Sunday, July 27, 2014

Survive & Thrive with your Scentsy Business After A Move

This is the verbiage from the Survive & Thrive training call presented on July 26th as well as the 3-part video series.

Video 3 of 3: Be an Opportunist



Let’s start with this mindset: Many consultants live in the same small town their entire life and there comes a point where it becomes increasingly difficult to extend your reach. So I know it can feel daunting when moving but let’s switch our mindset to the following and then we’ll get to work. “We. We are incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to move to a brand new location, with new opportunities to expand our reach!” Let that sink in. Alright…

So, I’m going to start with a little bit of the soft stuff and then we’re going to dig in deeper in a bit with lots of tips and ideas so get your pen ready.  

1. Know Your Why
I moved from South Korea to Texas in February and was influx until we were settled in a home with all of our household goods in April. That’s 4 months from the time I shipped my stuff, until the time I received it in my new home (and oh, my gosh of course there are still boxes). I didn’t know a soul here and I left most of my SoKo clientele with my awesome team there so I was really starting from scratch. I could’ve thrown in the towel – sure would’ve been easier - but I knew my ‘why’ and that’s what kept me focused. Your whys can change. When I started it was because I left a 50-hr work week in advertising to move to Korea – so I was supremely bored. But my why at this time was much different and now included my group of amazing teammates – I knew I could never, ever let them down!

So, I’m talking to you today from experience. I’m acknowledging that it can be challenging but I’m also telling you that it’s possible and totally worth it!

Okay so let’s start as if you’ve just learned your moving:

Plan Ahead
1.  Sign-up for all of your new town’s FB groups including yard sales, spouses groups, mommy pages.
a.     many you can’t post on but you can watch for those that might be looking for a consultant. I just got a recruit from this last week!
b.     some have a file section specifically for advertising or listing your business so ensure you complete those and keep them up-to-date. And if they don’t suggest to the admin that they add this file.
c.      some allow postings at a specific time each week for advertising so watch out for those as well and consistently post your information
d.     large holiday and spring events start booking vendors 3-4 months out.  
2.     Book in-route parties with a traveling theme  
3.     Brand yourself and carry biz materials with you throughout the move.
a.     ask to leave biz cards at the hotel desk
b.     get friendly with the flight attendants on long flights (I had a 1 hr convo with a flight attendant on a flight from Greece in May!)
c.      playgrounds – scope out a mom and strike up a convo
d.     be consistent in your posts
e.     use the extra downtime to work on your business marketing (a new medium, marketing collateral, etc)
f.      schedule live facebook parties along the way – you can do these from anywhere and you can do it with 3-day vacation hair too!

okay, so you’ve moved and you’re in your new town and don’t know anyone! What to do!

Get Involved (community / social / scentsy)
1. Community
a.    Network with others in your community who are in home business.
b.    Find out what events and activities that they participate in.
c.     No networking avenues available – create one!
d.    My favorite idea here will be covered in the Be an Opportunist section so hang in for that in a few!
e.    A lot of churches hold a Spring and Fall Fest! Contact them about
getting a table or a booth.
f.      Have a neighborhood launch party.
- Find a digital invite on etsy.com, have it printed at Vista Print and put on your walking shoes and deliver to the door of every one in your neighborhood.
- I did this at the end of June and 14 people came and ordered! I now have 14 new customers which is a great foundation of clientele! Another bonus of a clean slate is the ability to start a customer log and service your customers like you’ve wished that you’d done from the start.
- Tips: make sure the invite is really well designed!
-Include a redemption code
- Ask them to bring something (so they’ll feel less awkward about showing up)
- Only invite the ladies (otherwise you are competing for attention and it quickly turns into an expensive neighborhood bbq that you inadvertently sponsored.
- Have a call-to-action (like a FB event to RSVP on)
- Highlight the experience part of the party. Do not call it a Scentsy Launch Party. Instead try leading with a Fiesta for the ladies of the neighborhood,  featuring Scentsy and Velata.
- Serve margaritas – that gets people everytime!
- I recommend a Fiesta theme – it’s easy, fun and inexpensive. Serve chips and salsas and margaritas. Purchase or make colorful tissue poms and use mustaches to fiesta-up your displays (that should be spread out).

You can find this invitation pinned to my ‘Survive & Thrive’ Pinterest board

2.     Social Media
a.     Again, just make sure you are on all of the community pages. That recruit last week came because I’ve consistently posted each time that they allowed business postings or when someone needs a bulb and someone remembered my name and tagged me. I received 3 more orders from that strand.
b.     Branch out to one new social medium with your business. YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, a blog, Pinterest… whatever you feel like you can be the best at and consistent with. This will give you some renewed excitement and help you to extend your reach.
3.     Scentsy
a.     Because I lived overseas I didn’t go to my first Scentsy event until this May in Greece and it forever changed me! Of course the destination was amazing but I also gained lifelong friendships and Scentsy sister connections from all over the world. Go to Spring Sprint, Convention and earn those incentive trips (starting this week!) and at the very least find a group or two that speaks to you.
-And for those overseas – I know an incentive trip or convention is more difficult but I bet that if you earn a free trip that your family can figure out a way to coincide a stateside visit with the trip.

