Building Your Direct Sales Business BIG

Need Extra Income In '09? Start Your Own Usborne Books Business

2008-12-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Only ONCE a year…for ONE MONTH only…Receive more time! Become an Usborne consultant in December, and receive a 16 week incentive period! That’s an additional 4 weeks to earn cash & books through our One-Step-at-a-Time Program. It’s a great way to start the New Year. Join now! >>>

Earn money while working a flexible schedule
Develop an incredible home library of books
Promote the love of reading and learning
Earn exciting bonuses, prizes and incentives
No inventory required

NOW is the time to get your Jan and Feb Calendar Booked

2008-12-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

Many people in the direct sales industry take the last half of December off. That is a perk of being in the direct selling industry. However, if you take this time off, you are going to miss out on a fantastic January.

Usually January can be a slow month in the direct sales industry. The reason? Because many took off those last two weeks of December. What direct sales reps don't realize is that this is a great time to be calling past customers, past hostesses, and those who expressed an interest in hosting a show. You have time to be calling all these people, because you are not doing shows during these two weeks. In fact, you could get the first quarter of 2009 totally booked if you really worked at it from now until we ring in the new year.

So what's is going to be? Are you going to take a vacation? Or are you going to work to Build Your Business Big?

Whew! Busy Fall and Some Thoughts about Building Your Direct Sales Business BIG

2008-12-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

As an Usborne Books consultant, the fall can be a crazy, crazy time. There are book fairs to do, fall festivals to do, holiday home shows to do, and many other things. It's great! You can stay very busy. And very busy I am every fall.

So I thought I just didn't have the time to devote to Building Your Direct Sales Business Big. I'm starting to rethink that. There's so much information for me to share that I'd really like to help others be successful in their business too. I may not be able to do updates every day, but do stop on by frequently if you would like to learn other ways to build your business BIG.

Also, if you are looking for a home business of your own. Think about an Usborne Books business. If you have questions please email them to me at kristie@usbornesc.com. The economy doesn't seem to be hitting my Usbonre business at all. All sales were up at repeat events this fall. People are booking more and more home shows to earn free books too. It's definately a business you should consider.

15 Calls Challenge

2008-10-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Usborne is offering it's consultants a 15 Calls Challenge. All you have to do is complete 15 calls and you end up in a drawing for cash or free books (free books because that's our product).

Now for some, like me, this is an easy feat. But for others, and this is the purpose of the challenge, it's hard to do. The point of the challenge is to get people to complete 15 calls. A completed call is where you actually speak with someone, not just a dialed call to voice mail. By making 15 calls you will end up with business that you otherwise would not have had.

Usborne gave us just a week to complete the challenge. Again, for those of us who make lots of calls each day, this was a simple task. But this is a great way to get others to make calls. Those of you who manage your own team may want to come up with an incentive like this. It will encourage those who are more aprehensive to pick up the phone to do so.

Those of you who have a hard time sitting down and making calls - try this. Get out a sheet of paper and set a goal to complete 15 calls in 3 days. That's only 5 completed calls a day. Once 5 completed calls a day becomes easy for you, move your goal up to 7 a day. Keep at it and keep increasing your calls. You'll be amazed at how your business GROWS.

Consistency Will Help You Build Your Business Big

2008-10-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I've taken a bit too much time off this blog, and am back and need to stay consistent with it. So with that said, I think I will mention how consistency is what will help you build your business BIG.

If you stay consistent in what you do with your business, it will thrive. Your business is like a child or a plant. It needs nourishment in order for it to grow. If you don't feed them they will die. If you don't work on your business, it will die.

For many, a home-based direct sales company is a part-time business. Many home business owners have a full-time job that pulls them away from spending as much time on their home business as they want to. So what can I do to keep my business consistent you ask?

Spend some time on your business each day. Even if you just spend an hour on it, you have fed your business some fuel.

Make at least 5 phone calls a day. This will keep your business in front of people. It will also help you to get some events booked, or recruits to sign up. If you do not make any calls, you will have no sales and no recruits.

Book at least one event per week on your calendar. Even if you just do one home show a week, you are building your business. You will have consistent sales, because you will have new sales each week. You will also book some shows off of those shows and probably recruit some people onto your team. By being consistent you will keep your business going.

(I have a lady on my team who is not a big hot shot with high dollar sales all the time, but she is my most consistent team member. She faithfully has a home show every single week. She is CONSISTENT. And because of that she has one of the most stable businesses on my team.)

Do some sort of income producing activity with your business each day. By income producing activity I mean: making phone calls, actively recruit, or doing an event such as a home show or booth. Organizing your files is not going to make you money, and that does not constitute income producing activity.

By following the four small steps I have mentioned above, you will be on your way to building a consistent, dependable business. Your business will also start making you more money! After all, isn't that why you started your business?

