Song of My Heart Demonstrators

Direct Sales Consultants' Guide to Avoiding Common Scams

Sadly, there are a lot of unethical people out there in cyberspace who prey on direct sales consultants through a variety of online scams and fraudulent practices. Be a saavy business person and learn to identify a scam before you find out the hard way!

There are two main ways a direct sales rep can get scammed online. The first is via email. Robots search the internet without ceasing and harvest email addresses anywhere they can find them, sending thousands upon thousands of spam “feelers” out there in the hopes that one or two gullible souls will fall for it. It always amazes me that anyone does, but apparently enough do that it is worth it.

Fortunately, many email scams come from other countries and have dead giveaways in grammar! Here’s some signs the email can be deleted without another thought:

• Multiple misspellings, poor grammar, lack of capitalization
• Person claims to be deaf or have lost their cell phone to you can’t speak with them
• Mention of another country, a relative in another country, or of travel or traveler’s checks
• Ordering strange things, like four Crop A Diles or more than one Big Shot
• Ordering only big ticket items or wildly dissimilar items
• Asking to pay by personal check or money order, claiming not to have a credit card
• Saying their book-keeper or accountant made a mistake and wrote too large a check to you
• Asking you to order first and they’ll pay upon receipt of the items
• Dangling the carrot of a “very large” order to come
• Claiming to be a fellow demo (maybe even one you actually do know) who was mugged in a foreign country and can’t get home unless you send them money for a new passport

DO NOT respond to obvious scams. Then they know your email address is a live one and will continue to hit you up with spam and "feelers." Many a demonstrator has been taken in--be alert for escalation of scam-like behaviors throughout subsequent correspondence! If your initial reaction to the way something is worded is suspicion, it is probably accurate.

Unfortunately, a common way for scammers to contact you now is through your company-sponsored business website, so sometimes the scammers will initially appear as "leads." Once you respond, they will send you the more typical scam email with many of the characteristics in the list above.

You can just delete scam emails when they come in, or you can forward them to your company’s web violations department. Sometimes if there is a particularly prevalent scam,  the home office will release an announcement to warn your fellow consultants. And if you’re unsure and want another pair of eyes, forward it to your upline. They have probably seen that particular one before. Sadly, if those unethical email spammers put half as much time and thought into a legitimate business as they do into perpetrating their scams, they would probably be quite successful!

The second way direct sales business owner can be scammed is by being convinced into buying a program, book, service or coaching from a person who claims to be an expert. Even well-intentioned, ordinarily business-saavy people sometimes fall for scams like these in their honest desire to build their businesses. Some red flags that should spring up when you are contemplating a coach or service:

• Remember that everyone is selling something. All of their slick materials and websites will be designed to put the pressure on and make you feel like you are missing out on money falling from the heavens.
• Psychological tricks abound throughout these programs. Charismatic individuals will be able to convince anyone of just about anything. A “health and wealth” gospel is particularly damaging because it makes people feel like if they can just get their illnesses or even their weight under control, they will be successful and happy.
• It is in their best interest to use all their advertising knowledge on YOU, because YOU are their income. There’s an old saying that you don’t have to actually know how to sell to fifty people yourself—you just have to convince 50 people they can’t sell unless you teach them.
• Along with that, a big warning sign is when you are paid (either in products or services or cash) for getting friends to sign up for coaching as well, or getting a group discount. You are doing their work for them and they are throwing you a bone as a kickback. You are no longer an unbiased source of info on that marketer, if that is the case.
• Remember that there is no oversight committee investigating their claims and testimonials. Anyone can add “expert” to their title or claim they’ve been in the industry “for years.”
• Remember that pictures of fabulous stats can easily be photoshopped to alter graphs, inflate number of followers, etc. Testimonials can be altered to sound more enthusiastic—remember who is choosing the “sound byte” out of what may have been a very long letter.
• Take advantage of the free webinars and materials they offer if you want, but realize that these may be little more than teasers and extended commercials for their paid services. And you’ll be on their mailing lists forever!
• One common and underhanded tactic is to heavily discount their main product, book or e-course, for a limited time. This hurries you into making a decision before you have had time to investigate.
• The worst ones make you feel like the odds are stacked against you and you CANNOT succeed unless you have their expertise. Some even go so far as to tell you your company is purposefully misleading you or doing a bad job of training you. It is all carefully designed to manipulate you into dependence on them.
• Remember that ANYONE can publish an e-book these days. The ability to cheaply and easily build your own website or blog has brought a lot of small-time scammers to cyberspace and allowed them to have a much bigger reach.
• Realize that it is probably not a wise use of your limited resources to pay someone to “teach” you what can be easily found for free on the internet. Take advantage of all the training provided by your company and your uplines before hunting for more. If you were truly working on all the advice on the demonstrator website you would be too busy to even think about finding a coach to tell you MORE things you should be doing.

A great rule of thumb for demonstrators is “if it sounds too good to be true—it probably isn’t.” Beware of people who promise to teach you their fabulous secret that somehow no one else in the history of direct sales has ever managed to find out! There are no magic bullets in this industry or any other. Enthusiasm, determination, and an unwillingness to give up are ALL you need to succeed in direct sales.

It is sad that unethical people are out to take your precious, hard-earned profit using a little real business advice and pairing it with lots of fluff and slick marketing. Fortunately, fore-warned is fore-armed when it comes to scammers. Stick with your own intuition and business advice from reputable sources, and your efforts will pay off as your business grows in a healthy and sustainable way.

Dream BIG (and be safe!), friend!

Note:

You are welcome to use this information in your team meetings. Click here to download a PDF file with my two-page handout created for downline education: Download Guide to Avoiding Common Scams

Convention Club, part three

In Part One and Part Two of this series of articles on the Convention Club concept, I outlined the program, shared the "why" behind the idea, and listed many sample business-boosting activities that could be used to implement your own rewards system. In Part Three, I will be sharing my FAQ document as a sample to be used when explaining the system to your downline, should you choose to implement a Convention Club program. As with any special, sale, or promotion, the "fine print" is really important. This document will cover your backside for any one of a number of common situations that might arise.

