What to look for in a direct sales business

Are you looking for (another) direct sales company to join, but you have no idea what you should be looking for?

Let me help.

I am passionate about the direct sales industry and the difference it can make for families.

I have been in the direct sales industry since 2002 and was the Direct Sales Association of Australia distributor of the year in 2019. I simply adore the direct sales (or party plan) industry.

But it’s not the same for everyone. I have seen companies come and go. I have seen great people make poor choices and get burned. I’ve seen people heart-broken in their direct sales business.

My own experience, however, has been amazing. I happened to have made a good choice when I joined my company and I’ve had lots of success.

My mission here at Direct Sales Inspiration is to help you build the business of your dreams and have an amazing experience too. But to make that happen, it starts all by picking a good direct sales company.

My tips for choosing a direct sales company

Love the products
I consider this to be the most important aspect of your decision. If you genuinely love the products it will be easier to sell them because you’ll feel as through your are sharing, teaching and helping.

Align with your passions
Try to match your passions and enthusiasms to your biz. For example if you love cooking find a company that sells cooking-related products. If you’re excited about home décor and styling, then find a company that ties in with your enthusiasm and skills. You’ll go so much further if you love the products, love the company and enjoy learning about it, talking about it, and selling it!

Find out about the company’s reputation
You’ll be representing the brand, are you proud to do that? Is the company ethical? Do they give back to the community or a charity in some way? What can you find out about their values and community spirit?

A lot of reputable brands are members of a direct sales association in the country they operate in. A quick Google search should help you to find your direct sales association and their members.

What kind of training and support is available from the company?
Direct sales companies with solid training and an upline who offers support and coaching will make a big difference in how quickly you can be successful in your biz.

Once you’ve decided which company to join, spend time researching who you want to partner with in the company. Not just for support and coaching, but you also want your personalities to fit!

Be careful when comparing commission structures
Compensation plans are detailed documents that can be tricky to interpret. A common mistake I’ve seen people make is to choose a company because of the high commission offered on personal sales. However, they fail to take into account how difficult it would be to sell that particular product.

The easiest way to compare is to find out what the average party total is for the company. This will give you a better indication of what your income would be. A company with a high personal sales commission usually structures it that way because average party sales are low!

Is the product consumable?
While this isn’t absolutely necessary to be successful, it can be helpful for your personal sales if the product is something that people will re-order from you. Getting brand new customers is generally harder than getting people to re-order from you.

That said, I do know plenty of consultants who sell non-consumable products and are very successful!

Check minimum requirements
Make sure you find out what the requirements are to keep your business open. Many companies have some sort of minimum you need to achieve to keep your account with them open. Is that amount reasonable? Can you see yourself achieving that under normal circumstances?

But what happens in an emergency? I know it’s not fun to think about worst case scenarios but they do happen. It happened to me: in 2016 my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and I myself landed in hospital in 2018 with a series of strokes and a brain aneurysm. These things happened unexpectedly but I was able to keep my business running through both these crises – make sure you can too should anything happen.

What to look for when choosing a direct sales company by Christine Tylee.

Does the company offer incentives and rewards?
The opportunity to strive for additional products or incentive trips or other major rewards are an important part of the direct sales experience. Investigate what the company that you’re considering offers. Do these rewards and incentives excite you enough to push yourself further?

Having these ‘carrots’ along the way really helps direct sellers to strive harder and achieve bigger things. They certainly work to motivate me!

There are many wonderful companies and great products out there so it can be hard to choose, but with this tips you should be able to narrow it down.

I wish you all the very best with your new adventure and I hope it’s everything you dreamed of!

If your personal passion is for skincare and make-up and you want to partner with an ethical brand, you might like to join me in my Australian or North American teams. Click here to get some more info.

Host Coaching for Online Parties

Host Coaching for Online Direct Sales Parties

So many direct sellers and party plan consultants promote their virtual event as the ‘easy‘ option. They say their hosts ‘don’t have to do anything‘ to host a party online.

Uhhhhmmm…..No.

They do have to do something.

Sure, they don’t have to tidy up before the party, they don’t have to buy snacks and drinks and that does make it easier to have an online party.

