How to Get Your Most Burning Questions Answered at Your National Conference

You’re prepping for your direct sales company’s national conference, and you’re excited to learn from the mainstage and the breakout speakers. You can’t wait to see the new products, catch up with your girlfriends, and meet new people. It can be a bit overwhelming when you’re there, especially if you don’t have goals for the event.

Before you go, think of three questions that you can have at the ready to ask people when you’re in line, sitting at lunch, walking to a breakout, or waiting for a session. Ask the questions to people you don’t know so that you get well-rounded answers.

Keep your questions concise and specific. In many cases, you might only have a minute to ask the question and get the answer. “What’s your best recruiting advice?” is too broad. “What do you say at checkout about the opportunity?” is much better because she probably has that on the tip of her tongue.

Don’t be intimated to talk to top performers and leaders, but be respectful. Leaders and top performers were in your shoes once, and they probably got to where they are by asking good questions to the right people. They are happy to pass on their knowledge, but their main focus is their team. Sometimes conference is the only place they get to see some of them. If you happen to stand next to them in line, ask a concise question if they aren’t engaged with someone else.

Write the questions on the back of your business card. If someone doesn’t have the time to answer a question, she might be willing to email you. She might even have a file with the answer on it. Give her your card with the question and hope that she’ll answer it when she gets home and settled.

Your company makes it easy for you to find people who would be good candidates to answer your questions. Everyone’s city and state are on her name tag, and there are ribbons for everything. So if you have a sales question, ask someone who has a sales ribbon. Ask a leader a leadership question. If someone is doing something remarkable that aligns with one of your questions, look for someone from her city or state. She might be on her team or maybe networks with her and can give you insight into what the superstar is doing.

You can do a round table at lunch or dinner with one of your questions, especially if there are a lot of possible answers. “How did you hear about the company?” might help with your customer prospecting. “How did you book your last party?” might give you some out-of-the-box booking ideas or fine-tune what you’re doing right now.

Having questions at the ready will give you direction at the conference and make it easier to meet new people. They are perfect icebreakers because you're all there to learn. They even work if you’re super shy. You only have to say a few words and then let her do the rest of the talking.

Cheering for you,
Kelly