Gary's Blog

The Final Countdown!

Well, my friends, we are on the home stretch for Celebration 2011.  The clock is ticking and for those of you who are coming, I can promise you that you are going to be WOW'd.  This year is BIGGER AND BETTER than you have ever seen.  We are going to celebrate our 30th Anniversary in a blow-out that will have your head spinning!  From the moment you arrive, you are going to experience more fun, more excitement, more give-aways and more knowledge than at any other event in our history.  If you are not registered, there is still time...don't forget, you can register on-site, so if you live within driving distance, come on over and share in the fun.  When you leave this year, you will not only be saying, "This was the best Celebration EVER", but you will be saying, "MAN, I hate it for the people who didn't make it this year".  We want to treat you to an event to remember.

 

Now, here are just a few things to keep in mind as you prepare for your trip:

You will have several ordering opportunities that you won't want to miss out on:

• There will be New Product Introductory Packs which feature the new products that we will be launching at the event for your fall selling season...including a sneak-peek at new products that will not be available to order until September. These packs will be offered at a 60% discount, so you can get the best prices.  You can purchase as many of them as you want, and remember, Daisy has lost her diamonds and it just so happens that they have landed in these pre-packs. There is over $20,000 worth of diamonds tucked away in these packages, so you may just go home with a little bling bling!  You'll want to take at least one of them to your room so you can try out all the goodies, but you have the opportunity to ship the rest of them home, so you don't have to carry them all on the plane.
• In addition, you will have an exclusive opportunity, by attending Celebration, to place an inventory order and receive the 55% career level discount on that order.  Again, just another perk for attending Celebration and a great opportunity to stock up.
• For Directors, we are doing something a little differently this year.  You asked for it, and we listened.  We know that many of you hit the ground running as soon as you get home and you want to have new products to show your teams at your unit meetings early the following week.  When you check in, be sure to look in your registration packets to find a "sneak peek" order form.  You can order the Product Introductory Package, the Sales Aid Package and/or a new Product Demonstration Packet and will will ship it out immediately so it will arrive to you very early the following week so you can have it for your meetings.

There will be a special opportunity for you to either sign up for a BeautiPage while you are there or renew your membership for a very special price.  Even if you have recently renewed, no worries, you can take advantage of this opportunity to tag an additional year onto your membership at this exclusive price.  For each person who signs up, your name will be entered into a drawing for 3 stunning pieces of jewelry that we have selected just for you.

You are going to want to be sure to have bookings on your calendars for August and September.  I can't give anything away, but you are going to want to have Spas going into this selling season.  Each Spa you have equals 2 additional Spas for the future. The Spa is where the business happens, so call everyone you know NOW before going to Celebration and tell them you have some exciting things coming and you want them to be the first to experience it.  Contact is key.  There are so many reasons for your clients to buy and for new Consultants to join over the next few months. 

Be sure to be ready for a fun-filled fashion event at my Launch Party on Thursday Night.  This is going to a be a HOT HOT HOT night of fun and fashion.  If you are stumped on what to wear, don't worry.  Find something that makes you feel FABULOUS!  No stuffy formal-wear here...think hip, cool, and fun!  You know that outfit you have in your closet...the one that every time you put it on, you look in the mirror, an you think, "girl...you look good"?  Yep...that's the one.  Pull it out and pack it up for Thursday night!

On Friday, you are going to have a day filled with business changing training, followed by a glamorous Awards Night.  This year alone, we will be awarding over $3 Million in cash, jewelry and prizes from stage, along with a record $$ donation to this year's WHO Grant recipients.  Speaking of WHO, don't forget to check out the great products and gift basket raffle at the WHO booth and be sure to pick up this year's adorable WHO Walk T-shirt and be there on Saturday morning to join us for the WHO Walk.

I speak for the entire staff when I say that we cannot wait to see you here in Dallas this week.  We have had so much fun this year creating an event that is going to be different than anything you have seen us do in the past.  Bigger, Better, BeautiControl!  

If you are not going to be able to come...we will miss you!  Be sure to check my Facebook where I will be posting videos and photos from the event!