However, they do have to be your partner in helping to make the online party a success, perhaps even more so than with an in-home party.

Below you’ll find my host coaching tips to have fabulous direct sales parties.

I’ve also put them together on a checklist that will make it easy for you to plan your online party and check where you are up to in the host coaching process – that’s especially handy if you have a few party bookings at the same time. I’ve also included the ‘Gold Star Gift’ incentive in a few different varieties, ready to send to your hostess.

Host Coaching Tips for a Successful Online Direct Sales Party

Thank the Host
Immediately after the host books a party with you, send a thank-you card in the mail. Yep, the old fashioned ‘snail mail’. We don’t get many cards or letters in the mail anymore (these days all I get in the mailbox is bills), so you’ll definitely stand out.
It also acts as a reminder of the date and time and the reason they wanted the party in the first place (to relax, to celebrate, to get together, etc.) and the theme. This will make the whole experience with you memorable and will help you build a relationship with the host.

Create an Invitation
Use Canva or Picmonkey to create a nice invitation image that your host can easily forward to her friends with all the details about the party. If you’re using a Facebook Group to party, this can also act as the first ‘warning’ that the host will be inviting them to the group. It’s the first step in getting guests to attend.

Host coaching for online parties with free downloadables.

Host Incentive
There are several ways you can incentivize your host to help you make the party a great success. The ‘Gold Star Gift‘ (download below) includes 5 activities that will benefit the party and if the host completes all 5, she receives a special gift from you. For the gifts I use products I’ve qualified for cheaply or free in my business. If the host isn’t local I make sure it’s easy to mail, but do make sure it’s a desirable gift that your host wants to work for.

Do The Actual Coaching
Many direct sellers are so caught up in sending their host invitations and host incentives, that they forget to actually talk to their host and explain how they can help and why they want to do that.
You can do the ‘coaching’ bit in several ways, you can have a chat on the phone or via video call. Don’t make it too long or make it all sound like a lot of work for her, just a quick and positive chat that helps her to understand what you want and builds some excitement.
Another option is to create a short video that highlights the important bits she needs to do (personal invites, invite people from different networks, reminders, participate and be very present in the party). Once you’ve created the video you can easily use it again and again. You can host the video on YouTube and make it ‘unlisted’ and then send the host the link so you don’t have to transmit large video files.
The least desirable option is an email or message in which you explain her part in the success of the party. Most people don’t read or only skim read emails and messages – I’m just as guilty of that as anybody else.
And as a summary, you can send the ‘Hostess Tips for Online Parties‘ printable that you can download along with the checklist and the Gold Star Gift images.

Use FRANK
Using the FRANK worksheet, you can help the host to invite people from different areas of her life. Check the article on ‘Host Coaching Helpers‘ to learn how to use FRANK and why you want this. It’s just as important in virtual parties as it is with in-home parties.

Always keep in mind that the more you engage the host, the more successful your parties will be. Not to mention, building a relationship with your host and having a great party makes it more likely she’ll book again at a later date.

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Pinktober – a fundraising theme for direct sellers

Title: Pinktober - a fundraising theme for Ocotber

You’ve probably heard me say this before, but it can’t hurt to say it again:

If you’re not offering themes in your direct sales parties, you’re missing out on a lot of repeat bookings!

Being able to offer new and different themes to your hosts is what will have them coming back again and again (as well as their guests!).

What is Pinktober?

Pinktober is a fundraising theme for the month of October for your direct sales parties and events. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in many countries and this theme will help you to fundraise for this cause.

Pinktober is suitable for almost every direct seller, regardless of the products you sell (yay!)

How to have an awesome Pinktober

Step 1: Register
Make sure you register with an approved charity for your fundraising activities to ensure it’s legal. Google local breast cancer charities and find out what you need to do to register on their website. In some countries it’s a bit stricter than others, but generally they make it very easy for you to do this.

Step 2: Theme Your Social
For a week or even the whole month, post pink-related posts on your social accounts. You can post facts about breast cancer or share some educational posts from your chosen charity, go Live and showcase all your pink-colored products, and use the color pink liberally in all your images – including cover photos. I’ve got a few special Pinktober images to get you started, just fill out the form below.

