This week, the Modern Direct Seller Podcast is all about how to focus your limited summer hours on money-making activities by following on one of our favorite models: the ABCs. Even better? Each of these content creation, relationship-building, active selling strategies can be completed in 20 minutes or less! Learn how to leverage your existing customer base, make one-on-one conversations a priority, and move the needle forward in your business without sacrificing your summer plans.

Join the Modern Direct Seller Academy and our super social summer camp at ⁠ModernDirectSellerAcademy.com⁠.

Download at “Perfectly Crafted PMs, DMs, and Texts” toolkit on ⁠our website⁠!

Time based notes:

• 1:53 Academy “super social summer camp”
• 3:19 The ABCs of direct sales
• 6:30 Re-engage one-time shoppers
• 8:20 Recommendations for lurkers
• 10:28 Take advantage of limited deals
• 12:19 Thank top customers sincerely
• 13:27 Finish unfinished conversations
• 17:13 Book online or in-person events
• 19:26 Ask for customer referrals
• 22:25 “Perfectly Crafted PMs, DMs, and Texts”

Move Your Business Forward in 20 Minutes or Less

Over here at our house, summer is in full swing—and we know the same is true for you. We’re carpooling. We’re dropping kids off at camp. We’re traveling. The sun is out. We don’t want to be at home, stuck behind the computer; we want to be out at the pool, the beach, the lake. So, with summer in mind, I wanted to share with you something happening in the Modern Direct Seller Academy we’re calling our “super social summer camp.”

The whole concept of our super social summer camp is to get one money-making activity done each day. And, I’m a firm believer that you can work this business and see some tremendous results in less than 20 minutes a day. So, the whole idea is that you have 20 minutes carved out on your calendar, and you’re spending that time on activities that are going to actually move the needle in your business.

This also involves our ABC model, which is pretty straightforward. When I talk about the ABCs, that stands for A, for active selling, where you’re actually asking for a sale. B is for building relationships, so you’re connecting with people; you’re talking to people on a one-to-one level. And then, C is for creating content, so you’re showing up online and building your brand. Really, I always say it should be a “CBAs.” It should be backwards, right? When you create that content, you’re attracting people into your business that want to learn more about you. You’re able to engage one-on-one to truly build that relationship, even if somebody has not yet made a purchase from you. And then, that “A,” active selling, is really where you’re asking for that sale and gaining a new customer.

So, ABCs is a model that I teach and train on quite a bit. What we’ve done inside the Academy with our super social summer camp is, we’ve broken it down even further by suggesting one money-making task that you can knock out each day in less than 20 minutes to really give you those quick wins. Today, I want to share seven of those 20-minute, money-making strategies that you can squeeze into your business this summer—and you’re going to see a common theme. These strategies are all going to include some active selling and asking for the sale. They’re going to include building relationships and connecting with people. And, many are also going to include creating content, and taking that content that you’re creating and moving it into conversations.

So, let’s dive right in to strategy Number One, which has to do with engaging those that have shopped with you in the past but have not yet placed a second order. One thing that I think that we often miss in our businesses is we get a one-time order, and then somehow, we don’t quite get that second order. Generally, if somebody’s shopped with you once or twice, they’re going to continue to shop with you over and over and over again. But, getting from that first order to that second order can sometimes feel like a challenge. So, when you’re thinking about the people that have shopped with you in the past, you may need to go grab a customer order history list from your back office to look who has shopped with you before. I would go back about 2 to 3 months; that’s the sweet spot for most products. You know your business the best, but I like to look at that group where it’s been 6, 8, 12 weeks since they’ve last shopped with you, and invite them to shop again.

So, this is definitely a money-making strategy, right? We’re pulling a list of past customers. We’re re-engaging those customers that haven’t been continuing to shop with us, and we’re inviting them to place another order. Now, this is probably going to happen in a one-to-one conversation. And, it can be really simple. “Hey, how are you? It’s been a little bit. I know you purchased this. I hope you love that! Do you have any questions about it? Are you ready for more?” If you have a consumable product? Oh, my goodness, this is a piece of cake. “Did you use it all up? Are you ready for more? Can I replenish your stock? How does your stash look?” Re-engaging those customers that have shopped with you a couple months ago is a great money-making activity that you can knock out and get done in 20 minutes or less.

