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“Affiliate marketing streamlines the process of increasing sales by tapping into the skills of experienced marketers and a community of product evangelists.”

With new developments in digital technologies, growth in social media influence, and changing

consumer behaviors, direct selling companies are now stepping further into the digital age where social communities and marketers are joining forces and sharing in the rewards along the way.

The direct selling business model, in general, has always been centered around a strong sense

of community. As a competitive advantage over traditional retailers, direct selling companies

focus on the more social aspects of the business world, creating deeper connections with their

customers and sellers. Because of its community-driven nature, more and more 

companies in the industry are introducing affiliate systems as a means of giving their brands greater reach and

generating more opportunities for growth within those communities.

Ryan Kell, Founder and CTO, Bloo Kanoo

Whether through scheduled livestreams, or impromptu one-on-one customer interactions, direct sellers can leverage their relationships online as they do in the real world, but to greater effect.

If we can learn anything from Versace, Ferrari, or Jimmy Choo, it’s that price is irrelevant — the only thing that matters is perceived value to get the sale. This week an article came up in my LinkedIn feed about high fashion brand Balenciaga introducing a new line of purses that look just like a bag of Lay’s potato chips for the low price of $1,500! Now, if I suggested to my wife that she replace her handbag with a Cheetos container that I graciously emptied for her, I would likely need new sleeping accommodations for a night or two. But the Balenciaga brand has cachet, so their buyers don’t even blink at the price tag. For years, they have exhausted considerable effort crafting and preserving their prestige. The good news is that there are simple ways to accelerate the process of creating perceived value.

A challenge in the direct selling space is that our products cost too much. To be fair, many products sold by direct sales organizations are priced significantly higher than perceived similar products found on store shelves. However, premium products come at a premium price, and that is not a bad thing. With the right approach and the right tools, higher price points won’t stand in the way of getting the sale. In this article, we will explore how livestream shopping and concierge commerce empower your field to close the value gap and turn reluctant prospects into satisfied customers.

McKINLEY OSWALD, President of Direct Sales, Verb Technology Company

The customer journey is all about understanding your customers, their behaviors, and their needs to encourage their loyalty. It’s an important undertaking that’s well worth your time, because marketing to repeat customers as opposed to prospective customers increases the chance of making a sale by 57%. Below, we’ve listed three areas to focus on to make sure you’re crafting a customer experience that keeps your customers coming back for more. 

#1: Implement Automation

A well-timed follow-up strategy has been shown to encourage better communication between distributors and their customers, resulting in larger and more frequent orders. Distributors should also be engaging with all customer types, whether active, infrequent, or inactive. But keeping track of all customers and reaching out at the most opportune time can be difficult and time-consuming. The remedy for this is implementing basic automation systems that provide reporting of customer buying patterns and notifications, so distributors can follow up at the correct time. 

Verb

McKINLEY OSWALD, President of Direct Sales, Verb Technology Company

Our industry is full of innovative tools designed to enable sales and marketing efforts within the field. But, when it comes to actually making a sale, there’s nothing that can compete with the tried-and-true power of leveraging personal connections. In fact, according to Extole, people are four times more likely to make a purchase when referred by a friend. 

Direct Sales has always been a high-touch industry, one that has thrived on person-to-person, belly-to-belly efforts, and that’s remained true throughout the evolution of countless sales trends. Below are three ways I recommend leveraging your personal connections to attract customers and increase overall sales.

Bloo Kanoo

Did you know?

JOHN LIETSCH – Chief Operating Officer Bloo Kanoo

1. Brands and retailers spend over $1 Trillion globally per year in Marketing
2. Global e-commerce cart abandon rates are over 80%
3. Mobile e-commerce cart abandon rates are over 90%
4. E-commerce accounts for less than 20% of total global retail sales
5. Online Conversion Rates average 1-5% compared to in person rates nearing 40%
6. Nearly 90% of distributors work fewer than 30 hours
7. Micro influences have 60% higher engagement than macro influencers

Colt Passey (EVP of Business Development)

Nexio

The payment industry is constantly evolving. What’s true today wasn’t true last year and might not be true next week. Security standards, bank regulations, and fraud are just part of that. It’s a sad fact that every year, 82% of retailers are expected to experience fraud – with the card present, or without. It stings every time. You lose the product, the cost of shipping, the money you should have been paid, time in both fulfilling the order and challenging the fraud, and the icing on this particularly terrible cake is usually an irritating chargeback fee. It’s an eternal balance. If you spent every waking hour trying to understand all the ways that sinister individuals might attempt to steal from you, you wouldn’t have any time left to run your business. That’s before you even begin to think about the logistics of keeping your transaction processing up and running with redundancy! So, how do you manage? What tools can you use to ensure you’re not pouring resources into a bottomless time sink, while still managing to keep your bottom line safe? Can the complex world of protecting your payments possibly lead to growth?

