In this new digital world, they expect whatever business(es) they choose to work with to be current with trends, simple to operate, profitable—and FAST! Plus, the competition to attract and retain field members is fierce in today’s workforce.

With a 3.7 percent unemployment rate, US employers are aggressively competing for workers everywhere—and the direct selling industry is no exception. Every direct sales business needs a strong, reliable, engaged and satisfied field, so the race for attracting talent in a competitive landscape can be challenging. The direct sales landscape (like all other industries) is unrecognizable compared to a decade ago and even more so in the past three years. Is this a good thing? YES!

The direct sales industry can compete within the gig economy and win! As a channel, we have so much more to offer. We are, after all, The Original Gig. Working from the comfort of home, low start-up cost, quick compensation, company support and personal growth can be much more attractive than many other gig opportunities out there.

Flexible Financial Freedom

How can we do that? Attracting new entrepreneurs means satisfying their expectations. Companies that offer flexible payment options and safe, secure, speedy payments—usually on the same day—provide a better experience; improve attrition rates; and become more attractive to those entrepreneurs looking for a side or full-time home business to join. Instant payments build loyalty, trust, belief and engagement. This, in turn, creates a desire to grow their businesses and the desire to increase income. It becomes a snowball effect.

Instant payments are key to unlocking the vast talent pool of the growing gig economy. The Future of Work: Insights into the 2023 Gig Economy Workforce study conducted by Dr. Robert A. Peterson and John T. Fleming and sponsored PayQuicker found that 83 percent of gig workers cite the importance of being paid immediately for performance when looking for a new gig. The importance of immediate pay for performance was endorsed by the gig workers surveyed, particularly women. A large percentage of the direct sales industry salesforce are female and being paid immediately for performance was stated as more important for female gig workers.

Instant Payment Supports Retention

When asked, “How do you primarily use the money you earn from your gig,” 49 percent of the gig workers surveyed in 2023 stated that they used their gig earnings to pay household bills. This percentage is a significant increase from 2020, when 37 percent of the gig workers surveyed stated that they used their gig earnings to pay household bills. This 12 percent increase for households indicates that independent contractors are relying on being paid on time to pay their bills. Getting instant access to commissions earned could create more loyalty to the brand and support retention of the salesforce.

Another important factor is security and fraud protection. This is extremely important to today’s salesforce. Having a secure, safe platform with secure commission accounts that ensures authentication of the user; has multifactor authentication; bank-grade security; and is compliant with regulations worldwide allows the field to feel safe with their earnings that are deposited into a personal account.

Additionally, a brand debit/credit card validates and helps to promote the entrepreneur’s business, while a reliable payment back office that tracks payments, expenses and even offers tax documents increases the loyalty, trust and belief of the entrepreneur.

Plus, the ability to purchase anywhere with personal branded debit cards (virtual and plastic) instantly, with the option of mobile wallets, is a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Multiple, flexible payment options are key as well. Instant access to a virtual card that they can start spending on immediately upon registration is also extremely important. They want to use their earnings immediately.

What Entrepreneurs Want—and Need

This is what today’s entrepreneur wants with their commissions. While faster payments are just one of many ways that the relationship between the field and the company becomes stronger, it IS known as one of the top items on their checklist when choosing a company to represent.

One last observation which I think is the most important is that those who have fast access to their earnings work harder and more frequently. People love getting paid for a job well done and seeing it in black and white. It helps as a motivator to work toward that $500 needed to pay bills, a mortgage, pay down debt, etc. This is the golden nugget, that intangible that makes a difference. There is no better satisfaction for everyone involved in this industry than seeing those goals achieved and success attained. I’m glad we are all a part of the equation to help their success in an ever-changing and complex economy.

In conclusion, direct selling organizations need a secure and compliant solution to deliver payouts to their salesforce with minimum overhead that caters to the diverse payment needs of all global demographics. Keeping sellers engaged in today’s competitive market is a top priority, while increasing internal efficiencies and reducing costs are key to business growth. Faster payments to your distributors mean they grow their business—and yours—faster.

