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Creative Selling Affiliate Program

What is Creative Selling®? Does Creative Selling® compete with my training business?What is the Creative Selling® Counsel (CSC)? How do CSC participants benefit?How does a CSC benefit your existing training business? How do I qualify to become a CSC certified affiliate? What is the role of a CSC Affiliate?How much does it cost to become a CSC Affiliate? How do I generate Income? Can I sell my protected geographic territory?Will I be able to convert my Affiliation to a Creative Selling® or Discovery Franchise someday? What Support will I get from Creative Selling®? What Should I do next?

To learn about our program we have created a user friendly page that lets the viewer browse information by clicking on the questions to the left. You can also download a pdf version by clicking on the download at the bottom of this page.

What is Creative Selling®?

Discovery Systems International, Inc. (DSI) is an S Corporation recognized under the State of New York with a primary business place at 100 Park Avenue, New York City, New York 10017. While offering business consulting, leadership, teambuilding and sales training programs, DSI acquired Creative Selling® and it’s assets from Bentley Hall, Inc to be used as a marketing method of attracting and developing new sales training clients. In 2004 The Business Journal ranked DSI third among Leadership and Management Consultants.

Creative Selling® is now in its 17th year of production providing sales tips, skills and techniques to sales professionals each month around the world.  The Standard publication is printed in full color on a glossy magazine stock.  The publication has no advertisements, product endorsements, or reviews. It is strictly filled with selling tips, skills and ideas that the reader can use immediately. In addition to the generic publication, Creative Selling® has also been customized for a number of niche industries clients such as, Godfery Marine, (boat dealers), Buick® (automotive), Intel® & Seneca Data (computer industry),  Wynit & Sandisk® (Photo Retailers), American Paintball Supply (paintball retailers) and The Trump Shuttle (Donald Trumps executive airline shuttle). 

The Creative Selling® Vision:
To restore professional and individual pride and create a community of professional salespeople who understand their importance, impact and value within the world’s economy. We will not rest until we transform the way customers view the selling profession and the title of salesperson becomes synonymous with expert advisor.

The Creative Selling® Mission:
Committed to the personal growth and prosperity of the professional selling community. DSI will strive to make the finest educational materials and opportunities available to every professional salesperson through a network of highly skilled and well supported affiliates.

 Does Creative Selling® compete with my local training business?

NO!  Through Creative Selling® Discovery Systems International, Inc. has redefined its mission and growth strategy.  DSI is now operating in a support role for its CSC sales training affiliates.  Calling on the 25+ combined years of sales training and consulting experience from both DSI and Bentley Hall, we have refined a methodology of developing and generating sales training clients for privately owned sales training firms that will revolutionize the industry and our affiliates business.

This includes:

Providing a unique alterative and cost effective marketing solution for our affiliates

Develop sales training client leads for our affiliates

Cultivating local sales training opportunities for our affiliates

Providing sales training materials workbooks and audio programs

Implementing our CSC and affiliate brand reinforcement programs

Coaching and mentoring our affiliates from an objective point of view

Creating recurring revenue opportunities for our affiliates

Simply stated, our affiliate’s success is our success. This means making a DSI/Creative Selling affiliation a winning relationship for DSI, Creative Selling, our partners and above all our affiliates and their clients.

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What is the Creative Selling® Counsel (CSC)?

(CSC’s) are peer membership based groups of local sales professionals from diversified industries, companies and selling models within a local geographic territory.  Members are hand selected and invited to participate by our local sales expert or group leader (the CSC Certified Affiliate). At the groups foundation is the internationally recognized publication, Creative Selling®. Each month, members will receive an electronic Creative Selling® Ezine containing sales tips, ideas, concepts and techniques on a variety of pressing sales related topics. Each group should consist of approximately twelve through twenty-five members each.

Topics may include:

Listening skills

Customer service

Closing tactics

Questioning strategies

Prospecting methods

Marketing approaches

Personal development

Motivational/inspirational

Account management

And other selling skills

Group (counsel) members have an option of attending a peer group discussion facilitated by the CSC affiliate each month. During these meetings, group members will be encourages to explore the topics contained within the current month’s Ezine, through lead discussions.  To further utilize the skills and talents within the peer group, problems and challenges will be solicited from individual group members.  The counsel group then works to identify solutions or move forward strategies to address these challenges. 

How do CSC participants benefit?

In today’s hectic business climate, the average sales professional spends more time traveling to and from a sales call than the actual duration of the call.  To often salespeople are being hurried and pressured into submitting information, supportive evidence, quotes and proposals. These meeting provide little opportunity for even a moderately skilled salesperson to uncover information or present effective evidence.  Because there is no school for sales professionals, the trade evolves and is mastered by trial and error and through a lot of practice.  Although calculating the cost of practicing selling skills in front of a live prospect is difficult it’s easy to look at the failure rate of the average sales call and understand the impact.

