Paperly: Time to Shine

Last year's theme to Paperly's Conference was:

Being the "new kid on the direct selling block", Paperly challenged attendees to think and dream big about their Paperly business.  Through a lot of hard work over the past 12+ months, Paperly has risen far beyond thinking big... now it is Paperly's Time to Shine.

Like a rising sun, Paperly's business is rising and ready to shine.  At our upcoming National Conference  (which in a not-too-small coincidence will be held in Florida, the Sunshine State), we will work side-by-side with our Consultants to help elevate their Paperly businesses to the next level.

Paperly has a great team, amazing products, fabulous incentives and so much more. We are on the brink greatness. Now is truly the Time to Shine.

Regards,
Jay Rudman, Founder & CEO, Paperly (www.Paperly.com)

Key Learnings from Conference 2012

Hard to believe a week has already passed since the conclusion of Paperly's first-ever Consultant Conference. I'm not sure about the attendees, but I'm still on a post-event high. The Conference was so much fun. I met an amazing team of Consultants. I certainly ate way too much. And oh yeah - I learned a ton! Below is a brief summary of a few topics we discussed at Conference.

Best Practices: What has Worked for You?
I asked the Consultants to form small groups and share what has worked for them - i.e. best practices - across 3 topics: (1) marketing their Paperly business, (2) getting more bookings and (3) improving the Paperly party experience.  Here are a few of the ideas they shared.

1. Marketing Your Paperly Business:  Facebook, email signatures, referral programs, mini look-books and in-package thank you notes.
2. Getting Bookings:  Teacher’s lounges, lead sheets, open houses, “party on the go”, bring my store to you and delivering products.
3. Party Experience: Prices on everything, image bank, samples of everything, thematic displays and taking pictures of your displays.

As you might imagine, it's impossible to capture all the ideas the Consultants shared, especially given the detail in which each was discussed, but I'm happy to provide additional details to anyone that is interested.  Simply contact me at your convenience.

Solving Paperly’s Heftiest Challenges
After sharing best practices, I then asked each group to tackle a couple of Paperly's most vexing corporate challenges: (1) enhancing Paperly's brand and (2) Paperly's technology. Here are a few of their solutions.

1. Enhancing Paperly’s brand: How best to describe Paperly, who’s Paperly’s typical buyer, brand Paperly’s “P”, standardization and templating of materials, ensuring Paperly’s brand is on all its products and including Paperly in all email signatures.
2. Paperly’s technology: Easy sharing of Paperly’s products/sales on all social media websites, focus on imagery in e-newsletters, emailed receipts rather than paper receipts and make MyPaperly a shopping focused website.

Again, I'm happy to elaborate if you'd like additional details. 

You may ask why I'm sharing these learnings. Well, I'm a big believer in sharing.  Sharing how smart Paperly's Consultants are; sharing how Paperly is listening to (and soon-to-be acting upon) Consultant feedback; sharing how Paperly is a continuously learning and adapting organization. I believe it's important for everyone - existing Consultants, potential Consultants, customers and hostesses - to know that Paperly is working very hard at becoming a world-class organization.  Nothing short of that will be accepted.

So thank you to everyone who contributed to the amazing learnings that occurred at Conference.  I'm already scheduling my next trip to visit Paperly's Consultants in their hometowns. My commitment to learning, and making Paperly the "right" organization, is tireless.

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly

Paperly's 2012 Initiatives

As promised in my last blog piece, "Looking Forward to 2012", I'd like to elaborate on Paperly's 5 key initiatives for 2012: team building, Starter Kit, Fast Start program, marketing & promotion, and training & development.

Team Building

Someone once told me, "Paperly will only go as far as its leaders take it." I completely agree, so I have made it a top priority in 2012 to support the growth of Paperly’s leaders’ by helping them build their team. How? By allocating inbound leads to existing and future leaders who have met pre-established monthly criteria including personal sales, attending training sessions, and subscribing to Paperly's website & e-newsletter services. I am confident Paperly's current leaders will cultivate these leads into the next generation of leaders. 

Starter Kit

On January 1, Paperly launched a new and improved Starter Kit. The new Kit contains everything a new Consultant needs to successfully start and grow her Paperly business, including catalogs, order forms, loose samples and training guides. But of equal importance, the new Kit is less expensive ($99), will arrive faster (it'll ship in 1-2 business days) and will provide the opportunity to receive more personalized products. To that latter point, take a look at Paperly's new program titled, "40% Off for 40 Days".

