Picture your favorite direct sales consultant. What qualities immediately come to your mind when you think about this person? What makes you call her on the phone when you run out of your favorite product? Why do you continue to hold shows for her over and over instead of dealing with another consultant? How can you learn to be a consultant that is as good as or even better than, she or he is?

Below is a list of the five most important traits that one needs to in order to become a great direct sales consultant. Some of these may already be a part of your personality naturally and other traits you may have to work at.  The goal is to not only to possess them, but to make them become second nature.

1. Honesty – First and foremost, a great consultant is honest. A successful consultant is honest in every area of her life.  The consultant’s integrity shines through in everything she does. Her customers never feel “the wool being pulled over their eyes” by this type of consultant and they know that he or she will always tell the truth in every situation.  No one likes being lied to or mislead. That is the best way to lose a customer or sponsored consultant.

2. In Depth Knowledge & Understanding of the Product – Product knowledge is a must for every great consultant. She must be able to answer questions that arise during shows or a consultation. If you don’t know your product, get to know it. Get some sample sizes if possible and try them out; feel it, touch it, smell it, taste it, read about it or whatever is appropriate in order for you to know about your product inside and out.

If you are asked a question about a new product that you don’t know the answer to yet, let the customer know that you will find out the answer for them. Do this in a timely manner. Don’t waste any time in getting the answer to your customer either. If you hesitate too long, you risk losing the customer’s confidence in you, not to mention potential sales! Remember for every consultant who doesn’t take care of their customer there is a consultant who will who is just waiting for you to drop the ball.

3. Manage Your Time Wisely – Time management is a skill every great consultant must possess. Everyone isn’t naturally good at managing their time and, if you trouble managing your time you can always take some courses or have someone that you know teach you how to manage your time effectively and wisely.

Time management is super important in direct sales because you need to be on time to your shows, when interviewing potential new recruits and so on. You need to know where you need to be or what you need to be doing. Missing an event or an important call because you’ve accidentally double booked your clients or thought that the phone call was to be on another day can cause others to lose their confidence in you and this can result in you losing their business.

4. Organizational Skills – A great consultant is one who is organized. This is a trait that can be learned by those who were not born with the gift of organization in their genes. Organization is really important no matter what type of business you are in because it helps you be more efficient.

You don’t want to appear in utter disarray to your customers. You want to readily be able to find things when you need them. If you have a show or a home party to go to you need to be there on time. Getting organized does take a little time, but once you get on track it actually saves you time!

If you find it difficult to get your things in order, find someone  that can help you get organized. This can be a friend, family member or even a professional organizer.  This person can help you with organizing your business files, products, brochures, customer files and receipts.

Getting yourself organized is the hardest part of the battle. It’s much easier to keep yourself organized once you get organized if you keep doing things the way you did to organize your things the first time.  There is no point to becoming organized just to make a mess of everything again in a week or two. You need to have a strong commitment to staying organized.

5. Enthusiasm & Motivation – And the final trait that every great consultant will possess is excitement and motivation. Have you ever been to a show where the consultant was dull and boring? Did they make you want to buy anything? You don’t want potential customers losing interest and hoping that every sentence will be your last so they can leave the party or show without appearing rude.

Being excited about what you’re doing. Your excitement will bubble over into your show and to your guests and they will be more likely to buy from you if you appear happy and excited about what you’re doing. Think about what excited you about the company you are consultant for and what made you join it in the first place.

If you are not naturally outgoing, you can learn to overcome shyness by practicing being enthusiastic. You  can learn to be enthusiastic about what you do. Think about what you do and what you sell. What really motivates you about the product, what do you love about it? Think about those things when you are showing the product and the enthusiasm will naturally come bubbling out.

As I said in number two, knowing your product is important and goes hand in hand with being excited about it. You can be a great consultant by learning these traits and putting them into practice until it becomes second nature to you. By doing so, your clients will trust and most likely will be loyal to you. This in turn will lead them to you over and over again when they need something. Not only that they will also rave about you to friends and family. Word of mouth is a powerful thing.

To your success,

Alice Coaxum