Step 3: Go Live To Announce Your Pinktober
Do a Facebook Live, an Instagram story or a TikTok to announce your Pinktober theme. If you’ve set a fundraising goal, announce that too. Also make sure you include how much you are contributing (eg. 20% of sales).

Step 4: Add Fundraising Games to Your Direct Sales Party
In your party you can play some games that help to raise even more money. Here are few of my favorites:

Coin Toss: At an in-home party you can put a prize (a product for example) on the floor. Have everybody stand a few meters away and ask them to grab a coin. Guests can toss their coin at the product and the person whose coin lands the closest wins the prize. All the coins become part of the donation.

Pinktober - a direct sales fundraising theme with free social media images

Banned Word Jar: Pick a word that people are likely to use at least once during the party. When someone says the banned word they have to put a coin in the coin jar. You can be quite cheeky with this game by asking questions that almost force people to use the word and get lots of laughs. The contents of the jar will be donated of course.

Buy A Square**: Create a sheet with numbered of squares. You could do 100 squares and use the same sheet all month or only do 25 squares or 50. It’s up to you and depends on how many people you expect to be able to sell a square to. This is easy to organize in-home or online.

Set a price for each square. Once someone buys one or more squares you put their name in it. Once all squares are sold you draw a random number and the person with that numbered square has won the lovely prize you prepared (for example a pretty basket with products).

Step 4: Pinkify your parties
You want to make your direct sales parties as pink as possible. This will help the Pinktober parties to stand out and be a different from your other parties. Here are some ways to pinkify your parties:

Ask guests to wear pink. Best dressed wins a prize (a ticket, a chocolate, or just bragging rights)
Highlight your pink-colored products
Any accessories you use in your parties including the games (eg. Pop the Bloon, try to make them pink)
Ask the host to serve pink drinks or pink snacks
Anything you print for this party, print on pink paper
Use pink sticky notes in your catalog to highlight the business opportunity
Make your prizes pink

Step 5: Report Back
On your social media report back the amount you’ve raised. Take a screenshot of the ‘thank you’ page or receipt email (as proof) and celebrate and thank everybody who’s contributed. Also send a personal message to your hosts with a thank-you message!

** As this is basically a raffle, make sure you are allowed to run raffles in your state or country. Always abide by your local rules!

A guide to recruiting for introverts and shy people

Are you an introvert? Do you struggle with recruiting or sponsoring in your direct sales business because you’re shy?

Then I’ve got you covered with a range of ideas and resources.

What is an introvert?

The biggest difference between introverts and extroverts is that introverts ‘recharge’ from being by themselves and extroverts gain energy by spending time with others.

There are a few more traits that introverts and extroverts tend to display, but don’t worry if they don’t (all) apply to you – we are all individuals:

Introverts	Extroverts
Gain energy from being by themselves	Gain energy from being with others
Are more introspective	Are more action oriented
Reflect more before making a decision	Make decisions quickly
Enjoy one-on-one conversations	Enjoy socializing in a group
Like to observe	Enjoy joining in

The most important thing I want you to understand is that as an introvert you can be confident and outgoing. But then you’ll have to make some time for yourself to recharge and that’s perfectly fine.

Meanwhile, extroverts can be shy or lack in confidence, and that’s okay. Confidence and shyness are not set in stone, these things can be changed if you’re willing to work on it.

Now, let’s have a look at recruiting tips for introverts and shy people.

Visual recruiting ideas

The worst mistake you can make is to do nothing at all to recruit. So make sure that you do something.

The easiest place to start is with your display and drawing visual attention to the business opportunity.

Consider adding this to your display:

A positions vacant sign
A lightbox with words like “flexible” or “earn cash”
A shopping trolley with a sign saying something like “Do you want to be able to put more in your trolley? Join…. to make some extra cash!“

You can also add sticky notes to your catalog to draw attention to the business opportunity. You can write something like: “Could you sell these products?” or “Is this your opportunity?”

Finally, I highly recommend adding recruiting information with your order form on a clip-board. That way people are bound to see it at check out time.

Play games

Recruiting games are a structured way for you to talk about the business opportunity that isn’t boring.