Be an Opportunist
1.     First. No excuses.
2.     Create opportunity – it’s not about having opportunity fall in your lap at the time you need – it’s about creating opportunity that is tailored to you at the exact moment you need it.
a.     Create a neighborhood FB group
-This is one of my fav ideas. My neighborhood didn’t have a FB group (most don’t) so I created one which means that I can set the rules of biz ads, I created the HBB document, I am automatically the go-to as the admin for our community and manage the conversation. And I know when new people move to the neighborhood and I can drop off a welcome Scentsy package. I’ve offered a service to my community that they are thanking me for – when does that happen in direct sales!
- Contact your local area Welcome Wagon or Welcome to the
Neighborhood Group about including your information. If there isn’t one – create one!
b.     Create a city-wide women’s network where women can share ideas, recommendations, schedule playdates, or adult dates where you can network, schedule parties, and meet new teammates.
c.      Create a job fair with several successful direct sellers in the area
-I’ve just started organizing a fair in August with a set of 4 other strategically chosen direct sellers. I wanted high profile DSA orgs to bring the traffic, but not the ones that are the super hot ones for the moment or that are in the same genre and instead focused on flagship DSAs like Mary Kay and Pampered Chef. I’m doing it at a fun, new local biz – where we can do it for free, while we help another local biz out with new customers/traffic and therefore make more connections. I am also working with this local cafĂ© on other sponsorship opportunities.
3.     Create advertising and promotional opportunities: If there are paid advertising opps out there already they are probably too expensive so you have to create a space for you.
a.     radio: Ask to donate an item for them to giveaway to their customers.
b.     local business: Ask them to put your business cards and a master catalog on their cabinet or ask them to hold an in-store drawing for a free scentsy warmer and wax by putting up your drawing box for a period of time.
c.      ask a local car dealership to hand out new car packets with your information and a scent circle.
d.     ask an apartment complex to hand out new tenant packets that include a coupon.
e.     ask a local bakery to display your cupcake warmer and drawing box for one week in exchange for gifting their employees with a package of Scentsy or Velata goodies.
f.      ask a local bakery to use your Velata chocolate for an exclusive cookie/brownie. Each purchase also receives a Velata goodie bag from you (coupon, sample, thank you). 
g.     Contact your local area hospitals and ask for Human Resources
Dept. The Majority of hospitals hand out New Mommy Diaper Bags filled
with products, samples and other stuff for New Moms who just had a
baby!
h.     Donate a Product to your local area Bingo Halls! They are always
looking for sponsors of their Bingo Prizes! Bingo is BIG in alot of
areas!
i.       Daycare Centers! They are excellent to contact and leave business
cards and/or fliers at!
j.       Contact local small companies and shops to see if you can offer
an exclusive discounts or freebie gift to their employees. Companies
are always looking for a way to "treat" their employees to specials
from the local surrounding community.

4.     See potential customers and recruits everywhere you go
a.     Have a conversation ‘work-in’ ready. Mine is that I just traveled to Greece for free. I use this anywhere that I can have a longer convo with people – I used this work-in last week at dinner for my birthday around a hibachi grill and she texted me today with confirmation that she’ll be joining our team on Aug. 1 – yay!
b.     Compliments and questions work well in short time-frames. Compliment her on her shoes or bag. Ask where she got them. Or ask her how old her kids are, tell her how olds yours are (so she knows you’re a fellow mom – not a weirdo) and then compliment her on her parenting, their behavior or how cute they are. Acknowledge that you’re both busy, tell her that it was really good to chat with her and that you own a Scentsy business and you’d love to give her a free scent circle and card. While you’re digging around for that ask if she’s thought about extra $$ for the holidays. And then pull out the circle, card and a pen and say let me get your number and I’ll text you and maybe we can chat about it more later this week. It’s fast-paced and non-lingering (leaving little time for objection).
5.     Brand yourself – I love Scentsy tees but I feel like I have even more success and visibility with a Scentsy bag.
6.     Always be thinking about how you can create opportunity even using pop culture and everyday events. For example the 50 Shades of Grey trailer was trending worldwide – so I created a guessing game. My Australian friend answered so she totally won and we’re now planning on a co-Facebook party together with her direct sales business and mine.
7.     If you get a receipt from someone, they get a card and sample or circle.

Consistency

Resources
Etsy
Dafont.com
Flyers FB Group



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