Wendy’s Coach You To Success Blog

With more and more people desiring a better life-style and more time to themselves, many are turning to a “work-at-home” business. The time clock can be a thing of the past, but beware! Don’t just dump your current job until you know you are on the right path as an entrepreneur. You can pick some direct sales to be your main line of work.

Working at home has all the perks anyone could want. You won’t have to get up early anymore, rushing through congested traffic. Your schedule will turn into something much more flexible and easy to deal with. You won’t have to deal with bosses and co-workers and the social games being played on a daily basis. You will have more time with your family, and still have the financial freedom you desire.

Yes, there are many perks, but don’t think that you can just sit back and watch the money roll in. Don’t get the idea you will be spending more time at the beach than at home. Working from home is a whole different proposition than you may have guessed. It takes a lot of hard work to build something up to the point of having it support you.

If you want to quit your nine to five job and work at home because you are basically lazy and don’t like people (bosses) telling you what to do, it’s quite doubtful if that laziness is going to allow you to make a home business succeed.

But if you have the fortitude and determination to make it work, and the discipline to stick to your goals, you can really live a life of enjoyment and fulfillment with a business at home. As a true entrepreneur, you can get up late, but you may be working late into the evening to get some aspect of your business rolling. That enthusiasm has to be maintained and supported and fed into your daily activities to achieve your goals.

The first thing is to have a business that you would like to engage in. It should be one that will make enough income to support you. Once choosing the business, you should get it started and build it while keeping your nine to five job. If you can come home after a long day at a regular job and devote some hours to your new business, missing some of your favorite TV shows, it is very likely you will be able to make your chosen career work, and will be able to get it to the point of supporting you and your family.

But choosing a business may be the trickiest thing of all. It really must be something you like to do. If it’s going to fill your waking hours, you don’t want to hate the time you invest in it. If you love what you are doing, you can spend the entire day (plus more) engrossed in your work. But because you are an enlightened entrepreneur, you will persist even though it will take some time to build it before you can work out how to get it on autopilot. Once on autopilot, you will have it bringing in money while you are at the zoo with your kids.

So for some ideas of what sort of business you can run out of your home? Check these out and see if any are of interest:

• If you have a hobby, look for possible ways of making it into a business. Perhaps you love to carve fancy birdhouses from wood. You could set up a business selling these at fairs, at trade shows or even by the side of a highway during tourist season.

• Do you have a special area of expertise or knowledge? Do you have superior training in accounting? Do you know everything there is to know about Poodles? There is certainly a demand for knowledge in many forms out there. You can work out a way to market it and supply people with the information they need.

• Would you love to be a retailer and sell products to others on the Internet? Ebay is a great way to sell just about anything. You can even find suppliers to supply you with the products cheaply and you can sell them for a nice profit. Network marketing or multi-level marketing could also allow you the opportunity to work at home.

• Are you a writer? Search the Internet for jobs for writers. There are plenty out there. You could gain enough clients and enough work to keep you in clover.

These are just a few random suggestions. With a little thought, if you don’t have something in mind already, you can come up with the perfect business to run from home, and can get going on your plans to reach your dreams.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion & Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. Information on Wendy, visit http://www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 12%

As you enter the highly desirable field of the self-employed in a work from home business, you will find that it is completely up to you to be able to financially support not only your business, but also your personal needs. The type of business you, as an entrepreneur, are doing holds no exceptions, whether direct sales in multi-level marketing, direct sales from a kitchen-table business or selling a product or service online. You need money!

When it comes to eating and paying the mortgage or rent, there is no question that the funds must be available. The stress of owing money is out of the question. You have the stress of operating your business for profit. While working at home has many advantages, it is also very hard work and budgeting is an important part of running your operation. Even in residual income from a multi-level marketing business, you will need to see what it will cover.

The first most important factor in beginning your work from home undertaking is to have some money stashed away. If you don’t have anything extra, perhaps you should keep that day job until you can save enough. Running your business part-time and expanding it until it is supporting you could be your best option. Then when it’s supporting you, you can easily quit your nine-to-five.

However, any entrepreneur knows that there are the regular ups and downs of a company. Some weeks the income will be out the roof, others a drop in the bucket. This is where a small stash comes in handy. If you have a little cash put away, you can at least eat while you fix any problems that cut across your income.