Because this is my personal system, developed and highly specialized for my own group, I ask that you do not just copy and paste this document. Rather, please feel free to use it as a starting point for developing your own "fine print." After you have finished figuring out your own policies, ask a discreet demo friend to go over it and make sure it is clear and concise, as well as exciting-sounding, before you release it to your team.

NEW! Announcing the 2013 Convention Club

Do you suffer from Convention Envy?  Really want to go but can’t swing it? Started saving but lost your motivation? Need a way to make sure it happens next year?

I have a program for anyone in my downline who is serious about going to the 2013 Stampin’ Up Convention in Salt Lake City and needs help getting there. Convention is WORTH EVERY PENNY and costs more much more than Stampin’ Up actually charges us, but it can pose a financial obstacle to the average demonstrator who hasn’t been planning carefully and saving up during the previous year.  

As much as I’d love to, I can’t pay for your plane ticket or your hotel. But I CAN help you with your registration fee, lowering your costs by a significant amount. Let me help you MAKE IT HAPPEN! 

Q. When is Convention 2013?

A. Date:  July 18-20, 2013

Q. Who can participate in Convention Club?

A. Any member of my Stampin’ Up downline in levels one through five can participate in this program for the SU year 2012-13. The program is evaluated on a year by year basis and may not be offered again.

Q. How do I earn points towards Convention Club?

A. Completing specific challenges such as sales goals, recruits, promoting, and other business-building, consistency-promoting, leadership-building behaviors.

Q. What about the prizes we currently receive at our group meetings?

A. Instead of receiving an item from my prize basket as an award during a given month, you could choose to receive points towards Convention Club. You can pick Convention Club points or a prize from the basket on a per-case basis.

Q. How many points can I earn in Convention Club?

A. The entire amount of your Convention registration. Once you have earned that amount (usually about $275) you will not be able to earn any new points until the next calendar year.

Q. About how much more than the registration fee will I need to save up on my own to go to Convention?

A. We generally try to stay cheap and eat cheap. Many of us save up miles on our credit cards to help with tickets. Last year we paid $130 per night for the hotel and $260 for our flights. Depending on the hotel, the number of people sharing a room, and the airline, you will need $500-600 additionally. You will also want some money to spend in Memento Mall and for food.

NOTE: It is imperative that you save up money or make a plan for funds on your own in addition to the Convention Club fund. The registration money will not help you if you can’t pay for your plane ticket.

Q. Who keeps track of the Convention Club?

A. You will be given a booklet similar to a check register, in which we will record your growing balance each month after the monthly meeting. I will initial the individual entries as they are approved. You are responsible to keep track of the booklet and bring it along to be updated.

Q. How are the Convention Club funds transferred to me?

A. I will issue you a personal check for the full amount you earned after you send me the confirmation number from Stampin’ Up at the completion of the Convention registration process.

Q. What happens to the Convention Club fund if I can’t make it to Convention after all?

A. If something unavoidable comes up and you can’t go to Convention after all, you can choose to redeem it for catalog merchandise for half the dollar value of the fund (during the month of June).

Q. Why only half the value?

A. The whole point of Convention Club is to try to encourage my downlines to go to convention, and not just to provide a program for you to save up money and spend it later.  It is not my intention to penalize you for not going to Convention, just really encourage you to go!

Unforeseen Circumstances Disclaimer 

• While I always make it a priority to attend convention every year, I may not always be able to go due to health or family conflicts. The availability of the Convention Club program for the year does not mean that I will be attending convention with you.
  
• The availability of Convention Club for the 2012-13 year does not mean the program will be available next year or any year thereafter. The program is re-evaluated every year and I am dedicated to continuing it as long as it is financially feasible to do so.
  
• If for any reason the program must be prematurely cancelled before Convention 2013 registration, participants will be able to redeem their points for product equal to half the value of the points they earned to the date of the last meeting. This is highly unlikely to occur.
• If for any reason a demonstrator participating in Convention Club resigns, becomes inactive, or has their demonstratorship revoked, all Convention Club points earned during the 2012-13 year become null and void.

 In Conclusion

I seriously hope you will consider making Convention a priority. You can’t imagine how fun it is, and what a shot in the arm it would be to your business. I consider Convention a game-changing event in your business life. Once you go, you will never want to miss it again.

Please let me know by the August meeting if you would like to take advantage of this program and earn your registration to Convention 2013 for free, and I will give you a booklet so you can begin saving up points. You may join Convention Club later in the year, but you might as well start saving and planning right away to make sure you earn the full amount possible, right?

Dream BIG, my friend! The sky truly is the limit with Stampin’ Up, and your biggest cheerleader is right here rootin’ for you. Convention is a possible dream, and together we can make it happen!     ~Lyssa

This completes my three-part series on the Convention Club concept. I hope you have gotten some food for thought about a motivational rewards program of your own, or maybe just helped you become personally super excited to get yourself to convention next year. It is my dearest wish to benefit Stampin' Up in any small way for the amazing blessing they have been to me, so please let me know if you have been touched or encouraged by this or any other article or series on my demonstrator blog.

Dream BIG, friend!

 

Convention Club, part two

In a previous post, I shared with you the impetus behind and the success of my Convention Club program. You can click here to read that article: Convention Club part one

Today I'll be outlining the types of business-related activities that you may want to consider when implementing a Convention Club of your own. Many demonstrators run "Business Bucks" or "I-Did-It! Dollars" programs where their downlines are rewarded with money to spend in the catalog either monthly or yearly. These would all be great activities for that sort of reward program, too. And if you're an orphaned or abandoned demo with no support system, consider making up your own reward program, by writing down SU products or fun things that you can "earn" next to the business-boosting activities.

