Zoom parties for your direct sales business

During this Covid-19 pandemic, social interaction has become more important than ever before. Having to distance ourselves from each other physically and practising self-isolation means we need to take care not to become lonely.

Humans are social creatures and social connections are vital for our mental health. As a direct seller, you can facilitate online social interaction in a really fun way using online tools.

I have been using Zoom for online training and video conferencing and I find it easy to use and reliable. Zoom allows you to have a group of people interacting through their device camera and microphone at the same time.

Using Zoom you can demonstrate products, play games, and allow people to ask questions – just like an in-home party.

How to make the most of a Zoom party as a direct seller

Stand-Alone Zoom Party

You can organize a Zoom party for an hour or so and do a condensed version of an in-home party. You would have to have a think about which products would translate well to a demonstration via video and make a careful selection.

At the end of the party you could gather orders in a variety of ways: you could call each guest and have your check-out chat with them over the phone, you could post a link to your order page (if you have one), or you could post a catalog out to guests beforehand and have them message or email you with their order.

Keep in mind that the more personal and interactive you make this process, the better the results.

Zoom Party as Part of a Facebook Party

Another option is to have a short (30 minutes or so) Zoom party that is incorporated in your Facebook party. You make the Zoom party the main event in the Facebook party and use the Facebook party to drive guests to the Zoom event.

By making it part of your Facebook party, you can keep in touch with guests before and after the Zoom event, which provides you with more opportunities to engage with the guests and keep the party going for longer.

About Zoom

Zoom offers a free account and a paid account. The free account is limited to 40 minutes per event. This means that if you use Zoom as part of your Facebook party and aim for a 30 minute event, you can get away with using a free account.

However, if you plan to make Zoom a more substantial part of your direct sales business, you can get a paid account starting at $20.99 per month.

Zoom is easy for your guests too!

Once you’ve scheduled your Zoom event, you get a link that you can send to your guests. All they need to do is click the link, if they don’t already have the Zoom app they will be prompted to download it with very clear instructions.

Zoom works on mobile and on desktop and is very user friendly even if people have never heard of Zoom.

One of the features I love about Zoom is that you can share your screen with participants. And there are lots of ways that you can make use if this:

• Display ‘rules’ at a glance while you explain what you’re going to do in the Zoom party
• Show customer or host offer details while you talk about it
• Show images of the starter kit during your recruiting pitch
• Show all the features and benefits of a particular product or range that you’re going to demonstrate

Using Zoom you can also get creative with themes. Play a quick game that matches with your theme and you could offer prizes for the best hat or earrings that match the theme.

If you’d like a detailed, step-by-step guide for running Zoom parties, you can grab this quick online training that I’ve put together. It comes with printables, done-for-you images for your social media, suitable games to play, extra tips and ideas, and how-to guides for your events.

If you have any Zoom tips you'd like to share, please leave a comment below.

Share this!