Over my 40+ year career in direct sales/network marketing, I have seen many ups and downs in the economy, in compensation plans, in the industry “mood”, in the popularity of the products/services – in just about everything to do with the business. And, like just about everyone, I have let my focus wander a time or two: to the detriment of my profits. For me, as soon as I realize my results are not what they should be, I know I need to refocus my attention on the fundamentals.

If I had to choose one overreaching fundamental that has kept my business growing and performing year after year it would be this: you can be successful at anything if enough people know what you do. It’s the Prime Directive. Without getting this one rule consistently working for you, the rest won’t matter very much.

I often have people ask me “How many is enough?” and my answer is always “MORE”. You are going to need more people to know what you do every day to even maintain your business because some of your current customers/team members will leave. Some will lose interest, some will have their needs or preferences change, and some will pass away.

Cultivating new customers/team members is always going to be necessary to stay in business.

To grow, you’ll need to find new customers/new team members AND THEN SOME. In my opinion, the easiest way to make sure that you have new people interested in your business on a constant basis is to make sure more people know about your business. Every. Single. Day.

Here are three ways you could get more people to know what you do today:

1. Turn your vehicle into a rolling billboard for your business.

You can start small: get a static cling made at www.vistaprint.com or have them make you a magnetic sign to stick to the side. Even if you just took a plain white piece of paper and a black magic marker and put the name of your company and your phone number or URL and taped it to your back window, more people would find out about you and your business. Want to go to the next level?

Contact a sign company such as www.fastsigns.com and have them design a wrap or partial wrap for your vehicle. Advertising is a tax-deductible business expense and can be very effective in getting more people to know what you do. Be sure to check with your company to see what is allowed or preferred. Most require you to put some form of “independent sales representative” as part of the design so that you do not misrepresent yourself as the company.

Another attention-getter: a light-up “pizza” sign for the roof of your vehicle with the company name and your phone number or URL on it! You can find them here: www.carsigns.com.

2. Join organizations about your non-business interests and find ways to add value to the organization.

Here’s an example from my life: in 2022 I helped produce a play for our newly formed community theater group. I had no experience in theater, but I had been an executive assistant (a.k.a. secretary) when I was younger, so when the play’s director was in obvious need of administrative assistance, I stepped in and used the skills I had to help with the project. By using my skills and adding value to their efforts, I was able to meet and get to know over 30 cast and crew members, donors, and members of the historical society that helped fund the play.

At some point, most people you meet ask you “What do you do for work?” and that was true with this experience for me. I was able to add value to this worthwhile community endeavor while having many people find out what I do, which has led to new business and many referrals without me having to even ask for the business.

3. Be a gatherer of people and their contact information and find ways to stay in touch...

I personally use an online tool from a company called Promptings entitled SendOutCards. Yes, they are an affiliate marketing company, too; so, I have the potential to not only cover my expenses but also earn over and above what I spend. The SendOutCards service has a contact manager that is included in most options, so they make it easy to be a collector of information and easy to stay in touch by sending cards. And that’s REAL cards: the kind that are printed, stuffed in an envelope, and mailed to the person. I have found that there is a big bonus in sending real, honest-to-goodness cards in the mail: hardly anyone does it anymore, so they are far more impactful! In my experience, people love getting greeting cards in the mail.

The contact manager allows for notes and includes a way to save important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries and has the option to email you reminders for when they come up for your contacts. One of my daily goals is to add at least one person per day to my contact manager.

Another tool I use to gather information about people I meet is www.whitepages.com. White pages have options to look up a person by their name or reverse lookup by their address or phone number. And White Pages also provides their birthday now – bonus! Between White pages and Facebook, I am able to find most people’s information so that I can stay in touch with them and build that all-important relationship over time.