Deadlines, finish dates, due dates, have you ever noticed that when something is due or about to end, there’s a mad rush for it?
Most people don’t take real action on something until they have to.
I know that I always leave things until the last day.
Are you sending notes with the kids to school? Last day.
Picking up that essential item while a sale is on—the last day.
I’m writing this blog post before Tuesday—the last day.
I see the same thing happening in my direct sales business. When a special offer is about to end, I get all those last-minute orders (and, of course, I can encourage that a little with some clever texting or emailing.
When there is a joining offer for people to join the business, the day with the most sign-ups is always the last!
So why does this happen? Several theories are related to a general tendency towards procrastination in us humans. But really, we don’t need to know why it happens to take advantageof this phenomenon.
Joining Offers for your direct sales biz
If a potential new team member has an unlimited period to make a decision, they’ll put it off and procrastinate. And the longer they put off making a decision, the less likely they are to join the business.
It’s easier to do nothing than to take action.
So having a joining offer will push people to make that decision by a specific date. That’s why I love joining offers; it puts gentle pressure on people to take the time now to consider the offer and make a decision on it one way or the other.
I’ll create my own when the company doesn’t have a joining offer. Having a joining offer gives people a little push to make a decision sooner and gives me a reason to follow up with them as the deadline approaches.
Just a casual call or message with a reminder of the deadline & the offer, and you can ask how they feel about it. Nothing pushy or complicated, just a chat because the deadline is running out.
I usually set my deadlines for about a week away to prevent procrastination and set a reminder in my diary to follow up.
There’s one more bonus to joining offers: it gives you a reason to talk about joining your biz on your social media. For example, you can do a Facebook Live to announce your offer, post beautiful images of the joining offer, or even organize an online event (more on that here).
Do you have leads on the fence?
So what do I offer? Sometimes I offer additional free products to build their kit; other times, I’ve offered company stationery or other company items to help them with their new business. I’ve even done a cash-back offer.
If you have a few people who have indicated they might be interested in joining but are sitting on the fence, get them off the fence with your joining offer.
And if you don’t have any leads now, think about your joining offer so that you’re ready when you find a possible new team member.
Key Takeaways
A deadline puts gentle pressure on people to take action
If your company doesn’t have a joining offer, you can create your own
Put your deadlines about seven days away to prevent procrastination
Always follow up just before the deadline expires
Use your joining offer to promote your biz on social media.
Imagine this: you in your pajamas, having a lovely cuppa while you chat online with potential recruits for just an hour.
Sound good? That’s what a Facebook Recruiting event is like, and it’s super easy to organize.
You can use these recruiting events alone or as a leader to support team members who struggle with recruiting.
You can also band together with a couple of fellow teammates and all work together, with a few more people and excitement in the event it does work better!
Online recruiting events are easy and cheap, and you get to grow your business. I love them! The only thing it doesn’t do is fold the laundry and make you a nice cuppa.
Despite the lack of laundry folding, I run “Golden Ticket Events” bi-monthly. I call them Golden Ticket Events because I’m offering leads a “golden ticket” to a great opportunity.
And I truly believe that: the direct selling industry has no glass ceiling and can be life-changing for women. To give you some numbers, only 2 percent of women in the USA earn over $100,000. But 80 percent of those are in direct sales. So it’s the place to be!
So here’s how to run a successful Facebook recruiting event in 6 steps.
How to Run a Facebook Recruiting Event for Your Direct Sales Biz
Step 1: Set up a closed Facebook group. You want a closed group to control membership and see who has viewed each post. Furthermore, you’ll be able to leave the people you invited in the group after the event, so they automatically join the next event you run.
All you have to do is delete the old posts and re-schedule the new posts.
You want to leave leads in the group because sometimes people want to see it again before joining, or perhaps they have new questions, or the timing is better for them in a second event.
Step 2:Create some images. You will need:
A great-looking cover graphic for the Facebook group (I’ve got you covered, see below).
Tiles (square images that you can use in your Facebook posts) for your team so they can promote the upcoming event.
Tiles for all your scheduled posts in Step 5.
Tiles for your posts in the lead-up to the event (1 per day)
Optional: a quick invitation image you can send to your invites
Step 3:Create a short (no more than 2 minutes) welcome video for the invitees. I have the video posted in the group already, waiting for invitees as they join the group.
