BUSINESS BUILDING
times live and in person, she advanced to Senior Director. Today she’s an Executive Director 3. As a society, we’ve been isolated these last two years. Many of us have moved our business-building activities primarily online. I’m going to keep building my business online! The web conferencing technology is incredible. But how many people today have online-meeting fatigue? How many people miss being in the presence of other people? For two years we took in-homes out of our tool belts. We had to! But now it’s time to put them back into our tool belts and get to work. We could all use a refresher. So let’s talk about how to invite, how to confirm, and how to hold a successful in-home presentation.
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MAKE YOUR PRESENTATION POWERFUL
ALWAYS CONFIRM One of the most important steps is confirming your appointment. This is where we lose a lot of potential new customers. Have you ever experienced a secret meeting —you know, where you’re the only one who came? Secret meetings happen because we don’t follow up and confirm. We get so scared that we’ll sound pushy, so we invite our friends, set the appointment, and then never say another word. But here’s the thing: your time is valuable. You need to confirm and reconfirm! Recently I held a lunch in-home. It was on a Monday at 11:00 a.m. Eight people showed up! We knew on Sunday exactly who was coming on Monday because Lisa, my new business partner, sent an individual confirmation text to every person we had invited. That text said, “Hey, my friend, I want to make sure you’re still able to come tomorrow. I’m not the expert yet so I’ve invited my business partner Courtney to join me. Before I have her rearrange her schedule and take time away, I want to make sure you’re still able to come.” Five people told her they could no longer come. But eight people showed up because Lisa confirmed! What if you don’t have a support team member who is presenting? What if you’re the one hosting and presenting? Put it on yourself. Tell them, “Hey, my friends, I’m going to the store today to pick up a few things for tomorrow. Do you have any allergies that I need to know about?” Or, “Hey, I’m going to the store to pick up a few things, and I want to make sure I have your favorite beverage.” Those are two simple ways to confirm exactly who is coming.
I have two kids, and our family is crazy busy just like yours may be. I’m in the car from 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Taking time away from my family is a sacrifice. But I feel like it’s a sacrifice worth making. When I began building my business, my husband, Graham, said to me, “I don’t understand why you’re gone for 3–4 hours. That makes no sense to me. Your presentation only lasts 30–45 minutes. What are you doing there?” Graham works in pharmaceutical sales, and he meets with clients every single week—five minutes here, five minutes there. He’s constantly in their faces. In contrast, Melaleuca Marketing Executives do the work up front. We do a full presentation, and then we follow up and help our customers convert their homes to Melaleuca. But when Graham was finally able to come with me to an in-home, he told me afterward, “I get it. I get why you can’t do this in 30 minutes to an hour.” This is not a transactional business. This is a relationship business. That’s why you show up early to talk to the host, meet the guests, and find out their needs. That’s why you stay late—because that’s when attendees really open up. National Director 9 Suzy Maier helped mentor me when I first started, and she would regularly stay at my house until 11:00 p.m. She taught me that in-homes are where we dig deep. They’re where we find out how Melaleuca can truly bless lives. On a 30-minute web conferencing call with 10 other people, nobody is telling you everything. But at an in-home, they’re telling you their life story. You’re instantly
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EXTEND A GENUINE INVITATION Remember, you are unique. Be authentic, be genuine, and be true to who you are. Be you! If I were going to call and invite Myrna to come to an in-home, I might say something like this: “Hey, Myrna, are you free on Friday night? I’d love to invite you over for a cup of coffee and to talk a little bit about an online wellness store called Melaleuca that I’ve been shopping with. It’s been saving us a lot of time and money. And I know that with current inflation, this could bless your family the way it is blessing mine. Are you open to coming?”
34 JULY 2022 | MELALEUCA.COM
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