Workshops At A Glance
Tuesday, November 13th
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
A Reputation Transformed and Direct Selling’s Future: Implementation of the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council
Topic : Legal and Communications
DSA is moving the bar for an ethical marketplace in the industry. Beginning in 2019, Working with Council of Better Business Bureaus, the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council will serve as a third party self-regulation body for all direct selling companies. Key tenets of the program will be application of standards in the areas of income representations and product claims made by companies and their salespeople regardless of DSA membership. Key executives responsible for developing and implementing this program will speak to the structure, standards and approach to become a premier self-regulatory body.
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Building a Compliance Culture: New Strategies to Make Compliance Your Competitive Advantage
Topic : Salesforce Development
Direct selling’s personal touch – one made directly from distributor to consumer – is unique among the array of touchpoints in any go-to-market strategy. While one-to-one contact from the millions of direct sellers to individual consumers is direct selling’s greatest advantage, it also poses our greatest vulnerability: our brands’ touchpoints are more out of management’s reach than ever before. Companies can build a compliance oriented culture with a strategic balance of education, enforcement and encouragement. This session will explore how, in a world where compliance is vital to your reputation, companies can engage and empower their field to get ahead while doing the right thing.
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Envisioning your Future and Charting your Course: Questions and Answers
Topic : Communications and Marketing
Expanding on his main stage general session presentation, Mike Walsh will help participants find new ways to compete against the market disruptors and reimagine their roles and reinvent the way they make decisions. Participants will have their questions answered by a leading Fortune 5000 consultant with an expertise in charting company strategies for redesigning their approaches and ensuring they are primed to thrive in today’s highly dynamic market.
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Panel
Topic : Tax
The historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has made major changes to areas of the tax code and may have an impact on your company’s independent contractors. Hear from leading experts about what your salesforce should know now and for next year’s filings.
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
The Amazon Effect
Topic : Technology and Operations
So much about the future is unclear, but one thing is not: direct selling’s number one competitor for customers is online retailing. Obvious as this may seem, a more nuanced examination reveals the steady convergence of retail and direct selling to be a more nuanced dynamic requiring attention. This session will explore this dynamic, as well as the strategies direct sellers are employing to compete in the age of the same day delivery/24×7 availability/eCommerce/online instant gratification. Join as we build upon a conversation that began on the main stage of last year’s Fall Conference and discuss new strategies to be deployed in 2019.
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
A Communications Game Changer: The Direct Selling SRC and the Future of Proactive and Reactive Reputation Management Strategies
Topic : Communications
The newly created Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DS-SRC) represents a bold new, approach to self-regulation. This interactive session explores: how companies factor this new frame into their proactive and reactive reputation management initiatives and the program’s implications for every direct selling company communicator.
In addition to providing an overview of the DS-SRC, this session will explore the program’s implications for corporate and salesforce messaging as well as possible considerations corporate communications leaders must understand as they create their 2019 corporate communications programs.
Faculty will relay experiences from existing self-regulatory programs and provide a roadmap for navigating the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Independent Contractor Status: Direct Selling’s Lynchpin Issue, and Where we Stand Amidst the Gig Economy Disruptors
Topic : Legal
Independent contractor status is vital to the direct selling industry. Recently several important legal decisions have challenged long-held standards. Hear about those settled and pending cases that will impact your company and salesforce. Legal experts provide updates on federal and state cases impacting the status of direct sellers as well as administrative actions that could affect the status of our salesforce.
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Distributorships and Audit Red Flags: What they are, How to Spot them and Navigating the Audit Process
Topic : Tax
No one wants them, but audits are inevitable. Learn strategies from leading experts about preparation for potential audits, how to respond during an audit and how to manage the aftermath of an audit.
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Tech Innovation
Topic : Technology and Operations
Today’s independent contractors have more choices than ever before, and the allure of gig economy players’ flash-and-dash apps have required direct selling to raise the technology bar: whether you’re an Uber worker or user, you’re just one simple tap away from your next ride or job. For direct selling to compete in this new-normal, innovative technology platforms that empower your sellers and operations to be more nimble and automated must be front and center. This session will feature DSA award-winning tech innovations with significant impacts for their companies in areas including:
• Mobile technology
• Back office and business support
• Customer and sales support
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Multichannel Management: Challenge or Success – What the Research Shows
Topic : Salesforce Development
Today, few companies can increase sales without both an online and an offline route to market. In this workshop, Dr. Sandy Jap will discuss what channel benefits customers seek from online and offline channel formats, how this applies to the millennial segment, and the challenges associated with getting your organization ready for a multichannel world. Learn how multichannel strategies impact your independent contractor’s economic performance in terms of annual income, profits and sales and what types of organizational support contribute to economic performance and satisfaction.
