Direct Selling February 2008

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Karen Phelps, Direct Selling Expert teaches you to "raise the bar" for yourself and your team! To hire Karen for your next event e-mail: Karen@Karenphelps.com

Karen's Monthly Audio Message

Quote for the month: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than one’s fear.” Ambrose Redmoon

In this Issue:  - "Courage to Succeed" - "Put Your Big Girl Panties on and Deal with it" Teleseminar - Protecting Your Valuable Bookings

Courage to Succeed

What would you do if you were not afraid? Would you make more phone calls? Would you ask more people to join your company? Would you earn your company incentive trip? Would you earn enough money to pay your credit card bills? Have you gone shopping and really saw something you liked but didn't purchase it because you were afraid you couldn't pay for it??? Shame on you! YOU ARE A CONSULTANT WITH A DIRECT SELLING COMPANY! You have the ability to earn as much money as you want!

It is absolutely amazing the power that "fear" has on our ability to create the life of our dreams! If I do this, than this disastrous thing may happen! OH WELL - GET OVER IT! Nothing will happen if you do not get over your fear!

On my www.askkarenphelps.com website we received over 1900 questions on how to succeed in your Direct Selling business. So many of the questions began with, "how do I get over my fear of..." Let's look at the different fears you may have in your Direct Selling business and how you can "face your fear" in order to move closer to success!

The number one fear given was of making phone calls for bookings, sales or recruits. It seems as if more people would rather clean their toilets than pick up the phone to make calls. WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE FEAR MAKING CALLS???

First, they don't  have a clean list of leads to call. The list is old mostly because they have procrastinated so long on making the calls.

Solution: - Get busy making calls today. Start with the oldest leads on your list and get a YES, NO, or call me back in 3 weeks commitment from every one you reach. Throw the old not interested leads away. They are dead! BURY THEM! The sooner you bury your dead leads the more time you will have to contact new prospects. Set a minimum of 30 minutes per day to make phone calls.

Second, they haven't defined the exact purpose for making each call. Phone Phobia strikes each time they pick up the phone because they don't know what to say to each person.

Solution - Filter your lead list or have a separate list for bookings, customer service follow up and business opportunity calls. Take time to write and practice your scripts of what you will say for each type of phone call. Prepare for what any objections might be and ask yourself, "what would someone need to say to me in order for me to make a "YES DECISION?" Often, you'll find if you practice overcoming the objections before you make the call you won't be tongue-tied or rambling on the actual call.

Number two fear was "asking for bookings." Oh ye, of little faith. Do you not know the exciting benefits you have to offer your Hostesses? If you really take time to study your company's hostess program and you learn to break it down into total retail products earned, total amount spent by Hostess and total savings to the Hostess you'll never worry about bookings again. If you really believed it was a great deal to be a Hostess you'd make sure you'd offer the "booking opportunity" to everyone! The truth is... you only have a hard time selling what you don't believe in!

Number three fear was of asking people to join the business. This often happens when we are new in the business and we are not making as much money as we would like to yet. It doesn't mean the opportunity isn't a great one, it just means that it will take a little while until we realize the monthly income we would like to earn. It's important for you to share your income goal with potential new recruits and let them know you are "excitedly working" on making your goals a reality.

Another easy way to get over the fear of asking others to join you in the business is to ask questions to find out what the business could do for your prospect. Once you understand it's more important to ask your prospect questions than it is to give the facts you'll be well on your way to sponsoring more people than you ever dreamed possible. People will respond positively when you take time to show how joining your company can be the solution to their problem or challenge!

Number four fear was of losing consultants. This is a big leadership problem. For some reason most people believe that everyone they sponsor into the business is "here for life." This could not be further from the truth.

The truth of the matter is most people are too lazy to work their Direct Selling business enough to be successful. Too lazy??? YES! We sell the dream but we do not realistically explain the way to get to the dream is to WORK! We sponsor people who believe they really can earn $100,000 or more a year and work their business only 4 hours per week. I'm not sure what planet they are from cause it sure isn't Earth.

What's wrong with showing the dream AND being honest with how to reach the dream? Why do you sponsor a new recruit and then not expect the new recruit to go to work? Why do you sponsor a new recruit and not expect them to learn how to do the business?

The fear of losing consultants begins for some people as soon as they sign a new recruit. They are so excited to have a new recruit they forget the best way to keep a consultant is to help them "EARN MONEY RIGHT AWAY." You need to create a "sense of urgency" for each new consultant to attend trainings, book parties and begin sponsoring right away!

Consultants who are unmotivated, don't attend meetings and trainings, whine and complain all the time about their lack of business are mostly not worth the effort to try to save. If you are intent on trying one last word of advice, "review the person's goals with them and discover what they are willing to do to reach their goals." If they consultant continues to have no activity in the business chances are YOU WANT THEM TO SUCCEED MORE THAN THEY WANT TO!

As John Addison says, "throwing alarm clocks in the cemetery won't wake the dead." Bury them and find new consultants and you'll notice a surge in your energy as well as your team!

Number five fear was of being pushy. This is a totally unfounded fear that is based mostly upon our own perception of sales people. The truth of the matter is most of us probably never thought we would "ever sell anything." Most of us did not dream of growing up and having a Direct Selling business!

The direct selling opportunity was presented to us and we decided to try it out. As soon as you made the decision to join you unconsciously made another decision, "I am not going to be pushy!" This unconscious decision will hold you back from ever being successful in your business. You are confusing "assertively and actively working your business" with "being pushy" and you refuse to ask, offer, sell or coerce someone into buying your product or opportunity and instead you sit passively in your office waiting for customers to find out about you, your product and your opportunity. GET REAL!!!!!

Why do you love your product? Why do you love the opportunity? How can your product or opportunity benefit others? Why is it important for everyone to experience what you have to offer?

When you BELIEVE you will be excited about sharing and you won't worry about being pushy. The focus will  be on "the best interest of the customer" instead of yourself. You'll realize when you worry about "being pushy" you are focusing on yourself instead of the customer.

It really is easy to overcome any of your fears when you take time to understand why you may be feeling the way you do and begin to focus on positive ideas and actions. Sometimes, I am amazed at HOW EASY DIRECT SELLING is! There is nothing complicated about what we do. We tend to complicate and muddle things up with our thoughts and attitudes and our unfounded fears begin to rattle us and prevent us from realizing success.

Repeat to yourself at least twenty times each day for three weeks, "I AM FEARLESS! Nothing can stop me from sharing this fantastic product and opportunity with others!" (Yes, I do talk to myself every day.) It's time to get your head on straight, face your fears and move closer to the success you really deserve!