marketing
Download your Contacts Today
When was the last time you backed up the most important asset you own in your business, your contacts?
So many consultants have a little too much faith in their umbrella company sometimes.
Today, I’d like to challenge you to take control of this one BIG DEAL.
Why do you want to download your contacts?
Because you’re smart. Let’s start there.
Because you worked hard for those contacts.
You never know what kind of glitch could wipe out even a portion of your contacts because of some IT department error. If you lose your contacts, it’s not their fault anymore, it’s yours. Cause you were told to back them up! There’s so much data in my company’s back office. If it crashed today, or if my company shut the doors today, this is ONE THING I know I will have. And I can prepare and rebuild instantly.
Can you?
Make a folder
Make a folder for each month. Mine this month is titled January 2019. Clever, I know…
But guess what? I put everything that pertains to January in that folder:
- scripts
- special
- graphics
- holiday stuff
- team reports
Now when I go back, I can see every January. I’m not starting from scratch.
Well, an excel file of my current month’s contacts list is now part of that folder. I’ve been saving content for 6 years, but I’ve neglected the most important part of my business, my contacts. So I wanted to make sure you’re on the right track too.
Melissa Fietsam @DierctlySocial
Halloween Marketing Challenge
Words to use for Halloween marketing campaigns, emails, videos, and SPOOKY FUN!
You have officially been CHALLENGED!
Post a link to your graphic below when you’re done.
FREE MARKETING.
You’d be GHOULISH not to do this today…(insert cackle).
I want you to create a graphic, email campaign, business page post, customer group post, video, ANYTHING that has to do with one of these subjects below.
Halloween is here. Use the holidays to capture their attention, make them giggle, make them think…haha…clever girl! THAT is great marketing!
There are so many Halloween templates on Canva you could choose to play with!
Which one will YOU choose Boo?
🦇Monster Deals
🎃Pulse Racing Deals
🦇Thrills and Chills
🎃Bite Sized Deals
🦇Get Spooky Best Sellers before they Ghost
🎃Unearth big Halloween savings (tombstones)
🦇What’s your posion?
🎃Ghoulish goodies
🦇Spine tingling deals
🎃Wickedly delicious
🦇Frightfully good offer
🎃Fright and delight
🦇Scary-good deals
🎃Wonderfully wicked
🦇Spook-tacular deals
🎃You deserve a treat too
🦇No tricks, just treats
🎃Monster mash
🦇The Cat’s Meow
Don’t forget to join our free Facebook community for more great ideas! CLICK HERE
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
How to do a Turkey Trot
Turkey Trots are one of the coolest things EVER during November, and you need to get a jump on the details NOW!
So if you’ve been around direct sales for awhile, chances are you know all about the Turkey Trot! The idea is that you get 6 people to collect $100 in orders. Then you submit as one big party and divide up the hostess benefits, right? Most of us are experts at this. But if you’re new, it can be very confusing. So to help out our newer consultants, and make sure they can be just as successful as the pros…I made this quick training video in order to show our newer consultants just how to run a Turkey Trot!
But I BET…I can show some old dogs some new tricks too…so don’t think you got this down old dogs!
Throughout the year, they will be named all different kinds of things according to the season or holiday, but the concept will always be the same!
- Snowman shuffle
- Reindeer romp
- Cupid shuffle
- Boo bags
- Summer 6 pack
- Firecracker frenzy
- The name may be different, but the concept is exactly the same!
Watch this QUICK VIDEO to explain how to do one:
And why on Earth would you want to do this?
Let me tell you a little turkey story…
Once there was this customer. She was too scared to commit to collecting an entire party by herself. She wasn’t confident her friends would support her. So she came across this crazy nut job of a consultant, who was offering prizes for collecting HALF of a party. So she decided to give it a try. Because even though her consultant is nuts, she’s kinda fun and it couldn’t be that bad to collect $100 in orders, right?
And BAM!
