account and spam your business ads at people 24/7. No one does business with someone who sits there and spams or does self-promoting all day long. You need to network & converse with followers & others on Twitter for it to be effective.

3. Join a few of the work at home mom and/or stay at home mom online forum boards. Again, you can’t just join and spam ads in their business folders. You will need to introduce yourself, converse with members in that community and make yourself a valuable member of that community before folks will do business with you. When posting ads about your online party options you need to make sure you ONLY post them in the designated advertisement folders on those forums.

4. Write some Direct Sales articles on online parties, offline parties or even just general DS business topics. (these can’t be ads, they must be articles & be informative). You can then submit these to various online Direct Sales web sites, DS Blogs and to article directory sites. Make sure your Author’s Resource Box includes a little bit about your biz, online party option, your link, etc. These articles can then be used all over the internet to drive some traffic to your site.

5. Take out some classified ads online that are specifically for your area (online local newspapers, magazines, directory sites, etc.) where you can advertise your online party booking option to those who are local to you & in your area. Often times these little classified online ads are free or extremely low-cost.

6. This next tip is done offline…you want to tell everyone you meet, come into contact with at your home parties, etc. That you have an online party option for those who are too busy for a home show booking. Don’t just assume that people you come into contact with…know this information, many do not! Your offline contacts can be a fabulous source to book online parties from you!

I hope these 6 tips will help you broaden your horizons and help you promote your online Direct Sales business party options.

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out that site!

When you sit down to write a post for your Direct Sales blog it is important to remember that your blog posts should be more “informational” type of posts instead of “spammy” type of posts. When people visit Direct Sales blogs they are looking more for the important information that you post and less for your sales spam ads.

When writing a post for your blog, here are a few important tips to remember.

* Title your blog post with related keywords on the content that is contained within your blog post. This will help search engines find your post and will help give readers a ‘sense’ of the information that is contained within the post itself.

* The opening paragraph in your blog post should be a great paragraph that entices the reader to continue reading your post. Furthermore, it should be a “preview” of what your blog post is all about.

* The body of your post should have approximately 3 keywords within it. You do not want to overload your post with keywords as search engines frown on that and consider it to be keyword spam. The body of your post should be written cleanly and concisely to get your message across to the reader.

* The summary paragraph in your blog post should be just that…a summary of what the reader just read. Keep the summary concise and to the point.

Your blog posts should be 200-300 words when they are informational posts and you should always use spell-checker before publishing them. Writing a great blog post does take some time and practice, but the more you write for your blog the easier it will get.

When it comes to having a home business it is very important that you don’t over-charge your customers when it comes to shipping and handling fees as it will drive those potential customers to do business with retail stores instead of you!

What do I mean? Well, I contacted a rep with one of the cosmetic companies as I wanted to order a mascara and I asked her what my total would be if I ordered the mascara through her. (after all, I like to support work at home moms/dads).

This rep emails me back and tells me that it will be $9.50 for my mascara and $8.25 for shipping & handling. Are you kidding me? I will not pay $8.25 to have a light-weight mascara shipped to me and I am sure that most customers will not pay an outrageous shipping & handling fee like that on a light-weight item.

A few days later I emailed a crafter online to inquire about ordering a personalized toddler-sized pillowcase that she was selling for $10.00 and asked her what the shipping charge would be. This person emails me back stating that it would cost $8.68 to mail it to me. What? We are talking about a light-weight toddler-size pillowcase that is 1/2 the size of a standard pillowcase!

My point is this…if you are a home business owner…whether it be a crafter, Direct Sales Rep, whatever…you have got to bring the shipping & handling fees down as customers are savvy shoppers in this economy and they won’t pay ridiculous prices for shipping & handling, especially when the items are small (like jewelry) or light-weight. I understand shipping rates are up…but surely it doesn’t cost $8.25 to mail a mascara 2 states away or a toddler-sized pillowcase within the same state as the seller. By over charging customers on shipping & handling you are LOSING business which means you are NOT making as much money!