Have a great week and be sure to check back next Monday for a Celebration re-cap!

 

Pay It Forward!

I get particularly sentimental this time of year, every year, as we prepare for Celebration.   The countdown has begun and your home team has been completely emerged in plans and preparations to ensure that you see a different Celebration event than you have ever seen before.  It will be bigger, better and more exciting than anything you have seen, or anything that I can remember…and remember, this is my 20^th Celebration, so I have seen A LOT!  I can tell you with complete confidence that your leadership team here in Dallas is going all out to not only ensure that you have an event that will blow your mind, but also roll-out some plans for the fall that will set your business in motion.

For all intents and purposes, this is a new year.  The Annual Awards year ended in June and this Celebration is not only a Celebration of the past 30 years, but a New Year’s Celebration for the year to come.  You, and everyone on your team will want to be there.  If you haven’t yet registered, then please try to get there.  For so many of you, Celebration was your defining moment…the moment that you saw what this business could do for you. 

I’m going to be pretty candid here.  The past few years have been full of changes.  Changes in corporate leadership, changes in products, changes in the compensation plan, changes in the economy, etc. , all of which have left some people in a mode of paralysis.  I’m going to ask all of you a favor…make a decision to let that go when you come to Celebration.  To remind us of a tag line from last year that we used for our Regeneration Resurface product, “Erase the Past and Re-Write the Future”, that is exactly what WE need to do.  Clear the slate.  Open not only you minds, but your hearts.  I don’t want you to SEE Celebration this year.  I want you to FEEL Celebration this year.

I am going to open up my heart here when I say this.  The SINGLE reason that I stay here at BeautiControl, and have stayed here for 20 years is because of you.  NOT because we create the greatest products in the industry.  NOT because of the paycheck.  NOT because there aren’t other opportunities out there.  THE reason that I am here is because we have something special that no one else has…NO ONE!  We have the ability to change people’s lives in a way that no other opportunity has.  When I look back at my career here, I don’t just remember the lives that we changed, but the way that those lives have changed ME.

In 20 years is have seen:

• Women who at one time didn’t have the confidence to look a person in the eyes when they spoke to standing in front of a crowd of thousands as a confidence, self-assured and powerful force.
• Women who were victim of a bad home situation, with no way out, find the strength, the courage and the financial freedom to take herself and her children out of that situation and make a better life, showing her children that their mother was not a victim, but a champion.  We have no idea how that defining moment changed not only her, an example to her children of how a woman should be treated.
• Women who were never told they were beautiful to be able to look in the mirror and see the beauty that lies inside of her and be able to do the same for thousands of other women that she has touched.
• Families who were burdened with financial distress, due to family illness, a cut in the work force or college tuitions be able to make a better life.
• Women, who never had a circle of friends, be able to find a sister-hood of BeautiControl family and be forever changed.
• Husbands, who, over time, began to take their wives for granted, begin to see her as a powerful, sexy, confident, independent woman.
• Men and women alike, who were plagued with skin problems or health issues, which caused a loss in self-confidence, be able to love the person they see when they look in the mirror.

We create a community…a community of friends, family, compassion, love, encouragement and support.  The friends that I call family today are the ones that I met through BeautiControl.  

Strip away the “mechanics” of this business and let your heart lead you to Celebration this year.  It isn’t about the products (although they are going to be great).  It isn’t about the tools (although I can promise you will be WOW’d).  It isn’t even about the promotions (but I can tell you that you are going to flip your wigs when you see what we have in store for you).  It is not about what WE are going to do this year at Celebration as much as what YOU are going to do when you leave.

In a broad statement, WE change lives, but when you whittle it all down to the nuts and bolts, the fact is that YOU change lives.  YOU…one person…have the power to move a mountain.  I pulled out an old favorite movie of mine this weekend called, “Pay It Forward”.  I saw it years ago and I loved it then, but for some reason, when I saw it this weekend, the message reached right out of the screen and slapped me across the face.  The power of one person can change the future of thousands…as long as we make a decision to pay it forward.  Think about it…you change the life of someone by introducing them to BeautiControl by finding their “Why”, then they do the same for someone else, then they do the same for someone else, etc.  Not one of us has the same “WHY”.  We all want and need something different, and BeautiControl can fulfill that “WHY”, no matter what it is.  When we say, “1 Recruit Per Spa”, think of it as “One Life Changed Per Spa”.  The beauty of the Spa is that it puts us in front of more people every time we have one, giving you a chance to sell products, get a list of people who want to share the Spa with their friends and new contacts of people whose lives you can impact either through your products or the opportunity.

