Direct Selling: Twenty Years of Testing The Methods

Direct Selling. I am certainly no stranger to the concept. In its infancy, I began as an Avon Representative in the Summer of 1982, a young woman, fresh out of high school and eager to make new customers in my assigned sales territory, which just happened to be my neighborhood. It was door to door cold calling at first, then visiting in my customer's homes: regularly for most, and occasionally for some, on a two week campaign format. After two years, your customer's needs and preferences become very familiar and friendships form. You become more than just a salesperson or neighbor, you become a trusted friend.

 In the Summer of 1984, I moved on to direct sales with a different product and  a different sales environment.With over  half of my Interior Design degree courses finished,  I became an Interior Design Consultant in the Custom Design Studio at the immense Montgomery Ward department store in downtown Baltimore, MD. As a consultant, I worked both in the store studio, greeting interested customers, answering questions and arranging appointments for future in home consultations. Once in their home or office, I was sharing my newly formed knowledge of custom made window treatments, bedspreads, upholstery and carpeting as was applicable to their individual needs. Designing products to solve individual needs while meeting  aesthetics became my new method of direct selling, and personal trust was the bridge to success again.

In early January of 1985, I tried another form of direct selling, in home party sales as a Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics. I had attended an in home party of a close friend, and with my sales experience as an Avon Representative with similar products, I decided to give it a try. In home beauty parties offer a unique direct selling climate: a captive audience that is testing out the products before purchasing them. The key to success here is to know the products so that you can apply them to individual skin care needs, teach proper and successful application techniques, and convey confidence in both your knowledge and the customer's ability to repeat the application techniques satisfactorily on their own.
During this same time period, I began working part time at another Interior Design firm in the Columbia Mall. This was a design store most noted for their wallpaper trade, decorative accessories, custom made floral arrangements and support Interior Design services. As part-time sales personnel, I was limited to helping customers in the store setting, or the full time design staff with their design customers projects. After graduation in June 1985, I set my sights for full time design opportunities.

The years of  Fall 1985 to Fall 1988 were filled with the experiences of working full time in two design firms between Baltimore, MD and Fort Wayne, IN. At both firms, I was the " Girl Friday", and handled everything at each firm from the Interior Designer who visited homes and businesses with Custom Design Products to Office Manager and everything in between!. One firm had a public studio with store hours and the other was a private studio. What remained the same was the vast amount of  design  experience,knowledge and passion for my profession. Trust in your consultant is the key to a successful working relationship, friendships are forged, personal referrals and "word of mouth" advertising becomes the model.earned. I even gave advice to a recently widowed gentleman for tie and suit coordination after his sofa upholstery was complete!

The twenty years since have been filled  with raising four children , managing a household, and being the family of a clergyman. Direct sales and business skills were kept fresh with door to door sales of Boy Scout popcorn and Girl Scout cookies with four children. Almost two years ago, I became a Consultant for La Bella Baskets and began a gift basket business of my own from home. While I leaned on my direct selling experience from the past twenty with offline sales and marketing , it has been the online marketing which has produced the biggest learning curve for me in my entire life and the most satisfying challenge ever! Learning new computer skills, creating interesting social media marketing applications and writing creatively to an online consumer base has intrigued, challenged and sparked a old form of direct selling with a new medium. Still, no matter how different the format, the audience and the technique, the enabler to success remains the same: Trust
La Bella Leigh

Two Months Too Long

Wow! I can't believe how time flies!  Life has been very busy for me in the last two months. Spring always has it's own brand of busy, with  increased household, parish, school and scouting activities. I expanded my cleaning business,started two blogs,  increased my online presence in the social media realm with my gift basket business,and still maintained all of the volunteer efforts at the same level as last year! The thought of this is simply exhausting! I am challenged, fulfilled, and passionate about each aspect, and letting go of one would be difficult. Instead, I will just manage to the best of my ability and let the chips fall as they may, and pray that they don't fall too far!

 Life is about balance: God,family,job or career, education, health and fitness, household responsibilities, pets, friends, community involvement, and leisure. Everyone's list varies, but everyone has one to maintain. A slight change in any one aspect  will affect the balance of them all. An ailment in one member of the body affects the other members of the body.  While we require the presence of "stress" to propel   us forward into action, a sustained abundance over time bears negatively on our overall health and happiness. Too much is not a good thing!

 At times, it seems that my balance is tipped toward over abundance, but flexibility is my resolve. I am fortunate to be able to operate all of my entrepreneurial pursuits from home base on my own schedule. I transitioned from a full time "stay at home" mother of four children for twenty years to a "work from home" mother ( two teens left at home )  with two part-time businesses in the last two years, two pets, and a healthy dose of volunteer spirit to round it all out!  Two months has passed since my last blog entry here; I guess that my vacation is over!
Leigh