Keep your shipping & handling in-check so that you are not losing sales to offline retail establishments. Customers will indeed go elsewhere to purchase the items they want & need if they feel you are being ridiculous with your shipping & handling fees.

Often times I see consultants giving customers discounts if they purchase products from them. When I ask them why they are giving them these discounts they tell me that they want the customer’s business so giving them a discount will entice the order from the customer.

Well..that might be true and I say “might” because if you are just blindly giving out discounts to people to just get their order it is REALLY going to take a “bite” out of the amount of money that you earn.

In my honest opinion you should not be placing a slew of advertisements (in-print online or offline) offering customers a big discount if they come buy their products from you because you are in a direct sales business to make MONEY. With most direct sales company you earn 25% to 40% in commission and if you are giving a slew of people 10% to 20% off their purchases with you…well…that adds up and that big chunk of discounts takes a huge bite out of your wallet.

I think if you are going to give discounts out to folks it should be LIMITED…like 10% off their FIRST order from you or 10% off their 10th purchase from you or something along those lines. However, I wouldn’t be placing a slew of ads all over the place allowing every Tom, Dick and Harry to take advantage of that discount.

In addition…it should never be a discount with NO expiration date!!! If you really want discounts to work for you they should have an expiration date of 60 days or less so that it encourages the customer to order sooner than later (later…they could forget).

I do believe in giving discounts but on a very limited basis because in direct sales we are not like big retail stores that can take big cuts into our profit line. So my advice…don’t sell yourself short. If you are going to give customer’s discounts…give it to only a few of them at a time and make sure they have a 60 days or less expiration date.

Your thoughts?

Back in the old days of Direct Sales Marketing leaders used to train their downline consultants to “pressure” folks to get the sale. I am here to tell you that pressuring people to book parties from you or pressuring people to give you the sale is a tactic that you should NOT be practicing! Why you might ask?

Well…to me it is common sense but I will explain why. I am sure that the majority of people in this world have been pressured at one time or another to purchase something and/or to book a party from someone. I want you to remember how you “felt” when that person was pressuring you for the sale or the booking? How did that make you feel? It certainly didn’t make you happy did it? Of course not!

We all get into Direct Sales to make money and that does mean that you need to be talking to people and asking them for the “sale” but…asking them and pressuring them are entirely two different things. If the person tells you they are not interested then you really need to back off and find someone else to talk to about your business and products. If the person says…”not right now” then make a note of that and contact them in a few weeks. (don’t contact them tomorrow!).

Pressuring people to book parties and/or to give you an order is really not the way to go. You can get bookings and orders without pressuring people and “irking” them off. You want to come across as a professional and a gentle/caring person…not as a bully who is asking them to spend their money with you.

So…the next time you are pitching your business to another person just remember that pressuring them is really not the way to go.

If you are looking to market your products online then one marketing strategy you need to consider is marketing your products via product review bloggers. Now you might be saying to yourself how will participating in product reviews benefit you and your business and today I am going to tell you how this method of marketing can benefit your business.

When you give a review blogger a product to review that blogger will use/consume that product and then they will write about it on their blog. In addition these same product review bloggers promote their reviews on several social media sites like Facebook and Twitter which gives you even more business exposure.

Here are some additional benefits:

1. A good review blogger will insert 3 keywords into their review and link those keywords to the specific pages on your site which helps with your SEO.  One-Way incoming keyword links are the most important thing when it comes to SEO.

2. A good review blogger will write a very detailed review and use stock photos & personal photos that they took of the product in a real-life setting which helps readers to understand the product even more.

3. Review bloggers (established ones) have loyal readers who follow their blogs so it’s an inexpensive way for you to advertise your business and products to new people who normally wouldn’t see your products. This will get you some great traffic coming into your web site. Unlike search engine advertising there is no cost per click with traffic coming into your site from a review bloggers site. Anytime you can generate free traffic or low-cost traffic is a good thing!

