There’s a shocking fact about the Direct Sales Industry…

Based on Income Disclosure documents from many companies, less than 0.1% — yes you read that correctly — earn more than 6-Figure commissions per year.

When I built my business, to the very top in my former company, I had no idea that I was an “exception” in the industry.  I was simply focused and building my business.

One day it hit me.  A woman who was my “BFF” in our business – a really smart, funny, kind, generous person – and a person I talked to several times per week – wasn’t building her business as quickly as I was…in fact, my business was easily twice as big as hers.  So I had to take a step back and ask myself, “What is the difference.”

It really came down to four differences:

1)  I approached my business as a process. 

I guess you could say I applied the “engineer-in-me” (I have a B.S. in Chemical Engineering) to my business.

When you implement “processes” into your business, it becomes easy to find the cracks, and make improvements. 

Leaders who don’t plan ahead, or consciously look for their businesses’ “sticking points” are simply “winging it.” 

You miss out on a lot of commissions and waste a lot of valuable time and energy when you operate your business this way.

2)   I shifted my thinking to become a “strong leader builder.” 

As I built my organization, I quickly reached the point where the amount I earned from my team commissions surpassed what I earned from my own personal sales.

My income from my sales had peaked.  I had optimized my “profits per party” and the only way to increase that portion of my income was to schedule more parties.

That would defeat the entire purpose of the business model. 

When I embraced the idea that the success of the leaders I promoted, was indirectly my success, too, I made the commitment to invest 90% of my business hours building leaders.

3)  I ramped up my leadership and people skills with the help of some private coaching.

One of my “faults,” if you want to call it that, is I truly love connecting with people.  I think every person has an interesting story, and as they share it – I always see their “potential.” 

Sadly, I often see more of their potential, and believe in them much more than they are willing to see or believe in themselves. 

Too often I believed them when they proclaimed they were going to earn the company’s Incentives, or earn a promotion to management.  (You do have to take a step back and evaluate what is prompting those commitments – you know, the person who is making those promises simply to please you.) 

But for the most part, actions speak much louder than words. 

Learning to communicate well, set expectations, and recognize those taking action became a huge part of my business growth. 

I learned how to make it clear to my team members that, while I believed in them, and want to help them succeed; the way to get my attention is by taking action. 

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t mean that I ignored half my team.  I simply got good at “filtering” and focusing my time and energy on those who were willing to work past their fears, their “sticking points,” and would take action when coached.

4)  I continually asked myself, “How Can I Achieve Better Results, in Less Time?”

That question continually inspired me to find ways to “optimize” my business. 

I implemented my special “LOADES” approach – meaning “Leverage, Outsource, Automate, Delegate, Eliminate, Systems,” so I was only investing the majority of my time into developing my leaders.

I’ve learned some valuable lessons about consultants and leaders along my direct sales journey:

Lesson #1:  Most consultants would like to have a nice part-time income.  But most aren’t willing to do what it takes to shift their thinking and their approach to their business to be “an exception” meaning building a business to be in the top 5% in the company — and in the industry.

Lesson #2:  Because people are so busy these days, to make these shifts in their business – they really need the set-up of these systems almost “done entirely for them.”  Otherwise, even though they “know” and “see” how it will change their business, they are so embedded in their current mode of operation, that they don’t get the changes implemented.

Lesson #3:  I used to think that everyone could “be an exception” but I no longer believe that’s true. 

I believe “exceptional” consultants and leaders need to have some specific traits. 

They need to be:

• coachable
• visionaries
• good communicators
• willing to operate their business – like a business, and willing to invest in building their business
• love helping others succeed – even more than themselves
• most of all – they need a very strong “why”

I developed my new “Be the Exception” program to help mid-level leaders make the business transformations to catapult their businesses to the very top in their company.

It’s not for everyone – and the pricing on the program reflects both your commitment, and the opportunity to work with someone who has taken a direct selling business where you want to go…

There are very few spots available. 

Interested to learn more?

Simply fill out the form to the right to get a full information packet in the mail.

After you receive that packet, you can schedule an appointment with me.  I want to make sure you are the perfect fit.

Looking forward to connecting with you!

Big Hugs,

Susie