Income-Producing Activities
Income Producing Activities (IPAs) actively share and grow your organization. There are many things you can do for your business every day. Some things are necessary housekeeping and maintenance for running your business, but others directly impact the growth of your income. You want to ensure that the IPAs that fall into the Three Pillars are always your top priority.
This is not an exhaustive list of IPAs, but here are some wonderful IPAs that focus on working in the Three Pillars:
Care Contacts: build relationships with people, check in with your customers, especially your personally enrolled, reconnect with those who haven't ordered in a while, get personal and help them find products that are best suited for their individual needs, etc.
Help people into the Lifestyle: find their needs and fill them with YL products that meet those needs, explain the benefits of Loyalty Rewards to everyone, share your monthly order on social media and in personal conversations, and share what you got for free (monthly promotions and using LR points), help them write out a three month wellness plan
Enroll more members: one-on-one meetings, classes (in person or online), plug them into events, share on social media (Facebook and Instagram for sure), send personalized samples or informational packets to those with whom you have been cultivating relationships
Intentional Interaction: Keep an updated list of prospects & contact 2-3 people every single day, follow up with prospects, ask for referrals from customers who aren't interested in sharing themselves, ask customers who don't want to build for themselves if you can teach a class for their friends/family
Walk your team into sharing: when they get excited about oils and products, ask them who they’ve told about their experience, provide them with tools to make it easy for them to share, offer a sharing incentive, explain sharing versus selling, teach a class for them
Increase current customer orders to match PV promotions: offer product education on oils and products beyond the starter kit, be active in oil usage discussion in the Enlightened Oilers Community, offer workshops/classes on our products, run Loyalty Rewards reports for missed LR processing, contact those who have orders set to process that are close to promo earnings (100, 190, 250, 300) so they can add on and avoid missing freebies (many times they don’t even know they’re close)
Help get your brand partners to Silver: plug them into the Enlightened Oilers Mentorship Community, point them to the Business Foundations class and the Dream. Grow. Inspire lessons, help them understand and focus on the Three Pillars, help them find the resources they need to grow, be a support system and sounding board for them
Let's Talk Classes!
The IPA that will help build your team the fastest is teaching classes. There are all different kinds of classes: large, small, one-to-one, online, etc. No matter which your style is, classes are essential to your growth. The pace at which you want to build will also help you to determine the type(s) of classes on which you want to focus. Schedule yourself in a way that works for you and in a way that will not burn you out. Don't make your classes a huge production; it will drain you and it may scare people away from wanting to host or teach classes themselves thinking that it's too overwhelming. Keep it simple!
A Few Types of Classes:
One-to-One: you and one person
Lunch & Learn: employees on their lunch hour at their place of employment
Couch Class: small group of people gathered together in someone's living room
Big Class: large space for a big crowd (churches, gyms, libraries, community centers, senior centers, hotels, fire halls, public schools, etc.
Connection Class: a one-to-one with the order of an establishment like a chiropractor, dentist, massage therapist, holistic health care provider, etc.
Gotta Eat: a class with 3-10 friends over lunch or dinner at your house...haha, NO! Who wants to do that much work? Go to a restaurant. It's a girls gathering with no mess, no clean up... just oils.
Speed Oiling: set up stations (you'll need several team members to join together for this) and teach 5 minutes on different oils (starter kit, oils for fall and winter, back to school oils, emotions, etc.) Guests rotate every 5-10 minutes. You can even do surprise SIMPLE, inexpensive make and takes at a couple of the stations.
Make & Takes: give a condensed 10-15-minute 101 class and then create a few recipes. Themes that work well include spa, beauty, toxin-free home, oil your man, make your own diffuser jewelry, etc. If you want them to actually order products, you need to give them a reason rather than just collecting supplies. The recipes have to be really good, so they want to make them again. You can also have lists of items they'll need for the make-and-take and they can order the oils in advance and bring them to the class. Then you can just provide the containers and non-YL ingredients (you can charge for these items if you need to).
Filling Your Classes:
Choose a date for your class. Begin marketing 2-3 weeks before the class when possible. People are busy and 3-4 days lead time just isn't enough. They need to schedule it in.
Invite people. You can personally invite people via calls, texts, Marco Polo, mail, etc. Be sure to also create a Facebook group to add everyone you PERSONALLY invite to the class. Yes, you even want to create this Facebook group if your class is an in-person event. This group will provide you a way to create conversations and create excitement in the days/weeks leading up the class. Wording matters!
"Please come to my essential oils class. I will have snacks and will speak for 2 hours on oils. It's okay to bring someone with you if you want. I have Ningxia shots you can try for an extra cost. If you can't come, it's ok. I'll teach another class soon."
"Come learn how to kick toxic chemicals out of your home! I'll walk you through step by step and give you easy, simple, and affordable options than anyone can do using the best essential oils available. This class is totally FREE and will rock your world! I'll also have some ice-cold Ningxia for all you tired mammas! I can't wait to see you! I'll have freebies for those of you who bring a friend, so be sure to add invite them, too! It's time to take control and become proactive in your wellness!"