Building Your Buisiness With Booths - Part 4 of 4 - Follow Up on Leads

2008-09-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Usually most of the profit from your booth will come later via the leads you get at the event. You MUST followup on these leads. If you don't you are literally throwing money into the trash can.

After the booth make sure you contact the people you specifically told you would get back to. People remember when you say "Oh, I'll call you Tuesday." It doesn't add to your credibility NOT to call them when you say you will. People like to do business with people who honor their word.

There will also be the leads that people had filled out on the drawing slips. If I am talking with someone, I will usually write down some info on their drawing slip so I can remember who they are when I call them. You want to start following up on the leads immediately. The longer you wait, the colder they will get.

I like to send an informational email about the info they requested first. I send the email right away, and then call them a few days later.

When you call, remind them where you met: "Hi, this is Kris with Usborne Books. You had stopped by the booth we had at the State Fair and had indicated you were interested in earning free books by hosting a book show ....."

Call ALL the leads you have. You have to sift through the no's in order to get to the yes's.

Building Your Business With Booths - Part 3 of 4 - Your Booth Display

2008-09-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

How you present yourself and your product at your booth is usually the first impression new customers get of your business. Make sure you set up a professional looking booth. You do not have to spend a fortune for it to look nice.

You will want to have at least one table to display your product on. The more product you have the more display space you will want. Cover the tables so they look nice. A simple flat sheet from Wal-Mart actually does nicely. This will keep your cost down. I know a lot of people who spend a lot on table clothes, of all things. You can throw the sheets in the dryer to unwrinkle them.

Arrange your product nicely and in some semblance of order. Have your company and product information readily available. Make sure you have all your contact information on your brochures. If you have sign or banner with our company logo that helps your booth stand out as people walk by.

Keep your booth open and inviting. Do not put a table across the front and just sit behind it. Invite people in to chat and look at your product. Listen to their questions. LISTEN. Don't overpower them and bore them with facts and figures. Listen, and answer their questions.

I recommend having a drawing to entice people to stop by your booth. Offer to give something away. Make up a drawing slip for them to fill out with information. Make sure it has a space for name, address, phone #, and email address. Ask a few questions on the drawing slip. Like on mine I have:

Would you be interested in earning free books for your family by hosting an in home book show?

Would you like more information on earning extra income promoting Usborne Books?

Are you interested in purchasing Usborne Books for your family?

Those drawing slips will become your leads. Treat them like gold because they are worth a lot of money. In Part 4 of Building Your Business With Booths I will go over how to follow up on those leads.

Main thing to remember when doing a booth event - stay upbeat and personable. If you sit in your booth and look bored people are not going to want to stop by.

Building Your Business with Booths - Part 2 of 4 - Getting Your Booths Booked

2008-09-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Now that you have a list of booth events in your area, you are ready to call them. Many do have information online, but you need to call to see if another representative from your company has done that event before or has already booked the event. You also need to see if space is still available.

Here are three pertinent questions you want to ask:

1. How much is the booth fee?

2. How many years has this event been established? I would be very leery of booking the event if this is the first year.

3. How many people usually attend. Take this with a bit of grain of salt. A lot of festivals will inflate their attendance numbers a bit.

If all the above works out to your satisfaction book the event. Make sure you get all the paperwork emailed, faxed or mailed to you. Then make sure you get the contract and booth fee in as soon as you can. That booth will not be yours until event management gets your payment. Larger events do offer a down payment option.

A note about booth fees. Booth fees can range from free to over $1,000. You usually get what you pay for, but you must stay within your budget. Start out small. There are nice one day festivals that cost about $25 - $50. Now if you have a larger budget, by all means you can do a more expensive event. Weigh out how many hours/days the event is and how many people are attending to make sure it is worth it.

One thing about outdoor booths. Remember, if it rains, you are out of luck. You do not get your money back. I know many people in the direct selling industry who will not do outdoor booths for that reason. I also know many who will take the gamble and do the outdoor booths. I, myself am one of those. The choice is up to you.

If you would like some advice on whether to do an event or not, please post your questions in the comment section. I will be more than happy to review the event for you and give you my honest opinion about whether to do the event or not.

Building Your Business with Booths - Part 1 of 4 - Finding Your Booths

2008-09-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

A great way to get fresh leads for your business and to really help build your business is by doing some local booths. There are a ton of fall festivals going on this time of year, so you should be able to find plenty of them. Holiday markets will be starting already in October. The holiday selling season is upon us. Don't miss out on it.

Start by researching what booth events are in your area. There are lots of different ways to find these events. Local.com and festivalnet.com are a few sites you can go to. Also google the name of your town and fall festivals, holiday markets, craft fairs, and any other word that describes the type of event you are looking for.

