You Get What you Give... It's All About The Downline

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders. —Tom Peters

Direct Sales really cannot happen without relationships being formed. In previous articles we have talked about how it is our responsibility to cultivate those relationships. Some of those relationships are fairly superficial, BUT some of them are special.

In this case I am referring to those people who not only believed in a product but believed in YOU enough to let you lead them into relatively uncharted waters. They want to learn from your examples and hopefully do as well as you (if not better).

I am referring of course to your Downline. You have a special responsibility here, and your income truly depends on it. Your down line isn't full of children that you can easily mold (Ha. Like children are easy to mold anyways). Instead it is likely full of adults with VASTLY different backgrounds and belief systems. Talk about a challenge right?

Fortunately, you're job isn't going to be to make them work together as a team. This isn't corporate America. Instead you need to keep them focused and motivated. You have to continue to market the opportunity to them, otherwise they will fade away leaving you with less stability. The following are some tips for how to help yourself in these situations:

1. The Little Things Matter - Things like birthday cards and simple "Howyadoin?" phone calls can go a long way. Direct Sales is a roller coaster at first so it is a relief to know when you aren't alone in it all.
2. You've Gotta Teach 'em - You gotta keep the training coming. Your people will inevitably need help. You will inevitably have people who don't ask for help. That may save you time, because you wont have to help them all the time... but it will certainly do a number on your override check. Corporate trainers have known for years that you need to add variety to your training methods to help deal with the different kinds of learners (That's a whole other article because it effects selling too... look for it soon). So make sure you offer several different training methods: group sessions, One-on-One training, webinars, videos, written documents and references to online training sources (Like a certain Blog I read about once... I think it was called the Savvy Somethingorother :))
3. Include them in your Success. You know that you can't develop a long term consistent income without them. They know it too, so there is no sense hiding it from them. Make sure you celebrate your successes with them. It will help keep attitudes positive and it will show them what THEY can have if they put in the amount of work that you do. (Which I hear isn't too bad for your override either.)

Let me know what you think here folks. What are some of your tips and tricks for keeping your Downline motivated and educated? Let me know through your comments. I'd love to hear about it.

Stay Savvy,

Stephen