In fact it was the first thing that I was told to do when I started my direct sales business.

Dawn you have to have a launch party!

A launch party I said? I did not have a place to have a party let alone the friends to come to my party!

I was the one who had very few friends and living in a studio apartment at the time.

So having a launch party was simply out of the question.

But despite the fact that I did not have parties, I was still successful in recruiting tons of people AND making tons of product sales in my business.

The thing is, when most people were doing parties, I took the time to learn different strategies that made me stand out. 

In an industry where competition is HUGE it is important to make the difference.

Sometimes going in the opposite direction is OK.

I would admit that a few Facebook parties did get me sales here and there, but what actually skyrocketed my business was using new, modern-day approaches to direct sales.

So what did I do differently?

5 Simple Ways To Grow Your Direct Sales Business Without Having Parties

1. Online Marketing

There is so much power in the internet and there is a reason why most successful businesses leverage this platform.

But many direct sales consultants seem to forget that it is there or if they know it is there, they do not know how to use it.

The internet provides a playground of opportunity, to find people who are searching for AND interested in your products when you have exhausted your warm market.

When I started direct selling, I went through my warm market in a matter of days.

Although I was trained to use social media outlets like Instagram and Facebook to find new prospects, many other people were also doing that!

It is no wonder why I sucked big time at trying to build a brand for myself. I mean, every time someone reached out to me in my DMs about my product, they usually followed up with something like “Oh yea! XYZ told me about this so I would buy from her”.

I had to come up with an alternative and it was to use the internet.

Using the internet to build a brand for yourself opens so many doors because you are in touch with a lot more people, both locally and internationally.

If you really understand how to use the internet to build a global direct sales company, then you can build a huge business. Check out my latest article where I explain how to build a global direct sales business.

It also meant that I could target people who were actually looking for my product rather than rely on people who only supported me, because I was a friend or family member.

So here’s what this looks like when I do a search, using my keyword research tool, to find people who are looking for a specific direct sales product.

Let’s say that product is the infamous skinny wrap that helps you tighten loose skin.

When I search for a keyword that could be searched by people on Google or other search engines, this is the type of results I get:

The above screenshot shows you the keyword that I have entered on the left which is “tighten loose skin” and on the right, it shows you the potential volume of searches on the search engines for variations of the keyword.

So for example, “loose stomach skin” gets approximately 1300 searches on the search engines. “Tummy skin tightening” get approximately 590 searches on the search engines.

This means that you have the opportunity to show your product to these people who are actually searching for a solution to “loose stomach skin” and “tummy skin tightening”.

And if you market your product properly to those people, then they are more likely to buy that product.

That is what is so amazing about search engine marketing.

Meanwhile on Instagram or Facebook, I was taught that every person I spoke to was a potential prospect. Knowing what I know now, I have to say … not really!

I would waste hours searching for that ONE person to say yes, when I had thousands of targeted people on Google who wants a solution to loose skin.

The most important thing that you can learn here, is to go after targeted people, as opposed to everyone.

It will make your life so much easier and running your business so much fun!

If you are looking for targeted prospects for your direct sales or network marketing business, check out this blog post or read my review of MLM Leads and Udimi Solo Ads.

How To Convert Searchers Into Leads and Buyers?

This was a secret that no company to my mind ever mentioned, although I strongly believe that every direct sales consultant should use.

(Before you use these methods, make sure that your company policy supports it.)

I used a marketing sales funnel. 

What Is a Marketing Sales Funnel?

A marketing sales funnel automatically introduces a prospect to my product via a lead capture page. 

A lead capture page, is a website page where I tell my audience what I have to offer, then entice them with something free in exchange for their name and email address.

By having a lead capture page, I was building an email list for my direct sales business so that I could find new prospects for my business.

Click this link to see what my lead capture page for direct selling consultants looked like.

My lead capture page will then take my prospect to a bridge page where I speak about the product and tell them more about why they should buy it and how it can solve their problems.