I'll also be sharing some things I learned throughout the inaugural year of this program, which was experimental and top-secret until I'd been through a round of it. I try very hard to only allow advice on this blog that is both tried and true, so even though I was dying to tell you about Convention Club, I hope you'll understand and appreciate my reasons for holding off.

You'll notice I have not assigned point/dollar values to the activites listed below. You should develop your own values based on how important the activity is to you. I strongly suggest that you make sure your team knows you are experimenting with the program and will be making changes as needed so that the system works for everyone, including yourself. Some are one-time tasks; others may be applicable multiple times or every month. Be sure you crunch those numbers and put limits on the number of times a certain activity will count for points. For instance, I didn't want the same person bringing the business topic at every team meeting, so I limited the points they could earn for that task to once per quarter.

If you have more questions about Convention Club after reading all three articles, please feel free to leave a comment (I will not be able to respond via email due to the volume of interest on this topic). I will be adding a FAQ post as Part Three on this topic. But remember, while I aim to be helpful, ultimately you will need to develop a Convention Club that is tailored to the growth areas you want to motivate in your own team, which will be different from mine. So as I stated before, I will not be sharing my actual chart and booklets.

Here are some activities you may want to use when you put together your reward program. I have roughly broken them down by area of growth.  Remember that these are just suggestions and you will not want to use all of them. I suggest that for the best chance at creating balanced businesses in your downline, you select activities from all three areas.

1. Business Growth
2. Personal Growth
3. Group Growth

Business Growth Activities: These are tangible behaviors and events for celebration that I give out rewards for at my monthly meetings. If the person is not in Convention Club, they just pick from my prize basket while we cheer for them; if they are in club, they write it down in their booklet and I initial my approval of the points earned at the end of the meeting.

• Recruit a new team member  
• Recruit at least one new downline a month for three months in a row
• Promote to Senior Associate
• Promote to Supervisor
• Promote to Senior Supervisor
• Promote to Manager
• Promote to Senior Manager or Above
• Promote more than once in a year
• hold your own downline meeting at least once per quarter
• acheive Great Rewards for the quarter
• personal sales of $500-$999 a month
• personal sales of $1000+ a month
• beat Lyssa (insert your name here) in sales for the month
• first/second/third place in sales for the month
• start a stamping blog or subscribe to the DBWS and email me the address

Personal Growth Activities: These less-tangible business-boosting tasks are designed to help my team grow as leaders, strengthen professionalism and integrity, and gain personal confidence. Leadership skills can be taught if they are not innate. Professionalism will help them carry on through awkward situations that may arise. Integrity, something I require of all my demonstrators, needs to be fostered. Confidence is attractive to others. Stampin' Up demonstrators are leaders, and I want my team to be equipped to deal with the success that will come from their hard work.

• read a business motivational book and share a short book report at the group meeting
• listen to/watch a Stampin' Up business-related webinar or video and email me your notes
• listen to a CD from my library of past SU events and summarize for me via email
• download the Upline Handbook template and personalize, then email to me
• attend a regional seminar during the SU year
• attend Leadership Conference during the SU year
• get published in a trade magazine and/or mentioned in Stampin' Success
• Stampin' Success contest winner or honorable mention, or featured artist article
• be selected as a Workshop Wow presenter/Make N Take Helper/Display Stamper
• enter to be on the Artisan Award Design Team
• purchase My Digital Studio and professionally print a finished project, bring to meeting
• learn and add a new social media outlet to your advertising repertoire. Present results to the team after three months and then again after six months

Group Growth Activities: I believe that the stronger and more involved a group is, the less likely recruits are to drop out. In addition to improving retention rates, a healthy, happy team with lots of relationship ties will help everyone be successful at whatever level they choose to work their businesses. I feel strongly that our meetings be fun, informative, timely and full to the brim with solid business and stamping tips. As I mentioned in Part One, I chose to add in some tasks that you might not need to reward your team for because they are already doing it without additional motivation from you.

• share a business topic with a handout at the monthly meeting
• bring a project to demonstrate for the meeting with typed instructions/template
• bring a Make N Take for the whole group
• present a My Digital Studio project from start to finish on the big screen at the meeting.
• organize one of our quarterly charity fundraisers for the whole team to participate in
• organize and edit an entry for the Convention Commercial Contest
• participate in the group meeting swap at least seven of the ten monthly meetings. 

I welcome suggestions for other tasks in these areas of growth. Please leave a comment below and share it with all of us if you have ideas or if something has been working for your team. Check out Part Three of this series, which will hopefully answer any remaining questions you might have about the Convention Club program.

Convention Club, part one

I have a super exciting new idea to share with you today. I’ve been waiting and waiting to tell you about it, but I wanted to make sure I was passing along an idea that was both tried and true! As I write this, I have just returned from Convention 2012, where Shelli Gardner very briefly mentioned my Convention Club from the main stage. Since I knew it would have piqued the imagination of many, I decided it was time to write the article I have been waiting to share! 

Last spring, just before the start of the Stampin’ Up year, I began an experimental program designed to get my downline members to go to convention. I strongly believe that convention is a game-changer in terms of boosting your business confidence, stamping expertise, and energetic professionalism. Every year I come back just bursting with ideas and enthusiasm, full of projects to try and classes I wanted to get on my calendar. I want my girls (and guys!) to go to convention and experience that shot in the arm, too.

But they just didn’t go. It sounded like fun, but they didn’t really envision themselves there. Every year when they’d see the pictures and hear the chatter online, they were jealous that I’d gotten to go—but not to the point that they became motivated enough to start saving money and making plans for themselves. It was frustrating, because I knew that if they’d just go once, they’d see what a valuable (and ridiculously fun) experience convention is, so I started thinking about ways I could motivate them to decide to attend. I felt like the long-term benefit to my business and the group as a whole would benefit exponentially with each demonstrator I could get to go.

