By Reliv President of Sales & Marketing Tom Pinnock & Director of Marketing Erin Koch
I say this all the time: having structure for your team is critical to your success in your Reliv business. The truth is that your distributors will need a series of events to help them stay on track and build their businesses. Having consistent training, meetings, and special events is essential to your success. We are professional networkers, and thus by nature, we like to get together, intermingle, have fun, and inspire each other.
So what does Reliv structure look like in today’s busy world? Well, I can tell you one thing for sure, it is much different today than it was 30 years ago when I first became a Distributor. And the reason for that is simple – technology. Today we have all kinds of new digital tools that make our lives so much easier and our ability to communicate so much better – and faster. I’m talking about e-commerce, social media, blogs, personal websites, webinars, podcasts, texting, sharing videos, mobile apps, smartphones, and the list goes on and on.
The great news is that these new tools allow us to communicate around the world like never before, and that means that we have a bigger opportunity than ever before. Technology positions a work-from-home business for success no matter the current health climate or restrictions on in-person gatherings. If we’ve learned anything from the current situation, it’s that working from home and online is a wise choice, especially if you take a structured approach.
So when we think about structure, we need to think in terms of both offline and online events that we can plug our people into. Most of us understand the offline events because that’s what we’ve been doing for decades. They would include opportunity meetings, training, conferences, in-home presentations, and special events. So let’s start with these. Take out your calendar and start filling it in.
The first thing to markdown is the next conference that we have this year… in St. Louis on July 31 – August 1. Leaders never miss conferences, and typically, they work from conference to conference. Their goal is to always have more people at the next conference than the last one. Pretty simple. Conferences are educational, inspirational, and fun. Leaders are born at conferences, and it’s where you will make life-long relationships.
The next thing you want to jot down on your calendar are the special events scheduled in your area. This could be a company event, or it might be a top Reliv Distributor coming to your town. If you don’t have any special events, get with your upline, and schedule one. The next thing you need to do is schedule some in-home presentations or shake parties, or find out who in your area is having an in-home event that you can attend. Remember, the more events you go to with new people, the bigger your organization.
Okay, we’ve marked down conferences, special events, local meetings and training, and in-home presentations. Now it’s time to fill up our calendar with weekly presentations. You might do these in your home, in a coffee shop, or in a prospect’s house. At first, you use our upline, but after being coached up, you do these things on your own or with one of your new distributors as you coach them up. These are your offline activities, and they are both productive and fun.
Now, let’s talk about online activities, which has opened up a great big door for all of us. I sat down with Reliv’s Director of Marketing Erin Koch and asked her to share some of the best ways Reliv Distributors can incorporate structure into their online activities.
- Get the Reliv App. Here’s the main reason: this is the fastest and easiest way to send out videos daily to your recruits. The app notifies you when someone has watched your video and even tells you how long they watched it for – pretty cool for following up with them! It also notifies you in real time when you have a new order or when someone new signs up. You can instantly email, call or text them right through the app and thank them, making the Reliv App the best customer service tool available in this industry. Click here to learn more about this powerful tool, which you can try free for 30 days as a new distributor.
- Start using your social network…smartly. There is an art to this on your personal Facebook & Instagram feeds and we recommend following the 80/20 rule. 80% of your content should be about your lifestyle and 20% about your products. The same etiquette rules apply for social media – never post something online that you wouldn’t say to someone in person! Remember your Reliv business is all about wellness, so your lifestyle should be posts about healthy recipes (hint hint use Reliv products in these!), workouts or activities you’re doing and how great your life is because you get to carve out your own purpose. Now in terms of structure, you should be posting on social media every day or almost every day. You want to stay top of mind within your social network, so plan content ahead if needed and schedule it out using Facebook’s built-in scheduler. That way you never miss a beat. Now as you begin to build your team, think about creating a closed Facebook group. This will be a more personalized experience and it’s a great way to develop relationships with your distributors and customers. It’s great for swapping tips and tricks, setting up appointments or events and just cheering each other on and welcoming in the newbies or those distributors who are advancing. The content in this group should be all about Reliv because this is the mutual interest and connection you all have. When you create your group, your first post should welcome everyone and to also let them know the rules – no politics, religion or other topics that are off subject of Reliv. That’s the whole point of this closed group and it’s by invitation only.
- Make online experiences personal. Sorry, but just because you can send out mass communications to people online doesn’t mean you should. There is nothing that will earn you an unfollow faster than sending out mass direct messages or posts that are not tailored to each person. Make notes about the topics that your network is posting about and seem to care about. You can use what you learn from their posts to personalize a message for them. You want to send a direct message that is 100% about that person’s wants and needs and how your product can help them. Don’t write one message and direct message (DM) it to all of your Facebook or Instagram followers! For structure, mark this one down in your calendar as another daily activity – try to get in the habit of responding to questions or comments about your posts or messages as quickly as possible. We live in an Amazon world where people want what they want and they want it now.
- Develop relationships online. Since you’re online and not face-to-face with your network, you’re going to have to work a little harder here. But wait, not really because Facebook and Instagram have made it ridiculously easy to make a live video. When people can see and hear you, they feel more connected with you. And when people feel like they know you, they start to trust you. And when they start to trust you, they’ll start to buy from you. In your calendar, map out a live video at least 1-2 times per week.
Tips on Going Live:
- Go live 1-2 times a week on consistent days and times. Stay live for at least 15 minutes if possible so the Facebook Algorithm can notify more of your followers.
- Pre-promote when you’re going live, what you’ll talk about and why. Stories are powerful!
- Use the messaging in the Product Training Cards and never make product or health claims! Email our Compliance Department if you have any questions: compliance@relivinc.com. They are happy to help you!
- Find a quiet space, with a clean and uncluttered background. Have the product displayed.
- Promote 1-2 products at a time or 1 health benefit, such as the Weight Loss Bundle. It’s easier for the audience to absorb the information.
- Have fun, smile and be yourself! People want to see the real you, so if you make a mistake just laugh it off and keep going.
- Have your phone on a tripod so the camera is stable. Look at the shot before you go live!
- End with a clear call to action “Buy from me now” or “DM me with any questions!” Always include a link to your Personal Website!
- Texting is a great option if you are too nervous to call them. Many people don’t like talking on the phone and are introverts, so texting is a perfect option for you! Just keep your text personal and keep it short at one to two sentences. You might reach out to setup a time to grab coffee. The ICSAR Getting Started Guide has some great examples.
- Get a Personal Website. When you’re promoting the Reliv products or business online, you must always include a link to your personal website – after all, why send them to reliv.com when you want to get the sale?! It is so easy to setup – you don’t have to design anything. You’ll simply add your photo and a brief story and you’re ready to go. You can even choose which video you want to feature on your homepage as well as products! See how it works here.
So get out your calendar or planner and start mapping out your offline and online activities. You should wake up, open up your calendar and already have all of the activities for your day waiting for you. If you do these things and make structure the backbone of your business, we can guarantee we’ll see you on stage shining under the bright lights of the St. Louis Conference.
