What Are YOU Doing To Promote Your Business?

So today's topic is: What are you doing to promote your business?? Here are some of my tips that I do:

1. Grab business cards off of bulletin boards and add those people's emails to your newsletter that Scentsy provides for you. People to watch for are other at home businesses (aka: Candle Light, Pampered Chef). They already love the at home business and sooner or later they will get perked by the Scentsy Biz (you all know you've at one point or another thought "Oh! I bet that biz would be fun!" when you heard about another opportunity). If they don't want to be on your mailing list then they can take themselves off OR they may just contact you about joining or hosting!
2. Talk to at least 3 people per day about Scentsy. You don't have to be the creepy person who randomly talks to someone in the grocery check out line. But what about your coffee people? When they say "How's your day today?" (which they ALWAYS do) say "Great! I'm off delivering tons of Scentsy to my customers!" or "I've got lots of Scentsy stuff to do which is why I need my coffee!" It may not be exactly what you're doing at the time, but they don't know that. Make sure you have a book and scent sample in your purse to give them!
3. Speaking of coffee...leave your business card and a sent sample in those pesky tip jars!
4. Ask your bank if you can leave a display with a warmer and catalogs. A great way to get a "yes" is to open a separate free checking with the bank (don't forget to mention it's for you Scentsy business!) and say "Hey, do you think the manager would let me put a warmer in here? The more $ I make, the more $ that goes into your bank!". If you already have an account, then when you're up making a deposit ask the teller (see above line). And don't just stick to 1 bank. Example: I have US Bank so I put one in Banks and also in Forest Grove! Note: I had one in the Chase bank in the Fred Meyers in Cornelius but they didn't ever turn it on or keep my books out so I took them out. Make sure that your bank helps promote it, not just let it collect dust! AND DON'T FORGET TO RE-STOCK THE BOOKS AND CHANGE OUT THE SCENT!!!
5. Promote online! Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc etc! The more you post, the more people will pay attention!
6. Keep track of your customers! I recently went through my 500+ order forms and customer info sheets and typed out all of their addresses to make a mailing list. I downloaded the CONSULTANT LABELS from our workstation (under resources) and used that! Every time the sheet was full, I saved it as Customer address #1 then #2 and so on. Now I plan on writing up a note and mailing it out to my customers telling them about the Feb 10%! I also took all the emails I had and put them in the newsletter. ADVISE: don't wait as long as I did or else it take a lot of time to catch up! =)
7. Work smarter, not harder! Don't spend all of your time shopping and browsing around for things that you can buy to make your business better. Spend that time actually contacting people and taking care of your customers! I've seen people (in other businesses, not on our Scentsy Team...cuz we haven't lost one yet!) who spend 6 months going head strong into spending hours on training calls, buying things to "better their business" and so on. Then after the 6 months they quit because they spent so much money yet didn't follow through with actually booking parties and making contacts.
8. LABEL EVERYTHING!!!!
9. Put a thank you note in with every order! You'd be surprised how people will come back to you because you packaged their order all nice and neat and put a nice note in there!
10. Keep in contact with your customers! I don't mean bug them all the time, but by keeping in contact then they think of you first when they want to re-order. You need to distinguish yourself from just some online company that they could find by googling Scentsy!

Finally, know that you are responsible for your own success! If you want it and can dream it, then make it happen! If 1 person tells you "no" there is one out there that will tell you "yes"! Does Macy's close down shop just because people come in and say "Just looking."? Nope, so don't get discouraged. AND know that just because they are saying no right now, doesn't mean that they are saying "no" forever!

February Warmer of the Month

How cute is this??!! I am thinking not only pet lovers, but a fundraiser with animal hospitals, vet offices, humane societies, shelters etc etc!!! As soon as I saw this, I hopped on the phone to the Oregon Humane Society, the Banks Vet, and the Bonnie L Hayes Shelter! I also sent PETA an email (I have no clue if they will allow it).
This warmer is getting mixed reviews from other consultants, but I think it will be a big hit!

Info from the Director's Call 1/4/10

Here is a run down of what was said on the Director's Call today!

1. December sales for 2009: $21,493,095.34. WOW!! December 2008 sales were $8,331,712.51. Thats an increas of 258%!!
2. December recruits for 2009: 3,704. December 2008 recruits were 1,320. That's an increase of 281%!!
3. Scentsy had total sales of $152.5 MILLION in 2009! In 2008 we had sales of $52.4 MILLION.
   
4. Sales for last year are up 291%!! Recruiting from last year is up 317%!!
5. We have had a total of 67,580 people sign up for Scentsy in it's lifetime. Not all of those people are active, but that's how many contracts have been signed! Last year we ended at 33,800 total recruits in a lifetime. WOW!!
6. We sold 26 MILLION items, not including business supplies!
7. Scentsy profits were $218MILLION for the year of 2009 (includes biz supplies)
   
8. MY NAME WAS ANNOUNCED FOR HAVING 4 RECRUITS LAST MONTH! YAY!!!

SOME INFO ON THE WAL-MART KNOCK OFF WARMERS (aka Scentsationals):

• The warmers have been completely pulled from all shelves in Idaho since the Scentsationals warmers and scents were so bad!
• Scentsationals sales for the ENTIRE YEAR OF 2009 were equal to LESS THAN HALF A DAY'S SALES FOR SCENTSY!!
• Weaker consultants who are affraid of the competition of these warmers will bow out of Scentsy, leaving room for us more stronger consultants.

Alrighty, so I'd like to leave you on this note: You can sell Scentsy and get a check for your profits, or you can sell Scentsy and RECRUIT and get a check for your profits AND a bonus on your recruit's profits!!

New Vista Print Finds!

Well, I was searching for something to grow my business so I checked vistaprint.com, which is where I get a lot of supplies...like business cards!! Anyhoo, I ordered 6 yard signs that had stars all over them! I thought I would put them in busy intersections in different towns! I also saw that I could make up big post cards and have Vista Print mail them for me!!

Word of Advise From SuperStar Director Laurie Ayers

Mail catalogs to a targeted group - senior living communities or chiropractors or day care centers, etc. Make sure to sticker or somehow identify that the catalog is geared specifically toward them "Candles without the flame - Popular in Senior Communities" "Electric Candles that will welcome your patients" etc. and also "Free Sample Enclosed" Then they don't think it's just another piece of junk mail but will be more inclined to open it.

Sometimes that is enough to get calls and online orders. But if not, then within approx. 4-9 days call to follow up (or if you're too chicken call when you think you'll get the voice mail ... but try to get out of your comfort zone if you're not big on the phone).

"Hi, this is Laurie Ayers. I'm just calling to make sure that you received the catalog and free candle sample that I mailed to you last week. I'd be happy to drop off one of our electric candle warmers for a few days if you'd like to try it."

The absolute worst that will happen is that you'll get a no response. So what?

Remember though that mailings without follow up are a waste of money and time.