Stop Gifting Your Customers to Other Consultants

Whether you have been in your direct sales business for years or are brand new, one thing you have probably figured out by now is that you work hard to acquire and maintain customer relationships. Now, I'm not saying that there is a LACK of customers, by any means. In fact, at Successfully Social we do our best to continually encourage you to approach your business with a mindset of abundance. But come on people, you still need to make smart decisions! I am willing to bet that many of you are handing your hard earned customers to other consultants in your company without even realizing it. But that all stops now!

So wait, I know what you're thinking..."NO, not me, I am not doing that." Okay, fair enough. But are you sure? No, I don't think that you're actually taking your customer's phone number and texting it over to the competition. But did you realize that every time you share a product pin from another consultant, every time you share a YouTube product demonstration that another consultant has created, even every time you grab someone else's Facebook party posts that they've shared in a consultant group, you are running the risk of introducing your customers to that other consultant. And I'm quite sure THAT wasn't what you had in mind, right?

Let's take a look at Pinterest first. So often we are jumping on Pinterest quickly in the car line, waiting at the doctor's office, etc. We see something we like and we pin it, if for no other reason so that we can come back to it later and check it out. Sound familiar? But what you might not realize as you're pinning that super cute product usage is that the consultant who originally took the pic and put it up is likely leading people who click all the way through on it over to her blog or her Facebook page, where she then has the opportunity to sell to those folks that ended up there. So then when you re-pin it quick just from that little preview screen without following that link and seeing where it goes, you could be unwittingly advertising for her to all of those friends, customers and hostesses who follow YOU on Pinterest. Instead of going down that road, when you see a product use idea pic you like, take note of it, screenshot it if you like, and then make it a point to go back and use that picture as inspiration to take your very own pic of that item for use in your social media.

The other examples I have for you are pretty similar. Let's just say that someone from your company has created a stellar product demonstration video and put it publicly on YouTube to allow her fellow consultants to use it. Super sweet of her, right? Well, yes and no. While there are certainly many consultants who will share like this just for the sake of the sisterhood, the truly social savvy chicks know that not only will all these consultants sharing her video, liking it, commenting on it, etc. will up her YouTube visibility, but this smart cookie has probably also got that particular video leading into another video on a product, or even the opportunity. And when you're putting that video into a party or into your customer group, you're pointing your customers right at her and saying "check out how cool she is". Hmm...no good, right? So instead (y'all knew this was coming) make your own videos!! They don't need to be amazing production quality with professional sets, but they should be YOU. And a general rule of thumb is...if something has a long shelf life, make a video. If it's a one-off breaking news type event, just use Facebook LIVE.

Okay, finally, grabbing that whole Facebook party from a fellow consultant and calling it your own. Y'all, I get it, writing a Facebook party can be tedious. Particularly with changing monthly specials, new product announcements, etc. And okay, of these three examples, this one is the least risky, assuming you are paying attention to what you're doing. Most of the consultants who are sharing their Facebook party have obviously created it initially for themselves. Only makes sense, yes? So IF you're going to borrow some or all of the posts from a party please at least do yourself a favor and make sure that you've gone through it with a fine tooth comb and removed anything that references back to that consultant's team name, their website, their Facebook business page or albums on their business page, etc. You would think that this would be a no-brainer, but I can't even tell you how many times I have seen one consultant push another consultants info out inside a party. Talk about an oops. Please don't be that girl!!!

Alright, so in closing, as usual, I am advocating for you to create your own stuff for social media absolutely as much as you possibly can. And in particular, be wary in these specific areas.

Try This Trick to Increase Your Productivity

To-do lists. We all have them. Whether you keep yours digitally, on paper, or, God forbid, just in your head, odds are you've got a never-ending list somewhere of all the tasks that you should get accomplished. For me, working from home, I have a list that encompasses business related things as well as "life stuff". Yep, all in one list. Cause there is only one me, so why have two separate lists? Makes sense, right?

