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.

Your Direct Sales May MAP (Marketing Action Plan)

Use these dates to create engagement posts and theme parties for your Facebook customer VIP groups.

Hostess Coaching Checklist Printable

All this week on our Facebook business page, we have been going LIVE and talking about hostess coaching, so I put together this Hostess Coaching Checklist that you can use when you're coaching your direct sales hostesses. If you're not sure what I mean by the post cards referenced in the chart below, take a look at the post I shared to our group yesterday - there is a video I made explaining the hostess postcard system I developed a few years ago - it's done AMAZING things for my business!

Get the PDF version here on our Facebook Group.

Niche Markets = BIG Sales Opportunities

As with so many blog posts, I wrote this one in my head while getting a facial. Really! I don't know what it is about laying there, or at a massage, or in the tanning bed, that makes me want to blog...maybe it's just that my brain doesn't shut off. In any case, you'd be surprised how many of the posts here originated in my head during one of these three activities.

So, we've talked before on Successfully Social about your target markets, and how important it is to identify and work within that particular market that fits you, your personality, and your product line. But what about niche markets? They aren't really your target market, per se, but they are specific groups of people for whom one or more of your products makes a perfect fit. I'm going to give you a few examples, and then talk a little about WHY you want to pick a niche that works for you.

• Professional Organizers: This is a perfect market to target if you're with a company like Thirty-One or Clever Container. If you can build a relationship with one or more organizers, you could consistently be getting orders from these people as they work within their client's homes. Better yet, take the really strong ones and turn them into recruits - they get to get product whenever they need it at a discount and you get a consistent team member. Win-win!
• Animal Practitioners (Veterinarians, Groomers, Trainers): This is a natural fit for those companies that carry oils - DoTerra, Young Living, etc.Some of these practitioners might already be using oils, and some might not be familiar with their uses. What a great opportunity for you to take your products in and educate on what oils work well for what ailments, which might be toxic to our pets, and how they can use these oils in their practice. 
• Estheticians: Obviously this is a great place for companies carrying skin care lines to market. Arbonne, Acti-Labs, Rodan & Fields, etc. Get in good with some local estheticians and let them test out your products personally before they start carrying them in-house. Again, this could be another great opportunity to gain a new recruit if she loves the product line and plans to start using it on her clients. 
• Baby/Children Photographers: What a great niche for those that have stuffed animals or children's books, such as Scentsy, Noah's Ark and Usborne. Your items make great props for use in the photos, and a sweet little take-away bonus for the mom and child to bring home with them after the shoot. Huge value add for these photographers who are in such a competitive industry!
• Real Estate Agents: Another hugely competitive industry filled with people who NEED to find a way to stand out. Anyone who carries cute home items, such as Signature Homestyles, Thirty-One, Chalk Couture, etc. could find a great niche here in providing items that agents can gift to their new homeowners at closing. How much fun is that? And how much more memorable than just sending a note with a gift card to the local supermarket?!
• Professional Chefs/Bakers: More and more little boutique style shops selling cupcakes, gluten free items, ready-made meals, etc. are popping up all over the country. Companies like Princess House, Pampered Chef, Tara at Home, etc. should absolutely be targeting these shops and offering items from their line that would make life easier for these store owners. While this particular one doesn't necessarily lend itself to a lot of repeat business like some of the others do, this is still a great niche for consultants with these companies to take a look at.
• Personal Trainers: Like little bakeries, personal training gyms are popping up everywhere. Often a "one man show", these people live and breathe fitness, and would be a great fit for companies offering supplements, such as Le-Vel, ViSalus, Modere, etc. or companies offering fitness wear, like Peach and RaesWear. Like some of the others mentioned above, this would be a great opportunity to potentially gain a recruit, as if the trainers uses it, the clients will buy it!!

Okay, so let's just say you fit into one of these niches. How do you work it? Well, with that niche, find out where they are at...what groups are they in? What keywords are they searching? What local events are they attending? Start devising a marketing strategy where you are targeting them specifically - with JUST those products in your line that would be applicable to them. So say you're with Scentsy and you're going after photographers...your first step is to find ONE photographer. Someone you already know, or someone locally that you find through a mom's group, local Facebook group, etc. You're going to GIFT her with 2 or 3 Scentsy Buddies, in exchange for her taking a few pics for you and writing a testimonial. Then, create a postcard showcasing one of those photos and explaining how you offer adorable props that moms will love. Paint the picture for them. Include a link to a landing page/Facebook business page that is all about JUST this aspect of your business, and includes the photos, testimonials, etc. that you've gathered. You're going to need to put some time and effort into this, but when done well this can pay off in HUGE ways and solidify you into the niche market you are going for.