Games are a fun and relaxed way to introduce the career options, without being ‘salesy’ or pushy. Guests are likely to be more receptive to the message when it’s shared in a fun way – especially if you add a little prize!

You can find some tips and printable games here.

Drop little hints to create sparks of interest

Throughout your party or demonstration, you want to drop little hints about how great it is to join your direct sales business. You can make comments such as:

I love that I get paid to party
I joined to support my product addiction – I now get products at a huge discount
I love getting recognition
This is so much fun, I can’t believe this is my job
I just love this company because….

The best way to get started with this technique is to pick just one of these that you think fits best with your style and drop it at your next party. When that becomes natural, add another little hint to your repertoire.

You can find a little more on these little sparks in this article.

Conversation Starters

If you feel more comfortable talking one-on-one than in a group, you can start a conversation at ordering time. Pick one person you genuinely feel would be a great direct sales consultant and start the conversation in a casual way without pressure.

Here are some ways to start that conversation:

I think you’d be great at this, have you ever thought about it?
You obviously love the products/company, have you ever thought about becoming more involved?
You could get all of these products at a discount when you join my team…

Follow-up for introverts

If you’re uncomfortable using the phone to do follow-up, there are other ways of doing this.

But you must do personal follow-up, not generic social media posts.

So what you do is send them private messages, text messages or even snail mail.

How not to be spammy in your direct sales biz

If you’re worried about being pushy or salesy, chances are you’re not! People who consider other people’s time and feelings are rarely the type to be spammy.

Here are a few things to consider:

When you do follow-up, you are not bothering people but you’re providing a service. Trust that if they don’t want to receive any further messages from you that they’ll let you know. And when they opt-out from further contact, respect that.
Your business is a gift that you’re sharing. It’s not something you’re pushing onto people who don’t want it. You’re only working with people who’ve shown an interest.
Always strive to be of service. When you adopt an attitude of service towards your customers, team members and leads you won’t be spammy or pushy.

Party tips for introverts and shy people

There are a few things you can do to make a party or demonstration a little easier for yourself. Remember that people generally want you to do well and are understanding of you when you let them know what’s going on.

A guide to recruiting for introverts and shy people. If you're shy or introverted, you CAN be successful in direct sales!

I recommend addressing the ‘elephant in the room’ by actually telling people that you’re shy or nervous at the start of the party. Keep it lighthearted, make a little joke if you can but by letting them know they’ll let you off the hook. And once that’s out of the way, you’ll notice you’ll feel a lot calmer.

If you’re a new-ish consultant, use an “I’m in training” sign to let people know that you’re still learning. Again, you can make a little joke of it or create a funny little sign. It’s a great way to generate some goodwill towards any small mistakes.

If you worry about forgetting what you want to say due to nerves, create cue cards for yourself. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using some cards to keep yourself on track – in fact you can even draw attention to it by saying something like: “I get so excited and want to tell you everything, this helps me to stay on track…“.

This trick has as an added benefit that any guests who are thinking they might want to join can see that you don’t need to keep all the information in your head. It lowers the barrier for them if they’re wondering if they’re capable of being a consultant!

Encourage yourself to grow

Start small. If you currently do nothing at all to recruit people, don’t expect yourself to build an empire overnight.

Pick the smallest thing that you feel you can do and start there. Then move on to another thing you can add to your routine, and then another. Move forward at your own pace.

It’s important to encourage and reward yourself. Stepping out of your comfort zone is a big deal, celebrate it! Setting goals (no matter how small) and then rewarding yourself for achieving it, helps you to stay motivated and continue towards success.

Read more about the importance of celebrating wins here.

Another important way to get yourself more comfortable to doing things is to focus on the action rather than the result. You set yourself goals in terms of action, not outcome. For example your goal could be to play a recruiting game, to send follow-up messages, to start a one-on-one conversation at your next party. Then when you’ve accomplished the goal – regardless of the outcome – you give yourself a small reward.

Read a little more on why this is so important here.

Now that you’ve read all the way to here, I hope you realize that you can recruit and that you can be successful in direct sales as an introvert or a shy person.

If you want to learn more about getting into the right mindset for recruiting, check out the Mindset Mastery for Recruiting training. You’ll find this training helpful if you worry about ‘selling’ the business opportunity at your parties or if you feel insecure when talking about the business and it’s holding you back. You can explore the training here.

