Calls: Just Do It

  
  We've all heard those phrases before, you know the ones, 'eat the frog', 'bite the bullet', 'just do it'...Those phrases that are supposed to motivate you to get things done. There are countless books out there on procrastination and being more productive. The self-help section of any bookstore will have books that contain motivating stories, ideas, and quotes to get the reader to accomplish those hard-to-do tasks, and ultimately lead you to success. If you wander over to the business section of that same bookstore you'll find books on cold calling and facing rejection. These books will also provide stories, motivational ideas, and quotes to help you pick up the phone or make the sale.
    It's no coincidence that there are so many of these types of books written. It's because motivation is a difficult thing to truly obtain, and the motivation to make the sale is even more elusive.  Okay, so what am I getting at here? You've been told dozens of times (or so I hope) that bookings are the lifeline of your business, so why is it so hard to pick up the phone? We need the motivation. We need to 'eat that frog'. We need to just do it.
   Easier said than done, right? Making booking calls is probably the most terrifying task in a direct seller's business day. I can't tell you how many times I have avoided that call or just sent an email instead. It's hard to call someone out of the blue to ask them for what you perceive as a favor. It's hard because of that incredible fear of rejection. You're afraid of that 'no', you're afraid that they'll even hang up on you. You're afraid.
   If you're serious about your business, you have to overcome this fear. That's why I want to devote a series of Friday blog posts just to the subject of booking calls. We have to get over this fear and we have to use the phone. I'm not talking text messages or Facebook on your iPhone. I mean call people. We need to be calling our prospects. We need to be calling our team members and we need to be calling our hostesses. I am the first person to admit that I haven't done that in the past 5 months or so. I felt like I didn't need to because I was just booking from my shows. Let's just say I am paying for that false comfort now.
Do you realize it's so much easier for a person to reject you via email, Facebook message, or text? They can just not answer, they can say they never got it, or they tell you they're too busy, a task much easier to do when they're not hearing your voice. The reason we continue to "book" this way is because it feels easier to us. When they say 'no' or ignore your message you don't feel crushed. It's because there doesn't seem to be a real person there. You don't see their face or hear their voice. So let's go back to the 'good ole days' of business. Let's be women of integrity and make those calls! Don't worry we'll do it together...

Booking Games!

     So, in the previous post I mentioned that I had been loving the new booking games I have been implementing into my shows. These games were extremely helpful in getting new bookings for my business. The booking games that I'm going to tell you about are not created by myself. These are ideas that I have seen other consultants do in their businesses. Feel free to use these ideas as I have used theirs. I'm here to help.

        The game that I have been mainly using is the baby purse game. There are several variations of this game that I have seen, but you will definitely need to purchase some "baby purses" (I'll provide the website for these at the bottom of the post). I have around 12 purses and I will probably order some more when I get to our next duty station. Here's how the game works: first you put a little piece of paper in each purse that says one of the following things 1) $5 off your order tonight, 2) $10 off your order tonight, or 3) congratulations the party continues at your house! I also put a piece of chocolate (or candy) in each purse. When I get to the show, I display all of the purses on a tray and when people ask about them I let them know that it's a game we will play later. During the game I pull out the tray and start by saying, " This is a fun game to play especially if you like to gamble a little. You DO NOT have to play if you don't want to. There is no pressure. You absolutely don't have to take a purse if you don't want to." This intrigues them into the game and then I explain,
     "I'm going to pass this tray around and you can each choose a little purse. DO NOT open it until we all open together. Each purse holds two things: a delicious piece of chocolate and a little card that could say one of three things...(Here I explain the three things I listed above). If you get the card that says 'Congratulations the Party Continues at Your House' you get to earn your own hostess perks and see me again! I just ask that if you take a purse and you get this card that you do hold a show with me. This will help out your hostess and you will get even more discounts and free products! So if you get this card you have to yell Woohoo!"
    Then we all open the purses together and the people hosting will yell woohoo! I also mention that if it wasn't so scary to risk getting that card, maybe they would all like to host shows anyway! Some variations I have seen have allowed them to take home the baby purses to keep. At this point, I have been having them return the purses to me. If the hostess has a daughter I allow her to choose a purse for her little girl to keep. The hostess can play this game but if she gets a host-a-show card she must host another one within the next 6 months.
    Sure I've had some of these cancel, but I love filling my books and letting cancellations fall where they may. How you divide up your cards into the purses is up to you. I have about a 50% gift card to 50% hostess card ratio for my purses and I might change it as my business grows. I have had a lot of success with this game but I have more game ideas to come...

 This is the website with great game ideas and where I buy my baby purses:
www.expressyourselfonline.com

A Changing Wind...

