Our Dealer Spotlight for February is shining bright on Karen and Heather, of Made 4 Me! To limit their “spotlight” to a single month is a bit of an understatement. Since their first week, the duo has been calling non-stop with great questions and ideas, and their ingenuity keeps their business growing.  It’s a safe bet to assume this power pair will inspire a few new chapters in our training manual this year!

How did you get involved with Create-A-Book and what you do you enjoy most?
Karen and Heather: We’re both stay-at-home moms with professional business backgrounds.  We wanted to continue to be involved with business, but it was important we had the flexibility to make our families our top priority. Having purchased Create-A-Book products ourselves, we were familiar with, and loved, the products. Your business model was the perfect fit, so we became a dealer in August 2011!

For most people, the biggest challenge is creating a plan and sticking to it, what’s your secret?
Karen and Heather: We understand the importance of creating a plan in achieving results. Setting priorities and establishing goals with clear timelines helps us stay on track. This approach helped us have successful holiday season in 2011.

Yes you did! What tips do you have on making the most of the holiday season?
Karen and Heather: Plan! Plan! Plan! Get yourself out there early and communicate often! We had orders for Christmas beginning in September right up to the holiday! We ran a promotion mid November which generated a lot of sales. Next year we will start our holiday offer a few weeks earlier to ease some of the stress of ensuring orders are shipped well before postal service deadlines. It was a busy few weeks, the post office clerks got to know our faces quite well!

Starting early is SOOO important. We can’t stress that enough! The biggest mistake we see distributors make is  waiting until December to send their first Holiday announcement. You can still get sales, but you’re joining the game in the 7th inning.

What other types of marketing are you doing?
Karen and Heather: Social networking is our best marketing tool. Leveraging our contacts through Facebook, email and LinkedIn we’ve been able to raise awareness of ourselves and generate significant sales. Some of our contacts even spread the word for us through their networks!

We also believe in giving back and have donated our product to a number of charities. Not only can we feel good about helping out worthwhile causes, we can let a new segment of people know about us!

Social media is very powerful, yet so underused. And the charities … what an amazing idea!

What do you feel is the most important aspect of your business?
Karen and Heather: Building and maintaining our social networks is the most important aspect of our business, it’s our primary sales tool as well as providing exception customer service to our existing clientele. Happy customers are repeat customers.

I’m starting to think we should let you do a Social Media 101 conference call later this year. You’re both doing an amazing job with it! So what are your Create-A-Book goals for 2012?
Karen and Heather: Further developing relationships in the community as new sales channels and continuing to support charitable organizations.

And finally, any advice for someone just getting starting with Create-A-Book?
Karen and Heather: Establish clear goals and develop a specific plan to achieve them!

The only thing I’d add to that is “stick to the plan,” but that is so engrained in your DNA’s that it goes without saying! Thank you both for taking the time to share your insights and ideas. We’re grateful to have you on the team, and we can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with next.

If you’d like to learn more from Karen and Heather, you can visit their website and Facebook page:
www.Made4Me.ca
www.facebook.com/made4mecanada