So, share in the comments, who has some other niche market ideas I didn't cover here? I know there are a ton more!!

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.

Three Ideas for Your Direct Sales Business This Spring

Spring is here in the direct sales world, and recently on Successfully Social's page we heard from our members that they wanted to know how to run their businesses in spring. In fact, it was such a popular inquiry that we made it the topic of our Facebook LIVE series this week. So, that said, here are some ideas you can use for your direct sales business right NOW while spring is in full bloom.

But before I get started, let me preface this by saying that both Kelly and I believe that you need to be full steam ahead with your business all year long...not on again off again with the changing of the seasons. Remember that the actions you take in your business right now will have long reaching consequences in the months to come. If you don't believe me, take a look at your calendar...if you took a month off around mid-December to mid-January, are you still feeling the pain of that 75-90 days later? Trust me, give it your all year round and you won't hit that bookings slump that many of your direct selling sisters fall into a couple times a year. Okay, enough with the PSA, let's get to our topic.

1. Go get those Mother's Day orders. Aside from the December holidays, Mother's Day is one of the biggest shopping occasions of the year. And what completely rocks about that is that just about all of our direct sales companies have things that mama would love! From skin care to jewelry to purses to cookware to candles and more, direct sales is an industry geared primarily towards women (and let's face it, women are also the ones most likely to be shopping for mother's day - for their own mom, their mother-in-law, sister-in-law, their grown daughters, etc.) So how can you capitalize on that? Well, I suggest creating three product bundles at three different price points, maybe a $40ish, $75ish and $120ish. Make some cute graphics showcasing these bundles and put them in your Facebook VIP group. Then take those same images and create a printable PDF or printable image with each of the bundles and a little checkbox next to each of the three images. Put on all of your contact information/how to order information and give it a big fun title at the top like "I'm Making Mother's Day Easy For You This Year" and let all those mamas in your VIP group know they can print that out, check off the one they want, and give it to their hubby - you'll take care of the rest. You get some extra sales from the dads, and mom gets what she wants for a change. Win-win!

2. Get out! Outside, that is. Host a Sip and Shop or Spring BBQ for your customers and previous hostesses. For many of us, the weather is starting to get gorgeous and people are ready to get out and about. If you haven't hosted your own spring launch yet to show off new items your company has come out with, now is the time! You can do this poolside, in the backyard under the trees, or even at the playground and let them bring the kids. Do it as a mystery hostess and offer up tickets towards winning the host rewards for anyone that orders.

3. Spring Clean. If you didn't take my advice in the post about turning your retired inventory into bookings, you might be sitting on a bunch of retired items that you're no longer using. Maybe it's time to let some of them go - you could use the idea from that post I just referenced, or you could do something quick like snapping pics of them and selling them off auction style in your VIP group. Then take that cold hard cash and reinvest it in yourself and new products you don't have yet in your display. And side note, think mid to high price range items when you're adding to your party display - people will buy a $10 or $15 item sight unseen, but when it comes to the $90 stuff, they want to be able to see before they buy. And who can blame them?!

Will you try any of these ideas? What else are you doing to make your spring spectacular? Share below.

Integrity & Your Business

All week long on our daily LIVE over on our business page, we've been talking about integrity in business. How you conducting yourself professionally (and personally!) reflects not only on your business but also on that of your parent company as a whole. Today I wanted to continue that discussion. Here are links to our LIVES if you missed them. 

Don't Be "That Girl" - How to Act in Groups and Pages
Are You Poaching from Your Sister Consultants?
Do What You Say You're Going to Do
Treat Your Business Like a Business

So, have you seen these bad behaviors by someone online? What's your take? Do you agree that it's things like this that contribute to the negative impression some have of our industry?

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.

