Dear Archive Visitor, I'm looking forward to this weekend. I'll be driving our daughter, Audrey, out to Santa Monica, California, for a 4-week summer intensive ballet camp. Yes, that is a picture of her on your right! Now, don't worry about Audrey being out there without her family around. This gal has been going to ballet camps during the summer for numerous years. When she was eleven she went to Connecticut for a 6-week ballet camp! She admits that she did get homesick one day during those six weeks. I realize you might be thinking that we must not be worth missing, if she doesn't get homesick for us. But I like to think (and I'm sure Audrey would concur) that the real reason she doesn't get homesick is that she's busy doing what she LOVES. Just last night I made a mental and written note to myself to stop for a few minutes during each hour of the day to simply feel joyful about my work. I've noticed that my work doesn't feel like work and I don't feel stressed out whenever I'm feeling joyful about what I do. I believe you have many things to be joyful about, as an entrepreneur with a direct selling company. I suggest that one of the things you can be especially joyful about is your customers. Personally, I can't think of a better way to show them how appreciative you are than to give them a phone call!

What Prospects Do When They Think You Aren't Telling The Truth... By Tammy Stanley We learn as toddlers to always tell the truth, but as we grow older the definitive line between truth and falsehood grows fuzzier and fuzzier in our minds. Why is that? The answer is simple. We begin to learn that sometimes the truth isnÕt what people really want to hear. My mom tells a story about my brother at the age of four asking a visitor why her teeth were so yellow! Hmm Ñ not exactly what the woman or my mother wanted to hear, right? One time I was in a very small Trader Joes grocery store when one of my children loudly exclaimed, ÒOh Mom, I just picked the biggest booger from my nose and I put it right there on that tomato can!Ó Egads! The embarrassment I felt that day was ACUTE! I remember pleading with my youngster to make announcements like that quietly in my ear. Hmm Ñ wasnÕt I in essence telling her that people donÕt want to hear the truth? ItÕs no wonder that by the time you start a career in sales, youÕre comfortably ensconced in a belief system that regards lying as something necessary when the truth is uncomfortable. And no wonder you find it better to tell your customers things like, ÒApparently, your order got lost in the system,Ó when in actuality you forgot to place the order in a timely manner. Now, let me ask a most important question: What would your prospects and customers do, it they could tell that you weren't telling the truth? TheyÕd most likely stop trusting you, they definitely wouldnÕt refer you, and they might stop buying from you as well. NEWSFLASH: Your customers do know when youÕre not being straight up with them. After all, they tell the same little white lies to other people because they too have a fuzzy line between truth and falsehood in their minds. They know all about telling people what they think those people want to hear. So you see, youÕre not fooling anyone, when youÕre not completely honest. When you are completely honest with your prospects and customers, they know immediately that youÕre not handing them a line. Consider what a customer would think if you said something like this: ÒArlene, I have your order. However, I have to admit, I donÕt even have a good excuse for this late delivery. IÕve been driving around with your order in the trunk of my car for a week. I totally forgot about it until today! IÕm so sorry. Is there anyway I can get it over to you right away?Ó Any sane customer would be in complete amazement. And there wouldnÕt be a doubt in her mind that you were being completely honest. I'd even be willing to bet that she wouldn't care much when you make that delivery to her because she would feel so blessed to know someone willing to be that honest. Just recently I read about someone who asked a rather famous lawyer to do some post-conviction work for him. The lawyer told him, "You should get someone else to do it because any other lawyer would do it cheaper than I would and you donÕt have much of a chance of getting off anyway." So what happened? Well, the guy ended up hiring that lawyer, and even when he lost the case, the guy paid the lawyer willingly and never regretted it simply because the lawyer had been straight with him (and just in case you're wondering, this is a TRUE story). Ah, honesty! It can do wonders for your business. And speaking of being honest and upfront with your customers... A good number of years ago my Longaberger consultant up in Oregon got me so excited about a little St. Patrick's Day basket. The picture of this little basket with the adorable St. Patrick's Day cloth lining got me thinking that my Irish sister-in-law just had to have this as a surprise gift. So I ordered it. The very next day, the consultant called me with the good and the bad news. The bad news was that the St. Patrick's Day basket was incredibly popular and I might not get it in time for St. Patrick's Day. The good news was that I would definitely get it at some point, and it might even arrive on time in spite of the huge demand. A few days before March 17, the consultant called to inform me that the basket would definitely NOT arrive in time for St. Patrick's Day. In fact, it was projected to arrive four weeks later. Right before that four-week period ended, I received another call from this consultant. Guess what? The darned thing wasn't going to arrive for still another two weeks! I want you to imagine what it must have been like for this consultant to make all those calls. She must have dreaded making those calls, and I'm sure I wasn't the only person to whom she was making those calls. But she didn't wait around and then make excuses about not calling sooner. She also never said anything negative about her company. She simply told me the situation as it really was. Now let me share with you what it was like as a customer. Every time she called me with "the even more bad news," I became more convinced NOT to cancel the order. Her honesty and outstanding customer service made me want to be patient. Now here's the funny part of the story. When she finally got to deliver this basket to me sometime in late May, I discovered that this little basket was approximately the size of a muffin! When I saw it, I laughed so hard that I almost cried. I told my consultant, "Who would think they could have backorders for such a small piece of cloth Ñ you must have sold a zillion of these for that to happen." Notice that I wasn't irritated when I discovered that the basket was much smaller than I thought it was going to be. Instead I was delightfully humored. I know the reason for that. I was delighted with my consultant. There was no doubt in my mind that she was tops. When you dare to be completely honest with your customers, you'll find that your customers definitely prefer the "ugly truth" more than "pretty white lies." 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

