GUEST POST
By Donna Arnlund, DAVAS Business Solutions, Virtual Assistant to coaches, network marketing and direct sales leaders, and other small and home-based business owners.
This weekend I was planning to spend some time looking over my calendar to pick the date for my upcoming summer open house. It was as if Jenny, one of my customers knew what I was thinking because I received an email from her asking “when is your summer sale going to be?”
Now was that a coincidence? Maybe… well, not really. It’s all part of my “Field of Dreams” strategy. Remember that movie, “if you build it, he will come.”
Truth is I’ve held a holiday open house every year since getting into the direct sales business (I’m a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant). This year after the holidays I stepped back and realized with each open house that:
- more customers actually anticipated my invitations in October
- more people attended
- my sales grew each year
Mmm, I must be on to something. So why not use the same ideas and try it in the summer too. And so I started to plant the seeds with my customers in January by implementing a ‘Bonus Bucks’ reward program. It’s nothing fancy - I made up a coupon worth $1 for every $10 in orders, and clipped it to the receipt every time a customer placed an order. With every order that I delivered, I was ‘watering those seeds.’
Of course …on the coupon is says ‘only good towards purchases made at my Summer Sizzling Open House’. And Jenny’s email confirmed that ‘the seeds were starting to sprout!’
So no matter what your business objective may be, growing your customer base or building your team, ask yourself this: what kinds of seeds have I been planting this year? Have I been watering them enough to grow?
Well I still have some ‘gardening’ to do, so I’m putting on my VA (virtual assistant) hat and going into the office now to design some ’sizzling invitations’ to send out next week. And before I know it, it will be time to start getting ready to plant the next crop (if you know what I mean).
Here’s to you…May the seeds you plant produce a bountiful harvest!
Donna
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Donna Arnlund is the owner and founder of DAVAS Business Solutions, providing virtual [office] assistance to coaches, network marketing and direct sales leaders, as well as other small and home-based businesses.
Donna has a strong desire to help others succeed and achieve their goals. As a professional virtual assistant she partners with her clients to understand their business goals and values so she can provide the best solutions to fit their needs. Her professional experience not only helps her to do this well, but her communication style makes working with her to develop and implement new processes a pleasant experience. She is continually seeking education to stay current with the ever changing needs of online business owners and offers services which include internet marketing support, screen cast video production, customer relationship management, and more.
When she’s not working as a Virtual Assistant, you can also find Donna encouraging and empowering women in her roles as a Weight Watchers leader and Mary Kay Consultant. When she does wind down, she spends time with her husband of 18 years and their cat (who thinks she’s Donna’s office assistant), or is playing the hammered dulcimer.
You can learn more about Donna at DAVAS Business Solutions.com , contact her at Donna@DAVASBusinessSolutions.com, and follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DAtheVA or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/donnaarnlund
