Just one thing more to be decided-Now that the meeting is over, was it worth while? Every meeting should be evaluated soon after it’s over for several reasons. First, a meeting that seemed to be successful actually may have been a failure. For instance, the meeting may have been entertaining but not productive of better or greater sales effort.
“It’s easy to be fooled,” said a New England shipping executive. “We have some good showmen in our outfit. The meetings have always been entertaining. But, one day we faced ourselves with an honest evaluation of the meetings. Surprisingly enough, we had to admit they had little value.”
A west coast lumber dealer reported a similar experience. “We finally started evaluating our meetings. We learned that many had not been necessary. A lot of man hours had been wasted. We’d conducted a meeting each Monday simply because Monday was our meeting day! Since then we’ve had only about
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Accidents Can Happen!
Many people have been injured at conventions. There have been accidents involving loss of limb, if not loss of life.
At a meeting in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, a chair collapsed. The occupant suffered a painful and costly broken spine. He sued and collected! During a Los Angeles convention a saleslady fell from a balcony and broke her arm.
A fire in New Haven caused panic. Several persons were injured in the rush for the exits.
How to protect yourself and your company
The building being used may already be insured, including public liability. But don’t guess about it. Don’t take someone’s word for it. Be sure! See your insurance broker. Additional protection may be needed. People don’t sue for a pittance these days. Besides, the cost of such insurance is quite nominal. You should never risk a convention without it.
How to conduct a large meeting or convention
* Appoint a Steering Committee Chairman
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Accidents Can Happen!
Many people have been injured at conventions. There have been accidents involving loss of limb, if not loss of life.
At a meeting in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, a chair collapsed. The occupant suffered a painful and costly broken spine. He sued and collected! During a Los Angeles convention a saleslady fell from a balcony and broke her arm.
A fire in New Haven caused panic. Several persons were injured in the rush for the exits.
How to protect yourself and your company
The building being used may already be insured, including public liability. But don’t guess about it. Don’t take someone’s word for it. Be sure! See your insurance broker. Additional protection may be needed. People don’t sue for a pittance these days. Besides, the cost of such insurance is quite nominal. You should never risk a convention without it.
How to conduct a large meeting or convention
* Appoint a Steering Committee Chairman
read more...
There’s the natural tendency to paint a picture of fat commissions. This is fine if fat commissions are in the offing. But most direct selling endeavors provide a good income-nothing more. If earnings were so exceptionally high in direct selling it would not be necessary to stage recruiting meetings. A district manager in Boise said, “We take a realistic approach to the amount of money that can be made with our product. To do otherwise is sheer misrepresentation that will backfire on you.
“When fabulous earnings are not received, the salesman is disappointed. He loses confidence in you and your company. Then he quits working.
“The pity of it is that he initially didn’t expect tremendous earnings. He grew to expect them only because he was led to believe that he could!”
“That’s right,” chimed in another direct salesman. “Most people don’t expect huge commissions. They’re satisfied with only several
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But don’t beg them to take that action. If you do, it boomerangs! The visitor reasons to himself, “It sounds to me like they’ll take anyone they can get. I’ve applied for jobs before but never been begged to take one of them. Apparently they profit if you’re successful at this work, but they don’t lose if you’re not. That’s why they’ll take anybody and everybody. This is no good.”
Therefore, speak in terms of “If you can qualify,” or “If you can prove to us that you’re the man for the job,” or “If you can prove to us that you’ll really get out and work.” You then are still holding the psychological upper hand. You’re getting him to sign up because it’s in his interest to do so. That’s the only way he’ll do it. He will never sell your merchandise as a favor to you or to me.
Keywords:
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Most direct selling organizations have a company song or two. But don’t plan singing in connection with a recruiting meeting. It will seem childish to the visitors.
A two-fisted salesman said, “A certain company started its meeting by having us all join hands and sing ‘The More We Get Together.’ I wanted to throw up! It was not only my first meeting with that organization. It was also my last!”
Group singing can come later. Get the visitor signed as a salesman. Let him start selling. Give him time to get acquainted with your product. Then he may be willing to sing its praises.
Another common mistake is in emphasizing the product at the outset. The visitors don’t like it!
They reason, “We didn’t come here to be sold some merchandise. We came here to see about work. What would we have to do, what kind of work? How much will we make?”
For best results, (1) talk about the opportunity first. Hit the high spots
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The first inclination is to stage all meetings at your place of business. That’s not necessarily the best place for a recruiting meeting, however. Here’s why . . . There are signs on the doors and windows of offices. Once the visitor sees a sign, he forms an opinion. Perhaps he’s driven for 30 minutes to reach the office. He may keep right on driving if, on arrival, he sees that direct selling is involved.
If your office facilities are exceptional and impressive, then it’s a different matter. Moreover, visitors attracted by your salesmen already know something of the opportunity involved. You might consider a hotel meeting room. The only disadvantage is in recruiting women. The ladies are a little reluctant to turn out for hotel meetings. An attractive woman stated, “I was invited to an evening meeting at a hotel and told that I’d be shown how to make $1,000 per month. I replied, ‘Sir, I’m a lady/ ” Some Chambers of Commerce
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7.* Employment agencies can be quite helpful. This goes for both state and private agencies. If your salespeople are compensated on a commission basis, you may have difficulty with a private agency. Reason: in the past they’ve placed salespeople who’ve sold little or nothing. In such cases, the agency has not received a satisfactory placement fee for its services, since it is due a percent of the first month’s earnings. There’s a means of solving this problem, however. Tell the private agency, “It takes a salesperson a month or two to get started. So you won’t receive a satisfactory fee on the basis of first month earnings. But collect it anyway. Then, in addition, I’ll pay your regular rate on second-month earnings. The two fees should be more than ample.”
State agencies are most co-operative. They’ll give you names from their files. Also, they will provide a gratis desk and telephone if you care to interview applicants at
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5.* Your sales staff can bring prospective salespeople to your recruiting meetings. Get everybody to bring a friend-or two. Many companies pay a finder’s fee. The salesman who finds another person to sell for the company is rewarded for finding him. The finder’s fee might be $10 . . . or $25 . . . or more.
Under certain marketing plans, the finder receives a continuing override on sales made by people he has recruited. In such cases, however, the finder is usually responsible for training and motivating the people he has recruited.
The point is this: your salesmen know many people. They can influence some of those people to attend recruiting meetings. Urge them to do it. This is one of the best ways to build attendance.
A Tulsa man reported, “I had each of my men write down the name of every acquaintance who might like to join our sales staff. The next step was to invite the acquaintances to a recruiting meeting. I offered a prize to the man who could
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3.* By sending postcards, bulletins or letters you can get prospective salespeople to a recruiting meeting. Two things should be considered: what does the mailing piece say and to whom is it sent? Good results have been obtained with one-page bulletins. An excellent mimeographed job is okay. If the quality of the mimeographing is subject to question, use printed bulletins. Be sure there’s some art work on your bulletin. Dress it up! Further information on bulletins can be found in the chapter on “How To Publicize Your Sales Meeting.”
A San Angelo, Texas, direct salesman said, “I’ve used postcards with good results. Try them.”
* * June 16, 1960
* * We have several openings. If you are interested in either part-time or full-time work, report to 3609 Lynndale at 2 P.M. on Tuesday, June 21st. Please be prompt. William Crane Hassell Company
To whom should mailings be sent? That’s the BIG question . . .
Some companies have
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