Fast Start Program

On a personal note, I'm aghast at how many new Consultants never attend a Paperly training session. Of course, I cannot force them, but I can reward them when they participate. Thus, in 2012 I will post a list of activities I expect all new Consultants to complete, and as they're completed, Consultants will earn Paperly Dollars.  These Paperly Dollars can then be used to purchase additional samples, personalized products or business supplies... all of which will help the Consultant grow her business bigger and faster.

Marketing & Promotion

I appreciate that not all sales will occur at a party. Therefore, I have decided to extend Paperly's Free Shipping promotion for the foreseeable future, thereby enabling easier one-to-one sales. I'm also excited to announce that Paperly will launch an e-newsletter service that'll make it significantly easier for Consultants to stay connected with their Customers. Lastly, Paperly is committed to continuously expanding its offerings - such as personalized and branded signs, car clings, banners, etc. - within its Marketing Portal.

Training & Development

Last, but certainly not of least importance, is Paperly's commitment towards training and development in 2012. We have already established our yearlong training calendar, making it even easier for our Consultants to stay abreast of Paperly's latest programs and announcements. We also will begin in February our 3rd Future Leaders Program. And finally, we're holding our first ever National Conference, plus we're hoping to hold our 2nd President's Council in the summertime.

Of course, these 5 initiatives are only the beginning.  We already have so many other amazing things planned for 2012 including a free cruise for those who earn it, new products, a completely redesigned single-catalog approach, and so much more.  I hope you decide to ride the wave, because I'm confident 2012 will be a year like none other at Paperly.

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly

Paperly: Thinking Big

Recently, Paperly announced we are hosting our first-ever national Consultant Conference in January 2012 in Atlanta, GA. More recently, we announced the theme of the Conference, "Think Big".

Why "Think Big"?  Well, until now, Paperly has been the new kid on the block.  We're *only* 3-4 years old, which in the direct selling world is still the infancy stage.

(A recent American Express article notes that most direct selling companies "...make little money in their first three years... (but) year four through eight, many companies experience explosive growth.")

With Conference approaching, Paperly is prepared to live-up to its billing of the leading direct seller of personalized stationery and gifts. After all, our credentials are growing daily, including DSA recognition for our ethical business practices as well as Inc Magazine declaring Paperly as the next guard of direct sellers.

Now is the time for Paperly to "Think Big".  True - we never wish to lose our family feel.  (I personally still answer the phone at the office at least half the time... and I hope to continue doing that for a long time to come!)  But Paperly needs to think about a BIGGER market presence, BIGGER Consultant teams leading to BIGGER commission checks, a BIGGER and improve product line and customer experience... basically BIGGER and better everything!

I personally cannot wait for Conference and all its benefits. You can learn more about how to attend at http://www.Paperly.com/paperly-press-2011-08-Conference.asp. I've already starting "Thinking Big".  How about you?

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly

Paperly’s First-Ever National Consultant Conference

You might have seen, Paperly recently announced that it is hosting its first-ever national Consultant Conference in January 2012 in Atlanta, GA: http://www.Paperly.com/paperly-press-2011-08-Conference.asp. Personally, I am very excited to gather Paperly’s best: to share best practices, to brainstorm potential improvements, and best of all, to create life-long friendships.

Being Paperly’s first Conference, I readily admit, it’s a work-in-process. We’re fairly settled on our keynote speaker, which we hope to announce soon. We’re also working on a "brand" for the Conference… something that encapsulates the central message for Paperly in 2012. Again, we plan to announce that soon.

Beyond those announcements, we are committed to ensure two core activities occur at Conference:

1. Yes, it’s important that Paperly shares with the attendees its vision of the future. However, equally as important, Paperly will provide significant time and opportunity for Consultants themselves to share what is/isn’t working for them, to suggest changes that could dramatically improve their businesses, and to work in small groups to address some of Paperly’s greatest challenges. I know the true value of Conference will be this Consultant-to-Consultant sharing.
2. Equally as exciting, Paperly plans to launch at Conference its new "One Catalog" which will combine its two existing catalogs: Everyday Collection and Special Occasions. The "One Catalog" concept arose from Consultant feedback and will greatly reduce potential confusion as to which product comes from which catalog.

Again, more announcements will be forthcoming about Conference. In the meantime, we hope you register to attend. The fee is incredibly reasonable, especially since attendees can either pay their attendance fee in installments, or better yet, attend for free (see the last page of the announcement to learn how)! Additionally, and this shouldn’t be glossed over, everyone is invited to attend – Consultants, spouses/significant others, existing teammates and potential teammates. I feel it's important to be inclusive, because it's the Consultants’ support network that enables them to focus on Paperly. I cannot wait to thank all of them for their support.

I am so excited for Conference and I cannot wait to see you in Atlanta!

Regards,
Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly