Throwback: Are You Building Relationships?

  This blog first appeared on November 20, 2015.

If you read my blog regularly, you know building relationships is BIG with me.  I think it is the key to having a life full of harmony – personally and in your business.  Today, we are going to talk about building relationships in your business.

Tis the season you will run in to a LOT of people – old friends, new friends, family. Tis the season to build  relationships, which can fuel your entire year with loyalty, referrals and more!

Let’s start with building Relationships with Potential Anything (customers, hostess, team, etc):

Do you think before you speak, act or even post on Facebook?  How often have you vented on Facebook?  Admit it, we all have.  The truth is if you are Debbie Downer or Negative Nellie all the time –  nobody wants to buy from you, you probably wouldn’t even buy from yourself PLUS nobody wants to be around you.  Are you constantly posting about “needing to fill your calendar” or needing xxx amount is sales? Guess what – you sound DESPERATE! People don’t buy from people who are desperate.

People buy from people they like.  People buy from people who make them feel good about themselves.  Show the honest, real, caring, kind, compassionate, positive, confident, and upbeat side of YOU and guess what? People will want to be around you and as a result will want to buy from you.

How about building relationships with your customers?  I know you are thinking, “they’re already buying from me, what do I have to do?”.  The truth is you want to KEEP their business.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen someone carrying a Thirty One product and started a conversation.  I always ask if they have a consultant because I would never want to steal someone’s customer.  It breaks my heart when they say “I don’t remember” or “I never hear from them, so do you have a card”.

UGH!  I pray it is never one of my customers who answers this way.  What do you do to stand out from the crowd?  What do you do to let them know you appreciate them?  Not just when they place an order or maybe all year long.  I will admit I am good at this for about 4 months from the time of the order but then it becomes more difficult.  I continue to work on this (see, you aren’t alone).

Remember YOUR CUSTOMERS are what fuel your business. They keep you in business. THANK THEM OFTEN! It doesn’t matter how you do it – a thinking of you card, a post on a picture they posted on Facebook, or a phone call just for no reason.  Let them know you think of them as more than just a paycheck!  Make them feel special!  Make them feel appreciated!  It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money but believe me when you let them know how much you appreciate them – they will stick with you!

Okay, will they occasional buy from someone else, maybe.  Ask them about those purchases, how they are liking them and make sure they were happy with their customer service experience! More times than not, when you have a super loyal customer buy from another consultant, its because she was helping out a friend with a party or an order. She isn’t trying to hurt you, its not always about you, get over it. She was doing a selfless thing for her friend, make her feel special for doing that. She will remember it. I promise you!

The bottom line is relationships are the meat of our business – our products are just what get us in the door or through the computer screen.  Be someone who stands out and makes a positive impression on those you come across. Make sure you are remembered as THE person who made her feel special!

What is your best tip for building relationships and growing your business?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

You and Your Hostess – Better Together

 

If you are in direct sales, and more importantly, in a party plan business, you know that the bulk of your business is going to be a result of your parties – home, online/catalog or Facebook.

Amazing women are going to host parties.  They are going to welcome their friends and family into their home with the expectation that they are going to buy your products.  PLUS, you are hoping that they will host a party with you and invite their friends to come back for more products.  In the midst of all of this you are hopefully building a relationship with these woman.

These ladies are going to get down and dirty with you – they are going to know how you work. You are going to help them by showing them how to have a successful party when YOU hostess coach.   They are going to learn about the business – your business (and whether it could be for them).  They are going to know the ins and outs of your hostess reward program.  Of course all of this is based on the fact that you do your job right!

So far it seems like they are doing all the work, right?  So she is expecting to be HOOKED UP!

Here is where you come in…..Picture it: she is hosting and getting her friends to buy, come to a party, join a party, sacrifice family time, etc.  Trust me she wants to be hooked up so she is getting the best bang for her buck. .

