SUMMER 2019
DSA SupplierSource Summer 2019
JOHN KINGSLEY - PC/NAMETAG
Events are more about creating authentic experiences these days, taking the audience to the next level with modern imagery techniques such as 3D projection, creative lighting, unusual stage designs, and interactive materials that engage all the senses, not just the eyes.
The Event Badge is the perfect introduction to these events, setting the stage for the performance ahead.
While you provide the artwork, this highly versatile plastic laminate comes in different sizes, several shapes and many finishes to complement your creative theme. When customized, this credential ensures event-goers feel connected to one another and the sensorial experience around them. After the event, the badge becomes a lasting memento.
If your attendees work in the skincare industry, for instance, you might consider something tactile, like a soft-touch finish. You could be planning a top-sellers or VIP night and design your name tag with a silver foil accent. Or, if you’re organizing a musical event, you might want a guitar pick-shaped badge to illustrate the folk-rock lineup. The possibilities are endless!
Security is also a hot topic for events, and the Event Badge fulfills that need, too.
You can opt for a holographic or prismatic overlay to prevent counterfeiting and ensure safe access. Also, QR codes or bar codes added to the front of the badge keep the attendee’s personal info private and, if scanned, allow for a speedy event check-in. During those times when attendees do want to be recognized so they can meet with suppliers, color-coding the Event Badge allows for connecting at a glance.
[Home...]
TOM KELLY - NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
Hello, my friends...
With 39 years in this industry, I have seen storied brands and show-stopping new direct selling companies struggle with recruiting and retention – and more often than not, the issue is not that the product isn’t innovative or well-made, and it’s not that the reward isn’t worth the effort, it’s that all the benefits of being part of a community aren’t there.
Entrepreneurs are in business for themselves, but they shouldn’t have to go it alone.
If you’ve got stellar products and a smart model with tools that make it easy for your independent contractors to earn, the next strategy you should consider to solidify your recruiting and retention is giving your direct sellers access to the tools, services and benefits they need to meet their professional and personal goals.
Whether the independent contractors affiliated with your brand are just starting out with their venture or seasoned business owners, they will appreciate access to savings on things like business and finance tools, shopping clubs, travel providers and even health and life insurance.
Associations offer an opportunity for direct selling businesses to give their independent consultants access to group insurance options without jeopardizing arms-length requirements. These offerings can have a big impact on your sellers’ experience, which is a great way to bolster your recruiting and retention.
When you offer your direct sellers the opportunities to better-run their businesses and their personal lives, you demonstrate that you are with them on every level and you give them a chance to benefit from a larger community. What’s more, you are giving them the gift of time – time to spend on growing their business, time to spend with their families.
Couple that with stellar products and a strong earnings structure, and you’ve achieved the recruiting and retention trifecta.
[Home...]
LESLIE BLYE - IACONO Production Services, Inc.
Conventions and meetings are important to the trade for sharing information and sales strategies.
You’ve spent months planning and it’s imperative to keep the wheels turning in the optimal speed and direction of your choosing. It’s also important to keep everyone focused and ready when the curtain goes up on general sessions.
Here are some tips to optimize everyone’s time and your budget.
- Pre-show planning is critical to timing. Polished scripts that are show ready, and well-choreographed rehearsals are crucial to timing success.
- Hire a great DJ! Music is an energizing way to start general sessions. Add a dynamic light show and the energy will be palpable in a large convention hall. A good DJ can “read” a crowd and adjust a playlist in real time. Music will draw your attendees into the hall and you just may have a party on your hands.
- If you want to start at 8 am after a late night, offer rewards to the punctual. A free coffee station and pastries, a gel-filled eye mask (to compensate for the early hour), a golden ticket for a raffle later in the session. Hey, it worked for Charlie! Raffle prizes could include front row seats at the next session, this season’s new product, or lunch with friends and the company CEO.
By employing a few tools of engagement and demonstrating respect for everyone’s schedule, you can keep your meetings on point and on time.