With over 30 years of experience in the direct sales industry, Darla Brown is a seasoned executive who began her career as a distributor in the field and then moved into the corporate world of direct sales as an executive in sales, marketing and management. As Global Vice President of Customer Growth at PayQuicker, Darla supports new and existing clients with their global payout needs.

From the November 2023 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.

The post How to Get Ahead in the Race for Attracting Talent first appeared on Direct Selling News.

There is a war on talent out there, so it’s imperative that companies create an environment where people want to work from Day One.

There are two key questions that every direct selling company should be asking right now: How do we bring new people into the industry? And how do we keep the talent we already have?

The past two years have been called the Great Resignation, but I think we should reframe that as the Great Realignment. People have experienced a traumatic, generation-defining pandemic. Most aren’t quitting because they don’t want a job, they’re just switching away from jobs that are no longer the right fit for them.

This group career shift means we are seeing the most competitive hiring landscape ever, and one that our data shows requires a different approach than it did before. Young professional applicants don’t just want to get paid well, they also want more scheduling freedom; the space to be creative; better integration of technology; and more emphasis on social causes that matter. What worked for one generation may not be what the next one is looking for. This is a season of values clarification for workers, and it can be an enormous opportunity for us to recruit and invest in the right team members—but only if we’re willing to smartly adapt.

Sell the Sizzle and Find Fit Fast

We rigorously tested job descriptions and found that younger generations often don’t read to the bottom of the job description, they often skim the first paragraph to see if it catches their attention and, if not, move on to the next job opening. Capturing attention and interest has to happen in the first paragraph of the job description. Sell the sizzle upfront by placing scheduling flexibility, salary, benefits and social causes in the very first paragraph.

When posting that job description, find out where your ideal candidates are and then meet them there. That might mean advertising on Indeed or Ladders; promoting the job opening via professional or college alumni associations; or recognizing that the right hire may not be from within the industry or even very knowledgeable about the industry.

Once you find a potential hire, speed is essential. Video interviews are now often viewed as the norm, so don’t get mired in scheduling conflicts while you wait for an in-person meeting. The sooner you can have a conversation, the sooner you can talk with the candidate and determine whether you are the right fit for going further into the recruiting process.

Winning the War on Talent

Something new and pervasive that we’ve found to be true at every level of employment, including leadership positions, is the problem of ghosting. This means that someone is hired for a job, accepts the job, but then they don’t report for their first day of work. We’ve seen this happen from leadership roles to frontline team members. No industry or position seems immune.

Ghosting puts tremendous strain on an organization because they’ve gone through the process of preparing for the candidate and adding their talent to the team, yet they no-show or cancel at the last minute. All of this is hard on the team and company doing the hiring.

The best solution that we’ve found to combat this problem is text message onboarding. Yes, text message onboarding. Texting the new hire all the way through to their first day, our insights show, drives an increase in the number of people who actually show up for the job. There are a variety of services, like Enboarder, that can automate this for companies at scale; measure the results; and continually provide the insights that leaders need—all by text.

This approach can also be wielded to provide a highly personalized welcome that drives engagement on Day One. By automated text, leaders can discover a new employee’s personal preferences and then create a custom welcome experience, like having their favorite snack waiting on their desk when they arrive, or inviting them to lunch with the executive team at the local eatery they said they loved. It might also be sending them a personalized Welcome Package if they’re starting virtually that still makes them feel like part of the team.

It’s these sort of “wow” experiences that we want to try to create, particularly as we recruit different generations of executives. These added layers of interaction aren’t something companies have had to focus on before but are now well worth the effort and minimal cost. There is a war on talent out there, so it’s imperative that companies create an environment where people want to work from Day One.

Empower and Equip

Hiring the right person is not the finish line. In fact, it’s a real risk to companies to not develop people once they are under your company umbrella. We’re big advocates for giving talent their own professional development budget—even if it’s only $100 per year—and empowering them to decide what online courses, training, learning experiences or books they’d like to use to advance their skills, talent and mindset.