The bridge page also includes a link that directs the prospect to the website where they can purchase the product if they want to.

By using Google and other search engines, I could easily target my ideal customer and ask Google to show that potential customer my lead capture page via an internet link.

A marketing sales funnel, literally catapulted my business to success and gave me the freedom of time that I desperately needed.

Marketing sales funnel builders like Clickfunnels and LeadPages allow you to create a targeted website, then use that website to capture people’s information who are really interested in your offer.

This meant that I no longer had to speak to over 100 people, just to find that one person who would say yes.

It also meant that I could automatically get sales into my business, without me speaking directly to my prospect. The sales funnel did all the talking for me.

Click the video below to see how this process is completed with Clickfunnels.

>>Free Book Teaches You How To Use Sales Funnels For Your Direct Selling and Network Marketing Business <<

2. Email Marketing

You have probably heard somewhere before that “the money is in the list”.

Yet you are probably not building your email list at all.

An email list, is simply a list of subscribers who provide their email to you, so you can send them promotional content like newsletters, product offers or posts directly to their email address.

Do you know that social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat do not belong to us?

When we build an audience using these channels, there is a risk that it can easily be taken away from us when we least expect it.

Imagine growing your audience to over 20,000 people. Now imagine the time and effort put in and then one day it is wiped out! Gone!

This is why you should be working on building your email list as any audience we create here belongs to us.

Yes! We have complete ownership of our email lists.

When I started building my email list I did not quite understand the phrase “the money is in the list”.

Now that I have an email list of over 1000 targeted subscribers, I can send one email with valuable content and generate a sale from that email blast.

Optinmonster also confirms the effectiveness of email marketing over social media with their blog post Email Marketing v Social Media Performance.

So how do you start building an email list?

Well you must have the following tools to start:

• A website or lead capture page – I use LeadPages for my lead capture page builder but you can also use Clickfunnels or any of these awesome builders to start.
• Email autoresponder – I use and recommend Aweber because it makes sure that all my emails are sent directly to my prospects’ inbox. There is also GetResponse which is another great autoresponder and they have some pretty neat lead capture pages as well.

I then strategically place my website link, on the internet or my social media accounts and capture prospects’ details if they want more information about my product.

Building an email list allowed me to easily follow up with my prospects and continue to remind them about my products.

This was a key way that helped me to get so many sales into my business.

Related Article: 

• How To Start Your First Email List From Scratch  
• How To Build A Profitable Email List Step by Step
• How To Get Email Subscribers As A Newbie

3. Blogging

If it is one thing that you can do for your direct sales business, it is blogging.

That is because blogging allows you to provide a hub where prospects can go to, to get more in-depth information about you and your product.

I DO NOT recommend your company’s website blog, but your own personal blog that is hosted by you.

The reason why I would recommend your own personal blog, is because it belongs completely to you.

What is a blog?

A blog is like your home on the internet. It is a place that you fill with content on just about anything.

So if you are in direct sales and you are selling hair care products, you can personalise your blog with posts about hair care that will help viewers solve their problems.

A blog will help grow your business

If you optimise your blog so that it can be found in search engines, you are accessible by many more people than you can meet at home parties or Facebook parties.

With parties, most times you operate in ways that are sales-oriented. You really only have about an hour to impress upon your prospect why they should buy your product.

Let us not forget that people do not like being sold to.

However with a blog, your prospects have the time to read your helpful posts.

If the right amount of value is provided, you bet they will be ready to buy immediately.

A blog helps establish trust and credibility

When you write a blog, you establish yourself as an expert. Do not worry if you are new to blogging or your direct sales company.

You can easily do research on your company’s products and write posts in your own words. The internet is also full of resources that help you to recreate posts that provide solutions to your prospects.

By blogging, you stand out and this can be your unique selling point.

After all, you are using a forum that other direct sales consultants hardly or do not ever use!