Word of mouth is another way to find these events. Many home business owners like Usborne Books, Pampered Chef, and Discovery Toys do local festival events. Get in touch with a local home based business person, and ask them what events they do and recommend. These are great people to network with. My Discovery Toys lady filled me in on many events when I first started. Vendors will always share which events are the good ones to go to and which ones to stay away from.

Read your local newspaper faithfully. Events are advertised in the newspaper and also on the websites of your local tv and radio stations.

Make a list of all the events in your area that fit your schedule.

Part 2 of this series will focus on getting your booths booked.

A Good Home Business Opportunity Will Not Require You to Invest in ALOT of Their Product

2008-08-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Those of you who are seeking out a home business opportunity or even those of you who already have your own home business, one of the first tell tale signs of whether it is a good, legit opp for you is whether or not they require you to purchase a whole bunch of product from the get go. This is called inventory loading and is a sure sign of a pyramid scheme. If that is required right away, I'd think twice about it.

One thing that makes the Usborne opportunity so good is that once you purchase your starter kit, you really would not have to ever buy a book if you really didn't want to. Your kit comes with a set of display books for you to use. And then you do your shows and it's your customers who purchase the books - not you! You end up with the profit.

Now if you were to buy 15,000 in product from the company you just signed up with, who's getting the initial profit? Then you have to hope and pray you sell the stuff to not only make a profit, but to also get your invested money back. Well what if it turns out the product stinks and no one wants it, or you just stink at selling it? Who has all the profit and who is now financially in the hole? This is exactly what Marc was asked to do. He was smart and asked for his start up fee back. I hope he gets it back.

According to Debra A. Valentine, General Counsel for the Federal Trade Commission at the time she wrote this article, states, "There are two tell-tale signs that a product is simply being used to disguise a pyramid scheme: inventory loading and a lack of retail sales. Inventory loading occurs when a company's incentive program forces recruits to buy more products than they could ever sell, often at inflated prices. If this occurs throughout the company's distribution system, the people at the top of the pyramid reap substantial profits, even though little or no product moves to market. The people at the bottom make excessive payments for inventory that simply accumulates in their basements. A lack of retail sales is also a red flag that a pyramid exists. Many pyramid schemes will claim that their product is selling like hot cakes. However, on closer examination, the sales occur only between people inside the pyramid structure or to new recruits joining the structure, not to consumers out in the general public." You can view her full article here. I know it's from 1998, but all her statements still apply today.

Do your research before you take the plunge into a new business. Make sure it feels comfortable to you. If something doesn't sit right with you, that is the red flag telling you something is wrong with the opportunity.

The Benefits of Having Your Own URL

2008-08-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

www.ubah.com/c2264

www.UsborneSC.com

(which looks better to you?)

Many home business owners have access to their own e-commerce site because the company they represent provides these sites for their representatives. If you are one of those people who utilize this benefit, by all means, get your own domain name.

For example, the domain provided to me through Usborne is www.ubah.com/c2264. Not too catchy, is it? I work mostly in South Carolina and work with a lot of schools in South Carolina, so I wanted a domain that stated that. My domain is www.UsborneSC.com. Not that it's a real catchy domain name or anything, but it's much more memorable than ubah and a bunch of numbers. It also looks more professional, and gives the image I am trying to present to my customers in South Carolina.

I just saw someone who had a google ad running, but was still using their company's URL. Why spend all that money on click adds with google and not spend only 9.99 to get your own domain? Get the domain name before you start paying for ads.

It's very simple to do. Pick your domain, You can go to Go Daddy to do a search to see if your domain name ideas are available. Once you chose your domain, you can register it right there with Go Daddy. I use Go Daddy for all my domain registrations. Once you have your domain registered, have your company domain name forwarded to your new domain. You do not have to have web hosting because your company is already having that done.

Key benefits to having your own domain name:

1. Sets you apart from others in your same company
2. More professional - looks much better on your business cards and marketing materials
3. Gives your business credibility
4. Makes it easier for people to remember how to find you on the web
5. Boosts your rankings on search engines

Getting your own domain name is a very inexpensive and simple thing you can do to build your business.

"Whatever You Put Your Mind To, YOU Can Do It." - Michael Phelps

2008-08-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

You HAVE to Followup on Those Leads!

2008-08-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

I did a nice Teacher Appreciation event at Staples this weekend. Many teachers were interested in earning free books for their classroom, reading incentive programs, and some were even interested in becoming part-time Usborne consultants. I ended up with ALOT of contacts. Many even told me to make sure I email them more info and call them.

Now I know people who do events like that do bring the contact info home. But then that info just sits on a table until it gets moved somewhere else. And then all those teachers end up getting no information at all! You MUST followup on those leads. If you don't, then there was no point in doing the event in the first place.

