Direct Sales is an industry that attracts people from all walks of life. This is both good and troubling.
It’s good because the diversity of the marketplace allows consultants to interact with a variety of people, learning new ideas, sharing products, and getting comfortable in their own skin as a business owner and salesperson. It’s troubling because so many of those same direct sellers assume that they must do business with anyone that crosses their path.
Targeting anyone that fogs up a mirror is a HUGE mistake!
It’s akin to committing direct sales suicide. Not only are you killing yourself working countless hours for potential clients that drive you nuts, but you’re also killing your joy for the business, your time with your family, and your income potential by chasing anyone with a pulse.
Instead of hounding people to take an interest in your direct sales offerings, focus on filling your business with clients that want to work with you.
How to Attract Clients You LOVE in Your Direct Sales Business
#1: Check YOUR Comfort Zone
Who are your best clients? Who are the hosts you love to work with and wish you could clone? Who are your best recruits? There are reasons that you work so well with those folks. For starters, they make you feel good when you work with them. So much so, that it probably doesn’t even feel like work.
Start a quest for the perfect-fit customer (or host, or recruit) by examining your current clients, hosts and recruits. Make a list of the specific traits, skills, abilities, and personality types and start to build a profile that is a composite sketch of all the positive qualities and characteristics.
#2: Check Your Discomfort Zone
Who are the clients you’d fire in a second if you thought you could? Make a list of all the annoying, irritating, frustrating, and bothersome qualities about these folks. These are all the reasons you need to stop doing business with them. Take a look at how much energy they are draining out of you. No one needs money that bad.
Face it, there are only two reasons to take on a client like this: as a favor for someone else, or because of a financial need. Cut them loose as soon as possible. If you’re really hurting for cash, think about how much more you could be making if you found new clients you actually like.
Then, take a hard look at the negative qualities you’ve listed, and think of the opposite, positive quality. Make a new list identifying the positive versions of those traits and add them to your original “Perfect-Fit Customer Profile”.
#3: Become a Gumshoe
Do a little detective work. Find out as much as you can about where your Perfect-Fit Customers hang out. What do they read? Where do they live? What commonalities can you find that might help you find more people like them?
Reading the same magazines, attending the same events, getting involved in the same activities all but guarantees you’ll meet more people just like the perfect-fit clients already in your client base.
Say thank-you to your existing clients by asking them out for coffee, one at a time. Start with your top five clients and offer to treat them to a cup of tea just as a way of saying thanks (and to pick their brain). Tell them you love working with them, that you’d like to find more clients like them, and ask for a referral.
If no one comes to mind, ask them questions to pinpoint activities and organizations they are involved in. For example, if your client just joined a book club, she may not know the members very well. She may be hesitant to offer a referral, but that book club may be riddled with your perfect-fit client.
By asking questions and getting to know your best clients even better, you develop a positive friendship alongside a growing business relationship. In addition, you open doors of possibility to find new clients just like your best ones.
#4: Get them “Addicted” to You
Create a “customer crack addiction”, meaning the experience you offer your clients keeps them hooked on you. Addicted clients come to all your parties, buy everything you recommend and can’t get enough of you! These clients will move heaven and earth to have more of whatever it is they think they need.
Creating a customer addiction goes beyond selling the products in your catalog. It means knowing your customers so well that you can anticipate their needs and help them improve their lives. In short, they don’t even think about looking at the competition because, in their mind, you’re the only game in town.
It could be your personal delivery service, your jovial nature, or the fact that you offer free gift-wrapping. There’s something that’s distinctive about who you are and the way you do business that your customers love. Give them more of that, and they’ll be even more loyal to you.
#5: Think Loyalty, Not Satisfaction
In Jeffrey Gitomer’s book “Customer Satisfaction is Worthless. Customer Loyalty is Priceless.” he asks this question: “When you think about your spouse, would you want them to be loyal or satisfied?” He draws the parallel to business.
Satisfied customers tolerate and endure. Loyal customers buy from you again and again. Your loyal customers don’t want to let you down, and evangelize for your business to their friends. A simple rewards program to encourage repeat business and thank clients for their loyalty goes a long way toward keeping their business in your back pocket.
None of these principles are new or that extraordinary. Get clear on who you love to work with, then serve them above and beyond their needs. Become their friends, and treat them like family. Cut loose anyone that doesn’t fit with your business model and keep refining what’s working to increase your business success.
It’s simple, but it’s not always easy. In the end, however, your wallet – and your clients – will thank you.
In addition to founding #dstips on Twitter, Lisa also publishes the popular and highly recommendedPartyOn! A weekly ezine for direct sales professionals. Get your free business building tips at Home Party Solution.com.
