“For me, marketing wasn’t difficult. I pre-book the appointments, go and meet them the next day, and deliver the presentation. Yet another way was to invite people over to my place and give a single presentation. It was working well for me, but things have changed. No more appointments, no more sales parties that means no more revenue. What can I do now? I don’t do online marketing, and I can’t hire a team for that. What’s the solution to keep my family fed during this crisis?”
Miss. Sarah, Party Plan Consultant.
Sarah is facing the most challenging days of her lifetime. Her situation, due to the present crisis, the pandemic, is reflecting in her words.
Direct selling: What strategy serves the best?
Direct selling statistics show an increase in market volume before the impact of the pandemic. Global retail sales for thedirect selling industry stood at $163.9 billion in 2024. This shows that the post-pandemic downturn may have reached its low, with growth set to return in 2025. The number of independent sales representatives remained almost the same at 104.3 million in 2024, similar to global sales, with a 0.1% rise. The total is still 4.2% below the pre-pandemic direct seller number of 109.0 million. Yet, things have changed, and a solution is much needed to resume the business processes. If you are stressing too much about finding a solution, then we have something interesting to share with you.
Direct sales companies need an efficient solution that works well in a futuristic way. They need resources and tools for making distributors market ready. An MLM software solution that lets you work remotely without any limitations.
Here is a list of the best five remote working tools you should implement to achieve this goal. A solution for direct selling or party plan companies to organize, manage, and control entire business processes by enhancing distributor engagement and productivity. These tools will improve customer engagements, which leads to faster business conversions. Thus helping companies as well as distributors and party sales consultants like Sarah.
The five best direct selling tools for your business explained
Let’s see five best solutions on a direct selling platform to continue marketing and expanding by finding more prospects in any crisis. These remote working direct marketing tools enable people to work from anywhere, anytime, with flexibility.
- Marketing Suite
- Virtual Party Sales Prototype
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Intelligent Business Tools
- Distributor Training Suite
An overview of the best direct selling tools
Tool
Description
Functions
Smart marketing suite
A collection of tools that help promote MLM products and services.
Social media management, email marketing, lead capture campaigns, A/B testing, referral & affiliate marketing, analytics tracking
CRM tools
A platform that helps businesses organize and manage leads and customer relationships in one place.
Track leads, monitor activities, manage the sales pipeline, run campaigns, schedule follow-ups, and handle invoicing
Intelligent business tools
A tool that helps analyze and understand the overall performance of an MLM business.
KPI monitoring, profit analysis, alerts for low revenue, and predictive insights to support better decisions
Distributor training suite
A learning platform designed to train and guide distributors.
Training videos, downloadable materials, presentation slides, live training sessions, and tools to evaluate performance
Virtual sales party platform
A platform that helps businesses run product sales events online and connect with customers remotely.
Live product demonstrations, instant chat with participants, booking options, order processing, and event scheduling
| Tool | Description | Functions |
|---|---|---|
| Smart marketing suite | A collection of tools that help promote MLM products and services. | Social media management, email marketing, lead capture campaigns, A/B testing, referral & affiliate marketing, analytics tracking |
| CRM tools | A platform that helps businesses organize and manage leads and customer relationships in one place. | Track leads, monitor activities, manage the sales pipeline, run campaigns, schedule follow-ups, and handle invoicing |
| Intelligent business tools | A tool that helps analyze and understand the overall performance of an MLM business. | KPI monitoring, profit analysis, alerts for low revenue, and predictive insights to support better decisions |
| Distributor training suite | A learning platform designed to train and guide distributors. | Training videos, downloadable materials, presentation slides, live training sessions, and tools to evaluate performance |
| Virtual sales party platform | A platform that helps businesses run product sales events online and connect with customers remotely. | Live product demonstrations, instant chat with participants, booking options, order processing, and event scheduling |
1. Marketing Suite - Empower the value of marketing with 10x faster growth
The value of marketing and its impact reflects the growth scale of direct selling business.
According to Adestra’s Marketer vs. Machine, “Marketers say the biggest benefits of automation are saving time (74%), increased customer engagement (68%), more timely communications (58%), and increased opportunities, including up-selling (58%).”
What is a marketing suite?
A marketing suite is more a collection of tools to promote the products and services of a network marketing company.
The suite consists of social media management and tracking, email marketing, lead capture campaign management, A/B testing tools, referral & affiliate marketing management, and more.
