3 Tips for Selling Like a Pro
Direct sales can be a rewarding way to earn an income, but whether you are new to the idea or a direct sales veteran, it always is a good idea to work at improving your sales abilities. Put the three tips below into practice, and watch your numbers continue to grow.
Use social media
One of the most beneficial tools you can employ in your quest to make additional income from direct sales is the same tool that you use to keep up to date with your friends and family. Take Facebook, for example: setting up a professional-looking business page can help you get the word out about your products, and gives you a great platform on which to interact with your Customers and potential downline. Facebook Groups are great for communicating with your team members and fellow Distributors, too.
Getting people to click on and interact with your posts is what’s known as engagement. According to Belinda Ellsworth, author of “Direct Selling for Dummies,” your engagement levels are what Facebook uses to determine whether or not to make your posts visible in friends and followers’ cluttered newsfeeds. To ensure that you are getting the most engagement possible, Ellsworth recommends calls to action—think phrases like “Share if you agree” or “Comment below”—but recommends against anything that explicitly asks customers to buy or order your products.
Along those same lines, Sam Milbrath of Hootsuite.com recommends adhering to a “Social Media Rule of Thirds”: dedicate only one third of your social content to promoting your direct sales endeavors or making money, using another third to share stories and ideas and another third to share personal interactions as a means to build your brand. Posting too much content geared toward generating sales risks you coming across like a spam poster, so maintaining a balance is imperative to success.
Other social media platforms to consider in this regard are Twitter, Instragram, Pinterest and Snapchat. Each offers its own distinct benefits depending on your product and your focus.
Consider starting a blog
Lucinda Watrous of Business.com recommends starting up a personal blog; though it would be used to promote your business, Watrous notes that it is important to check your Distributor Policies and Procedures to ensure that your blog name and domain does not violate your terms and conditions.
The blogs that you post should be a sort of complementary marketing tool; rather than focusing on promoting the product directly—i.e. explaining its benefits or talking up deals—talk about how the reader can incorporate the product into their lifestyle or routine. Helpful content such as this is beneficial in that it paints you as an expert, which helps lend your recommendation of a product an air of authenticity.
Be yourself
Perhaps the biggest mistake that you can make when you are attempting to sell a product, be it in person or over social media, is to affect a persona. If you don’t see yourself as having a particularly boisterous or outgoing personality, don’t worry; being your truest self, even if that self is somewhat reticent to start a conversation with a stranger, is more likely to be appealing than a put-on sales pitch.
Whatever product you are selling, you will benefit from knowing how to expand your reach and understanding how far you will get with genuineness. Keep these tips in mind, go forth and find success!
