Will Your Business Survive?

I won't rehash the same "choosing a business" speech because most of you know it. However, there's one question that comes to mind - did you choose the RIGHT business, and will it stick around?

Looking around on groups and message boards, something has become some what of a trend - starting new direct sales companies. There's nothing wrong with an established business doing this. However, I can't tell you how many times in the past year alone I've seen companies open and close within a few months. Kits were purchased and reps signed up, but in just a few short weeks the company was closing its doors. It may not seem like a huge deal to the company to move on to something else, but the reps have wasted much time and often money as well.

Although, how do you know the company won't last?
There's a few points to look for when considering joining a new direct sales company.

1. Has the company been around before the consultant program?
If it's brand new and opening with the consultant plan in place, beware! While this isn't always the case, do think twice about a company that hasn't been able to sell the product on their own.

2. How well was the business planned out?
Don't be afraid to ask personal questions! You have a right to know if they have planned their costs out for several years. Regardless of the business, a business owner must understand there is a slim chance of any profit being made in the first year. If they haven't planned to be in debt for at least a year or more, then chances are they will cut their losses before the year is even up. Should they not reveal their business plan, you might want to just move on.

3. What type of shopping cart do they use?
While there's nothing wrong with PayPal, if this is the only type of payment offered by the company you may want to think twice. A professional shopping cart set up doesn't cost that much, and if that cost has been skipped they may not be planning well.

4. Are catalogs and samples available?
If you get a "coming soon" when requesting a catalog, think twice about joining. Catalogs are a very basic part of business, and to not have them ready shows the owner "rushed" to get the business open.

5. How is customer service?
Put in a test order and see how fast things work in the business. If you can't order products yet, but reps are being signed up already, you'll want to wait until they are fully open before actually signing up yourself. Not being able to test out products ahead of time isn't a good sign.

With business comes risks, and no one can be completely sure how solid a company really is. However, being able to spot certain signs is important in protecting yourself and your credibility with your customers. Not to say the tips above will tell if the company will survive or not, but they may be able to give you a better idea if your business will last or not.


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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success Kit, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. For Free Weekly tips for your Direct Sales Business - Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

Home Business Job Fair – Meeting the Vendors – Part 2

Recently I had the opportunity to visit a local home business job fair. As direct sales coaches, quite a few of the questions we see often are about holding offline events. The questions vary from both coordinating one and being a vendor. I thought interviewing the coordinator herself and some of the vendors would be a wonderful way to share how to coordinate your own event and/or attend as a vendor. If you missed the beginning of the story, visit http://direct-sales-news.blogspot.com/2006/01/anitas-day-out-home-business-job-fair.html for the full story.

It was certainly all my pleasure to speak with Mrs. Noll. Not that it wasn't wonderful to speak with each of the talented women at this event - but it was truly an honor speaking with someone who has been in the top 10 in the US for the past six years, featured in the company catalog time and time again, featured on the company website, and featured at numerous company functions - this women is truly what we can each view as a success story.

Noll from Millerstown, PA has been with Heart Warming Creations for almost 9 years. Having done similar events in the past, she found out about this particular even through the News-Sun paper. Pat normally finds out about other events such as these through this method and also via word of mouth from consultants at other events.

When asked why she chose Heart Warming Creations, Noll responded with, "I joined this company because there were NO consultants in our area, it was a fairly new company and no one heard of it. I thought that would be good. New merchandise to offer and I like these kinds of items. It was down my alley."

Currently with only 2 active downline members who live too far away for monthly meetings, Pat still makes sure she keeps in contact with them. Depending on the week and what all needs to be done, Noll works on her business full time at approximately 30 hours a week.

"Doing the parties and meeting new people, making new friends and sharing Heart Warming Creations with them [is her favorite aspect of this business]" Says Noll.

When asked if she could only bring one thing to this event, what would it be, Pat promptly responded with her catalogs. "I would have to say Catalogs, so people can see our merchandise and what we have to offer. I would also bring some samples of our items."