[Home...]
HARRY DRAJPUCH - Amware Fulfillment
In direct selling, sales growth without an adequate fulfillment infrastructure can overwhelm your operation. Here are five signs that suggest you may have outgrown your current warehouse or fulfillment network:
- When Your Warehousing KPIs Begin to Sink. Even the best-operated warehouses will occasionally ship an inaccurate order, but if these lapses become more regular, it could be a sign that your fulfillment warehouse is out of its depth.
- When You Can’t Meet Increasing Expectations for Delivery Speed. Consumers expect faster and faster delivery times. These days a one-warehouse or even two-warehouse strategy may not cut it if you’re under pressure to deliver within a couple of days.
- When a Volume Surge Brings Your Fulfillment Operation to its Knees. From new product launches to post-convention sales surges, direct selling involves some pretty severe order spikes. If your operation is bending under this pressure now, it’s just a matter of time before it breaks.
- When Your Parcel Costs Get Out of Control. On your own, you may not have the order volume to negotiate good rates, but partnering with a national fulfillment company allows you to piggyback on that company’s aggregate parcel spend to lower costs.
- When You Need to Invest in Your Fulfillment Infrastructure. If you believe fulfillment is a core competency, then investing scarce capital to improve internal operations makes sense. If not, it may be wiser to partner with a fulfillment company that already has the systems and distribution network to support your growth.
[Home...]
NICHOLE MONTOYA - Cheddar Up
Every direct sales company is trying to solve how to keep product off of mainstream sites such as Amazon (and its sidekicks: ebay, Poshmark, and Facebook).
What’s the concern with these platforms?
- They undermine distributors.
- They erode brand and pricing strategy.
- Mitigating product on these platforms becomes an unending game of whack-a-mole.
This issue is driven in part by product aggregators who scoop up and resell product. Luckily, there are services out there that monitor for this, find the bad guys and take action.
But what about the other major driver, YOUR DISTRIBUTORS?
Distributors who have extra on-hand product want to see an ROI on it. Chances are your company policies severely restrict distributors from selling on mainstream platforms—and for legitimate reasons. But put yourself in your distributors’ shoes.
Your company has what have become unrealistic policies – “Sorry, you can’t sell your extra product online” (the most common and efficient channel of selling it!). In this day and age, that’s unfair. This forces your normal rule followers to break policy and sell on mainstream online platforms. And that hurts everyone.
The question worth deep thought: If you don’t provide distributors with an alternative, what else would you expect?
So what’s the alternative? Be the hero. Introduce an entire ecosystem for the purpose of selling extra, on-hand product. One that:
- Dons your brand and domain.
- Gives you data, control, oversight and customer leads.
- Lets distributors create online sales in minutes – that they can share with their networks and make available to other distributors via your company’s own internal marketplace.
Helps your compliance team prove and document direct-to-consumer sales without burdening distributors with time-consuming administrative work.
[Home...]
LAURE NOGIER - FYTEXIA
No weight management program can be considered effective if we don’t put long term results in the balance.
Yo-yo effect, also known as weight cycling as defined by Kelly D. Brownell at Yale University, is a common failure observed after a diet; and a deceptive phenomenon for the consumers of weight management supplements conducting to negative feedback.
Clinical studies supporting weight loss benefits of ingredients are numerous. Unfortunately, most of the time, the data do not allow to judge what happens after the cessation of the cure, in this critical period. The recommendation which can be made to direct selling company is to bring attention to the choice of the studied clinical product they want to sell to their consumers to avoid deceptive effects.
The following criteria at least define a gold standard methodology to investigate in weight management:
- Randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trials, statistically powered to draw legitime conclusions on a duration of 16 weeks
- Monitoring of key criteria to reduce biases as dietary recommendations based on individual needs
- Registration of physical activity, with an assessment of relevant main outcomes using appropriate & high definition methods.