Extend the invitation. Ask people to invite their friends who may also be interested in essential oils (and whatever else you are offering at your class if you are incorporating your passion like fitness, cooking, massage, beauty, etc.)
Thank your hosts and/or the people who invited a lot of people to your class. Make a little basket for them; maybe some Thieves cleaner, Thieves lozenges, an LLP (Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint) roll-on, etc. Keep it inexpensive, like $5. The point is to show your appreciation, not break the bank.
Market the Class/Event. Once the Facebook group is up, post 1-2 times per day to capture people's interest. Post photos, recipes, personal experiences in the group. Share photos of some of the raffles you'll be giving away, desserts you'll be serving, Ningxia Shot recipes, etc. Preparations for the class. Just get their interest piqued. Don't over post. NO MORE THAN 2 PER DAY!! If you do more than that, people will get irritated and leave.
Rinse and Repeat. Some will enroll at your class. Others will enroll in the day and weeks to come. Either is fine. To market your next class, dip into your downline. If you teach two classes per month, and four people enroll with a starter kit or 100PV at each class, you've added 8 new wholesale customers to your team each month. That will grow exponentially as your team members begin duplicating what you are doing!
The Anatomy of a Class... Let's break this down!
** TIP ** Before starting your class, use the mingling time to get to know the people who have come so you know how to incorporate THEIR needs into your talk about each oil in the starter kit. Get them engaged. If they don't connect to the oils personally, they won't feel that they need them. If someone is hosting for you, ask the host to add to your presentation with their own experiences. The host already has credibility with the guests, and it's essential that she help you connect to them. Have the guests fill out raffle slips with their name and phone number so you can easily follow up with anyone who did not enroll before leaving the class. Raffle off something oil related, like the hand purifiers, lip balms, or something you've made like bath salts, a room spray, or a sleepy roller.
Tell your story. Introduce yourself and share how you got involved with oils and why you're passionate about sharing them with others.
Introduce the concept of a toxin-free lifestyle. We are bombarded with toxins daily from the air we breathe, to the products we put on our bodies, to the food we eat. We can't control all of it, but we certainly can reduce the toxic load on our bodies by beginning to make changes in our lifestyle, like choosing safer skin care and make up, swapping out toxic cleaners with safe alternatives that clean without disruption our endocrine and respiratory systems, and using essential oils to help detoxify our body systems.
Teach what essential oils are, what they do, how to use them (safely). Be sure to cover Seed to Seal!
Pass around the oils in the starter kit as you tell about them and make them relatable to the people you're teaching. Have the guests smell them and encourage them to put on a drop or two of the oils that call to them! Teaching a class without having them smell and try the oils is like trying to teach someone how to drive without ever putting them in the car.
End with a strong close. You've given them a ton of information and they're likely to be enthusiastic to get started. Let them know they will be tapped straight into a community of resources at their fingertips, which includes an educational team website and an active Facebook group to get assistance quickly. BE SURE TO TELL THEM EXACTLY WHAT THEIR NEXT STEP IS! Don't be shy! You can pull out your phone or iPad and show them right then and there how to enroll! You can ask them to all take out their phones and you’ll walk them through the process together. It's also great to have little incentives to get them started before they leave the class (a free Vitality oil, some DIY supplies, etc.) for those who enroll at the class... create that sense of urgency. Chances are, after they leave the overwhelm will set in and they will start to talk themselves out of it. This is why it is vital that you follow up in the next 24 hours if they did not get a starter kit before leaving.
Give them resources. Be sure they have a handout or a Premium Starter Kit brochure WITH YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION on it!
Find the brand partners. Tell people they can get their oils for free and that you're happy to stick around and tell them how they can do this. You can also plant business seeds throughout your presentation and pay attention to who raises an eyebrow or whose eyes light up. Talk to them after the class.
Don't let them leave without something oily! You can have a mini-make and take station that can be as simple as a sea salt infused with a vitality oil (like Basil or Rosemary) or thieves cleaner and a spray bottle. Keep this inexpensive and choose something that leaves them wanting more.
FOLLOW UP!!! Check in on those who do not enroll that evening to answer questions and keep their enthusiasm going. Meet them where they're at; find what works best for them. Check in with those who do enroll by using the Member Care Record you learned about in Supporting Those Who Said Yes to You, Your Personally Enrolled.
Take it a Step Further!
Remember how I suggested you set up a Facebook group for all those you invited to your class? Now that your class has come and gone, you have the perfect way to follow up with those who attended AND with those who weren’t able to make it. You can now teach the class in the Facebook group! Those who didn’t make it will get the information for the first time, and those who came but left without a kit get a refresher and reminder. You can also offer an incentive for anyone in the group who decides to get started with a Premium Starter Kit. Leave no opportunity wasted!
Reflect and Process What You Learned:
Which income producing activities are you already doing regularly?
Which ones can you start implementing consistently starting now?
How can you be sure to do so?
Did you come up with any that weren't already included?
How do you feel about holding classes now?
Who are you going to focus on helping first?