So, money-making strategy Number Two: We’re going to talk about those lurkers. Now, when I say “lurkers,” I think about those people that may be hanging out and following you but have not yet shopped with you. So, this is really a new customer acquisition strategy. We’re gonna get somebody that has been hanging out, following our content, but hasn’t quite taken the leap to become a customer to begin their business shopping relationship with us.

A great way to do this is to scan through your Facebook VIP group, or your Instagram followers, and write down maybe 5, 10, 15 people that you notice are just lurking. They’re not totally engaging. They haven’t bought anything. Maybe they’ve been following around for a little while, so they have some level of brand familiarity with who you are, what your business is, and the products that you sell. So, for those lurkers, we want to reach out and offer them a personal recommendation. And again, we’re gonna do this on a one-to-one level. I would grab that list of people and give them a quick message that just says something like, “Hey, I want to thank you so much for following along my journey with [blank] company. And, I want to know if I could send over a couple of personal recommendations that I think you would love?”

You’re going to hear back from some people. Other people might ghost you—and that’s okay, too. But, go ahead and reach out to those people and invite them to take that next step. A lot of times, people need that extra nudge, and then they’ll be ready to place an order. So, they don’t need to necessarily be invited to a party; they don’t need to host a party. They just need to have a conversation with you so that you can share with them some products that you think would be a great fit for them. So, there you have it, money-making strategy Number Two.

Moving on to Number Three. This one is something that our companies really set us up well with. When we think about companies offering monthly specials, or expiring limited offers, or deals, that foster a lot of urgency for our customers to take action and make a purchase. Now, lots can get lost in the world of social media. So, if you’re sharing your monthly specials, or your limited-time offers, or your exclusive deals that are about to expire, some people are going to see them, but most people are not going to see them. There is a ton of data out there about how many followers are actually seeing your posts, so do not bank on the fact that somebody is going to see it and take action from it. You’re going to need to reach out again on a personal level.

But, this is a great excuse to reach out! Everyone loves a deal. Everyone loves a special. So, think about who you can reach out to that has expressed interest in a product that’s on sale, or part of a bonus item that’s coming in a bundle that’s expiring here at the end of the month. Reach out to them personally and say, “Hey, I just wanted to make sure that you saw that here at the end of June, this offer is going away.” Or, “Here in the next couple of days, this offer expires. It’s such a great deal from our company. I thought of you, and I didn’t want you to miss out. Can I help get that ordered for you?” Or, “Can I help you take advantage of this deal or special?” Again, it’s as simple as that. It’s having conversations and asking the right questions to get people engaged and move them closer to “adding to cart” and checking out.

So, moving on to money-making strategy Number Four. This one, I really love, because this is a way that we can love on some of our top customers. I want you to look and see who your top five customers are. Who are those people that are shopping with you on the regular? They’re probably your superfans. They might be the first ones to comment and engage with you when you’re posting on social. In fact, they may even be helping you do your job by giving you referrals, or sharing your posts with their audience, or shouting you out when they get a new order, letting people know that they should come shop with you. We really, really want to love on those people, so this money-making activity involves genuinely, authentically thanking them for their support. It’s as simple as that.

You know, sometimes we feel like we need to keep going back to people and selling, selling, selling. But, showing appreciation and gratitude is going to come back to you tenfold. So, look at your top five customers, give them a little bit of love, maybe even shout them out on social, and talk about how appreciative you are to have such a great group of customers that support your business. This one is going to pay off over the long run, because we know these customers are going to continue to shop with us, continue to refer business to us, and are really a core part of making our business successful.

All right. Number Five is next, and we’re talking about unfinished conversations. Now, I talk about this a lot, but when we’re engaging with our customers on social, oftentimes conversations can take hours or days or weeks. Sometimes, they make a purchase right away. Other times you’re like, “Oh my gosh, we’ve been talking for a month about this happening. Come on.” So, it’s a little bit different than sitting down with somebody for coffee or making a quick phone call, because those conversations go back and forth over and over and over again. So, I want you to scan through your inbox. Look at your DMs over on Instagram. Look at any private messages you’re getting over on Facebook, and see what conversations have been left unfinished.