Noll shares her tip for events such as these...

I would say be yourself and be honest with the people you come in contact with ... and most of all have FUN in what you are doing.


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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/for free weekly tips. For more information on Heart Warming Creations visit http://www.PatsCountryCrafts.com

Home Business Job Fair - Meeting the Vendors - Part 1

Recently I had the opportunity to visit a local home business job fair. As direct sales coaches, quite a few of the questions we see often are about holding offline events. The questions vary from both coordinating one and being a vendor. I thought interviewing the coordinator herself and some of the vendors would be a wonderful way to share how to coordinate your own event and/or attend as a vendor. If you missed the beginning of the story, visit http://direct-sales-news.blogspot.com/2006/01/anitas-day-out-home-business-job-fair.html for the full story.

Finding out about this particular even was easy for Laurie Fischer since the coordinator emailed her. She now keeps a running list of all the vendors she comes in contact with so she can keep in contact and find out about upcoming events such as these. Knowing that networking is a very important tool to her direct sales business, Fischer knew that attending a home business job fair would be a good choice.

In May of 2004 Laurie was asked by her sponsor about becoming an H&GP Designer and since she already loved the products she decided to give it a try. Now, with over 18 members in her downline, the title of Diamond Designer and titled 2005 National Star, Fischer keeps her team motivated with meetings, workshops and phone calls. Laurie also sends cards to her members once a month just to say they are wonderful. She does this whether they're working or not ... just to keep up the encouragement. Her team does challenges, and are in the beginning stages of doing a mentoring program with individual team members.

When I asked Laurie what her favorite aspect of her business was, she replied with, "The people that I meet and the relationships that I have built." If Fischer was only allowed to bring one type of promotional item to the event, she would bring her hostess packets because all the products and opportunity information is in there.

Laurie shares some wise words of wisdom...
"I say when you do an event like this ... you can't sit behind your table ... you need to be out there talking to the people. If there is no one around or there is down time, go out and about and talk with the other vendors, or depending where you are, go around the hotel or facility and hand out your information. Just keep talking to the people."

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of The Direct Sales Success Kit, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly tips. For more info on Home & Garden Party visit http://www.decorateyourhomewithlaurie.com .

Home Business Job Fair – Meeting the Coordinator

Recently I had the opportunity to visit a local home business job fair. As direct sales coaches quite a few of the questions we see often are about holding offline events. The questions vary from both coordinating one and being a vendor. I thought interviewing the coordinator herself and some of the vendors would be a wonderful way to share how to coordinate your own event and/or attend as a vendor. If you missed the beginning of the story visit http://direct-sales-news.blogspot.com/2006/01/anitas-day-out-home-business-job-fair.html for the full story.

Here’s the scoop on Gwen…

Having participated in quite a few events in the past Gwen Cleck of Country Bunny Bath & Body, knew what not to do and simply did the opposite in the organization of this fair. Setting the price seemed to be a little difficult. She wanted to make sure that the fee wasn't too high as to attract consultants but also be able to cover the costs involved with the event itself.

Cleck chose local newspapers, radio stations, online advertising and posted flyers in the area to bring attention to her event. Choosing the location for her event seemed to be one of the easiest decisions to make. Living in the area, she chose a venue that was well-known, inexpensive and easily accessible. The location was a fairly-sized room of the Clarion Inn, Lewistown, Pennsylvania. This location was super-easy to find and to access, having an on and off ramp to a major highway less than 1/2 mile away.

Already having a network of vendors that she often works with helped in finding the vendors for this event. "I also advertised on CraftLister.com and searched company websites looking for local representatives.” says Cleck.

Cleck says, "I don't think I'd change too much about how I organized this. I think the way I advertised seemed to work well and that's probably how I'll do it again in the future. I'm not sure that I would do a job fair exclusively. I think a sales event would work out better toward the Christmas season."

With the interest of many vendors at this event the plans of a "stop and shop" in early November are currently underway.

Cleck has been a representative of Country Bunny Bath & Body since March of 2002, falling in love with the products first and then falling in love with the company once she joined.