90% of success is just showing up. Ñ Woody Allen You've probably heard that quote before. When it comes to running a direct sales business, showing up relates to several things. First and foremost, you have to show up for work! If you don't have many appointments, bookings, or interviews on your calendar Ñ HELLO Ñ it's time to show up for work! Schedule time to make phone calls. If you work another day job, simply schedule 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there to make a phone call or two. If you make one phone call on your morning break, another one on your lunch break, and one or two more on your cell phone right at the end of work, by the end of a work week you will make 15-20 calls. Start doing that and you'll watch your "little home party business" transform into a business that isn't so little anymore. Another way to show up as an entrepreneur in direct sales is to be at all your team meetings. Two very necessary success ingredients in direct sales are education and support. By showing up at the weekly or monthly team meetings, you will broaden your knowledge, which in turn keeps you motivated to try new things and develop your skills. When you show up at the team meetings you also develop amazing relationships with your fellow consultants. Never underestimate how much support you will receive from them. Whenever I make calls to people receiving this ezine, I inquire if there is anything in particular they'd like to see covered in the weekly articles. It's incredibly common to hear a request for "how to be successful even if one lacks the support of family members." Here's one thing you can do if you lack your family's support Ñ show up at all team meetings and get the support of people there. Then show up for phone work, get appointments in your calendar, start showing a profit, and you'll soon see that family members become considerably more supportive! When I recruited a really good friend of mine, her husband was anything but supportive. In fact, when I showed up for her grand opening home demonstration, he asked me, "What have you gotten my wife into, Tammy Stanley?" Hey, my husband and I had shared dinner with them several times, and yet he called me "Tammy Stanley" that night, as opposed to just "Tammy." What I'm trying to convey is that he was angry the night of my friend's grand opening. Now fast forward two months later. Keep in mind that my friend didn't sit around waiting for her husband's support. Instead, she showed up for phone work and in no time had bookings on her calendar. When my husband and I were invited over to their house for dinner just a couple months after she started her direct sales business, her husband willingly admitted that he was thrilled now that she had "gotten into" this business. I remember him saying, "Hey, if your wife can go out and make $100 to $200 for a few hours of work, what's to complain about?" When you show up for prospecting calls, for meetings, and for your recruit's first demonstrations, it's interesting how motivated and supported you feel and how profitable your business becomes.

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