9 Ideas for Expanding Your Business Outside of Your Home Town.

1.     Plan an Open House, decide where you would like to have a party and plan an open house there. Put up flyers up in the area, this could be done at the community center, church hall, even an eating establishment.

2.     Trade Parties, Find another person who has a party based business in your surrounding area offer to trade a party (you host a party for them and they host a party for you).  If they represent a company that sells a complementary product try having a joint event.

3.      Attend Networking Events in those areas to get word out, Chamber Meetings, Meet Up Groups, Mom Groups, American Business Women's Association and so forth. Many of these groups will let you come to a couple of meetings before having to pay to join, but it's definitely a way to start getting word out about your business.

4.     Military Installations, is there a military installation near you?  If so start networking there. There is so much opportunity to do free advertising.  Military installations embrace community relations, and if you are someone who can help employ these spouses who have to keep moving from place to place with their military husbands, which Shelf Reliance does, then it is even better. Furthermore, with such tight nit communities they have should help with referrals.

5.      Establish a Lead Box,  One thing you may consider trying to access some warm leads in neighboring towns is establishing lead boxes in local busy establishments (my favorite is a women's gym). Have ballots where people can check off if they've heard of Shelf Realince, would like a complimentary fashion consultation, host a party or receive business info. You will need some type of prize (maybe a consolidator of a can of pineapple)

If you have 5 - 10 boxes out, you should receive enough leads in 2 weeks (collect them every few days) to get some warm leads (ie people who check off yes) to follow up on.

6.      Participate in Events,  Find an event in the area you want to target and sponsor a booth.  Recruit a few other consultants to work the even with you.  You can look for smaller fair/festivals, craft shows, church bazaars, and fundraisers.  Anywhere you can set up and promote your business. There are lots of FREE and low cost opportunities out there.

I have heard that Applebee’s is sponsoring Direct Sales businesses night,  allowing us to set up on Wednesday nights for FREE.  Check with your local Applebees.

The best sales and recruiting have come from offering cash & carry at events in smaller communities.

7.      Teach a community education class about food storage or emergency preparedness.  This is a great way to get in touch with people who are very interested in these topics.  Be sure to present a great class and stay in touch with the students.

8.     Offer a free cooking class.  My local grocery store is always offering free cooking classes.  Offer to teach one (even if you store doesn’t’ currently offer them, they might be interested) You could also offer it at a church, community center.

9.     Local Preparedness Groups, Get in touch with your local preparedness groups and see if they are interested in having you present.  Check out:  9-12 groups, prepper groups, tea party groups.