If you’re in direct sales, you most likely have the opportunity to attend your company’s National Convention this summer. This event is a wonderful time to connect with your colleagues, enjoy recognition, and learn a tremendous amount that will help you build your business even bigger in the coming year.
As a direct sales leader, it would be incredible to have every member of your team attend convention. The education and inspiration cannot be matched, and a fired-up team is an incredible way to launch into the fall selling season, which is typically the most profitable time of the year for direct sellers. However the reality is that usually only a fraction of the team is able to attend, and so only a few experience the advantages of attending National Convention.
Fortunately, social media can help you extend the convention experience to the entire team.
- Familiar Faces – Community building is an incredible part of the convention experience. When people meet and get to know one another, they get plugged in in a way that just doesn’t happen over the phone and through email. Give your team members who couldn’t attend the chance to feel connected by taking LOTS of pictures, so that lots of those names they see on reports and recognition sites and message now have faces to go with them. Have a special place in your team group, website, or blog where you share pictures of your team participating in convention experience, so everyone gets a taste. And use those pictures throughout the year in your communications. It really does make a difference.
- Share the Learning – If your company allows, take some video snippets (with a flip-cam or even your phone) of training, and post them to your group or website as well. Post things you’ve learned from the sessions, and invite team members in attendance to share their “ah-ha!” moments as well. Many of your team members wish they could be with you at convention. Give them a taste to help them feel connected! And their businesses wil also benefit from all the things you’ve learned.
- Host a Streaming On-Site or Follow-Up Event – Give your team a little taste of what they’re missing through an application such as uStream. Broadcast live from convention during a team event, and share some of your learning live and in person! (You could also do this after the event, and have everyone that attended take part.) The power of live video can be an exciting way to get your team members excited about your company and their businesses. And while you’re there, take some time to recognize those team members who couldn’t make it, but are doing awesome things with their businesses. What a great way to help people feel connected!
- Share the Resources your Company Makes Available from Convention Through its Facebook Fan Page – If your company has an official Facebook fan page, check out and share the resources that your company is providing. They may have some great pictures, video, and other resources that your team members will enjoy, and that may also entice people considering your opportunity to finally take the plunge! (After all, if convention is that much fun, and people feel so special, it might be the PERFECT opportunity!) So be sure you’re checking out what your company is providing, and make sure you use it!
Nothing replaces the convention experience, and if there is any way for you to get there, you absolutely should. But as a leader, make sure that every single member of your team has the opportunity to experience a little bit of the magic and the inspiration that comes from the incredible event your company has prepared for you this year.
What do you think? Are you going to convention this year? How will you share? Would love to read your comments below!
Jen, great topic. I’d add using a private Twitter group to post news items as they occur.
…coming home from a convention, you feel energized and loaded with a bunch of new ideas to grow your business – with that in mind, it makes getting thru a slow time like the summer fun and productive!
What a great idea for a post, Jennifer! And the ideas are awesome. Almost makes me wish I had a direct sales team again!
So current Julie Anne as I’ve been working to be able to share the conference experience via twitter to both my tem members and fellow consultants that can’t come.
I’m wondering, what is a Private Twitter Group and why would you use that instead of your regular username?
Thanks
Oopps…I meant Jen…Julie’s pic threw me off!
I believe what Linda is referring to is a twitter chatroom such as http://tweetchat.com. You set up a hashtag for your tweets, and people can log in and view the conversations around a particular topic, as long as the hashtag is used. And if you’re in tweetchat, the hashtag is added automatically.
Jennifer
This sounds so exciting! I can’t wait to give this a try at my company’s annual leadership conference next week.
Great article Jennifer. I’m actually surprised that more people aren’t using Twitter to interact with their sales-teams.
Unfortunately, the majority of people in direct sales that I see on Twitter, are only using it to push their opportunity or products, without any interaction.
A really cool free Twitter resource that I found yesterday would be an excellent tool for sharing information with your sales-team and/or customers.
It’s called http://twitcam.com and it enables you to log-in with your Twitter information and immediately start broadcasting using your webcam. Your viewers can also chat & ask questions.
Btw, I’m not affiliate with Twitcam in any way.
@SharonMcP
Sharon,
I saw a demo of Twitcam today, and I think it’s cool too. Both Twitcam and Ustream (ustream has more features but is a bit more complicated) are awesome resources that direct sellers can take advantage of. I think that direct sellers should START with the basics…share useful content through a blog, then connect through social networking tools. But once you’ve mastered the basics, streaming video can be a great tool to consider.
Jennifer
Jen,
You are absolutely right! In a downturn economy everyone tends to cut back. Convention is certainly NOT the place you want to do that. My company actually produces corporate events and we’ve seen year after year that people absorb a tremendous amount of inertia from their convention experience.
I compare it to an airplane that’s running out of fuel. If you shut down the engines to preserve gas, guess what’s going to happen… you’re going to crash!
Convention actually gives you added “wind beneath your wings” to glide further than than you could or would otherwise.
Jeff Aronson (a fan)