How to grow your Direct Sales Team

I was on a leadership call with some of the other leaders in the company and they were recognizing people who were the top leaders in how many people had joined their team.

The top recruiter for the month was me. I had signed up 18 people.

So here are my tips – I though it was time I write a post saying how to grow your direct sales team.

Personal Sponsoring — From the Epicure magazine! I set a sponsoring record.

Do not prejudge people

People in the direct sales industry come from all walks of life. I think you don’t know what kind of person would be attracted to this business. They could be a stay at home parent, they could be a working professional bored at work. They could be anyone in between! It could be an IT professional, accountant, teacher, or anyone. Don’t assume and make decisions for people that they won’t want to join or purchase your products.

Before this I was a working professional with a career. I had no intentions of joining a direct sales, I always though they were slimy. Now look at me!

Slow and steady wins the race

I think this is the hardest part about being in direct sales or any business for that matter. There isn’t an instant success. No, I’m not saying you can’t achieve success in a short amount of time, but businesses are like running a marathon. Slow and steady and consistent actions add up over time. When I ran a marathon for the first time I didn’t just get up and ran 42km.

Follow up is your BFF

There is an expression that the fortune is in the follow-up. This applies to just not direct sales but all business. Have you put something in your cart online and then left it. Then at a predetermined time, the shop sent you an email saying did you forget something in your cart also called the abandoned cart email? That is a follow up! Do the same thing for your customers and your potential consultants. Follow up and see if they are still interested if they are unsure because things might change in their life.

Lead with Value

What’s in it for them? Eg. If you have a potential new consultant who is going to purchase $200 dollars of your products and your kit costs $125 Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to save some money and maybe just join you?

Listen. Really listen to them.

A rookie tip I see is to blurt out as much as possible to them. Don’t. A tip I learned from being a professional fundraiser for over 10 years was when someone who is making a large ask for a donation they would make the ask. Then listen. Stop talking and let the person process and listen to them. They will tell your needs.

How are you asking them?

Language is key here. Are you saying hey want to join my team? Or you are showing them how being a consultant could benefit them. Be really careful about the language you are using and showing them how it will help them in their needs vs your needs of adding a new team member.