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Great Idea for Celebrating New Consultants in your Direct Sales Business
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Need an idea to celebrate your new consultants?
I came up with an idea that will help celebrate them AND get them excited about their business! And I knew just who to contact to help me carry it out. Julie Shilling is my go to graphics girl. She efficient, affordable, and provides excellent service and design.
So here’s what I did…
When a new consultant enters their first party, I wanted a way to reward them with something that would also help them market their business. I decided to do a catalog label design!
So let’s say they enter their first party…
I message my girl this graphic and say pick any design you want! I’m going to personalize these catalog labels for you!
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Julie provides a PDF they can download and print their own labels from home!
I’m also going to send the link to these labels I get on Amazon prime for SUPER CHEAP:
She charges the leader (me) $15 for the initial design with team colors or whatever you want on these 3 choices. But guess what? For every new consultant you need the design for, it only costs $5! So I can reward my new consultants for $5! HECK YEAH! #SCORE
This is going to:
- help her market her business
- make her feel so proud to see her name on a beautiful design
- get her excited about passing out those catalogs
- and make her job easy by handing her a tool that is essential to her business
And in return:
- you get to celebrate her
- you can get your whole team excited about this
- you can even do team giveaways centered around these as a giveaway
- and you do this all while paying PENNIES to do it!
Contact Julie Shilling today by heading to her business page:
Angel Kiss Design
Hope this helps someone today!
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
You’re FIRED!
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Think what you want to about Donald Trump, but I will tell you, I used to LOVE his show The Apprentice and his infamous “You’re Fired!” at the end of each episode.
I loved the urgency and intensity of the show and loved to see how people perform under pressure and rise to the occasion! People can do amazing things under pressure and when they feel the urgency to get things done. For me, it gives me sheer adrenaline to work on risky projects and try things I have never done before in my business. I never want to get to a place of complacency or apathy in my business, where I just don’t care to work for it anymore…where I’m content to sit on my butt and watch the world around me. That is not me, that is not in my nature, and it shouldn’t be in yours either!
I get it, some weeks and months are harder than others and sometimes you just don’t have anymore gas in the tank. But let’s get real! Most of the time you’re honestly just being the worst boss ever in your own business! You’re not getting things done, you’re making excuses, you’re piddling around doing things that bring no real value or $$$ into your business. You’re “playing business” and not actually working a business.
Businesses MAKE money, hobbies COST money!
I am going to share with you a little tidbit that I heard many years ago in my direct sales career, so long ago that I can’t actually remember who originally said it, “You many need to fire yourself from the business. Yep, that’s what I said, sometimes you might just need to give yourself the old heave-ho!”. Think about this scenario; if you worked at a company and you had an employee performing the way you are performing in your business right now, would you keep them on the payroll? If yes, awesome! But I would venture to guess that most of you would say NO WAY! You would fire you in a heartbeat — so do it now! Yes, I am giving you permission to completely fire yourself from your own business!
Even for me, there are some months where I just royally screw up my business. I get comfortable in my day to day, I do the mundane business tasks with no sense of urgency and basically just “exist” in the business and perform like a lifeless robot. I need fired, I deserve to be fired! So every now and then… I DO fire myself completely from the business. I fire myself on a Friday for being ineffective and not doing what I know needs to be done for my job to grow my business. Then I will spend the weekend thinking about what I know needs to be done and coming up with a plan to make that happen. Then I rehire myself on Monday morning to get things done right.
How are things going in your business? Do you need to go all “Donald Trump” on your own butt and give yourself a pink slip? If you’re not working your business with urgency & intensity, if you are not leaping out of bed each morning because you are so excited about what you are doing and who you’re helping, you should be fired!
My favorite plan of action to REBOOT:
2 days: Make a list of all the things you need to get done in the next two days. These are #1 priority. And this list needs refreshed often.
2 weeks: Make a list of all the things that need done in the next two weeks. And refresh this list every couple of weeks.
2 months: Make a list of all the things that need done in the next two months. This is where your quarterly planning comes in; upcoming holidays, incentives, sales, etc.
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Complacency & apathy will be the death of your business, do not allow it to come to that.
Deep down, regardless of what you portray to others or make yourself look like on social media, you know if you’ve been slacking in your business. If you’re doing enough to just get by and hoping the “boss” doesn’t notice…you need to get a grip! Since you’re the boss…you’re just cheating yourself and your family out of success. So take a page out of Donald Trump’s show, maybe it’s time to say “YOU’RE FIRED“! Wipe the slate clean, get your thoughts and plans together and then rehire yourself to rock your biz!
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
Fundraisers for Mass Marketing in your Direct Sales Business
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We just launched a training on how to use Fundraisers to mass market your Direct Sales Business.
