Are you signed up with aweber or another online autoresponder service?  If you’re in direct sales and communicating with your customers and team members… you should be!

Our goal in direct sales is to be working with the people:  booking, selling, and recruiting.  Our income producing activity in the field needs to take precedence over team training emails and client follow up emails.  So how can we streamline our online communication with our team, our clients, our potential team members, and our potential clients?

An online autoresponder service allows people to opt in to your various lists and opt out at any time.  You have two kinds of messages you can send:  follow up messages which can be spread out in various intervals from the time your list member joins, and broadcast messages, which are sent out to all list members at the same time.

Broadcast messages are great for team emails.  A new product comes out, a new training idea emerges, you can get the information out to your team immediately.  They’re also great for client emails.  Your company may have a system for you to email all of your customers at once, but if you ever switch companies or your company goes under, these emails will be lost within days.  I recently found out that when a sales director in my company passes away, her link to the home office (where she places orders, signs up new consultants, and keeps her customer database) is taken down immediately meaning that her spouse or downline do not have access to her customer email addresses if she was not using another system in addition.

What about an automated system to help encourage your emerging leaders and congratulate them on their successes?  When someone on your team steps up to a new position, you can add them to a new email list which automatically puts out daily or weekly emails giving them helpful tips and hints.

Autoresponder lists are great for lead generation.  If you don’t use your company’s name, you can have a squeeze page encouraging potential clients to exchange their name and email address for information about your business and a free ebook (if you sell skin care, a skin care ebook!  If you sell kitchen tools, an ebook about organizing your kitchen!  You get the idea!).  This is a great way to add people to your list—- as long as you are sending great content to that list from time to time.

Perhaps you can create a series of contest emails for either your customer base or your downline. For example, you could have a “scavenger hunt” where your customers need to use your catalog to find the items and use the autoresponder system to create the excitement over a series of days.

I use a combination of my offline autoresponder system with my new consultants (postcards and greeting cards) and my online autoresponder system with my general team (training emails, new product launches) for best results with my unit.  With my customers, I do use my company’s system for occasional emails, but with my aweber account I have an ezine going out every other Wednesday as well.

Heather Price is a direct sales relationship marketing expert in Cleveland, OH. Have you ever lost a client because you’ve dropped the ball on keeping in touch and didn’t follow through? It’s so frustrating- what if there was a system that did that for you? Have you ever wished you had someone to print your marketing materials, stuff envelopes, address them and mail them for you? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just click one button and include a gift too? That’s what Heather does- She sets you up with a system that does just that…. plus it reminds you when birthdays are coming up. The result is better retention and increased referrals from your clients, a more streamlined marketing system, and you’ll never again forget a birthday. You will feel much more organized and accomplished when you can send 700 holiday cards in five minutes. Try Send Out Cards for free by calling me: 216-870-3142.

I really liked this post from Christine Gallagher’s blog.  Enjoy!

So many newbies to social media do one of the three, but not all three.  I’m working on committing to all three and I’m happy with the community I’m growing via my ezine and my blog readership.

Everytime I think about posting something to this blog I think that either it has nothing to do with relationship marketing as it pertains to direct sales or that my readers already know what it is I’m about to post.   Other direct sales bloggers cover the main topics I would like to cover, and they do it so much better than I ever would.  (That’s my negative nelly talking).  Besides, I’ve been insanely busy with my kids.

I’ve been spending so much time working my businesses, I haven’t had time to come up with some wonderful new thought to post here– I apologize!

But then I thought— well, there are plenty of readers wondering what it means to work my businesses.  And since this blog mainly speaks to fellow direct sellers about my cards business, let me tell you what I’ve done with regard to that business in the last few days.

I took over a bunch of leads from a friend of mine in the same business.  She’s not sure which of the leads have gotten a card or dvd from her and she hasn’t had time to call any of them– they are all interested in learning more about the cards business.

So, I did a few things.

