Can You Be Shy and Be In Direct Sales?

“I’m not a salesperson,” is one of the top reasons I hear people say about not going into direct sales. It’s not a bad reason. Who wants to be known as the “pushy salesman who spams all their friends?” Most of us have seen people who have gone about sharing the business in the wrong way, and it puts a bad taste in our mouths. You may have even thought, “hey I could be good at this…but I don’t want my friends to think I’m one of those crazy ladies…”

I am not a shy person. I enjoy the company of others, and I like to entertain them. But I’m an introvert. No matter what personality style you claim it can be hard to put yourself out there. I’m just gonna tell you right now if you go into this business expect people to say to you “NO.” And those nos to me were, and still are, daggers in the heart. I’m hoping they get more comfortable with experience.

Something I learned this past week is that being shy is not something to boast about. In Philippians chapter 2 it talks about Christ’s example of humility. I love what it says here in verses 3-8 about the humility in serving others and looking to the interest of others.

So often I tell myself I will do great things with all I earn and the opportunities I get from becoming a top earner in my company, but I’ll never get there if I don’t humble myself to do the work. Being shy is not an excuse and can even be sinful because I’m putting myself before the other person every time.

How will they know they can change their lives if I don’t share my business opportunity?!

How will all the people I can help serve in and out of network marketing be blessed if I don’t take action steps?!

And more importantly, how will they know God if I don’t share the good news?!

I think this question brought great perspective about our business.

This is all about the people we serve not about us. (TWEET IT!)

(Philippians 2:3-8 ESV)
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This week my challenge for you fellow introverts is to be brave.
I know you have big goals. Do the work.

Your goals don’t care about how you feel- Jessica Lauren from No Real Jewelry (TWEET IT!)

So before you go out to into that big scary world, I’m going to leave you with some tips.

 

Tip 1. Elevator Speech – create a quick answer to the “what do you do for a living” question. Make it something that shares how you help others. Think about the value you can bring to your people and how you need to say it to invite them to your club.
Practice your elevator speech until it feels natural and you could do it in your sleep.

Bonus points: Have multiple versions of this speech for different people and situations.

Tip 2. It’s not about you. Let me say that again. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU. If we focus on our fears and discomforts, we are gonna be stuck telling our sponsor every month how we “tried, but its just not working.” If you have chosen this profession, then something inside of you wants to help, inspire, uplift and serve people. Check yourself before you launch yourself into a social situation and pray. Ask the Lord to teach you to be humble and to put people in your life who need you.

Tip 3. When I was in school for journalism, they taught us how to generate questions to ask people we interviewed. If you are crazy nervous about doing all the talking, well you are in luck because you really shouldn’t be doing all the talking. People love to talk about things in their lives that excite them. Spouses, kids, jobs, hobbies, movies, books, etc.

This is where you really get to know the people you are meeting.

This is your window of opportunity to get them to relax and tell their story. And who knows, they might say to you they are not happy with their work/life/job, and you just happen to know a really great opportunity for them…

Tip 4. Listen to people. Have you ever watched the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon? He is the best interviewer because it doesn’t matter who he is talking to, he looks and conveys pure joy. He isn’t sitting at the edge of his chair trying to get the next word in or obviously not listening because he’s trying to form his next question. He genuinely is interested in his guest. This is how we all should listen to others. Make people feel at ease and that they are the most important people in the world to you at that moment. Connect with them, and you might find your next business partner…but, more importantly, you will find a new friend.

Tip 5. Get people’s contact information. I am guilty of meeting people, connecting with them and then saying goodbye without giving them a way to get back in touch with me. Before you say, your goodbyes find that person on Facebook and friend them. Now you can see each other’s posts and follow-up with them without feeling awkward.

Tip 6. Be grateful. Leave them with a genuine feeling of how pleased you are to have gotten to meet them. I like to get their mailing address and send them a little happy in the mail to let them know how much I appreciated their time. People are busy, and no one likes to be used and sold to. Make sure you let people know how important their time is to you.

Tip 7. Be of service – This is where you need to be in your community and know people. Your prospect may never buy a lipgloss from you, but connect them with people they might need in their life. Maybe they need a great babysitter, a bakery for their kid’s 5th birthday or even a product from another network marketing company that you don’t sell. Help connect them with good people. Remember what I said about serving others and how this isn’t about you?? I have a lot of friends who are direct sellers in different companies, and if I meet someone who needs something they can offer, I want them to connect. We are all in this business together people!

Lastly, I want to leave you with some great words of wisdom from my sister-in-law, another introvert.

“If you aren’t productive in your time alone, and you’re not productive in your time with people, what are you doing?” (TWEET IT!) 

It’s excellent to take time for yourself to recharge, but don’t waste it. Remember to serve others and put your feelings to the side. Don’t give up on yourself!- Laura

 

NEW YEAR NEW YOU!!! (or not…)

Raise your hand if you made goals to get fit this year and finally lose that weight. This is the year you are gonna run that half marathon. This is the year you are gonna meal plan and eventually do that #whole30 everyone has been telling you about.

Raise your hand if you made goals to finally clean out the closets, deep clean the bathrooms, and organize all the things that you said you would get around to once the holidays were over. As you sit and stare at that mountain of laundry taunting you, you imagine a world where you don’t have to fight with your closet to get dressed every morning. (If you are drowning in your clutter I suggest checking out Emory + Jane Organization Studio from Florence, AL. They have a beautiful website, and they actually WANT to tackle your mess!)

