A number days ago I received a call from a prospective client who had been prospected into a travel business while at the grocery store. Intrigued by the concept and spurred on by her love for travel she quickly enrolled. She did the usual 48 hour follow up with her upline where they 3-wayed a number of people. After a few hours of this they parted ways. Her uplines admonition was to enroll at least 1000 people per year, because come December 31st, of the 1000 she enrolled, only 300 will survive.

One of the Deadliest Mistakes many direct sales consultants and direct selling business owners make in their business is lack of follow-up! This deadly mistake is tied to misconception that you are not selling, you are just sharing! Direct Sales is the business. Direct Selling, with they key word being selling is the name of the game. Home parties is the avenue by which these sales are made.

When you consider that you lose 10% of your influence every month that you are not in contact with your clients, this is valuable advice indeed! - Renegade Coach

You have all heard this one before, The fortune is in the Follow - Up! I have a good friend, involved in Mary Kay, a formidable direct selling company. She has been driving a Pink Cadillac longer than I care to remember. But this article is certainly not about Pink Cadillacs, plush velvet seats and cruising down the streets on a Saturday night! What is impressive about this soon to be National sales director is how loyal her customers are to her and her direct sales business. Get this, she has a 90% retention rate going on 21 years!

Want to know the secret to her success? I bet you do! Its' called follow up and follow through! It is called validation, it is called appreciation! And boy is she good at it! Kudos Nancy Sutherland, Mary-Kay Sales Director!

According to Dun and Bradstreet, the single, most important reason for the failure of businesses in America is lack of sales. And, of course, this refers to resales as well as initial sales. So your job as a direct sales consultant is to create and keep a customer.

No matter how massive or how limitted your marketing budget, (by The Way this is a another deadly direct sales business mistake , not having a marketing budget) you cannot afford to be without this powerful, inexpensive, relationship building tool. We shall call it a thank you letter and/or thank-you card!

Writing thank you cards and noted need not be an overdrawn process. Thank-you it is said, is the mark of an educated individual.For the price of a stamp, a card and well written let's say 25-50 words you stand to make a killing!

Sending business thank you notes is an efficient, inexpensive way to:

1). Turn one-time buyers into loyal lifetime customers. It is also a great way to shorten the intervals between purchases! If you struggle to find thank you messages to write in cards just hop onto the internet, you will find may a template!

2). Business thank you cards or letters will increase your customer referrals. Every bit of business referred costs you nothing in advertising or sales commissions. Now how is that for increasing sales by 50% without increasing your marketing budget?

Direct Sales Marketing Success Tip: When you receive referrals, be sure to send a thank you note as well as a gift! What a lovely way to say thank you and even better promote your home party company products. Just make the gift appropriate to the recipient.

3). For direct sales business, we all know that the summer months tend to be the slowest. Think of your thank you notes and cards as off season marketing. Hallmark, the card company implemented one such method with outstanding results. They sent out some coupons with their thank you messages and boy they had some of the highest grossing sales in the months of June, July and August and get this for Christmas stuff!

4) Seth Godin, well known author and uber marketer says "ideas that spread, win!" How true. Sending a card or a note is so unconventional you are bound to create a buzz. Now this is what we call word of mouth. Direct Mail messages consistently beat all other marketing avenues. Why? Because direct mail pieces have a long shelf life. I may not act upon it now, but how many of you have kept cards and advertorials with the intention of getting to it only to forget. Then one day you are pleasantly surprised to find it and act upon it immediately? Get the edge over your competition and keep your name in front of decision makers eyes and records.

As Mark Sanborn asserts "The ultimate objective of a business is profit. The primary purpose of a business is to create customers. Profitability without customers is an impossibility. Remember too that your business is about R.O.I

Relationships, Outcomes and Improvements."

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ENSURE UNINTERRUPTED HOME PARTY BUSINESS GROWTH AND PROFITS?