Direct sales is all about creating sales. You’ll create personal sales retailing the company products to individual customers and you’ll create team sales by building a team and supporting their sales efforts. In order to lead a team, you’ll need to develop and learn some leadership skills.
Leadership is learned. We are not born with leadership skills. Think of the many leaders you know. There are leaders in your local PTA. There are leaders in your community. There are world leaders. Each leader we know learned the skills that brought them to be the leader they are today.
There are several ways to learn leadership skills:
1. Read books - Our local bookstore has an entire section on leadership. I’ve read books by several different authors. You’ll find that men and women teach a little bit differently and you’ll find that depending on profession, skills may be taught a bit differently also. If finances don’t allow a book budget right now, use your local library. I’ve found some real gems at our library.
2. Subscribe to newsletters – One of my favorite authors is John Maxwell. Not only have I read most of his books, I also subscribe to his newsletter. Each newsletter offers new ideas and new food for thought.
3. Attend seminars – Over the years I’ve attended seminars ranging from how to deal with difficult people to how to improve your listening skills. There are so many topics out there to choose from. Not only will these seminars help you become a better leader, but they will help you in every relationship you are involved in, business and personal.
So what are some of the topics you should consider learning about?
1. Listening – I know that we all have two ears and we all hear, however really listening to the person speaking is a learned skill.
2. Communicating – I continue to learn more and more about communication. It is such a fine art. Each person we speak to and interact with is unique. How we communicate with one person may not be the same as how we communicate with another person. Learning how to effectively get our message to each unique individual is key in leading a team.
3. Problem solving – If you are in direct sales, problems will come up. For example, it’s December and a top selling product has become unavailable. You need the skills to be able to help your team accept this in a positive way so that sales are not lost. You need to be able to help your team present this small obstacle to their customers, so that they also will not lose the potential sales.
Consider investing 30-60 minutes per week into learning and developing your leadership skills to help you build a larger direct sales team.
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Audrey Okaneko has been in direct sales since 1983. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or you can Become a Tupperware Consultant