On the phone with my Business Development Advisor last spring, she asked me why I thought none of my team went to corporate events. As I told her that I really felt like money, not a lack of desire, was the bottom line, the concept of Convention Club was born. Maybe if they had help with their registration fee, the thought of combined airfare, hotel and food costs would not seem so overwhelming, I thought. They'd still have to commit to saving every month, but a big chunk of the total needed would have already been whittled away. I hoped they'd find it encouraging and inspiring... and get themselves to convention, where the magic of that event would revolutionize their businesses. 

I am a firm believer in rewarding your downline with lots—and lots—of goodies. As a new demonstrator, I know what it meant to me to receive even just a pack of brads or a spool of ribbon from my uplines. I’ve also been extremely blessed by Stampin’ Up’s various generous programs that allow you to earn free stamp sets, with more goodies than one person can truly use, so I try to pass that along by sharing the wealth to my team members in the form of lots of prizes and incentives. They in turn can use those little gifts and prizes to boost their own sales and make us both more successful in the long term.

I was really excited to try to think of a way I could motivate my downline to attend convention, but I was concerned that my annual sales would go down if I was no longer ordering prizes and rewards every month. I knew I would still be buying gifts for my prize basket for the majority of the team, but a potentially significant chunk of change would have to be set aside. However, my desire for them to go was stronger than my fear of the unknown. I went out on a limb, hashed out some numbers, and told my team members that they now had the option to exchange what they would normally earn in prizes at our meetings for points towards their convention registration.

After calling Stampin’ Up to confirm that it is allowable to pay for another demonstrator’s registration, I came up with a system of activities that would be rewarded with point values, with each point equaling one dollar. They could earn a total of $280 (the US cost of registration at the time) by doing tangible business-boosting activities such as recruiting, promoting, being in my top three in sales for the month, selling enough to earn Great Rewards, and winning monthly challenges. I also gave points for things they could do to grow personally, like read a business-related motivational book and then share a brief report with the group. They could also earn points by participating in activities that strengthened the entire team, such as presenting a business topic with a handout, or bringing a Make N Take for the meeting.

We kept track of the points with a little booklet and a simple chart that I initialed at every meeting after approving the entries they had written down. They were responsible to bring it to the meetings, so that they were taking the initiative to get themselves to convention. They could watch their total grow, and if they weren’t pleased at how it was moving along, they could look at the chart and choose to work on completing more of the challenges by the next meeting. Because it was an experimental program, I reserved the right to tweak my chart and change the point values if needed, with any announcements made at the monthly meetings. Part Two on this topic will discuss that in more detail.

They were excited. One quarter of my team signed up the first night I presented the program to them (the first demo meeting after convention, after I'd shared all the pictures and excitement with them). Other downline from out of state emailed to ask if they could participate as well, and new recruits joined later in the year. We started our tally on August 1^st and they had until June 30^th to earn as much as they could. I gave them each $5 in points for signing up, and they were off and running.  Instead of buying prizes each month, I made sure I put that money in a separate checking account, and I was able to write each of them a check for the amount after they emailed me their confirmation number on registration day.  

Of those downline who participated, three-quarters earned the full $280. The first one earned her registration fee by the end of Sale A Bration, and the last one earned it on June 28th. Interestingly, those who did not earn the full amount ultimately did not end up going with us, although there were certainly other factors involved in their decisions. I had a plan in place for that possibility, because life happens. I will share that and cover other FAQ's in Part Three.

 I will not be sharing my exact files for Convention Club for two reasons (in addition to the fact that my readers are in different countries with different prices and different promotion titles.) First, I don't want anyone to just use my numbers without crunching their own and making sure that a Convention Club is a good idea for themselves and their team. It requires careful follow-through, strict integrity, and a committment to setting aside money that may cause an issue for some. I cannot be held responsible for anyone else's use of the Convention Club idea nor any unforeseen results from their version of the program. As with everything shared on this blog, you use this advice at your own risk.

Secondly, if you do decide to implement a convention-earning program, it should be personally tailored to the behaviors that you want to see developed in your team. For instance, I was having a lot of trouble getting downline to participate in our group meetings, and it was killing me having to pull it off virtually alone every month. So I awarded points for doing things that your group may already be doing on their own. Now that those behaviors have been established and are flourishing, I'm tweaking the program to reflect more advanced business-building behaviors--while still keeping a wide variety of activities so that everyone, not just my high acheivers, can find ways to earn points each month.

As I mentioned, I didn’t feel like I could share this idea until I’d been through a full year and decided Convention Club was a viable business tool for uplines to motivate their team to attend an event that would revolutionize their businesses. You can not imagine how fun it was to watch the totals and the excitement build throughout the year. My annual sales turned out just fine despite loosing the amount I would have normally ordered for prizes. And while the final results of what my team did, saw and heard at convention are not necessarily tangible and won't be seen for years to come, I have to say that they are so fired up right now, I truly feel like we are headed into the best year we’ve ever had. They are seriously setting their sights on not only the Getaway Weekend, but the Grand Vacation. They are scouring the Career Plan and asking questions about the performance bonuses. And, we've already booked next year for the 25th anniversary convention!

Dear demo-friend, if you are having trouble getting your team to attend corporate events like convention or leadership conference, or even a regional seminar, I hope my thoughts on implementing a point system will give you some ideas on motivating them to make this business-changing event a priority. Please stay tuned for Parts Two and Three on this topic, which will give you some of the more nitty-gritty details and some do's and don'ts for those who are seriously considering a Convention Club.

Coping with a group growth spurt

As I write this, many of us recently had a large number of new members join our group due to a great Starter Kit promotion.  Now that our initial exultation has worn off, we need to focus our thoughts on our own retention rates and making sure those new demonstrators get the most out of their exciting start. And we're possibly feeling slightly overwhelmed at the magnitude of the change that happened to our group-- practically overnight.

