Dear Archive Visitor, This Saturday is one of those milestone days in our family's life, as our second child, Tess, will graduate from high school. I remember when she was a little girl and it seemed like her growing up was an impossibility because it was so far off. Now that day is here. Starting a direct sales business has it's similarities. When you first start your business it's common to think that you will never get to one of your company's higher rankings. That day almost seems like an impossibility and so far off. However, that day will be here rather quickly, if you keep the big picture in mind as you work your business. In this week's article, I'll show you how booking home parties and growing a huge sales unit intertwine. When you implement the ideas I suggest, you too will experience a milestone day as you graduate from the sales distributor role into a leadership role with your company.

The Big Picture in Bookings By Tammy Stanley There are many reasons to get bookings in your calendar, but the only one I'm going to focus on this week is the BIG PICTURE. Even if you don't see the possibility of a big business for yourself, I want you to embrace the idea. If you later decide that you do want a big business, you'll have the proper foundation on which to build an mansion. Whether you're raising children or developing leaders, one very effective way to teach is through the Socratic method. Through the Socratic method, people come up with questions and conclusions through experience. This means that simply by being a guest at a home party, one develops a number of conclusions and questions about your company's products and opportunity. For example, if one observes the consultant having a good time, one might easily conclude that this business is fun. If one notices the guests placing large orders, one also could conclude that this business is lucrative. During this time one develops unanswered questions such as, ÒDoes the consultant have to send all the money to the company and wait for a check?Ó or ÒDoes the consultant have to take care of sending the tax money to the state?Ó Just by being a guest at a home party one learns a great deal simply by experiencing the process. If one has the opportunity to be a hostess, one learns even more about the entire process. By being first a guest and then a hostess, it's quite a natural transition to becoming a consultant. Again because of the Socratic method one experiences the sales process and then deciphers a great deal from that experience. So what does all this have to do with the BIG PICTURE? If you want to build a big direct sales business, you want it to be as easy as possible for your customers to become consultants themselves. And once they become consultants, you also want them to experience success as quickly as possible. Because people learn so naturally through the Socratic method, it is far easier for them to get started if theyÕve first experienced the entire process as a guest and then as a hostess. Now, I can just hear some of you saying, ÒOh, but I donÕt care about building a big business,Ó or ÒOh no, I could never build a big business.Ó But the interesting thing is that the people who insist that they donÕt care about building a big business are often the very ones who most want to. Even if you think you can't build a big direct sales business, I assure you, you can. Begin by embracing a bigger picture of your business than one the size of your thumbnail! One of the first steps to building a big business is to get bookings on your calendar. DECIDE that you want them. You decide this by realizing that it is the perfect route to building a big, strong business. When I first started my direct sales business, I couldnÕt get a booking to save my life, but I was determined to have a BIG business. Because I embraced the BIG PICTURE early, I kept persisting and trying to get bookings. After about eight months, my calendar was finally the way I wanted it. Here is what I find really interesting. During that time I was trying to get my calendar filled with bookings, I managed to recruit five people into the business with me. In other words, your calendar doesn't have to be FULL for you to find people who want to do what you are doing. Once I managed to get my calendar the way I wanted, it only took me seven more months to build an incredibly motivated sales unit of twenty women. Decide right now to build your direct sales business by using the Socratic method. Make sure that what you do is what you want others to copy. One of the best ways to do that is to have a system for each process in your business. Systems keep you on track and can be copied. Consider, for example, the benefits of having a hostess coaching system that gets a hostess committed to keeping her first scheduled booking with you. While you're coaching that hostess and getting her commitment you're likewise teaching her how to successfully book home parties and get people committed. If you recruit her and even if you never train her, she's likely to copy what you did, once she starts booking home parties. If you invest time into training that individual, you get the pleasure of saying, "Remember how I told you "X,Y,Z" when I first spoke with you about your home party? Well, the reason I did that was because I've found it gets my hostesses committed to holding their home party on the originally scheduled date." AH... training a sales team is much like raising children, it's far more easy and effective to say, "Do as I do," as opposed to "Do what I say." If you really look at the big picture, every time you talk about your products, every time you book a home party, every time you coach a hostess, etc., you are teaching future consultants through the Socratic method. Never under-estimate how powerful this is. It is certainly one of the keys to building a million dollar sales team. WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Author, Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker Tammy Stanley publishes the propelling 'Sales Refinery Insights' weekly ezine for direct sales professionals. If you're ready to jump-start your direct sales business, make more money, and create more value, get your FREE tips now at www.tammystanley.com/ezine/ezine_offer_ds.htm

One of the best ways to increase the number of bookings of your calendar is to have very successful home parties. Again, it's the Socratic method that plays to your advantage. If I'm a guest at my friend's home party, and I see that she just got $100 in free product by inviting a few friends over, what am I inclined to think that I can do? Of course I'm inclined to think that I can copy her. As a sales professional in the home party business, you have tremendous control over the success of each home party. The system you use to hostess coach each of your hostesses will determine her commitment to holding her originally booked date, how many guests she invites, which guests she invites, and how repeatable she is. A great hostess coaching system makes it incredibly easy for a hostess to have a successful home party and get a great turn out of guests with a minimal amount of effort. A great system also eliminates problems like cancellations, postponements, guests who don't have any money to spend, and guests who don't want to book their own home parties. Although many people might think that those things are governed by chance, they are not. With an effective hostess coaching system, you stop postponements, you improve guest attendance and bookings and you increase your profits. If you have yet to implement a hostess coaching system like that, get your business back on track and order my CD How to Stop Postponements in the Home Party Business today! "Your CD is awesome! I have tried some of your techniques already and have heard "Gee, I never thought of that." It is amazing what happens when your Hostess actually understands why you say what you do. Thank you again for such a great CD. The girls on my Team that have listened to their copy are getting so excited they can't wait to book and hold their Presentations for the upcoming season. Keep those CDs coming. I look forward to hearing more of your great works." -Sue Dickenson, Fredericksburg VA

Tammy Stanley, founded and directs The Sales Refinery, a sales training company that assists direct sales consultants to generate more business and build long-lasting sales teams through powerful marketing, selling and leadership strategies.

Tammy has been coaching and training since 1994 and has a deep understanding of the challenges and needs of the independent sales consultant. While raising four children, Tammy built a multi-million dollar direct sales organization, reaching her company's Circle of Excellence 7 consecutive years in a row. She earned numerous sales and leadership awards, world travel, and promoted 11 offspring managers.

The Tammy Stanley Sales Refinery
Tempe, AZ 85283
Call Today: 480-775-4866
tammy@TammyStanley.com