1) I emailed each of them to apologize for the delay in getting back to them, letting them know I wasn’t sure if they requested information last week or last month, but regardless, a card and dvd is on the way to them and they should confirm to opt in to the email I’m about to send them.

2) I put each email into a new autoresponder list which drips info about the business out to those who are interested.  Don’t know what an autoresponder list is?  Great— there’s another blog post a-comin’. 

3)  I sent a card and dvd to each of them.

4)  Next week I’ll follow up with each of them with a phone call.

That’s it— nice and simple— they each get a personal email, they get entered into the autoresponder, they get a card and dvd, and they get a phone call.  Layers of response.  If they delete an email, they’ll get a card in the mail.  If they forget to watch the dvd, they’ll get a phone call.

And that’s how relationship marketing works, by layering.

I love ning.  Many of my friends and business partners tell me I’m crazy because facebook and twitter already take plenty of time and they can’t understand how I can spend my time on ning as well.

I am currently on about 30 ning networks.  Now before you fall off your chair let me just say that I have a friend who is on over 100.  She has a schedule and she checks certain ones each day.  Frankly I don’t know how she does it… 30 is PLENTY for me and I’ve quit quite a number of them recently to get DOWN to 30.

On ning, you set up a profile.  You meet other people.  You participate in forum and group discussions.  You post blog posts.  You upload photos or videos.  Essentially, you do everything you already do on facebook, but you do it on a much smaller scale.  Many ning groups have 30-100 members.  Why is that important?  The smaller the group, the more intimate the setting, the better you get to know people.  When you get involved in particular ning groups, you’ll find you see the same people on every ning you join— they have similar interests with you— the more nings you share, the more you’ll want to get to know each other.  Many ning groups have evening chats set up specifically for members to share about themselves or their businesses.

The more focused you are about who you want to attract to your opportunity, the more you’ll find you’re attracting your target market.  On ning, much more so than facebook, I find people messaging me questions about my products and opportunities and wanting to learn more.

I challenge you to join some ning groups this week and get to know fellow direct sellers and fellow women in business, and make some new friends!

Heather Price is a direct sales relationship marketing expert in Cleveland, OH. Have you ever lost a client because you’ve dropped the ball on keeping in touch and didn’t follow through? It’s so frustrating- what if there was a system that did that for you? Have you ever wished you had someone to print your marketing materials, stuff envelopes, address them and mail them for you? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just click one button and include a gift too? That’s what Heather does- She sets you up with a system that does just that…. plus it reminds you when birthdays are coming up. The result is better retention and increased referrals from your clients, a more streamlined marketing system, and you’ll never again forget a birthday. You will feel much more organized and accomplished when you can send 700 holiday cards in five minutes. Try Send Out Cards for free by calling me: 216-870-3142.

Hello and welcome and I look forward to networking with you!  My name is Heather and I’m a mom of three year old twins.  This blog is all about direct sales and relationship marketing.  I share various card campaigns with you and help you realize the importance and ease of communicating with your customers and consultants via snail mail in the age of email marketing.  You can click on the topic which interests you on the left side of the page and read what I’ve written about that topic.  Also, please be sure to sign up in the upper right hand corner for my email list -you’ll get my ezine which comes out every other week—  the ezine has excerpts from both my blogs, a spotlight on someone wonderful you should know, and information about programs and products I recommend.  Finally, I’m offering free phone consultations about your direct sales business if you need help with your marketing.  If that interests you, email me at heatheramyprice (at) gmail (dot) com!  And have you seen my other blog at http://freeskincarehelp.com ?

ok….. I’ve showed you my birthday card campaign, my new consultant card campaign…… you already know how easy it is to log into the system, choose a card (or upload a photo, or now you can upload a montage of photos or a full bleed photo), type a message, choose a gift if you’d like, and click send.

Here’s another idea.  Opportunity cards!

Opportunity cards can be two different campaigns.