Personally, I have an on-paper list...which I realize is somewhat odd, being an otherwise digital style girl. But I have found that when I can actually X out an item on a list I find that far more satisfying than just striking it out on the computer or deleting it off a digital list. Personal preference I suppose. In any case, I have a calendar with a two page spread for each week, and in each of those days of the week, I write the tasks for the day. Yes, I do write ahead into days where I know I have a task coming up that will need to be done, but maybe not til next Wednesday or something. Putting my tasks to paper is my brain dump. If I can get it out of my head, it's more likely I will actually get it done on time. And no, things don't always get done exactly on the day that I planned them to. I'm still human, after all, and some days you just don't feel like working.

So, enter what I like to call the "30 Minute Day". This is a concept I started doing a few years ago when my task list was getting long and I was feeling overwhelmed. It's NOT something I do every day, or even every week...just when I need to. Basically, I take a look at my task list and figure out what stuff on there I am procrastinating on that I really need to get a move on, or what stuff just HAS TO get crossed off that list. Ideally for me (again, working from home) that "must do" list is going to be a mix of business and personal tasks. Often you'll find things on my list from "create more team group interaction posts" to "fold laundry" to "plan menu and make grocery list" to "write blog post on vendor events", etc. Ya know, all that "stuff" that isn't difficult but just isn't done. I am sure you can relate.

Once I've got my list, I set the timer on my phone for 30 minutes and start on one of the business related tasks. So that first 30 minutes I will be doing nothing but working on those team interaction posts. The whole time. If by some miracle, I happen to get them done with time to spare, I'll start scheduling them. When the timer goes off, I stop. Whether I'm finished or not. Yes, really. Then I set the timer for another 30 minutes and I tackle one of the personal items on the list, like folding laundry. In my house, that absolutely won't get done in 30 minutes, because I have a tendency to wash a ton and then leave it in like 8 laundry hampers waiting to be folded (raise your hand if you're that girl, too!!) So when the timer goes off, I stop folding laundry and leave the rest for later. Now I set the timer once more for 30 minutes, and this 30 minute block is a BREAK. I can do whatever. Watch some Netflix, play on my iPad. I can do anything I want, EXCEPT go back to that work or the laundry. The break time is essential, and I promise, even though you are technically working fewer hours, you will accomplish more, because your mind has time to relax. Try it.

When break time is over, the cycle starts again. 30 more minutes towards a work task, then a personal task, then a break. I cross more off my to-do list on my 30 minute days than you can imagine, and more importantly, I feel like I can conquer the world!! I dare you to give it a shot.

Your April MAP is here

Need ideas to use for your April interaction posts? Here is a compiled list of different fun holidays for the month - some of these would also make great theme parties inside your group, as well.

New Catalog Coming Out? Read on!

Most companies come out with a new catalog sometime in the first quarter of the year. If this is you, here are a few quick tips to make sure you’re getting those catalogs in the hands of your customers and potential hostesses for the season, and building the excitement of the new products your company has come out with.

Spread the Excitement – think about going live on your customer group with your new products (if you have them in hand) or with your favorite parts of the actual catalog itself if you don’t. This is going to help let your own excitement for the new stuff shine through. If your company offers amazing hostess exclusive items, these are FABULOUS to highlight, as well.

Share pics – once you get that stuff in hand, create some artful displays around your home with your items, if you sell home décor. Or some cute styles you can pair with the new jewelry, if you sell jewelry. Or some fresh new looks with the make-up if that’s your industry. You get the idea. Show items in use, not just photos straight off your website. Let people envision your items in a real-world scenario, not on a closed set. Life isn’t a catalog!!

Have you done a Google form in the past, whether in your Facebook parties, your closed group, in a customer email, etc? Go back through your previous responses of who wanted a catalog last time around and go ahead and send them a new one along with a short handwritten note to check out what’s new and text you with their favorite item for a chance to be entered in your monthly customer drawing.