You can use the webcam on your laptop, computer, or phone camera to create the video. Just talk to the camera as if you’re talking to someone, be bright, happy, and welcoming. It doesn’t have to be long or super fancy. Make it warm and fun.
By the way, I don’t pin the video to the top of the Facebook group. It’s only there for a quick welcome ahead of the event.
Step 4:Invite consultants with leads in your team to your Facebook group. They then invite their leads to the group. Build some excitement in your team and encourage them to contact all their leads for this event.
If you’re doing the event yourself, invite your leads, the people who said maybe, and the fence-sitters.
Step 5:Schedule your tiles and posts in ~ 5-minute intervals. By scheduling all your posts you don’t have to stress throughout the event to keep posting and writing. This leaves you free to comment, answer questions, and help your team.
Here are some post ideas:
Your direct sales company’s values or social campaigns
Videos or images that your company creates about the direct sales business opportunity
Information on what precisely recruits will receive when they join (the kit)
Your company’s incentives
A question to prompt invitees to think about what they would do with the extra cash (“What could you do with an extra $50 per week?”)
The type of training recruits will be offered
The available support
FAQs
Posts that target some of the common objections (lack of time, network, or confidence)
A link to the registration site (some people are happy to go off and do it by themselves)
As an incentive, a Google form for their details with a ‘lucky door prize.’ Ensure you ask them on a scale from 1 to 10 how close they are to joining. This will help you to follow up.
Step 6: Sign-up recruits and celebrate every win with your team!
Timing of your event
Timing is everything, as they say.
You don’t want your leads to go cold, so don’t plan too much time between announcing and running the event. I allow six days.
The event runs for an hour between 8 and 9 pm on a weekday night.
What you do After the Event
Follow up with the leads who have indicated (a number above 6) that they are close to joining the Google Form. These are warm leads; they have seen you in the video and chatted with you during the event. So they’ll feel like they know you already!
Review your event. Which posts got a lot of engagement? Which question kept popping up? Are there more posts or FAQ questions you want to add? Are there posts you wish to change or delete? Was your video viewed to the end by most people? You always want to make the next event better than the previous one.
Finally, delete all your posts and prepare to run a new event! Wash, rinse, repeat.
To help you get started, I’ve created a Facebook event cover and a social media tile that you can use for your Golden Ticket Events. Grab it below (your privacy is guaranteed!)
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Number 5 is crucial when recruiting or sponsoring in your direct sales or party plan business.
Why? There are two reasons:
5 Sponsoring Messages
How many times do you mention the career opportunity at your parties?
Research into learning and human behavior has found that people need to hear something five times before it sinks in!
Do you know what that means? If you only mention the business opportunity once in your direct selling party, the same guests would have to attend 5 of your parties before your recruiting message truly sinks in. Think about that for a moment.
You want to aim for at least 5 mentions (in different ways, you don’t want to sound like a broken record) throughout a party. Read this article on how to do that.
There’s another reason why the number five is essential: there are five fundamentals that you need to have in place so you can become an effective recruiter or sponsor.
5 Sponsoring Fundamentals
If you’re worried about not getting enough party bookings, you’ll probably feel anxious about another consultant in your area. On the flip side, when you’re confident that you can always fill your diary with parties, you’ll be happy to sponsor a new team member!
I’ve got some tips on how to keep your party bookings ticking over here and here.
You’ll attract more people to your team if they see how much fun the parties are to attend and how much fun you’re having running them.
This means mixing it up with different themes and games to keep yourself and your guests entertained and wanting to try new things.
The more passionate you are about what you sell, the company values, and the difference you can make in people’s lives, the easier it will be to attract new team members.
Likewise, people might be interested in joining your team for other reasons than yours. So, discuss the various benefits of being a direct sales consultant. That way, you can appeal to a range of people.
The most common reasons people join a party plan or direct sales company are: to earn extra money, to make new friends, to learn new skills, to have fun, to qualify for discounted products, or to have the flexibility to work around family or other commitments.
Then, find the ways your business can add value to their life. For example, they might not want to build an empire but rather have a paying hobby. Or they might want to run their business differently than you do – and you need to recognize this.
