Social media has completely changed the landscape of direct sales, especially when it comes to compliance. Not only do you have to worry about the information you distribute, but you are also responsible for what your distributors say about your company online. And that can mean HUGE risks for your entire company.
We’ve talked about this in previous blogs, but, historically, direct sales companies may have turned a blind eye to compliance issues or simply stated that they simply aren’t able to manage everything that comes with an independent sales force typically found in the direct sales industry—and now that simply isn’t possible. The FTC has made it very clear that sales companies chose this business model and therefore need to be proactive in how they find compliance solutions. Your company must do the best you can in addressing these types of compliance issues before they even arise. How? By focusing on four steps:
- Enhancing your company culture
- Providing ongoing education
- Utilizing technology
- Establishing workflows and processes
Enhancing Your Company Culture
Ensuring your company culture is rooted in compliance is crucial to reduce risk. But what if you haven’t worried about that until now? Don’t worry—there’s still time! Every business should research the dos and don'ts in their own industry and begin incorporating their plan into their overall culture. Remember: how proactive your company is in its response will determine its protection when it comes to compliance issues, and now is the time to do what you can to minimize risk.
Providing Ongoing Education
The world of compliance is always changing, and so is your sales field. Your responsibility is to provide ongoing compliance education to ensure that everyone in your organization knows exactly what to (and what not to) say about your organization, opportunity, and products. We recommend holding quarterly training for your distributors, as well as training modules during the onboarding process.
Utilizing Technology
By now, you probably know that we’re big fans of incorporating technology into your business strategies. Whether that’s compliance listening tools, an LMS for easier distributor education, or tools like FieldCheck, which reviews each social post for keywords or phrases that are not following regulatory compliance or company guidelines, establishing an appropriate compliance technology stack can make your life easier and prevent sticky compliance issues in the future.
Establishing Workflows & Processes
This technology and workflow can help put the right people in the right seats, limit the necessary headcount, and provide substantial benefits to companies when used correctly. Whether your company is an industry legend or a fledgling startup, you need to have a plan in place for how to actively monitor and address compliance.
Learn More: Join Our Webinar!
There’s a lot to say on this topic, and we’re aware that we’ve barely scratched the surface. If you’re interested in learning more about compliance, we invite you to join Verb on October 26th at 10 AM PDT for our webinar, “Managing Compliance in an Online World.”
This discussion will feature social media architect and direct sales industry veteran Jim Lupkin, Momentum Factor CEO Jonathan Gilliam, and Verb’s Senior VP of Sales, JJ Oswald. We’ll answer questions like:
- How has social media changed the compliance landscape?
- What role do corporate offices play in minimizing compliance risks?
- How can you enhance your company’s overall culture to minimize risk?
- How can you control what your distributors are saying about your company online?
- What is the first step in creating a workflow with technology to manage compliance?
- What kind of continuing education courses do you recommend companies provide?
- And more!
The first 50 attendees will receive their own copy of Jim Lupkin’s industry-changing book, Predictive Social Media. Register to attend here.