In order to get paid, sometimes you will need to do collections from those who have failed to come through. This may not be the case in multi-level marketing, since usually the payments for the product or service are immediate upon sign up. But this is not the case in every field. When you have to do collections, don’t let your panic show. But take a hard line and ensure they know that they must pay you right away.

You should write out what your expenses are on a weekly or monthly basis. What is your bottom line? What do you need in order to pay your bills? When you have that figure, you know your “make-break” point. You have to at least make that in order to stay alive. Everything over and above that figure can go into extras, like entertainment, or hey, even further advertising expenses to get your name out there and get more customers.

Work on your accounts so you know what you are making over and above your expenses and you will see your success, or failure, and know where you have to direct your efforts.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 14%

The concept of direct sales is an effective marketing strategy that companies can use to enhance their profits and ensure increased market reach. It allows companies to add new customers to its roster on a daily basis, while ensuring the older clients are satisfied and happy as well.

Direct sales is a strategy that keeps everyone on the go constantly; the sales teams are constantly looking for and meeting new customers, the support teams are constantly updating the company’s database of customers, adding new customers as and when they come on board.

So how does the concept of direct selling work? What are the key ingredients you should know about to ensure you are able to use this concept profitably and stay ahead of the competition? One of the major factors contributing to developing a sound direct selling strategy is a deep knowledge of your market.

Companies must understand a general standardized approach to all customers may not work always in the case of direct sales. It makes more sense to adopt a horses-for-courses kind of approach - a specific approach for a specific customer. This approach allows you to customize your strategy so each customer gets exactly what he wants.

Knowing your customer and his needs would help you in going ahead with the above strategy. This implies the need for research on customer types. Researching on customer types would enable you to categorize the customers into different slots and adopt one approach for one type of customer. Once you have a standard approach ready for a specific customer type, customizing within that group becomes easy.

Another important aspect is establishing the right relationship with your clientele. This almost always results in improved sales performance and profitability. Direct selling is as much about the customer as it is about your product or service. Rubbing the customer the wrong way is only going to impact your bottom line negatively. Therefore, it makes sense to ensure you share a good relationship with the customer.

You also need to learn the basic strategies related to direct sales and the best way of applying them successfully. You must understand direct sales is not merely about making phone calls and meeting customers. It necessitates the right combination of expertise and business acumen.

The fact that direct sales works is evident when you see the number of direct sales companies operating worldwide. Direct sales companies come in all shapes and sizes, from small business entities to giant corporates. With e-commerce gaining prominence over the past few years, you will also see direct sales companies online.

For these companies too, the same strategies work as in the traditional brick and mortar direct selling companies. The concepts are the same; the only difference is in the medium. Therefore, direct sales solutions in e-commerce too involve the right strategy, knowledge of the concepts, and professionalism.

In fact, the Internet has given a whole new twist to the concept of direct selling. It is no longer about selling in your neighborhood or town or city. The Internet allows you to execute the same strategies on a global level. Connectivity ensures your audience is the whole world, thereby opening up fantastic possibilities for your company if your direct sales fundamentals are in order. All you have to do is make slight adjustments to your approach.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 13%

If you go around the world and research the number of people that are really happy and satisfied with their jobs, you should not be surprised to register a very low number of such people. To most people doing regular jobs, satisfaction from the job is a rare thing.

Most often than not, it happens that people get dissatisfied with their jobs. They start disliking waking up each morning at the snap of dawn, rushing to your office and then finally let your boss take all the credit for their hard work over and over again, almost through all days of the year. In such situations, you do not have too many options on hand. The obvious option that comes in mind is to quit the job.

But then again, you have to be mindful of finding or exploring a way to run your family, a thought which makes most of us stick on to our jobs, despite not liking them. There should be an avenue to work freely, and with a little independence. Today, there is such an option available.

For people who want to discover their entrepreneurial side, network marketing is a superb option. It just may be the job that you are looking for, which will give you the freedom, change, and also most importantly, the job satisfaction you always craved for.

Network marketing has withstood various changes through several years and has now become a great channel of opportunity to many people around the world. The advent of the Internet and its progression has helped the cause further. The number of programs and opportunities available these days are immense compared to a few years ago. The number of online programs has thus also increased with the offline programs, with changes for the better.

One of the advantages in pursuing network marketing as a home-based business is that it allows you the flexibility of the opportunity to function from your own home and thus conduct the business in a relaxed manner. The comfort of your own home and the ability to choose the number of hours you want to work are usually the deciding factors for many people taking up network marketing.

