Direct Selling 2.0: Three strategies for enhancing your efficiency

The direct selling sector is a substantial contributor to economic growth in the US. According to data reported by the Direct Selling Association, over 50% of American adults say they have having purchased services or goods from a direct selling representative. Additionally, 1 in 5 American adults say they have been or currently are working as a direct seller.

Many direct sellers are attracted by the flexible work hours and the ability to develop personal business connections. Yet, relatively few direct sellers ever achieve truly substantial earnings. This is partly due to the time commitment that is required and the difficulty in selling productively.

But a number of new productivity tools ranging from web-based communication management applications, to sharing your desktop apps and free conference call offerings are most definitely making life easier for direct sellers. This summary look at three major areas where direct sellers can work more productively.

Tip 1: Use a newsletter management application

For most direct sellers, e-mail is a key component of maintaining relationships and prospecting new ones. We have moved far beyond the era of mere Outlook mail merge! New services by companies such as Constant Contact, MyNewsletterBuilder, and EmailLabs allow direct sellers to create templates where preconfigured content can be inserted.

This content could detail announcements of new product availability, incentives for performance, updates on shipping schedules, etc. The key is that these systems enable direct sellers to create professional appearing content using a fraction of the time that traditional methods required.

The more advanced services provide tracking capabilities. These tracking capabilities can show a range of data from the open rates for e-mails to the click-throughs on links. These services also typically manage the unsubscribe feature in order to ensure compliance with spam regulations.

Tip 2: Use a free conference calling system

In the last five years, there have been literally dozens of companies launching free conferencing services. All of them work on the same underlying principle: they give you a personal access number and a toll number to dial. If all participants dial the same toll number and enter the same code, they are put into the call together. Active direct sellers can potentially save hundreds of dollars monthly by using such services.

The newer services offer extra functionality relevant to direct sellers. Examples include call recording, listen-only dial in codes for training and education purposes, and content archival. One such provider is Rondee.com, a conference call service which enables online scheduling.

Tip 3: Use an application for desktop sharing

Desktop sharing can be extremely helpful for the direct selling entrepreneur. Whether it's sharing a PowerPoint document showing the features and benefits of a new product or a spreadsheet showing the performance of various down-line members, desktop sharing can be extremely useful.

One could simply e-mail out the presentation or attachment to all participants. But a desktop sharing application enables the organizer to control the presentation and pace of everything. And more sophisticated applications such as those offered by Yugma or WebEx allow the presenter to turn control over to other participants.

Some users choose a best-of-breed approach and use different systems for conferencing and desktop sharing. Increasingly, however, conference calling providers are bundling desktop sharing functionality into their core product. Either way, direct sellers are benefiting.

Article Source: http://www.ebaykings.co.uk

A consultant to early-stage companies such as Rondee.com, Rob Butterworth has opined in numerous periodicals about the free conference calling industry.

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