Haven’t done a Google form? DO IT NOW!!! Create one and post the link to it in your customer group (super easy, I promise, and one of the things Kelly and I walk you through step-by-step in our Facebook Party Course). Give people the opportunity to fill that out and let you know they would like a catalog, and enter all them in your monthly customer drawing. 

If you get home office leads from your company, go back through those leads and reach out to people who had expressed interest in the past – whether for a catalog, hosting, or the business, and let them know about the new catalog, and of course offer to send them one. 

Newness is exciting, and you need to capitalize on that! Yes, I realize catalogs cost you money, but they are hands-down your best marketing piece to get in people’s hands. I know they can see things online, but there is something about sitting on the couch looking at a catalog and dog-earing those pages that makes people want your stuff even more!

Stay tuned next week when I’ll be giving you guys my absolute favorite idea of what to do with all those products you have that are retired from your display (yeah, hoarder, I’m talking to you – time to get it GONE!!!)

Top 10 Things to Implement in Your Direct Sales Customer Group in 2018

There's nothing like a brand new year to get you inspired, right? Clean slate, time to try all the new things you've been thinking about, time to really make a plan. I adore a new year, and every single successful system I use in my business was kicked off in a January. In that spirit, I've put together a list of 10 things to plan for now, that will make your customer group kick booty in the new year.

1. Birthday Club. Every single month, create and post a graphic during the start of the month, celebrating all those that have a birthday that month. Ask that everyone who has a birthday that month comment below with their birthday to be entered into a special birthday club drawing. Take it a step further, and when you wish your friends happy birthday throughout the month, send them a link to your group and let them know they can be entered into your birthday club drawing if they are interested in joining your group.
2. Monthly Engagement Drawings. Create a post a week that is purely an engagement post. Not business related, but all tied to a theme, such as Halloween during October, St. Patrick's Day during March, etc. All commenters on those engagement posts go into a drawing for whatever prize you happen to be giving away that month.
3. Unique Hashtags. Create some that are specific to you and your business (or at least not insanely common), and use them frequently. Just 2-4 will suffice, and this will serve the dual purpose of helping you stand out, and allowing your peeps an easy way to search for things relating to you/your products (i.e. tell them to search for #floridachick when they are looking for a particular series of posts that you've tagged.)
4. BFF (Best Facebook Friend). Start this award for those that are always super active on your group, commenting, posting and participating. This is a concept I've used in my team group for awhile, but I think it would be a lot of fun to play with in your customer group, as well. And with Facebook having added analytics for groups not long ago, it's even easier to stay on top of who your top contributors are.
5. Theme Days. Pick at least a couple days of the week and give them themes. Such as #MotivationalMonday, #TipTuesday, #WordlessWednesday, etc. Your group members will get used to seeing and come to anticipate that day's theme, and you should see a spike in your participation (just don't make this all work and no play!)
6. Monthly Theme Parties. Choose a theme for the month and party inside your group around that theme. Depending on your product line, you might do themes like "Spring Cleaning", "Back to School", "Vacation", "Night on the Town", etc. Get creative and present your products in ways that keep to your theme.
7. Monthly Polls. Every month, ask your group what they'd like to see you highlight through doing a poll near the beginning of the month (or the end of the month, for the following month). This gives them a voice, and polls tend to get great interaction, because they are so easy to click a button and answer.
8. Random Holidays. Choose 2-3 bizarre holidays to celebrate each month in your group. You can see a list of random holidays here. You can choose holidays that relate to your business in some way, or just pick something completely fun and off the wall, and share photos, gifs, etc. that go along with the holiday. 
9. Cross Promotions. Build relationships with other direct sales women and choose one to cross promote every month or every quarter. This exposes each of you to one another's audience, and can help build both of your businesses. Just make sure that you completely trust the person you're inviting to share within your group, because you are trusting her with your most valuable asset - your customers.
10. Product Parade. Choose one product per week to offer at a small discount to your customers, and then highlight features, benefits and uses for that product all week long. 