The marketing suite is useful for direct selling companies as well as distributors respectively with maximum effectiveness. MLM companies can set marketing goals with benchmarks, and track the progress to ensure active participation from distributors.
“The ideal suite of marketing is more like a machine which roars in the track. It nurtures the leads smoothly as if you’re shifting the gears, finds the best marketing channels by racing through different tracks, converts the leads by reaching the destination in time with great comfort.”
What are the benefits of using a marketing suite?
A marketing suite enables quick transformation from traditional marketing to a data-driven marketing strategy. Every group involved in network marketing can use this suite to manage their social media marketing promotion, customer referral programs, lead capture campaigns, and other promotional tools.etc. Distributors can employ efficient social selling features to connect with individual prospects and expand their network.
The insights gained from marketing analytics help companies make smarter decisions. The core concept of network marketing viz building and widening the network becomes easier. Even a rookie in this business model will feel comfortable to progress through the career.
Here are some of the uses of a marketing suite in your network marketing business.
- Organize your marketing process from one place.
- Implement personalized marketing to deliver individualized content for prospects.
- Discover the best marketing channels suitable for your business.
- Increase social media engagement by tracking the analytics and deriving actionable insights to improvise their network marketing social media strategy
- Refine the marketing process using filters.
2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Build more substantial and lifelong customer relationship
According to Nuclear research, CRM provides an average return of $8.71 for every dollar spent.
The scope of an advanced MLM CRM software is enormous, and it is one of the best sales funneling methods with many features and help implement innovative sales best practices.
What is an MLM CRM feature?
MLM CRM system will help companies to manage all their prospects in one place. Streamlining network marketing prospecting activities is just one example of the benefits of CRM. The system helps organize lead management, customer activity tracker, sales pipeline potential, sales goal conversions, identify lead sources, and campaign management.
“Everything revolves around the central element - customers. Every other aspect like follow up, client interaction analysis, customer tracking, target marketing, feedback management, etc. branches to the nuclei. The more the branches, the more powerful a CRM will be. Be as powerful as it helps to master your business.”
What are the benefits of using MLM CRM features?
MLM CRM provides a wide range of benefits. Let’s see them one after another based on various features.
- Simplify the entire process from prospecting to closing a sale.
- Manage existing and potential customers from a single system.
- Increase customer retention and acquisition rates.
- Manage internal sales activities and marketing network from the dashboard.
- Helps to achieve a better customer-centric strategy in the business.
How does the CRM feature help your company and distributor network?
Apart from contact management, MLM CRM gives insights about every segment of the direct sales business with system-generated reports. The system generates different reports to improve sales funneling. These reports help direct sales companies in smart decision-making.
Let’s see more ways a CRM system can boost your company and distributor network.
- Ensure zero customer loss with automatic reminders regarding appointments and follow-ups.
- Manage and prioritize different tasks for distributors.
- Analyze the campaign profitability from time-to-time using focused targeting and customer segmentation.
- Raise after-sales invoices without any delay and send it to customers.
- Enable faster conversions from qualified leads using proper customer-to-sales funneling.
3. Intelligent Business Tools - Ensure your growth by making the right decisions at the right time
So far, we have learned about different remote working direct marketing tools available to assure uninterrupted direct selling opportunities. It’s time to know the importance of analyzing the remote working direct marketing tools and check if they are working well for you or not. Also, you need to recognize what you were missing in the past.
Let me ask you some questions? The answer to these questions helps you evaluate your direct sales business and ease your decision-making process.
- How is your network marketing business performing now compared to previous years?
- Are you able to analyze every aspect of your business effectively?
- Are you running your business by managing a stable ratio between commission flow and business profit?
- Are you able to meet the expectations of your customers with products and services that are actually in marketing demand?
- What’s trending in your business?
Are you able to answer these questions? If not, you must be making decisions without actually analyzing your business.
Intelligent business tools provide a solution by analyzing the data.
“Data is everything, it adds life to the world of analytics. A puzzle won’t be solved unless we collect and arrange every piece in place. Here, data in business helps us to solve the puzzle and end the game to progress to the next levels.”
What is an intelligent business tool?
You need an element called ‘intelligence’ to analyze your business. It’s not a wise choice to check all the aspects of business manually, and it’s more a time-consuming aspect! An intelligent system engineered with perfection stands up to this task.
