Any job or business venture is not always smooth sailing, however the potential gain or rewards are what keep people giving it a go. While Direct Selling has many benefits, it is also important to consider the challenges before signing up to a direct selling company. There are some things you may have considered, and some you may have not, so let us help you consider all of the challenges of direct selling.
Challenges are’t necessarily a bad thing
Before you get worried and feel like this is heading into a cautionary tale, it’s important to remember that challenges aren’t all bad. They are an opportunity for growth, to learn new skills, problem solve and evolve further than you knew possible. So keep in mind that while challenges are “challenging”, they provide opportunities to further develop as a person and professionally.
Where to begin
There is so much content available outlining challenges associated with joining a direct selling company as an independent distributor, so we have broken it down to what we believe to be the three biggest challenges so that it’s easier to digest.
Recruiting
Most direct selling companies work on a multi-level marketing approach, meaning recruiting other direct sellers is a big part of growing your own business. Recruiting is where you introduce other people to your company and products who also want to become direct sellers or just simply want to buy your product. While this is necessary for creating sales, recruiting people in your downline is a great way to grow your business as you are also making commission from their sales too. So where do the challenges come from? The biggest challenge here is learning how to recruit people in the first place, by being efficient, honest and compelling. Also learning who to recruit is an important factor as you want to be connecting with people who are like minded, driven, determined and share similar values and morals. The good news is, a well established company should provide you with training and guidance in regards to recruiting new members. At Bing Han, we provide training and resources to help our members succeed with recruitment. As we place a strong emphasis on values and ethics, we encourage our members to uphold this as well, and help guide them towards finding potential members who share similar qualities.
Sales Productivity
Sales productivity covers quite a few different areas including finding potential customers, closing sales and staying consistent with the volume of the above. The first challenge here is learning how to connect with new customers, where you might potentially find them and how to begin the conversation. This is where sales training comes into play, which a good direct selling company should happily provide support with. Learning how to find new customers, introduce your product and then close the sale is a basic need for anyone beginning their direct selling journey. Having a great compensation plan and bonus rewards for sales is an incentive for anyone to improve their productivity and strive for more sales. At Bing Han, we offer comprehensive training and support in sales for all our members, we also offer fair and enticing compensation for product sales.
Retention
The challenge of retention can relate to several different factors of direct selling, from retaining customers with return sales, to retaining your level of communication and effort in your business to retaining the people who you recruit in your downlines. With a great product, return sales retention is easier to achieve, however sometimes lack of return sales aren’t due to not liking the product but rather due to distraction and the product being out of sight and out of mind. This is where retaining communication levels is so important, by constantly being in contact with your customers, the thought of buying your product again is on their mind. Your level of communication also transfers into retaining your recruitment members in your downline. By constantly staying in contact with your business downlines you are able to keep them motivated, supported and encouraged to continue making and retaining sales themselves. As downlines sales commission also gives you commission, making sure your downlines retain sales is beneficial to not only them but you as well. At Bing Han, retention in sales and communication is a focus point to help ensure our members have the best chance of success with their businesses.
Challenge accepted
Although these challenges are definitely present in any direct selling business and even at Bing Han, it is important to accept these challenges head on and realise they are an opportunity to grow. They are also a great reminder of ways you can improve your business skills and management to make the most of your direct selling experience. For more information on how you can tackle these challenges with Bing Han, click here.