YOU are going to:

• work your tail off to get her as many orders as you can!
• work with her every step of the way through hostess coaching!
• work with her to get her those spare specials, if it is possible.
• want her to get as much as possible, for as cheap as possible.

Now, I am sure you have heard that it is not a good idea to let your guests or your hostess take those spare specials.  To be honest, this has never hurt my business.  Picture the guest who really wants the special but may not be able to afford much.  Maybe it is an either or situation.  Maybe if she spends the $35 to qualify for the special, she won’t be able to afford the special.  Wouldn’t it be better to help the guest out instead of not having a sale at all?  Listen to what your guests are saying so that you can help your hostess get it all.

It helps you out by building a relationship and loyalty especially with your hostess.  It lets her know that you listened to her wish list, her desires, her needs and what she is wanting!

Do what it takes man, so long as its legal and within your company’s guidelines!

I promise you this, when you work hard for her, she will work hard for you and she will be back. She will become very loyal and so will her friends cause she is going to talk you up!

Good customer service is SO hard to come by these days, be that GOOD customer service!

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

Are You Building Relationships?

If you read my blog regularly, you know that building relationships is BIG with me.  I think it is the key to having a life that is full of harmony – personally and in your business.  Today, we are going to talk about building relationships in your business.

Tis the season that you will run in to a LOT of people – old friends, new friends, family. Tis the season to build  relationships, that can fuel your entire year with loyalty, referrals and more!

Let’s start with building Relationships with Potential Anything (customers, hostess, team, etc):

Do you think before you speak, act or even post on Facebook?  How often have you vented on Facebook?  Admit it, we all have.  The truth is that if you are Debbie Downer or Negative Nellie all the time –  nobody wants to buy from you, you probably wouldn’t even buy from yourself PLUS nobody wants to be around you.  Are you constantly posting about “needing to fill your calendar” or needing xxx amount is sales?  Guess what – you sound DESPERATE! People don’t buy from people who are desperate.

People buy from people that they like.  People buy from people who make them feel good about themselves.  Show the honest, real, caring, kind, compassionate, positive, confident, and upbeat side of YOU and guess what? People will want to be around you and as a result will want to buy from you.

How about building relationships with your customers?  I know you are thinking, “they’re already buying from me, what do I have to do?”.  The truth is you want to KEEP their business.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen someone carrying a Thirty One product and started a conversation.  I always ask if they have a consultant because I would never want to steal someone’s customer.  It breaks my heart when they say “I don’t remember” or “I never hear from them, so do you have a card”.

UGH!  I pray that it is never one of my customers who answer like that…What do you do to stand out from the crowd?  What do you do to let them know that you appreciate them?  Not just when they place an order or maybe all year long.  I will admit I am good at this for about 4 months from the time of the order but then it becomes more difficult.  I continue to work on this (see, you aren’t alone).

Remember that YOUR CUSTOMERS are what fuel your business. They keep you in business. THANK THEM OFTEN! It doesn’t matter how you do it – a thinking of you card, a post on a picture they posted on Facebook, or a phone call just for no reason.  Let them know that you think of them as more than just a paycheck!  Make them feel special!  Make them feel appreciated!  It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money but believe me when you let them know how much you appreciative them – they will stick with you!

Okay, will they occasional buy from someone else, maybe.  Ask them about those purchases, how they are liking them and make sure they were happy with their customer service experience! More times than not, when you have a super loyal customer buy from another consultant, its because she was helping out a friend with a party or an order. She isn’t trying to hurt you, its not always about you, get over it. She was doing a selfless thing for her friend, make her feel special for doing that. She will remember THAT. I promise you!

The bottom line is that relationships are the meat of our business – our products are just what get us in the door or through that computer screen.  Be someone that stands out and makes a positive impression on those that you come across. Make sure you are remembered as THAT person that made her feel special!

