“Party Trains” Yay or Nay?

I get questions about party trains daily,  so I thought I would devote a little blog space to it.  A Party Train is an upcycled version of an old kitchen towel club.  I can tell you from experience that I sent out  lot of kitchen towels and received very few in return.  It is the quintessential pyramid scheme.  You “buy in” to the train or party with a purchase from another Consultant.  In theory, you will then become eligible to lead the train and everyone will purchase from you.  What typically happens is that people leave the group after they have gotten their sales.  Or they simply neglect to make a purchase when it is your time.

So, the first problem is that these trains usually fail to produce notable sales volume.  But let’s consider this, even if they did produce sales… are we really building our business?  Are we building true consumers, a reorder business and residual income?    The answer is no.  We are investing a lot of time and energy to generate token orders that will not bring us future business.  Those individuals are buying out of obligation.  After the train comes to the station, we are back at square one.  It is nearly impossible to build a thriving business, generate substantial income and experience true success with this method of business.

Sales just isn’t that hard.  We over complicate it.  We are much better served to get out, connect with people and build the customer.  My advice.. get off the train and get on the phone to set up some one-on-one appointments and {SHARE} product you love with others.  Direct Sales (and sales in general) is about relationships, go build some!

———————————————- Michelle Archer is a certified business development coach with nearly 25 years experience in the direct selling industry. Michelle works with companies and individuals to explode their business potential. Connect with her on Facebook Learn more at http://directsalesinstitute.com/