Get Successfully Social for March

Hey there direct sellers! With March right around the corner, it's time to formulate your Marketing Action Plan (MAP) if you haven't already. Awhile back in our blog post Top Ten Things to Implement in your Direct Sales Customer Group in 2018, we encouraged you to start some new things in your closed Customer Communities this year, and with that in mind I've created you a "cheat sheet" of a few things happening in March that you can use towards your theme parties and random holiday celebrations. 

Theme Parties Ideas for Direct Sellers

So one of the things that Kelly and I recommend doing inside your closed Customer Community is doing a monthly theme party. Why? Because they are fun! Because they get attention! Because you never know what theme is going to strike a chord with your audience!

So, that said, we wanted to give you a few theme ideas that you can use in your own customer group. Comment below if you have some additional favorites you like to use.

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!!!)

Getting Organized for the New Year

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and you’re ready to hit the ground running in 2018. I’ve said before how much I absolutely love a new year – clean slate and all that, and one of the best things about that whole clean slate concept is that it’s the perfect time to get organized with your business. Now maybe you’re like me, and you already have a great system for keeping track of your expenses, your mileage, your emails, your business supplies…if so, good for you – feel free to share them in the comments. BUT if you’re like most, there are one or more of these areas that you could use some assistance in, so read on for some of my personal tips in this area.

Expenses

Nobody likes doing taxes, tracking expenses, etc. but the fact of the matter is, if you own a business, this is a necessary evil. For the longest time, I used a simple spreadsheet I created in Excel that had categories for different types of expenses, such as your website expense, catalogs, travel to convention, etc. This worked well for many years, but a few years ago I upgraded to using a software called TaxBot, which allows you to digitally keep your receipts and enter your expenses into all those same categories. At tax time, you can print out a summary of all of your expenses, by category, for the year. LOVE!

Mileage

This one has traditionally been a huge PITA for me. Generally I would try to guess how many miles I had on my car at the beginning of the year, how many I had at the end…it was basically one big guessing game and was absolutely NOT a win. Enter MileIQ. This app automatically starts tracking your drives, based on your phone being in the car with you, and then you classify each drive as to whether it was personal, or business, and which category it would fall under if it was business. The caveat to this is if you do decide to use this app, be sure to stay on top of classifying your drives, because it’s really easy to forget two months later what was business and what was personal.

Emails

This one is a huge fave of mine. It drives me insane when I hear from friends that they have 12,000 emails in their inbox. Ahhhh!!! How do you survive?? I have a ton of subfolders and drop the emails I need to keep into whatever subfolder fits them, that way I always know where I need to find anything business related. For example, I have a folder for each month of the year, and under that folder, I have a folder for each event I have going on that month (whether it’s a party, vendor event, conference, etc.) Any relevant emails having to do with that event will be kept in that folder, that way when I need to look something up about a vendor event coming up in July, I know right where to find the information. I also have a folder with my company name on it, and underneath that, subfolders for shipping notifications, home office leads, online orders, company newsletters, and several others. You get the idea. Any type of correspondence that a) you get often, and b) you want to hang onto, should have it’s own folder or subfolder.

Business Supplies

This one can be tricky, because it’s going to be very individualized as to how many of something you keep on hand at any one time, depending on the volume of business you do. Personally, I kind of buy “in bulk” with my non-company branded items, so that I don’t have to buy them often. By this I mean, the folders I use for my hostess, recruiting and new consultant packets, the post cards I order off Vistaprint for my customer follow up, hostess happy mail, and new consultant happy mail, the fun things I send through the mail to all these people, the envelopes I send them in, etc. I keep a stock of several months worth, at least, of all these things, and re-order well before I am going to run out. Everything I’ve mentioned here is part of one of my on-going business systems, so it’s crucial to me that I never run out of these key pieces that help my business run more smoothly. Whatever components make up your own systems for your business, now is the time to determine how your supply of them is for at least the first quarter of the year, and make sure that where you are storing them makes sense for you and allows you to put your hands on them all quickly and efficiently when you need to.

Y’all ready to kick some booty in 2018?? What area of your business do you need help organizing? Shoot us a note and we will see if we can cover it in a future post!

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!

5 Things to do for Your Direct Sales Business in December

Most direct sales companies have their holiday shipping guaranteed cut-off date around December 10-15th. Many consultants think that means they can just take the rest of the month off, but that really couldn't be farther from the truth. There ARE ways you can turn those last few weeks of the year into productive time, so let's take a look at a few ideas.