What is your best tip for building relationships and growing your business?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

BINGO Thirty One Style

Today’s Throwback Thursday picture is BINGO Thirty One style.  I love being able to CELEBRATE, ENCOURAGE & REWARD my friends, family and customers.  Hmm, must be time for another one….

So, are you wondering HOW to do this?  What started as a small party at my home with 5 people grew into a major event that I co-hosted with a team.

What do you need?  I actually bought a BINGO set at a flea market for $5.  The basket to turn the balls is a bit shaky BUT it has a board which makes it easy to track the numbers called.  You can also get BINGO cards that you shuffle like a deck of cards to call numbers.  I got a LARGE quantity of BINGO sheets on Amazon and they have lasted for a long time.  I think I still have some after about 4 BINGO sessions

Location?  Any place, really.  My first few were in my home.  Then I moved to a larger place and joined forces with a team member.  We used the fire hall and sold tickets PRIOR to the event.

Cost?  We charged $12 for 6 game boards.  The cost also included light snacks but we encouraged people to bring their own too.  Additional game boards were available for $2 each with a maximum of 3 boards per game per person.  You know there are some crazy BINGO players out there who play up to 10 boards at a time and we wanted to make it fair for everyone.  Our costs varied depending on space rental, the snacks and decorations.

How it works?  The money collected for the game boards becomes the money used for gift certificate prizes.  So if you have 10 people paying $12, you have collected $120.  If you have 6 games, you may do 3 games at $10 each for the winner, 2 games at $20 each and one final board is $50.  The money collected for the extra boards can be used for prizes or to offset the cost of the space rental (if there is one) or the snacks or the smaller prizes.

Lessons learned:

• 6 games for a small party is too many
• Cash and carry was a BIG draw.
• Gift certificates could NOT be used for these items.
• Always have a small display of the current special and the upcoming special
• Those who win will order using their gift certificates and usually spend more.

To some it may sound like a lot of work for a small return.  The truth is that it is a great way to build relationships with your customers.  If you have a hall, invite people to host a table and bring their own snacks.  Make it a fun event.  Step out of your comfort zone and offer the opportunity to new groups or hostesses. The thought of coming to play BINGO instead of attending a “home party” may be just the ticket someone needs to host a party.

Whose ready to shout BINGO?  Want to raise money for a cause or just have a fun, girl’s night out.  Contact me for details.

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Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

 

Organize Your Business Cards

I am so excited about this FREE app!  It was shared by a friend and I was curious. It is called CamCard and it is a GREAT way to organize your business cards.

Picture this, you are at a networking meeting or a vendor event or say your company’s National Conference.  You meet people and exchange business cards, right?  In the end, you have this HUGE stack (yes, I am optimistic) of business cards that you aren’t sure what you will do with.  Some of us from the “old days” may have a rolodex or a business card file.

You file the business card by that person’s last name and then what?  If you are like me, when you think of that person you can’t find their card.  Did I file it under their company name?  Did I file it by their last name? Their first name?  Oh wait, if I filed it by their name – that would mean that I would have to remember their name, right?  UGH!

I put this app on my phone and started taking pictures of the cards that I had in my wallet, that I had recently collected at a network event.  I was able to create a category (the name of the network group) and then add them to the category.  This way, if I only remembered where I met them instead of their name, or if they sold some of my favorite products, or if I met them at National Conference, I could find them.

There are TWO ways to enter contacts:

1) you can take a picture of the card and the information is automatically entered.  With this method you have not only have an actual picture of their business card BUT if there is a picture on the card, you have that too.  This is a great way to remember the people that we connect with; or

2) you can enter the information manually.  There is room for notes, birth date, social media accounts, etc. I love these feature because I usually make notes on the back of business cards so that I remember what we talked about or their birth month for my Thirty One Birthday Club.

Did you catch that this app is FREE?  No, this is NOT a paid advertisement, I truly like this product.

I might actually get the business cards organized that are in my “box” and be able to reconnect with some people that got lost in the bottomless pit.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!