One campaign for those you’ve already interviewed who’ve expressed interest in joining your opportunity but who haven’t yet signed on the dotted line.  If you’re a leader in direct sales, you’re naming this week’s prospects in your head right now as you read this—- ooooh, I could send this to Lisa and Susie and Gina….    These cards would go out in 3-4 day intervals, each card giving a GREAT reason to join your company and a GREAT reason to work with YOU.

Another campaign could be going out at the same time to leads you’ve been given— perhaps you have a squeeze page, or you’ve purchased home business opportunity leads— these are people you haven’t yet interviewed— perhaps you’re playing phone tag, or you just haven’t had the time to call them yet.  You can’t assume they know ANYTHING about your opportunity, except that you know they’re interested in a home business.  These cards would identify interesting facts about your company and stats about the income opportunity.

Want to see campaigns such as these?   I share my campaigns with anyone in my downline who wants to copy what I do.  Are you interested in working with me in either of my businesses?  I’d be happy to chat with you (and send you a follow up card campaign!    — call me at 216-870-3142.

Heather Price is a direct sales relationship marketing expert in Cleveland, OH. Have you ever lost a client because you’ve dropped the ball on keeping in touch and didn’t follow through? It’s so frustrating- what if there was a system that did that for you? Have you ever wished you had someone to print your marketing materials, stuff envelopes, address them and mail them for you? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just click one button and include a gift too? That’s what Heather does- She sets you up with a system that does just that…. plus it reminds you when birthdays are coming up. The result is better retention and increased referrals from your clients, a more streamlined marketing system, and you’ll never again forget a birthday. You will feel much more organized and accomplished when you can send 700 holiday cards in five minutes. Try Send Out Cards for free by calling me: 216-870-3142.

How would you like to spend this summer lazing by the pool AND creating your very own info-product that will continually generate revenue for you so you can work less and enjoy life more?  Lots of direct sellers think that we’re locked into our company revenue model.  There are so many great ways to think outside the box and we can be selling info products online WHILE doing skin care classes.  We can be doing opportunity calls WHILE an ecourse goes out by autoresponder!

I am so excited to share Kim DeYoung’s flexible new program with you! Kim, also known as the “Get It Done Girl” is sharing all the SPECIFICS on how to create your own info-product in 3 EASY steps (so you can get money rolling in fast sharing what you ALREADY KNOW).

The program is called Think It, Create It, Sell It.

Here’s my affiliate link:
http://metromom.infusionsoft.com/go/tcs/hprice

The good news is that this program is VERY affordable and it’s easy to work it around your busy summer schedule. Kim is known for providing a lot of value (and high-energy enthusiasm) to help entrepreneurs get it done.

Get all the details at http://metromom.infusionsoft.com/go/tcs/hprice

All my best,

Heather

PS – If you’re an entrepreneur and have a program or product (or even just an idea for one) that you want to “get out there” to help you grow your list or help to bump up your cash flow, this is the course for you.

I love it when a good system gets even better!  Granted, as Send Out Cards is my second business and I’ve been concentrating my efforts more on my kids and my primary business, I was just as clueless as my potential new distributor on our phone appointment last night (I sent her a card today thanking her for being my guinea pig!).

This weekend, Send Out Cards rolled out a number of important changes.

What do the new changes mean for us as we use the system to support our direct sales businesses?

First of all, you can now drag photos anywhere onto your cards and turn them any which way (just like photoshop) and you can create very professional looking collage cards.  You can create full bleed cards (picture a very large photo across all panels of a three panel card).

Also, along with our revamped opportunity site, we now also have a retail storefront where customers can purchase one card at a time— if you don’t want to be a distributor or heavy user of the product, you can now visit my retail storefont and purchase cards a-la carte.  Email me for the link!  heatheramyprice@gmail.com

Finally, the compensation plan got a LOT better and we now earn MORE than we did before!  Interested in seeing how this system could be a lucrative second business for you?  Just let me know!