Just like that…you got her to book a party. You helped her overcome a fear of direct sales that she didn’t even know she had. And now you have a lifelong hostess and happy customer. Along with lots of new gobble gobble friends of hers that want to try next time 🙂
The End.
Melissa Fietsam
Don’t for get to join us on Directly Social: CLICK HERE!
Business App that will Blow your Mind
And here’s the thing, you’ve probably already been using it!
I have been using Bitly for a LONG time. Many of you have.
But I’m going to blow your mind when I show you how much easier I can make your life right now. Like…right now… like…today.
Here’s a quick video to show you how to change your life in 20 minutes.
Imagine all the things you can pass on easily to your customers. You’re at the grocery store and someone needs the link to catalog.
BAM! You open your app and there’s the link.
Here’s some other things for your customers you can create links to:
- Digital Catalog
- Customer Specials
- Hostess Specials
- Printable order forms, in case they run out
- Link to image of hostess rewards items
- Link to current months hostess party links
- Link to join your team
- Link to specific categories of products on your website
- If you sell makeup: eyes, cheeks, foundation, skin care
- If you sell bags: home organization, toes, thermals, crossbody, travel, accessories
- If you sell candles: cleaning products, seasonal smells, mini plug ins, buddy’s, florals, food (send me the link please….lol)
- If you sell jewelry: silver, gold, bracelets, rings, necklaces, lockets
Get it? SO EASY to make contact QUICK and SEAMLESS. This organization helps you and your customers. They will think you’re the bomb diggity when you have the perfect link in .5 seconds. You will always have an answer at your finger tips.
Social media links:
- Facebook Business Page
- YouTube
- Customer Group
- Facebook Timeline
- This is the one I have memorized. When someone wants to book a party, I say, “do you mind sending me a friend request here (insert link to my profile)”…instead of, “hey! can you find my really-hard-to-spell-name on Facebook. Or maybe my Jennifer-Smith-yes-there’s-5,000-to-choose-from…
So there you have it! An easy way to use Bitly to organize your business, your life, anything you use or need on a constant basis.
Fair warning…it’s addictive. You’ll be adding links like a mad woman once you get the hang of it.
The simple truth is that you use the SAME links over and over again. But now, you’ll be adding them to your Bitly app and site.
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
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Prospecting for New Business: Power of 3
Prospecting is about consistently generating new leads for your business, outside of your family and friends.
Who wants to start building business outside of your family and friends? New leads mean new business, new parties and new business partners.
So let’s start with the basics, what is a LEAD?
Lead = Contact info received (to be able to follow up with)
So, if you do not get contact information, you have not generated a lead, period.
You have no means of follow up and that potential lead is pretty must a lost cause.
So how can you start to generate real LEADS for your business?
I train to the “Power of 3” – set a goal to talk to 3 people a day about your company (product, party & opportunity) and generate a lead from them (contact info).
Once again, if you do not collect contact info, it is NOT a lead!
How the “Power of 3” Works:
1. On Sunday night, you would make up 15 marketing bags to hand out during the week (M-F).
2. These prospecting bags should include business info, mini catalog or mailer, a sample (if you offer samples) and some hard candy.
3. Tie the bag shut with raffia or curly ribbon. Don’t skip this step, women LOOOVE this!
4. Add a post it note on the front of each bag.
5. Take 3 bags with you each day, put them on your passenger seat and do not go home until you have handed out all 3 of them! You are going to have to actually get out of your car and talk to people! (Whaaaaat???)
6. The post it note will remind you to get their contact info.
Work the Numbers:
If you did this every day, for 5 days a week, you would generate 15 new leads a week, or 60 new leads a month. Statistics say that 3 in 10 will buy or book from you and 1 in 10 people will join your team! Is it worth you taking the time to do this every week? ABSOLUTELY! Imagine how great would that be for your business! And if you are a Leader, you can always encourage your Consultants to do the same.
