If you’ve been a part of a direct sales company, even if only for a little bit, you’ve attended or at least heard about your company’s National Conference.

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National conferences usually occur during the summer, an already busy season with kids out of school and vacations planned. There are so many things happening that when you are in the thick of all that training and networking, you might have felt like you didn’t get to take advantage of everything the experience promised fully. You hoped to gain fresh ideas for your business, vision for the upcoming year, and leave motivated! Perhaps when you were there, you felt the rush of excitement but now have no idea how to implement that momentum.

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That’s okay! National Conferences are overstimulating! Especially after not gathering together in over two years because of the pandemic.  

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This article is here to help you take advantage of all the resources your company’s National Conference provided you and how to carry what you learned into a successful and fruitful fall.

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Tip #1 - Reconnect with the People You Met at National Conference!

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Have you ever heard the proverb, "If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together"?

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Well, that's essentially the main point of any National Conference. It's a reminder that community is at the heart of your success as a consultant - whether that's through building your team, fostering your relationships with your customers, or connecting with peers that inspire you to be better!

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And boy, do you connect with lots of people during National Conference! You will inevitably find someone you click with that probably isn't even on your team!

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But how do you keep tabs on all those talented and passionate people?

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First, ensure you follow everyone you met at the conference across all social media platforms you use. Especially the thought leaders and speakers. They spoke at National Conference because they lead by example. As in, the things that make them successful, they are consistently doing for anyone to see and copy! So if they inspired you, then you will be inspired by them in the future and indirectly consume content that will shape how you conduct business yourself!  

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The second thing you need to do is connect with the people you made connections with that you meant to keep in touch with after National Conference was over.

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Even if you feel awkward rekindling connections, you let fizzle out - reach out to those people NOW!! A quick "Hey! Remember me from x, just reaching out to see how you're doing!? "will do the trick!

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If you connected at the conference, you clicked for a reason. Maybe it's because they share a similar work ethic or have a similar 'why' to you. Don't lose sight of that.

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These kinds of people are likely your ideal accountability partner!  

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What do I mean by accountability partner?

It is someone willing to keep you accountable for the goals you set out for yourself.

Accountability partners are an effective tool for accomplishing goals you've always wanted to complete but haven't followed through on them yet.  

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You want a peer to be your accountability partner, not your upline or even one of your consultants because you need someone who is going at the same pace. You don't want someone you feel pressure to perform for, but you also don't want to be in a position where you're coaching someone.

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Reaching out to the person who comes to mind to fit this role (likely someone you met at National Conference) and starting a weekly accountability call will do wonders for your productivity! It helps you feel like you have a partner in crime and that you're also available for emotional support rather than just using your upline to check in on you. It's more like a collaboration. And that is incredibly motivating when you feel like you have someone on your side and their only agenda is that they want to work alongside you.

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Tip #2 - Take Advantage of Your Company’s Marketing Research!

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Your company spends a lot of time and money figuring out what is trending in your industry. Your National Conference is an excellent example of all that research aggregated in one place! Use this to your advantage.

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So what do I mean by taking advantage of your company's marketing research? Everything you saw at National Conference was carefully chosen due to your home office's marketing team's conclusions after gathering information about your target market. That includes the color scheme, the font on the signs you saw, the catchy hashtags, and especially the products announced!

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Your home office has already figured out what your customers want this season. Pay close attention to the words and phrases your company uses during National Conference because those words conjure up the response you are hoping to get from your customers. Home Office has tested it!

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Take some time to consider why those words were the buzzwords you kept hearing at the conference. What's happening in the world right now that makes those themes feel relevant?

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Use those big ideas to hone in on your brand.

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Are you overwhelmed with making your social media content look more consistent?

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No worries. Use the colors and fonts you saw at National Conference. Those decisions work!

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It's that simple! And just because you are using the ideas from somewhere else to present consistency does not mean you're being inauthentic. On the contrary, it frees your time to concentrate on connecting with your customers deeper.

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Authenticity comes from the connection - not the color scheme you choose, so let your home office's marketing team make that decision for you!

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Take pieces of what is given to you that you like and incorporate that into your content.

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Tip #3 - Make a Plan for New Product Roll Out!

New product announcements are the most anticipated part of your National Conference. You're excited, your team is excited, and your customers will be too!

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Think back to the announcement. How were the products described on stage? Use those words when promoting them in your content!

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If you can recreate the emotions the product announcement conjured up for you to your customers, you'll have more parties booked than you can fit into your schedule. As I mentioned, the words chosen at National Conference are carefully selected by your company's marketing and product research teams. They know what will engage your customers. Use the power of compounded efforts to boost your business.