In network marketing, the income can also be quite handsome, depending on how much you work and how well you work. You are not merely entitled to commissions, you could also get some residual payment each month, though this is not true in all cases; there are certain criteria you need to fulfill. In addition you may also obtain a percentage of the sales for each month, but that would depend on your contract.

To be able to do well, you have to be mindful that you choose that product you are comfortable with most when you are doing network marketing online. If you are the type who is wary of meeting new people or shy of interacting with them, network marketing could still work for you. Today, with the whole concept going online, you are saved the from direct face-to-face interaction if that is what you choose. Whatever your reservations, network marketing is definitely an interesting and attractive option for a large number of people who want to work free.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 15%

Are you the kind that wants to earn more money? Do you want some extra income? Are you looking to secure a sound financial position for yourself? If your answer to these questions is in the affirmative, I would suggest you look up network marketing as an option for achieving these goals you have.

Network marketing today is the best way to achieve these kinds of goals within a specific period. It is basically a marketing strategy that enables people to network across the world, build links all across, and market products and services to them.

Network marketing is in all the states in U.S. and also in more than 150 countries around the world. It is now the craze among the youth and also work-at-home moms. The craze is prevalent among business people as well. Sales and marketing personnel look at network marketing as an opportunity to freelance on the side and make some decent extra money.

In many other forms of marketing the products do not come directly from the company to the worker. There is a set hierarchy through which the product or service percolates down. There are people at intermediate levels as well. For instance, a product could reach you through the following network – from the Marketing Division –> National Level –> Regional Level –> State Level –> District or County Level Distributor –> Retail Shop –> Customer.

In such a scenario, the product cost ends up being high as each person’s commission is tagged on to it. Network Marketing is devoid of all such complications. The product comes to the customer from the company via the distributor, that’s all. The flow is only Company –> Distributor –> Customer. Hence the product directly reaches to the customer with only one mediator, ensuring the quality is maintained as is a reduced cost.

Companies indulging in network marketing select to sell their products by utilizing individual distributors rather than storing the products in the shop. They also build and manage their individual sales to increase their own earnings. The number of sales decides the earning of the sales personnel.

There are some key terms you should know when talking about network marketing. One such term is ‘downline’. This is a main keyword in network marketing. A sales person can introduce a new sales person to the company from his downline. The introducer gets the commission from the sales made by the people they introduced as well. This provides good motivation for sales person to get more involved in the business.

Overcome Your Fear
Fear is always the key to failure or a lack of success. To feel your confidence rising, you have to get over the initial fear and uncertainty. There are a few things you can do towards this end:

• Have a clear vision and do the right thing. Do not believe all the sugar-coated stuff people say with regard to network marketing. It is best you do your own research on the topic and the market, so you are clear what you are getting is the best.
• Believe the company products and try to understand the product in detail.
• Find out the correct product that the market has a demand for currently.
• Think about why some sales person are so successful? Why not you?
• Start your business with your friends and family. Once you get comfortable with products and are comfortable selling to family, you can go ahead and market with others.
• Speak clearly about the product and company in detail.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 16%

There could be any number of reasons, but the feeling is always the same, and we all experience it every now and then: enough of working for this outfit; I wish I could just quit… or thoughts pretty much on those lines. It could be because you do not get any credit for all the hard work you put in. Or, it could be because your boss is a nasty chap who thrives on making life miserable for his juniors. Or, it could be because you feel you have had enough of the routine humdrum that is office life.

You may feel you should change things around, but how would you do that? Quit your job? How could you quit your job without having an alternative? One such alternative that is there today is network marketing. Increasingly, more and more people are jumping on to this bandwagon as a way of making decent money.

While some years ago, the concept of network marketing was treated with the same amount of suspicion and same levels of raised eyebrows as, say, a small-time scam, today things are different. Today, technology has completely altered the definition of network marketing.

Network marketing now, is much more than just purchasing a lead list and making cold calls. It is a way of making money, loads of it, provided you know how. Top income earners in network marketing do not get into trivialities like buying lead lists and then making cold calls to the numbers on those lists.

Today, network marketing has become more an online business than an offline one. You can carry out network marketing from the cozy confines of your home. All you need to do is choose the business that suits you best as your home-based business.

There are many advantages to network marketing, which is why it is so popular. It gives you total freedom from the concept of regulated work periods, for one. No time commitments. No more rushing through the traffic to reach office in time. No reporting on time in the office. No boss to take away your credit. You are your own boss. You have the complete freedom to work as you wish and the entire credit is yours. No more profit sharing also.

However, before starting your own network marketing, you need to decide on a few things. Say for example: how much time can you devote? How will you go about the promotion? Is there any money involved or not? If yes, how much is involved? And many more to add on to the list!

There are a number of ads about network marketing that give the impression that working just thirty minutes a day can bring in the moolah, so to speak. Nothing is farther from the truth than this. If this were to be the case, all of us would have been sitting back at home, working for just 30 minutes, and enjoying the remaining 23 hours and 30 minutes of the day daily and still making huge amounts of money!

You need to put in a minimum of three to four hours daily to be able to make decent money. This is, of course, still better than sitting and working eight hours a day.

Regarding how to promote your network marketing, there are a large number of ways to promote your business online. You can participate in forums, create your own blogs, join communities, submit advertisements online, do article marketing, and many more.

All said and done, it is very possible, through network marketing, to sit and do your own stuff from home and make money doing it.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 12%

What comes to mind when we come across the word entrepreneur or entrepreneurship? To the ordinary person, entrepreneurship is equated to business. In other words, it refers to the simple exchange of goods or services for money. Entrepreneurship = Business = Money; that is the average person’s definition of entrepreneurship.

The above definition or equation is also the kind of definition or mindset that characterizes the ordinary business, businesses without a clear vision of the future. It is also descriptive of a business that has no clarity regarding its future.

But to the discerning businessperson, entrepreneurship is more than just making money. He knows what business to establish, in what location, and at what time. Such a businessman is the true entrepreneur.

In other words, the actions and actions of the entrepreneur are well-planned. He charts his business path very carefully. He knows when to take risks, usually calculated risks, for high stakes. What distinguishes the entrepreneur from the ordinary businessman is his ability and desire to bring the business environment to a win-win situation; for all players, if possible.

How does the entrepreneur manage to “create” such an ideal business environment? The answer lies in innovation. An entrepreneur never stops looking for better ways to do things. He is not deterred by dead ends. He does his best to see through thick walls blocking his path, and goes around the wall if that would prove economical and effective.

A true entrepreneur could even be, to a degree, obsessed with efficiency. Efficiency affords him optimum use of his and other people’s resources. In short, an entrepreneur is both a scientist and an artist rolled into one, which makes him also a very successful businessman.

What are the other traits an entrepreneur must possess in order to be successful and be worthy of the title? There are at least ten entrepreneurial characteristics that one must possess to qualify for the status of the true entrepreneur. The true entrepreneur must:

• Constantly seek opportunities.
• Always be persistent.
• Keep a high level of commitment to work agreements or contracts.
• Need/requirement for quality and efficiency.
• Take calculated risks.
• Know how to sensibly set goals.
• Continually seek information regarding past, current, and future trends to help him chart his direction and vision.
• Possess systematic planning and monitoring skills.
• Be able to craftily persuade and collaborate with individuals and organizations to create a network of relevant and similarly inclined partners or would-be partners.
• Possess enough self-confidence in his own abilities, skills, and talents.

With the list mentioned above, we can now visualize a picture of the true entrepreneur – a picture of a charismatic hands-on business leader and practitioner. When you visualize it, the picture seems to be that of an awesome person whose stature ordinary men cannot achieve. However, most of the time, it is just the average guy like you and me who is a great entrepreneur.

Having mentioned that each of us has some of the characteristics that go into making the entrepreneur, you may now ask yourself as to why you are not that person yet. There could be many reasons for this. Having the talent and actually utilizing it are two totally different things. Then again, there come other small but relevant questions pertaining to such things as confidence, desire, and a whole lot of other traits all of us do not definitely possess in equal measures.

That is why we are not all successful entrepreneurs but the ones who have the qualities listed above are.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 13%

Entrepreneurship: That is what the world needs.

In this world where money rules, the winner is the one who gets to tilt the balance of wealth distribution to his side. And how does he do it? By being enterprising. One has to have sufficient entrepreneurial acumen in order to lead and corner a large chunk of the market.

While business sense, as many believe, is attributable to the “blood” factor, social scientists contend that entrepreneurship can be acquired or learned. How else do you explain the proliferation of business schools?

Studies have shown that graduates from business schools normally fare better and have better chances of landing jobs that hone their business skills than those who learn the ropes from outside these academies. There are, of course, the exceptions to the rule; people who really may have business sense as an inherent trait, not an acquired one.

Let us concentrate on the ordinary person. How can an ordinary person become a successful entrepreneur so that we may satisfy and support the claim of many social scientists that entrepreneurship can be learned? How can such an ‘ordinary’ person become an inspiration to those who want to engage in business but can’t or do not know how?

To get the correct picture, we will have to begin from within the person. He must have what it takes to be in business. He must have the determination and passion to succeed. He must also have compassion enough so that there will be a balance between making profits and satisfying the customer. All the rest can be learned; from accounting to production to marketing. The overriding factor in play is interest. Even the medical student can learn the four aspects of business – marketing, production, technical and finance, if he has the interest and willingness to learn.

The next factor is the policy environment. The entrepreneur thrives best where the laws and ordinances are conducive to enterprise development or business growth. If that is absent, the entrepreneur must find ways to lobby for such an environment, ideally with the help of other entrepreneurs. Such a congregation is a very potent force in influencing changes and altering the direction of the policy environment.

Another point to consider is the physical environment. This includes the physical structures for warehousing, distribution, and transport. Another critical factor is the likely presence or proximity of raw materials for production or products for sale, as well as the physical location of the market channels or outlets.

Last but definitely not the least are the people involved in the business itself: the marketing personnel who have to satisfy customer needs, the production personnel who should be sufficiently skilled in order to produce the highest quality of products or services, the management entity which should oversee all administrative and personnel requirements, and the finance department people, who should be both highly-skilled and trustworthy.

These are the main considerations for an entrepreneur to be able to stand up and grow.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 12%

If we are to study the history of selling or trade, with nothing for reference save our imagination; it is inevitable for us to conclude that the first such exchange was through direct sales. It was a direct personal barter or trade contact. The first recognized barter concept was of exchange of goods. Money was a later invention to facilitate more convenient trading.

We are in a world of rapidly evolving concepts and principles. Original invention has long been considered a thing of the past. Today’s so-called inventions are actually innovations of established concepts and principles. A concrete analogical parallel is the Toyota Model AB Phaeton of the 1930s and the Toyota Innova of 2006. The Toyota concept of ‘cheap and efficient car in its category’ had always been there in both cars, but innovations to the early model resulting in the high-technology features of the Toyota Innova of today would make it seem like a new invention.

Direct sales have undergone a similar evolutionary process. There are now countless selling methods and modes, some of which have already become saleable products themselves. Models bearing the names of the author-super salesman and/or the sales or management organizations they belong to are now offered for sale as learning/training materials and tools to “lesser” marketing companies. We are now in an era where everything we do as we relate with people and organizations is called “selling ourselves”.

The awesome successes of world-renowned direct sales companies such as Amway, Avon, and Tupperware are but a few examples that prove the effectiveness of direct sales. We may have heard of some stories of collapse of some direct selling businesses. However, this is not ample reason to condemn the whole concept as being fraudulent or unsustainable. It is normal in every industry for a few concepts to take off and others to fall flat.

We cannot pin the cause for the failure of a direct selling business venture on a weak concept all the time. Businesses can fall due to many factors – unsound market plan foundation, financial and/or organizational mismanagement, shifts in industry trends, etc. This still is the business world. Anything can happen. It makes sense to analyze first whether direct selling is going to benefit your organization at all, and then take a call on whether to use it or not.

Of course, it is not necessary that each such direct marketing scheme was conceived in heaven. There are also stories of institutionalized marketing scam schemes in the papers regularly, as in the case of a number of multi-level pyramid marketing organizations. So it is true that some such direct selling schemes are hoaxes. Nevertheless, even with such sting schemes, we cannot deny that direct selling has once again proven that as a marketing tool, it has successfully facilitated meeting its objective: enriching the topmost perpetrators of the pyramid scam – unfortunately at the expense of naïve and susceptible newbies.

Direct sales is one of the most powerful marketing methods in use today. The total success of a tool or strategy can be identified by its ability to adapt. By this definition, direct sales is a definite winner considering that even with the advent of the Internet and cyber marketing, direct selling still occupies the marketing forefront.

To see this, just visit any website and you will find yourself surrounded by advertisements of products from books, movies, and computers to furniture and even outlandish concepts and ideas. Direct selling has ensured each and every one of these is for sale.

