There are a lot of potential benefits to joining a direct sales company and running a business from home, like having a built-in business plan, not having to develop products or merchandise, earning great commissions, and being recognized as you move up the ranks in your company. But one of the most exciting and enticing perks of working for a multi-level marketing company is the allure of these businesses’ incentive trips—dream vacations to exotic locations, like Rome, Sydney, the Bahamas, or Hawaii, typically all expenses paid.

Earning a trip with your company almost certainly involves sales quotas and certain team-building and recruiting expectations, and since these coveted rewards are usually only bestowed upon those who meet some pretty incredible goals, you’re practically guaranteed to be a top earner in the business if you are fortunate enough to merit an invitation.

With that being said, it’s obviously not going to be easy to snag that ticket to the next big travel event of the year—but you can do it. Every year, thousands of direct sellers board planes and lounge on beaches compliments of their companies, and with these tips, you can be one of them in the 2018 travel season.

1. Focus on goal-setting. It should go without saying that if you want to accomplish a really impressive goal like being a top-earner in your company and being invited on an exclusive, all expenses paid trip to an exotic destination, you’re going to have to do some serious goal-setting. But there are some goal-setting tips that are unique to the direct sales experience you should be aware of as you plan for earning your incentive trip. For example, most multi-level marketing companies offer a wide variety of “tiers” that make it possible to earn varying percentages of your trip cost covered.

Julie Ann Jones, systems specialist, speaker, and Infusionsoft partner, explains, “most companies give you several options for earning your trip, from just accommodations for you to full airfare and accommodations for you and your family, with several levels in between. Decide what you believe is possible… if you’re thinking about choosing one of the lower levels, I want you to ask yourself what you’re truly capable of and what it’s worth to you… stretch yourself a little beyond what you think you can do.” She also notes the importance of visualization as you are setting goals and working toward them; this will help keep you motivated and inspired throughout the qualification period.

1. Do some chunking. One reason people fail to accomplish big goals is that big goals can be really overwhelming and intimidating. When you’re in the thick of things, doing your daily grind and out there hustling each and every week, your vision can become hazy and begin to feel unattainable. It’s hard to see the forest through the trees, so to speak. That’s why it’s incredibly important to start chunking those long-range dreams into more manageable pieces.

To chunk your goals, start breaking down annual sales or recruiting quotas into monthly sales and recruiting quotas, then take it one step further and break those down again into weekly goals. For the sake of easy math, let’s just say you need to sell $12,000 a year to earn your trip; that’s $1,000 a month, or around $250 each week. Chunking will not only help to alleviate the stress and anxiety of looking at a seriously huge goal, but it will also give you an easy method of tracking your progress and knowing if you’re on pace to reach your goals. Once you know what you need to do week-to-week to succeed, you can figure out exactly how many parties you need to schedule each week to meet your goals and can more readily account for missed touches and cancellation rates.

1. Share social proof. Most simply, social proof is the psychological phenomenon of following; people are more likely to assume the actions of others to reflect perceived “correct” or “appropriate” behavior. What this means in marketing, and especially in direct sales, is showing someone how they can get a return on their investment and enjoy the same lifestyle you are leading with your business. According to Jackie Ulmer, “pay attention to the incentives that your company offers as you can use these in a powerful way: it gets the field paid, generating sales and customers… It provides social proof.”Don’t be afraid to share your success and celebrate small victories along the way in a public forum; this creates a social currency you can exchange for sales and recruits, putting you that much closer to achieving your beach vacation dreams. Sharing your excitement and enthusiasm is one of the absolute best ways to continue growing your team and your business.
2. Optimize your marketing strategies. One fatal mistake many multi-level marketing momtrepreneurs make is that they spread themselves too thin, trying to operate marketing campaigns on multiple social media platforms, plus hosting live demos and parties, working normal jobs, and doing all the things they usually do at home and for their children. As Oberlo points out, “when you’re just starting out with social media marketing for your business… it’s important to make sure that you don’t spread yourself too thinly—it’s much more beneficial to focus on nailing one or two channels instead of trying to grow all of them at once.”

Be sure to optimize posting for the network you’re publishing with, for example, using relevant hashtags on Instagram or Twitter or mastering SEO on your blog. Also, don’t forget to cross-promote your accounts, remind your Snapchat following of your presence on Facebook or hosting giveaways and promotions to consumers who follow you on multiple platforms. Finally, make sure you have high-quality, original content to post; if you need help polishing up your writing, don’t hesitate to use online resources for writing help to maximize your content’s impact—it’s absolutely imperative to look like a pro!

What are you doing to book your ticket to the next big company incentive trip? Share your success secrets in the comments below!