Beyond that, establishing an actual talent development program is essential. This can be as informal as a quarterly sit-down in a small group with a senior executive that allows young professionals the space to have engaged and constructive conversations or as formal as regular projects that pair junior executives with senior executives to solve a challenge. This cross-generational format provides a great opportunity for senior staff to identify and engage their next level of talent, while infusing initiatives with the innovation and values that more diversity in age, generation and life stage can provide.

The next generation has a different relationship with technology; a different approach to problem solving; and a different set of social causes and missions that our research has shown is also relevant to other generations. Adding younger generations of talent to executive meetings and including their voices is the key way to harness that unique viewpoint.

Succession Planning Is Key

If a company’s entire executive team is within a generation of the CEO, when that person retires, much of the talent around them might be poised to leave, too. Stability is found in making sure the next generation of leaders are not only ready to go but excited to grow the organization. Promoting and preparing younger professional voices is one of the most important ways a company can future-proof itself. Succession planning may not be a hot topic at a leadership or strategy meeting, but it’s absolutely essential for long-term organizational stability, innovation and growth.

Ask yourself, when your key leadership retires, will there be an enthusiastic and equipped group of younger executives ready to lead? 

4 Tips To Keep Younger Executives Engaged

1 / Communication is critical. The younger a person, the more frequently they may want to connect with bosses and colleagues. This doesn’t mean an overwhelming amount of information but rather short messages that drive tangible engagement, such as a group text or a thread on Slack. This is even more relevant for hybrid or remote workers.

2 / Assign projects, not just responsibility. Younger people are project- and outcome-driven. Give them the opportunity to show you what they can do.

3 / Create more multigenerational teams. Working with new and different generations keeps people interested and adds valuable diversity of thought.

4 / Highlight progress when you can’t deliver promotions. Younger generations have a higher expectation for frequency of promotions, yet many companies can’t promote quickly. In fact, our research shows that younger adults might even think that if they’re not getting promoted, they’re not moving forward. If you can’t deliver promotions, instead take the time to highlight how that young professional is learning and growing in different, valuable ways between their annual review or raise.

How to Future-Proof Your Business

Through our research at the Center for Generational Kinetics, we’ve proven that generational insights—especially when considered within geographical context—are powerful and predictive clues to faster connect, build trust and drive influence. Understanding generations provides a tremendous head start for leaders in understanding as well as creating empathy for and appreciation of seeing the world through a segment of the population’s eyes.

All of us want to feel loved, included, valued and to believe that our work matters, but how we go about pursuing those outcomes can be different, particularly when it comes to different generations and communication, learning, incentives, events and training. Understanding these cross-generational strengths, differences and opportunities can help us future-proof our businesses. And if we don’t adapt to younger generations, someone else will—full stop.

3 Hard Truths about Attracting Millennials & Gen Z:

1 / “Mobile first” is no longer good enough, you have to be mobile only. If distributors have to leave their smartphone to complete any task that is part of their business—run an e-commerce store, enroll someone—you’ve just lost a huge number of people.

2 / One-size-fits-all doesn’t work with younger generations; and, frankly, older generations don’t like it either. Creating deeper personalization that is predictive and knows what customers and distributors need, when they need it, is key. No one should have to go to a big arena rally to learn how to be successful. Great training should be on-demand.

3 / Younger generations expect to be able to earn things faster. Gen Z and Millennials need to feel like they’re moving forward and don’t automatically connect building loyalty with a willingness to wait a long time for rewards. To them, loyalty should be rewarded even if it’s only their first purchase!

Jason Dorsey has become the world’s foremost expert on generational research. He has appeared on 200+ television shows and has headlined events worldwide, sharing his global view of generational differences and helping separate generation myth from truth through data. For more insights from Jason Dorsey, listen to his full interview on The Direct Approach podcast.

From the March 2022 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.

