How to Increase Sales from Virtual Party Events
Everyone in direct selling seems to be taking advantage of the hottest new trend: the virtual party. Have you given your sales reps the tools they need to get onboard?
Most of the time, it starts with a Facebook Live presentation. But it doesn’t end there—and that’s where it can get complicated for you.
Many sales reps will engage dozens or even hundreds of people online, and then invite those who are local to a physical location where they can experience the products in person, ask questions, network, and maybe enjoy some refreshments.
Other times, the sales rep may tell everyone at the virtual party that they should stop by a particular trade show booth or kiosk in the near future to try a sample or watch a demo.
Many virtual party events are completely online from beginning to end. The product introduction, demonstration, and ordering process are completely online and the distributor, hostess and customer never meet in person.
The possibilities are many. Make sure your systems are ready to take advantage of all those variations.
Why Selling Online Is Such a Hit
The virtual party can take many forms and reach a much wider audience than the “traditional” home-based party ever did.
Suppose you’re selling hair care products and most of your sales reps are stylists. They can host online events at which they’re actually using the products on a client while talking through the benefits. They can then encourage viewers to come into their salon to purchase the product—or solicit a volunteer to host the next event at their house.
These online events don’t need an enormous audience to generate revenue. They bring the best of face-to-face interaction to people who can’t or won’t attend a live event. These events also create opportunities to increase the motivation to “buy now” through special discount plans and affiliate coupons which have time and purchase conditions associated with them.
But there’s more to it than simply launching an event on Facebook Live or Instagram Live. You have to make sure your MLM software can provide the back-end functionality you need to maximize profitability at every stage of the event.
For example, not all of your sales reps will be completely confident presenting each one of your products. You’ll need to offer representatives a seamless way of streaming some of your pre-recorded product videos as needed during their own presentations.
What about when online viewers want to buy a product in the middle of a demo? Don’t make them wait until the party is over. You need to provide shopping cart functionality that enables them to drag items into the cart and check out at any point in the presentation.
Can you easily give each sales rep appropriate credit for each sale? Can you make it easy for distributors to source the right products from your warehouses? Meanwhile, will your corporate offices maintain adequate visibility into customer details and transaction information?
Finally, can you make all of this functionality easy for each sales rep to use in any sales situation? Will it be simple enough to use on their mobile phone at a craft show or parent-teacher organization meeting?
If you can’t say yes to all of these questions, you’re not quite ready to reap the full rewards of the virtual party. Start looking for ways to fill the gaps in your systems environment and business processes so that your sales reps and end-customers alike can have a fulfilling, seamless experience with your products.
The Next Step Towards Virtual Party Success
We at Thatcher Technology are serious about helping direct selling firms take advantage of any and all innovations that help move products. That’s why we’ve designed our Prowess direct selling software platform to support online events.
Prowess provides you with a CRM solution you can put at the fingertips of your sales team. They get all the functionality they need to record transactions and manage their own calendar. You maintain control and insight throughout all of their activities—whether online or in person. Find out more about Prowess.