My 90 Day Challenge to you!
Try this technique out for the next 90 days (basically Sept-Nov) and see what happens in your business! I guarantee it will be worth your time, but you must commit to making the prospecting bags up weekly and follow up with those you give them to within 2-3 days each time. We are only talking about 3 people a day, you can do it!
Don’t forget to follow our Facebook Community: CLICK HERE TO JOIN
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
10 Ideas to ROCK Your June
Hellooooooo summmer!!! I am so excited summer is finally here and I can spend some quality time with my kiddos, making memories & making messes!
We have a whole summer bucket list that I cannot wait to get started, including a Donut Trail here in Cincinnati where you visit 12 different donut shops, they stamp your passport and you get a free t-shirt at the end! We are gonna be in donut heaven! (Local friends – check it out here: https://www.gettothebc.com/donut-trail)
Who else is excited to get their summer on? Summer is an amazing season of the year, but you need to keep in mind that it is just a season, and if you don’t work it right, your business could totally wilt or die this summer if you don’t continue to water, nurture and plant new seeds. You will have no fall business if you don’t keep your summer business moving!
So here are 10 Ideas to ROCK your June:
#1 National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #1
Hello?? This might just be the best day of the year, right? Be sure to be one of the first announce National Donut Day to your followers so they hear it from you first. Schedule your post using CinchShare to hit your FB business page at 6:00am, then turn around and SHARE that post from your public business page to your Customer VIP group and your personal timeline on Facebook so you will be the first in their timeline to tell them what day it is, and they will share your post with all their friends!
#2 – National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #2
You can even take it one step further and do a little research about who has free donuts on that day, I know that Krispie Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts both do something that day! Be a resource and your followers will definitely share your posts!
#3 National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #3
Do a “Donut Drop” at a local business or office! This is something you will need to start working on this week. You make a post to your FB Business Page, your Customer Group and your timeline asking if anyone works in an office that would like to host a Donut Drop party with you. You will bring a dozen or so donuts, catalogs and order forms to her office and she can do a catalog party with donut bribery for her co-workers! You can do with with cookies on another day (Cookies and Catalogs), but just imagine if you lined up 2-3 Donut Drop parties on June 1st! It is a Friday (payday!) and you can close the parties a couple days later. You could have a couple thousand dollars in sales the first week of June just from the Donut Drops! Take lots of pictures and share them on social!
#4 National Donut Day (6/1) – Idea #4
“Do-nut” miss the opportunity to really play up this day in your social media posts. You can share products and specials that your followers “donut” want to miss out on, or “you donut know how excited I am about this new product”. Or letting them know that they are the “icing on your donut”, “I donut know what I would do without you”, “I like you a HOLE lot”, “hope your day is sprinkled with fun”. You can have so much fun with this day and your followers will have a blast because it is fun and different! Run a contest and give away a gift card for donuts!
#5 Change your FB Customer Group cover photo to something more “June” themed
This is an easy way to update your group and get a post into your group member’s news feeds. Make sure you are using that prime real estate of the cover photo space as best you can. Make sure you are not always just featuring product, be sure to include your smiling face sometimes! And use the group photo size 1920×1080 for optimal visualization of your awesome banner and details!
#5 Update your Facebook Business Page cover photo to something more June-like
Make sure you are updating your Facebook Business Page with the season, you definitely don’t want a cover photo featuring Christmas items up when it is June But I cannot tell you how many times I see this on some of your business pages. Your cover photo is like your storefront window for your business, make sure it is attractive and in-tune with the season. Use a filter and add a summer frame, jazz it up!
#6 Beach Bucks
Remember Cupid Cash from February and the Bunny Bucks in April? You can totally summer-ize it up by allowing your customers to “earn” $1 in Beach Bucks for every $10 they spend with you in June. The Beach Bucks are only redeemable with you and only redeemable in the following month, in this case July. So this idea gets you sales this month and potentially next month too. If you want to move some cash and carry products, you could easily change the coupon to where they can only redeem the Beach Bucks toward something you have cash and carry and then payout the difference. For example, if they have $10 in Beach Bucks and the item is $31, they give you the $10 in Beach Bucks and pay the $21 difference. That’s a sale for June AND a sale for July!