Here's some tips for making the adjustment go more smoothly. The first three are the most important, and in the order I would do them.

First things first: send all your new members a welcome card. The joy of stamping is most likely what drew them to Stampin' Up in the first place, and they will be so excited to receive a handmade card from you. I always include my business card and encourage them to contact me with questions. I wish them the best on their SU journey, whatever they choose to make of it, and encourage them to dream big. No matter how many downline you have and how "old hat" this routine has become, remember that for each of them, this is their own individual experience--so be enthusiastic, because they're excited out of their heads!

Secondly, congratulate the recruiters. Another card goes out to each of them, and recognition at your meeting. It's a good idea to personally speak with each one about the importance of being an available and enthusiastic upline, but especially coach those who have just gained their first downline. Encourage them to start a regular group get-together, if not an official meeting just yet. And help them foster their own sense of "group" by selecting a name and using that in their communications. Let them know that while you support all your levels, they are still responsible to train and support their new downlines just as if you were not around.

Third, make sure all your various address books, databases, Yahoo groups, Rolodex, cell phones and email lists are updated with the latest contact info for your entire downline. Make sure no one gets left out of your communications accidentally. Send out a welcome email to the group right away so they are in the loop about the next meeting and what all is going on.

Another good step to take would be to replenish your recruiting folders. Order new materials as needed now so that you are prepared for future waves (I don't know about you, but mine seem to come in bunches rather than singly). I recently had to up the amount of product I purchase for my prize basket to prevent running out of goodies to give away. It was an exciting moment! It takes money to make money, so don't begrudge or feel guilty about the investment in business materials and other things that this group growth spurt necessitates.

You should also review what you do for incentives and rewards for your downlines and see if it is still feasible with your new larger group. Set realistic policies now (and write them down), looking towards future growth. What would be affordable to do for a group of twenty might break the bank to do for forty.Your group members will understand if you need to make adjustments in the way you do things like your meeting locations or your borrowing policies.

Maybe this growth spurt you also need to look at setting some limits to protect your family time. You can be an involved and supportive upline and still maintain balance. Let your downline know what phone number you prefer them to use, and at what point in the evening you stop taking phone calls for the night. I encourage you to set one or two days a week where you will not conduct group business. For me, these days are Sundays and Wednesdays. My group just knows that unless it is utterly urgent, their best bet is to call 1800 STAMP UP on those days.

Plan ahead: look at the calendar and make sure you are proactive  about communicating about quarterly deadlines, minimums, pending month and more. Don't lose half your new members within the year because of  inertia. While you can't force anyone to stay active, you can do your best to encourage group ties and make sure they have the basic knowledge they need to keep  their demoships--in time for them to do something about it.

Lastly, take time to celebrate. When we first start getting recruits, each one just makes our whole week. We beam with delight at the thought of it. But as recruits become more commonplace, that euphoria doesn't last. You did a LOT of work during that recruit blitz, and sometimes as we gain a lot of downline and the shine wears off, we forget to take that important few seconds to pat yourself on the back. Each recruit represents another responsibility for you, yes--but also another layer of fun, another new friend, and more creativity, self-esteem and personal growth for your group. What a privilege it is to be their guide in the journey! You SHOULD feel great about that. Reward yourself with whatever floats your boat--chocolate, a new stamp set, some cash towards a special fund. Maybe better not do chocolate if you gained TOO many recruits at once! : )

I hope these thoughts have been helpful to you if you are in the same place I am right now. It is a unique and exciting challenge laid before us, and I know we can rise to the occasion. Feel free to pipe in with ideas you have about coping with unexpected growth in your group.

Dream--and celebrate--BIG, friend!

When your customers turn into your downline

Congratulations! You just lost your best customer. No, she didn't drop off your OEX list because she's upset--she dropped off because she's EXCITED--and now she's become a demo, too. And you are excited, too... sort of.

Well, actually, you're a little worried, to tell the truth. You know that your sales are going to suffer without the big orders from this customer. You might even find yourself worrying about minimums again, and it's been a long time since you did that. And now, you have competition from her to worry about as well. Her friends and family will naturally start ordering from her instead of you.

Ok, maybe more than a little worried... maybe a lot.

There's a big sign-up promo going on as I write this, and many of you have expressed this paradox of emotions. You know you're supposed to be excited, but actually, once the initial euphoria wore off, the experience has been a little deflating. I completely understand, because I've been there--and still I go there regularly. Surprised? I hate to break it to you, but this is one aspect of small-business-hood that, while it may get easier, never quite goes away altogether.

I'd like to share some lessons I've learned/am still learning about the process we undergo when a good customers turns into a downline. I wrote this article to deal specifically with the loss of additional customers when someone signs up and takes them with her, which you may find helpful. But for today's post, let's focus on the mix of emotions sometimes present with a recruit.

Many, many demos are afraid to recruit their best customer because they can't see past the roadblock of lost sales. I can't emphasize enough that you need to be focusing on what is best for your group, not yourself. Your group may consist of ten people or a hundred, or it might just be you. Quit thinking of yourself as a struggling individual and start thinking of yourself as a fledgling group. What is best for the group? Stagnation? Fear? Reservations? No! Growth, of course.  What's good for the group is good for you.

A major problem I've been seeing a lot of lately is that many demos (self-professedly business demos) are still thinking like a hobbyist. The hobbyist only sees how changes affect themselves. The business demo needs to think for her whole group. Stop dreaming small! Dream BIG!

This is a process, and one I remind myself of when I suppress that internal sigh, realizing that the process of continually procuring customers is never ending. Your customer base is in a constant state of flux, and you will never reach a state where you do not have to work at your business. That's why they call it "work"... because it takes work! We're blessed that it is FUN and REWARDING work, but we should never let ourselves become deceived into thinking that it is possible not to work at it and still receive the same rewards and benefits. An unknown author says, "All the so called secrets to success in the world will not work unless YOU do."