Now, I know sometimes, things just happen. People get busy. If you feel like you’re being ghosted, it’s probably not intentional. So, this is your opportunity to reconnect, right? We don’t want to leave things unfinished. We want to keep our conversations moving forward. And, the more conversations we’re having, the more orders and shopping gets done. So, you might say something like, “Hey, I just wanted to loop back with you. I know we were chatting about this or that. What do you think?” Or, “Oh my gosh, I don’t know about you, but summer has been crazy over here. I didn’t want you to think I forgot about you. Just checking back in on this or that. Can I help you out?” So, it’s just looping back to those conversations, and it’s totally fine for you to own it, even if you know they kind of ghosted you—between us. There’s probably a lot of money that is hidden in those unfinished conversations, and if we can finish them up, then you’re gonna see orders and income coming in to your business.

All right, moving on to money-making activity Number Six. This is an obvious one, but it might be one of those you just need a little bit of a nudge to do. Because, we know that there is money in events. Whether you’re hosting your own party or you have a host that’s doing a party with you, whether it’s an educational event, a pop-up event, or a vendor event, we know that when we do events, we get in front of new faces. It’s a great tool for new customer acquisition, and building up our business, and building up our pipeline, so we have new people coming in and shopping with us on the regular.

So, when we’re thinking about events, we often know that it doesn’t take that much work to get something booked. But, we do have to be intentional about it. So, in 20 minutes, I want to challenge you to make something happen. Get something on your calendar. Book an event that you can do in-person or online.

And, I’m telling you, if you cannot find a host or somebody to partner with or collaborate with, then it’s time to do your own event. You can absolutely do that online. You could do that over in your VIP customer group. You could do an open house and invite people over to check out what you’re offering. You could do a pop-up event at a coffee shop or a hair salon. Take ownership of it. Even if you’re not getting a “yes” when you’re asking others if they will host with you, this is still a great opportunity for you to invite people and to get out there and make a name for yourself and your business.

And, to round things out, money-making activity Number Seven is all about asking for referrals. I know that this can feel really daunting for those of us in the direct sales space, but this is really your opportunity to go back to past customers, to go to those superfans that support your business, and say, “Hey, I’m doing something new. I’m looking for some referrals. Can you think of anyone that might be interested in this product or that product that you’re able to introduce me to?”

And, be really clear about how you would like to receive those referrals. The clearer we can be, the easier it is for somebody to refer us business. That might be “Hey, if you can think of anyone that might be interested in this, send me a quick message, and then we can have a three-way message, and I’ll share all the information. All you have to do is to make that intro.” Or, “Hey, I have this post in my group, or over on Instagram. If you think of anyone that might be interested in this, tag them in the post to go ahead and introduce them to me.”

When you’re launching a referral program, it’s also always nice to offer some kind of incentive. I love thinking about things as a win-win-win, meaning it’s a win for your brand-new customer; it’s a win for that customer that has referred to them; and it’s a win for you that you have some new business. You may offer a bonus gift. It might even be a little Starbucks gift card. Some kind of token of your appreciation for that referral. Because, we know once we’ve acquired a new customer, their overall customer lifetime value adds up over time, right? So, we know that it’s probably not just going to be that one-time transaction. They’re gonna come back for that second, that third, that fourth purchase. So, being a little extra generous in the beginning, when those referrals are coming your way, is a great way to appreciate your customers and leverage your customer base to grow your network and acquire new business.

But, it all starts with asking, just like every single one of these money-making strategies I shared with you. You are going to have to directly ask people if they can think of anyone that they would like to refer to you for a certain product or an event that you have coming up.

If you’re listening to this episode right now, and you’re thinking, “This all sounds really great, but sometimes I struggle with finding the right word to use,” then I want to remind you that over in the Academy, we have a toolkit called “Perfectly Crafted PMs, DMs, and Texts.” So, definitely take a peek at that toolkit, because we give you some great examples of verbiage that you can use. Best of all, those are preloaded to Boards and Project Broadcast, making it easier than ever for you to grab those quick snippets, customize them, personalize them, make them your own, and be able to use those words to really accelerate these 20-minute money-making blitzes that are going to move your business forward.

Launch your own user-friendly, personally branded website at ⁠OhMyHi.com⁠.

Take Action: What is one new strategy that you could implement to make more money this summer?