The intelligent business tool is an MLM business analytics tool that helps companies to analyze their business based on different parameters. The system does this job for you, stay relaxed, and understand what happens in your business from the insights generated by the system.
What are the benefits of using MLM Intelligent business features?
“Companies in the top three spots in their industry that rely on data-driven decision making were, on average, 5% more productive and 6% profitable than their competitors.” (FinancesOnline)
Intelligent business direct marketing tools help direct sales companies to provide useful insights based on the following factors.
- Business performance with different KPIs
- Profitability statistics
- Low revenue alerts
- Business sales flow
- Predictive analytics
Analyze more aspects to provide accurate reports. These insights improve the chances of product selling with future forecasting. The system will help companies to adjust the workflow based on the trends in the industry and forecasting details.
Actionable insights, that’s what the system delivers. Become a smart player among direct selling companies and carry on without any interruptions. It is crucial to analyze the business using intelligent modules. It improves remote working abilities that satisfy customer demand.
How does the intelligent business tool help your company and distributor network?
An overall improvement of business can be easily attained using intelligent tools. Here are some of the advantages you will gain using this tool.
- Make data-driven decisions for the future by eliminating the guesswork.
- Analyze business performance over a glance from the dashboard.
- Make accurate sales planning and forecasting using business data.
- Know the top performers and leaders by analyzing distributor performance.
- Identify the weak performing areas of the business with Key Performance Indicator (KPI) analyzer
The feature is going to help companies in molding the best for network marketing business.
4. Distributor Training Suite - In-depth learning to unlock new business opportunities
Training is the primary element a direct selling company must provide to its consultants. It’s essential to make the team understand what they sell as well as how to sell the products or services. It also helps them to enhance the personal skills acquired through direct selling.
Always consider training as one of the key direct sales benefits in network marketing and is in demand.
“Hands-on training: putting his feet to the fire.
There's nothing like training with someone until they CAN do it.”
Hear from the expert, Tim Sales, a trainer, author and speaker in the network marketing industry considers ‘training’ as one of the 13 top benefits of network marketing.
What is a distributor training suite?
Training suites help companies to train their distributors using a learning management system. Companies can provide training using various learning materials manageable from the back-end system. After using the training feature, the distributors get to know in-depth about the company products/services.
A system with a training suite lets companies maintain the flow from beginning to the expansion stage, where everyone becomes an expert in what they sell. Isn’t that what you want to include in your system? A network of growth hackers expertized in innovative marketing style.
Training is everything, and an advanced learning management platform is the key to achieve it.
“The potential of practice endorses physical attention as well as imagination skills. As these two factors improve, the confidence level automatically boosts to make the best out of us. In-depth knowledge through learning and practical application of what one learned increases performance.”
What are the benefits of using a distributor training feature?
Distributors in network marketing are the key assets, they are the messengers to reach new prospects. Thereby, increase sales volume. Let’s see how a distributor training program benefits the company and the distributors.
- The distributor network understands the right strategy for marketing and sales.
- Learn in-depth about the company, products, or services to improve the quality of sales.
- Companies can evaluate their distributors and choose suitable measures to improve those who fail to clear each benchmark.
- Companies add existing customers while introducing new business strategies if required.
- Distributors and company relationships become more closer as the team will be able to get personal experience about the brand.
How does the distributor training module help your company and distributor network?
- Companies are no longer required to organize an orientation program every time a new distributor joins the network.
- A dedicated trainee is no more required, which minimizes the training cost for each session.
- Companies can add any type of content like pdf, slides, images, training videos, and live classes for training.
- Distributors will be able to access the learning materials anytime, anywhere.
- Companies can run the training process infinite times for every new joinee; a single investment useful forever.
In short, companies can add an entire LMS module to the training feature, if required by the network marketing companies.
5. Virtual Party Sales Prototype - Never limit your business, step ahead to future without any hindrance
If the consultants feel it’s unsafe to organize a party sale at their home inviting all the guests, then that’s a limitation. People then found an alternative method by hosting sales parties through social media platforms like Facebook.
It’s the limitations in social media party sales campaigns that created a breakthrough to propose the virtual party sales prototype. The retention rate is a narrow aspect of the social media party sales campaign. A mature system can organize the sales party, sell the products, payment process, and much more.
Thanks to the virtual sales party prototype, the limitations are no more limitations anymore.
