Being an Independent Representative or as you call a distributor in a direct selling business, can be challenging. Any business seems difficult at the beginning; direct selling is no different.
The intensity of these challenges, however, differs from person to person based on their personality. An extrovert person would find it less difficult to strike a conversation to build and maintain a connection than an introvert person.
COMMON CHALLENGES
Getting prospects
When you’re in the direct selling business, you need to make prospects.
Prospecting means finding and picking out people who can understand your business and would want to be a part of it, or would help you build it and help it grow.
It’s like, if you have a basket full of newly harvested apples, and your task is to separate the good ones from the bad. Let’s say you pick up an apple with worms, or that is rotten. What do you do with it? What if you got an apple that is not yet ripe? What will you do with the apples that are already ripe? You do not initially know if the prospects you have are ripe, unripe, or rotten. Your job is to select and segregate.
Prospecting comes with a lot of challenges. For example, a person might say no, or initially say yes, but later backout. Such things are common in a direct selling business.
Finding the right prospect can help your business in numerous ways.
Pitching your ideas to people
At times you would find it difficult to get through to people or how to make them understand your product or your business.
You should make it easy for them to understand and not try too hard.
Staying Positive
In direct selling, you will encounter a lot of ‘NO’s’, but such responses should not affect you in any way. You should be positive about what you’re doing. Staying positive will give out a very welcoming vibe which sooner or later will work in your benefit.
Sometimes it’s tough when you keep getting rejections back to back, it’s hard to keep your spirit up, but these are the struggles that will help you grow. In such cases, try to find the issue, there has to be something that may put off the prospect, try finding it and bring some changes in your pitching, it usually helps.
Keeping up the relations
There will be times in this business where you would find it difficult to keep up the professional relations. You should be able to keep up with these contacts. Check up on them randomly. Try meeting them every now and then.
In the next article, let’s explore some ways to better our networking skills and face these challenges by putting our best foot forward.