 

My advice before coming to Celebration is to use these next 2 weeks to fill your booking calendars for August and September.  You will want to make sure that you have business in place so you can leave Celebration and start changing lives immediately…and in the process, yours will be forever changed as well. 

I can’t wait to see you all here in Dallas.  We are so excited to deliver, what I know is going to be an event to remember. 

Have an amazing week!

 

"Sell" is More Than a 4 Letter Word

As a BeautiControl Consultant, you do more than “sell”…you change lives by solving problems.  Whether the problem is a need for extra money for the family, skin care problems or the desire to turn back the hands of time with our superior anti-aging skin care products, or even a desire to make new friends and have some “girlfriend” time, BeautiControl has the answer.  We are in the Problem Solving business. In July, activity is key.  This is the month where client contact for re-orders is a must since it is harder to get people to find the time to have a Spa with you.  July is also the month that you want to increase your bookings for August to fill you pipeline for fall selling.  There will be lots of exciting new things to come at Celebration later in the month, and you will want to have your pipeline as full as possible to increase sales and make plenty of contacts for new Consultants. Here are 4 steps you can immediately incorporate into your business to help you move through your inventory and make sales and increase your bookings this summer.

Step One - Ask Good Questions

You can either use your personal experience or general product knowledge, but the point here is to be specific. So, instead of asking a shotgun style question like, "Do you know anyone who needs some extra income?" Or, "Do you know anyone who would like to host a Spa?" You ask a more pointed question like, "Do you know anyone who wants to achieve cosmeceutical strength anti-aging results without the high price tag of department store or dermatologist skin care products?" "Do you know anyone who is going through a stressful time and needs to relax and unwind with friends?" In other words, think with as much detail as possible who NEEDS your products features the most, then ask for those people. It's ideal if you had that need first, because your story can be very valuable to relate to them.

Step Two – Be a Good Listener

Once you've identified that someone has an interest in your product - then you need to get additional information about them. In particular you need to know not just that they need the product, but that they want to make the change to purchase it. For example, someone might express an interest in controlling their acne. You need to find out how serious they are. Use the following question. "Please...tell me more about that." Then listen to what they say, because it will give you a great feel for their interest in acting on their need.

Step Three – Turn a NO into a YES!

After you've learned about their need and offered a solution, you ask if they would like to know more about it or place an order. This can be anything from a few sentences to a formal presentation in front of a group. When it's done, you'll ask if they have questions. If not, ask for an order. Then, you'll get either an order, or an objection. This is where the Feel, Felt, Found technique comes in. Not sure who invented this, but it's a staple in our business. In three steps you want to acknowledge the concern, acknowledge you or others shared it, then share what turned out to be the case. For example, "I know how you feel. I felt that way too. I struggled with acne as a teen, then again during my first pregnancy.  I never thought I would get it under control until someone introduced me to BeautiControl at a Spa just like this."

Step Four – Assume the Sale

Once established that they have a need, and have a desire to solve that problem. Now you need to ask them to go ahead and make that decision. "Are you ready to place an order?" If they're not, then go back to step two or three and work through it again. The point is, you're not "pushing" anything on them because if somewhere along the way you identified they didn't need or want your product, you wouldn't still be talking to them, right?

But if they aren't grabbing the form from you to buy, then they may be stuck in Step Two. That is, have the problem, not that interesting in solving it. This is not a potential customer for you NOW. Let them go and follow up in three months.  You will be amazed at what follow-up will do.  Follow up is assumed for those who make a purchase, but the same dedication to follow-up is crucial, even for those who DO NOT purchase.  Remember, they are not a client NOW, but that doesn’t mean that person won’t be a client in the future…or even your super-star new Consultant down the road.