1. Sell. Hold an inventory sale from products you have on hand. Many of us have items that have retired that we still have from our displays - these can be someone's great last minute gift all the way up until Christmas. Host a stop and shop in your home, and offer gift wrapping (or gift bagging) so that people can leave your home with their gifts ready to roll.
2. Book. Work on filling your January calendar! If your last few November and December parties didn't fully book you up for January, NOW is the time to reach out to past January hostesses, potential hostesses who haven't nailed down a date yet, or just anyone who has shown interest in booking. You do not want to roll into the new year without your January calendar solid, so do the work now.
3. Inventory. Take an inventory of your business supplies and figure out what you need to order to start the year off right. Do you have all the catalogs, order forms, hostess goodies, etc. that you are going to need? Many companies change catalogs over in January, and thus make the new book available for consultants to order in December. If this is you, or if you have a couple more months left in your winter book and you aren't going to have enough to get you through til the end, get your order placed. Because remember point 2, you're going to be booking up your January and you're going to need to have those hostess packets ready to mail to all of your excited January hostesses.
4. Marketing. Revamp your marketing plan for the new year if it needs it, or if your marketing plan is solid, make sure you have your necessities stocked. I have a lot of solid systems in my business, such as Hostess Happy Mail and my Customer Follow-Up System, and now is the perfect time of year to make sure that I have all I need from Vistaprint and my back office. If you don't personally have systems in your business that are working for you, now is a great time to start some. The new year is always something of a clean slate, and honestly is when almost every system of mine got it's start, one year or another. 
5. Mastermind. Do you have someone you work closely with in your business? Set aside time to mastermind with them on what you both want from your businesses in the coming year. I have two people I work closely with - Mariekan, from the same direct sales company, who I have partnered with to train our teams together, and Jessica, who is a friend from another company who is my go-to girl to bounce ideas off of. Each December, I have planning meetings with each of these people. With Mariekan, we get together for four days straight and plan out our entire year of team trainings, our schedule for calls, zooms, topics, etc. Yes, it's a lot, but you can't imagine how organized we feel heading into a new year with a solid map for what is to come. With Jessica, we do an overnight, and lay out our goals for our personal businesses in the coming year, talk strategy and marketing, and create vision boards to help keep us on task. Both of these masterminds are crucial to my success, and I highly recommend you do something similar. 

So, what will YOU do with the final few weeks of the year? I suggest you figure it out...and then be on the lookout for another post coming soon about the top 10 things you want to implement in your business next year...

Customer Service Quick Tips

Anyone can make a sale at a party, but to get those customers coming back to you over and over again, one of the most important things you need to do is give them amazing customer service. The advent of social media means that it’s easier than ever to reach customers far and wide, BUT it also means that it’s easier than ever for your customers to find another consultant to meet their needs if you’re not taking great care of them. So, with that in mind, here are four basics of customer service that you need to absolutely live by:

·        Listen to your customers. Even if they are complaining. Especially if they are complaining. Sure, some people will always find something to complain about, but sometimes you’ll find there is validity in what they are saying. If something is wrong (they received the wrong item, it wasn’t what they expected, etc.) make it right. Someone who walks away upset is likely to tell others how NOT helpful you were, so don’t give them that option. Do whatever you can within your power to make their experience a good one.

·        Don’t make promises unless you will keep them. Not just “plan” on keeping them, but actually do it. Being reliable is crucial in any relationship, and a business relationship is no different. If you tell them you’re going to call them tomorrow with a price, do it. If you think there’s any chance in the world you can’t make that call, don’t even say it.

·        Be helpful. Is your customer looking for a solution to a need or problem? If you have something that will fill that need, fabulous. Hook them up. If you do NOT have something that will fill that need, be honest about that fact. Don’t try to sell them on something else that is ultimately not going to be a fix for them, because in the long run they will realize that the product you’ve sold them isn’t going to do what they wanted it to do, and that will leave a bad taste in their mouth about you and your products. Better for them to look elsewhere for the item they need now, and then be willing to come back to you in the future because you were honest with them upfront.

·        Treat them as real people, not just sales. People like to feel like you’re remembering THEM not just their purchase, and this becomes easy if you simply take a few notes after speaking with them. You might jot down that their daughter is applying to colleges, or that they are helping their mom move, or that they just got a new puppy. Next time you speak to them, bring that up in conversation, to check in and see how things are going in that area of their life. Remember the old saying, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!

