This is a topic that we have hit on a few times; however, it is one of those topics that need to be reiterated frequently to make sure that the message is being heard. BeautiControl is structured to be a Party Plan Direct Sales Company. In a Party Plan compensation plan, you earn immediate profits through selling when you purchase products at a wholesale price and sell at full retail. In our business model, the Hostess is your business partner. The Hostess earns “credits” that she can apply toward free products based on the sales at the party. The goal of every Spa is to have sales that are as high as possible so your Hostess receives the maximum benefits possible. A successful Spa will result in a few things: Clients who are using the products Hostesses that are well compensated for their time and want to Host again to pay for their own product usage. Guests who see the Hostess earning credits toward their own product purchase and may want to book a Spa with you. A pipeline of product users who fall in love with the products and want to share them with their family and friends or want to go into business for themselves and do what you do. It is easy to see how the Party Plan business model encourages selling, which is why it is called “Direct Sales”. Even though the primary source of income is intended to come from selling, it is also possible to increase your earning potential when you find other people who want to join to sell products as well. When you find 3 other people to join you as a Consultant, you promote to the level of VIP. As a VIP you earn the 50% Career Level Discount on every order you place, which means you make 50% profit on every product that you sell. As a bonus, you now receive commissions on every sale that is made by those Consultants on your team. As you move up in the Career Plan, you receive more and more commissions that are paid to you monthly as a bonus in addition to the 50% profit that you continue to make on your own personal sales. Here is an important note: The bonuses that you make are not meant to replace your need to personally sell and hold Spas. The bonuses that you make are in addition to your personal sales profits, meaning, you still need to hold Spas and sell. The primary difference between a Direct Sales Party Plan Business Model and a Network Marketing Business Model is the source of your paycheck. Think of it this way: In the Party Plan Business Model, your “paycheck” comes from the 50% profit (plus additional profits when you take advantage of merchandising offers and category sales) that you earn through your sales. Your “bonus check” comes from the commissions that you earn when you build a team. In the Network Marketing Business Model, the “paycheck” comes from signing people up as wholesale buyers. The “bonus check” comes from the 25% – 30% commissions earned from personal sales; however, there are very few personal sales that ever happen in the Network Marketing business model because the retail prices are inflated to encourage someone to choose a membership vs. being a retail customer. If you stop holding Spas and having personal sales, you are leaving your paycheck lying on the table and not generating new clients, new Hostesses and potential new Consultants. The Spa and the personal sales that you make in the Spa is the engine room of your business. When you turn off the engine, it won’t be long until the system shuts down. In this business, there are so many things that we love to share. We love to share the products that we love. We see what the BeautiControl opportunity has done for our own lives and we love to share that opportunity with others that we meet. It is so moving to me to be in the field and hear how passionate each of you are about how much you love the products and how much you want to offer this same opportunity to everyone you meet so they can change their lives just like you have. I love to hear your “Why”…why you love this business, why you want to share the opportunity with others, why you feel so passionately about BeautiControl. I can, without a shadow of a doubt, confirm that no other company that I have ever seen has a sales force that is more passionate about their “Why”. The “Why” is absolutely right on target, but often the “Who” and the “When” cause us to do things that may not be healthy for our business. In observing many of our Consultants and Directors, I have noticed that they often “sell the case” as part of their set-selling proposition as they close the Spa. When they see that their potential new client is about to purchase a set of skin care, many quickly discourage them from paying full retail and tell them that if they just spend $125 (or whatever the price may be at the time), they can receive everything in the Spa Now Case, plus have the opportunity to purchase their products at a discount directly from the company. Then, when they go to BeautiYou, they receive even more free products and will be able to purchase more products for a 55% discount. Many of you may be asking, “why is this not a good thing?”. There are many reasons that this is counter-intuitive to our business model: When your potential client joins as a new Consultant instead of purchasing the products at their full retail value, the retail value of the product is never established. When your potential client joins as a new Consultant instead of purchasing products at their full retail value, the Hostess doesn’t receive credit from the sales at the Spa which means that the Hostess (your business partner) loses. When your potential client joins as a new Consultant instead of purchasing the products at their full retail value, you don’t earn profits on those sales from the Spa, you lose any potential re-order business or any opportunity for them to Host a spa in the future. When your potential client joins as a new Consultant instead of purchasing the products at their full retail value no one makes any money at the Spa. You don’t make any money. Your Hostess doesn’t get any Hostess credits. Why in the world would I want to join as a Consultant or Host a Spa for you if I see you spending an hour of your time holding a Spa and no one made any money? From a guest’s perspective at the Spa why would I want to do what you do? If all the guest sees is that you hold Spas to help people save money, how do we expect them to see this as an opportunity to start their own business? This type of “selling” isn’t Direct Selling…it’s “Direct Buying”. Yes, this “client with a Consultant number” MAY place their qualifying order and receive their free product package. They MAY go to BeautiYou and place a larger order there to receive their free product package and the 55% discount opportunity on their order. Your hope is that they catch the vision and want to become a seller or at least share the products with their friends and