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Practical Implications Working with an Independent Contractor Salesforce
Topic : Legal
Keeping updated on the status of independent contractor law is important, but how do those legal decisions really apply to your company? Attorneys dive into the practical implications of legal guidance and other issues specific to direct selling and our companies’ interactions with the salesforce. Topics will include contracting clauses, proselytizing, and non-compete agreements.
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Defeating the Disruptors and Finding Our Competitive Advantage in Our Brave New World
Topic : Marketing
As the online retail threat continues to grow ever more palpable, break-through marketing initiatives that empower our distributors to build the next generation of loyal consumers is an area where direct selling can outpace the competition. This presentation will explore the winning strategies that direct selling innovators are using to sharpen their competitive edge. Workshop attendees will learn about new marketing approaches that companies are using to create new opportunity for themselves and their distributors.
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
U.S. Supreme Court Wayfair Decision: Tax Compliance Strategies How and Now
Topic : Tax
Sales tax collection has always been an important compliance issue for direct sellers. With the recent, dramatic overturning of the physical presence standard by the US Supreme Court, changes in sale tax collection are guaranteed. With a new nexus standard, learn how the states may change the process and your obligations and ways to stay ahead of those challenges.
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Best Practices to Prevent Shipping Costs from Eroding Your Margins
Topic : Technology and Operations
Over the past decades, UPS & FedEx ground service rates have increased at an astonishing 79%, while air service has increased by a whopping 95.5%. These figures do not include the infamous Dimensional Weight pricing changes of 2011 and 2015…ouch! With many suppliers still trying to adapt their current business strategies to accommodate old General Rate increases, it’s time to equip yourself with the best practices to help mitigate these carriers’ seemingly never-ending price hikes. This session will explore the strategies direct selling companies are employing to increase their shipping speeds—and margins—to compete in today’s “need-it-today” customer expectation world.
Wednesday, November 14th
11:00 a.m. - Noon
Update of Actions by the Federal Trade Commission
Topic : Legal
Legal experts discuss recent trends by the Federal Trade Commission and their impact on direct selling companies, including recent enforcement actions and the January 2018 Business Guidance concerning Multi-Level Marketing Companies. Panelists will also share their thoughts on the newly installed FTC Commissioners and any changes companies may see in their business by the new Commission.
11:00 a.m. - Noon
Sleepless Nights in the Era of Disruption, and Finding Answers to Help Us Rest Easy: A Panel of CMOs and CSOs
Topic : Marketing
We all know them: those niggling questions that arise at 3:00 AM to rob us of sleep. Am I addressing the full customer experience? Are my sales resources equipping my distributors with the tools they need to succeed? Am I measuring marketing initiatives against meaningful KPIs? Do I even understand my consumer anymore? Today’s dynamic market has left all sales and marketing professionals – from functional area manager to c-suite leader – with these questions and more. Join this session to learn how Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) from leading direct selling companies have developed strategies for overcoming the challenges they’ve faced so you can put their experience to work for you and your company.
11:00 a.m. - Noon
A View from the IRS
Topic : Tax
Hear from a career IRS leader within the Small Business/Self-Employed Division about issues of concern to your individual direct sellers. Equip your salesforce with
the tools that ensure they comply with the labyrinth of rules and regulations faced by all small businesses: good record keeping techniques, how to respond to inquiries
and audits and avoiding mistakes.The latest on Schedule C filings including office-in-the-home deductions, record keeping, business deductions, retirement incentives, recent SBSE activities that are helping small business owners and providing you with valuable information for your company and its salesforce.
11:00 a.m. - Noon
The Biggest Challenges Facing IT Leaders Today
Topic : Technology and Operations
Driven mostly by digitization, new technologies and rapidly increasing data volumes, modern IT professionals face a growing set of challenges. Gone are the days of merely keeping the lights on and updating operating systems. Scaling and keeping pace with today’s dynamic market remains a challenge: the speed of tech advancements is running at an exponentially increasing rate making it possible that today’s next-generation technology could be obsolete before it’s even deployed. The most successful CIOs recognize that modern IT departments must deliver business value and drive innovation, and that genuinely strategic IT deployed to carry out a business strategy is the backbone of any successful business. Join this session to explore the biggest challenges facing IT departments today including:
• Using data for your competitive advantage
• Enabling consistent innovation
• Balancing security with accessibility
• Finding appropriate talent
• Merging old and new
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Seizing Our Competitive Advantage through Social Selling
Topic : Salesforce Development and Marketing
Social selling on Facebook, through Messenger, on Instagram and beyond: it’s here. While social media platforms have evolved to accommodate what we do, few direct selling companies have kept pace with these new developments. Field training programs that empower distributors to make the most of these programs are sparse. An even smaller number of companies have developed social selling strategies that take advantage of social media environments’ most recent evolution. Direct selling must seize the moment or risk squandering the future of this significant opportunity. In this session, we will:
Scott Kramer
President and Chief Executive Officer
Multibrain