From MLMWoman.com
You've proven you've got what it takes to make sales and run a successful network marketing business. Your next step is to recruit your first person. You're excited and realize that once you get someone on your team, you can continually grow your business and stop working quite so hard - or can you?
Once you become a team leader, you'll need to share your efforts on some different areas of the business. You still need to work your own business, but now you are responsible for others as well. What can you do to ensure you'll be successful as a team leader? Here are some tips and suggestions that will help make sure you'll be leader anyone would be proud to work with.
Put others first. Any good team leader realizes it's no longer only about themselves and their business. They put the needs of their downline above their own. Success will happen for your recruits, which in turn means you too.
Learn to prioritize. You must be able to put things in order of importance as a team leader. By doing this you will be better organized and show your team members how to do the same.
Walk the walk. As a leader you must lead by example. You can't tell your team to do something and expect them to follow you if you're not doing it too. So, go ahead and talk the talk, but only if you can walk the walk too.
Overcoming obstacles. You know how to work past any objections in this business. You know your product or service well enough to know what possible reasons people have for not wanting to purchase and have answers available to prevail over them.
Perseverance - You know that you'll receive a lot of no responses in this business, but you stay positive and also know you get the answer you're looking for. You stick with it when things are slow and don't let rejection get you down.
Create a working system. You are organized and have a system that gets results. You also realize that organization is different for everyone, but you know yours and are willing to help your team find their perfect system too.
You motivate, encourage and lift up your team. A good leader is the cheerleader for the team. The leader is the motivator and sees the bright side no matter what happens.
Set goals. You not only have to set goals for yourself, but your team as well. Know what an achievable goal is and what is out of reach. Be able to help others reach their goals by breaking them up into manageable steps.
Consistency is important. You must hold regular meetings and reward your team members for a job well done frequently. Your recruits want and need you to be consistent with their training. A good leader attends the Annual Conference or Seminar and encourages their team to do the same. The Annual Conference is the best place to be built up, encouraged and motivated!
You're not in this just to make money. Know your product, use your product and like it! You must believe in what you sell and only sign up those who do it too - they make the best sales people.
Above and beyond these tips, you can also learn to become a great leader by apply the principles it takes to do so. Watch videos, listen to CDs, read books and newsletters, and attend conferences that will help you become the leader you want to be. These things will make a difference in your business and your life too.
By Audrey Okaneko
Direct sales is all about creating sales. You’ll create personal sales retailing the company products to individual customers and you’ll create team sales by building a team and supporting their sales efforts.
In order to lead a team, you’ll need to develop and learn some leadership skills.
Leadership is learned. We are not born with leadership skills. Think of the many leaders you know. There are leaders in your local PTA. There are leaders in your community. There are world leaders. Each leader we know learned the skills that brought them to be the leader they are today.
There are several ways to learn leadership skills:
1. Read books - Our local bookstore has an entire section on leadership. I’ve read books by several different authors. You’ll find that men and women teach a little bit differently and you’ll find that depending on profession, skills may be taught a bit differently also. If finances don’t allow a book budget right now, use your local library. I’ve found some real gems at our library.
2. Subscribe to newsletters - One of my favorite authors is John Maxwell. Not only have I read most of his books, I also subscribe to his newsletter. Each newsletter offers new ideas and new food for thought.
3. Attend seminars - Over the years I’ve attended seminars ranging from how to deal with difficult people to how to improve your listening skills. There are so many topics out there to choose from. Not only will these seminars help you become a better leader, but they will help you in every relationship you are involved in, business and personal.
So what are some of the topics you should consider learning about?
1. Listening - I know that we all have two ears and we all hear, however really listening to the person speaking is a learned skill.
2. Communicating - I continue to learn more and more about communication. It is such a fine art. Each person we speak to and interact with is unique. How we communicate with one person may not be the same as how we communicate with another person. Learning how to effectively get our message to each unique individual is key in leading a team.
3. Problem solving - If you are in direct sales, problems will come up. For example, it’s December and a top selling product has become unavailable. You need the skills to be able to help your team accept this in a positive way so that sales are not lost. You need to be able to help your team present this small obstacle to their customers, so that they also will not lose the potential sales.
Consider investing 30-60 minutes per week into learning and developing your leadership skills to help you build a larger network marketing team.
About the Author
Audrey Okaneko has been working at home since 1983. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at www.recipe-barn.com
