Do You Have What It Takes To Succeed In Direct Sales?

You're so excited. You just had an awesome party for your favorite
skin care or home dcor products and your consultant knows you would
be perfect at being a consultant too. After all you just had the best
show she has had in 6 months. That must mean you're cut out to do
direct sales, right? Well maybe.

Before you venture in the direct sales world make sure you do the
following first. Sit down with a pen and paper. Jot each of the
following questions down. Then, think about the honest answer for
each one. The answers should be true for where you are right now in
life and your current situation.

I'm not trying to discourage you from starting a career as a direct
sales consultant. I'm trying to help you see the areas you may need
to work on while building your career and help you avoid a possible
costly mistake. Believe me. I've made them and I hate to see others
do the same when it could be avoided altogether. What should you ask
yourself before making the jump into direct sales?

1. Do I have the time, right now in my schedule needed to work and
build my business? I know too many times a recruiter will tell you
they only work a couple of hours a week and make hundreds of dollars.
While their actual shows or parties may only take a couple of hours a
week, you must consider the set up time, the bookkeeping time, driving
time, organization time, meeting time, etc.

When you account for all of those things that are necessary to make a
direct sales business successful, do you, right now, have the time for
that? Do you work another job full time or part time? Do you have a
family that obviously requires nurturing and caring for? Do you attend
church regularly or belong to other organizations that take up some of
your time? Okay, that's more than one question, but you need to consider
all of these things when accounting for what free time you have available.

2. Do I absolutely LOVE the products I will be selling? Are you 100%
sold out? Do you already tell your friends and family about it and
essentially "sell" them on it? One of my biggest pet peeves is to have
a consultant who really isn't sure about the product themselves. Maybe
they got in because of the lure of working only a couple of hours a week
and making a ton of money doing so. Perhaps they were looking for a way
to make more money and their recruiter made it so appealing to them by
saying, "This product will sell itself, you don't even have to try. Once
a person tries it or sees it, they will buy it".

I know I've fallen for those words myself. You must truly know your product
and love it. I can't sell something I don't love. I just don't feel right
about it. It's like I'm lying. I know I don't LOVE every single product
I've sold for a particular company, but I loved the main product or the
products that were right for me (i.e. my skin type), but you must love
the products you are using, and you should use them yourself.

3. Am I driven and motivated? Do you have the desire deep in your heart
to really work your business? Are you a goal setter and strive to
always reach your goals when you set them? I believe that in order to be
successful at anything, you must have a long term goal and short term goals
that will help get to your long term goal.

Is the nice car your long term goal? What do you have to do to earn it?
Earn x amount of sales or recruit x amount of people? What are you going
to do to get your first recruit, your second and so on? How are you going
to motivate your down line to success? How many shows do you have to hold
a week to reach the ultimate dollar amount in sales to earn the car? Are
you ready and motivated to do this? Is it your desire to be able to quit
your job and work from home full time in direct sales? Then you're going
to have to work twice as hard. You'll need to work your full time job and
work your direct sales business in the evenings or on weekends until you
can afford to leave your current job.

4. Can I speak to a group of people? Do you have the ability to talk in
front of a group of people? If you are shy and timid, certainly you can
overcome shyness, but if you have trouble standing in front of a group
and speaking, how are you going to hold shows, parties and presentations?

You will want to work on overcoming your shyness before diving into a
direct sales business. You can practice by holding shows for your close
friends and family, which is where you usually start anyway. Another way
to help you overcome shyness is by reading books about building your
confidence or public speaking.

Be honest with yourself, determine which characteristics you already
possess and determine which ones you need to work on and go from there.
And don't let a recruiter convince you otherwise. Sit down with your
hubby or best friend and ask them how they would answer these questions
about you. You don't have to make a decision on the spot and a good
recruiter will give you the time you need to really consider these things.
A good recruiter will want you to succeed because it will help them be
more successful as well.