Thankfully, there are ways to combat these challenges. There are many payment tools that help keep merchants safe and up to date while providing them additional opportunities to increase their bottom line. So, let’s talk about security. 3-Domain Secure (3DS) is an increasingly relevant tool for both card-present and card-not-present transactions. It has become so integral to merchandising that some nations have made it a mandatory upgrade to all transactions within their borders. You know, the really small nations with few people — like India. With a headcount just shy of 1.4 billion people, that’s a significant enough market to warrant at least a cursory investigation, right? 3DS will help make inroads in such markets while adding little burden to the consumer. It adds a simple, secure additional step: An additional password or one-time authentication code sent to the customer’s registered email address or phone number. This addition can reduce fraud from stolen cards to near-zero. Not only would a potential criminal need the card, but they would also need the unlocked phone or email details of their would-be victim. This minor step at the checkout ensures your customer knows their stolen card can’t be abused in your web store.

Bloo Kanoo

The next evolution of ecommerce is here!

Ecommerce has gone through three decades of evolution and significant growth despite original fears that a lack of human presence and social interaction would discourage online shopping. Despite the growth, ecommerce still accounts for less than 20% of global retail sales. Conversion rates of conventional ecommerce and of social media selling hover in the low to mid, single digits.

With in-person conversion rates that are five to ten times greater than online rates, the key to ecommerce success is to increase trust and warmth in online transactions.

George Elfond CEO Rallyware

Rallyware

A little appreciation goes a long way – and members of the salesforce desire recognition to be shown from their leaders and the company. This is especially critical today, and despite the technology that connects us, many feel a strong sense of separation. How can we help people feel a greater connection to their teams, their mission, and their company?

This is where incentives and recognition programs come into play. Integrating an incentives and recognition program into a company’s culture becomes key, the program can then be designed to support and enhance the company’s mission and key objectives. Incentives and recognition initiatives are firmly rooted within the direct selling industry. Yet, what do modern incentives and recognition programs look like – the incentives and recognition programs of tomorrow? How do we take incentives and recognition programs and elevate them to do just a little bit more , to take them one step further and enhance their efficiency?

Brian Palmer CEO, Theorem

Theorem

Building a successful direct selling company has to begin from the ground up.

Or, in the case of Theorem Haircare, from the roots.

Launched just over a year ago, Theorem now has over 2,600 distributors and has been named a Young Company to Watch by Social Selling News.

The success has come as a result of the fusion of two elements — unique, science-based hair care products and extensive sales training, including a customer app and a nationwide conference scheduled for October.
The Theorem Haircare story begins with math — and with ten women chemists whose only aim was to create revolutionary hair care products for themselves. At first, these products were gifted to friends and family. But the feedback was so positive and overwhelming that they knew this was something they needed to share with everyone.

Matthew Lind (Founder & CEO of Krato, Inc)

Krato

A formulated selling system can help simplify the selling process. What is a selling system? It’s a strategic, replicable system that is easy for a distributor to follow and produces tremendous success within your company.

When constructing a selling system, focusing on one critical psychological factor is important. Even better, try a focus on three.

Why Three?

Our minds find it much easier to understand things in a pattern of three. In school, we learned things in threes; the ABCs and 123s. Dividing your company’s selling system into three manageable pieces makes it effortless for distributors to jump in and get to work, and encourages others to do the same.

Building Your 3-Part Selling System

It is important to start with the three core pillars of your selling system. This could be a 3S system; Sample, Share, Subscribe. Or perhaps, sampling is not a component, and you leverage a different customer acquisition tool to fill its place. When choosing a 3-Part Selling System it is important to follow a specific formula; two parts customer acquisition with one-part lifetime customer creation.