The best part about this system for direct sales professionals  is the price per mailing! The cost for printing the high quality full color pieces range from 31 cents for a postcard to less than $1 for a customized photo greeting card. Don’t want a distributorship or wholesale account?  No problem.  Now you can simply by cards off my new website for $2.99 a piece.

Heather Price is a direct sales relationship marketing expert in Cleveland, OH. Have you ever lost a client because you’ve dropped the ball on keeping in touch and didn’t follow through? It’s so frustrating- what if there was a system that did that for you? Have you ever wished you had someone to print your marketing materials, stuff envelopes, address them and mail them for you? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just click one button and include a gift too? That’s what Heather does- She sets you up with a system that does just that…. plus it reminds you when birthdays are coming up. The result is better retention and increased referrals from your clients, a more streamlined marketing system, and you’ll never again forget a birthday. You will feel much more organized and accomplished when you can send 700 holiday cards in five minutes. Try Send Out Cards for free by calling me: 216-870-3142.

The Top Five Ways To Build Your Direct Sales Business on a VERY Tight Time-Budget

For SEO reasons this article is being removed from this blog.  Please accept my apologies—- I don’t yet understand why duplicate content is a problem and why the same article can’t be on two blogs.  If you arrived at this post from my ezine and would like to read this article in full, please email me at heatheramyprice@gmail.com and I will email you the article.  Thanks so much!

Thank you to Deb Bixler for this informative article!

Deb Bixler presents the Speakers In The Park, a direct sales success training series bringing motivational success stories to direct selling reps, including the 100 million voices project.

The Speakers In The Park direct sales marketing training is an annual event sponsored by the CreateACashFlowShow sales and marketing resource center.  The Summer motivational series is a line up of “not your everyday speakers”.  The event is a take on the “concert in the park” that we all know and love.  Grab your lawn chairs and cell phone and head over to your local park to dial in for some super, sensational Summer home business training. Speakers In The Park provides Summer education for direct sellers who want to keep the business growing even in the sometimes slow Summer months.

http://www.SpeakersInThePark.com

http://www.CreateACashFlowShow.com

Direct Sales Motivational Speakers

Founder of the Speakers In The Park, Deb Bixler, is proud of the fact that the series features direct sales motivational speakers who are “outside of the box” when it comes to direct sales training.  These are not the speakers that you will find on the regular direct selling training circuit.  The annual event always includes a couple of “headliners” such as this year’s party plan expert, Mary Christensen and the Direct Selling Women’s Alliance co-founder, Grace Keohohou.  In addition the motivational training line up includes industry and business related topics presented by success stories outside of the direct selling industry.

100 Million Voices Project, 2010

The first speaker in the series last week was Keeper Catran-Whitney, founder of Direct Selling Live and sponsor of the 100 Million Voices Project 2010.  The 100 Million Voices Project 2010 is a massive global outreach project for the network marketing and direct selling industry. The project is collecting stories that tell the experiences of millions people from around the world who have been impacted by the industry.  Since 1850 when the Southwestern Company became the first company on record as a direct selling company tens of millions of people from around the world have come in contact with the network marketing and direct selling industry. The 100 Million Voice Project 2010 is gathering and posting these stories for a historical record.  The first call was interesting and exciting as Keeper shared some of the stories gathered so far.

Direct Selling Success

Other speakers presenting on the panel for the 2010 Speakers In The Park series include business success stories from related industries.  From a financial expert, an email marketing specialist, a motivational speaker/hypnotist and a network marketing success story, the topics cover a wide variety of topics and will appeal to all sales consultants in every home business model. Check out the entire line up at or contact Deb, Keeper or the other speakers: http://www.SpeakersInthePark.com

Deb Bixler, Direct Sales Success Training

Deb Bixler says “People never fail, only systems fail!  If you are not getting the results you want, then get a new system!” Deb is a direct sales marketing and party plan success trainer who focuses on systems and best business practices that will create consistent cash flow in any direct sales or party plan business.  Her presentation for the Speakers In The Park is in mid-July.

Learn More About Deb Bixler