Every direct selling company, big or small, depends on its sales force to establish its presence in the market. It is the strong network of distributors that takes the brand forward in the market and into the customer's hearts. And for this, what a distributor requires is a strong ability to present themselves confidently. It is this skill companies must enable in their distributors.

Monitoring and identifying the low performance areas of their salesforce is the primary step. But what next? Helping distributors overcome their lows needs innovative techniques and better strategies. And each of these should be tailored according to individual distributor requirements. While this sounds more like developing distributor skills, the benefits are dual-sided. When the distributors are made capable the brand receives a share of their competence as revenue. More skilled distributors drive better revenue and better brand identity.

How do direct selling organizations achieve this?

Performance enablement in distributors should begin with the first stage of their brand journey—onboarding. Once they are on board they should be equipped to collaborate with their team thus multiplying their ideas and perspectives of taking your brand forward in the market. Sponsor support is the next big thing that will help distributors address their concerns and fears in marketing themselves before they start marketing the products.

Effective and engaging training and learning sessions can accelerate their potential by improving their professional and personal skills. Advanced learning systems that promise enhanced distributor performance include

>> Learning experience platform

>> Just-in-time learning platform

>> Gamified learning experiences

>> VR-based online training

>> Social learning

>> Self-paced learning

Apart from these, engagement and encouragement are long-standing factors that drive distributor retention in direct selling companies. All in all, companies must find ways to ensure distributor satisfaction and engagement.