You're stuck in a traditional sales role. How can you make the leap to direct sales successfully?

In direct sales, there are strategies and methodologies that are used that differ from traditional sales. People and systems are combined to meet and exceed the need for the customers while driving value. Key soft and hard skills include but not limited to effective communication, selling skills, crisis management, task management,project management, leadership, emotional intelligence, data analytics skills. It takes creativity and a well prepared approach to enhance the customer buying process.

Extroverts to the front because direct sales are all about switching into "people" mode. Hot take ??: It’s not about pushing hard pitches but about sparking real conversations and creating genuine connections. How do you do that? Build a rapport with the person (or people) you're talking to, ask them questions, then LET THEM ANSWER, focusing on adding value to the conversation. If you're finding areas to improve, that’s normal. This isn’t about being perfect from the get-go. How are your skill sets with personal relationships? Because guess what? It's the same set of skills that close deals as it is that maintains relationships with friends, family, and partners. Listen more than you talk, be genuine, and be authentic.

It's important and crucial to conduct a market research that interrogates psychographics and demographics of the target audience to transform the data obtained into credible information that will be used in business process, protocols, procedures for successful outcomes. This permits the organization and initiation of tailor fitted products to address the specific needs interrogated by research. Research can be through offline or online methods. The market dynamics must be known in advance, the channel members, consumer behaviour and trends must also be known kna advance. Obtaining a market research allows for a more robust and better articulated sales process. It helps to forsee objections and be better prepared to handle them.

Know the lay of the land. You can't dive into sales without understanding your target market and product niche? Get to know who your potential customers are, what they care about, what their "job" is (aka "customer jobs" vs. "pain relievers"), and how your product can help make their life easier and/or better. A well-informed sales approach means you can tailor your pitch to resonate with your audience. When people feel understood, they feel like there's trust, and when there's trust, they feel comfortable buying. Ever bought something from someone you didn't trust? I didn't think so. Do your legwork and teach yourself more about them and their market; it’ll pay off dividends (sometimes literally).

A network determines networth. There must be strong collaboration and cooperation between all internal and external stakeholders. Building key relationships in sales is very crucial to having more connections that would be helpful. The important thing is to drive and provide exceptional value, the stakeholders will definitely refer the direct sales agent to others because excellent value was provided to address specific needs. Online events should not be overlooked, there are more recent ways of engagement which include meetings and workshops online where industry giants attend. A solid sales network is crucial to meeting successful outcomes and distributing of goods in the market and to customers.

This is the part where everyone just copy-pastes the definition of SMART goals, right? But honestly, if I see that acronym one more time, I'll roll my eyes so hard I'll give myself a concussion. Let’s talk about real goal-setting, not textbook jargon. Say “I’ll close 10 deals this month” instead of “I’ll increase sales.” Go with “I’ll add 20 contacts this quarter,” not “grow my customer base.” And set “I’ll hit a $5,000 income target” instead of “make more money.” Realistic and relevant, that’s what we want. So, goals = game plan. Game plan = success (or failure, which isn’t inherently bad, FYI). Go buy yourself some of those little post-its and don’t be afraid to write down the things you actually want—personally, I like the pastel ones.

Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). These goals should be driving value towards the audience and customers. Tracking of goals should be done using CRM tools and other tracking tools to ensure that the goals are being achieved. Goals are not enough, they should be tracked by monitoring and evaluation. KPI's should be tracked. The direct sales person should know the average order size per call, the average time spent per client, the strike rate which measures the amount of customers visited divided by ghe number od customers that bought expressed as a percentage.

Technology when combined with the aid of the internet moves information at unimaginable speeds and proportions. Technology simplifies business processes, protocols, procedures and activities. There are ubiquitous tools like Google analytics, CRM tools, Sales force, Sales productivity tracking tools that track key indices of a direct sales agent. Technology also allows for online real time communication with clients, there are online tools that can engage customers 247 all day long. Technology also improves and enhances the sales process.