So now it's your turn to talk. What is the one small thing that you're going to do at your next party?

Recruiting Attitudes for Direct Sellers

5 Attitudes to adopt when you start recruiting in your direct sales biz

Recruiting is as much a mind game as it is something that you do. There are five things that need to be in place in you and your biz when it comes to recruiting:

A belief in the business opportunity with your company
Having a consistent business yourself
A sense of fun and joy in your direct sales biz
A focus on others
A desire to learn and develop in your business

Let’s have a look at each of those and I’ll link to some helpful articles that can take you further in that particular area.

You believe in the business opportunity with your company

If you don’t really belief in what you’re selling, people will know at some level that you don’t actually belief in it.

Look around in your team and larger organization: How are others making the most of the business? What does your business mean to you? Have a good think about this and make sure you are firm in your own mind about what the business opportunity means to you.

On my ‘About‘ page I talk about what my direct sales business means to me and my family.

You have a consistent business yourself

You want to be able to get bookings and sales consistently in your own business. Not only does that set a great example as a consultant, you’ll also have gained confidence that this business works and you’ll be able to speak authentically on it.

As a direct seller with a consistent business, you’ll also be able to help your brand new team members get their own business started successfully.

This does not mean you should stop recruiting until you have this in place – but it does mean you should work deliberately towards a consistent business.

Here are some articles with useful tips:

You maintain a sense of fun and joy in your direct sales biz

If you don’t actually like what you’re doing, people will sense this! If you don’t enjoy your direct sales business, you will find it hard to stay motivated and achieve goals.

Make sure you don’t lose your enjoyment in the biz by trying new things, challenging yourself when you get bored and generally staying inspired.

Here are some articles that might help:

You focus on others

During the recruiting process it’s important to focus on the other person. Adopt an attitude of service: you’re not trying to lure them into your business for your own reasons, you’re offering them a fabulous and flexible business opportunity.

As leader you want to adopt that attitude of service towards your team members. Know that by helping your team to thrive, you will thrive.

I’ve got a few articles for you that talk about this a bit more:

You have a desire to learn and develop in your business

Being in business means that you’ll experience ups and downs. Dealing with this requires some resiliency and a deliberate effort to keep up your motivation.

As a direct seller, adopting these attitudes when you start recruiting is super helpful.

You’ll also find that as you grow in your business, you’ll be challenged in new and different ways. Learning how to deal with each new challenge is what helps you to grow as a business woman.

Some of the learning will be skills based – you might need to learn how to phrase your recruiting message. Some of the learning is mental and about coping with uncertainty or stress.

Taking the time to reflect on your business and where your current challenges are, will help you to seek out resources to help you grow.

Check these resources to take you further:

The Do’s and Don’ts for your Profile Picture

A profile picture on Facebook and other social media is prime real-estate for direct sellers. Don’t underestimate this aspect of your online presence because it’s small.

Unfortunately, I see so many terrible profile pictures – which means lots of direct sellers and party plan consultants waste this space.

Your profile pic is part of attraction marketing

Your profile picture is part of your attraction marketing strategy. After all, to stand out from all the other consultants you are marketing you as a person. Your aim is to draw people to you…not a sunset or your cat or your beautiful baby!

Even worse, I sometimes see direct sellers use their company logo or a picture of their favorite product. That just looks spammy and impersonal which is the very opposite of what you want.

Hot tips for great profile pictures for direct sellers

To attract people to your business online, they need to feel connected to you as a person. An easy way to help with that connection is to make sure you have a great profile photo.

That photo doesn’t need to be taken professionally, it just needs to be a good photo following the guidelines below:

Include your face and shoulders
No sunglasses
Show your teeth in your smile
Slightly (!) squint your eyes to make your smile more authentic
Dress well and take care with your hair and make-up

Research shows that a good profile picture helps people to see you as more like-able, competent and approachable – which is exactly what you want as direct seller.