Direct sales and party plan businesses are incredibly flexible and can be run in various ways. The important thing is that you can help them make it the best side hustle for them!
A tacky little catchphrase I kept in mind when I was working to make recruiting a habit in my business was: “Do the 5 to keep recruiting alive”. Feel free to steal it
If you want to dive deeper into recruiting or sponsoring, check out my free Recruiting Mini Course. Hit the button below to sign up (no credit card required).
When I started my direct sales business, I didn’t play games at my parties.
At the beginning of my career, I thought that my guests would find games childish or just not fun.
I had been to party plan events with other companies, and I had been asked to walk like a chicken or sing a line from my favorite song – and I wouldn’t say I liked it. I was out of my comfort zone and didn’t want to do that with my guests.
So I avoided all games for quite some time.
But after playing some games that respected people’s comfort zones and focused on having fun, my results were excellent!
Guests were more relaxed, and I got more bookings and leads for potential new team members. So that’s why I am now encouraging you to try games.
Why do you want to use recruiting games in your direct sales biz?
Recruiting games benefit anyone who is not yet confident talking about the business opportunity more directly.
When you’re planning to play a recruiting game at your parties, this also ensures you don’t forget to bring up the business opportunity (which we’ve all done, I’m sure).
Games are a fun and relaxed way to introduce 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.
There are two essential things to remember when playing games at your direct selling event:
Have a little fun with it. That means you have to keep up a good pace, don’t slog through it slowly but don’t rush. Make some jokes and be a bit silly.
Make the game yours, so it fits your style, personality (and company and products).
Today I have 2 recruiting games for you that have worked well for me, so give them a try.
Game 1
To play this game, give each guest a piece of paper to keep track of their score as they listen to you recite the following poem. Anyone who adds the 25 points at the end should be followed up about the business opportunity.
You can also add small prizes (small incentives, chocolates, etc.) for high scores.
Game 2: Ask me about my job
This is a game that I play at the end of the party when people have well and truly ‘warmed up’.
I set a timer for 2 minutes to ensure it doesn’t drag on.
You encourage guests to ask you about your job as a party plan consultant. Then, you reward a question about being a consultant with a (chocolate) prize or a raffle ticket (with a raffle prize draw at the end).
Sometimes nobody wants to be first, and nobody asks you a question. The way to get the ball rolling is to act like an auctioneer and ask yourself a question like an opening bid. Make it funny, and guests will pretty quickly join in.
Keep your answers short and succinct, don’t overwhelm people with too much information at one time.
I usually throw (gently!) the chocolate prizes to the guests to keep the momentum going and add a bit of activity.
You can grab the free recruiting rhyme printable below.
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Sponsoring or recruiting new members to your direct sales team is the way to grow your business.
But many consultants find it hard to follow up with people who’ve shown an interest.
I certainly found it hard in the beginning!
I struggled with this for a while. I wanted to build my team and expand my business. I tried to make progress fast but procrastinated when I had leads. I found it hard to get a “no.” I didn’t make many follow-up calls and didn’t grow my team very much.
Sound familiar?
At some point, I decided I had to get better at following up. The way I did, it was to ‘gamify’ the process. I turned following up into a game with prizes. Who doesn’t like prizes?
How you can learn to enjoy follow-ups in your direct sales biz
First, I switched my focus from worrying about the results to my actions instead.
I started by rewarding myself with $2 in a spending jar for each follow-up phone call, regardless of the outcome. My goal was to get myself moving, overcome procrastination, and reward myself for the doing, not the result.
Once I made enough calls and earned a nice amount of $2 coins, I treated myself and my husband to a night out at the movies. We enjoyed a fabulous night at the Gold Class cinema because I had finally started making regular follow-up calls.
This first step, focusing on the actions and rewarding these actions, massively changed my attitude toward making these follow-up phone calls.
As a result, I started to make lots of calls. So when I happened to reward myself two weeks in a row with a cinema evening, my husband suggested I think of a cheaper reward.
I then moved on to jelly beans as I love jelly beans. I had a jar sitting on my desk, but I could only have one when I made a follow-up phone call.
I had to end that reward when I decided to clean up my eating habits.
