Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Who doesn’t love a good birthday celebration? Isn’t it the highlight of your birthday month, heck, maybe even your year, when you get that DSW coupon in the mail or you can splurge on your favorite Starbucks latte for free? Well, why don’t you use that same method those large companies are using to creatively grow your direct sales business?
A lot of the time as direct sellers, our heads are so stuck in the weeds just trying to knock out parties, get all the posts posted, make sure the kids are fed and homework is done, that we forget to get a little creative in our business and have some fun with our customers.
One of my favorite things to do when I was a direct seller was to love on my customers, my hostesses, and my team. The best time of year to do that was on their birthday. Not only did it make them feel special and bring the both of us a little joy, but it also helped me grow my business and my relationships because it set me apart from other direct sellers who didn’t use this practice.
So, now you’re probably asking, “Well, how the heck do I get started with this!?! I’m going to tell you – let’s dig in!
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SPARK NEW RELATIONSHIPS & NURTURE OLD ONES
One of the cool things Facebook does for us is to send us a reminder about every one of our friends’ birthdays. Raise your hand if you’d forget about 80% of your friends’ birthdays if it weren’t for that reminder. Don’t worry if your hand is raised. You are certainly not alone!
Use that useful tool and add a task to your daily to-do list to wish every single friend – close or just a Facebook acquaintance – a happy birthday on Facebook. You all know you’re on there anyway. Use that time productively! It is a nice thing to do, and it helps spark new relationships and keep old relationships warm. It’s a super special way to show you care!
Some people will respond, say thanks, ask how everything is going in your world, and that can start a conversation. Then, more often than not, they’ll do some Facebook stalking. Hey, we all do it! That Facebook stalking, if your personal page is set up to feature your business, will lead them to your business page. Bam! You have a new lead, a new potential customer to engage, and a new relationship to build, all from a little ol’ happy birthday note that takes about .02 seconds. These quick daily messages are worth it, even if you only get a few new customers a year from the practice. It’s also fun to celebrate with others and spread a little bit of love.
CELEBRATE YOUR VIPS
If you have a VIP group, you can shout out birthdays in your group. Who doesn’t love to be publicly recognized on their special day! You already have a warm relationship with these people, so celebrating them individually with a big shout-out will make them feel even more special! If you don’t have a list of everyone’s birthday in your group, that’s ok. You can start collecting birthdays now so you can celebrate them next year.
PROMOTE A BIRTHDAY CLUB
A Birthday Club takes the above ideas and organizes them into a workable system. It’s a way to make your customers feel special and provide them with a bit of extra love on their special day! But you also need to make it easy for you to be consistent.
Here’s a quick way to build your system:
- First, you have to collect the birthdays! Start with your best customers. If you have a VIP group, post a poll in your group and ask everyone to choose their birthday month in the poll. Then, instruct them to take a peek at the first comment on the poll where you can put a link to a Google Form that people can fill out with their email and/or mailing address so you can start engaging with them on their birthday.
- Next, if you have an email list, send out an email asking everyone to fill out your Google Form for a bit of birthday love. There are very few people who are going to say no to that. They’ll typically appreciate the thought!
- Once you have your Google form, you can convert it to a Spreadsheet and sort it by month. You can then either reference this spreadsheet regularly or take it a step further by writing the birthdays in your Planner or keeping a separate Google Calendar just for this purpose. (I love using the Google Calendar because I can also have it send me reminders!)
- And finally, decide what you’re going to use as your promotion for the Club. It can be anything from some Happy Mail to a discount coupon that can only be used on their birthday. No matter what you choose, make sure that it’s something sustainable and won’t break the bank. The primary goal here is to create and maintain good customer relationships, so make it fun for both of you!
SEND SOME HAPPY MAIL
Once you have all the birthday details you need, it’s time to send some happy mail! If you’ve been hanging out with me for a minute, you know that happy mail is quite possibly one of my favorite things in this world, so you can bet that I’m all about birthday happy mail to bring a smile to some faces.
The perfect way to start is with something straightforward, birthday cards! You can just purchase a pack at the dollar store. Or, if you’re feeling extra crafty or are part of a crafty direct sales business, you can even make your own.
Simply put a little handwritten message. You can even add a slip of paper as a birthday coupon with some product discount for something a little extra.
If you want to take it up a notch, head to Target and grab some of the seasonal items right when you walk in the door. Most are less than $5 and are super fun. Or, if your business does samples, you can send them some product samples, just something extra for your people. It does not need to be anything crazy. It’s the thought that counts!
CREATE A BIRTHDAY OFFER
Beyond birthday messages and happy mail, what else can you do? You can throw some parties!
If you have a conversation that starts from a birthday message, offer them an opportunity to host a birthday party for themselves. They’ll get a lot of amazing free goodies for birthday presents! This is especially fun for those who have birthdays around the holidays since they tend to be forgotten. This way they could also theme the party around the holiday if they don’t want the focus on themselves – but they can also get the goods!
You can also remember to message those with birthdays coming up to offer them the same birthday party opportunity – you don’t want to leave anyone out.
I’ve done a bunch of Facebook birthday parties, and they are just SO fun. Everyone is there, ready to celebrate, and the excitement level is high. Everyone is so happy to be there and share the love with the birthday gal. You can do a decade theme around when they were born or do some trivia to see who knows the birthday girl best and give out prizes. They’re just all-around fun!
Some other fun ideas to use on birthdays are hosting surprise parties or un-birthday parties like in Alice in Wonderland.
HOST YOUR OWN BIRTHDAY BASH
Okay, with all this birthday talk, there’s one thing we’re missing. YOUR birthday! You can’t forget to celebrate yourself, friends. Throw yourself a birthday bash every year in your VIP group. Make it super juicy and fun with deals and games.
After the first one, you will start building up a group of customers who can not wait to celebrate your birthday every year. Then you can create a little FOMO and get even more customers asking for an invite to that customer group so they can be a part of the fun.
Who wouldn’t want to celebrate with their direct sales tribe? The people you party with often become genuine friends, and birthdays are part of the puzzle that helps create those long-term, real relationships.
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Want a proven plan for growing your direct sales business without feeling like you're chasing your tail? The Direct Sellers Business Blueprint explains the 4 key areas you must master to build a simplified, systematic business. It will even tell you which area to tackle first, so you can stop feeling overwhelmed or confused about what to do next. The best part? It's completely FREE!
Mary Haynes is a highly successful direct sales leader turned strategist and coach. Her passion is helping party plan people streamline and scale their businesses using simple, proven strategies. Her goal is to eliminate business overwhelm so direct sellers know exactly what to do and when to do it. Mary is also a homeschooling mama that lives in sunny Florida with her husband, 4 kiddos, 2 dogs, and various other backyard animals.
