Differentiation is the key to successful marketing.  A Unique Selling Proposition is one or more unique selling points.

Creating a USP is work, work best accomplished by completing an exercise.

Don’t worry, it’s fast.  Start by grabbing a pen and a piece of paper.  Then, watch our short video while jotting down a few questions we’ll ask you.

Your reps need to know what to say about your products or services or your company that differentiates them from others.  You need to determine these things and you should do that now if you haven’t already.

Here is an exercise that I have our students at the Direct Selling Edge Conference do to help them to determine the USP for their companies.  Answer these five questions:

1. What makes your product different from others similar to it?
2. What makes your company different from others that sell similar products?
3. Why is your product a greater value than others?
4. How will the customer’s experience with your product be different from other experiences?
5. How will your customer’s experience with your representatives be different from other experiences?

Your unique selling proposition will need to be communicated in several ways.  It will be communicated in demonstrations, explanations, marketing materials, and packaging.

About The Direct Selling Edge Conference

If you’re looking to build your network marketing or party plan direct selling company faster, you need to be at the next Direct Selling Edge Conference.  It’s coming up soon.

You may be asking yourself, “Why should I go to this conference?”  I’ll tell you why…

Have you considered the power of just one new great idea?  One idea that you don’t know just yet can make all the difference to your company.

At the Direct Selling Edge Conference, you’ll hear two full days’ worth of them.

Do you know 100% of what you need to know to have a successful growing company, or do you need to know more?  What are you doing to learn what you don’t know yet?

Remember, if you want to gain wealth, first you need to gain a wealth of information!

Gain Wealth

Held since 2011, the Direct Selling Edge Conference is a two-day direct selling school for companies like yours.

Our faculty members drill down very deeply into the most important topics everyone needs to know more about.  Topics covered in depth include compensation plan design and improvement (two sessions), legal issues (two sessions), recruiting, founder programs, project management, how direct sellers think, compliance, and software.

You will also have an opportunity to ask questions of our speaker panel where we answer as many questions as possible.

At the end of both days, there are private appointment times reserved when you can meet with conference faculty members.  This is free consulting for your company, with an added bonus of conference registration.

If you haven’t yet attended one, you should attend the next Direct Selling Edge Conference!

Just A Few Attendee Comments

1. “The price of this event is a bargain.  I have paid thousands of dollars more to attend conferences that were less informative, less instructive, and less friendly.”
2. “I went to another company’s conference last spring.  I learned more in the first two hours of this conference than I learned in two days with the other one.  The content shared was detailed and specific.”
3. “We have been in business for a few years.  This conference is a must not just for startups.  The quality and knowledge of this conference’s speakers are simply amazing.  It blew my expectations!”
4. “The information presented at DS Edge was worth 10 times what I paid to attend.”
5. “I came to this conference two years later than I should have.  Had I come two years earlier, I would have saved over $100,000 AND two years.”

More Attendee Comments

Discover what others have told us about their Direct Selling Edge experience, here!

Direct Selling Startup Guide

Learn What You Don’t Know

Are you building a party plan or network marketing company, or seriously thinking about it?

Your greatest challenge is that you don’t know what you don’t know.  We can help you with that.

In addition to consulting with companies in the USA and around the world to build and improve their direct selling businesses, Sylvina offers an insightful 250-page “how-to” book for new and young MLM and party plan companies.  First published in 2008, Start Here: The Guide to Building and Growing Your Direct Selling Company is available now in its 4th edition.

Ahora disponible en español.

BONUS:  Each book includes one hour of consulting time for your business, a $200 value.

Building and Growing Your Direct Selling Company

Take a look at what’s inside our book to see what you will learn.

Chapter 1 – Start Here!

• Using This Guide
• Answering Your Questions

Chapter 2 – Direct Selling

• Home Party Plan and Network Marketing
• Multilevel Marketing (MLM)
• Direct Selling and Internet Businesses
• Affiliate Programs
• Direct Selling Products and Services
• The Ideal Products for Direct Selling
• Three Success Stories
• Qualities You Like
• Stages of Business Development
• Pilot Programs
• Part-Time, Full-Time

Chapter 3 – My Dream

• Telling Your Story
• Establishing Company Values
• Next Steps

Chapter 4 – My Team

• Building Your Team
• Team Assignments
• Interviews of Team Members
• Business Building Tasks

Chapter 5 – Goals

• Personal Goals
• Business Goals
• Next Steps

Chapter 6 – Products / Services

• Building Your Image
• Trademarks
• Your Primary Products
• Branding
• Pricing Strategies
• Sales Methods
• Selecting Your Sales Methods
• Autoship
• Your Suppliers
• The Multiplier
• Number of Products
• Product Introductions
• Your Second Product
• Training and Tools
• Income Opportunity Options
• Distribution
• Next Steps

