Invest in the Tools that Save You Time.
When you joined your direct sales company, you had a reason for doing so. Maybe you wanted the extra income, or you hoped to meet new friends, or you wanted a discount on products you love. Maybe you wanted to be your own boss, have a career that allowed you to work from home, or needed a new hobby. You had a ‘why’ and whether or not your reason for joining then is the same as your reason for being there now, there is one theme we find most consultants have in common.
You see, standing out amongst the crowd is a real challenge in direct sales. Thousands of people sell the same products in the same area and that makes selling difficult. So, in order to be one of the top-sellers in your company, you have to stand out. Be your own person, and show the world what makes you unique. We truly believe that! But then, we come back again to the topic of time. How do you stand out when your time is limited.
How do you make sure that you’re spending time on the tasks that will carry your business forward without taking away from the time you spend on the things that truly matter to you? The steps may be complicated, but the answer is simple. You prioritize and then you find the tools you need to accomplish your priorities. Here’s the kicker – the more time you want for yourself, the more tools you’re going to need for your business.
Many tools that are available come at a cost, so how do you decide which ones to pay for and which things to do yourself? Pro Tip: Start by attaching a dollar value to your time. Is your time worth $10/hr, $20/hr, $50/hr, etc. Now look at each tool and decide how many hours that tool is saving you. Compare the $ savings to the value of the time you saved and you’ll have a much better idea of whether it’s a valuable tool for your business. Ex. If your time is worth $25/hr and a tool saves you 10 hrs, you can value that tool at $250.
Let’s talk about some examples of priorities that are common for direct sellers and tools you can use to maximize your time. Example 1 – Selling On Social Media If actively selling on social media is one of your priorities, then creating and scheduling content is a necessity for you. You are the only you, and that means that you’re probably going to have to create all of your own content. It’s your personality that needs to shine through, and you’re the only one who truly gets your personality.
Okay, so some of the time you have for your business needs to be set aside for creating content. Posting all of that content can be time consuming, so a great time saving solution is to find a tool for scheduling your social media posts. You put the content you’ve created into the software and let it handle the rest. No need to be at your computer every time you want something to be posted on social media! If you’re looking for available programs, some platforms such as Facebook have their own schedulers you can use.
If you’re looking for something that will post to all of your social media channels, you can try something like HootSuite, Buffer or Cinchshare. Pro Tip: Look for programs that offer a free trial, so you can see which one works best for you. You can also search online for promo codes that will get you an extended trial. If you’d like to try CinchShare, we offer an extended trial so you can get an extra 30 days free! Use this link and promo code CSfree https://www.cinchshare.com?abrl6n to try it. Example 2 – Customer Follow-Up Another example of one of your priorities might be customer follow-up.
This is huge in sales, and especially in direct sales where you want to make sure your customers aren’t going to another consultant when they want to stock up on your products. You’ve probably heard the saying “The Fortune is in the Follow-up.” Deciding how you want to format your follow-up system is the part that you should take lead on. They’re your customers after all, and you know how best to structure your system! Perhaps you will spend your time creating the email templates you’ll use for your customer follow-up and then find a tool that will send those emails to your customers.
MailChimp and FITFUU are a couple of programs that help with follow-up. Again, look for a free trial so you can see which system you like best. Example 3 – Facebook Parties Another example of a priority you might have is running virtual parties. This is the one we’re most passionate about because, if you think back to the quote we shared earlier, it’s where being rich and being wealthy meet.
If you sell online you likely run virtual parties. Most commonly we find people run their parties on Facebook. If you’ve ever attended a Facebook party, and you’ve likely attended many, you already know that there is a huge discrepancy in the quality and enjoyment of these parties. Some are great, but unfortunately many are not. This is another huge opportunity for you to stand out as a consultant. Run fun parties! If you find that at the end of your parties, your guests are saying how much fun they were, you are definitely standing out as a consultant!
Thinking back to priorities vs. time, you have to decide how you want to allocate your time for virtual parties. Running your own party is something you can’t outsource. You’re the consultant and the star of the show! It’s crucial to your business to invest time in running fun and engaging parties. However, creating your parties is something we can do for you.
We offer the tool to save you the time; to increase your ‘wealth’. Running fun and unique theme parties is where you create the sales and become ‘rich’. Whether you are looking to be rich, or wealthy, or rich and wealthy, direct sales offers a powerful opportunity. Focus on deciding what your priorities for your business and your personal life are and then find the tools that allow you to do focus on those priorities. What tools do you love? Tell us in the comments!