A few years ago, a woman I was friendly with became a sales representative for Arbonne, a cosmetic and skincare company that is built on network sales, or rather friends selling to friends. “That’s great!” I told her, though I thought to myself, “Oh no.”
She began to send invites to parties, stressing that there was no obligation to buy: “Just come out and try!” E-mail invites became Facebook events, which I pretended not to see; I didn’t want to feel obligated to buy something just because the salesperson was someone I knew.
Over time, as a growing number of independent sales contractors – as my friend and her contemporaries are known – began crowding my social-media feeds, I deployed my “unfollow” function liberally. And I’m not the only one.
Over time, as a growing number of independent sales contractors – as my friend and her contemporaries are known – began crowding my social-media feeds, I deployed my “unfollow” function liberally. And I’m not the only one.
A key part of direct sales is tapping into and expanding one’s network (the industry also goes by the term network sales). People buy into a company, investing in a starter package that costs anywhere from $100 to $700, and then get a cut of any sales they make.
“We always say tap into four different social circles,” says Heather Wilhelm, a sales rep with jewellery company Stella and Dot. Some firms also offer referral programs that pay out commissions on the sales made by the representatives a person has recruited into the company.
“We always say tap into four different social circles,” says Heather Wilhelm, a sales rep with jewellery company Stella and Dot. Some firms also offer referral programs that pay out commissions on the sales made by the representatives a person has recruited into the company.
This is where direct salespeople differ from, say, someone in pharmaceutical sales. They’re not just pushing their product, but also their lifestyle as a means of recruiting new salespeople, which makes it essential to deploy their social-media accounts – platforms designed to publicize that users are living their best lives in their Wallpaper* magazine-worthy homes and looking great while doing it (and by the way, that bracelet is available for purchase!).
Because their sales reps are part and parcel of the product being sold, direct sales companies are increasingly teaching the art of being social on social media. Everyone knows a deluge of selfies is annoying, but in the world of direct sales, it can also be bad for business.
“I have people on my Facebook that are with Arbonne and other companies that I unfollowed because I can’t stand it,” says Vanessa Ortali, a Toronto-based entrepreneur who runs four businesses, one of which is being a sales representative for Arbonne.
On her own social-media channels, she relies on subtle publicity. “I don’t want people to feel that I’m shoving Arbonne down their throat. My posts are very lifestyle based – last week I posted a recipe for my protein pancakes and showed some [Arbonne] product in the background.”
On her own social-media channels, she relies on subtle publicity. “I don’t want people to feel that I’m shoving Arbonne down their throat. My posts are very lifestyle based – last week I posted a recipe for my protein pancakes and showed some [Arbonne] product in the background.”
Ortali likens her social-media sales efforts to online dating. “At the end of the day it’s a numbers game – you’re looking to expand your network, and if it works it works,” she says.
“Once you join a network marketing company, people have had so many good or bad experiences they get really nervous of you. ‘Oh … you’re doing Arbonne? I can’t talk to you.’ It has nothing to do with me, it’s something they’ve already dealt with.”
The Direct Sellers Association of Canada estimates there are 800,000 Canadians involved in direct sales – 91 per cent of whom are women. Sales in Canada are worth more than $2-billion annually, the DSA reports, while the global industry is worth $182.8-billion (U.S.).
Arbonne and companies similar to it – and there are more than you can imagine, in all types of industries: food (Epicure), accessories (Stella and Dot), health supplements (Herbalife), cleaning products (Norwex), even cannabis lifestyle products – take their cues from similar companies before them, such as Avon, Mary Kay and Tupperware.
The idea: Help women earn an income by selling to other women via a social party-like setting in the comfort of their homes.
Arbonne and companies similar to it – and there are more than you can imagine, in all types of industries: food (Epicure), accessories (Stella and Dot), health supplements (Herbalife), cleaning products (Norwex), even cannabis lifestyle products – take their cues from similar companies before them, such as Avon, Mary Kay and Tupperware.
The idea: Help women earn an income by selling to other women via a social party-like setting in the comfort of their homes.
With the advent of the influencer and the often paid promotion of “lifestyles” via social media, one would think that people would be accepting of sales pitches infiltrating their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. But that’s not the case, says Jennifer Fong, a New York area business consultant for the direct-sales industry.
