Category Archives: Business tips

Best Business Tip I Can Give You For the Summer Months (Originally published May 13, 2014)

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Here’s a HUGE TIP, coming from 10+ years of experience….

DO NOT BOOK WEEKEND PARTIES IN THE SUMMER.

Now, let me be brutally honest–Your upline will disagree, and give you 127 reasons why I am wrong, and tell you not to listen to me. I have learned the hard way that a lot of the time, people who earn over-ride from your work don’t always give you honest, altruistic answers. Money and potential income changes honesty–or let’s be nicer– the perspective, of some people. To validate that I am always honest with my downline, regardless of how it affects me monetarily, I advised them all of this rule of mine this morning, after a slew of messages from gals upset that this weekend’s parties have already bailed/rescheduled on them.

It took me over 10 years to stick to my guns. With my former company, the conference year ended at the end of May, and with my competitive nature, the three months leading up to it were always non-stop parties. I would swear every year that I would cut back my schedule in the summer, and NOT NOT NOT do weekend parties.

And then, without fail, I’d be asked to do the parties on Saturday and Sunday. And I’d always explain that weekend parties in the summer months ALWAYS TANK. And the new hostess would explain that her mom/sister/best friend/sister-in-law/hairdressers best friend’s sister who ALWAYS BUYS A LOT lives over an hour away, can’t come during the week, and we HAVE to plan it around her schedule–because it’s NOT a party if that person isn’t there.

And you know what? The hostess is right. It’s NOT a party without that person–because that person, AND EVERYONE ELSE–does not show up, and you sit there with an unqualified party. You have the expenses of a hostess packet, invites, gas money and your time, and don’t have anything to show for it. More importantly, you have an embarrassed/upset hostess who says, “I am never having another party–no one shows up!”  Her party experience is now negative, and that is the last thing you want to happen.

Everyone THINKS that weekends will be great. People have off, they have all the time in the world to come over, drive from where ever….

NOPE– They have CAMPING…WEDDINGS…GRADUATIONS…GRADUATION PARTIES…FAMILY REUNIONS…. At least half the invited guests will have plans like this. And the other half will have yard work, or want to enjoy the 2-3 months of nice weather (if you are in my climate–the Midwest) and NOT want to sit in someone’s house buying your companies products.

Explain this to your person who is booking. Tell her that you sat with women last summer who were totally embarrassed when no one showed and they made all this food, etc. Tell them the BEST nights in the summer are Tuesday and Wednesday. When people come back from a long weekend, Monday night is their night to recoup, mentally and physically, at home.  Friday nights are bad if people leave for the weekend. And Thursday night, many times people are packing and getting ready to leave Friday morning.

TRUST ME ON THIS.

It took me TEN YEARS to finally stick to this. I’ll be honest, I am doing THREE–count them–THREE–weekend parties this summer. They are with past hostesses who have a reputation with me, who KNOW their guests and their schedules, and who I am willing to “try” a weekend party, so if no one shows up, they are personal friends of mine and I still get some girlfriend time with them. I warned them, told them they are the ONLY ONES I will book a weekend with, and they BETTER MAKE SURE PEOPLE SHOW UP!  Of course, we can’t say that to the average hostess, so that is why I only caved to good friends–because I can talk straight to them, and if it tanks, I know they will re-book on a weeknight to make good on it.

I have too many memories of missing many of my son’s baseball games, checking my texts as my husband would send me play-by-plays, and be secretly stewing in my head (smiling and gracious on the outside), while sitting with a hostess while she is wondering where everyone is, and why no one is showing up.

I remember one time, when I booked a Saturday party after telling the hostess over and over that no one will show up, and she argued with me that her family all lives over an hour away and they’d only come on a weekend, fighting back tears as my husband texted me that our son hit a triple to win some game in extra innings. I was so upset with myself that I didn’t stick to my guns, because once again, I was sitting with a hostess who was mortified no one showed, everyone RSVPed they were coming, but all cancelled in the last hour, and I missed something really cool that my son did–for nothing.

Newsflash–Many “yes” or ” maybe” RSVPs wait to see if it is nice out. If it’s nice, they will bail on you an hour ahead of time. Their husband won’t watch the kids, they were called into work, they forgot they had this picnic they had to go to, the dog puked on the carpeting, they have a hangnail…any of this sound familiar? I know.

I am not saying ALL weekend summer parties turn out this way. Truth be told, I have had some very good summer weekend parties (usually on Sunday). But they are not the norm–in my ten+ years of doing direct sales, and booking 20+ parties a month, the first parties to bail are the weekend parties. And traditionally, the worse attendance is also on the weekend.

Maybe it’s a regional thing–in the Midwest, we barely have 3 months of decent weather, so weekends starting with Memorial Day, ending with Labor day are prime real estate in everyone’s calendar. No offense to any of us, but coming to a home party is not high on the list when we have so many other activities crammed into those three months.

It took me TEN YEARS to concede this. As I always tell my gals on my team–learn from my mistakes, so you don’t have to go through them yourself. Be very discriminating on your weekend parties in the summer. Check the local calendar where your hostess lives. Last year, I had only two parties in a town called Lake Mills. Both were the same weekend. And both, ironically, ended up being the weekend of some big carnival they have in that town. BOTH rescheduled. Pay attention to graduations, festivals, etc.

It’s not only important to be mindful of this for hostesses, but as a newer advisor, if all your parties cancel/reschedule on you, you get discouraged and quit sooner, when the whole business might have been different had you booked Tuesdays and Wednesdays instead.

Again, this might not be everyone’s experience, but it’s mine…and I am sticking to my guns this summer. My kayak is calling my name!