I've beat this dead horse a dozen times already, but I'll say it again: You MUST focus on the long term. Yes, I will fully admit that in the short term, there is sometimes little that is tangible to be gained from the initial acquiring of a recruit, and some harmful side effects seem to take center stage. But take the long view, and the potential for income and promotion, and more importantly (to me anyway), personal growth and friendship, are exponential.

Business maturity is reached when the demonstrator can put aside her own immediate desires and gratification for the long term good of her entire group. As with childhood and young adulthood, the process of maturing takes time, and involves learning the hard way sometimes. Don't let yourself be a demonstrator who is stuck at the toddler stage...move on, learn the lessons, gain the experience. The toddler stage is rewarding, yes, but we're all glad when our children move out of it!

I may not have convinced you to plunge ahead and ignore your inner reservations about your customer signing up. That's ok, but I hope you will be brave enough with your business to not allow yourself to be motivated by fear, and say no to the fantastic opportunity to be an upline. It is one of the best and most fun decisions I ever made. You'll have to make this leap of faith, on my word and the words of others more experienced. As with so many things in life, sometimes you will be making the step whether or not you are happy with it, so you might as well decide to be excited about it. Embrace uplining with enthusiasm, and resolutely take the long view, and your journey will become so much the richer for the friends who come alongside you.

Dream BIG, friend!

Lyssa

Product Challenges for your Downline Meetings

One of the aspects of my monthly Song of My Heart meetings that my downlines and adoptees enjoy is our Product Challenges. I will assign a certain embellishment, paper, or Big Shot die cut each month, and they must bring it back fully completed the next month. I sometimes award all them a little prize, and other times I put the names of everyone who completed the challenge into a drawing for a little larger prize.

This is a simple challenge that only takes a few minutes during a meeting, and takes very little time to prep, but acheives several desireable results with your group.

First, it gets them creating. We all know that if you only ever buy merchandise and never use it up, you will eventually become overwhelmed and quit. We have to create opportunities for people to use all the products they buy, and that includes our downlines. 

Secondly, a product challenge means you wind up with a wide variety of finished products, so each member's creativity is sparked not only by their own experience with the product, but with every one else's, too. Say you have ten downline members and gave each person a piece of lace to use one month. You will probably wind up with ten different ideas of how to use lace on your projects.

Third, a product challenge means you can get people out of their comfort zones (including yourself!) Many of my ladies would never have ordered the Waffle Paper, for example, if they did not see it in person, handle it, and use it successfully. Therefore, their customers are less likely to order it as well. It's a small investment to give everyone a Vintage Trinket, or a piece of DSP, or a die-cut Big Shot box, but it pays off down the road in multiple ways.

Lastly, a product challenge gives you the opportunity to reward members of your downline that might not ever earn any of the sales or recruiting awards every month. It can be disheartening when the same people win the prizes month after month, sometimes year after year. A product challenge will give you a chance to shake things up and send different people home with warm fuzzies each month.

So you can see there are many good reasons to start instituting a fun product challenge in your monthly meetings. When possible, I usually try to make the challenge revolve around a new mini or whatever is on special (and of course, whatever I have enough of on hand for my group). If you don't want to provide the item for them to use, just assign a technique (one that everyone should have the supplies for) or assign a color challenge (again, keeping it open-ended enough so that even newbies with a smaller stash can participate). Here are some generic ideas that you can do as a quick, inexpensive challenge:

• six inches of new ribbon or fiber
• die-cut item from the Big Shot (choose one that few of them have ordered)
• paper daisy or piece of Hodgepodge Hardware
• a piece of fabric, wood sheets, magnet sheets, cork, etc
• one to three specialty brads or other small embellishments
• 6x6 square of DSP
• a partial sheet of rub-ons or partial Simply Scrappin' kit
• a plain lunch sack or gift sack
• a particular punch shape (give them a couple so they can experiment)
• single stamped image on a rectangle of Very Vanilla or Whisper White
• a quarter sheet run through a particular embossing folder
• a Top Note shape cut from blackboard Decor Elements
• Chipboard pieces
• single unassembled card from one of the Simply Sent kits
• a Sweet Treat cup
• one of the laser-cut note cards and envelopes

Depending on the size of your downline, some of these may not be financially feasible, but most are inexpensive, and most require pretty much no planning ahead. So there's no reason not to try this at your next meeting, and every reason to give it a shot and watch the group benefit from this fun addition to your monthly get togethers.

Dream BIG!

When your new recruit wants your customers

Today I'd like to address a topic I see come up again and again in the various demonstrator forums and chat sites I visit. It's also a situation that has happened to me personally nearly every time I've signed a new downline in our small town. How do you handle it when you sign up a new recruit and she "steals" your customers?

This is probably the number one obstacle to recruiting and moving past the hobby demo stage. Fear of losing the customers you have worked hard to keep.

Fear is almost never a healthy motivation. Fear cripples your business and prevents you from achieving your full potential. Decide right now that you don't want to be motivated by fear. Les Brown once said, "Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are too busy living our fears."

So what can we do, when we find a "hot one," and start thinking about the potential impact on our businesses?

First of all, it's your responsibility to always be infusing fresh blood into your customer base. You should never be sitting on your laurels. Routine breeds complacency. Never take your customers for granted. Always be breaking into new groups, new social circles, trying new classes, finding new ways to advertise. If you have four customers and one of them signs up and takes her two friends with her, you're in big trouble. But if you have ten customers and five good leads in the hopper, and a full calendar of workshops and events planned, and your new recruit takes her two friends, you're in a much better place to recover from loss.

Maybe you're going through this scenario right now. Make a plan that next time this happens, you will be better prepared to bounce back because you will not let yourself get complacent and be satisfied to sit on the bench and watch your business walk by.