Gwen has at least 23 members in her downline that she keeps motivated via holding monthly organizational meetings, monthly training calls, monthly challenges and motivational emails. Her favorite aspect of her business is holding spa retreats and spends 8 - 10 hours a week with her business, depending on whether or not she's holding retreats or attending events.

When asked if there was only one thing she could bring to this event ... Cleck responded with "If there was only one thing, it'd definitely be my products to sample." She also shares the best tip she's ever gotten for direct sales ... "Talk, talk, talk to everyone and share your opportunity."

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of The Direct Sales Success Kit, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly tips. For more info about Country Bunny Bath & Body http://www.BunnyStop.net

Marketing Online Businesses to Offline People

Recently I had the opportunity to visit a local home business job fair coordinated by Gwen Cleck of Country Bunny Bath & Body. As direct sales coaches quite a few of the questions we see often are about holding offline events. The questions vary from both coordinating one and being a vendor. I thought interviewing the coordinator herself and some of the vendors would be a wonderful way to share how to coordinate your own event and/or attend as a vendor.

Attending this event and interviewing everyone gave me to opportunity to meet so many wonderful and talented women who were more than willing to share their business experience with me. Here’s the scoop…

One important lesson I picked up at this event is to be very careful when you’re marketing your online business to “offline people”. First and foremost, those ads you’re sending out … they aren’t working! Wait a minute, let me back up and explain here. Let’s look at this for example:

“How would you like to earn $500 a night? What if I told you that you could do it in your own home? No selling! The products sell themselves...”

Okay, I could go on here but I’m sure you get the point. These ads don’t work! Do you know what that ad says? SCAM! Sure, I wouldn’t doubt for a minute that you earn $500 in one night at a home party. And I’m sure your products sell themselves. I’m not saying that it’s not true … I’m saying the ad doesn’t work. If you’re marketing to folks offline with these types of ads, they have scam written all over them and you’re not getting your message across.

If you’re pushing the “online sales” and “online recruiting” to the “offline network” be careful of how you approach your market. Let me explain how I set this whole project up in the first place. I searched online at www.CraftLister.com, found out about this HBJF and contacted the coordinator. I told her who I was what my intentions were. Now keep in mind, people hold their email addresses near and dear to their heart. With all the spam that’s roaming around the internet you have to be super-careful about how you approach some via email. So, I asked Gwen if she could personally pass on my email to her vendors explaining what I was interested in doing and then had each of them email me personally if they were interested in participating. This way Gwen wasn’t just handing out email addresses without their permission. The response was fantastic.

So, much to my surprise, when I arrived at the HBJF there were quite a few more people there than those who replied to me. My initial thoughts were that these ladies just weren’t interested in what I was doing which of course was absolutely fine by me. I worked the room with my list of those who were interested and started speaking with each one. I of course didn’t want to be rude so I did at least try to stop and visit each vendor. Eventually I’m sure I started to be the “talk of the show” because here I was this woman walking around with a notebook, attaché case and to top it off I was taking pictures also. So unsurprisingly the questions started coming to me first. Can you believe even though my email was forwarded to them from the coordinator of the event they were attending that there were still some that had simply deleted the email. There were even a few who had replied which I believe strictly out of curiosity that still weren’t exactly sure what I was doing. These women weren’t accustomed someone online actually doing something like this. Not to mention I had to get it across that I was a “real person” behind a website. Of course once I explained who I was and what I did … my list of participating vendors grew.

Oh, and I almost forgot, guess what one of my most asked questions were? “How much does this cost?” I really hadn’t thought about that. Well, let me explain, I had absolutely no intentions what-so-ever to charge these ladies to place their info in our newsletter and blog. Folks nowadays are on “lookout”. And really if you think about it … what do we get for free anymore? This really was a valid question … just one I hadn’t expected to be asked so many times.

So, lesson learned … Is your message getting across or are your emails getting simply deleted?

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Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of The Direct Sales Success Kit, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly tips.