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!

Direct Sellers: Stop Sending Christmas Cards!

No, I am not going all bah humbug on you, just hear me out. If you are in the habit of sending Christmas cards to your customers, here's why I want you to stop:

1. Everyone else is doing it, and in my book that means it's NOT the way to go, because it's not showing your individuality or setting you apart.
2. Think about how many Christmas cards you get from about the last week of November til the end of December. I'd wager it's a lot. Your customers are swimming in them, too. Therefore a card at this time of the year is getting a lot less attention than a card at say, I don't know, ANY other time of the year. Sure, it'll get hung up with the rest of them, or put in the ever-growing pile, and they might think "oh, that was sweet" but then when the next batch arrives tomorrow, it's forgotten. 

I personally think if you're going to spend the money to buy (or design, or make) a card for your direct sales customers, and then spend the money to mail them all out, you want it to get more than ten seconds of attention. So, rather than jumping in with the masses and sending a Christmas card, here's a few other ideas to choose from that you could implement into your marketing plan (and budget) instead.

• Send a New Year's card - wish them the best for 2018, just wait to do it until at least a week or so after the year starts, because by then they are more likely to have already trashed the Christmas cards.
• Send a card for your business anniversary. Are you celebrating a year, or 3 or 14 or whatever with your company? Send a card announcing that and thanking them for supporting your business. 
• Choose a random holiday to send a card for. Personally, I have a marketing plan this year around Groundhog's Day (yes, I'm serious) and I'll be sending cards for that in 2018.
• Choose any other big holiday (Easter, St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, etc.) and use that as an occasion to send cards out to your customers. 
• Are you Facebook friends with your customers? Send them a birthday card for their birthday instead. You can see all the birthdays coming up in the next month, and while it's a little more work for you to keep up with, as adults we don't tend to get a whole lot of birthday happy mail, so this would probably get noticed and be appreciated.

Pick your fave, and give it a whirl for 2018. And look for a future blog post coming soon on 10 other things I am going to encourage you to do for your business in 2018!

Connecting With Others On The Go

Relationship marketing is at the core how we build a strong, sustainable business. Advertising has changed dramatically, companies are putting their dollars into digital marketing. Not surprising as people can be tied to their phones but they are also happy to connect and do business with others that they know, like and trust.

As you go about your day in your local community do you really connect with others. Do you smile, ask questions, use people's name? Your local community is a gold mine of customers, hostesses, team members, referrals, every person on average can connect you to 300 more. Learning the skills of relationship marketing is truly a must in this business. The classic book "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie is a good read and education on how to successfully connect with others.

However, what I am talking about today is how to connect digitally with the people you meet. And it is so easy! Business cards are still a great tool for connection but having a digital connection is powerful as well. Connecting through Messenger as often as you can is an ideal way to be able to keep in touch with the people you meet. It's as easy as scanning their Messenger Code. Here's how:

From Home, tap your profile picture in the top left corner. Tap your picture at the top of the page. Tap My Code to let someone scan your code, or tap Scan Code to scan someone else's.

Once connected, you can continue the conversation. Think of messenger as digital conversations, not digital sales. Remember the lessons in Dale Carnegie's book!

You can also connect people directly to your public online events. You can create a QR code for these events and people can scan the code and join the event. Here are the steps:

If you're the host of a public event, you can create a QR code to promote your event.

To create a QR code:

Go to your event and click the three dots in the top right

Select Create QR Code

Click Download

These tools are a great way to connect through conversations in your community. Practice them today so you are ready to use these tools next time you leave the house.

Three Ways to Stand Out at Your Holiday Vendor Events

I spent some time the other day thinking about the upcoming holidays and how I can maximize this month and share idea's with others to help them maximize the month while bringing enormous value to our customers. This month's cheque is our holiday cheque and typically the highest cheque of the year. So what's a direct seller to do? Do the things that other's don't, so you can have a business that other's won't.

IDEA 1: Bring a tree to decorate with your products, use your products as gifts under the tree and stuff some stockings with our products INSTEAD of setting up a table display. Ensure the decorations, gifts and stockings are ready for sale. Don't follow the crowd, bring the fun factor and enjoy the festive season!

