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 advantage of 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).
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.
