Hey everyone. This is going to be a big week as we draw closer to Thursday's mid-month close. We have had a great time hitting the road for Super Saturdays and laying the groundwork for growth and selling success this Holiday. In case you didn't get to ready my blog titled, "October is WIIFM Month", you can read it now by CLICKING HERE. There are so many reasons to contact your clients and set yourself up NOW for the next 3 months of sales success.
When I was in Des Moines this past weekend, I did a Question & Answer session for the group. One of the questions that I was asked was, "What advice would I give to New Consultants?" This came very natural for me, and I realized that the advice that I would give to a New Consultant would apply to all Consultants, regardless of how long you have been in the business. The key to being successful in this business is by giving yourself permission to be successful. You have to dare to succeed! These are my top 5 tips for making this business work for you:
#1: Understand the Value of What You Have
I am passionate about this one, so pardon me as I drag my soap-box across the floor and get on it. Do you fully realize the value of our products, the value of the opportunity that we can offer, the value of the profit potential that you have, the value of the services that you can offer your clients, the value that our Spa provides? Seriously, do you? If you can answer no to any of those questions, then my suggestion is to do some research and get better aquainted with everything that you have that other companies simply DO NOT OFFER!
You can't touch the quality, efficacy and potency of our products anywhere else in the Direct Sales industry. AT FULL PRICE, our products are a fraction of the price that they would be sold at a department store or dermatologist's office. So why didn't I mention Walmart or the drug store? Because you can't find products of this potency that offer these types of results in a mid-market retail channel. That is what I love so much about Direct Sales. We don't have to pay advertising costs, spokesperson fees, realestate expense, etc. Instead, we can take all of that money and put it into the quality and performance of the products. Products comparable to ours at retail would easily cost 3 times what ours cost AT FULL PRICE...but wait, you don't pay full price. Your Consultant Career Level discount offers you the opportunity to save on every purchase that you make. This is HUGE! It amazes me that we still have to rely on special "sales" and "offers" to stimulate purchasing activity. Did you realize that we are one of the only cosmetic companies (the only other I know is Avon) that discounts their products? This means that you have even more profit potential when you sell your products.
With the unparalleled 50% discount that you earn for being a V.I.P. and above, you have more opportunity to make more money when you sell. Are you using that to encourage new prospects to join BeautiControl? If more people knew that you had an opportunity to make more profits when they join at BeautiControl than any other company, I think you would probably have more people join your team. All too often I hear, "You can join and get your products at a discount"...meaning, become a wholesale "member". To borrow a phrase from Sr. National Executive Director, Maria Khrehl, we spend so much time sharing the opportunity to join and get a "membership" that we don't tell our prospective New Consultants about the rewards of "OWNERSHIP". Instead of telling a New Consultant how much she can "SAVE", we need to be sharing how much they can "MAKE". If I have a potential new Consultant who is only looking to "Save", I make her a Hostess and teach her how to get her products for free.
#2: Don't Give Yourself Away
You are in business to make money. You don't have to discount your products to get people to buy them! Don't believe me? As I stated above, we are one of the only cosmetic companies that discount products...and when we do, we are not doing it to SAVE you money, but to help you MAKE more profits when you sell. People don't expect to be handed a discount when they buy cosmetics or skin care products. They may have incentives for ordering multiples or when they have a certain size order, but they are never offered a "sale" on cosmetics, so why would they expect anything other than that when they buy from you? It is my firm belief that we are sometimes hesitant to offer the products at full price, because we have never really experienced them at full price. Just because our products are "inexpensive" does not mean that they are "cheap". Have you ever thought about the impression that you give your clients when you allow them to pay less than retail? Have you ever thought about the impression that you give your prospective new Consultants when you only offer her the opportunity to join to get the products at a discount? You are telling them that the products or the opportunity is not worth full price. We think we are doing our clients a favor when we pass along the discount, but we are not doing ourselves any favors by allowing them not to appreciate the value of our products compared to comparable products on the market.
#3: Expect to Succeed
Do you expect to be successful? That is a tough question to answer, but I can tell you that most people who are not successful in this business didn't expect to be. Someone asked me a few months ago how I had Spa sales that were consistently above $500. Because I expect to. I value my time and I expect others to value my time as well. I take myself and my business very seriously and I expect others to do the same. I expect others to see the benefits and the value of our products and will go out of my way to ensure that they have an unparalled customer experience. People become confident because I am confident. I call it the BeautiControl Swagger....that confident, almost arrogant strut that you get from knowing that you are part of something really great and lucky is the person that get's to share it with you. When I am looking for people to either hold a Spa, become a client or join as a New Consultant, I don't spend my time looking out for the person who needs BeautiControl. I would rather spend my time finding people that BeautiControl needs. When I say that, I mean that I want to find clients that are so passionate about high quality skin care products and appreciate the value of the products and the value of the services that we can offer them. I want to find sellers who see the potential to make money and build clients. I want to find recruiters who are so proud of their company and their products that they want to share it with the world.
