When you’re starting your direct sales business, getting your first customers can be challenging. And for someone who has little sales or marketing experience, it can also be intimidating.

But once that trickle of new customers begins to happen, you’ll have cleared a major hurdle. Not only will you gain confidence in your ability to sell, but you can use that momentum to build your customer base from those few clients. Here are some tactics you can use to gain new customers:

Word of Mouth

Say you have two customers. That’s a great start. You should build on that. Ask your two new customers to recommend you and your products to their friends or family members who might be interested in what you’re selling. After all, there’s no better way to promote yourself than to get others to do it for you. But don’t take our word for it. Take a look at these statistics:

• According to a Nielson report, 92% of consumers trust their friends and family when it comes to product suggestions rather than advertising.
• Eighty-eight percent of people trust online reviews written by other customers.
• Word of mouth is a major influencer when making purchasing decisions, according to 74% of consumers.

Use Social Media

Riding on the back of the whole word-of-mouth idea, using social media is essential when you’re in direct sales. It’s the fastest way to spread the word about your business. You should create a Facebook page, Instagram account, and maybe even a Twitter account promoting your products, and be consistent about posting. We recommend posting at least three to five days a week, once a day. But you can always post more than that. Just be careful about posting too much. You don’t want to annoy your potential customers.

You should also form a Facebook group with current customers and potential customers. Just make sure you have everyone’s permission before inviting them into the group. This is a good way to have direct interaction with folks who have questions, concerns or are interested in buying your products.

One more thing. Social media is a great way to promote yourself. But it’s also a great way for your friends, family, and current customers to promote for you. Remember those stats we provided above? Take those to heart. Promoting yourself on social media can be powerful. But when you’ve got customers advocating for you online, it’s even more powerful.