So what are the tools direct sales proponents use? These are not some state-of-the-art exotic tools. Instead, these include traditional components of the media – newspapers, radio, TV, and even movie trailers. All of these are still used to market and promote products, services, and ideas. These direct sales tools have always been proven effective and far-reaching.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 18%

If you remember your mom’s Tupperware parties, you have had a preview of direct sales. Today of course, direct sales is more than just about Tupperware parties, it is a multi-million dollar business on a global level, and still expanding in terms of the numbers.

The potential is huge; even the big companies realize its potential. You can already see one manifestation of this realization – harnessing the power of a latent force: the home business partner. Developing home business partners have yielded more revenues for the company, reduced overhead cost, and enhanced customer care.

One of the biggest advantages of direct sales is the direct interaction between the seller and the prospective buyer. A direct and face-to-face interaction of this nature makes it possible for them to discuss the merits or demerits of a product. The customer may transact business immediately or ask for a rain check, which, looked at positively, still has the potential of a future sale.

Direct sales allow more leverage and flexibility in marketing a product. It allows the seller to adopt a unique individual style, if he feels that strategy would increase his rapport with prospective buyers. A salesman indulging in direct sales has the option of using a warm personal approach to attract new customers.

The other advantage of direct sales is the reach it provides. One satisfied customer translates to a number of other new customers, as that customer would definitely spread the word among family, friends, and peers.

The direct and real time interaction involved in direct sales provides a sounding board for companies to indulge in a product evaluation exercise. The feedback is straight from the customer, thereby making this a very effective tool companies can use to stay in the market and maintain and expand market share.

Direct sales can be a handy tool for both small business owners as well as corporate partners. However, it is vital that businesses educate themselves about the tools of the trade. They must be able to know the difference between direct sales and advertising.

Direct sales and advertising are two different entities with different areas of focus. The focus of direct sales should be to increase revenues by generating more sales and services, while the focus of advertising should be to increase community awareness of the product or service in question.

Most small businesses fail because business owners concentrate too much on advertising. They spend for the branding, change their business logo, and try reinvesting and reinventing their business, without paying any attention to direct sales strategies, which could have otherwise helped them recover the expenses involved with their advertising campaigns.

When a company adopts direct sales as a selling strategy, it should be sure the sales force they hire to execute the strategy are aware of their roles. The sales force should know everything about the different aspects of direct selling. They should be able to maximize the use of available tools, and have a good sales pitch to hook the customer and get him to buy the product.

The direct sales teams should also lay proper focus on improving their customer care skills, while sharpening their ability to grasp any sales opportunities that come their way and convert them into business. Everybody can sell; however you need to be fully conversant with the tools involved in direct sales to be a killer direct seller.

There are many different strategies a company can employ while implementing its direct sales campaign. Part of the direct sales campaign would involve posting banners and brochures about the company and the products in question. Sales teams need to ensure this information reaches the public, thereby creating awareness and curiosity about the company and its products.

Direct sales involve everybody in the company. It does not focus merely on the field agents’ marketing skills but leads the technical and financial support staff to review office sales records and receivables for those opportunities that would spell more sales and revenues. As in all business strategies, direct sales require the best timing to clinch the big sale.

Existing customers also need to be updated by phone or e-mail about new products and promotions. This is where the rest of the company, apart from the sales team, can pitch in. Having a regular team that looks after the updates and promotions makes the work easier, and the process of direct selling more streamlined.

Field agents actually doing the direct selling also need to have effective and easy access to the office data bank so they know whom to target. While cold calls are fine, in the case of direct sales that strategy may not be effective always. It can even be a waste of precious time.

Used effectively, direct sales can be a very potent weapon in increasing your company’s sales and have a positive impact on the bottom line. The key is to understand the way it works and pass on this understanding to the sales teams that would be implementing this strategy.

Wendy Stevens, Nashville, TN, as a single mom vaulted to the top of the Direct Sales Industry in 8 months. Wendy is a former 3-time Division I All American Lacrosse Player, NCAA Division I National Champion and Division 1 NCAA Head Coach. Wendy is one of the top 1% earners in the entire direct sales industry. As Marketer, Trainer and Speaker, Wendy is in demand nationally. She earned 7 figures in networking marketing. For information on Wendy, visit www.coachyoutosuccess.com

Popularity: 15%