I like to go home and sort through my leads and put them in different piles. So at this event, I had piles of those interested in home shows, those interested in book fairs, those interested in reading incentive programs, and those interested in having their own Usborne Books business. Then I email each different pile the information that pertains to what they were interested in. Then a few days later, I will call them. "Hi, Ms. Jones, this is Kris with Usborne Books. We met at the Staples event on Saturday, and you had indicated that you were interested in earning free books by hosting a book show. I was just calling to get that set up for you."

You HAVE to make those followup calls. Those people, who have genuine interest in your product and your services, are not going to wake up and say "Hey, I have to call that Usborne Book lady I met!". Ok, sometimes that does happen, but not enough for you to wait for it to happen.

Happy Calling!

That NO Gets You One Call Closer To That YES!

2008-08-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

Many who work a home-based business are actually quite afraid of the phone. They are so afraid of the possibility of a NO coming across the other end of the phone that they don't even pick up the phone to make followup calls on leads. This is truly a death sentence for any business. There is no need to be afraid or to get discouraged.

Making calls - whether it is to set up a home show, followup on a recruiting lead, or to set up a booth event - is how you make your money in this business. If you don't make the calls, there will be no home shows, no new recruits, and therefore, no income coming in.

I know of a lady who got some great leads at a booth event. I know they were great leads because I was there when she got them. So after the event, she called three of them. Only three! She said that one lady was rude, and the other two really weren't interested so she decided not to call the rest of them. Now what if that fourth or fifth one was someone who would have actually signed up to do the business or wanted to do a home show. She will never know, because she never even dialed the phone to see.

Do NOT worry or get discouraged when you get a no on the other end of the line. Do not get frustrated when you get 5 no's in a row. You have to keep trudging along and keep making those calls. You have to get those no's in order to get to that YES. It's like fishing, you are fishing for that YES. How many times does a fisherman cast his line only to reel in absolutely nothing. Then on one magical cast, a fish comes back on the line. That is what you must do. Keep casting (or calling) until you get the YES that you have been fishing for. Do not stop casting (or calling) after one YES, Keep at it, and get more YESES!

The more calls you make and no's you get, the more YESES you will get, and the more you will build your business big.

Kristie ~Building Big!

Fall Frenzy

2008-08-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite time of the year. I call it the Fall Frenzy. Why is it the best time of the year? Here are the top 5 reasons:

1. Recruiting - this is the hottest time of the year to recruit! Kids are back in school so moms have more free time. Between school events, home shows, and booths - there is so much work to be done that we all need extra help. Let everyone know you need that extra help. People want to sign on where there is plenty of work to do. Lot's of people need to start earning extra money for Christmas.

2. Home Shows - summer is over. Kids are back in school. Mom is less stressed. Mom's are ready for home shows again. They are also wanting to earn lots of free Christmas product. Their guests are also wanting to buy Christmas presents.

3. Schools - are back in session. They need books for their libraries, they want book fairs, they want reading incentive programs. Teachers need books for their classrooms. It's the beginning of the year, and there is still money left to spend.

4. Booths - there are a ton of fall festival booths and holiday market booths. If you live in the south, all the state and county fairs are in the fall. Booths are a great source for home show, recruiting, and school leads. Go to local.com to find events in your area.

5. Promote to Supervisor - the fall is the easiest time to promote to supervisor due to the above factors. Give yourself a pay raise. Plan your supervisor push now!

Enjoy the Fall Frenzy. This can be the most profitable time for your business, and this is a time that you can build your business big!

Building Big

Don't Be Afraid to Speak Up

2008-08-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

I had a brand new consultant, Sylvia, call me today all excited about what she did today. She was dropping her son off at a school function and there was a state PTA meeting going on with all the district heads of the PTAs around the state. She waited and found the PTA district head for the school district she is in. She told her all about Usborne Books and now she has been invited to present Usborne and all we have to offer to all the PTA presidents at their district meeting.

Look at what she accomplished and what she will gain, just by having the courage to speak up!

Good for you Sylvia!

Building Big

2008-08-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

We all want big teams right? Building Big will help you build your home-based business both deep and wide. This way you will have financial stability as well as business longevity.

I am an Independent Supervisor with Usborne Books at Home. My downline consists of over 60 people. I was number one in for the company for recruiting in Feb. 2007, and my team was number one in recruiting in Feb. 2008. I also run a fun chat for "Uzzies" that teaches them the ins and outs of the business and goal setting.

Join me here at Building Big to learn more on how to build your own business big. You don't have to be an Usborne Books consultant to partake in the training and information that you will receive from this blog. This is open to all home-based business owners.

I look forward to sharing with you and learning your own ideas as well.

Kristie ~ Building Big