How to Get Me to Buy your Direct Sales Widget

Direct Selling Ethics Promote Positive Sales

As a Norwex Independent Sales Consultant I enjoy using my connections with friends and family in the direct selling (DM) marketplace to try new products and support other women entrepreneurs.  I understand the work involved in successfully maintaining a DS business and usually find new products that are truly superior in quality.  I don’t expect reciprocity, but it’s nice when it happens. However, the one thing that will cause me not to buy your product: bashing other companies.

This prevalent practice of putting down your competition is nothing new in marketing, but when it’s taken onto your social media it represents YOU, it is an insult to your consumer who may use some things from the brand you are bashing.  And it just makes you look bad.  Seeing someone post negative comments about other companies (for example: “Buda Jewelry is not as green as you think!”) forces 2 thoughts to come to mind:

1. Is your product so lackluster that it cannot stand on its own merits?  I believe wholeheartedly in Norwex and will show it off all I can.  I don’t need to promote other companies’ shortcomings to make Norwex look good.

2. You must think I’m pretty dumb and won’t do my own research.  When you attack a company that I’ve been happy with for years, you bet I’m going to verify your post.  It usually turns out that your post is media hype and factually incorrect. So, now I’m losing trust in anything you say.

Let’s keep it positive and support one another rather than tear each other down.  In my example, I was trying products from you, but once you attacked Buda Jewelry you hurt my feelings toward your brand.  See, my Buda lady is someone I’ve known and trusted for 20 years, I don’t even wear much jewelry, but she’s been such a sweetheart and help to me, that when she runs a special I buy a gift from her.  And as it turns out Buda is exactly as environmentally friendly as it claims to be.

This general essay segues directly to questions many new Norwex consultants pose on a closed discussion board we have: “My client wants to know if she can use ZippyClear detergent for her cloths, can she?” or “My customer has F-Cloths and wants to know the difference between them and our cloths. What do I tell her?” There are generally 1 or 2 replies that attack  ZippyClear or F-Cloth before someone with more sales savvy appears with good advice basically covering:

1.    Our cloths are not magical fibers that disintegrate if not washed in filler-free detergent. (If they were, I wouldn’t be selling them. It’s unrealistic to think every customer is going to convert their entire household to Norwex, even though we have.) The Microfiber Care sheet that must be distributed with each purchase bans bleach, fabric softener and dryer sheets.  It states “Use Norwex UPP for best results.”  That’s it! Yes, I love UPP, but if my neighbor uses Wave detergent and asks me if it’s OK, I will not point out the carcinogens in Wave.  I will kindly explain why I prefer UPP, but let her know she can continue to use Wave (she told me she LOVES the scent, I know: ewwww ).  If she were to question more about what “filler-free” or “enzyme based” means, I’ll continue with a positive explanation.  So in short, when Cathy Customer asks if All-Tempa-Happy is Ok to use on her cloths, don’t reply: “Oh my, did you know that All-Tempa-Happy is one of the most toxic items in your home?  It could kill your children and pets!”  As my mother always said: You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

2.      The same could be said for the devoted F-Cloth user.  Obviously respond with what Norwex HAS (silver!) instead of what F-Cloth lacks.  Some customers will grill you and try to get you riled. Respond calmly: “I cannot speak to the merits of another company’s products, I am an expert on Norwex and can tell factually and definitively what our products guarantee.”  If they continue badgering: “You can check with your F-Cloth consultant with those questions.” (ha, ha…that was snarky because F-Cloth doesn’t offer personal care consultants, like we do).

People want to come to their own conclusions.  Often a discussion of detergent or other household cleaning staples WILL bring about more and more questions until the customer makes a revelation on their own.  That customer will become a devoted Norwex user.  The one who felt just a little belittled because she mentioned her love of Clorop Wipes will shy away from you after a courtesy purchase. She wants to feel validated in her choices, not ridiculed.