I took my first stab at Direct sales at 18 years old. That was a long time ago. I have been with 8 different companies over the last 19 years. I learned something different with each one. For the most part I was not ready to have the kind of success I desired because I was not willing to break out of my comfort zone. That has changed today and I am ready for a different journey.
Through the years the world of Direct sales has changed. I believe that some of it has changed for the better and some of it has changed for the worse.
What I have learned is that is doesn't matter what company you are with. As long as the company has a good product you can stand behind and a good compensation plan you can succeed with the right attitude and training.
When I first started out it was all about talking to everyone you know and then to everyone you meet to prospect your next customer or recruit. This can still be a good place to start.
I have worked with health and wellness companies, cosmetics companies, jewelry companies and home products companies. Most of the concepts they started teaching were the same. At first the focus was on sales and growing your team. Talk to x amount of people a day to get this many people to say yes. It was all about the numbers game.
One good thing that I have seen change over the years is a change in focus from sales and recruits to relationships and personal development. The focus is more positive and far from the pushy tactics of the past. Focusing on the personal development part helps people gain confidence and skills.
The bad thing that I have noticed is creating leads through bait and switch tactics. With one company I was with we did vendor events and held drawings for something . Yes we always gave some kind of gift basket away, but then everyone else was told they won a free facial. I had a hard time with that because we offered a free facial to anyone so people didn't really win it. I had a phone call a few weeks ago stating that I had qualified for this great offer because I had recently stayed at one of their resorts. The only problem was I had never stayed at a resort.
When I first started there were lots of places offering leads if you paid for them. Now instead of selling leads they are promoting ways to generate your own leads. Of course you watch a webcast you think will hold valuable information only to have it be a sales pitch to get your email address to buy there software to blog or do webcasts to sell that same software to others when they are not interested in the MLM you are offering.
I personally hate that. If I want a software program to help my business I will get recommendations from my company leadership not buy something from a webcast that drew me in for the advertised information, but switched to a sales pitch. When I am approached by others offering these so called funnel software, I tell them up front I believe it to be deceptive business. For the record this blog is not to funnel you into my MLM. If you are curious ask me, but I just want to help other people grow and be informed. If you are new to this business mistakes are easily made and it is always wise to search out those with the experience to help you not make the same mistakes they did.
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