4. The reviews are archived on the bloggers site for years to come and also found in archived cached pages on search engines so again…for years to come people who are searching for your type of products can and will find you!

This is just scratching the surface on the many benefits you will gain by participating in product reviews on mommy bloggers web sites.

With all of that said …you need to find the “right” bloggers for your product review marketing campaign as not all of the bloggers out there are doing this for the right reason. Here is what you need to look for.

1. Scour that review bloggers site and read several of their product reviews to make sure they are keyword linking products to the sponsoring companies web site.  Make sure they are writing detailed reviews with proper spelling & grammar.

2. Check out that review bloggers Twitter stream and Facebook page to see if they are properly promoting those reviews. Is that review blogger tweeting out your review and/or review/giveaway every day or just one time after they post it? You want them actively promoting that review for you and tweeting it just once after they posted your review is not acceptable.

3. Is that blogger posting original photos that they have taken in the review? This is important to make sure the blogger is actually using the product you sent to them. I feel it is important to use stock photos of your products along with personal photos.

4. If you are sponsoring a giveaway along with your product review does that blogger post screen shots of the winner’s winning entry? I hate to say this…but I do know a couple of bloggers who don’t post winner’s entry screen shots and it seems that same handful of people are winning over and over and over again on their blog. I know some reputable bloggers who don’t post the screen shot but personally I feel it’s important.

So there you have it…I think marketing your products online via a good reputable product review blogger has many benefits for your business.

If you are looking for a reputable product review blog I would like to suggest that you check out Two Classy Chics.

When you run and operate a home business in Direct Sales, you need to be really conscious of the type of customer service that you give to others who come into contact with you and your business. Unlike big brick and mortar retail type of stores, you have no one else to blame if poor customer service is given to your party hosts and customers.

It is a proven fact that people will purchase products and services from party plan consultants who they feel comfortable with, who treat them well, who consistently contact them and with who they make a personal connection with.

Today I would like to share with you, several ways that you can make your party hosts and customers feel special and important, to you and your home business.

1. If you are utilizing email to stay in touch with your business associates, party hosts, customers and/or downline team, it is important that you answer those emails in a timely manner. When people contact you via email regarding business matters, they don’t want to be left hanging for days on end. Business emails should be answered in a minimum of 24 hours unless it is the weekend.

2. When you are corresponding with business associates and clients via telephone, it is important to do so when you are not feeling rushed. In addition, background noise should be kept to a minimum. In other words, customers deserve more than two minutes of your time and they should be able to talk to you without a screaming spouse or kids in the background. Those who you speak to via telephone deserve your undivided attention when you are speaking to them about business matters.

3. It is important to try to make a personal connection with your party hosts and customers. I like to ask them a few questions and I really try to act interested in their answers. You could talk about marriage, children, sports, hobbies, food, whatever…just try to make a personal connection with them so that they feel comfortable in working with you.

4. It is your responsibility to handle any and all business problems and issues quickly and thoroughly if and when those problems arise. In other words, if a customer receives a defective product, you should handle the warranty and return as quickly as possible. When you offer a swift and thorough correction in an error to a client, they are more apt to forgive you and come back to you for future purchases. If you take your good old time and don’t thoroughly correct the problem, I can assure you that next time they need to make a purchase, they will seek out another party consultant to buy it from.

5. Treat those party hosts and customers like gold! I like to go out of my way and offer little inexpensive gifts to thank them for their loyalty in continually purchasing from me and/or for continually booking home parties from me. These can be little gifts that you pick up at your discount store or little promo items from your business company.

When you run a small home party business by yourself where you are solely responsible for offering great customer service to those you come into contact with, you really need to be on the ball and go above the call of duty to make that party host and/or customer feel special. If you take the time out of your busy day to focus some of your efforts just on that task, it will reap you future business and rewards.

This article was written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.