I can't believe I've gone so long without a blog post, especially after promising more to come. The past 3 months have been a true whirlwind in my personal, family, and professional life. I'm now getting ready to move from Germany back to the comforts of the United States of America. I have less than two months left here and even less time with my business supplies. So, as my business winds down here I want to thank the people that have supported my business in any way. I appreciate my team that I have built here while I've been in Germany, and I hope they find the things I have found so far in my business. BUT, I'm not leaving Germany yet so I want to talk about some things that have worked in my business while I've been here:

1.) Booking games- Since the end of February, I have implemented the use of some great booking games during my show. These have absolutely sky-rocketed the number of booking I get at each show.
2.) Networking- Here on a strict military post, we have some serious rules about how we run and advertise for our businesses, so my networking strategies have been adapted for them. I found that networking with other business owners has been the safest, most effective way of business socializing.
3.) Connecting- I feel like I have worked very hard to connect with my customers, hostesses, and team members since we are spread out all over the world. There are some areas that I definitely need improvement in, but making an effort to connect with people makes a huge impact on your business.

There are other strategies that I have used to push my business forward, but I am not immune to setbacks and slumps. April and May proved to be very challenging to my business. I had the most cancellations and no-sales-shows that I have had in my entire direct sales career. There are many factors to blame, but what's important is that I won't give up. And so, I would love to hear how your April and May went! Did you experience a business boom, or a slump? Or did your business stay the same? Let's motivate each other to keep going!

I'm back with more...

Hello, sweet followers! Long time no-post right? Well my business and volunteering has taken off at lightning speed and I have been struggling just to keep up. My business take off is what you might be interested in so let me summarize some things that have been working for me:
1. BOOKING GAMES. Amazing that I hadn't done this before, but these have been a real lifeline to my business in the past 3 months.
2. New Team Member Incentives. (Both by the company and by myself.)
3. Serious Self Discipline

So are you intrigued? Do you want to know more about my booking games or my team member incentives? If so, join me here tomorrow for all the details on some of the booking games that have kept me rolling!

PS I'm having my biggest business month EVER so tune in to find out how! :)
I'm back.

Super Bowl Idea

   I'm back ladies, and I'm ready to tell you what I have been up to! In the last month and a half I have really been pushing myself to build up my team, and our production, so that we can become our own Unit in our company. We are getting so close to our goals so that's where my focus has been. I wanted to share with you a really cute Super Bowl idea that I received from my upline manager, Leslie.
     Many of you probably have, or go to, a coed/couples Super Bowl party. Turn this into an opportunity for you business, while you're still having fun! In a room away from your actually party, and TV, set up a super cute display of your products set up with a Valentines theme. During the game, let the wives/girlfriends check out your display and let them really take a look at your items. While they're looking at the display and catalog, have them write down their Top 10 Wishlist. Then, during halftime, have the husbands meet with you without their wives. Explain the wishlist to them and tell them that if they want to pick out some items from the wish list (or even just a dollar amount) you will have it wrapped and ready for them on Valentines day! How cute is this idea?!
     Now remember, the Super Bowl this year is on February 5th so this only leaves about a week for you to get the products, wrap them, and deliver them to the men before Valentine's Day. If your company ships fast, this may not be an issue but definitely consider the timing before you decide to host one of these events. Stay tuned tomorrow for another adorable Valentine's Day idea!

I need you...

My dear readers. I am sorry I have been gone for quite a while, you know how it can be over the holidays. I really haven't gotten much feedback in the past few weeks from my readers, and, honestly, I need the feedback to keep going. You see, it's hard to come up with new topics every day that have to do with businesses. There's a lot of information out there but, without your input, I don't know which direction to go. So until I figure out a good process for this blog, and I find out what you all want to read about, the post will be far between. So what are you struggling with in your business? What areas of direct sales do you need the most help in? Give me some direction, and I'll work hard to give you some answers!

Hostess Tracking

   
Good evening readers! How is everyone's week so far? Today I want to talk about a really important subject that's related to hostess coaching: hostess tracking.
    I spoke in an earlier post about layering your prospects and I have to say, that since that post, my number of prospects have been too great to "layer" in the traditional sense. I just haven't had the time to put every new person into a chart and track their process through my company. SO I have put my focus in to two different tracking sheets: hostess tracking and team member tracking. Today we will talk about hostess tracking.
    I just finished updating my new hostess tracking sheet and I'm excited to share the benefits with you. The idea of this tracking sheet is to easily be able to see where you are with your hostess coaching. Each column in the chart is for a different stage of hostess coaching. For example, one column can be for when the hostess gets her hostess packet from you, so in that column (in the row for that hostess' name) you will put the date the received their hostess packet from you. You can do this for their initial email, follow up calls, guest list, and more. By putting in an actual date, instead of just a check mark, you can keep track of where you are in the process.
    Another reason that tracking your hostesses can help you is because it lets you see your own numbers. You can easily go back and see who was a hostess, how well their party went, and how well you did with follow ups and coaching. A tracking sheet not only tracks the progress of the show, but how much work you put into the preparation of the show. You can see where there are holes in your coaching and make improvements as needed.
    So, now you can see how I've been tracking my hostess coaching. I would love to see some feedback or more ideas! :)