How Do I Get My Contacts To Do Something Once They Get In?
By MXI Ambassador, Kathy Robbins
If I reviewed all the questions I have heard from distributors in my 23+ years in the network marketing industry the two that are most often asked are, "How can I get people to join my business?" and "How do I get them to do something once they get in?"
The ability to recruit is vital to your success but unless you are able to keep the people that you recruit in the business and help them be successful you will never earn the big prize -- residual income. In order to have your income continue after you have decided to slow down you have to have people in your business who are self-sufficient, self motivated and knowledgeable enough to build their business without you being there every day.
One of the first things you need to understand is the numbers involved. Not everyone you show the business to will get in the business and not everyone who gets in the business will do something. Prior to being involved in network marketing, I first managed and then owned an investment firm. In both cases I hired and trained individuals to sell investments. If I kept one out of three after a year I was doing a spectacular job. Those numbers hold true in almost every business where the individuals recruited are independent contractors rather than employees, as they are in network marketing. Of course it makes a difference what kind of people you recruit when it comes to whether you're numbers will be one in three, one in five or one in ten.
Let me share with you a few things I have learned, first as a teacher, then a manager and owner of an investment firm and finally as a leader in the network marketing industry.
1. You will attract what you are. If you are a positive, enthusiastic, hard worker you will attract positive, enthusiastic, hard workers. If you are negative and always looking for the easy way - the short-cut- that is who you will attract.
2. Your people will do what you do. If you do the things it takes to build a business -recruit distributors and sell product- you will teach your people to do the same.
3. You need to know your people. In order to motivate them and create a bond with them you need to know who they are and what they want. What are their strengths, their weaknesses, their fears? All of this information is necessary to help them be successful.
4. Most new distributors are insecure and lack self-confidence. You must create an atmosphere that provides security. One of the most important things I have learned is that most people experience greater personal satisfaction and more financial rewards if they have a simple, proven plan of action to follow. Give them a step-by-step plan to get where they want to go. The key phrase is - where they want to go. This is why you have to know what they want.
5. Make sure they have the knowledge and skills to accomplish the plan.
6. Monitor their progress and reward them when they succeed. Rewards can be as simple as the words, "I respect...I appreciate...I am proud of..." Always reward the small accomplishments. Don't wait until they have accomplished a huge task. Small rewards keep us going.
These are all such easy things to do but as Jim Rohn would say, "they are also easy not to do." They are easy, but vital to the long-term success of your people. If you don't establish methods to keep your people in the business and help them become successful you will simply be putting them in one end and watching them fallout the other. That is a no-win situation for everyone involved. It's bad for you because you never reach the goal of residual income. It is bad for the new person who has come into the business failed and left disheartened and disappointed. It is paid for your company and network marketing in general to leave people disappointed and disillusioned.
If you are having problems keeping people in the business and helping them move to success review the six points above in relation to your business, make adjustments and work hard on the six things for the next six months and you will find that your business will look much different than it does now.
