How to Have a Successful (Direct Sales) On-Line Party!

Note:  I've noticed that on most of the e-mail lists I belong to (believe me I'm subscribed to a lot! :), subscribers post a lot of specials, blatantly advertise and never contribute anything "resourceful" to help others in business. This will cause some of the members to delete the posts without ever reading the full content and in the process your name and e-mail address will have a reputation of "spamming"...

TIP: Spamming is a real NO, NO (turn off) in the Internet World of Ecommerce!

The Internet offers tons of places that offer business resources. A great place to start is, ------------------.  Surf and find something you think will benefit not only you but others in business. Post it! Tell them why or how it may help.

Scheduling Your On-Line Party

Here are a few neat places to have your on-line party (Suggestion:  Before scheduling, ask for references).

• MeetingsNow.com
• MomsNetwork.com
• The ExpoConnection.com
• The MouseConnection.com

Major Tip:  Don't just look for people you have invited on-line to show up. Why? Most of these people are seeking to do the very same thing you're doing! 

Here are a few steps to take when inviting:

• Make up flyers and/or hire someone to write you a sales letter, excellent resource for writing your own is Instant Sales Letters by Yanik Silver, here.

• Pass the flyers out around your neighborhood but not just there. Give them to supermarkets, small shops, etc. Ask your friends and family to take them to work. Gather e-mail address of people who are interested in bargains! I'll show you how to do this below.

• Invest in a newspaper ad. Some newspapers offer low cost ads at the last minute to fill up space! Ask them about that! Call radio stations and ask them do they offer public service announcements (most of these are free!) Go to office buildings and ask them to display your fliers or set up a display and gather e-mail addresses there by offering a contest. Kind of like a survey. Make sure that you place on the flyer or whatever promotion you decide to use, an area to request their e-mail address and tell them on the literature that they will periodically receive announcements about your products on sale, discounts, frequent buyer specials, on-line parties, etc. Ask for referrals! Offer free gifts for receiving referrals. Compile all the surveys, flyers, etc. and pull a winner! Don't stop there, keep doing it!

• Write or have a professional press release made. These are valuable! However, be careful of your choice of words. Explain your business, how long you've been in business, the company background, etc.

• Attend expo's and craftshows! Hand out your business cards to anyone and everyone! Hold an open house and have your guests fill out surveys! Before you know it you'll have more than enough e-mail addresses!

• Ask friends and family members to host an on-line show for you. Make a list of their friends, etc and send them e-mails and/or fliers via snail mail.

• Party-Swap.  Hold a party for a friend in another direct sales business and she can do the same for you!

• Offer free shipping, no tax, or no handling charges (remember offering an incentive will bring profitable results!) Once you have established yourself the orders will flow in! This is not considered "spam" because subscribers have "opt-in" to receive news from you.

• Offer easy but SECURE ways to accept payments for your products/services.  

• Create complete and highly informative descriptions of your products/services.

Make your time and investment produce 10-fold!