Furthermore when you present yourself as an expert, more people will trust your recommendation and are thus more likely to buy from you.

Ready to start your own blog? Read my article The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Starting A Successful Blog  which provides a step-by-step walk through on how I created this blog. You can actually start your blog for as little as $3.95 a month with Bluehost and WordPress. 

Related Articles: 

• Network Marketing Blog 5 Reasons Why You Need Them  
• The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Starting A Successful Blog

4. Facebook Marketing

Yes you can use Facebook groups to promote your products to your circle via Facebook parties but Facebook is bigger than that.

Just like online marketing, Facebook has a huge database of information on its users.

This allows you to specifically target people who may be interested in your products.

So if you are a direct sales consultant in a weight loss company, you can create an ad and ask Facebook to show it to people who are interested in Diets and Weight Loss or Easy Weight Loss.

Do you think these people will be interested in your product that helps them to lose weight?

Of course they will be.

So not only are you connecting with people who are not in your inner circle but you are connecting with the right kind of people who are ten times more likely to buy your product because they are interested in it.

When you use Facebook’s platform in this way you can collect your prospects’ information exactly as you would by using lead capture pages if you want to use email marketing to follow up with them later on.

If Facebook Ads is your choice of growing your direct sales business without having parties, then I would strongly recommend the Social Traffic Blueprint Facebook Ads Course by Jon Penberthy and Jubril Agoro.

They teach you everything you need to know about how to place a Facebook ad the right way. I would not try Facebook ads without doing a course or understanding the ad platform thoroughly as you can waste a lot of money. Be sure to also check out Facebook Blueprint which is a user guidance for Facebook Ads.

Check out the response that I got from one Facebook ad for my company’s product which generated hundreds of product sales. 

If you would like to use Facebook as a traffic source feel free to check out the course here.

5. Pinterest

If you are in direct sales then Pinterest is one of THE best platforms that you can use to grow your business.

Best of all, it is a FREE platform.

Not many people go to Pinterest because it is one of those social media outlets that is rarely heard of for business, but did you know that Pinterest has more than 150 million monthly active users and is actually a search engine? So people are actually searching for solutions to their problems on there.

I have said over and over that I absolutely LOVE Pinterest. It is the one place where I can showcase my business through my blog and get targeted leads and sales.

With Pinterest you can surf visually stimulating images and get ideas for hair styles, wardrobes or gift ideas.

I however use it strategically to drive traffic to my blog or website.

Check out the amount of traffic that I am getting from Pinterest to my blog below.

Do you think that if you can get this amount of traffic to your website that you can make a few good product sales?

To learn how to use Pinterest I first invested in a course called the Pinterest Traffic Avalanche course by Alex Nerney and Lauren McManus. This course taught me some really cool things on how to increase traffic to my website with Pinterest.

In the course they also teach you pinning strategies, how to create viral pins that get the most traffic amongst other valuable lessons to grow your business. If you wish to use Pinterest as a traffic source feel free to check out the course here.

How to create pins

How I do this, is I create beautiful pins using an easy to use graphic tool like PicMonkey and stock photos from Shutterstock, then connect that pin to my blog.

I then share my pins in targeted group boards where I can connect with people who may be interested in one of my topics.

So for example, I am a part of many network marketing, direct sales and affiliate marketing group boards because I know that people on these boards have followed it because they are interested in it.

Before now, I would have never thought about using Pinterest as a business tool but once I discovered that I could actually grow my business using it, I became absolutely hooked on the idea.

Final Thoughts

Online marketing is huge. It is a known fact that the top direct sales consultants grow their business using the internet and with the help of various marketing tools.

However even today, consultants are still encouraged to use the “belly-to-belly” strategy which in my view only helps you achieve mediocre results.

Cheers,

P.S Are you using any other ways to grow your business without home parties? Show me some love in the comments and let me know. I would love to hear more from you.