“I think some of it has to do with the fact that probably everyone has had a bad experience with an untrained or unethical direct seller, or knows someone who has. Because the barrier to entry in a direct selling business is so low, there are so many people who have tried it, and not everyone is good at it,” Fong says.
“When direct sellers try to share on social media, there is an inherent bias that people face that isn’t there for influencers who already have respect because of something else. This bias can be overcome through integrity and service, but it takes time and patience.”
“When direct sellers try to share on social media, there is an inherent bias that people face that isn’t there for influencers who already have respect because of something else. This bias can be overcome through integrity and service, but it takes time and patience.”
Lorie Tokola, Canadian vice-president of sales for Park Lane Jewelry, has been in direct sales since the mid-1990s, first with Weekenders, a women’s clothing line, and Silpada Designs, another jewellery company. “When I first started, cellphones were just coming out in the late nineties. Back then, it was very much the telephone on a cord. I find nowadays people just don’t answer their phone – you have to get people’s permission now to have successful contact on the telephone,” she says from her Niagara-region home in Sherkston, Ont.
Tokola asks prospective clients if she can friend them on Facebook and other social-media platforms before sending them a message about Park Lane. She’ll ask if they want to be alerted about sales and specials and if they say yes, she invites them to a “VIP” group page, where she posts company, product and show information.
“I’ve always been of the school that you don’t blast on your personal account about business. That’s a good way to have people unfriend or unfollow you,” she says. “No one told me to do that; I just think it’s polite.”
“I’ve always been of the school that you don’t blast on your personal account about business. That’s a good way to have people unfriend or unfollow you,” she says. “No one told me to do that; I just think it’s polite.”
Tokola oversees all of Park Lane’s reps in Canada and advises them to communicate with potential and existing customers in the same way.
Epicure, a grocery and cookware company, now teaches social media best practices to its representatives. When Carmen Locke started working as an Epicure direct sales rep 11 years ago, she took it upon herself to learn how best to use Facebook and the like to promote sales. But recently, she attended a session led by Jennifer Fong.
“I used to have a business page on Facebook, but it wasn’t getting that much traction, so I created a group so that people could opt in to get the info,” Locke says. “In the class, they taught you that you want people to opt in because if they’re just added in that annoys people and they want to get you off their page completely.”
Locke posts about Epicure on her personal page only on occasion to avoid the perils of oversharing. “I do see a lot of other businesses and other Epicure consultants who haven’t picked up on that and it’s sad because they’re just pushing it down your throat,” she says.
“I’ve unfollowed people. I would rather be in their business group. Yes, I use Arbonne products, I try to support others that are in direct sales, but if we’re friends I don’t want to see that all the time.”
“I’ve unfollowed people. I would rather be in their business group. Yes, I use Arbonne products, I try to support others that are in direct sales, but if we’re friends I don’t want to see that all the time.”
The risk of overselling on social media is losing friendships. Says Fong: “I advise direct sellers to respect the 80/20 rule on their personal profiles: Talk about your personal life 80 per cent of the time, and only talk about your business – as it relates to you personally! – 20 per cent of the time. Direct sellers have to be careful not to jump to the close while missing the ‘social’ aspect of social media … or they will lose friends and be the one that others avoid.”
When dealing with rejection, Fong recommends accepting that no means no. “If someone pushes back, let them know you’ve heard them and respect those boundaries,” she says.
While I sympathize with people doing what they can in a difficult economy, this seems to be a monetization of friendship, just as Air BnB monetized people's homes (and turned really neat neighborhoods into unregulated hotels). Do we all have to be selling to each other all the time?
Using a business page is the most professional way direct sellers can promote their businesses. When they use their personal profile, or groups which are run by personal profiles, they risk not only offending their friends and personal networks but they put themselves at risk of "Facebook Jail" which is a euphemism for the consequences Facebook will dole out in the way of restricted accounts or temporarily blocking you from using its features. Using a business page will also help you meet people who may not already know you, and those who "opt in" by liking your page are a more interested audience. Facebook makes it easy (and free) to create a business page. Look at their business center at fb.com/business for more information.
