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: Consultant Displays

I love seeing the magic Paperly Consultants perform with the samples we provide as part of Paperly's Starter Kit.

As a reminder, in Paperly's Comprehensive Starter Kit are the following samples (not to mention the catalogs, order forms, training documents and personalized marketing materials we also include): design swatches, hard-sided coaster, memo sheets with acrylic holder, napkins swatches, placemat, self-inking stamp, clipboard, wallet and dozens of loose samples (flat, folded, labels, stickers, etc.).

Below is a recent picture from Paperly Consultant, KateC, who has accumulated many, many samples during her tenure at Paperly, as clearly evident by her gorgeous display table.  Fortunately, Paperly has recently helped Consultants purchase personalized "hard goods" (e.g. picture frames, platters, coasters, etc.) via its Consultant Sample Sale.

Paperly Consultant, KarenS, is relatively new at Paperly, but even so, her display table is amazing! Here's what she recently said about it, "This is the table I set up for a Santa's Workshop, all direct sell companies. I had limited space so I clipped samples to my mini tree and put the rest in a half size binder in sheet protectors. The binder was perfect and the tree was super cute. The "star" on the tree was the holiday wine tag, I even ordered 3 sets for one customer!"

Lastly, this picture is of Paperly Consultant, KellyB, who not only did a fabulous job with her Paperly display, but I love the personalized Paperly banner she placed behind the table. Such banners - as well as business cards, marketing materials and signage - can be purchased at anytime via Paperly's Marketing Portal.  In fact, many Consultants never reach into their wallets to pay for such materials, but instead, they use the Paperly Dollars they've earned.

As you can see, Paperly's samples make for a very compelling, eye-catching display.  Thank you Consultants for sharing your pictures with me.  I hope to share additional photos soon.

Regards,
Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly
The leading direct seller of personalized stationery & gifts

Key Learnings from Washington DC / Baltimore Trip

Last week, I had the great fortune of traveling to Washington DC and Baltimore to meet with Paperly's amazing team of Consultants in that area. In less than 2 days, I had 2 lunch meetings, attended 2 parties, and probably drove 2 much (pun intended). I must admit, I learned so much (as I always do when I conduct field visits). In fact, there were simply too many ideas and suggestions to outline here. However, I wanted to give you a couple of truly key learnings.

#1 Key Learning: Simplify

Paperly needs to vastly simplify its parties. Honestly, a Paperly party should be a 4 hour event: 1 hour pre, 2 hours at, 1 hour post. To ensure that occurs, we need to consider potentially radical changes, such as:

• Moving to 1 catalog as opposed to 2
• Simplifying the catalog (i.e. less color options, less fonts, etc.)
• Enabling direct ship of products at a reasonable price, and perhaps, shipping as ordered rather than waiting for the party to close
• Continuing to reduce the error rates
• Improving the labeling of samples

I cannot promise Paperly will deliver on all of the above suggestions (for a variety of a operational reasons), but they are all worthy of in-depth exploration.

#2 Key Learning: Enhance Support Processes
Paperly could also dramatically help its Consultants by improving its support processes. Such processes begin from the moment the Consultant joins Paperly and continue all the way through the delivery of the product. Areas of improvement might include, but are not limited to:

• Provide a "90-Days to Success" roadmap for all new Consultants, so they know exactly what they need to do to be successful.
• Provide a "recruiting packet" so Consultants can successfully deliver key messages to potential team members.
• Provide better email invitation options/templates, be it for Paperly's system or third-party systems.
• Provide a better reward and recognition program. For example, how can Paperly make Paperly Dollars more effective?
• Provide more timely tracking of packages, so Consultants can communicate more effectively with existing and anxious customers.

Lots of food for thought, right? I greatly look forward to tackling these issues - collaboratively - because I know together, we can make Paperly a truly great company.

And finally, before finishing this entry, I wanted to thank the amazing team I met with: Crystal, Pam, Tammy, Kate, Nancy, Kristen, Tracie and Hilary (see photos below). I am super excited to know you are going to help continue to drive Paperly forward... the sky is the limit.

Regards,

Jay Rudman, CEO, Paperly