CSC membership provides:

An opportunity to work “on” their selling profession as apposed to just working “in” their sales role Objective unbiased feedback from our CSC Affiliate and CSC members.

A monthly sales effectiveness sounding board An avenue for personal sales effectiveness growth Creative Selling® tips and skills delivered to them each month.

The ability to uncover, identify and practice new skills before they use them in the field.

CSC is the place where members:

  • Gain advice and critique related to their selling methods
  • Discuss and uncover effective client development strategies
  • Developing, practicing, refining their selling skills
  • Build emotional support and maintain motivational drive
  • Receive third party perspectives and guidance

“My time a salesperson is limited and when I was told I had to go to a selling skills meeting each month I was not very happy.  I started receiving Creative Selling® shortly after and attended me first meeting with skeptic.  I was surprised to find a number of sales people who share many of the same challenges that I was dealing with on a regular basis. I left that very first meeting with a couple of great new ideas from the Creative Selling® trainer and our group discussion. Over the past year I have increased my sales effectiveness and our sales manager is now sending our entire sales staff through our local facilitator’s full sales training program. It’s great.”

Colleen Mancusso, Staff Leasing,  Syracuse/CNY

How does a CSC benefit your existing training business?

A CSC Affiliation provides a strategic client development strategy designed specifically for sales training firms.   Sales Trainers have a uniquely difficult time with client development because of the following reasons:

Sales Trainer prospecting challenges

  • Cold calling for training business looks wimpy weak and unsuccessful

  • A failed attempt to gain a sales meeting with a prospect can be damaging to your credibility

  • Prospects are unusually tough with sales trainers because they want to test the trainers skills

  • Prospects often think that are proficient sales trainers themselves

  • Because you’re a “local trainer”, they have an impression that you’re either working out of your garage, a star- up or that you couldn’t be a good as the trainer that lives 3000 miles away

    Because of your role, you need to be viewed as the all knowing successful expert right away. The best way to obtain this status is through referral, third party endorsements or the prospect seeing you in action.  A CSC Affiliation provides an opportunity for all three;

CSC Affiliation provides

  • Immediate credibility and a third party endorsement form a 17 year old publication, Creative Selling®.
  • Creative Selling® will forward any qualified training leads within your territory directly to you.
  • An initial contact, prospect interaction and follow up methodology designed to get you in front of the decision maker in an expert non selling advisory role.

Other CSC Affiliation benefits

  • You will have the opportunity to a featured article in our internationally distributed publication. Your article will be accompanied by your photograph and once published you will have the option of using the Creative Selling® reprints of your article for promotional purposes.

  • Access to coaching and business development assistance

Co-branded impressions

  • Each monthly Ezine will have a co-branding element within the templates name plate, (Top section of the Ezine) In addition you picture will appear with a brief commentary from you each month posing you are the area CSC affiliate and sales expert.

Seminar Revenue

  • As our local CSC affiliate, you may participate in our Creative Selling branded seminar programs within your territory

  • These seminars will attract high volume participation using prominent speakers who will endorse our local affiliate’s, encourage managers, owners and sales people to seek out affiliates and become involved in a local CSC counsel group. 

  • The local affiliate will generate revenue congruent with their involvement and success of the seminar.

Have you ever met a company with a sales force spread out across the country? Through our network Creative Selling® will possess the capability to serve the training needs of remote sales force such as; Manufacturing representatives, regional, local and national sales personnel. Finally a sales training program for an entire sales force without the costly need of assembling the entire sales force

About Network referrals

  • Creative Selling® revenue is shared between the local affiliate and the affiliate responsible for obtaining the account

  • All other revenue such as one-on-one coaching, additional training and of course referrals is solely reserved for the local Affiliate responsible for conducting the work with the client’s sales personnel.

Management Counsels
CSC Affiliates are encouraged to develop a management counsel to handle sales management challenges. CSMC allows sales managers to become involved on a non threatening safe environment. These meetings can serve as a great place to show off your capabilities and show your depth of knowledge while developing a bond with the decision makers and influential sales training buyers.

CSMC Management Counsel Benefits

  • Showcase the facilitator as the expert

  • Develops a bond with decision makers

  • Exposes sales personnel challenges

  • Uncovers a need for a more in-depth sales training program for sales staff

  • Drives additional business and revenue opportunities

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How do I qualify to become a CSC certified affiliate?