So then, my teaching background came in handy, and I made myself a star chart. I put stars on a chart for every call I made, and I promised myself a nice treat when I filled up the chart! And that worked very well for me.
As you can see, I tried a few different reward systems, and they all worked.
I quickly overcame my fear of follow-up calls, overcame that procrastination, and learned to enjoy every call for its own sake.
Don’t get me wrong. I still got lots of “no’s,” but I also started to recruit more than I had before just because I made the calls!
Of course, now that I was making more calls, I was getting more practice. And just by making more follow-up calls, I got better at it. So my success rate improved, and I noticed that I was getting fewer “no’s” to get each “yes.”
And all I did to achieve this was to gamify my follow-up process. As a result, I enjoyed my rewards and learned to enjoy the process. This is why I want to encourage you to gamify your recruiting actions.
To help you with this, I’ve created a handy printable worksheet that you can use to encourage yourself to make those follow-up calls, which will lead to more practice and, eventually, a higher success rate.
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Worksheet notes
Set yourself mini rewards for every ten calls you make. When you’ve earned five mini rewards, you have filled the sheet and can treat yourself to a bigger reward. Remember, the results do not matter – you get a reward for doing so you learn to love the process!
However, it’s still helpful to track your numbers. You’ll see that as you make more calls, you’ll get fewer “no’s” for each “yes.” Seeing such improvement is incredibly motivating.
Not to mention, once you know what your average number of “no’s” is per “yes,” you will become more motivated to make the next call to get closer to that “yes”!
Mini rewards could include indulging in a sumptuous bubble bath, watching a movie, or catching up with friends. Those things that you don’t usually take time to do but that you enjoy doing.
Once you fill out the worksheet, you can treat yourself to something bigger. Perhaps a dinner out, new clothes or shoes, champagne and chocolate, something for your home office, whatever motivates you.
It’s important to celebrate your efforts and your growth in your business. We tend to make it all about results, but to get the results, we need to put in the work, develop, and get better. Then the results will come.
I’d like to hear what you’re rewarding yourself with and how you’re going with the worksheet. Leave a comment below. Let’s build a stockpile of reward ideas!
When someone has shown interest in joining your direct sales team, and you’ve already overcome their objections, you’ll want to “seal the deal” and sign them up for the business.
How do you do that?
No Coffee & Chat
Many direct sellers invite people interested in joining for a ‘coffee and chat’ to do that.
I don’t.
Up to about 15 years ago, I used to invite prospects for a coffee and chat but it didn’t work very well for me. Here’s why:
At the beginning of my direct sales career, I would get so passionate about the business that I’d suddenly develop a massive case of ‘verbal diarrhea’ and scare people away with information overload.
I found it challenging to schedule time to meet in person for a coffee. At the time, I was working a full-time job, running my direct sales business, and studying for my master’s degree. Then when I stopped working a job and focused entirely on my business, I had young children. Finding time for a coffee (working around naps and babysitting) was a nightmare. Interestingly, when I met them for coffee and a chat (and I kept verbal diarrhea in check), I often had them sign up before the coffee arrived.
Sometimes scheduling was such a nightmare that by the time we finally managed to catch up, they’d lost interest and turned up out of politeness – if they turned up at all.
Although the perception of the ‘coffee and chat’ is a low-pressure and casual event, many prospects still feel pressured. You’ve bought them a coffee, and they know you have given up your time, especially to meet them….to talk to them about joining a business. I found that some people struggled with the situation and weren’t comfortable.
So very early in my career, I decided that if I were going to be successful, I would have to find a way to ‘seal the deal’ without ‘coffees and chats’ with each potential team member.
I decided to sign people up at a party/event or over the phone. And that’s what I still do.
I’ve used many strategies to do this, and I’ll talk you through the ones that have worked well for me.
Strategies to Seal the Deal
Don’t be attached to the outcome Be relaxed about the outcome of your talk with them. If potential new team members don’t feel pressured to join your party plan business, they’re more likely to give it a try. In other words: Don’t be needy!
Use a structured approach I use the C.O.D.D approach at every party and event. C.O.D.D. stands for Compliment, Objective, Disclaimer, Date. This is a way to structure your talk to someone who has shown interest. To learn how to use the C.O.D.D. approach, read this.