You’re going to get a video training on:
- Why you want to do them
- How you can market them on social media
- How to set up your packets
- How to find people interested in fundraisers
- How to book parties and create leads from them
- How to increase sales with them
- and so much more!
If you’re looking to increase sales, recruiting, and bookings this year…you need to take this training!
STEP 1:
Training is $39 for lifetime access
STEP 2:
JOIN YOUR TRAINING GROUP BY CLICKING HERE
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
Should I Add Consultants to My Customer Group?
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So the topic for today’s blog post – “Should I add my downline and other Consultants to my VIP Customer Group?”
I will be honest, this is a question that will get you a lot of different opinions when asked in a group of leaders, but I am going to share my thoughts and then why I think that way.
If you follow me on Social Media, you know that I was in Las Vegas last weekend with CinchShare’s W.I.L.D Retreat (Women in Leadership Development). It was a training weekend for Leaders and CinchShare knocked it out of the park. They invited amazing speakers to present, including yours truly! I loved the workshop style of the event and the time allotted to put the learnings into practice.
The event was so eye-opening for me as I saw the needs of leaders and heard the areas they were struggling in. It really helped me to get even more clarity on what leaders in the field need and how I could help them. Over the next few months, I plan to take one blog post a month to really dive deep into some of those struggles that Leaders have. If you have something you would like to see me address here in the blog, please let me know in the comments below and I will do my best to make it happen.
But back to our topic… – “Should I add my downline and other Consultants to my VIP Customer Group?”
I personally do not think you should add your downline, upline or other Consultants to your VIP Customer Group. The purpose of the group is to have a place of communication for your customers and potential customers. I want you to dig deep and really think about WHY you have added those Consultants to your group.
For some leaders, they say it is to “share” what you are doing with those Consultants so they can go do the same thing in their customer group, right? Well, in my eyes, I see that as enabling my Consultants, not equipping or empowering them. One of the most important things I believe I need to teach my Consultants is to take control of their business and work it as a business from day one. I am all about giving them tools to use to learn the ropes of the business, but I am careful not to be the mama bird going out and getting their food, bringing it back to the nest and literally feeding it to them. If you are always feeding them (literally from your mouth to theirs), they will never leave the nest, and why would they ever want to?
I do not want to create a nest of birds on my team that are dependent on me to give them everything or they can’t function; I want to mentor them and teach them to build their own business. To leave the nest and have their businesses take flight. My job as a leader is to equip, empower and grow my Consultants. And then mentor them to do the same with their Consultants. My Consultants do not lack the flow of information, encouragement or communication. I still give them everything they need and then some, but they are not members of my Customer Group, they don’t need to be.
Teach them to fly…
I keep my Customer Group closed to any of my downline Consultants. It is truly just me and my customers inside my group. I want to converse and build authentic relationships with those customers, just me and them. But I do SHARE what I am doing in my Customer Group with my team often.
I take screenshots of conversations or posts and upload them to my team group to give them ideas of what I am going, and what is working for me. By sharing a screenshot, they can take the idea and make it their own, without copying and pasting my exact verbiage or images. I use the screenshots to inspire them and get them thinking about what would work in their Customer Group. I also post just about everything I do in my customer group ON our team page. So they can go do it themselves. Therefore, there’s no real need for them to be in my group.
I also try to keep my Customer Group closed to other Consultants and Leaders outside of my team. While I do not feel competitive with other Consultants and Leaders, this is a business and I am working hard to build something BIG for my family. I am ready to sell to, book, and recruit anyone that wants to do business with me. Adding outsiders to my customer group just creates a tangled web that I do not think is healthy for my business.
If you do have downline consultants in your group (or other Consultants/Leaders) that is entirely your choice. But I will ask that you stop for a minute and really think about WHY you have them in there. What is the intended purpose? Is it working? Is it what is best for your Consultants? Is it helping them to stand up and OWN their business as a business? How are you equipping and empowering them by allowing them to be group members? If you answered positively to all of those, that is awesome and you should continue what you are doing. If you can’t answer positively to all of those, it might be time to consider a change.
Some people say they having other consultants in their group because they “like” and comment on posts and that helps boost views. So what you’re saying, is you don’t want an accurate account of what’s working and not working in your customer group. Because you will never know. And don’t even get me started on the fact that people take your posts and reuse them over and over. And that’s how we end up in Facebook jail, right?
Remember, your job as a leader is to equip, empower, and encourage your Consultants to grow a strong and sustainable business and to mentor them to success in that business. How is that going for you?!
Just some random thoughts from Melissa on your track to leadership!
Don’t forget to join our Facebook group! CLICK HERE TO JOIN
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
February Customer Engagement Posts
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Each month in Directly Social, we share a month’s worth of engagement posts. And it’s time for February’s!
Here is an entire month’s worth of FREE ENGAGEMENT POSTS for your customer groups in FEBRUARY!