family. Unfortunately, what typically happens is that these new “clients with Consultant numbers” don’t know that they have become a Consultant and never place another order even after going to BeautiYou. You only made a one-time small commission on their initial orders and any smaller subsequent orders they may have placed before becoming inactive. When this happens, we all lose potential clients who could be loyal users of the product. To add even further clarity…let's say that you sign up a person for the sole purpose of getting a discount and they place their $100 minimum order requirement every 3 to 4 months to stay active. You will earn an average of $16 – $20 a year in commissions (more initially if they place their qualifying order and/or place an order at BeautiYou). Wouldn't it be more profitable to sell them a set of the BC Spa Facial products and earn $86 in profits? Or a TFF Extreme and earn $45 profits? These are the products that build loyal clients, so you not only make more money immediately, but you now have a client that will contribute to your re-order business…or even sign up in the future because they are now a more loyal consumer that loves the product and appreciates their value. Yes, clients make incredible Consultants, but only after they have experienced the value of the product, the benefits of the product and see this as an opportunity to start their own business. The time to recruit them is not AT every Spa, but to identify those FROM every Spa who may want to pursue this as a business opportunity to sell, make incredible profits and build a team of sellers. Consultants who intentionally join to work the business stay in the business longer. They have larger orders, they remain active on a regular basis and they are interested in sharing the products and opportunity with others. When you have a team full of intentional Consultants, you have higher commission checks, you have growth and momentum on your team and you don’t have to worry about anyone on your team losing their titles because there weren’t enough Consultants placing orders. When you have a team of sellers rather than a team of buyers, you have dramatically higher unit sales totals and retention. A team of sellers lets you relax and be a leader rather than jumping through hoops to constantly find more buyers all the time to refill the pipeline from all of those who have become inactive. Imagine if you had the ability to work smarter, not harder and more than double your annual income. BeautiControl will always have promotions that help you add new Consultants to your teams. We want to help you grow your teams and have a reason to share the opportunity with others. There is a world out there full of people who need to supplement their income and when we show them that we have a lucrative and profitable business opportunity, they will want to join. We spend so much of our time focused on our ability to SAVE money that we forget that our job is to show people how they can MAKE money. I was having a conversation the other day with a friend of mine who had worked for years as a corporate executive but had recently resigned and purchased a little boutique. She was so excited about the opportunity to start her own business. She had saved for years, took out a small business loan, signed a lease on a building and invested heavily in inventory. She purchased the products to stock the shelves at wholesale prices and sells them at full retail. She makes an average of 30% profit on every item that is sold in her store from which she then pays the lease, utilities, taxes, etc. This is a dream come true for my friend…she is a business owner. I have to admit, despite all the talk of taxes, utilities, overhead, and all the other general costs of doing business, I was jealous. I thought, “Wow…how incredible to be a business owner. I would love to do something like that, but am I willing to take a risk on that kind of investment”. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks…wait a minute…this is what we offer people every day! We offer men and women the opportunity to open their own store free of any loans, overhead, utilities, payroll, etc. To make it even more lucrative, we offer the opportunity to earn a whopping 50% profit on every item that is sold. HOLY SMOKES! Then I thought, “Why aren't people jumping on this!”. Maybe people aren't jumping on this because its not being offered to them. What would your business look like if you had a steady re-order business every month and a team of sellers who were sharing the products with friends and family, holding Spas and finding a team of sellers? Would it look very different than it does today? If you were to make $250 profit from every Spa and only recruit 1 person from that Spa how would that change the dynamics of your business? It is estimated that 30 clients would give you profits of $15,000 per year. What would an additional $15,000 or more do to your annual income? Our words are so important and can set the stage for success or sabotage our success in this business without even being aware of it. When you are pitching the opportunity to join, do you say: “When you purchase this case and become a member, you get $365 worth of products for only $125. When you go to BeautiYou you will receive an additional $120 in products for free. You will also receive a discount on every order that you place.” Or something like this: “When you join as a new Consultant you can start your own business for only $125. You will receive everything you need to get started including a demonstration case, a tool-box that contains everything you need to hold your first 2 Spas and help you earn immediate income. When you attend your free 1 day training class, valued at over $500, you will learn everything you need to know to be successful in this business. At BeautiYou you will have a one-time ordering opportunity that will help you with your initial inventory purchase and allow you to make an incredible 55% profit to help you get started.” Can you tell the difference? One clearly reinforces that they are making a purchase and the other clearly suggests that they are investing in a business. Ultimately, regardless of the way you say it, they only pay $125 to join, but the intentions and the expectations are totally different. The main difference between the two different phrases is that with the first you may earn a little money as commission and with the second, you continue to earn money as commission because they will be with you longer and be more productive in the process. We aren’t selling memberships. Costco sells memberships. BeautiControl sells opportunity. When we change our words, our behaviors and ultimately the results will start to change as well. I have heard people say, “we are girlfriends and we couldn’t live with ourselves if we didn’t offer