Resources That Will Help You Even More

How To Use Sales Funnels To Grow Your Network Marketing Team a free e-book that will teach you all you need to know about using sales funnels to build your direct selling and network marketing team.

Start A Blog ECourse 5 Days To Blogging Success my free blog course will teach you how to start a blog and build it around your direct sales business.

Power Coaching if you have a product, service or business, personally work with me and I will help you automate and leverage the internet so you can live the life that you truly want. I will help you take your business to the next level with personalised coaching sessions. My coaching sessions are $247/hour. Please only complete the application form if you are serious about utilising my coaching. Click here to complete the application form. 

Aweber the internet’s most powerful tool to help automate your email communication. This is what I use to build my email list and send my newsletter to my subscribers to form the relationship. It is one of the biggest tools you will need in your business.

The post 5 Simple Ways To Grow Your Direct Sales Business Without Having Parties appeared first on I Am Dawn-Marie.

The most common complaint that I have heard from my network marketer friends during my network marketing days, was that they were tired of asking friends and family to support them in their business, but having very little success with it.

It’s an unfortunate lesson that even I had to learn, but I began to understand that friends and family did not have to support me at all in my business. If I wanted to succeed, it was up to me, to make it happen with or without them.

Sadly, this remains the misconception that most network marketers have today. Whilst there are many ways that you can support someone, it does not necessarily include buying your product.

So if this is the mindset you have, when you join your first network marketing business, I hope that my blog post can encourage you to change it and you will see how you can move in a different direction, so your business can move forward. 

If you are new to any online business or network marketing, you are probably making one of these five mistakes.

Fortunately, it’s not too late to change.

Now is the time for you to identify the mistake and correct it.

Five Network Marketing Mistakes You’re Probably Guilt Of Making In Your Network Marketing Business…

Network Marketing Mistake #1

Always Pitching

As I think back on the things I used to do as a network marketer, now that I know better, I cannot believe some of the things I did.

For example, cold messaging as many people as I could on Instagram and pitching to them the sale of my product, without even an introduction.

Sometimes I have to wonder “what was I thinking?”

Whilst cold messaging people is an excellent way to meet new people and form new connections, there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it.

If cold messaging people, is one of your strategies, to producing sales in your business, here is a polite reminder – very few people tolerate sales pitches that provide no valuable information to help them understand the offer and why they need it. 

If they have never engaged with you or your business, then it is unlikely that you will get a favourable response to a cold message pitching the sale of your product.

There are a few things that you have to do, to be qualified and have the authority to pitch to someone.

If you expect an audience to pay attention to you, you must be prepared to take the time to help your audience build trust with you.

One of the ways you can do this, is demonstrate your expertise by educating your prospects about your products in a way that is interesting. When you give away valuable content and people absorb it because they are interested in it, it is ok to ask your audience for the sale.

Most people think like this:

They get massive value for free, they see that you can potentially help them with their problem, they buy into you because of the potential to work with you.

That really is it.

When you understand that, then you will get why pitching a sale and ONLY pitching, will get you very little results.

How can you provide value?

• Share information that you have learnt
• If something solved your problem, share it
• Do not expect anything in return
• Always show up and show a willingness to offer help

See if that makes a difference in the number of sales you can get.

Network Marketing Mistake #2

Not asking for the sale

You cannot be afraid to ask for the sale directly.

It goes without saying that if you have provided a lot of value that has helped someone, then you have the authority to ask for the sale.

So many network marketers leave a lot of money on the table, when they expect their prospects to buy a product on their inclination.

Whilst there are some prospects who will buy your product without a request to do so, others  need a bit of direction and sometimes a push to make a move.

I always say that the right time to ask for the sale, is when you have provided value at least 3 or 4 times before.

Here is the sequence that I use:

Day 1 Value

Day 2 Value

Day 3 Value

Day 4 Pitch

But when you are asking for the sale do not make the mistake of just saying

Buy XYZ now.

It may be more attractive and professional if you ask for the sale by giving an indication of what your prospect can expect from you when they buy your product.

