Direct Sales Marketing & Mentoring- Nancy Sutherland

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It’s finally happened! Last week my goal was to book at least one person, and although I fell short, I accomplished this on Monday! Ever since our home was unpacked to where we could go out each day, we have been doing that. It was pretty easy to find places to go because we needed lots of odds and ends, like curtain rods, draperies, etc. In addition, we attended community events with my grandchildren, joined the local American Legion and Chamber of Commerce. My Company spends a great deal of money producing approved advertising that you can edit with your own name, phone number and web address. So I was able to do that even before my new business cards arrived.

I put these Company Approved ads on bulletin boards all over town to get my name out.  Because this is a small town ( population around 12,000) I began to see some of the same people in other places! So it was great to be able to say hi and introduce myself as a new member of the community. People have been genuinely very friendly and easy to talk to. I started handing out coupons for $10 off and a free pampering session with me, and got the contact numbers of anyone who seemed interested. Then I followed up the same day with an invitation to my Wednesday or Thursday night pampering sessions or Saturday afternoon.  (those are the times that I decided to hold appointments here in my studio) If those times or my location is not convenient to anyone, than I am willing to go to the client, too.

Once a have the appointment booked, I always ask- “who do you know?”  offering to double the coupon if they share their appoinment with a friend. After all, women like to do things with a friend- we don’t even go to the bathroom together, do we? This is only the beginning. I plan to build a whole new addition to my business in this area. Subscribe to my weekly free e-newsletter to follow my progress! (remember, I have only been here a couple weeks now)

Finding a church is one of the best ways to get connected in your community. For that reason, we decided to go to church even the first week when we were not even unpacked. ( we are still not entirely unpacked, but it’s more livable) Lucky for us, our new home is right across the street from a church! So last week, we got up late, got dressed and walked over to the service. We were greated by friendly people, and even stayed after the service to talk to other members of the church.  The service was more traditional than the church that we were members of in our East Coast home, but that won’t entirely be the deciding factor in the church that we decide to call home here. We even had a visit later that week from a church member with cookies! (Alex said this church wins hands down, but I insist we look at a few others.)

Understand, that I am NOT using a church as a way to solicit my direct sales business,nor do I encourage others to do so. I do feel that it is important to be connected right away with others in your community for various other practical reasons. Yesterday we attended a different church in town. The church was much larger, but not as large as our former church. The service was more contemporary and we loved it!  We were not approached or spoken to by anyone.  I guess if we continue to attend, they will warm up to us. In the meantime, next week we will try another church.

We have 3 other churches on our list to attend. I don’t encourage church-hopping and don’t plan to continue doing this longer than our first month here.  That leads us to some important questions. What is most important to us in a church? Is it the size, the music, the congregation, or the ministries and special programs that they offer? It is definitely NOT going to be based on a particular denomination, although we will examine their professions of faith before we join.

What about you? Has anyone recently moved and had success in finding a new church? I would love to hear your suggestions!

Getting our home and office set up has taken much longer than I anticipated. Moving from approximately 3000 square foot to almost half of that presents it’s own unique set of challenges. We spent an entire day setting up our office, and then yesterday putting together my “studio” to see clients. In my previous home my dining room was made into a “Beauty Boutique” where not only did I pamper my customers, but they could all of the products on display. During the “staging” process of selling my home, I had to take it all down, but there was plenty of room in my training center to recreate it for my customers.

This home is much smaller, so my entire dining room set doesn’t fit in one room. So I chose to put the buffet with a display of some of the beautiful prizes that I have earned through the years ( including china and golden goblets) I put together a small cafe style table with four chairs to do parties around and used a small card table in the corner to make a small display. It feels femine and very welcoming and intimate.  Now I feel ready to go out and meet people!

Another aspect of my welcoming people to my home is a gourmet “coffee bar”. I have a 40 cup coffee maker that is always filled with specialty coffee and accumulate different flavored syrups. So when I talk to people, I can tell them to stop by anytime for coffee. I know that will become something that I will be known for here as well.

I contacted some of the other Sales Directors in my Company and have already made arrangements to attend some of their events. I know that I will feel very much at home here quickly.

So today we went out to run errands for the first time. I opened a bank account, and visited two other banks to cash checks that were drawn on their bank. Each time after introducing myself I gave them my business card, telling them all the information is still correct except the address that I wrote on the back of the card. I really think that these cards will do for now, the personal touch of writing my new address for them seemed to go over well.

I’m just about ready to begin now. I would love to hear from others who have relocated their business to share tips. As I continue to build my business here, I will be journalling for all of you to read.6

Many of my regular readers have sent me messages asking what has happened to me? Why was I not posting to my blog on a regular basis anymore? There are times when “life” just gets in the way. This has been one of those times.  My husband Alex and I put our home on the market about 9 months ago in an effort to downsize.  Our children are grown and being part of our grandchildren’s lives became a more important priority than a 3000 square foot home.

When we first put the home on the market, we began the process of “staging”.( For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, it is a basic de-cluttering and undecorating to make your home more appealing to the potential buyer) That led to a series of home repairs, painting, and just going through the entire home and start to decide what will go and what will stay. That sounds easier than it is, I might add. We built the home in 1988, raised a family there, and it seems like we never threw away anything. There was plenty of storage, with a complete floored walk up attic that we eventually filled.

As summer turned to fall, and we continued to drop the price of our home, we felt as though there couldn’t be anyone within 50 miles of our property who had not gone through at least once for a “showing”. Each time, we would leave our home for 1-2 hours and go somewhere wondering if this was the one.  Amazingly, I still managed to work my direct sales business, but nowhere near my normal level.

So we had to decide if we were to “wait it out” until next spring or be couragous and move now before winter hits, and attempt to capture the peak holiday season in a new part of the country.  We chose the latter.

The first weekend in October, all of our adult children assembled in the home to go through their things and decide what to take and what to leave behind. Then the move began. I thought this would be an excellent time to journal how I took my business from one location and start to grow it in another area. Today is the beginning of that journey…