them ‘the deal’”. Well, girlfriend, when all you offer is the deal you have not only robbed the Hostess blind, but have reduced the chance of keeping a great client who with time may actually become either a more loyal user of the products or a Consultant who sees this as an opportunity to earn money by sharing the products with others. We will always have those who join for the sole purpose of getting a discount, and I am not implying directly or indirectly that we don’t welcome them as a Consultant. Concrete data proves that a very, very small percentage of those who initially join for ‘the deal’, before engaging with you and falling in love with the products, remain a Consultant for more than one purchase. Literally speaking, for every new person who joins another one leaves, meaning that you have 100% turnover in your business…a statistic that is simply impossible if you start them off as clients. With a 100% turnover, you are working twice as hard for half the money. Signing your existing clients up to get a discount is not “wrong”. Signing them up to get a discount and never talking to them again is wrong. We have spent the past few months engaging with many of our Consultants who joined for the discount. Out of the ones who left, the vast majority said that they did so because they either didn’t know that they had lost their active status or because they had never heard from the person that signed them up. For the ones who did stay and continue to order, they also said that they desperately wanted to hear from the person that signed them up. While they may not be interested in “selling” right now, they would love to feel more engaged and continue to hear and be able to try the new products. This is where it helps to understand who it is that makes up your total team. How many people are out there who feel isolated and are waiting to hear from you? How much could you actually increase your monthly sales totals if you reached out and helped to engage and activate these team members? Communication is more than simply sending a mass email to communicate a great offer. Communication involves setting up time to ask questions and forming a relationship with those who signed up and giving them the customer service and client relationship that they are actually seeking. These folks want to hear from you…not from us here at the home office. I hate to see our Consultants and Directors go out of business. The Spa is the engine of your business and clients are the fuel that keeps the engine running. Be selective in your recruiting and grow your business from both the client and the team side. The two sides of the business will work together to double your annual income, reduce your workload and allow your engine to run on all cylinders. You are in this business for the flexibility and financial rewards that it offers. By working the business the way it is designed to be worked, you make more money in less time by building clients and building a team of sellers rather than turning all of your potentially great clients into “clients with a Consultant number.” I am fully aware that this blog will spur a flury of conversation and criticism. I will receive fan mail and not-so-much-a-fan mail…and you know what, I'm ok with that. My job is to ensure that you have the products, client contact tools, and offers to help you build a profitable and sustainable business. If I am not encouraging you to think, and helping you understand the behaviors that will help you maximize your profits, then ultimately I have failed. Everyone does this business differently, based on their own style, passion and where they want to go in the business. There's really no right or wrong way to work the business; however, there is a sustainable and replicable way of running the business to consistently grow and ensure that your business has a solid foundation that will be with you long into the future. There will be times that you need to inject powerful momentum into your business by building the size of your team. Promotions like we had in March and April, as well as the “Just Ask” campaign in May and June are designed to both give you the incentive to build a team and remove any obstacles that might prevent someone from wanting to join. There is more than one way to peel an apple in this business. Some will be most successful by holding Spas regularly and steadily sharing the opportunity with those who are interested and there are those who want to move up in the career plan by building teams. We have some recruiting power-houses out there, and I applaud you. There are many who are masters at signing up many new Consultants every month…and that is wonderful. We always need new blood to energize the business. That's why we have months that are clearly focused on recruiting. The key to success when bringing in the masses is to ensure that they become active and engaged…first by becoming a loyal advocate of the product, then by clearly understanding the value of our opportunity. It is important that we understand that not everyone is able to or feels comfortable “recruiting” and we have to show them the opportunity to make a little money or a lot of money by selling the products and earning full profit. Regardless of HOW you build your business, be careful not to discount the opportunity we have to change lives. Lives aren't changed from buying a case, becoming a member and never hearing from you again. Lives are changed through relationships, personal service, self-confidence and the financial rewards that this business can offer. Each of us is a walking, talking advertisement for our brand. When we earn the reputation of being a “one-night-stand”, we become “one of those companies”. When we earn the reputation as a business owner who offers incredible customer service and an opportunity to help others start their own business, we become a company that people want to be a part of. When people want to be a part of something (or someone), they stay. For whatever reason ANYONE comes in contact with BeautiControl, I just want them to stay, fall in love with the products and be a part of this incredible family. Every day we have a choice of how we present this opportunity to those that we come in contact with. They can either see it as a bargain or as an opportunity to change their lives. Their impression of you, their impression of BeautiControl and the impression of the products that you offer are directly tied to the words that come out of our mouths. Our words are very powerful. The same thing can be said differently and completely change the future of our company. With just a few small enhancements, we can change our words and change our world. I hope you all have a great week. I hope to see each of you Thursday night at our LIVE Margarita Spa Webcast. Adios.
Continued here:
Selling the Case Isn’t Selling