Okay, not so hard right? When you sit down to do your 2018 planning, take some time to think about which of these ideas you're going to implement into your customer group this coming year, and what that's going to look like for you. And then come back and tell us all about it!

30 Post Ideas for Your Business Page

Writing content is easy...said no one ever. Let's face it, we all get tired of trying to come up with new content all the time for all of our social media channels...customer groups, fan pages, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter...the list is endless. Sometimes we all need a little spark. Well, that's what we're offering up here, with a list of 30 different posts you can craft for your Facebook Business Pages. Now, you'll notice we didn't say "here's 30 posts, go post them." Nope, sorry, that's not how we roll. Over here at Successfully Social, we firmly believe that you need to make these things your own...put your own spin on, your own voice to...basically take these ideas and craft them to fit YOU and your business and your products. The whole cookie cutter plan might work in the (very) short term, but long term you need to discover your own style, we're just here to help that along a little.

So, with that in mind, take these ideas below, and couple them with our previous post on Your Roadmap to Business Page Engagement and make yourself a content plan for next month. I promise you, when you start doing these things on a regular basis, they really do become easier.

We would love to hear from you on what posts you're creating over on your business page - drop us a line here, or come play with us over on Facebook!

Your Store is Open, But Are Your Customers Coming In?

Your Facebook Business Page
In the realm of Facebook, you can think of your Facebook Business Page as your storefront. It's searchable by Google, you can list items for sale right on it, and anyone looking for you can find you, even if you are not connected on Facebook. But if you're not getting interactions on your page, that's a lot like opening your doors and nobody coming in to see you.

It's a bit of a vicious cycle...if you aren't getting interactions you'll rank low on Facebook's algorithm, and if you rank low on Facebook's algorithm, your content won't be displayed very frequently in your fan's news feeds, thus making it more difficult to get interactions. See the problem? So how do you break out of the cycle? First let's look at the Facebook algorithm for a second so you understand what I'm referring to when I say that, and then we'll look at how to up your reach.

The Facebook Algorithm
You hear people talk about this all the time, but what does it really mean? The average person now spends nearly two hours of their day on social media, and Facebook wants to own as much of that time as they can, rather than letting it go to YouTube, Pinterest, SnapChat, etc. So, in their continued effort to keep you captivated, they want to display things into your news feed that you are most likely to click on, like, comment on, or share - basically things you will spend your TIME on. So they are more likely to show you items from your friends, pages you like, groups you frequent, IF those items are already performing well. Posts that already have multiple likes, comments and shares have "proven themselves" so to speak, so Facebook deems them hot content and displays them more frequently.

So What's a Determined Direct Seller to do?
The best thing you can do to help increase your Business Page interactions, thus allowing more people to see you, is by putting out creative, unique, relevant content that is specifically of interest to the people who follow your page. Please note that this does NOT mean all business all the time. You might very well sell a fabulous line of jewelry, but if every single post on your page is a piece of jewelry, that is going to get old very quickly for your fans, yes? Instead, why not share relevant articles, such as runway trends, hot colors for the upcoming season, ideas on taking your look from day to evening seamlessly, etc.

Make a Plan, Work Your Plan
Creating content for your business page doesn't have to be difficult or time consuming, but you do need to carve out a little time to do it. As you're getting started, try out our Roadmap to Business Page Engagement below to help you along. Start compiling a list of post ideas - I always just refer to this as a brain dump. Look over your list...what common themes are you seeing? Those might be things you want to create a schedule around, or things that will be part of a multi-day series. We've given you best posting times and a hashtag of the day to get you thinking. Use your creativity to come up with other hashtags that work for you, your products, your company, and your industry.

5 Ideas to Increase Your November Sales (Without Leaving Your House)

If you've been in direct sales for any length of time you know that RIGHT NOW is the busiest time of the year for our industry. But what if your calendar isn't quite where you want it to be? Try one of these easy ideas to get some extra sales in (and some extra cash in your pocket before the holidays!)