Are you reaching your goals? If not, can you honestly say that you have set them? Only when you define success will you know when you succeed. how many Spas are you going to have in a month? What is your average Spa sales average going to be? How many re-orders are you going to get this month? Setting goals, and giving yourself very specific and measurable targets will help ensure that you succeed. No one ever got "there", if they didn't know where they were going.
#4: Service Sells
I have a salesperson at Saks Fifth Avenue...Antonio. Antonio is someone that I am extremely loyal to and I will not spend money with anyone else if Antonio can, in any way, find what I am looking for. Here is what Antonio knows about me:
- I don’t like to shop
- I don’t have much time
- I like styles that are edgy and unconventional
- I have 2 major conferences a year
- I work in the beauty/fashion industry
- I am an intense cool color season and very particular about my clothing colors
I have worked with Antonio for many years and will purchase anything he puts in front of me. Why? Antonio is proactive and asks for the sale. He calls me well before Celebration or Leadership and schedules a time for me to come in and see what he has gathered up for me. He knows my personal style better than I do and gathers items from across the country to put together wardrobe collections for me that are hip and unpredictable and in just the right colors. He called me last month and told me that he had just charged a pair of boots on my credit card and was having them shipped because he found them at a great price and knew that I would want them. I LOVE THAT. I love the service that Antonio is providing and that, to me, defines his value. I pay more so I can get the service that Antonio offers.
Are you asking for the sale? The thing that makes you so valuable as a salesperson (yes, I said it, we sell) is the service that you offer. You offer the service of relaxation with your Spa. You offer the service of personalization when you create customized prescriptions for a client's skin care regimen or color cosmetics. You offer the service of consultation when you build that relationship with your clients. You offer the service of convenience when you call and tell your clients about new products or incentives that encourage them to re-order. YOU ARE NOT BOTHERING PEOPLE WHEN YOU CALL AND ASK FOR A SALE. In fact, you are providing a service to them. In a recent survey of our former clients, I was shocked to hear that over 80% of previous clients were no longer clients because their Consultant never called them back. When you think of yourself as a service and you believe with all your heart in the products and services that you provide, you will be amazed at the difference it will make in your business.
#5: Find Your Happy Place
I have been in charge of product development for 20 years and I can tell you that even though I have been responsible for every product that has come out in that time, there are some that I am more passionate about than others. In fact, there are some that I don't and would never, show in a Spa or present to my clients. Does that make them bad? No...it just means that they are not what I am passionate about. The beauty of owning your own business is that you get to do it YOUR way. This is your business. You have the option to show what you want and sell what you want. My greatest advice is this...do what makes you happy and what allows you to have fun. If it isn't fun, don't do it! SIMPLE! LIfe is too short. If it isn't fun, what do you need to do to make it fun? If your Spa isn't fun, then what are you going to do to make it fun? If you aren't having success doing it one way, then try another way and see if it helps. Far too often, I see us get hung up on what isn't working for us that we forget about what is working. I got a great email just today from Sr. Executive Director Nedra Kanavel. This is what she said:
"I fell into a funk about 3 years ago, and was tired of doing spas, tired of doing a meeting every week...I was just plain TIRED.
The ONLY thing that jolted me out of my own funk was to become NEW again. To act and feel like a new consultant and director. As soon as I found the joy in my business again, I have been booking, spa'ing, recruiting and selling like crazy. And I am not doing ANYTHING different than what I have done for years. I'm doing the same techniques, using the same verbiage, and doing the same spa. What has changed is ME, what's inside, what is in my heart.
I want to jump up and down and say - the answer is EASY! It's SPA! I know because I have been in that valley and the only thing that got me out of it was letting go of the past and moving forward with Spa."
Nedra is right. We have the choice to find our own happiness and reach for the solution rather than drown in the problem. The only thing that stands between me and happiness is ME!
I am guilty of saying, "I am not a salesperson". Well, but I am. By sharing my passion for what I do, what I offer and the products that we sell, I am "Selling". I hope I have helped "sell" you on all the reasons that you have to be successful in this business. WE have an amazing opportunity and we are entering the largest selling season of the year. I expect us to have an amazing 4th Quarter. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we have everything in place to drive your sales to a new level. Now, we just need to make it happen. Set goals for your Holiday Selling and map out how you are going to reach them. If you don't have selling situations on the calendar, they aren't going to happen. Keep your calendars full, make sure that you have inventory on hand and remember that you are offering very busy men and women the exclusive opportunity to shop with you for the Holidays, saving them time, saving them money and helping them to customize the perfect gift for everyone on their shopping list. Your service as a Consultant is in high demand, so make sure that everyone knows that you are open for business!
Have a great week and be sure to check back on Friday.