Secondly, keep in mind that there is no "stealing" involved. Unlike some direct sales companies, in Stampin' Up, we don't have "zones" or "regions" to which we have a right to all the leads and customers in the area. That's a wonderful thing for two reasons: first, it keeps us old-timers on our toes, remaining creative with our projects and constantly improving our customer service; and secondly, it makes it much easier for the new demos to break into the area and make themselves a niche. I really do believe there's a niche for everybody, no matter how many demos are in your town. But that's another article! 

Finally, when a new demo "takes" customers away from her upline, in many cases, it's a matter of logistics, friendship and family. There is no malice intended, and none should be taken. Maybe she sees those people every Sunday at church or during a weekly playgroup. It just makes social sense that they will become her customers. Sometimes the recruit was friends with those customers long before you knew them, in many cases, seeing them on social levels you never do.

She may also be related to a bunch of them, in which case it should be more obvious to you that you will lose those customers when she signs up. Forewarned is forearmed. If the potential of the loss of some of your customers does not blindside you, you will be in a much better mental place to deal with it when and if it happens.

Every once in a while you will have the misfortune to run across some who does literally attempt to "steal"customers in an underhanded, less than ethical manner. If it hasn't happened to you yet, it probably will sometime in your direct sales career. However, in my experience, it is an extremely rare situation. Most new recruits are simply so excited and enthusiastic that they have no concept of the mental turmoil you are going through. They haven't been in your shoes and they don't realize the impact they will have on your customer base.

Don't blame them for that. Don't squelch their enthusiasm. But be completely open about it right from the start. When I am counseling a potential recruit, I always let her know during our conversation, that I am fine with her taking over whatever group of customers I had gleaned from the social circle in which I met her (just treat them well, I tell her). I always tell her that I took customers, too, when I signed up, though completely unknowingly. Only after I had recruits myself did I realize what it must have been like for her.

By taking a few moments to be totally honest with my recruit, I've set the plan of our relationship on a whole different level. I've shown her I am committed to the big picture--the success of the team over my own personal sales--and I've let her know she can count on me to be happy for her even when it doesn't seem to be a good thing for me in the short run. She can blossom under that kind of generous uplining. ("Uplining..." Hmm... think I just created a new word!)

By releasing my new recruit to go ahead and go for those customers which I have already laid the groundwork, I am setting her up for success. The "long view" must always be in place when dealing with recruiting. If you only ever see the immediate implications of signing someone up, you will soon be too discouraged to venture beyond your own stamp room. You must be committed to the long term growth of your business in order to come through these situations with a positive outlook in place.

Does that come easily? No. It's a struggle every time, no matter how high my recruiting numbers rise. It's a continual process of consciously opening my hands and releasing my business to be free to expand where it is supposed to go. You have to make that choice of attitude. She's going to sign up, whether with you or with someone else. Are you going to sit there and groan, or are you going to get up and get to work?.

Sharing what we love and drawing others into this amazing, rewarding adventure should be exciting and fun, not fearful and depressing. But it will be what you mentally chose it make it. Will you make the choice to let go of your fear? Will you decide today to look at the big picture and the overall health and growth of your team? I hope you will not allow yourself to be limited to the short term. Your business can stretch and expand beyond your wildest dreams if you are willing to open your hands and let it fly.

Dream BIG!

Personality challenges

Every now and again, you'll collect a downline member along the way whom you just don't "get." For whatever reason, you always feel a little "off" when you're speaking with her, and you never seem to be quite on the same page. There's not usually any one thing you can point to--and yet you are definitely not connecting.

Sometimes, however, it is obvious that you and your downline's personalities are clashing. You've had a disagreement or a conversation got a little heated. Maybe it wasn't even stamping-related--goodness knows there are plenty of social topics to disagree on these days. One good thing about a scenario like that, where you have an obvious disconnect, is that you can put your finger on the problem fairly easily. In those cases, it's almost a relief to get the issue out in the open so that it can be dealt with. When you're just always "off," it's harder to pinpoint the issue (and therefore do something about it.)

I always counsel openness and transparency with my downline from our very first meeting before they've even put their pen to the IDA. I tell them I will be 100% honest with them and I expect that in return. And because this is me we're talking about, I also tell them that if I do offend them in any way, it is most likely to be entirely by unknowing accident and I hope they'll tell me right away so we can make it right.

If you've laid that groundwork for being open and communicating well with your downline, it will serve you well when an issue comes up. Because, somewhere down the line, it will come up--no matter how idyllic your relationships with your current downlines might be. We're only human, each with our own set of preferences and baggage and pet peeves and thought processes. So be prepared to manage conflict in your group when it arises.

Do your level best to identify when you are using avoidance as a strategy. Ignoring the situation will do nothing to help it. This is different from when you are fully aware of a situation but waiting to take action to see if it will die down by itself. In that case, waiting is your strategy. Simply not dealing with it either physically or mentally is avoidance. Ignoring conflict is not a trait of a good leader! 

Resist the urge to go overboard, too. Choose a time and place for the conversation where you are not likely to be interrupted. There's no need to schedule a group meeting when a one-on-one meeting at the coffee shop will take care of it. And there's no reason for an in-person meeting if a phone call is sufficient (depends on how badly the siutation has deteriorated). Don't make a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be. You'll pysch both her and yourself out, and start up the natural adrenaline response to conflict before you even open your mouth.

In most cases, a simple, "Hey Darla Downline, I've noticed that we seem to be on the wrong foot with each other and I don't like it. Can we chat about what's going on for a few minutes?" will do marvelously for opening the door. At this point, Darla Downline can either say, "you know, I've noticed that, too," or she will protest that things are fine. Here's where you point out what you see happening. When you get to the end of a short and sweet synopsis of what you're not happy about, say," that's what I'm perceiving. Is that how it looks from your end? Am I reading your signals wrong?"  