1. Hold a turkey trot. You may have heard this term before. Basically, you get a number of people (generally 6 or 12) to agree to collect $100 in orders, and in return they receive a portion of the hostess rewards. So, let's say for example that with a $600 party, your company offers 3 half price items and $100 in free product. You would take those rewards and divide them up between the six people who collected orders, so one person receives $50 free, two people receive $25 free, and three people receive a half price item each. This is a fabulous choice for those that want to reap the rewards of your company without hosting an entire party themselves. Set a deadline by which the orders need to be in, and then draw for who receives which rewards. Boom - an extra $600 or $1200 in sales for you!
2. Create a product bundle and have your hostesses market JUST that bundle to her friends. When she sells a set amount of them, she gets her bundle for free. Let's say you sell make-up. Assemble a bundle with a mascara, an eyeliner, and two eye shadows and figure out how many of that bundle would need to sell in order to accumulate that amount in hostess rewards - that's how many bundles the hostess will need to sell in order to receive her bundle free. The beauty in this is, you're able to reach people who are turned off by the "idea" of hosting. They're not "hosting" per se, they're not earning "hostess rewards", they are just sharing this great bundle set with friends and getting one for free. They get product, you get sales, it's a win-win.
3. Host a holiday theme party inside your Facebook closed customer group. Theme parties are great any time of year, but this time of year is particularly fun, because there are so many fun themes you can come up with, depending on the industry your company falls into. One theme that works well across most any industry would be a "Stocking Stuffers Party". Showcase your less expensive items ($30 and under generally) and encourage people to think about shopping for teachers, aunts, cousins, neighbors, nieces, etc. Turn it into a mystery hostess party and give the rewards away, with guests earning tickets for purchasing, booking their own party, sharing ideas, and commenting on  your posts. 
4. Have a texting party. Give your hostess a graphic to send to her friends asking them if they are interested in participating in a texting party (check out RedStamp.com for creating awesome text able images). Those that respond yes, you will text each of those people once a day for five days with the party link and a product or bundle image. People are busy busy busy, so this can be a great way to pick up some extra sales without a lot of time spent on your party or your customers.
5. Hold a Christmas Stop & Shop cocktail hour on Black Friday in your home. People can come by after hitting the mall and have a couple drinks while shopping either your catalog or your in-stock inventory. Pick up some cute wrapping paper from the Dollar Store and set up a couple wrapping tables, too, so that people can get their essentials wrapped before they take them home (think about how much easier it is on mom to not have to sneak the toys into the house and hide them from the kids after Black Friday shopping - this alone is a HUGE draw!!)

Try one or all of these ideas to give yourself a sales boost this season. Have other ideas? We would love to hear them below!

So what IS Successfully Social?

Hi blog world! Welcome to our brand new Successfully Social blog.

Successfully Social officially launched AS Successfully Social in January of 2017, but we've been around creating content prior to that...that's just when we became "us". So who is us, you ask? Let me delve a little deeper...

Successfully Social is Beth Reed and Kelly Van Balkom. We've been in direct sales for a combined insane amount of years, and in 2016 teamed up with Lifeline Coaching & Education to make the realm of social media more accessible to the average direct seller. Social media has changed the face of direct selling, and we are ultra passionate about helping other direct sellers see that they not only need to DO social, but that they need to do it RIGHT.

We've all seen those direct sellers all over Facebook who are doing it wrong...being in your face obnoxious, selling on their personal walls, sending unsolicited messages about joining their team, tagging you in posts about their oh-so-exciting sales, etc. Please, DON'T BE THAT GIRL!

Let's put the SOCIAL back in social media...put the relationship before the sale. Be someone that people WANT to do business with. I promise it's not difficult, and we'll be here for you every step of the way.

Look for more blog posts coming soon, more courses coming soon, and in the meantime you can join us over on Facebook by following the links on the right. See you on social!