Podcast Show Notes
So many times clients who are in direct sales will come to me tripped up.
They have a hard time being able to tie together who they are as a mom, business builder, and a direct sales rep.
They understand that personal branding is important to their success but they struggle with how to promote a personal brand – themselves! – and not a company.
EP 3: 6 REASONS WHY PERSONAL BRANDING IS A NON-NEGOTIABLE
The #1 problem in direct sales
The number one problem I see in direct sales reps is that they aren’t making themselves and their personal brand as the focal point.
They are only focusing on promoting the company and products they rep for.
And that is an employee mindset. You are promoting someone else and not your own individuality.
And in my experience, that becomes the fastest way to burn out, feeling depleted, disappointment towards teammates, and a lack of excitement.
An immense need for women
And after building brands for several direct sales reps within my consulting and design services – I feel there is an immense need for women in direct sales to step out of this box they’ve built around them and set up a brand around themselves as an entire human being.
A personal brand focusing on their personality and their passions.
Not a brand built around another company and messaging.
I totally get that being in direct sales you want to build a business, recruit teammates, and sell more products.
But once you’ve told all your family and long lost Facebook friends about your business you hit a wall with who to prospect next.
You think social media is the solution to attract more new clients and teammates but I believe that thinking is all wrong.
While I do believe social media can attract new clients – it shouldn’t become your melting pot of product posts, recruiting messages, and sisterhood shoutouts.
EP 45: 4 SOCIAL MEDIA MISTAKES YOU ARE MAKING
How do you promote yourself as a brand?
So how can you as a direct sales rep promote yourself instead of emphasizing one company and product portfolio in your marketing?
The answer is: You discover your core foundation.
You stop acknowledging yourself as a direct sales rep and instead develop a method around who you are and your brand influence.
Dust off who you once were before you starting repeating direct sales taglines, and company phrases …. Such as “ground floor opportunity, game-changer product, exciting company, and innovative-leader.”
What happens when you switch companies?
If you want to admit it or not that company you rep for could close their doors tomorrow.
And if you’ve built an online existence around ONE COMPANY and ONE COMPANY’S PRODUCTS – your brand crashes because you just put all your investment and recognition behind a company that you don’t own.
I’ve seen so many women do this – and I watch them use the word PIVOT to rep for another company because they continue promoting their brand tied to a company instead of taking the time to understand WHO they are as a brand – and promote themselves instead.
They refer to a pivot as an entire brand pivot instead of a pivot inside their brand.
Two different things.
Do that too many times and you lose all trust and credibility.
Build a core foundation
So what I’m doing is helping as many women as I possibly can within my consulting and design services build a core foundation that is unbreakable.
A foundation not built around a company they don’t own – but one made up of an individual’s core interest, superpower, beliefs, and niche.
These women I work with will never have to PIVOT a brand.
Their brand is set up for success because it encompasses the passions and influence they have experienced and feel strongly about.
You’ve been trained to rattle off phrases like “have more time freedom with kids, getting away from the 9-5, but still needing to bring in an income” but those lines can be spoken by every mom in a direct sales company.
They are NOT unique to you.
I want to showcase YOUR STORY and influence.
I believe our purpose in life is to share our brand influence to serve and empower others.
Your brand influence uses your layers and layers of pivots, life cycles, and experiences to empower others.
Here’s a client example
Last week I was chatting with a new client and she was having this same exact problem.
I wanted her to stop thinking about the direct sales company she had been with for ten years and start thinking about herself.
Because the transformation she has had from leaving a toxic corporate job almost ten years ago to now working her business from home – could have happened by joining ANY COMPANY or starting ANY BUSINESS.
Her transformation is not unique to that particular direct sales company.
I really pushed her to think about the transformation itself… the problems she had before starting her direct sales business and the changes that have happened since leaving her corporate job.
And if you’ve ever worked with me you know that I dig into pain points because those are YOUR FEELINGS. They are a part of WHY you were looking for a change.
Knowing that her brand today revolves around healthy eating, workouts, and finding ways to always feel her best I know her transformation happened when she pulled away from toxic environments including her corporate career.
Yes, she started a direct sales company, but that was just one piece of her story.
As a whole, her brand transformed when she left corporate America and she had more freedom in many areas of her life – work, eating, healthy activities, etc. Those are her passions.
Niche statement
As I spoke about in episode 41, you want to use your niche statement to clearly state and describe your brand and who you serve.
So when working with this client we developed a niche statement that others can readily recognize themselves inside these few sentences when they land on her site.
Her niche statement reads….
I’m dedicated to helping middle-aged women go from the grind of corporate life and serving others’ needs to re-organizing their priorities to recover time to focus on themselves.
I believe confidence comes when you feel good from the inside out.
Using my Inspire to Action Approach for Mind, Body, and Soul, I help improve opportunities for women experiencing limits to self-worth due to traditional workplaces and habits.
When you read that you can immediately tell her brand isn’t wrapped up in a company she doesn’t own. It strips away all taglines and phrases found in a direct sales company and uses her own story as inspiration to serve others.
When this client came to me she didn’t have this written out. She didn’t even recognize she had been developing her own approach all these years. But she had been.
The process
She went through the lessons inside The Personal Branding Playbook and was able to give me answers and notes around her core foundation when it came to core interest, beliefs, and ideal client.
From there I was able to strip away what didn’t need to be there and focus on the problem she could solve, why she believed in that solution, and who was looking for that solution.
And that is how her niche statement and core foundation for her personal brand was defined … tying together her passion for inspiring action in women when it comes to mind, body, and soul.
If the direct sales company she is a part of closes its doors tomorrow – my client has a strong personal brand and will never need to do a brand pivot. Her brand will stand strong with her core foundation as her lane.
And that is an incredible feeling to have.
Here’s what my client had to say after I took her notes and wrote up this niche statement she said…
“Yes, that is so good. You just hit it right on the head. That is why you do what you do and you are amazing at it. Thank you.”
Work is one part of your story
I know this speaks to so many of my listeners and I invite you to really dig into your core foundation and develop a personal brand around YOURSELF, not a company.
So if you find yourself in this situation of wanting to promote your direct sales company – Don’t just think about your business but you as an entire person – as a personal brand.
Your work is just ONE PART of your story.
But shouldn’t be all you share and promote.
When you can develop a method for your brand foundation – your focus is on that method. And yes, your direct sales company can certainly fit into your method without having to become the featured product.
The product is your method.
So if you are new to my Stay in Your Lane Brand Method and part of a direct sales company – I invite you to download my Direct Sales Guide to Selling on the Web here: kristinkorn.com/directsales.
In the end: How to Survive A Company Pivot
The #1 Way Direct Sales Reps Can Survive A Company Pivot is by discovering your core foundation and promoting yourself as a brand with a method, not by attaching your brand to a company you don’t own that could close its doors tomorrow.