Nov. 7, 2019: I finally went to the Arbonne website. It mainly sells hair and makeup. There is nutrition like protein shake mix. I'm not interested in any of these products.
Jun. 5. 2018 "Tips and tricks to drive online sales": Today I found this article by Peter Nowak in the Globe and Mail. I feel like this is applicable to get more people to read my blog. In the newspaper it was titled "A tweet is a terrible thing to waste":
Have a website, make sure it’s optimized for smartphones, be active on social media – most small and medium-sized businesses are by now at least aware of these table stakes when it comes to playing the e-commerce game.
But with trends shifting and the algorithms that govern how the web works still a mystery to most, it’s easy for the average business to miss opportunities to increase online sales.
Staying on top of the web’s arcane workings requires some vigilance, but experts say a little effort can go a long way toward building e-commerce operations.
Misinterpreting customer data is one of the biggest mistakes a business can make, according to Adam Green, vice-president of Toronto-based digital marketing agency Art Science.
Many use data-tracking tools such as Google Analytics, which inserts code into websites that tracks a wealth of visitor information including location, web browser choice and other sites visited. But few companies delve into those advanced metrics.
“Everyone gets focused on filling the bucket with water, but if you don’t know which water actually drove the thing you were trying to do, then a lot of your efforts … are almost in vain,” Mr. Green says.
Many businesses overvalue their website’s direct traffic, when a person arrives there by typing its exact address into a browser, as a result.
When direct traffic results in sales, business owners are often tempted to pull back on other marketing efforts such as advertising or social media.
That can be a mistake because they’re not looking at how the direct traffic is actually being generated. Each sale may, in fact, be the result of a person’s third, fourth or even fifth visit to the website after initial contact through an online ad or social media post.
“People attribute success to the last click of traffic,” says Mr. Green, whose clients include the Toronto International Film Festival, Starbucks and Royal Bank of Canada. Then they cut back and “their conversions drop and they wonder why people aren’t typing their website directly into their browser anymore.”
Mr. Green says businesses should learn the deeper workings of Google Analytics, especially the Attribution Reports and Top Conversion Path sections, which can reveal exactly how visitors end up at a website. Google offers free Analytics Academy tutorials online.
“The full customer journey involves multiple touch points,” he says. “Most people in the industry don’t take that into account.”
Wasting tweets
Many businesses also don’t use social media properly and end up having little to show for their efforts, according to Dani Gagnon, chief executive officer of Toronto-based Dani G Inc. and professor of digital marketing at Seneca College.
Running Instagram ads that look like advertising, for example, is a sure-fire way of being ignored, she says.
Businesses should instead make their ads look more like interactive posts by attaching contextual relevance to them. They need to investigate what people are actually talking about and try to join the conversation.
If a new Game of Thrones episode is going to be airing the day their ad is running, for example, that post may benefit by relating to the popular television show since people are going to be discussing it.
“If you’re selling coffee and you post about coffee, no one is going to see your content that day because the algorithm is [focused] on Game of Thrones,” says Ms. Gagnon, whose clients include CBC, CityTV and Osgoode Law School. “Make your content focus on whatever is going on socially.”
Businesses should also avoid attaching their ads to broad subjects and instead use brands as keywords, she adds. A company that sells dog products may get better results with “Purina,” for example, than “dogs.”
“On Facebook, I could write a status post saying, ‘I hate dogs,’ and Facebook will end up grabbing that and thinking I’m interested in dogs,” Ms. Gagnon says. “It actually doesn’t target people very well.”
The paradox of choice
The internet’s infiniteness makes it easy for users to become overwhelmed with choice, so businesses must do their best to narrow down options, according to Dilip Soman, marketing professor at the University of Toronto and the Corus Chair in Communications Strategy.
“People are confused by options,” he says. “When they’re confronted by too many options, they choose not to choose.”
Websites that sell things can benefit by nesting choices within each other. An online ice-cream vendor, for example, might choose to offer only vanilla up front, but then give customers the ability to tailor the product to their liking.
“Offer the same basic thing, but then you can put chocolate sauce or caramel on top,” he says. “Rather than offering those as three separate products, you’re just selling vanilla – but I can customize it for you.”
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