As a direct selling company or a referral marketing company, one of your primary goals should be to attract and retain your independent sales representatives. Distributors and consultants are not employees who report to work each day with regular contact with their supervisors. They are independent contractors who are operating their own businesses. This means…
Why You Should Get Into Your Learning Zone
There are two worlds in which you live – the “Performance Zone” and the “Learning Zone.” In his TED talk, Eduardo Briceño talks about these two zones and why you need to spend time in both of them. When we go into the Learning Zone, we decide to spend some time learning so that when…
Why You Should Read Our Book
What is… a map to get to your gold? a bible for all direct selling companies? a consultant in a book? the most valuable $300 you’ll ever spend on your business? Our “Start Here” book is all of these and more. If you are starting or growing a network marketing or a party plan company,…
Wisdom: Even The Best Teams Have A Coach
Did you know that top-performing athletes have difficulties seeing their own mistakes? Unfortunately, the same can be said for direct selling executives. All top-performing athletes each have a coach. Do you have one?
Direct Selling: Yes Or No?
Are you looking at network marketing or party plan selling as a possible sales channel for your company? This is direct selling. Direct selling is the umbrella term often used to describe a business with independent representatives who can earn money on their personal sales as well as on the sales of others in their downline organization….
It’s What You Don’t Know
I began my career in direct selling in 1986 when I went to work for a company that develops and sells network marketing software. My previous background was software development, so I was hired as a programmer/analyst. Within a few months, I was promoted to project leader. In those days, project leaders did everything for their…
Pilot Programs, Pre-Launches, and Launches
If you are launching a new direct selling company, you may be contemplating the use of a pilot program and/or a pre-launch, before you launch your company. A pre-launch is also called a soft launch. Pilot Programs A pilot program is a group of activities planned as a test or a trial of a business…
What About Sales Tax?
If you’re launching a new direct selling company, you should be asking this question! Collection and Remittance Most businesses register for sales tax collection authority, collect sales taxes, and remit collected taxes only in the states where the business has a physical presence (a store, an office, or a warehouse). However, direct selling companies are…
What Do Investors Want?
If you have a great idea for a new business, you may need some financial help to get your business off the ground. To get funding, you should think of yourself as a salesperson with potential investors as your customers. The best salespeople believe it’s smart to get to know your customers. If you are…
Business Partner Decisions
“I chose the wrong person.” “We didn’t share the same expectations.” “It turned out that our ethics were very different.” Just like marriages, business relationships can break apart for fundamental reasons. Whether you’re in search of new business partners or you’re already hooked up, there are smart things you can do now to strengthen these…
Have You Visited Our Vimeo Channel?
Sylvina Consulting is a publisher of great educational content for new and established direct selling and network marketing companies. In addition to their top-rated 250-page book, Start Here: The Guide To Building And Growing Your Direct Selling Company, and their Amazon Kindle e-book MLM Software: What You Need To Know, Sylvina Consulting also has its…
Why You Should Never Put Yourself Into Your Company’s Genealogy
Most of the articles I have written over the years while working with network marketing and party plan direct selling companies haven’t been controversial. This is NOT one of them. The Issue Several times each year, we learn that a client of ours or a prospective client is planning to (or already has) inserted the…