First, the basics: When you sign up with a direct sales company, you will most likely sign up underneath someone who in turns becomes your sponsor. This person will receive a percentage of your sales, and should be the one to help get you started and give you any training you may need. It is to their advantage to get you motivated and trained, because the more money you make, the more they will also make off of you.



However, sometimes you will find some direct sales representatives that are so focused on sponsoring new members that the neglect the most important part, which is training and managing their downline.

If you sign up underneath one of these sponsors, you may find yourself lost and without much direction on how to run your business.

Most new direct sellers sign up under the first person that introduced them to the company, or the first one that gave them the information that they requested.

It is your sponsor's job to train, teach, and guide you in the right direction so you can build a successful direct sales business. If you don't know your sponsor, how do you know they are the right candidate in helping you build your direct sales business?

Here are some questions you may want to ask your potential sponsor:

1. How long they have been with the company? In general, the longer your sponsor has been with the company the more they know about it and how it works. They also have an upper hand in knowing what methods of selling and recruiting work best for this company. A seasoned direct seller is almost always more knowledgeable than a new one.

2. How knowledgeable are they with the company's history and policies? Knowing the company history and their policies are very important. Your sponsor should be able to tell you a full history of the company, about the founders, and all the products. Company Policies are also important because you will want to know what methods of advertisement and selling may not be allowed.

3. How active they are in the company? Is their business part time or full time? This is also very important. You might prefer to go with a sponsor that makes their direct sales business full time because they will have more time to devote to you. A part time sponsor will also have another job to deal with and may or may not be on call when you need them.

4. What is their experience with training their downline? You might want to ask your sponsor how many people are in their downline and how they manage them.

5. What tools do they offer to help train their downline? Ask your sponsor if they have weekly or monthly conference calls for their downline, and any message boards or chat rooms to go for support.

6. How much time can they invest in you? Ask your sponsor how much time she can take out in the first few weeks to help you get your direct sales business set up and ready to go.

7. How close do they live to you? Location is not the most important qualification, but it is always nice if a sponsor is close by and can be reached easily for meetings. Most training is done online now in direct sales.

Finding the right sponsor is just as important as finding the right direct sales company. Remember, you don't have to join the first person that tries to sign you up. You may even ask to speak to a member of their current downline to get a better account of how good a sponsor they are. Make sure you spend the extra time to find someone that really meets your qualifications and expectations so you can be one step ahead in your direct sales business!