How exactly can I organize a virtual sales party for my party sales company? Won't my consultants feel challenged to use it? Will the guests feel a real-life experience in a virtual environment?
What is a virtual party sales prototype?
The virtual sales party prototype created by Team Epixel helps companies to organize a virtual sales party. Like the normal scenario, the party consultant will host a party by inviting guests. The only difference from the conventional model is that guests won’t need to attend the party physically.
The consultants and the guests can experience a real-time party environment remotely from the comfort of their homes.
The products get displayed on the screen before the guests, and the party host gives a marketing presentation. The real-time chat system enables live interactions throughout the exhibition.
Guests can book or buy products after the presentation, or refer new people to the system. The consultants who joined through references can request and host their own virtual sales party.
Distributors can manage and schedule all these tasks from the party plan dashboard itself. This prototype improves sales party growth faster by organizing virtual parties.
Learn more details about the virtual sales party
What are the benefits of using a virtual party sales prototype?
The major benefits of using a virtual sales party prototype are as follows.
- A cost-effective method for organizing a sales party.
- It helps consultants to ensure the crisis won't affect their living.
- Enjoy organizing a sales party by inviting N' number of guests.
- Automate sales party from top-to-bottom which includes sales, contact management, booking, shipment, etc.
How does the virtual party sales prototype help your company and distributor network?
- Record the event for making way for improvements in the upcoming sales party events.
- Host sales parties with global participation.
- Introduce more number of products in a single party environment.
- Customizable features based on the requirements.
We’re not done yet!
Quotes from the top leaders of the industry
We must evolve with the times by utilizing new tools and strategies to foster relationships and share incredible products. Influencer marketing is what the direct selling channel has always been, and utilizing social media is just the new way of doing business in today’s world. Chrissy Weems, Co-Founder and CEO of Origami Owl
I think the changemakers of the future will be familiar with the sales and marketing tools from different industries and continually find ways to take inspiration from other sales models to drive growth. Erin Bradley, Zyia Active CEO and founder
Customers must be able to easily purchase from us—whether that’s online, on social media, in person, at cooking classes or via a frictionless eCommerce experience. Amelia Warren, Epicure Chief Executive Officer
Latest news on technology tools in direct selling
Mary Kay introduced AI Foundation Finder
Mary Kay used AI technology to quickly find the right foundation shade for customers using their mobile phones. The company claimed that the tool would scan the user’s face, detect skin tone and give the right match within seconds.
Herbalife revealed early results from Pro2col platform
Herbalife shared early updates from the test launch of its Pro2col wellness app. The app has already been used by more than 7,000 distributors to gather information about their sleeping patterns, stress levels, nutrition goals, and product use.
The Real Brokerage introduced new AI tools
At the RISE 2025 conference, the Real Brokerage introduced new AI tools. The 24/7 AI assistant called Leo, and a new marketing tool will help agents create content more easily, enable effective networking, and better engagement in community activities.
Xyngular introduced XMD wellness platform
Xyngular came up with a new telehealth platform with an aim to improve individual wellness care. This platform, called XMD wellness, offers peptide therapy, supplements, and lifestyle support for everyday users.
New AI business assistant Mira for eXp Realty agents
eXp Realty announced a new AI business assistant called Mira at its eXpcon Miami event. The tool is exclusively built for eXp Realty agents to make their business easier. Also, the company offered a free AI training program to teach agents about the effective use of AI technology to grow their business.
Automation of these direct sales tools can double your distributor performance
All these direct selling tools are sure to expedite the performance of your distributors and eventually your business. Implementing automation in direct sales is doing wonders right from lead generation to long-term customer retention. The automation of each of these tools can help you save costs and your distributors save time.
The final words
All the above features serve the best for your direct selling business with an optimal solution. Enhancement has to be made based on the usage-adaption ratio. Businesses require the best network marketing strategies to cope with any crisis, and resources like MLM templates serve as a guide to build sustainable MLM businesses.
The present story gave us enough headaches by locking us inside the four walls of our home. The lack of opting for a digital solution that enables ‘do not disturb business’ strategy made most of the direct selling companies handicapped.
This crisis must not repeat in the future. We must prepare ourselves, expecting the worst. With more remote working tools backed with advanced technology, direct selling businesses will thrive. You have heard the unfortunate experience of Sarah. The voice of these salespeople demands a new adoption that settles things. I’ll be adding similar tools in the upcoming blogs to help you make things right.
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