Selling isn't persuasion or aggressiveness. It's finding a need and filling it for people ready to solve their problems. BeautiControl has the solution, now you just have to find the people who want to solve their problems.  

Have a great week and I’ll see you back on Friday.

 

Time to Stock Your Store!

July is one of those months in our business that is known for having lower activity.  We all know that people are on vacation and it is more difficult to get people together to Spa.  July and February are historically odd months when it comes to Spa-ing…February, because the weather is horrific in most of the country and July because so many people are on vacation and spend most of their time shuttling their kids around for Summer activities.  These are the months that we, as a company, focus on building offers that will help you drive activity in unit sales.  We put our best offers on the table during these months to make sure that you have every reason to stock up for the fall Back To School rush, as well as give our Consultants a reason to get some of their favorite products at a great price.

   New Products:

• Tropical Getaway Lip Glosses – these beautiful and tasty lip glosses are the perfect impulse purchase for the summer months.  Looking for a younger clientele?  These products are attention grabbers for your teen market.  If you have kids, send them out with a few of these to sell to their friends.

Must Have Products:

• Regeneration Overnight – Everyone knows that this is one of my favorite products.  I wrote two blogs recently called, “Do You Have What it Takes to Look Young?  I Do” which outlines the key ingredients that you need to reverse the signs of aging and keep your skin young as well as “Let BeautiControl Go To Work While You Go To Sleep”, which directly speaks to the benefits of the Regeneration Overnight products.  These are products you don’t want to be without.
• BC Spa Resurface Resurfacing Serum – If you have ever used this product, then you know why I rave about it.  Not only does it leave the skin silky soft, but it also contains mild AHAs and enzymes that dissolve dead skin build-up gradually on the skin’s surface to expedite the process of skin renewal.  Exfoliation is the key to youth and this product does it gradually, to help resurface the skin and maintain the skin’s youthful metabolic process.
• Tight Firm and Fill Dermal Filling Moisture Mask – People think that you only need moisture in the winter months, but nothing could be further from the truth.  This product is power-packed to deliver deep hydration to skin that is sun parched and dry due to dehydration.  Think about it…when you are outside during the summer months you get thirsty, and nothing feels better than a tall glass of sparkling water, right?  The same is true for your skin.  Our bodies contain 60 – 70% water, and our skin is primarily made up of water.  The sun and the summer heat can zap your skin’s moisture in a flash.  Treat yourself to this deep hydrating mask…even use it as a nighttime moisturizer a few times a week and you will be amazed at how vibrant and moist your skin becomes.  The hyaluronic filling spheres and peptides are just an added bonus to help firm and tighten the skin on contact.  Trust me, use this product one night and wake up to incredibly beautiful skin.
• Nourishing Eye Pads – These have been a summer-time favorite for years.  Keep these in your refrigerator for a cooling eye treatment.  Great to hydrate thirsty skin and reduce skin inflammation caused by extended sun exposure or those long summer nights!
• Warming Trend Green Tea Mask – Toxins run rampant during the summer months and this deep penetrating, self-heating mask will both moisturize and cleanse the skin’s pores, while offering skin energizing herbal compounds to the skin. 
• Secret Agent Tri-color Bronzing Powder and Tinted Moisturizers – Looking for a quick and easy makeup look this summer?  These items keep you looking your best in a flash.  The tinted moisturizer will give you moderate coverage, moisture and sun protection…perfect for those days that you just need a little coverage to even your skin tone without having to use a full coverage foundation.  The Tri-colored bronzing powders will give you eye color, cheek color and an over-all bronzer in one product.  Add a little mascara and lip gloss and you are good to go!
• Brown Sugar Fragrance – don’t miss out on this special deal.  This fragrance is, by far, our best-selling fragrance and available at an irresistible price this month.
•   BC Spa Facial Regenerating Tonics – each month this year we have featured a product in the BC Spa Facial line and discounted it to help you stock your store and transition your clients.  This month’s offering is the incredible BC Spa Facial Regenerating Tonics which contain AHAs or PHAs to help exfoliate the skin’s surface and keep the skin acting young.  These tonics add the repair benefits of your previous Regeneration AM products into your daily use regimen so you can get maximum benefits with fewer products.

