Alan Luce

Ever encounter someone who just does not understand what “work” is about?  When it happens, whether dealing with a young person new to the job market, or mature individual who made it to middle age thinking that a job and an income are some type of mystical birth right, I always have two nearly simultaneous reactions:  The first is to wonder about how many people had failed this incredibly naive individual.  I mean to get to adulthood without understanding what work is all about means that parents, family, neighbors, friends and teachers all failed to teach this individual some of the most important facts of life.  Yet, amazing as it is it happens.   My second reaction is that this person has never been around or been a part of direct selling.

Direct selling is the ultimate teacher about the fundamental principles of work.   In direct selling, you do something… you get something.  You do nothing…. you get nothing.   No one tells you did a “good job” when you didn’t.  No one says “ Don’t worry that you did not sell anything; we are going to pay you anyway.”

Whether your direct selling experience was long or short, a good experience or bad, people who have tried direct selling learn the indelible work lesson that doing little or nothing earns little or nothing while hard work and effort can lead to large rewards.  I cannot tell you how many parents who were also direct sellers have told me that one of the great unexpected, but deeply appreciated, benefits of their career in direct selling is that their children grew up understanding about work.  Direct selling kids learn young and well that if their direct selling Mom or Dad is to make any money, they first must go out and work to make a sale.

Learning that you must do something in order to get something out of work may be one of life’s most important lessons.  As direct sellers, we live that lesson every day.  Too bad more people don’t have that experience.

Few people in the direct sales industry can match the experience, expertise and successes of Alan Luce. With over 25 years in senior management, guiding start-ups and established companies alike, Alan has met virtually every challenge a direct sales executive can face.  Learn more about how Alan can help your company at http://www.luceandassociates.com/Alan-Luce.html.

Alan Luce

After nearly 40 years in direct selling, I am a firm believer in what I have come to call the Belief Multiplier Effect.  “What is it?’ you ask.  The Belief Multiplier Effect (BME) is that sudden unexplainable upsurge in your direct sales business that goes well beyond what all your analysis and projections anticipated.   Your plans called for a modest increase but suddenly the business just starts to fly!  Sales are exploding; recruiting is at all time highs and new leaders are coming out of the woodwork.  What in the heck happened?  Or perhaps more accurately, what are we doing right that we didn’t do before?

In my experience, the Belief Multiplier Effect kicks in not because of any one thing, but because the Company has done a number of things right and all of these important separate elements finally coalesce into a firm belief among your sales leaders that anything is truly possible.  When enough members of the sales force begin to really believe, then incredible things begin to happen.

Can you plan for the belief multiplier effect?  No, not really.  But what you can do is set the stage for it to occur.  How? By paying attention to the small things and gaining and maintaining the trust of your sales force.

Here are some of the key elements that must be present before there is any chance of riding the BME Express:

• Your sales force must use and love the Company products.  They must be on a mission to share the product benefits with everyone they know.
• Your sales force services must be excellent.  This includes accurate, on time shipments with little breakage.  When errors do occur the sales force must have easy access to report them and quick, cheerful solutions.  Never embarrass the sales force in front of their customers.
• The training must be effective.  If the company says that this is the way to do something, then most folks who follow the advice had better get the results promised.
• Heroes and heroines must emerge.  Nothing creates organizational belief faster than some of their own experiencing great success.   Sales force belief is peer driven.
• The sales force influence leaders must believe without doubt or question that the company will always try to act in their best interests.
• The experience of belonging to the company must be fun, educational and motivational.

When a company gets all of these various elements in alignment and those heroines and heroes are emerging and inspiring others with their stories, then the atmosphere exists for the Belief Multiplier Effect to kick in.  That’s when the results begin to significantly exceed both forecasts and expectations.  As I said, you can’t predict it, it is almost impossible to measure, and you cannot count on it being there forever.  But what you can do is work very hard to make sure that all of the elements necessary for the Belief Multiplier Effect to kick and thrive are continuously cared for, improved and nurtured. Drift, even slightly, away from the attention to detail and practices that were present when the BME kicked in and you can lose it as quickly and unexpectedly as it first appeared. Once lost, it is hard to get back.  When you’ve got it going, you and your sales force experience the true magic of direct selling.

Few people in the direct sales industry can match the experience, expertise and successes of Alan Luce. With over 25 years in senior management, guiding start-ups and established companies alike, Alan has met virtually every challenge a direct sales executive can face.  Learn more about how Alan can help your company at http://www.luceandassociates.com/Alan-Luce.html.

by Alan Luce

Alan Luce

Like the rest of the country, many direct selling families are having a tough time.  Jobs are scarce, overtime is almost non-existent and prices for the essentials keep going up.  In a recession largely caused by the failure of our elected and financial sector leaders to act honestly and responsibly, it is hard to know who to trust.

In days gone by we looked to someone’s “character” to gage whether a person was worthy of our trust.  A person’s “character” is almost a forgotten measuring stick in this world where all that seems to matter is how much money one makes or whether he or she won the election.   What they did to make their money or what tactics they used to win their election didn’t seem to matter.