>>These run Monday-Thursday, on FRIDAYS…you should be posting a Product Spotlight for your business!
Monday Funnies:
Tuesday Puzzles:
Wednesday Inspiration:
Thursday Fun:
>>You DO have to be a member of Cinchshare in order to get these links. There is no way for me to easily share these without doing so through Cinchshare!
>>If you need to know how to import these links into your Cinchshare account and schedule them within minutes for the whole month, click on this quick tutorial:
Creating posts on your social media platforms (especially your customer groups) should always be a positive place with MORE than just selling to them all the time. Use these posts to make them smile, make them laugh, and create a positive atmosphere where they love to come and visit you often!
Melissa Fietsam
@DirectlySocial
Get Control of your Email!
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As we go into the New Year, one thing you should do is get control of your email.
Having an inbox full of messages, read or unread, is a time sucker. It not only wastes time, but it can also:
- decrease productivity
- cause you to miss important messages
- cause stress and anxiety
- waste time searching for important messages
- decrease your customer service (because you’re simply not staying on top of it)
- decrease bookings (oh, didn’t see that someone wanted to book a party)
…and so much more.
So what can you do about it?
- Set aside one hour a day until you have gone through every single message and either deleted it or put it into a folder. CLEAR YOUR INBOX.
- Start unsubscribing to every single email from stores, newsletters, and other unnecessary emails you get that you’ve been subscribed to all year long. Don’t just DELETE them, UNSUBSCRIBE so you stop getting an abundance of those on a daily/weekly basis.
- There’s also a site called Unroll Me (click here: https://unroll.me/ ). This site will link to your email and allow you to mass unsubscribe from everything you’re subscribed to.
So who’s with me?
Let’s get organized! More New Year’s tips coming your way soon!
Want more tips? Join us over on Directly Social. CLICK HERE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/directlysocial/
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
New Facebook Group Photo Size
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Facebook has done it again! They changed the group photo size.
Here’s your new custom dimensions:
What happens to your photo when you upload it?
This is to help show you what will happen with your group photos now with the changes. In case I haven’t given you enough of a headache today!
Outside the red box will show on mobile but not desktop.
Inside the box, is what will show on desktop.
And if you’d like to know how to create custom dimensions…here’s a quick “how to” video for Canva. This will allow you to create those dimensions so you can have the perfect sized banner for your groups!
So I’ve been playing with the Facebook group banner size, and getting frustrated like many of you! So I went straight to the source.
Here’s the explanation from Facebook on why they changed the banner size. And why it’s different for everyone too.
The recommended size via Facebook is 1640×856.
However, you need to keep your graphic centered. Because the reason they changed it, was so that the graphic specs would be the same across all platforms…mobile devices, tablets, computers, etc. So when you upload the graphic, it tries to “auto adjust” to fit all platforms. Thus, the headache.
So…go drink a beer, a glass of wine…and tilt your head sideways and maybe it’ll look right! JUST KIDDING!
Just have to keep playing with it until it fits right on the computer screen. Good thing is…once it does, it will look great from any device 
🙂
Hope that helps a lil.
Melissa Fietsam
#DirectlySocial
Using Elify for Direct Sales Follow Up Systems
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Seriously, this is the best new direct sales tool I have seen in a very long time!
My friend Christina Rupracht messaged me with a pretty brilliant idea. And you aren’t going to want to miss this!
This site/app called Elify, actually promotes towards virtual business cards. BUT…we can use this for so much more.
You can create these “cards” with clickable buttons, videos, links to your social media channels, and so much more. Check out this quick video and then look below for some great ideas you can use these cards for. And some tips and tricks to create your own. I actually made another video to show you how to set yours up!
ELIFY SITE
So what can use Elify cards for?
Hostess Coaching:
Get your hostess to send a card out to her party guests with the link to join her Facebook Party, shop, and much more
Welcome to the team:
When you have someone new join your team, send them these cards with links to your team group and all the important information they need to look over first.
Thank you follow up:
When someone orders, send them a link to your Elify card with links to your customer group, a personal picture so they can make a connection with you, information on booking their own party, and information on joining your team!
Party Reminder:
Create an Elify card for your hostess to shoot out to all her friends as a reminder with links to order and customer special information. Make it EASY!
Opportunity Card:
Make an Elify card that is chalk full of great links and information on joining your team. Now when you’re out and about, you can simply send them a link with all the information they need to join your team
Here’s a demo video on exactly HOW to set up your Elify cards once you join. It’s free for 14 days and then $10 a month after that. Considering the time it is going to save me, I am 100% backing this new tool.
Melissa Fietsam,
Create a Facebook Poll for your Customer Group
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Want to increase your engagement in your Facebook Customer Group?
Create a Facebook Poll!
Every month, I ask my customer group to help me with some questions for our team’s Facebook script.