On top of that, science is evolving, and now recent clinical studies include a follow-up trial to evaluate how the subjects can maintain their weight after the cure.
Consider working to develop a research program and within a month after the cessation of a weight loss ingredient intake.
The evaluation could help tell the story of subjects' maintained weight loss and body composition improvement.
[Home...]
MARK BORN - IMAKENEWS, Inc.
Trust is a big part of any transaction.
Consumers trust that a product is going to be safe, serve a particular purpose, and be worth what the consumer spends on it. It’s getting consumers to trust your brand that gets tricky.
In fact, a recent Trinity Mirror study revealed that 69 percent of consumers distrust advertising and 42 percent distrust brands in general. Those should be concerning numbers for anybody who works in marketing.
However, consumer confidence isn’t necessarily that bleak for the direct selling industry. A report by Forrester revealed that about 70 percent of adults trust brand or product recommendations from friends or family (as opposed to traditional advertising). That means your distributors, who largely sell to friends and family, have some of that trust factor built-in.
Trust in your brand is critical to building not only loyal consumers but also loyal distributors. You should strive to build on the connection that exists between your distributors and consumers by providing a better experience for everybody involved.
According to a survey by Segment, personalized experiences with a brand made customers more likely to make impulse purchases, boosted revenues, and improved customer loyalty.
Enhance the interactions with your distributors and consumers with personalized email newsletters that bring value to their day. With the right content sent at the right time, these communications will lead to more conversions and happier customers. You’ll be a business that distributors want to be involved with and consumers want to buy from.
[Home...]
EVAN GEKAS - VIKTOR
Communicating business performance data to your team is fundamental to helping them collaborate and engage, and to helping you reach your business goals.
The most important data will center around operational and financial budgets, sales and revenue goals, and customer and employee satisfaction. High-performing teams are synergistic social entities working toward achieving a common goal.
If they have a clear understanding of where the company is headed, they will understand what is expected of them and know how to do their jobs well. It also allows them to align their role with company objectives and measure their own progress.
Opening the lines of communication is key to optimizing team performance. Not only does it provide motivation and promote cooperation, but without it the pitfalls of limited or absent communication can result in conflict and confusion.
Five effective communication techniques:
- Communicate a simple, inspiring message about why the company exists.
- Develop content based on market and customer insights, with key differentiators that reinforce your value proposition.
- Use the Inspire/Educate/Reinforce framework to map and deliver messages annually.
- Use authentic storytelling to align employees with your strategy.
- Be creative. Use a variety of methods, like social media, blogs, signage, intranet dashboards, and incentive platforms to show how staff how they’re tracking to goals.
Communicating your company’s performance data will allow each team and individual to understand how they can impact the overall goals of the organization.
[Home...]
MARVELLESS MARK - Marvelless Mark Speaks
Do you know what Steve Jobs business model was?
The Beatles.
What does this have to do with direct selling? Our success depends on our teams or down lines success to acquire new members and leaders.
Here are the three keys to a fine-tuned band.
- Put the band/team first.
- Honor everyone’s unique abilities.
- Check your ego at the door.
[Home...]
Terrie Rickard - ADI Meetings & Events LTD
Complete buy-outs of venues provide the exclusivity you may desire for engaging your attendees from day one of your program!
With attendees spanning several generations, diverse cultures and the expectation of personalization the norm, their experience is the holy grail of meeting and incentive travel planning.
The following are six ways to create bucket-list experiences that are sure to leave attendees informed, inspired and ultimately ready to build on business objectives:
- Place – unique locales and authentic experiences to draw attendees into local culture and engage with the community
- Unity – group activities to build better relationships between customers, employees and management
- Exclusivity – complete buy-outs of venues and hotels to maximize attendee engagement
- Individuality – customized adventure levels and cultural interests
- Philanthropy – facilitate activities between local charities and your company
- Wellness – incorporate body, mind and soul in activities so attendees return from your program refreshed and inspired
[Home...]