IDEA 2: Use your table as a gift wrapping station! Bring gift wrap, bows, tags, ribbon, confetti, and stickers, and let people wrap their purchases at your table, play some Christmas music, serve some cocoa and cookies. Put a jar on the table for donations to your favorite charity and ensure your finger is ready to help them tie the perfect bow! Providing a service invites people to your booth and gives you a chance to start some conversations; we are in the relationship marketing business after all! Have a sheet for them to fill out their contact information so you can send a thank you card and forward to the charity for tax donation receipts.

IDEA 3: Expand your Social Media following by sharing the fun of your booth with your audience. You are going to be announcing on your social media channels the amount raised for your charity, so ask them to follow you (it's easy they have their phone with them, after all). Create a contest around the day by offering a special drawing for those that share a selfie (with their fabulously wrapped gift) on your business page, and let them know they will get a second chance of winning by liking your page! Remember to follow through, comment on their pictures, and ensure that you have a strong content plan for after the event.

Now go out and ROCK your vendor events and remember to take some time to brainstorm some ideas of your own.

Are You a (Facebook) Jailbird?

You've heard of it, you've seen friends complain about it, maybe you've even got locked up yourself. Facebook Jail...a term that didn't even exist five years ago but that's now as common as peanut butter and banana sandwiches. (yep, that is gross, btw)

Urban Dictionary defines Facebook Jail as "Facebook itself blocking you due to something you've either posted, words you've used or for harassment of another user." Let's dig a little deeper...

Ending up in Facebook Jail doesn't necessarily mean that you're unable to use Facebook altogether. Generally you will be blocked from just specific features of Facebook, usually the ones on which whatever offense occurred that landed you in jail in the first place. So, for example, if you sent messages through Facebook Messenger that people reported to Facebook, you might be blocked from using Messenger for a period of time. If you posted something in a closed group that someone reported, you might lose the option to post to groups. If you friend requested too many people that denied you and marked you as a spammer, you might be unable to friend request any more people for a set amount of time. Facebook will limit your functionality, or jail you, for anywhere from 24 hours (think first offense, or just one complaint against you) to 30 days (serious repeat offenders get that 30 day sentence.) If, after a 30 day sentence, you've still not learned your lesson, you can probably expect to have Facebook shut down your account altogether.

So, you're thinking...but WAIT, I'm no spammer!! Hey, we get it. We believe you when you tell us you have nothing but the best of intentions. But here's the deal: sometimes you end up in Facebook Jail anyway. Call it wrongfully accused, appeal the conviction (which rarely works) but it happens. So let's look at the best ways to avoid the Facebook Slammer completely, shall we?

1. Stop taking other people's content! When you take those great company pics that everyone else is using and throw them out on your customer page, business page, etc. there's a really good chance that those images have a spammer label attached to them already, simply due to their widespread usage, and you putting it out there throws your name in the spammer pile. Instead, create your own images using Canva, PicMonkey, etc. 
2. Don't post in random local groups asking for bookings, sales, recruits, etc. Let's say you're in 6 local groups (you know, yard sale groups, local mom's groups, business women's networking groups, etc.) If you write a post talking about the amazing sale you're currently having or how you are looking for "just two more women who want to make money from home", and then you copy/paste that post into all those groups, there's a really good chance Facebook is going to jail you. First off, THAT is spammy and gross, and just don't be that girl. And secondly, if you're using the exact same content back to back in rapid fire procession across all these places, that's a red flag to Facebook regardless of the actual content of your post. Which brings me to our next point...
3. If you're running multiple Facebook parties over the same span of days, and using a fabulous scheduling service like Cinch Share, do NOT schedule all those posts to go into all those events at the exact same time. For the same reason as above - it's a red flag that you might just be a robot. Stagger your post times from event to event so that you're not gushing about your customer special in all 7 Facebook parties at the exact same millisecond. 
4. While we are on events, if you're doing a single night live party event, make sure that you're staggering the posts for that. Every three minutes is a good rule of thumb right now. If you're posting more frequently than that, Facebook might snatch you up and not let you post at all, which is WAY worse than your guests having to wait and extra minute for your next pearls of wisdom in the party.

Hopefully those tips will help keep you from racking up a Facebook criminal record. If you've been jailed for something else, leave us a comment, we promise not to laugh at you!!