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Take some time to revisit the emotions and images that came to mind. Where did you see yourself using them? How did you see it improving your life? Then, you want to use that momentum and emotion to convey these products to your customers.

Promoting what's new will revitalize your business for the new season. For example, if you received a gift box for attending National Conference with new products or you're a director that automatically gets the new products sent to you - do an unboxing video live on your business page or even on your personal profile to create intrigue! If you have already opened it. Just box it up again and play pretend. People love unboxing videos!

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Host a customer appreciation party. Make the theme "last chance and first look"! Where you showcase the products that are leaving and give your customers a sneak peek of what's to come! Create a template and schedule it through PostMyParty for your business page or VIP Group!

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Tip #4 - Use Incentive Announcements to Help Shape Your Goals!

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Outside of the products, which announcements made you the most excited? Was it the destination of your next incentive trip? Was it the new recruiting incentives?

Whatever got your blood pumping, that's what you should be shaping your goals around for the year ahead.

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Find out what information is available to you that breaks down how to earn it and print it out. Then, place it somewhere that you will see every day.  

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For instance, if your main goal is that you want to earn an international trip, your consultant website likely has a section that showcases how each part of your business contributes to earning points for it. Figure out which facets will contribute the most points and concentrate on that. Is it being a consistent elite seller? Is it helping promote consultants?

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When those numbers are in your face, you're more likely to focus on your goal. Think of it like a more rooted version of a vision board.

Creating a specific goal early on will help you avoid jumping from one thing or another. You'll be able to create boundaries and avoid doing work that doesn't serve you.

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Tip #5 - Break Down the Training and Implement it!

There were so many exciting ideas flying around National Conference. You likely took notes trying to capture it all, but you haven’t had a chance to look back at them.

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Now is an excellent time to brain dump all the new ideas you learned. Then, devise a plan to implement them into your business. You don’t want the information you stowed away in your notes to become nothing more than aspirational quotes you could find on Pinterest.

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Here’s how to transform the aspirations and ideas you collected at National Conference into practical action.

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 First, if your company recorded the break-out sessions, go back and watch them! Find 2 or 3 topics that get your blood pumping! Observe them, and then brain dump the information somewhere. Do not use this as another note-catching space that ends up collecting dust. The point of brain dumping is to prep yourself for a strategy session on how to start using these ideas in your everyday workflow.

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Much of the information given in break-out sessions is not step-by-step. Instead, they provide the general gist of why something is working. It is up to you to take the nuggets of wisdom and make your own. That’s where your strategy session will come in handy.

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Carve out time after brain-dumping what you’ve absorbed to hone in on specific aspects of your business to be improved. It’s easy to get stuck in the weeds of ‘organization’ mode, so only allow a couple of hours to this section of the process.

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Define what you’re trying to improve, list the tasks you need to do to accomplish the goal, prioritize those tasks, and then set aside a separate note-taking system to keep track of what ends up working so you can reassess if this idea is working for you.

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You would be surprised how much forward growth is missed because we’re not recording the incremental difference.

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At my National Conference this summer, I attended a break-out session that discussed the importance of approaching customer outreach from a place of service rather than personal desire.

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As I pointed out above, this concept is vague, but in this example, I’ll show you how to make a vague concept a concrete one!  

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First, I brain-dumped all the information given to me in the break-out session. These were things like ‘words to avoid’ and ‘how to pinpoint what kind of service archetype you fall into”. It was a good reminder that if you’re not paying attention, your goal-oriented desire can accidentally end up being at the forefront of how you represent your business.

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Then I did a thought exercise where I reflected on how, if I were one of my customers, what would make me feel like a consultant was on my side and providing something that was enriching my life? I took that feeling and then made a list of all the places in my business where I needed to check if I was creating that experience for my customers. It helped frame my goal of strengthening my customer community. That list included my different customer outreach messages and the copy in my virtual party template. Then I took that list and assigned a date and time for each one, where I would take the time to change that part of my system to reflect my goal.

Lastly, I took the changed copy and used it!

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You can do this breakdown of tasks with any of the training you learned at your National Conference! Hone in on specific points of action. You won’t find a magic formula for improving your business at the conference, but many resources are available if you’re willing to run with it. Listen, brain dump, strategize, implement and repeat!

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Want to take advantage of everything National Conference taught you?

Make sure to scale with a scheduling service like PostMyParty! It’s the easiest way to ensure your past consultants, new customers, and future teammates know about all the exciting things happening in your company and why they want to be a part of it!

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