Don’t forget to join Directly Social on Facebook:
CLICK HERE TO JOIN
#7 Happy Mail – Send crazy fun goodies in the mail to upcoming Hostesses and team members
Imagine what the response will be when you a flip flop or beach ball to a Hostess in the mail (no box or envelope) letting her know she will FLIP over the Hostess special this month, or you cannot wait to have a BALL with her at her party! Walk around your local dollar store, pick things up, ask yourself “Can I mail this?” and figure out a fun pun or play or words that you can feature with your happy mail! If this mailing stuff without a box or envelope freaks you out, go and and box it up, but I will tell you it is far more fun to get sill random stuff in the mail without the envelope. They REMEMBER this and they remember you (and they talk about you and share on social media)!
#8 Share summer recipes, crafts and tips with your followers
One of the best things you can do to have your followers engage with you is to curate good seasonal content that your followers will love and share! Think all things summer and share those cute tips and ideas to get people sharing your content. Share a tip a day or at least a few a week!
#9 Create a June Ideas Pinterest Board and share it
Head over to Pinterest and create a theme board specifically for June and pin what you love for June (tips, recipes, crafts, DIY, outdoor cleaning, etc). Once you have a minimum of 10-15 pins (I am sure you will find far more that you love), share the link to your Pinterest board in your customer group, your FB business page, your personal timeline, your customer newsletter, etc. Share it everywhere! Invite them to follow you while they are over on Pinterest!
#10 Summer-ize Your Vendor Booth
Summers are a great time to do vendor booths at fairs and festivals. People completely pre-judge your vendor booth in about 3 seconds. Think about ways you can completely “summer-ize” your table and display to make it attractive to those scanning the room or just passing by. Be sure to use colors that go well together, maybe just 2-3 colors. Keep things simple and clean! I have seen amazing vendor tables in the summer, using beach towels as tablecloths, pool noodles as jewelry bumps for bracelets and watches, sand buckets to hold Hostess Packets and goodies! You can really have a lot of fun and catch a lot of attention with a seasonal table.
What fun June ideas do you have?
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
10 Lovely Ideas to Totally ROCK Your February
Hey there!
If you have been following this blog any length of time, you know how much I love themes and seasonal marketing. I have always been an out-of-the-box thinker and am always looking for ways to set myself apart from the masses and stand out.
So here we are in February and as I stroll through my FAVORITE store in the whole wide world (aka Dollar Tree), I see the hearts, candies and cupids and my mind immediately turns to……. nope, not anything romantic, but something just as exciting…. MARKETING!! I am completely engrossed in picking things up and saying “how can I use this for my biz?” Does anyone else do this? I literally walk around Dollar Tree looking for business building goodies! And if I get a cart, well then it’s totally over! LOL!
Let’s talk February marketing ideas right now! I am going to share 10 of my favorite ideas below AND I will even include a link to my awesome February Marketing Ideas Pinterest Board that I created just for you! The Pinterest board is meant to get your creative juices flowing and get you thinking outside of the box too!
1: Host your own “Mardi Gras Party” – Feb 13, 2018!
Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)! You definitely still have time to pull this off! People know today what they are doing on that Tuesday night. Grab a king cake at your local grocery store ($7), some beads and masks at the Dollar Tree ($5) and you are good to go! Sooooo easy and fun!! Or host an online Mardi Gras Party on Facebook — get creative! Mardi Gras is all about partying with friend and having a great time!! Perfect atmosphere for us! The Dollar Tree has tons of awesome goodies for this.