CSC Affiliates are typically experienced consultants and sales trainers or possess a sufficient sales management background.  They must have string platform skills, self confidence, above average problem solving ability and the ability to manage a highly interactive facilitation process.

Each CSC affiliate must be committed to hosting at least one counsel meeting
per month within their protected territory.

Individual CSC affiliate candidates will be interviewed by our selection committee members who will include Creative Selling® executives.  In addition, various assessments utilities will be used to evaluate the qualification of our affiliate candidates.  We will asses business experience, sales background, sales training methods, training experience, personal coaching experience and commitment to the CSC Affiliate program.

CSC Affiliate Sales Experience

  • Inside sales experience

  • Outside sales experience

  • Direct sales

  • Consumer sales

  • Business to business sales

  • Complex multiple sales call methods

  • One call close models

  • Sales management

  • Compensation planning

CSC Affiliate Sales Traits

  • Desire to succeed

  • Commitment to implement the CSC methodology as is

  • A positive and optimistic outlook

  • The ability to nurture, coach and counsel

  • Confidence

  • Focus

  • Advanced human relations skills

  • Advanced communication skills

  • The ability to think on your feet

  • The ability to accept suggestions and critique our executive team

Note: No one can predict with certainty of guarantee any level of success in this or any business venture. However, when certain traits are combined with healthy experience, we can expect a greater likelihood of success within our affiliate model.

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What is the role of a CSC Affiliate?

Being a CSC Affiliate possesses a number of benefits all designed to drive the incremental business growth of our CSC affiliate’s local sales training business.  The CSC Affiliate is responsible for implementing the affiliate program methodology and promoting sales training business growth within the protected territory.

Step One

  • Develop a list of prospective sales training clients and sales people

  • Secure contact information  such as email, address and phone numbers

  • Provide high resolution graphics, photograph and brief commentary for your territories first Creative Selling® Ezine

  • We develop and deploy your territories first Creative Selling® Ezine

Step two

  • Set a date and location for your first SCS meeting

  • Implement our contact methodology and invite participants to attend your first CSC meeting

  • Return phone calls within you territory to Creative Selling® website visitors interest in attending a CSC meeting

Step three

  • Discuss and outline your facilitation plan with your Creative Selling® coach

  • Facilitate CSC discussion based on the Creative Selling® Ezine

  • Extract key points and thought from members

  • Guide solutions by interjecting options without dominating the meeting

  • Ensure the conversational flow is facilitated among the members to prevent monopolization by any particular members

  • Close the meeting following CSC meeting procedures

Step four

  • Provide feedback to management related to attendance

  • Gain managements commitment to send the participants again

  • Develop relationships with the decision makers

Step five

  • Seek to engage the clients management team in a sales force development dialog

  • Implement private sales training workshops for the client in addition to the CSC attendance

It is the CSC affiliates responsibility to promote and expand CSC membership within his or her territory.  CSC Affiliate have specific requirements for marketing to and adding new CSC members using The CSC affiliate systems, methods and tools as outlined by Creative Selling® from time to time.

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How much does it cost to become a CSC Affiliate?

Financial Commitment
Under our unique CSC Affiliation program, there is no franchise, dealer setup or initiation fees or payments to us.   You will be required to fund the initial marketing campaign costs designed to attract new CSC members to your counsel.

There is a fixed Kick-Off campaign fee of $5,000 which covers the following

  • Development of your Territories Ezine template

  • Transportation and living expenses for your individual Creative Selling® Market Development Executive (MDE) who will be traveling to your location to assist you in your first facilitation

  • Administration of your leads and database

  • Development of mail marketing campaign to 1000 prospects inviting participants to attend your first CSC and sign up for you territories Ezine

The CSC Affiliate will be responsible for the costs of business cards, stationary, automotive expenses, travel, telephone charges, office expenses, training room expense and all other costs associated with operating sales training business. Creative Selling will rely on email communication which will require internet and email services. A part time assistant would be helpful.

Time Investment

The time required to be a CSC affiliate can vary significantly depending on factors such as the number of CSC groups being facilitated each month, the types of groups and stage of growth within the CSC affiliation program.  Although the CSC Affiliation when operated effectively can result in a handsome full time income opportunity, it is often used as a method of obtaining new clients for an existing training firm. 

Affiliates looking for full time income opportunities through CSC would be expected to operate four through six CSC meetings per month.

Affiliates looking to increase their sales training practice and create corporate training opportunities will be expected to operate one through three CSC meetings per month.

If you are like most business consultants, sales trainers and other professional service providers, you may be spending much of your time marketing to potential clients instead of working on client related training projects. You may also spend time on planes or in you car traveling to your client’s locations or to make sales calls on prospects.