Did You Start a Business, or Just Buy a Starter Kit? (Originally posted March 6, 2014)

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In January, most companies put their starter kits on sale. Everyone knows that January tends to not be a great month in direct sales–people are tapped out from spending money on Christmas gifts, and just don’t have the discretionary income to spend at parties.

For that reason, January is also a great month to recruit–people NEED money. They tend to over-spend during the holidays, those credit card bills came due, and they need money NOW to pay them. It’s a catch 22–they need to make money, but don’t have the money for starter kits. Hence January being “kit sale month” with most companies–who can resist a sale?

So, fast forward to March. Some people who “started their new direct selling business” in January have nothing more than a kit. They are not making money. And they still have the credit card bills, just now they have a little more debt with a starter kit added on.

Where is the disconnect? What happens from the “I am going to start a business, make some money, have some fun” to NOTHING happening?

Many of you who read this are leaders, and have struggled with this for years. It’s always been a big debate with me personally. In one of my former companies, it would be required, at times, and by zones, to make sure the new start had SIX PARTIES BOOKED, period, end of discussion, before ordering their starter kit.

I always had very vocal debates about that “requirement”. There is one lady who I admire greatly in that business who wouldn’t even let her own daughter sign up without her six parties on the books, and she has an amazing proven track record and it works for her. Five parties is NOT an option, it’s six, or you absolutely cannot join her team, period, end of discussion. I have always respected that she holds firm to that, no waffling, no matter what the circumstances are.

I, on the other hand, have never felt comfortable with that, for one big reason–I would not be doing direct sales today if that was required of me. My original game plan was that I was doing ONE PARTY AND QUITTING. I am not kidding. One and done. The only reason I signed up is because the lady who did my party kept bugging me to join, and at the end of the night, she said she’d pay for my starter kit, and I could do one party and quit if I wanted to, and she’d never call me again. In Joyce-land, all I heard was I was basically getting over $500 in jewelry, doing one party, and getting rid of the irritating jewelry lady because she would never be calling me again after I quit after doing my ONE PARTY.

Well, that ONE PARTY was a huge success, $1800 in sales, six bookings, and two recruits, so…I stuck with that company for almost ten years, and in my last year, ironically, finished #1 in recruiting.

So, I always felt if I required six parties, I would be a hypocrite, and I might miss out on the next “me”. I remember chatting one time with the lady who did require the six parties, and we were debating the merits of it, and I told her I would not have been able to join her team with her requirement, and would that have been worth losing out on someone like me? She said to me that she would have been able to convince me to get those six parties booked. I still smile thinking about that, because if anyone could have done so, it was her.

So, honestly, it’s been ten years, and I still vacillate on that. In January, I recruited 14 people into my new company. Have all 14 had their launch shows and become huge successes? NOPE. Does it really bother me? YEP. As a leader, do I sit and wonder what else can I possibly do to get them going? ALL THE TIME.

What I find surprising is the people who I LEAST expected to be successful, the gals who came across as the least confident, are the ones who are taking the business by storm. They are the newbies with not much direct selling experience at all. I like to analyze the heck out of everything (just ask my husband), so I wonder if there is some correlation there. Are the direct sales newbies more inclined to get on the web site, watch all the videos, read all the training materials, come to all the meetings, and ask all the questions because they don’t have any point of reference and are not jaded from any previous experiences? Do people who come from multiple other businesses come in with the “I got this” attitude, and it negatively affects their new business? Usually we look forward to those who come from other businesses–they have experience, and they have networks already somewhat established.

I constantly analyze how I am running my business, where I spend my time, and where to most efficiently use the limited time I have (I still do 20+ personal parties a month). Conventional wisdom tells you to spend your time with those who “make you the most money”. I have always bristled at that. First, personally I am a self-starter and HATED, I mean HATED getting calls from my upline micromanaging me. I did not need it, and never welcomed it. I have a group of self-starters who do very well, and probably don’t need or  want me to call them all the time and ask what they have lined up. Next, I have the group in the middle who are plugging away, working their business, and could use the encouragement, tips and interaction. I see them actively talking about their business on their Facebook pages, they interact on our team Facebook page, and come to meetings, but maybe just have not hit their full stride yet. I personally find that group the best to pour my time into.

And lastly, you always will have people who, once they get their kit, don’t interact much with you. All you can do is encourage them, encourage them some more, invite them to meetings, invite them to shadow you, reach out to them, and at some point, realize that they bought a kit. They maybe thought they were starting a business, and had every intention to start a business, but for whatever reason, ended up buying a kit. The toughest thing as a leader is to decide when it’s time to stop putting time and effort into those teammates. I always think, “If I reach out ONE MORE TIME…if I encourage them ONE MORE TIME, we can get something going.” It’s addicting, like playing the slot machines–you always want to stick one more quarter in and pull that lever one more time, and never feel comfortable when you make that decision to walk away. You always have that “WHAT IF” thought process going….

My husband, when I discuss this with him (he’s the director of sales and marketing for a 100 million dollar a year company, so he deals with these things as well, just on a different and larger scale) always tells me, “You can’t push a rope.” I know you can’t. But I also like to accomplish things that I am told CAN’T BE DONE. I think that is what makes many people successful–the drive to prove people wrong (especially if that person is your HUSBAND!).

If you are a leader reading this, realize you are not a failure or alone when you have teammates who never got their business going after you bring them on board. I always took it personally, that it was my personal failure–that *I* could not inspire them in some way. I have one situation that I might talk about some day that REALLY sticks in my craw when it comes to this situation. Truth be told, it still does–another story for another day. The ultimate decision whether they “start a business” or “bought a kit” lies with them. The biggest favor you can do yourself is let it go, and go work with that middle group who wants and NEEDS your time and attention. They STARTED A BUSINESS. Give them your time.