Client Re-order Products:

Our color cosmetic category is our 2^nd largest product category and a key re-order product for your business.  We know that skin care and color cosmetics make up the bulk of your re-order products.  Color is a great impulse purchase and if you have it on hand and show it at your Spas, your clients and Spa guests find it hard to resist.  Take advantage of the opportunity to stock up on the products that we have on sale this month:

• BC Color Eyeshadow Trios
• BC Color Lip Perfecting Pencils
• BC Color Mineral Blush
• BC Color Brow Perfecting Pencils
• Regeneration TFF Concealers

Sales Aids:

Looking for inexpensive gifts to use as a Gift With Purchase, Hostess or Booking rewards?  These sales aids are a must.  You can use them to package and Set-sell, using them as an added bonus.  Make sure to use them to up-sell, increasing your units per client.  It is a proven fact that clients will spend more to get the gift…this is a strategy that department store cosmetic brands have used for years.  These bags are available at a special price this month so you can stock up.  If you are planning on having Holiday Open Houses in October, now is the time to start getting ready while things are priced to move:

• Eco Couture Bag
• Glam Bag
• Skincare Essentials Bag
• Glamour Set Bags
• Spa Express Starter Sets

Heritage Favorites:

These items will be going back to regular price in August, but will remain in While Supplies Last as we transition out of these products over the next few months.  While the Regeneration AM and eye creams will be discontinued, we will be keeping some of the best selling Skinlogics products in the line.  As we run out of our current products, we will introduce a new, re-branded, re-packaged (smaller sizes) Skinlogics line that will consist of some of the products that are currently in the Skinlogics Gold and Skinlogics Platinumn Plus collections.  This line will not be segmented by age group, but will contain a mixture of products, branded under a new "Skinlogics" heritage brand that will continue to keep your loyal Skinlogics clients happy, while our new Consultants and clients are introduced to the BC Spa Facial products.

Give Yourself A Raise:

Price increases are never a popular topic; however, this is a great opportunity for you to stock up while the prices are lower and maximize your profits when you have future sales.  It is no secret that fuel prices have escalated over the past few years.  We have held our pricing through 2009, 2010 and up until now.  The increase in fuel pricing, transportation costs and availability of raw materials has been a major issue for us, along with the rest of the industry as it relates to maintaining cost of goods.  The good news is that when you stock up in July, you will be able to maximize your profits when you sell your products through the fall selling season.  Our products, even with the price increases, are FAR LESS costly than what your clients will find for comparable quality at the retail level or even with other Direct Sales companies.  If your clients are hesitant to purchase your products due to the price increase, that is all the more reason for them to join as a Consultant, enjoy the discount privileges and share the products with their friends and family.  We have one of the most lucrative discount structures in the Direct Sales industry, which gives YOU the competitive edge when it comes to attracting new Consultants to your business opportunity.  Team that with the $99 opportunity to join your team and you have a win/win formula for building your team in July.  Take advantage of the sale now and stock up.  Consider letting all of your clients know that prices will be increasing in August and now is the time for THEM to place their orders and stock up on their favorite products to get the best pricing.  You will be amazed at how your client sales can soar this month if you offer them the opportunity to STOCK UP AND SAVE.  One of my team members, who came from another Direct Sales company recently said to me, “If those women over there knew what we were offering, they would be knocking down our doors to become a Consultant”.  You have the competitive edge, so take advantage of the opportunity to share BeautiControl with everyone you know, build your team and let others experience the beautiful life that BeautiControl can offer.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend.  Stay cool, stay hydrated and wear plenty of sunscreen!

Ciao.

How Full is Your Pool!

This may seem like a strange title for a blog, but go with me on this one.  If I were to say to you, “You know…the strangest thing is happening.  No matter how much water I put into my pool, it seems to be losing more than I can put in.  I fill it every day, but whenever I go outside in the morning, I have lost more water.”  Well, if you have ever had or maintained a swimming pool, you know that a little water loss due to evaporation, especially during summer months is pretty natural, but if you wake up each morning and half the water is gone, you would probably tell me that I might have a leak and should probably get it fixed.  It costs a lot less to fix a leak than to keep adding more water to it every day, right?  What if I were to go on vacation?  Well, chances are that it would completely dry up before I got back home.

