Archive for the ‘DSU Quick Tips’ Category

Today’s quick tip is about stepping it up a notch when you’re doing a face to face presentation, home party or meeting. Make a note to yourself to plan to dress a step “up” from what you think your potential audience will be wearing.

Don’t overdress either – for instance if you think your audience will be in jeans and tshirts, a business suit would be overkill – but a nice pair of khakis with a nice blouse would be appropriate. Will your guests be in khakis? Then step it up a notch with a pair of dressier slacks or skirt. Just one step up from your audience will give you that edge of “professional” but not be so overdressed that you shut people down at the first look at you!

I spent a couple of hours shoveling our driveway this morning – a common scene here in late fall/winter. As always, the fresh air and the time to think about… nothing… gave way to some inspiration about business. And so, here are today’s lessons from the snow shovel.

How does this all apply to direct sales?

Sometimes you have to put up with some rocky road before you hit easy street.Direct sales is not all smooth sailing. Our driveway is asphalt on the top toward the house but the bottom half is gravel and it’s really hard to shovel. It makes me appreciate that long section of paved driveway much more AND especially makes me thankful that I don’t have to shovel the street too. I let the professionals do that (and pay them well through my tax dollars). In my direct sales business there are parts of the job that I don’t enjoy so much but I still have to do them. They’re downright hard sometimes. But if I choose NOT to do them, I’ll never be able to benefit from the work that my home office has done. And if I choose to push through the rocky stuff, I’ll be rewarded.

Most of the time you’ll have to clean up after the snow plow. As much as I appreciate the snow plow and the job it does, it makes a nice big mess for me to shovel at the base of my driveway. In my direct sales business sometimes I have to work through changes that the home office brings – or another way to apply this lesson is if I hire someone else to do some of the work for me, I still probably have to do some “clean up” afterward to make it work the way I want it to.

Break the job up into smaller pieces and it will appear to go much faster. This one is huge both for my driveway as well as my business. If I write up my weekly todo list it can get overwhelming, but when I break it down into daily or even hourly tasks, I can get through things pretty quickly.

Stop once in a while and take a look at your accomplishments rather than at everything you still have left to do. But don’t look too long or you might stop. This one is definitely important for my shoveling since our driveway is really long and if I only look down at what I have left to do, it’s incredibly discouraging. But if I take a second to stop and look back at what I’ve already shoveled I realize how much I accomplish with each push or lift and I can push on to finish the job. Same with direct sales. Take time to pat yourself on the back – and then get back to work!

The job goes much faster with help. This morning I started out shoveling with my husband who needed to stop at about the half way point because he couldn’t be late for a meeting. It’s amazing how much faster it goes when the two of us are working together (and even more so when the kids join in the fun). The same is true for direct sales. You can apply this lesson to confirm the benefit of recruiting a team as well as the benefit of outsourcing some of your daily tasks.

Even though you do a great job you probably will still get dumped on again – just remember that you will make it through. I always talk about persistence in business. Especially in direct sales you’re going to ride a roller coaster or to continue the snow analogy, you’re going to have good weather and bad weather … and then good weather and then… more bad weather. Just keep shoveling – it’ll be spring again soon!

And finally:
You can’t write off a health club membership or a snow shovel on your business expenses – the snow shovel is much cheaper and you don’t have the option NOT to do it. Well this one doesn’t apply much but I guess it just means that you should be wise in your finances? Or something like that!

Today’s quick tip – Don’t Sell! Use social media wisely! Things like MySpace, Facebook and even Linked in should be used for relationship building, not selling. Think of them as social events, like a business mixer or a party. If you hit it off with someone or they mention something that you might be able to help with, then invite them to visit your blog or website – from there you can make a sale. But don’t come out with your hand out for a handshake saying, “Hi there, Susy Seller here. Wanna buy my product?”