For example,

• Free coaching
• Direct contact to you by personal means (phone number, Skype address, messenger)
• Free access to a weight loss support group
• Free training video

You want to stand out from the rest by giving rewards or bonuses to your prospects for joining you.

Network Marketing Mistake #3

No Proper System In Place

I will forgive you if you have no system in place to market your product because for a long time, especially being new, I wasted a lot of time by not having a system for my business.

When I started in my network marketing business, there was a saying that stood out to me and actually made me realise how important having systems were.

That phrase was “systems work, people fail”?

Systems are designed to make our lives easier. Technology was created to make the things that we do in our lives and jobs easier to manage.

Just because you are a network marketer does not mean that you cannot take your business online.

For too long, network marketing has been run by old school methods. New school methods mean that you can take your business online and use a system to automate your business.

When I first started network marketing, if someone told me that I could

• Make sales without speaking to anyone
• Get prospects without speaking to anyone
• Run my business straight from my laptop without the need to attend fairs or beauty events

I would have jumped straight in line.

But for two years I was uneducated and uninformed. I felt like it was a waste of two years but regardless, I am grateful for my journey.

Since I have added a system to my business, I have had many more prospects and sales.

Let us admit that the follow up process can be time consuming, exhausting and not for the faint of heart. But with a good system in place, the follow up process can be done for you.

Network Marketing Mistake #4

Wrong Targeting

You start a network marketing business and you instantly post on your Facebook timeline about the opportunity and product. 

You wait. An hour goes by and there is no engagement with your post.

Do you know what you have done wrong there?

Most likely, you have targeted the wrong audience.

Let us go back to the opening paragraph.

Your friends and family do not have to fall into the equation of your business. They may not even be interested in what you have to offer.

So before you post, ask yourself this question:

Are the persons who I am posting to, on my social media, remotely interested in what I have to offer?

What does your target market look like? What do they want?

When you can answer these questions, you can really hone in on those persons who are really interested in what you have to offer.

Another good thing is that you can actually eliminate quickly those who are not.

This helps you avoid wasting time and immediately get you to the right people for your product or service. Do not go fishing in a pond full of turtles when what you are really after is a pond full of sharks.

Network Marketing Mistake #5

Not properly promoting your product

The biggest mistake that you can make is to never bring your content in front of new people.

I see so many people who focus on promoting their business solely on Facebook to the same 100 friends. You want to always be sharing your offer with new people.

How can you make sure that new people are seeing your offer?

Well advertise as much as possible and post your offer in as many places as possible.

You always want fresh eyeballs on your offer every single day. Make it a goal to spend the best part of your time working on getting your content out in as many places as you can whether through free advertising or paid advertising.

By the way. Facebook is not the only way to get people to see your offer. Try

• Twitter
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• Blogging
• Google SEO
• Instagram
• Etc.

Everyone turns to Facebook because it is the go-to social media platform, but would you not like to dominate a space that not many other people are using? 

Those are the five network marketing mistakes you are probably making, that is holding you back. 

If you are making those mistakes, then check out my other network marketing tips and resources below:

Related Topics:

• 5 Ways To Boost Your Network Marketing Business With Sales Funnels
• Should I Buy Leads For My Network Marketing Business
• How To Get Referrals To Your Business With Attraction Marketing 

If you are ready to get serious about growing your network marketing business or any business for that matter, make sure to sign up for the free E-book (just pay shipping), Network Marketing Secrets

I discuss why marketing tools matter, how to get tons and tons of people to see your offer and so much more.

Click here to sign up for the free E-book

Cheers,

P.S I really want to hear from you TODAY, so get out from behind that screen and leave a comment.

P.P.S Wait a minute! Have you subscribed to my You Tube Channel, where I give more free TIPS? I am growing so be part of the community.

The post Network Marketing Mistakes You’re Probably Guilty Of appeared first on I Am Dawn-Marie.