Key Take-Aways:

Don’t have a picture of your cat, kids or company
Do have a good picture of you including your shoulders, well dressed with a smile that reaches your eyes

Not sure how to do this whole ‘attraction marketing’ thing? No fear, I’ve got you. Check out my Attraction Marketing for Direct Sellers course to learn how to set-up and manage Facebook pages and groups, and how to draw people to you instead of pushing them away with boring or spammy content.

Can you make money in direct sales?

Can you make money in direct sales?

I used to get asked this question all the time, but now that direct sales is my career I only hear this question now and then.

The short answer is absolutely, emphatically, 100% yes.

The question that people should be asking is “How do you make money in direct sales?”

Assumptions about starting a direct sales business

The mistake most people make is assuming that because it’s so easy to start a direct sales business in the direct sales or party plan industry, it’s easy to make money too.

And that’s not necessarily true.

Running a successful direct sales business requires commitment and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. And not everybody is prepared to do that.

Why people join a direct sale company

People join a direct sales company to make money for all kinds of reasons. I’ve had team members join to earn extra money to go and backpack around Europe. I have team members who support their family by paying a fair amount of the household bills with their business income.

I also have literally thousands of people in my organization who earn a couple of hundred dollars per month. Their direct sales business is a fun side hustle to be able to afford a few extra luxuries for their family they couldn’t otherwise afford. They are making extra cash and enjoying the process.

Some people join with a very specific goal in mind. For example to be able to replace their old fridge or buy a new car. A few of these team members even stop after reaching their financial target.

And that’s still a success in my book – they’ve reached their goal after all.

But you can’t make ‘real’ money in direct sales, right?

The most irritating thing to me is when people tell me that direct selling is indeed a great side hustle but there’s no way to make any real money with it.

It’s an annoying statement because I quit a full time job in teaching to run my direct sales business. I now make a very significant income for my family from my business. In fact, my income is now 5 times higher than what I was making as a full time primary school teacher!

I will concede that I’m not an average direct seller. Only a few percent make it to this kind of income level, in the same way that not everyone becomes a CEO in the corporate world.

I have dozens and dozens of people in my organization who are able to rely on their business for their full time occupation.

Many of them don’t have a degree, some aren’t even fluent in English, some need to stay home to care for children with special needs. I have a deaf team member and I have disabled team members, I have team members with all kinds of challenges in their life.

But their direct sales business has provided them all with a life-changing opportunity. They are earning significant incomes and making their business and family life work for them.

And that’s what I love about this industry.

We have a bad name….

Unfortunately the direct sales industry has a bit of a reputation problem.

Part of this stems from confusing a party plan or direct sales company with a pyramid scheme. And some of it stems from unethical people who over-sell the opportunity and undersell the amount of work needed.

I’ve seen plenty of people claim that it’s easy to make a 6-figure income overnight. Has it been done? Yes. Is it common? Nope!

When people join with the expectation that they’ll be an overnight success with a massive income with very little work, they’ll be very disappointed with the reality of things.

Sometimes the problem is that newbies don’t get a lot of guidance and make all kinds of mistakes. They end up selling very little, recruiting nobody and their business quickly fizzles out before it even got started properly.

This is part of the reason I started Direct Sales Inspiration: I want everybody to be able to make the most of the opportunities that really do exist out there.

If you’ve just joined a direct sales business and you need a little help, start here:

If you’re in Australia or America and want to find out more about joining my team, click here.

10 Facebook Live Ideas for Direct Sellers

To maximize the effectiveness of your direct sales biz on Facebook, you need to do Facebook Lives.

The Facebook Algorithm massively favors Live video and this means that it’ll be seen by far more people than a simple status update.

Facebook Algorithm Quick Explainer

The Facebook Algorithm is a piece of software that decides what to show you in your newsfeed and in which order. Everybody’s newsfeed is completely different because the algorithm takes your own behavior as well as other bits of information into account.

When you open Facebook, the algorithm looks at all the stories posted by your friends and by the pages that you follow. The algorithm then looks at things like who posted the story and how often they publish, any negative feedback on that author, what time it is now, what device you’re on, what engagement stories already have, because the more engagement they have the more likely it is that you’ll see it in your feed.

The Facebook algorithm uses all that information (and then some) to make a prediction on what you’ll like and in what order to show you that.

