Top

Is the Internet the Only Future for Direct Sales?

August 1, 2008

I recently held an open coaching call for members of the Direct Selling Leaders community.  A leader on that call said that lately it felt like everything she read pointed to using the internet exclusively to build a direct sales/network marketing/multi-level marketing business.

She then asked, “Is the Internet the only future for building a business like mine?”

My short answer is “No.”  My longer answer is “Relevancy is the only future for building this kind of business - actually any kind of business.”

What do I mean by that?  A few things, really.

First, if the audience for your product mainly hangs out online, or you are particularly attracted to an audience that hangs out online, then using online marketing strategies as PART of your overall strategy makes great sense.

Second, if you aren’t relevant to your market, all the online and offline strategies in the world won’t build your business.  And if you ARE relevant, traditional offline strategies will work very well for you- and there is no need to feel compelled into the online world unless you want to go there.

How do you know if you are relevant? 

Does your product or service solve a problem or ease a pain point for the specific person you are talking to?  If you can talk about what you offer in a way accomplishes this - then congratulations, you are relevant!

To become relevatn, you’ve got to ask lots of questions and stop talking long enough to actually listen to the answers.  You must come from a place of “how can I serve this person” rather than “how can I sell this person something.” 

Resist the temptation to TELL them how fabulous your company is.  Until they see how it can solve their problems, your words will sound like a Charlie Brown grown-up - “Wa-waa, wa-waa, wa-waa-waa-waa.”.

So decide what makes you relevant - then you will know if the internet is part of your business’s future.

Love & Success!
Sarah Robinson
Founder and Innovation Expert
www.directsellingleaders.com 

Last 5 posts by Sarah Robinson

Written by Sarah Robinson · Filed Under Sarah Robinson 

Comments

Got something to say?





Bottom