Chapter 7 – Customers

• Product Customers
• Income Opportunity Customers
• Motivations to Join
• Attributes of Successful Independent Representatives
• Repeat Customers
• Retention
• Your Best Customers
• Next Steps
• Initial Recruiting
• Four Stories

Chapter 8 – Initial Recruiting

• Local, National, or Global Launch
• Fifteen Ways to Recruit
• Next Steps

Chapter 9 – Competitors

• Competitor Profiles
• Overall Assessment of Identified Competitors
• Next Steps

Chapter 10 – Software

• Startup Options
• Selecting A Solution Provider
• Software Shopping List
• Questions You Should Ask
• How To Be A Good Software Client
• Next Steps

Chapter 11 – Legal

• USA Regulations
• Canadian Regulations
• Don’t Do List
• Legal Advice
• Defining Your Legal Entity
• Sales Tax Decisions
• Managing Your Finances
• Forms
• Legal Details
• Next Steps

Chapter 12 – Business Plan

• Purposes of a Business Plan
• Business Plan Elements
• Additional Business Plan Considerations
• Compensation Plans
• Forms of Recognition
• Hostess Rewards Programs
• Leadership Development
• Next Steps

Chapter 13 – Money

• Costs to Launch Your Company
• Post-Launch Cash Needs
• Money Sources
• What Do Investors Want?
• Next Steps

Chapter 14 – Timeline

• Major Task List
• Constructing Your Timeline

Chapter 15 – Checklist

• Checklist of Assignments
• Next Steps
• The Sylvina Difference

Start here.  Click below to receive your copy by US Priority Mail.

Reviews

Here are some of the comments people have shared with us about our book:

• This guide was the only place where I could find an A–Z assessment of how to start up a direct sales business.  The guide was concise and thoughtful, and the one hour of consultation was the most effective hour I spent starting this business.
• I love the worksheets! You can write everything down.  There is so much in here that I hadn’t considered.
• You were right there coaching and encouraging me all the way through.
• The book has opened my eyes to a lot of things that are going to need to be done to do this correctly.
• The major task list and the timeline alone were worth the price of the book.
• The Direct Selling Guide was a very useful tool in getting fast answers to the many questions I had.
• I liked the scope of the book, it made sense. It showed me from a company standpoint things I just did not know, and it reinforced in a better way things that I did know.  I believe it is worth every cent and more.
• The points you made about the thought process to set prices were very helpful.  The insight you gave me led me to package my products differently.  I’m excited about my new packaging!
• It was an eye-opener for both of us.
• It explained things that I had never even considered.
• The StartUp Guide was exactly what I needed.
• This is an incredible source of valuable information for both startups and existing companies.

Even lawyers like our book:

What You Don’t Know

Our 250-page guide will tell you:

• how to build a direct selling company
• where to begin
• what are the tasks that need to be done
• when should you do them
• why it’s important to have a good plan

We developed our guide in response to the hundreds of calls taken throughout the years by Sylvina Consulting asking these and other questions:

• “How do I start a direct selling business?”
• “What are the tasks ahead of me?”
• “How can I find my first independent representatives?”
• “What are good products for direct selling?”
• “How do I write a direct selling business plan?”
• “What are my sales tax obligations?”
• “What type of compensation plan should I use?”
• “What are my options for initial recruiting?”
• “What should I know about Autoship?”
• “What do I need to know about MLM software?”
• “Do I really need an MLM attorney?”
• “How long will it take to launch my company?”
• “How much will it cost?”
• “What do investors want?”
• “What should I do when?”

and, most importantly:

• “What other questions should I be asking?”

In 15 information-packed chapters, Start Here offers answers to these questions and many others.

Our guide contains the essential information that you need to have a well-grounded start to build and grow your MLM or party plan company.

If you have already launched your company, our guide will answer another important question:

• “What did I miss?”

Inside Our Direct Selling Guide

For more details, view the Table of Contents.

Would you like to know more about what others think of our book? Browse our Guide Comments.

While there are common elements between network marketing businesses, party plan businesses, and other types of businesses, our guide addresses the need-to-know differences.

This extraordinary guide offers not only important reading material to teach you what you need to know but also groundwork activities at the end of each chapter to give you clarity, focus, and a path to take you to your goal.

Conclusion

If you are building or growing a home party plan or network marketing company, this guide was written for you.

The price is $299.  Included with each guide is one hour of consulting for your business, a $200 bonus value.

Learn what you need to know and do to be successful.  Avoid mistakes that may cost you thousands of dollars.  Save valuable time and money.  Grow faster.

Start here.  Start now.  Click below to receive your copy by US Priority Mail.

For more information about our guide or our consulting services, contact us today at 503.244.8787 or submit our information request form.

USP Help!

If you need a USP and you’re struggling with how to create one, give us a call.  We love to help companies market their products. 503.244.8787.

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