To seal the deal after using C.O.D.D I’ll say something like: “Shall we go ahead and order your starter kit?” or “Let’s work out a date for your starter party – give it a go, you’ve got nothing to lose!”
Find out how ready they are
Ask the potential new team member: On a scale from 1 to 10, where are you now? With 1 being “I’m ready to run away screaming” (this usually gets a chuckle) and 10 being “Yes! Sign me up. I can’t wait to get started!
Few people are actually at a 10, but it’s an excellent way to find out what is stopping them from signing up. So, for example, if they say they’re a 7, you can ask them: “What’s stopping you from being a 10? I might be able to help with that.“
And people who are at a 6 or lower will probably not join your team. That’s fine (remember that you’re not attached to the outcome). You can keep these interested people as VIP customers or hosts.
Pillow test If potential recruits don’t commit while talking to them, use the ‘Pillow Test’ technique. I say something like: “Let’s give it the pillow test – if you find yourself thinking about the business tonight when you go to sleep, you know it’s definitely for you. Then you should definitely jump in and give it a try!“
The next morning, follow up with a call to ask if they did think about it.
One of the reasons this technique works is because you’ve suggested to them that they will think about it tonight as they sleep. Not to mention, that’s what many of us do anyway. We think about our day as we’re drifting off.
And now you’ve suggested that this means something, namely that this opportunity is excellent for them.
As a bonus, it gives you a great opening for your follow-up phone call the next day.
These are the things that work for me. I’m really curious about what works for you in your business. Please leave a comment below and tell us what you do to ‘seal the deal’.
If you’re interested in learning more about the recruiting process before this final ‘seal the deal’ step, check out my free Recruiting Mini Course. Hit the button below to sign-up – no credit card required.
Recruiting from your online events can be a fabulous way to grow your business. Unfortunately most direct sellers don’t mention recruiting at all or just post 1 thing about the business opportunity in a Facebook party and believe they’ve done all that’s necessary to let recruits flow in….
It doesn’t quite work like that. Unfortunately.
My rule of thumb is to use 1/3 of your ‘display’ to be dedicated to the business opportunity, 1/3 to bookings and 1/3rd to the products. With in-home parties I mean that quite literally, 1/3 of your display should be dedicated to promoting the business, and with Facebook parties I make about 1/3 of my posts related to the business.
It’s unlikely that your Facebook party guests see every single post that you put in the party. Not to mention, people need to see something multiple times before they take action. So don’t worry about having too many posts about joining or bookings.
Just to be sure, I’m not encouraging you to post the exact same thing several times! Be a bit creative, highlight different benefits, try to reach different types of people with your posts.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Don’t rely solely on posts in your Facebook party. It’s super effective to go ‘Live’ during your event, preferably a few times! The Facebook Algorithm prioritizes Lives so it’s likely many of the guests will see it!
Live videos will help the guests will form more of a connection with you as a person rather than thinking of you as Salesperson X of Company Y. A Live video also gives you the opportunity to talk about the business opportunity with enthusiasm and passion, which are hard to capture in a status update.
Doing this in a Live will help you to reach more people and have more of an impact – it’s the difference between reading about something and watching a video about it with images and sound. It’ll allow you to show your passion and enthusiasm and become an actual person rather than a name on a screen!
If you’re not confident enough yet to go Live, pre-record a video in which you talk about the business opportunity. This way you can do it multiple times until you’re happy with it. It’s not as effective with the Facebook algorithm, but it’s the next best thing. And it’s just as effective in building trust and a connection with people!
Here are some prompts to help you talk about your business opportunity:
What do you love most about your direct sales biz?
Why did you join?
How much does it cost to get started?
What benefits are there to starting right now?
What can they earn from an average party or event?
What else can they earn as a consultant?
You might not want to put all those things in your video or Live and rather talk about some of these topics in a post.
A critical component of success in your business is following up
Thinking ahead and planning for follow-up is vital when you’re doing online events. To be able to follow up, you’ll need contact details. You want to connect with them in a different way from Facebook posts to make it more personal. Here are some ideas to help you get those contact details:
Google Forms or Survey Monkey
I like to create a Lucky Door Prize entry form and encourage guests to fill out the form at the start of the party and will remind them throughout the event of to fill out the form to go in the draw. At the end of the event I draw a winner who will get a small prize or a discount.