This gives Darla Downline a chance to present her side of things. It will also give you a chance to see her viewpoint. You may find, after both of you sharing your views, that you are coming into a better understanding with each other. Or, you may discover that the disconnect is greater than you thought, and actually she's very upset, or the problem has been going on longer than you imagined. 

Either way, you're three steps ahead of where you were before you approached her. You have made the decision to get to resolve the conflict between you, and you have tactfully opened the discussion. You've also both presented your view of the issue. So you're doing well. Now we want to move into the area of resolution.

If hearing each other's viewpoints has brought you to a place where the conflict resolves itself, wonderful. But if bringing it all out into the open has not solved anything, I would again counsel frankness. "Well, Darla Downline, I think we see what the problem is. I'm glad we talked about this because I want us to have a good relationship. The question is, what should we do now?" You're sending the message that you want to resolve the problem and you're willing to work with her on the solution.

If both of you are willing to continue this back-and-forth approach until you hit upon a resolution, you have a great thing going. You shouldn't feel bad if the situation doesn't fully resolve in one sitting. But if you continue to be open with your downline and encourage that openness on her own behalf, you don't need to fear the conflict any longer. You've sapped the monster of it's strength by bringing it out into the daylight to be discussed.

Whatever the reason you and your downline are having problems, don't give up. You are the senior partner in the relationship, and in my opinion, therefore responsible to extend the olive branch. It is up to her to decide to reach out and accept it, of course, but she should never be able to (truthfully) say that you refused to reconcile. Always leave the ball in her court. At downline meetings, encourage your team to bring you their concerns and promise them that same transparency from you.

Without going into identifiable specifics, you are welcome to share your thoughts and tips on conflict resolution here. If you need further guidance on this topic, I highly recommend the principles in the book Crucial Conversations. It was one of the best sessions I have ever attended at a Leadership conference.

Dream BIG, friend!

Fabulous meetings help retention rates

For anyone who has ever lost a downline, or feels disconnected to a downline member, retention rates can be a touchy subject. Your retention rate is defined as the percentage of downline members you recruited who have not dropped from your group. For example, if you have four downline and one drops, your retention rate is 75%. 3/4 of the people you signed up have stayed signed up.

It is important not to read too much into the numbers. After all, many people do not stick with a direct sales company for very long, for a wide variety of reasons, most of which you have no control over. However, it is vitally important to an efficient business to make sure you are retaining as many recruits as possible. It takes more work to find a new one than it does to maintain an old one. If you really want your business to grow, you need solid levels of loyal, long-term downline, upon which new layers of recruits can be added.

Retention rates can also be indicative of how good a job you are doing with training, and whether or not you are recruiting the right kinds of people in the first place. Obviously, the goal would be a very high retention rate. We are blessed to be working with a company that has one of the highest retention rates in the direct sales industry. Hanging on to recruits, however, is easier said than done.

I believe that a primary reason our downlines remain active is not really the projects or the business info they get from our meetings, but the FEELINGS that result from our papercrafting time together.

stress relief
adult conversation
being pampered or appreciated
having accomplishments recognized
get away from problems for a bit
being in the loop
giving and sharing
personal creativity.

Those feelings are what will keep them SU demos for years to come, keeping them motivated to work on their sales if for no other reason than that they can't bear to not be a part of this fun group. THAT is one thing we DO have control over! And we can always be looking for better ways to keep that feeling alive.

In a previous article, I discussed various ways to help motivate your downline to work together. I'd like to expand on the first point of that article-- playing group games.

Now, don't tune me out. I'm not talking the boring old baby shower games we all love to hate, or those annoying "hot potato" style games that interrupt the presenter constantly (what an unfortunate idea!). Here are some new game ideas, along with twists on some old ones, that will liven up any party. Always, always, have a great little gift, packaged just as cute as you can manage it, for the winner.

Guess the Stamp Set: Stamp one image from 20 different stamp sets on 20 index cards and number them 1-20. Write the name of the set it came from on the back of the card. Hold the cards up one by one and have the guests write down what they think is the correct set name. Reserve an extra card in case there is a tie, and the first person to call out the correct set name wins.

Categories Game: Make a list of 15 products referred to by their first name only (for instance, Christmas Jingle instead of Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' Kit). The players must write down what category they think that product falls into, such as stamp set, wheel, embellishment, scrappin' kit, DSP, etc. This is a good one to play at the beginning of a catalog season, when people aren't quite as familiar with all the new names.

Catalog Drill: Each player needs their own catalog, closed on their laps. Ahead of time, create a list of products spread randomly throughout the catalog. Read a product name and the players can open their books and try to find the item and page number first.

Memory Tray: ahead of time, load a shallow tray with all kinds of stamping products. Try to fit at least 15-20 products on the tray. Cover it with a dish towel. Set a timer for 30 seconds and remove the towel so players can see. Then cover it back up and have them write down as many objects as they can remember in two minutes. If you put a variety of new-in-the-package items on the tray, you can have the winner select their prize right off the tray.

Name the Color Family/Colors: there are two versions of this game. For the first, you hold up a color swatch and they must either name the color family it is from, or the color name itself. You can either have them call out the name, or write them down in order on paper and check answers at the end.

Color Family Game: Divide the group into two or more teams. Put punches or swatches of all our colors in a big bowl, one set for each team. First group to Get all four sets put together correctly wins.

So, my challenge to you--choose a game or fun activity and work it into your next meeting. They may groan at first, but they will soon get into the spirit of it and look forward to the creative games you have planned. Feel free to post games you have tried with success here for others to see. Use these fun tools and anything else you can think of to create the atmosphere that will in turn result in an increase of the kinds of feelings that result in great retention rates!

Dream BIG, friend!

This article first appeared at www.stampinaddicts.com in October 2009.