Navigating the Struggles of Direct Sales: A Personal Reflection

[baychef]

Sheila, you will do great and we all learn from our postings! For me, writing it out helps me "sink it into my brain" as well!

 

[Jolie_Paradoxe]

Ann, I hate your situation! It stinks and I think your advice to keep your personal strong is smart. I just had 2 promote and I'll have to work with both to try and keep their team stable. As we all know, it takes work and getting used to maintaining that D status. The SC lines are the tricky part and we can only work so much and the rest is on them. Because the performers are no longer part of the personal, it is wise to invest in having a strong personal team just in case.

I loved seeing the difference in pay and am hoping that I can continue to meet the requirements.

I would hate to see having 2 SC lines being added to AD levels. I can understand why it's smart to have, but I wouldn't want it as a requirement. lol


Also, I think that the pass by situation gives the TL only 60 days from official promotion of their recruit.

 

[baychef]

I loved seeing the difference in pay and am hoping that I can continue to meet the requirements.

I would hate to see having 2 SC lines being added to AD levels. I can understand why it's smart to have, but I wouldn't want it as a requirement. lol


Also, I think that the pass by situation gives the TL only 60 days from official promotion of their recruit.

Explaining the pay thing was important for me to share with others because my ED says that I am a unique situation which is good to know, however, it is not on the good side of unique!! If I can help others not get into the same situation, then it makes me feel better to help others.

I agree about your thoughts on the 2 SC at AD levels.

My 2nd generation director promoted as of April 1 (so by the end of March she had met director qualifications). Her recruiter (my 1st gen) had until May 31st to meet Director requirements, therefore her promotion date would be June 1st. So yes, it is 60 days for the promotion of their recruit.

 

[cookingwithlove]

What a great discussion. While I am still a Director and have not yet been paid as a TL, I have "bought" a couple of months. It is good to hear that there are other well seasoned directors or higher in the same boat. I feel very frustrated at times with my team, but I am glad I am not alone.

Thanks for all the posts.

 

[baychef]

What a great discussion. While I am still a Director and have not yet been paid as a TL, I have "bought" a couple of months. It is good to hear that there are other well seasoned directors or higher in the same boat. I feel very frustrated at times with my team, but I am glad I am not alone.

Thanks for all the posts.

It could be worse. My Tastefully S. consultant says they are not allowed to do this because they don't want to pay the extra commission. That would be so bad and I hope that is not a future change.

 

[cookingwithlove]

How would they know? I often have a catalog show or 2 at the end of the month and I give it to the consultant that I need to be green. Let's hope it doesn't get changed like Tastefully Simple, but I am sure they know we do it. Part of me would love for the stucture to change, but part of me doesn't. I like that you only need 1 director to promote to AD. But it always feels like 2 steps forward and 1 back every month and I am not getting anywhere.

 

[baychef]

I like the 1 director to promote...but that director needs to do her part. If she or he doesn't then is actually worse for your commission...even though you have met every other requirement.

 

[Sheila]

I didn't know that submitting for your downline was such a big practice.

I haven't had to face the "paid as" a lower level yet, so I'm not sure what I would do actually sitting in front of the calculator & looking at the difference in the numbers. I'm sure it would be tempting to do what needs to be done for the downline to be active if it was financially advantageous to me, but I think my Police Dispatcher background would override that thought process. I've seen too many kids & adult in jail who never learned to pay the consequense for their actions. Most of them know that Mommy/Daddy will come bail them out if they mess up, so they don't have that filter in tact to stop themselves before they mess up. I think that theory would kick in and I wouldn't want to start the practice of bailing them out of inactivity for fear that they would be more lax about submitting with the thought that if they don't get a show, it's okay ... because their Director will still make sure they are active. Know what I mean? And how would you pick & choose (with a larger team) who to help out that month? Do the other inactive ones get their feelings hurt?

 

[baychef]

The others really don't know unless they discuss it and many of them don't know each other. I only put in a party if it is to my financial benefit. My bills are very tight right now so I am keeping close track of income. This past month it was an $800 difference in pay between TL and AD!!! So I took the hit and still came out ahead by submitting enough to get paid as a director. Certainly I would love to see these people perform, but they have active team members under them and because they are not active (and I think are on their way out of the biz), I would miss out on their SC. If my first gen director and her team followed through, I would not have had to submit any parties. But that is something that I knew was not going to happen.

 

[Sheila]

(((hugs)))

 

[Inomiamenda]

The others really don't know unless they discuss it and many of them don't know each other. I only put in a party if it is to my financial benefit. My bills are very tight right now so I am keeping close track of income. This past month it was an $800 difference in pay between TL and AD!!! So I took the hit and still came out ahead by submitting enough to get paid as a director. Certainly I would love to see these people perform, but they have active team members under them and because they are not active (and I think are on their way out of the biz), I would miss out on their SC. If my first gen director and her team followed through, I would not have had to submit any parties. But that is something that I knew was not going to happen.

That is the part that stinks so badly. Then you can add into the equation the fact that not only might that affect you, but that ONE single person not submitting a measly 150 can also affect the person above you. I think that is the biggest flaw with the new career plan. The one last missing piece of the puzzle can cause the whole thing to collapse.
Super hugs Ann!