How to pivot and thrive in direct sales

Things are a little scary in the world right now & there is a lot of uncertainty. I’ve thought a lot and talked with other entrepreneurial friends about how this may affect our businesses and what we should do as leaders & influencers.

I keep coming back to one of my main reasons for having my business – to help, encourage & empower others & make a difference…

💡Be the light. Be a voice. Be an encourager. Be a helper.

➡️➡️➡️ That includes continuing to build our businesses, helping customers and team members & making a difference in our own circles with the products, solutions and services we offer AND the influence & resources that we have.

It might not be business as usual for a little while & we do need to be sensitive to what’s going on but we don’t have to panic or let fear stop us from doing what we love or helping others.

Let’s all focus on bringing more good and positivity into the world through our businesses & with our talents and resources during this time.

How to show up, serve, market your direct sales business & follow up with people during this time:

First, I encourage you to do what feels right and authentic to you. If selling & direct marketing doesn’t feel appropriate to you right now, then don’t post as much direct advertisement.

Get ahead on your content creation, spruce up your social media, organize your office, continue working on the other areas of your business if you don’t feel comfortable direct marketing right now.

Don’t just hide or avoid sharing the services and solutions you offer though. Remember, marketing is not about selling anyways, it’s about serving. People will still need what you have to offer and will appreciate knowing you are there to help them.

People will also be looking for normalcy and distractions too. There will be a lot more people online, watching and seeing what you post and how you are showing up and serving during this time.

What to post on social media & in your newsletters:

When you are sharing content, be sensitive to what is going on. You don’t have to avoid it completely but try to focus more on positive things, ideas, gratitude, community building, sharing helpful information and ideas about your products and solutions and benefits and building relationships.

One on One Contact & Following Up with Leads:

For 1:1 contacts and following up address the concern of what is going on right now, ask how they are doing and mention that you still wanted to connect as promised. That you wanted to make sure they had any info they requested, products, etc they needed. Let them know you are still there to offer customer service and help then whenever they are ready.

In your VIP Groups or On Business Pages:

Offer some kind of free event or challenge or helpful program related to your solutions to give people something positive and productive (and perhaps fun and entertaining) while they are at home or dealing with all that is going on. (More tips for Groups & Biz Pages here)

Take your business online:

If you have mostly done home parties or in person events and selling, now is a great time to take your direct sales business online! The internet and social media offer many opportunities to grow your business.

Begin doing FB Lives to share helpful info, have conversations, demo products, share tips, tutorials and benefits. You could even hold a weekly live sale with a certain theme. (Livestream and Video tips here)

Start holding Online Parties, they are a great way to build your business and share the party experience and benefits with others from the comfort of home. (Online Party Tips here)

Now is a GREAT time to building community, showcasing your authenticity and expertise. Set yourself up as the go-to person and create trust during the next few weeks and that will lead to sales, bookings and team members in the future when life goes back to normal.

Utilize other online platforms:

Now is a great time to learn and use Pinterest. It is not a typical social media platform, it is an online search engine so is image, content and search driven. Set up your account, create a few boards relevant to your business, start creating images in Canva and begin building up your Pinterest.

Youtube is another great platform. Create videos and post them on Youtube. (Re-purpose the videos on other platforms too.)

Start or update your blog. Get more content on the web that is SEO friendly and enjoy the benefits of more people being online and absorbing content. (Learn how to create a blog for your direct sales business)

Use this time to work on other areas of your business:

I’ll be honest, being online is a bit overwhelming for me right now and it’s hard to focus on some of the bigger aspects of my business. I’m choosing to use this time to work on offline projects and smaller things I can get done that don’t require a lot of focus.

Now is a great time to work on planning, implementing systems, creating a marketing & content plan and planning ahead for what you want to do in your business later in the year.

A few ideas for productive work you can do:

Organize your home office (download a free printable home office organization checklist here)

Get your systems in place (grab my Direct Sales Toolkit, Schedule & Systems Training here)

Spruce up your branding and update your social media profiles

Create blog post, video and social media content for the future

Create images on Canva for future use (use this link for 30 day free trial of Canva Pro) (also get 550 free gorgeous stock images to use from Ivory Mix here)

Update your contact database or customer follow up spreadsheet

Create some new party themes

Complete any training you purchased and never finished…

Be productive and proactive right now however you can.

There may be some things you can’t do or don’t feel like now is the right time to do them.. But there are MANY other activities you can do that will build your business and set you up for success once all this is over.

Most importantly, take good care of yourself!

Take care of yourself, your mental and physical health. Enjoy spending time with family, working on things you’ve been behind on. Eat healthy, get out in the sunshine (if it’s safe), exercise, practice mindfulness and gratitude. Connect with your loved ones and friends.

Have faith this will all pass and stay grounded in gratitude. Focus on the good & healthy habits that keep you calm during this time.

Tips for managing your finances during this time:

I know that financial concerns and questions during the Corona Virus pandemic are plentiful. Having been through a few difficult times financially myself in the past (when I lost a job, when a business failed, only being able to work part time for health reasons for 2+ years…) I wanted to share some practical tips for managing your finances, saving money and how to survive financially during a crisis. View my tips and strategies in this blog post on my main site CEO of Me.

No matter what, people will still be shopping and need items & services.

A lot of people are going to be home and have more time and be online more. While some people might have to be more careful with their spending, a lot of other people will still be shopping, spending and needing things.

It’s a great time for building community, growing relationships, showcasing who you are, your mission and how you can help and serve people.

While no one knows exactly what will happen or the full impact, we know that this will pass and we have to do our best to stay positive, take precautions and be the difference makers.

Hope for the best, be positive, show concern and be authentic in your marketing, conversations and actions.

I believe that will come through to all those you interact with and you will attract all that you need back as well. (I believe this to be true in all circumstances.)

Free & low-cost training and resources available for you on Direct Selling CEO:

I have a ton of free & low-cost training and resources available for you and will be sharing more over the coming weeks and months to help you keep your business alive and thriving. Access my Free Training & Printables portal here.

If you are already a customer, check the member website for the link to join the DSCEO Circle FB Group for additional support, networking and training all year long.

On the new Direct Selling CEO FB Page, I regularly share tips, encouragement and ideas to step into the role of a CEO and build your business authentically

Browse through the Blog & Free Training here on DSCEO for tons of free printables, training articles, videos and tools too.

If you’ve purchased any of my products, you can join and participate in my DSCEO Circle VIP FB Group for vip level support, monthly training, weekly activity, community, networking and accountability (link can be found in the member portal)

As always, I’m here to support you, you can email or message me or comment on my posts for help. hello@directsellingceo.com

I hope you & your family remain healthy and your business will continue to thrive during this time.

❤️ Misty