Personally Branding yourself in direct sales is the secret sauce to standing out from the crowd, attracting oodles of customers and building the ideal team. Over the last 20+ years, I have affiliated with a number network marketing organizations, even rising to leadership levels. I am a firm supporter of this $50 billion dollar industry and an avid customer as is evident in my closet, cosmetic drawer, refrigerator, kitchen cabinets and laundry room.
Being the personal brand nerd, I have carefully studied top leaders who have successfully branded themselves in direct sales and boiled their similarities down to three key points.
3 Tips to a Successful Personal Brand in Direct Sales
Brand YOU… not your company.
People are attracted to you before they know about your products and services. They are drawn by what makes you engaging, unique and attractive. They are compelled because they see their own potential in what you represent.
In my book, The Total Package: OWN Your Profitable Personal Brand, the first element I teach is building your brand identity. Your identity is based on what’s important to you, what you value and what you stand for. Consider your values for a moment. Are they health, faith, non-profits or family? You can represent those significant values throughout your personal brand presence by strategically weaving ‘your value language’ throughout.
Take my value statement as an example, “Aligning your personal brand with your ultimate potential.” Two of my top values are living in alignment and helping others see themselves beyond their self-limits. Can you see how I’ve identified them in my value statement? Think about how you can do that for your brand.
You can also weave your parent company’s brand identity into your brand presence. Take a look at your organization’s value or mission statement and find those areas where you are similar. Combining your values with your company values packs a personal brand punch that will compel customers and team members to be part of the overall vision!
When branding yourself in direct sales, it’s imperative to keep the ‘personal’ in personal brand and remember that people buy into YOU first and foremost, then they try your products.
Digital Brand Visual Voice
Your visual voice is how you are perceived visually- specifically your videos and online presence. For instance, if your brand identity represents the loving treatment of animals and you represent vegan products, get active with organizations striving to protect our furry friends. Take that a step further and champion the cause with images of you playing with or petting farm animals and your pets. It’s a win-win. The causes close to your heart gets great visibility and you will also be seen in alignment.
If you value family, reflect that in the pictures you post of your daily family activities. If charities are your thing, be vocal about the organizations close to your heart. If it’s a healthy lifestyle, be sure you are capturing shots of you exercising, eating healthy food and taking time to rest.
Your digital presence is an instantaneous way to paint a picture of alignment and success and a powerful way to create instant credibility and likability. That way when people meet you, they’ll feel like they already know you. And vise versa, if your first interaction is a brief, live, one, your subsequent online presence will be a venue for someone to learn more about you… in your best light.
Set The Example
You set the bar for the caliber of team you want to build. If you are focusing all of your energies on finding the right team, but neglecting how you show up, you are missing out on the opportunity to set a standard of excellence.
One of my direct sales clients (let’s call her Rebecca) was complaining that she couldn’t find a team that was dedicated and self-motivated. Her downline would come and go and although in the health industry the women she was attracting were always struggling with their own health issues- not wanting to exercise or eat a healthy diet. As we began to work together I asked her to take a good look in the mirror. Were the women she was attracting just like her? Once she had that moment of awareness she began to commit herself to her well-being and consistent daily actions to grow her business. Women just like ‘the new’ her began to appear and she finally saw herself as a leader that others would want to emulate. That alone boosted her business.
Rebecca was also struggling with her wardrobe. Being in the health industry, she was constantly wearing workout gear. Now… there’s active wear and there’s active wear. She had been in wrinkled, outdated sweats and that was not the image she wanted to project. I suggested she buy some fresh new gear in colors that complimented her. We also explored which occasions she could up level her attire and show up as the leader, demonstrated by her wardrobe. At her sales rallies she began to dress in polished business casual, and people began to take notice. Just by the change in her appearance, her contemporaries began to ask about the growth in her business.
Applying these three key principals is simple, but it takes action and commitment. You have huge potential when you claim the best of you and wear it like royalty. My favorite quote from Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, can be boiled down to making the changes you need to in yourself and modeling it for your team. You’ll look and feel great as will your team and your business will thrive!