How do you get the algorithm to like you? There are some general recommendations:

Complete your Facebook profile.
Publish regularly.
Create content likely to elicit positive feedback from your audience (positive comments, likes, or reactions. Reactions affect post ranking slightly more than likes). But do not ask for shares or likes – this is frowned upon by the algorithm.
When you want to post a video use Facebook Live or upload videos to Facebook directly, instead of linking to your YouTube videos.
Publish content that promotes engagement and an investment of time from your audience (games and video content is great for that).
Post content that’s informative and shareable.

Not just the algorithm but people also value Live videos. Through a Live it’s easier to feel connected to you as you’re showing your personality and passion.

It’s one of the best things you can add to your social media strategy – and it’s free!

I have noticed though that many consultants don’t know what to talk about on a Facebook Live or they feel they’ve run out of ideas after a couple of videos.

So in this article I want to help you with some ideas that you can use on your Facebook page or in your Group.

Facebook Live Ideas for your direct sales biz

1: Unboxing
This is a video where you can show your passion and excitement about the product. It hops on the bandwagon of the ‘blind bag hauls’ and unboxing craze that’s still popular on YouTube.

If you’re brand new to your direct sales business, you can give your biz a boost by unboxing your kit on a Live.

If you’ve been in direct sales a bit longer, you can do an unboxing when you get a delivery with new products or when you’ve earned free products and you get that delivery.

2: New Range First Impressions

People love new products. When you get a new range for your kit, get excited and do a Live review and share your initial reactions. Tell your audience who you’ll think this product would be good for and any other information you think they’ll want to hear.

You can extend this with a follow-up Live a week or so later with further observations on the products and how you’re using them and finding them longer term.

3: Product Reviews

Choose one particular product and talk about your personal experience with it. If you can, plan to do a weekly review at a regular time to build a consistent audience.

Perhaps you can even theme your reviews per month. For example a month on concealers or mascaras, a all the different ways you can use throw rugs, the best cupcake recipes, etc.

You can even link a product give-away for attending (or watching the replay) of your Facebook Live. During the Live you give them a code word to collect and at the end of the month everyone who collected all the code words will go in the draw for a prize.

4: Share Your Story

Talk about why you joined and what you love about your direct sales business. This is great ‘attraction marketing‘ and it also helps people to get to know you better. Sharing your own story helps people to feel a stronger connection with you.

5: Behind the Scenes

People are fascinated by the inner workings of a business and love to peek behind the scenes. You can go Live while you’re setting up for a party, when you’re packing customer orders, your product storage, deliveries ready to go, your messy office when unpacking deliveries, etc.

You don’t have to go Live long, just a quick excited or funny video will go a long way in building that connection with your Facebook tribe.

6: From an Event

Next time you attend a big company event, a team meeting or a training session make sure you go Live. A quick Live video before or after the event (or even in the break) is a great way to show off your direct sales business from a different angle.

7: Exciting Reveals

10 Facebook Live Ideas for direct sellers.

When there’s a new special, a host or customer special do a Live. Your enthusiasm and excitement will be contagious. Don’t forget, you can also create your own incentives for party bookings or joining your team.

8: Top Tips & Product Hacks

Offering your tips on how to make the most of a product will be appreciated by your tribe. This is not a review but more of an educational video. Videos on how to use a product in an unexpected way (a hack) are very popular online.

9: Tell Stories

Have you ever heard the saying ‘facts tell but stories sell’? It applies to your Facebook Lives too.

Back stories about how a product is made, where it’s from or about some specific ingredients are a great way to talk about your products without being salesy. You can also talk about your company, the founder or some of its history.

10: Interview a Customer or a Team Mate

If you have a customer who’s achieved great results with a product you sell, they might be happy to talk about it in an interview. This is a very powerful testimonial.

You can also focus on the business side and interview a team mate who can talk about how the business changed their life.

You might find that when you start out with Lives, your audience is small. That’s okay, the replay will still be available and rank high. (Also, you can re-use suitable videos in your Facebook parties – bonus!)

If you’re consistent in showing up Live, you will be build your audience over time.

If you want some help on what to post in other than Lives, download our huge list with 50 ideas on for social media for direct sellers!

