Do Business Well

Hold weekend seminars

Once in a while do something really different. Have a weekend seminar for your top distributors. At the weekend — which should be fun as well as work — discuss strategies to find business, ways of improving your network, sort out any problems and propose recommendations to your supplying company for new products.

Show people you run a successful business

Everyone wants to be part of a success story. If you have a distributor who is doing well in your downline, publicise that fact. Introduce new recruits to him or her. If a new distributor meets a successful distributor he or she can say: ‘Wow! Look at Joe. He has 300 distributors in his down- line.’ The new recruit realises that success is possible.

Successful people can pass on hints and tips that are really valuable to new distributors. Experience is a kind of pollen that rubs off on others. The new distributor does not have to go through the learning curve because someone else has already done this and can pass on the benefit of the experience.

The network leader’s role

If your network is going to be a success, you must make it successful. Sure, you can’t do all the work yourself. Your downliners have to get out and see people, but you can provide the conditions that make them enthusiastic and raring to go.

In any voluntary association, not everyone will be productive. There will be those who are good, those who are bad and those who are indifferent. There will also be lapses. But, if you make your downliners successful, they will not only stay in your downline and make you rich, but you will make them successful, too. This results in increased enthusiasm for networking and your downline grows at a faster and faster pace.

What you want in your downline is productive, energetic people. And the only way you can ensure this is by making things happen.

THE GOLDEN RULE

The most important rule in building up a network is to help your distributor make a sale as soon as possible after joining up. If there is a delay between the purchase of a starter kit and a sale, the new distributor will become demotivated and lose interest.

Obviously, a stage is reached when you must leave your new distributors alone, otherwise you will never have enough time to find new distributors. But you must help your distributors get off to a good start. You are their role model. One rule of thumb is to make at least three shared presentations with the new distributor so they learn what to do and say.

If your new distributor has a prospect, run through your approach with that distributor prior to the opportunity presentation. Tell her what has to be done and then carry out these actions. Once they have been carried out, review what has been done and run through the learning points. Telling, showing and reviewing is the methodology used.

At the first meeting with the new distributor’s prospect, depending on the new distributor’s confidence, do most of the talking. Second time round, it’s on a shared basis. Third time round, you’re in a supportive role and should not say anything unless it is necessary. In short, the new distributor is shown how to make an effective presentation through action learning.

What is the primary role of the sponsor? To give guidance and direction, motivation and training.

Give guidance and direction

If you have been in network marketing for some time, you will tend to take things for granted because you will know the compensation scheme, your products, how to manage your time, and you will have a good idea of what your priorities are.

But someone who is new to business may not even know how to fill in an invoice or use a calculator to calculate discounts. They may not be aware of what the crossings on a cheque mean or know how much stock to order. It is, therefore, important that you are around or readily available by phone to help your downliner build that self- confidence so necessary for success.

The role of a manager is to get results through people. The sponsor’s role is to ensure everyone knows what they are meant to do and work to a purpose. Some downliners get so much satisfaction from getting sales and making money, they forget that the ultimate purpose of network marketing is to build a network. So, for example, if you notice that one of your distributors is working very hard but not getting her own distributors, give her friendly advice: ‘Jill, you’re doing a terrific job bringing in sales, but don’t do all the work. A developed network will always outsell a super sales person. Can I help you with a programme to develop you downliners?’

As a professional network marketer you should not only share the opportunity, but also your knowledge and experience with others. Interestingly, this is one way in which network marketing differs from traditional business. In many businesses, you don’t share because your knowledge is your competitive edge. Information is the key to growth. If you know something another person doesn’t, you become a more valuable resource. You have that added plus.

As a result, traditional business is often selfish. If you have two divisions in the same firm competing, divisional manager A will want his division to do better than division B. He can ’score points’ at the next management meeting on the success of his division and will be singled out as a star achiever. Quite often, because of this internal competition, good ideas are not always shared. For example, if divisional manager A comes up with a sales idea that seems to work well, it is quite likely that he will not share this idea with divisional manager B. Why should he help his colleague up the company ladder? So the firm suffers.

In network marketing it does not work like this. The only way you can be truly successful is to make all the people in your network as successful as possible. It does not matter if Peter, who you brought in as a distributor, outstrips you in terms of performance. Why? Because, as he is in your downline, you benefit from every one of his successes. The more his downline grows, the more it will

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