Creating a Facebook poll is an easy way to get a quick answer!
What is a Facebook Poll?
A Facebook poll is a posting “option” in your groups. You can ask a question with a series of pre-made answers. They can simply check one of the boxes or even add their own answer to the polling question. It’s pretty neat!
This option is only available in Facebook groups unless you use a third party app. Some of those allow you to create polls on your Facebook timeline and business pages.
How do you create a Facebook Poll?
When you go to create a post, you’ll see this:
You can see an actual poll I posted in my customer group in the graphic above.
What kind of questions can you ask?
- What’s your favorite fast food restaurant?
- What is one room in your house that you need to organize?
- What is your favorite Thirty-One print this season?
- Here’s our top 10 products, which one is your favorite?
- If you could be any superhero, who would it be?
- You can go on vacation today…which location would you choose (list beach, amusement park, cruise, bahamas, etc.)
Product Spotlight:
One thing great to do, would be to ask your customers which product they would like to learn more about. This is a great way to see what THEY want to see.
Training Topic:
What if you asked them what they’d like to learn more about for the next couple of weeks. And then yo did some research and found some really cool stuff on the topics?
The idea is that you can ask ANYTHING! And it’s just a fun new way to interact.
Polls have been around for quite awhile, have you used them yet? What for?
Melissa Fietsam
Power Hours for your Direct Sales Business
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So many people sign up for Direct Sales with the assumption that they won’t really have to work.
If you’re in this for a hobby, that is an absolute truth: you really don’t have to work at it.
If you’re in this to make an income or achieve a financial goal: you couldn’t be farther from the truth.
You can’t expect to make a substantial difference in your finances if you’re not willing to put in the work to get it.
Using Power Hours can help you run your business in 20 minutes a day.
If you’re not willing to work 20 focused minutes a week, in certain areas of your business, then quite frankly-you don’t DESERVE that paycheck you’re complaining about NOT GETTING!
People ask me ALL THE TIME…how do you do it. I’m sorry to inform you, there is no secret. It’s hard work. That’s it.
Tried and true, get up and get to work every single day. The RENT IS DUE EVERY SINGLE DAY. You want to make money in this business, PUT IN THE WORK. People seem to want the benefits without the commitment. You can’t have one or the other. You get exactly what you put into this business. Plain and simple. I don’t do magic tricks. I don’t do anything YOU can’t do. I don’t skate by on my good looks and charm, trust me, I live 90% of my life covered in babies bodily fluids and food. You just have to get to work.
WHEN YOU WANT SUCCESS AS BAD AS YOU WANT TO BREATHE, YOU’LL BE AS SUCCESSFUL AS YOU WANT TO BE.
Take 20 minutes a day. Dedicate 20 minutes to ONE of 5 focused tasks per day.
- Booking
- Customer Service
- Recruiting
- Marketing
- Hostess Coaching
Monday Booking:
Spend 20 minutes working on booking parties. Whether these are Facebook parties or home shows, you still have to ASK. Spend this 20 minutes:
~personally reaching out to people
~creating a game or graphic to book
~do a FB live talking about the hostess special
~contact PAST hostesses from the previous years
~make hostess packets and post a picture on social media-and make them COOL so everyone wants one!
There’s a million things you could do.
Tuesday Customer Service:
Spend 20 minutes creating a buzz.
~send a thank you email to anyone who has ordered in the last week
~contact each person who ordered the previous month and make sure they’re happy with their product (and have you seen the new specials?)
~contact anyone who has open orders and make sure they knew about the customer specials if they didn’t order one
~go comment on all your open parties and start some conversations with the guests
~scroll through Facebook and actually interact with your customers on THEIR pages
Wednesday Recruiting:
~touch base with all your new consultants within the last 3 months
~reach out to any potential consultants
~don’t have any potential consultants? create an opportunity event and GET ONE!
~put some pins on Pinterest about joining
~create a youtube video or FB live about joining…then share into all your FB parties!
Thursday Marketing:
This is all social media to me. Sharing my love of my product on all the different social media sites. And because I love it, this isn’t even work. This is my play time!
~schedule some tweets in Cinchshare
~pin some things from your Cinchshare history onto Pinterest
~schedule some Instagram posts onto Twitter/FB business page
~go post your social media links in all your parties
~create a contest on a social media channel and direct all your customers to it
~create a newsletter to email your customers
Friday Hostess Coaching:
Spend 20 minutes contacting every hostess.
~ask them if they need any extra order forms or catalogs
~tell them what their total is for online orders so far
~give them a task to do that day: post this, tag 3 friends on some posts in your party, or text this to 3 people today
~tell them how much farther they are from the next level and TELL THEM HOW TO GET THERE!
This is just a small breakdown of a HUGE list you should already have! 20 minutes a day. If I can do it, YOU can do it!
Melissa Fietsam