Now…why am I telling you this?  Well, the same holds true for your business.  Every month we look for new people to build our teams.  We love the rewards we get from recruiting and love having the opportunity to change the lives of new Consultants who join our teams.  We find what excites them, whether it is joining to save money on the products that they fell in love with or seeing this as an amazing opportunity to either make money, make new friends or change the lives of others.  It’s addictive, in a way and we thrive on the adrenaline of finding that next new Consultant and adding to our team.  In the long run, however, it really isn’t how many new Consultants you add to your team each month as much as it is increasing your team size.  The point of adding new Consultants is to increase your unit population and team size.  In the process of all this excitement, all too often we forget about the people we have already gotten to join the business.   Everyone who joins this business has a hot button…a passion…a reason that he or she joined your team.  It is up to each of us to keep that fire burning in each of our Consultants on our team and make them feel valued, for whatever reason they may have joined.

It breaks my heart to see Consultants leave this business.  We know that they loved the products, but sometimes we let them slip away and go inactive because we don’t focus equal attention on keeping the Consultants that we already have.  It is important that each of us develop a contact strategy each month to find, ignite and in some cases, re-ignite that fire that brought each Consultant into the business.  It is impossible to talk to every Consultant the same way, because everyone is in this business for a different reason.  You can’t talk to someone who joined to get her products at a great discount the same way you talk to a Consultant who is Spa-ing and has her eye on moving up in the career plan.  Segmented communication is key to making each member of your team feel valued and a part of your BeautiControl family.   If you get in tune with their “WHY”, then figure out their “WHEN” (meaning their ordering patterns), you will know ‘HOW” to best engage and communicate with each of them.  Don’t let your Consultants become inactive before you talk to them, find their hot buttons and press it when it needs pressing.  You might even consider putting together a monthly order recommendation that includes some of the monthly new products, sales offers, and customer favorites valued at $100 that help take the guess work out of what to order to maintain their active Consultant status.   Put them together in a quick flier such as the one that I have created here and email it to each of your clients who need to place an order to avoid going inactive.  Remember, our surveys have proven to us that a large % of Consultants who are no longer active had no idea that they had gone inactive.

At BeautiControl, we have a very intentional and strategic flow to our monthly merchandising and marketing strategies.  There are some months that help you build productivity to best benefit your “sellers”, then there are months that are strictly dedicated to “activity” which helps you have better offers to appeal to those who are the “smart shoppers” on your teams.  July is one of those months that was built to help you increase activity and retention in your unit.  We know that Spa-ing can be difficult during the month of July.  Part-time Consultants are paying less than part-time attention to BeautiControl.  They may not be aware of the amazing ordering opportunities that we have on the table this month.  This is a month where contact is key in order to engage and include each member of your team.  Your sellers will want to stock up on products that are on sale, or take advantage of building their inventories before prices are increased in August.  Your smart shoppers will want to buy some of their favorite Skinlogics products which are deeply discounted and take advantage of the great sale on some of our summer favorites during our Summer Blow-out Sale. 

You have everything you need this July to increase both your activity and productivity.  I wrote a blog a few months ago called “Planning for Your Sales Success”.  If you didn’t get a chance to check it out, click on the link above.  This blog outlines the fundamental basics of how you can balance your activity and productivity to guarantee your sales success.  Combine this with client and Consultant contact, and you will have the magic formula that will guarantee that you increase your sales, profits and unit participation.  Don’t miss the opportunity to find one new Consultant at each Spa and keep that new energy coming in…plus, you don’t want to miss a chance to earn that incredible watch as a reward for finding a new Consultant in July.  With this month’s $99 entry price, it’s a winning combination.

Now is the time to fill your pool.  Don’t worry about over-flowing….with the potential that you have this month to make some serious money, you can build a bigger pool,.  Heck, you can build a bigger house.  Dive in!  The water’s great!