CSC Affiliation allows you an opportunity to develop a lucrative local business with minimum travel and time away from home or your firm.

Additional time will be required to implement our other marketing campaigns from time to time and field calls from interested potential CSC members once the work gets out.  However these introductions can be a powerful asset in the growth of your sales training business.

Since SCS groups experience turnover, Affiliates should anticipate spending two- four hour a month engaged in new potential member solicitations and expansion of their territories Ezine distribution list.

Time Allocation for CSC meetings

  • Creative Selling® Counsel Meetings – Considering an average number of participants 18 eighteen members. 

Each facilitation CSC meeting will be approximately 2 hours  per meeting
Administration and preparation time 2 hours  per meeting
Follow-up and feedback 2 hours  per group
Six hours per month per group

  • Creative Selling® Management Counsel meetings 2 hours  per meeting

Administration and preparation time 2 hours  per meeting
Follow-up and feedback 4 hours  per group
Eight hours per month per group

When considering the time you spend implementing other less productive marketing and client development activities, it would be hard to compare the positive impact of these efforts toward the success of you sales training business.  The ideas you share and guidance you provide will long outlive any cold call or marketing effort you have put forth.  Developing a community of loyal successful students is the finest way to create longevity and future success in the sales training business.  The sales people you train work with today correlate their success with the advice and expertise you have shared with them on the way to the top.  History shows that successful salespeople eventually turn into sales managers. With a staff of salespeople who need help, they return to you for their staff training needs in addition to guidance in their management role.

Additional Expectations
We fully expect you to diligently pursue members and conduct meetings as outlined. As business needs and demands change you may require relief from conducting meetings and wish to employ or contract a suitable stand in facilitator.  These CSC meeting facilitators must be submitted for qualification and approval.

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How do I generate Income?

Membership dues
Once a new member has attended a CSC meeting the CSC affiliate will follow-up with the attendee and solicit feedback related to the value of the meeting and their attendance.  Through our specific questioning methodology, we will uncover a need and desire to participate.  Once we have a commitment from the attendee, we will provide this feedback to their management team and try to arrange for funding. An individual lifetime membership due of $99.00 will be charged for each participant. This membership fee will include a written profile analysis. CSC meeting sessions will range ranging from $50 per sales session to $75 per session per manager. A minimum commitment of 12 sessions is required. Additional one-on-one coaching will be available at a negotiated rate usually starting at $125 - $250 per hour.  Some CSC affiliates may wish to use simplified package pricing as follows:

Package one
Twelve two hour monthly Creative Selling® counsel meetings $  50.00 each
Total $ 600.00 per year
Package Two
Twelve two hour monthly Creative Selling® counsel meetings $  50.00 each
Four one hour one-on-one coaching sessions $125.00 each
Total $ 1,000.00 per year
Package Three
Twelve two hour monthly Creative Selling® counsel meetings $  50.00 each
Eight one hour one-on-one coaching sessions $125.00 each
Total $ 1,500.00 per year

Services and Package fee distribution

  • Creative Selling® distributes 50% of the one time $99.00 membership fee to the CSC Affiliate

  • Creative Selling distributes 80% of the CSC meeting fees to the CSC Affiliate

  • 100% of the one-on-one coaching sessions fees to the CSC Affiliate.

Any other services provided by the Affiliate to a CSC member or company may be billed directly or through Creative Selling at a 3% processing fee.  Creative Selling assumes no risk or obligation for collection on any and all services, fees, and dues billed to the client on behalf of on in conjunction with the Affiliate.  Collection any service, dues or fees will be the sole responsibility of the CSC Affiliate.

Seminar Revenue
Creative Selling is committed to supporting CSC Affiliates by conducting high volume seminars within the territories.  These seminars will feature prominent sales authors/speakers who will reinforce to necessity for continued professional development on the local level.  As our local host you will have a presence at the event and play a role in the opening of the event with a brief commentary and the introductions for our speakers. You will have the ability to enjoy up to 25% of the entry fees for the event.  Entry fees will range from $99 - $149 depending on the speaker and event.  The targeted range for attendance is 300-500 participants.  An attendance list will be provided for your own marketing purposes while the participants contact information is added to your Ezine distribution list.

Seminars will close with a specific method of developing qualified leads among participants who are interested in talking to a local affiliate about attending regularly scheduled CSC meetings.

Additional projects
The CSC Affiliate facilitation and interaction methodology will bring about relationships with members that will often result in additional services, training and consulting. 