Nobody likes a spammer, so don’t be a spammer. Use ‘attraction marketing’ instead where you draw people to you with your social media marketing. Not sure how? Learn how to rock your social media marketing in a non-salesy way with the Attraction Marketing course.

Overcoming (more) booking objections in your direct sales business

Title: Overcoming (more) booking objections in your direct sales biz

Hosting a direct sales party is amazing: you earn free or discounted products, you get to have a fun catch-up with friends or family and you get to shop leisurely.

I certainly can’t imagine walking into a normal retail store with eight friends and three bottles of bubbly and expect a staff member to spend two hours exclusively with us. Can you imagine the response if we demanded to sample as many products as we wanted and then expect free and discounted products at the end? I suspect we’d be invited never to return…

What we have to offer in our industry is very special. The best way to overcome booking objections is to be confident with the fact that you are in fact offering something fabulous. If you anticipate objections and are prepared with an answer, you’ll have a full diary!

I’ve written about common booking objections such as no time, house too small, and the worry that friends aren’t interested. You can read about that here.

Below I’ve listed 3 more common objections to hosting a party with suggestions on how to respond.

“My husband won’t like the idea”

Perhaps their husband is tired and just wants to watch television and decompress in the evening. Perhaps their husband likes peace and quiet when at home because he sees enough people through their work. Either way, there are several things you can offer this person.

First of all, you can offer to work around the husband’s schedule. Perhaps you can offer a party or workshop on a morning or afternoon when the husband is not home.

Remember that you can also offer different party formats. Perhaps this host is more comfortable with a couple of friends around the kitchen table, or perhaps she would actually love to have 10 of her friends over. Make sure she knows you can accommodate her.

If your company offers men’s products, it might be nice for this host to shop for a few things for her husband so he gets something out of it too.

“We are tired of parties”

Oh dear, your potential hostess is all partied out! Again, make sure she knows you can offer different party formats and different themes to accommodate her tastes.

Also explain that a direct sales party isn’t just a party, it’s an interactive and fun shopping experience. Tell her you are her boutique retailer and you bring the shop to her and some friends. Sometimes reframing what it is that you offer will make all the difference.

My friends don’t have extra money

Explain the different payment methods you accept. You can also point out that hosting a party is the best way to get free or discounted products. If you have any guest offers going as well, make sure to mention them.

Direct Sales Tip: How to overcome booking objections and fill your diary with direct sales parties.

Remember that practice is key. The more you attempt to overcome objections, the easier it will be become and the more confidence you gain.

I’m curious to hear if you’ve come across any other objections to booking an in-home party. Be sure to leave a comment below to share your experiences with the community.

What to ask in your recruiting chats

When you follow-up with someone who is potentially interested in joining your direct sales business, it’s important to ask good questions to get to know them.

Always lead with the relationship, not the business

As the title says, I put the relationship first. So I start by establishing rapport and have a chat with them. I make a conscious effort to smile, even when I’m just on the phone because it makes a noticeable difference in how I come across.

When you move to the business part of the chat, using questions makes a big difference. I found that people don’t raise anywhere near as many objections when you begin with some questions.

Here are some of the questions I use and find very helpful in my recruiting chats:

How do you want to benefit from a direct sales business?
What are you aiming to achieve?
What are your most important values in life? (eg. money, health, family, success)
How do you see the direct sales business fitting into your life?

But, I’m not like you…

Sometimes during these chats, people will comment “I’m not like you“. They say that because they think you have something (skills, abilities, or personality) that they don’t have and worry that this will hold them back from direct sales success.

I find it helpful to respond with a question: “What am I like in your eyes?” This will tease out what it is they think they are lacking. Once they’ve responded I ask: “May I share what I see in you?” and I then give them my genuine opinion of what they can bring to a direct sales business.

Direct Sales Tip: Asking the right questions in your recruiting chat.

Asking questions like these helps you to get to know people better and that helps you to build rapport so much faster. I have a higher success rate using this method and I suspect it’s also the reason that people who don’t join initially do join with me at a later date. We build a stronger connection at the start of the relationship and I keep the relationship going using my leads book.

My philosophy is that our business is first and foremost a relationship business. If you see it that way too, sales will flow and team members will be drawn to you.