18 Feb 2008 04:05:55 | Kara Kelso
Being in direct sales can often give the feeling "I don't have
to do much, just sell". It's true, you don't have to ship orders
or create websites, or even design catalogs (even though we
recommend it sometimes). Your job as the rep is to direct
customers to products, that's it. The fact is, to 'sell' the
product is the hardest part.
Because "just selling" is more complicated than it seems, it's
important to you to have a marketing plan. First of course you
will need to set goals, so you know where you want to be by a
set time. The next part is deciding on how to get there.
A marketing plan should include the following:
- What types of marketing ideas you plan to use This would be
ideas such as purchasing ads, hosting parties online and
offline, networking, having your own newsletter, etc.
- Why you want to use these forms of marketing Of course our
main objective is to gain more sales, right? Dig a little deeper
on these different forms of marketing to really see WHY you are
going to use these forms. You may want to host an offline party
to not only make sales, but to book more shows. You want a
newsletter to keep customers informed of new products and
specials, to convince them to buy.
- How you are going to follow through on the ideas Just having
them down on paper doesn't do you much good. If you want to have
several online parties, write down how you plan to pull in
visitors. If you want to use a newsletter (highly recommended),
write down how you plan to gain subscribers and what will go
into your newsletter.
- Schedules Don't overwhelm yourself - make a schedule of what
type of promotion you'll be using first. If you want to have an
online party, start your newsletter first. While I know you want
to have that party, it's important to do other things first so
you are ready and have the best attendance possible.
Don't skip this important step to succeeding with your company!
Even though you are "just selling", having a marketing plan can
make it much easier to do your job.
About the author:
------------------------
About Author :
s: Kara Kelso & Anita
DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales
Helpers. For more Direct Sales Success Tips, visit:
http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/newsletter.html 