Creative Selling Does not participate in revenues generated from your consulting efforts and training efforts outside the nature of the CSC meeting and one-on-one coaching relationship with CSC members. You determine which projects you engage, negotiate your own rates and terms.

Creative Selling and DSI not only encourages these additional engagements but has developed this process to helping you obtain projects of magnitude as a result of the relationships formed within the CSC meeting room. This is the most powerful relationship leveraging utility ever produced in the Sales Training arena and we want you to take full advantage of it dynamic influence within your local territory.

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Can I sell my protected geographic territory?

Our relationship as outlined is an Affiliation which grants you permission to utilize and implement marketing and training methods developed at great time and expense.  Creating a salable utility is not the intention of the CSC program rather a method of building your own training business revenue.  Creative Selling® and DSI has no influence related to the sale of your own business to any party, entity or individual.  However, we reserve the right to place the same qualifications requirements upon any individuals who would be assuming responsibilities related to conducting CSC meetings and interacting with Creative Selling® executives. Providing our qualifications are met and minimum requirements are satisfied we would welcome your transaction openly.

We have created an Affiliation which allows you to use our prominence to promote your local business while maintaining control of your own sales training methods, materials and concepts.  DSI and Creative Selling® will be expanding our offering in future years to provide:

  • Additional training materials

  • Audio programs

  • Workbooks

  • Sales Methodology and process formats

  • Support conferences for Affiliates

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Will I be able to convert my Affiliation to a Creative Selling® or Discovery Franchise someday?

Due to questions and comments related to our positioning to franchise, we have chosen to address this as to our intentions. Though it may appear we are positioning to franchise, we have no franchise offering on the table. We do not deny the possibility of a franchise offering or opportunity within the sales training and development sector.  In the event Creative Selling® or Discovery Systems International, Inc produces a franchise offering, CSC Affiliates would be the obvious front runners for the initial wave of franchisees.  Any Franchise plans would be as a result of requests from our Affiliates for additional support, materials and proprietary selling methods to address larger corporate concerns and provide uniform training processes throughout the nation.

What Support will I get from Creative Selling®?

Creative Selling® is committed to supporting your sales training business success through the marketing and client opportunities we jointly develop through our CSC Affiliate program.  Our Headquarters in New York has experienced staff dedicated to assist in your success with our program.  Below are some support tools you will have at your disposal.

  • One-on-one business coaching

  • Objective sounding board

  • Client and project consultations (for upgrading CSC members to corporate training clients)

  • Strategic planning conference calls

  • Ezine and key points reviews

  • pre-counsel meeting discussion points via conference call

  • Unlimited email and reasonable telephone support

Developing your first CSC meeting

  • We provide highly effective approach strategies and training

  • We conduct direct mail campaigns to produce CSC member interest

  • We are committed to your success

Coaching for a new CSC Affiliate
We will assign a coach to help you during the early months of your CSC Affiliation. The coach will provide:

  • Critique

  • Training

  • Objective counsel

  • Conference in with potential members and training clients

  • And ensure a successful kick off

Creative Selling® website & electronic data

  • We generate leads from our Creative Selling® website and pass them on to you

  • Manage your database and Ezine distribution list

You should expect Creative Selling and Discovery Systems International, Inc. to place your personal and business success at a high priority and gain confidence in our methods and abilities to help you grow.

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What Should I do next?

We hope most of your questions have been answered related to the CSC affiliation program and our intentions.  I believe this is the most powerful relationship leveraging utility ever produced in the Sales Training arena.  I personally hope you’ll take full advantage of the dynamic influence our program can create within your local territory and begin to enjoy increased success in your sales training practice or firm.

If you believe you possess the combination of successful traits and the desire to increase your sales training revenue and would like to be considered for our CSC Affiliation program, please complete the CSC confidential personal profile, attach a resume or bio and fax it to 800.555.5555 Attention: CSC Affiliate Coordinator or fill out the profile online.

Upon receipt of the above information, A Creative Selling Representative will contact you to further discuss the CSC Affiliate program and answer and subsequent questions you may have. Concluding the conversation there will be a mutual decision to move forward or the process will terminate.

Upon reaching a mutual decision to move forward, the next course of action is the completion of a personality profile survey.  We request each CSC Affiliate candidate complete this personality profile as to help us determine the whether or not the individual possesses the appropriate blend of characteristics we have found be successful within our network of professional sales training and CSC meeting facilitators. You will receive a complete copy of the results.

A conference call with be arranged between you and the appropriate executives from Creative Selling®. All information is then submitted to the Selection committee for final acceptance. Upon acceptance our Agreements and covenants will be reduced to paper and committed to with signatures from both entities and individuals.

Thank you for your interest in The Creative Selling® Counsel program

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