2: GALentine’s Day-
This is a day that you celebrate with your best girlfriends, get it? GALentine’s Day! It is the ultimate girls night out event, just google “Galentine’s Day” and check out all the awesomeness available. I see this as a great theme for your parties (online and in-home) the entire month of February! Don’t break the bank, hit the Dollar Tree!
Love all these ideas? Join our Facebook group for TONS of great ideas to work your business each month:
CLICK HERE TO JOIN
3: Buy boxes of Valentine’s Day classroom cards –
($1 at Dollar Tree for 32 of them) –
Give them out to people during Valentine’s Day week as you meet them! Stick your label on the back and just hand them out, don’t overthink this! It is kinda like a business card, and seriously, who doesn’t LOVE getting Valentines! You know you miss getting them too! And come on, I REALLY want to buy some Disney Princess theme Valentine’s after being in Orlando last week, and they even have cute Minion ones for my friend, Melanie Moore!! So grab a couple boxes, label them up and get out there! You need to get out from behind that computer…. yes YOU! …. you need to get out there and meet people!
DO IT!!
4: Valentine’s Day BOOKING Ideas –
They have these cute containers at the Dollar Store — 8 in a pack.
1) Use them for a Booking Game — Allow each guest to choose a container. If they want to take a gamble, they can open the container. 6 of the containers say Book a Party, 5 containers say Free Gift and 1 container says Grand Prize. If they decide to open their container and they get free gift or grand prize, you must give them those prizes, if they get book a spa, they must agree to book a party.
2) Use them for a booking gift — They get to choose a gift when they book a party. (HINT: Just put some candy in the box. Then on a small post it note put the gift they will receive when they hold their party ON THE ORIGINAL DATE BOOKED.)
5: Start an “I LOVE _______” Campaign –
This is the month of LOVE, so embrace it! What do you LOVE in your business? Each week of the month, choose another piece of your business to highlight online. Highlight specific people, highlight products, hightlight your company, etc
I LOVE My Hostesses!
I LOVE My Team!
I LOVE My Company!
I LOVE Referrals!
I LOVE My Customers!
I LOVE ______ Product!
6 : CUPID CASH –
Your customers “earn” $1 in Cupid Cash for every $10 they spend with you in February. The Cupid Cash is only redeemable with you and only redeemable in March, so it gets you sales this month and potentially next month too. If you want to move some cash and carry products, you could easily change the coupon to where they can only redeem the Cupid Cash toward something you have cash and carry and then payout the difference. For example, if they have $10 in Cupid Cash and the item is $31, they give you the $10 in Cupid Cash and pay the $21 difference. That’s a sale for Feb AND a sale for March! Download this free Cupid Cash coupon sheet and start using them right away. We even added a special “booking bonus” to this one! DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE
7: Send a Valentine’s Day card –
(2 for $1 at Dollar Tree) to your 5 favorite Hostesses, your 5 favorite Customers and 10 of your team members, or mix and match that however you want. You are not sending these to ask them to book or buy, you are sending them to let them know how much you appreciate them in your business.
8: Offer Gift Certificates –
Gift certificates are so popular, make sure your customers know you offer them!
9: Offer some SWEET DEALS –
Put together some gift sets and wrap them up cute to sell cash and carry! The eye buys! Upload pics of your cute packages to your customer groups, business page, Instagram, etc (if permitted)
10: Vendor Booth Idea – Host a Kissing Booth!
Are you doing a vendor booth this month? Why not host a kissing booth? Pucker up, baby! No wait, I am totally kidding…. loosen those lips. Grab a mason jar or large lidded container, fill it to the top with Hershey Kisses (counting as you go) and put it on your table with a sign that says KISSING BOOTH and have them guess how many kisses are in the jar. Easy peasy, right? And the winner gets the jar of kisses, or a gift certificate, whatever you want. You can do this online too and award a virtual gift certificate. What I love about activities like this at a booth is they are inexpensive, fun and always highly participative. Everyone stops to take a crack at guessing, which means you have more time to create conversation.