The advantage of a form or survey is that you can ask other questions too, such as an offer to provide more information on joining your direct sales business.
You could a create a ‘tick box’ style question like this: Tell me how I can: – earn free products – get an ongoing discount – earn cash as a social seller to family and friends – run a lucrative side hustle – build a serious business
Connect via Messenger
It’s very helpful during the Facebook party to be able to send private messages to the guests. However, if you’ve never connected before, the guests are unlikely to even see your messages.
By offering ‘Party Points’ or a mystery prize winner to one lucky guest who sends you an emoji or hello to you, you make that initial connection in Facebook Messenger. Once you are connected, guests will see future messages from you. Make it easy for guests to actually connect with you by sharing your unique Messenger link, which you can find in your profile in the Messenger app. It’ll look something like m.me/facebook.name
I hope this article has given you a few ideas to improve your recruiting from online events. If there’s a tip you’d like to share, leave it below in the comments!
Supporting your new recruits is even more important than making sales. Let me explain…
Industry insiders estimate that between 70 and 80 percent of new consultants or reps in direct sales companies don’t take any action after they join. This includes placing an order or doing any training.
That’s crazy, right? We really need to improve that statistic!
Lack of support turns people off their new direct sales biz
Too many direct sellers are focused on recruiting but don’t think beyond that about their role as a sponsor or mentor to the new person. They view their job as ‘done’ once someone has signed up, after all the company or their upline leader provides training and it’s up to the new person to make a go of it.
Sometimes the person recruiting doesn’t feel they know enough to mentor or support the new person and so they don’t.
I completely disagree with that mindset. Even someone who is brand new to the business themselves can be a wonderful sponsor! They can either view it as exploring the new business together with the new recruit (that’s a great way to do it if a friend or family member signs up), or they can aim to just be 1 small step ahead.
You do not have to be a direct sales expert to be a fabulous sponsor to a new recruit.
Most new consultants in any direct sales company have some combination of excitement and doubt when they sign up. They believed enough in the products and the opportunity you offered to spend money on a starter kit, yet they also often have serious doubts. They wonder if they can be successful and if they perhaps made a mistake signing up.
If they don’t hear from anyone quickly and receive quality support, they will probably mentally ‘check out’ before they’ve even started. Remember that statistic from the start of this article? That’s 70 to 80 percent of new recruits… If you miss the narrow window of their interest and motivation, it might be too little too late.
I often come across people who aren’t supporting their team members because they ‘just joined for a personal discount’. In many companies these ‘personal shoppers’ can account for half a team. So many of them never place an order because it becomes too hard.
Here’s how that happens:
They misplace their account login details
They can’t remember the website to go to
They don’t know who to contact for help (company support or upline)
They don’t have a current catalog anymore
And if by some miracle they do work out how to login, they don’t know how to use the ordering system and it looks too complicated.
That’s 6 strikes and they’re out. It’s all too hard.
Remove the barriers to engagement
When you make it easy for these people by offering to help them enter an order (or refresh their memory if it’s been a while), you can often completely engage them in the business. By nurturing them and helping them to make learning this new thing a little easier, even ‘personal shoppers’ can become valuable to your team as they enter regular orders.
And sometimes ‘personal shoppers’ become engaged and enthusiastic leaders. I’ve seen this happen quite a few times in my own organization. Someone joins as a ‘personal shopper’ and then starts to enjoy it a little more and grows their business just a little. After another while they recruit someone and start growing their own team!
Once you make it part of your routine that when someone joins to remove as many barriers as you can to ease their entry into the business, you’ll be surprised by how many people will be active members of your team.
When new people join, the ‘welcome’ is vital! It needs to happen soon after joining and the more personal you can make this, the better. Remember that direct selling is a relationship business, not just relationships with your customers and hosts but also with your team.
For tips on how to get your new teamie off to a good start, check this article.
I personally like to focus on the ‘bird in the hand, which is worth 2 in the bush’. Retaining a team members is easier than recruiting a new one. Imagine how much better our teams and our industry as a whole would be if we only had 20 to 30 percent of new consultants not take any action rather than that 70-80 percent currently!
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.
Example of a lightbox and mini shopping trolley.
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