The post How to Hire, Build & Retain the Next Generation of Direct Selling Executives first appeared on Direct Selling News.

In This Issue:
The Most Influential Women in Direct Selling
Bringing Gender Parity to Direct Selling 
Advocating for the Direct Selling Community 
Navigating the Millennial-Driven World
Sticking to a Winning Business Model
Leading with Passion and Commitment
Launching New Products and Segments
Recruiting and Retaining the Field
Direct Selling Icons

A May 2017 report by the Center for American Progress showed that although women hold almost 52 percent of all professional-level jobs, only 25 percent have senior-level or executive positions, and only 6 percent are CEOs. At S&P 500 companies, senior-level or executive positions increase to 29 percent, yet decrease to 2 percent for CEO positions. And, as recently as last year, 43 percent of the 150 highest-earning public companies in Silicon Valley had no female executive officers at all.

We asked this year’s panel of influential women to offer their insights on what needs to be done to create more gender equality on the corporate side of direct selling.  What they had to say may surprise you.

Unintentional Inequality

For Cindy Monroe, Founder and CEO of handbags and accessories brand Thirty-One Gifts, the disparity in executive leadership is not by design. There will always be leading and lagging industries and companies, and she believes gender equality is one of several areas—technology, digitalization, training and organizational development being the others—in which direct selling is lagging behind.

“I don’t know that the area of gender inequality is intentional, but rather a lack of prioritization among strategic planning,” she says. “Thirty-One has 40 percent women within our executive team, not including myself. I believe that coaching and developing talent is a great place to begin with changing gender inequality within our industry. However, I also believe that we have a huge opportunity to attract professional women into our companies.”

Angela Loehr Chrysler, President and CEO of membership savings company Team National, notes that the channel should be a great fit for women executives, not only because of the high number of women direct sellers but because of the relationship-building aspects of direct selling that are central to the business.

“I do believe having a diverse team of men and women at the executive level is healthy and provides a nice balance of personalities and strengths for the office and field,” Loehr Chrysler says. “The industry needs to be open to promoting from within our companies to support and recognize men and women that are connecting well and embracing the different aspects of our industry.”

From her perspective, Candace Matthews of Amway, the world’s largest direct selling company, located in Ada, Michigan, believes the direct selling channel needs to understand its consumers—who are primarily women—and appoint leadership appropriately, while also embracing the change that must occur.

Regional President of The Americas, Matthews says, “According to studies such as Women in the Workplace by McKinsey an LeanIn.org, women remain underrepresented at every level of corporate America, despite having earned more college degrees than men have over the past 30 years.”

She also notes that studies show many companies overlook the realities of women of color, who face the greatest obstacles and receive the least support.

“When companies take a one-size-fits-all approach to advancing women, women of color end up underserved and left behind,” she says. “If we want to create more gender equality on the corporate side of the direct-selling business, companies need a comprehensive plan for supporting, advocating and advancing women. Organizations need to understand their particular barriers and address them directly.”

Inherent Abilities

For Cami Boehme, Partner and Chief Operating Officer at green energy and sustainable lifestyle brand Viridian, gender parity is an issue that transcends the industry.

“The gender gap, the glass ceiling—whatever you want to call it—it starts in the hearts and minds of women, at any stage in their career, and it extends to the boardroom,” she says. “I believe it starts with empowering women at all stages of their career to not only believe that they can achieve greatness and be one of the top executives of any business, but also to have the desire to do so.

“I never set out to be a ‘female executive,’ ” she goes on to say. “I only set out to have a successful career and positively impact others’ lives along the way. The fact that I was a woman was no different to me than the fact that I was a human with lungs. I can genuinely say that it was not until later in my career that I truly internalized the unique role my gender played in my suite of skills—my ability to be an empathetic leader, to respond with emotional intelligence, to use intuition and rely on my gut as my guide and as the tiebreaker in otherwise analytical decision-making, and a number of other soft skills in my executive positions.”