Need some visual stimulation to get you thinking about February marketing? Check out the Pinterest board I made just for this topic:
https://www.pinterest.com/melissafietsam/february-marketing-ideas/
What’s the BEST Business Card for Your Direct Sales Business?
Video Posted on
I am STOKED about this marketing tool for my business! I love it and I want to make sure everyone knows about it.
So let me ask you, what does everyone woman carry in her purse-besides a pen? CHAPSTICK!! I have found a website that is super affordable to buy lip balms that are blank on the outside. And then you can also buy the labels for them and print your own labels with your business information!
That is TEN TIMES better than a business card! Cause no sane woman would ever throw away a lip balm, right?!
I bought pens and used them for years. But I like to be different. And this is definitely right up my alley!!
So check out my own below
Now WHAT are you going to do with these?
1. You can give them to cashiers
2. You can put them in the tubes at the bank drive through
3. You can leave them for servers
4. You can hand to ANYONE you’re having a conversation with about your business
5. Give them to your friends and family so THEY always have your business information on them! They may have your regular information…but would they know your BUSINESS information? I think I’ll give my mom some extras to hand out FOR ME!
6. Use these at your parties for prizes and giveaways. Everyone loves lip balm! And that is SO cheap for a giveaway! Heck, it’s so cheap that you could give EVERYONE at your home party at checkout!
7. These would be great for vendor events
8. Great for Nurses and Teachers week!! Pass out mini grab bags. Or any type of swag bags you were asked to donate.
9. What about Halloween?! You could make little bags for the moms!
10. How about Christmas gifts to all your hostesses for the year? Keep your information in front of them!!
11. These would be great to pass out at your kids ball games. “Hey anybody need some chapstick? I just got these in and I love them”. Oh, yeah…sly as a fox…LOL!!!!
The possibilities are truly endless.
The most important thing in your Direct Sales business is to STAND OUT in the sea of consultants in your area. It doesn’t matter how many consultants are in your area. If they’re not marketing their business in a FUN way, or not even marketing at all, people will choose to shop with YOU. And that’s a fact Jack 😉 I am constantly looking for ways to stand out. To reach new people. To make conversations easier and more fun. To get my information into more people’s hands in an effective way. So what are YOU doing?
Here is the website to order your own blank lip balms:
Round lip balm:
http://www.bulkapothecary.com/white-lip-balm-jars-filled-and-unlabeled/
Now I’m not talented enough to make those cute little labels. So Kim, from Night Owl Custom Design on Facebook, made them for me!
You can click the link below to order your own labels if you order these. They’re super affordable and totally worth it!
Here is the link for the round labels:
https://nightowlcustomdesign.ecwid.com/#!/Labels-Personalized-Lip-Balm-Round-labels/p/52409193
and here is the link for the tall lip balm labels –
Happy Marketing ladies!!
#marketing #lipbalm #31 #31bag #31bags #thirtyone #thirtyonegifts #directsales #marketyourbusiness #chapstick #bulk #networking
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I have a TON of videos on Youtube!
If you’re looking for:
- Booking ideas
- Recruiting ideas
- Seasonal ideas
- Direct Sales Tips
- Hostess Coaching Tips
- Recruiting Packets
- Hostess Packets
- Booking Blitzes
- Marketing
- BINGO’s
AND SO MUCH MORE!
There’s over 500 videos on there! You can use the search bar and find ANYTHING you’re looking for!
You’ll want to click on the LINK below and hit SUBSCRIBE so you never miss the new ones!
Click on this link:
https://www.youtube.com/user/buymybags
Melissa Fietsam, Ind. Executive Director at Thirty-One Gifts
#31 #31bags #31bag #thirtyone #thirtyonegifts #directsales #directsalestips #youtube #HostessCoaching #Booking #Recruiting #BINGO #recruitingpackets #guestpackets #hostesspackets