Yet never has there been a time when the old fashioned notion of good character is more needed as a public standard.  A person’s character is not measured by any one talent or accomplishment, no matter how great or noteworthy. A person’s character was based upon measuring their honesty, truthfulness, courtesy, respect for others, kindness, sense of fair play, integrity and honor.  To be deemed a “success” a person had to have good character.  Without good character, a person was simply rich or famous or notorious, but certainly not someone to trust with decisions important to you.

The one area where character and leading by example is still the full measure of success is  direct selling.  Direct sellers are all volunteers.  They work as part of a leader’s team or downline because they want to, not because they have to.  Leaders who never ask their recruits to do work that they are not doing, leaders who teach even the newest all the tasks and methods to be successful, leaders who work to make you successful are the ones who achieve the most, climb the highest , last the longest and have the most respect.  In the transparent world of direct selling, the volunteer sales force soon ferrets out the untruthful, the manipulative, the dishonest and the self serving. Such people lack” character” and do not last as their followers soon figure out that the only success they are interested in is their own.

In tough times like these, the leaders with the best character in the full sense of that word are the ones that will help every recruit find their way, lead by example in all of the necessary work, and play by the rules no matter what the cost.  They succeed where others fail because character still counts!

Few people in the direct sales industry can match the experience, expertise and successes of Alan Luce. With over 25 years in senior management, guiding start-ups and established companies alike, Alan has met virtually every challenge a direct sales executive can face.  Learn more about how Alan can help your company at http://www.luceandassociates.com/Alan-Luce.html.

Social media can be an incredible tool your sales force can use for building and supporting their teams. As you know, an important way to build long-term income in a direct selling business is through recruiting other sellers and supporting them.  We value the leaders who help our companies grow larger, and help more people.  The compensation our companies provide to leaders for building and supporting their teams is the commissions that they earn on their team sales, and this provides more income than a leader can earn through his or her own sales alone.  As a leader’s team becomes larger, however, it can become challenging to meet that team’s needs, while building a personal business at the same time.  Social media can help with this.

Here are some social media tools that can be used for building and supporting a team.

1. Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn: Social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are excellent for finding people that may be interested in your business opportunity.  Now this is not license for consultants to SPAM people.  However, as our leaders share delight in their successes, enthusiasm for their business events, and their love for their customers and team, they will naturally attract others who may want to learn more.Consultants can also use groups on Facebook and LinkedIn that are dedicated to people looking for work, and build relationships/provide valuable content there.  By participating as a relationship-builder and giver in these forums, people who are good prospects for the business opportunity will be interested in learning more.  And don’t forget to use searching tools to specifically identify those people who are interested in your product line!  People who are interested in your products are often your best prospects for the opportunity.
2. Your Blog: A blog is such an incredible tool for a direct sales business.  It is a place where a company and its sales force can provide content of interest to prospective customers, and is your home base for building relationships with people.  A blog is also a valuable tool for team-building.  By providing content that is of value to opportunity-seekers, the author of the blog becomes a trusted resource that attracts people to your business.A separate blog can also be valuable for teams within your organization, providing team information, incentives, links, and a place to ask questions and make comments.  Imagine your leaders being able to provide their teams with articles specifically dedicated to skills the team is currently working on building!  Blogs make it possible for your leaders to provide that content without having to email everyone, worrying about spam blockers, etc.  Your leaders can provide a central location that the team can learn to come to as they need information.  Because all the information is archived on the blog, your leaders can also send team members to specific information as they need it, providing a valuable library of topics that will be of benefit to the entire team for a long time.And because blogs are easy to set up and maintain, they eliminate the need to go to the expense of setting up a personal website for the team.  Instead, your leaders can set up an attractive blog with a few clicks, and provide all the resources their teams need in one place.
3. Groups - A Facebook group can be another valuable tool that leaders can use to support their team members.  Facebook makes it possible to set up “Secret” groups that are not available to the general public.  Team members must be invited by the leader into the secret group, and this provides an excellent forum for team members to learn from and support one another.  As the team gets large, your leaders may feel like they are answering the same questions over and over.  Imagine them being able to send their team members to a central location for the answers!  Leaders can set up a series of frequently asked questions on the discussion board of the group, and add to these as necessary. Team members can also use the group to support one another.  If someone has a question and the leader is not available, she can post her question to the group, and other team members can share what they’ve learned.  The collective wisdom of the team can help your leaders build a stronger team than they ever thought possible!  And social media enables that sharing.

By employing social media tools that your teams can access, and then teaching the team members how to make the best use of those tools, your leaders can be more efficient and effective in their team building.  Plus, team members will develop closer relationships with one another, and that will naturally attract more people to the team.  Social media makes it possible.

Are your leaders using social media to support their teams?  How?  Did you get some ideas from this article?   I’d love to read your ideas in the comments below!