A Legitimate Option

The lower percentage of female applicants from outside the channel can, in part, be attributed to two factors: the negative publicity direct selling often attracts and the lack of awareness of the global power of the business model, says Traci Lynn Burton, Founder and CEO of the eponymous party-plan Traci Lynn Jewelry.

“I think with all of the negativity we’ve had over the years, and the negative titles that people label us with, that maybe some of those executives don’t think it’s real,” Burton says. “They don’t think direct selling is a legitimate option. Or they don’t know that some of us are billion-dollar global brands. I just don’t think that there’s awareness.”

Meredith Berkich, President of North America for anti-aging skincare and wellness company Jeunesse Global, notes that women place a major emphasis on legitimacy and integrity in business, which makes them a valuable part of any direct sales team. But she also believes much work remains to improve the overall number of women executives in the channel.

“Deep-seated misconceptions about women in leadership roles continue, and if we educate all women on the importance of self-promotion, [and] intelligent and aggressive competition, then fewer women may be willing to settle for support positions,” Berkich says.

“Instead, every woman should believe in reaching for presidential and C-suite positions. Specific to direct selling, we must educate people about the benefits of what our industry offers, including positive economic and social impacts, to overcome objections based on misconceptions that prevent more traditional-business female executives from exploring our sales channel,” she adds. “Aside from this, we can continue to work to balance the scales of executive equality by mentoring the next generation of young women to pursue the best in themselves with no limits.”

Commitment to Equality

What is clear to Mona Ameli, President of healthy living lifestyle brand OPTAVIA, is that there is a need to understand and remedy this gender disparity not only for more executive women to be attracted to direct selling, but also to help talented, experienced and high-potential women currently within the channel to grow into more executive leadership roles.

“The first step, from my view point, is to open this conversation to not be just a topic for women to have to deal with,” Ameli says.

“Diversity and inclusion for women in management roles is an issue that impacts our economic growth as an industry and as a community. Creating possibilities for more women to access executive leadership roles in our industry is absolutely doable. But it’s going to take a commitment across both gender lines to achieve it,” she adds. “There is a broader conversation that must be had. Men in the direct selling industry need to actively be part of the conversations and action plans and make it a priority to help set new standards that focus on creating gender equality across the board.”

Health and wellness company Isagenix International is one of several direct selling companies committed to attracting a diverse workforce and gender equality in both leadership opportunity and pay parity. “At the end of 2016, 61 percent of our corporate staff were women,” says Kathy Coover, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President.

“On our executive leadership team, 40 percent of our leaders who held positions of Vice President and above were women. Since Isagenix is a family-oriented company with more than 85 percent of our customers being females and 47 percent having children in the home, it’s important that we have a diverse representation on the corporate team that is leading the development of our customer and associate programs and products,” Coover adds.

In addition to embracing and fostering diversity in its independent salesforce base, Princess House, a kitchenware and home décor company, has also been at the forefront of equal gender opportunity for corporate team members. Its leadership base (managers and above) comprises 68 percent female and 32 percent male.

“While these figures sound impressive, I don’t want to send the wrong message,” says President and CEO Connie Tang. “I believe our company’s responsibility and commitment is to provide learning, development and growth opportunities for all. The ability to attract top female executives and top talent comes from our ability to successfully develop individuals in our organization and provide them with opportunities to put those skills into practice for growth and exposure.”

Tang has found that individuals with great potential come in the form of individuals who not only have a resume and list of titles and roles that are progressive, but people who express a zest for learning, take challenges head-on, and have a desire or hunger to grow in skills, responsibility and credibility through a solid work ethic and discipline.

“If your company has a goal to diversify for the purpose of growing through new thinking and adding both bench strength and talented women to your company, then do so beyond recruiting and headhunting efforts,” she says. “Invest time, resources and intention to offering support in leadership and skills training through programs, participation and engagement that, oftentimes, doesn’t require huge financial resources.”

The post Bringing Gender Parity to Direct Selling first appeared on Direct Selling News.