Now, Raise your hand if your goal was to start your business afresh this year. Maybe you jumped into the network marketing pool in June after attending a friend’s “Business and BBQ” event and decided if Janine could quit her job and work from home full time, surely you could too!

But then August rolled around, and the kids went back to school.

And then college football started up (southern peeps where ya’ll at?!).

And how could you work on a business when you were hosting Friendsgiving this year?

As you brush those Christmas cookie crumbs from your ugly Christmas sweater, you realize… that $79 you “invested” to start your business is still sitting in the box it came in. Whoops!

Friend, its ok if you didn’t start your goals the first week of January. All of the scenarios above I raised my hand high on. I was going to do all the things and conquer 2018…but for whatever reason (and I’m sure I could come up with some excuses) it just didn’t happen.

But remember WHY you started this journey?

Freedom from the mundane world telling you when to start and stop!!!

You are the boss of you.

If you want to start your year on January 9th instead of midnight January 1st, then do it.

But don’t keep fooling yourself into thinking you will start tomorrow. Quit telling yourself clients and prospective business partners are gonna start messaging you on FB by the hundreds just because you posted a few times about your “amazing business opportunity” and how #blessed you are because of it.

I know you don’t want to hear this because I don’t want to hear about this.

Network marketing is WORK.

But so is everything else.

You don’t lose weight and run those half marathons without work.

You don’t get your life together and finally organize the junk drawer without doing the work.

Why do we feel like treating our network marketing gig like a hobby is actually going to make us six figures? –Tweet That!

So what does this “work” look like?

Reach out to the people in your tribe (downline, upline, company, etc.) that are hustling and wooing and making things happen. They probably will be stoked you want to buckle down, and their enthusiasm will encourage you to keep going.

I encourage you to do Just ONE Thing today to grow your team.

Maybe that is handwriting some love notes to people you would love to have on your team. Hear me when I say, you aren’t asking them to join you…yet, you are just strengthing that relationship.

Maybe you schedule a pep talk with your sponsor to help give you focus.

Maybe you check up on some past clients and see if they need anything from you right now, whether that’s a pair of leggings or a target run, do it for them.

This business is about service and in 2018 we all know what GOOD service is. #chickfila

If this post spoke to your sweet little heart make sure to share it with a friend…or enemy, maybe they need some encouragement too.

Have a great week and don’t give up on yourself! – Laura

 

Sounds like one of the pyramid schemes

(Names have been changed to protect the guilty)

It’s a Thursday night, and you are getting ready to meet your friends for your weekly coffee night. You can’t wait to unwind and talk about how crazy your week has been all while snacking on those amazing muffins Brenda is always bringing. You pull up to the house, walk inside and get ready to have a quiet girls night in. Halfway through the night, Sarah awkwardly changes the subject to “an amazing opportunity.” She has just started her “own business” and is “so excited” she wants you to join her. Wait. What??

Your sister has started selling makeup on the side to help earn some money to pay off her credit card debt, and she has invited you to her house for a makeover. You think, “what could hurt supporting her in this?” Two hours later you emerge from the kitchen her new “business partner,” and you feel a little dazed. How you are going to explain to your husband that you just dropped hundreds of dollars on products that are an investment in your future??? Well, you aren’t entirely sure about that yet.

The worst thing about these network marketers is that they come out of nowhere! It feels like every few days you are getting direct messages from people you havent talked to since high school wanting to share with you their “business opportunity” or bug you to host a party, class, or whatever. You come to Facebook to stalk the girl in your spin class not to be sold shampoo.

By this point in your life, you have probably sat through one of these scenarios. If you are my friend, you have probably sat through ME trying to sell or recruit you. (I’m sorry btw. You deserve a piece of cake.)

If you are my friend, you have probably sat through ME trying to sell or recruit you. (I’m sorry btw. You deserve a piece of cake.)

Network Marketing is everywhere, and just about everyone you know is selling something.

Workouts, protein shakes, makeup, skincare, essential oils, coaching, bags, jewelry, hair care, leggings, magic elixirs, you name it, and your neighbor probably sells it.

We roll our eyes at it, but we can’t help but feel jealous of the people who seem to crack the code, quit their day job and retire in their 30s with this network marketing stuff.

And most assuredly you have either been told or told someone, “isn’t that just a pyramid scheme?”

And that’s where I am. I have picked up and put down network marketing since I was 16 years old. It always seems so great at the beginning, and then six months down the road I become jaded, throw up my hands and just give in to the fact that it either just doesn’t work, or it might work, just not for me. But I always come back to it thinking maybe just one more time…

But I always come back to it thinking maybe just one more time…

This year (2018) I’m putting my network marketing journey out there for you to see as well as interviewing other people in the biz who are at different points in their careers.

My hope with this blog is to be transparent about the whole business of network marketing, the highs, and the lows.

I might even be brave enough to start a podcast about this topic.

What do you think?

So this year follow along with me as I share how I absolutely have none of the answers and how I’m just trying to convince my husband that I haven’t joined a cult.

And as Drake tells it, “Started from the bottom now we’re here.” except I’m still at the bottom…waiting to find the stairs.

 

Happy New Year!