In this weeks article I am going to share with you part of an email I sent to a leader in our company who was discouraged with their organizations performance. I cannot stress the importance for leaders to constantly grow and get better at starting people on the right track. This concept is a SECRET that has been mastered by only a few. The secret to retention & duplication is in the first 24 hours, 72 hours, 1st week and month a new person is in the business. If you do your job right in the beginning, it makes everything 100% easier in the future. If someone makes it 90 days in the business the odds of them developing a strong positive attitude and moving forward towards success is extremely high. Zig Ziglar says, the only difference between a big shot and a little shot is a big shot is a little shot that kept shooting. I recently read an article that stated, Dreams come true if you Never give up it talked about this concept. Persistence is the most important ingredient in the success formula. Here is the truth about this business. Distributors come and go, developed leaders stay. This business is a revolving door. Many people get excited until the work starts. I have heard it said, Anybody can get excited about lifting 300 pounds, UNTIL THEY GET TO THE GYM! As leaders we have to understand the psychology of a new distributor, and do our part to help them develop a strong attitude and ultimately a belief in 4 areas; the company, the product, the industry and themselves. As human beings we are all made up of: Opinions Attitudes And Beliefs All of us have opinions, about anything and everything. An attitude is much stronger than an opinion. We have all heard the phrase They have a real attitude about that. A Belief is just that, an unwavering, knowing, with everything within us. To believe is to KNOW, without doubt, in your heart and soul. Most people can count their TRUE beliefs on 1 hand. Now when a new person enters your organization the pendulum in their mind has probably swung from a negative opinion to a positive opinion that is why they decided to give it a try. We have to understand that just because they made the intelligent decision to join, doesnt mean that they believe like we do. They are still very fragile psychologically. As leaders we must work hard to keep that pendulum on the positive side, because it swings constantly back and forth in a new persons mind. That is why it is so important, to give them activities to follow in the first 72 hours they are in the business (20 Reasons, Top 3 & list of 50 contacts) If a new person goes into the market place and immediately starts inviting people to an overview or conference call without first establishing WHY they are doing the business, there is a very good chance they will get hit with some kind of negative from a person who has nothing more than a misinformed opinion. It doesnt take many negative misinformed opinions to sway a person who only recently developed a positive opinion. That is why it is so important to try to insure that a new person has immediate success. Immediate success in the beginning will make a big difference in the future when they hit their first slump. If a person knows WHY they are doing the business it is much easier to persist through the misinformed people in the market place. If they dont know WHY, then it makes it much easier to throw in the towel before they ever really start. Does that make sense? Until you know why, the HOW doesnt matter So as leaders, the two most important activities we can do with new people are making certain they complete their 20 Reasons and Top 3 Reasons sheet. Then teach them how to approach their top 10 business prospects in a non threatening way, by asking for their help as described in the many of my training CDs and make sure that you are with them on the phone when they follow up with their first 10 business prospects. (It is a funny thing, but a misinformed negative friend, or relative wont be nasty if a stranger is on the phone) Make sure they get some easy product sales by getting some company literature in the mail to people they have credibility with at church, work, family or social clubs, and you are off on the right foot. Can you get this picture? It is knowing exactly the activities and attitudes that you want to create with new people during the first month. You are responsible for implementing the GAME PLAN. You want to take them by the hand and. 1) Help them establish their Reasons 2) Choose the top 10 business prospects from their list of 50, make sure they understand the can you do me a favor script and get a opportunity CD in their hands. 3) Make sure they get at least 10 Hot Product brochures into the market to pick up some easy sales with people they have high credibility with. 4) Follow up with them on their first 10 CDs and you handle the conversation. If you can accomplish these 4 steps with every potential leader that joins your organization you are on your way to developing a strong relationship with that person, because you cared enough in the beginning to provide them the one on one directional leadership that they needed. There are two types of perceived leaders those with Position / Rank Power and those with Personal Power. Personal power leaders are willing to go the extra mile to direct and guide their people in the beginning. People know if you sincerely care or if you are attempting to manipulate them for your own good. People dont care how much you know, until they know how much you care Will every person want your help? Will every new person keep up their end of the bargain and actually give you their top 3 reasons and a list of 50 contacts? NO ! That would make leadership too easy. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. When people arent willing to do their part, you must have DEFINET CLOSURE with them. You need to say something like, John, I have a business to build and I thought that you were going to play a major leadership role on my team, but right now you dont seem to be ready to go to work, so I have to work with people who are. I am here, and when you are ready to go to work, you let me know and we will start building your team. THIS IS A CLUE: For you to be able to take this stance and posture with people you need to personally have a constant flow of new prospects in your funnel and new members joining your team. If you dont, it is very easy for us to push people who are not ready to run and create aggravation and frustration for ourselves and damage the relationship in the process. You must have definite closure, because now this person can not cause you any aggravation or stress. Anything you get is a Bonus you can now focus on finding someone who wants to build and quit trying to push a snowball uphill. It has never bothered me when new people quit or sat back and did nothing, because I knew in my heart that I had done everything within my power to get them off on the right foot. I always created definite closure and in doing so I preserved my relationship with them. Many times people will not make an effort, because they dont want to let us down. People need to build the business for THEIR REASONS, not ours. Sometimes it takes people a little longer to believe they can than others. However if they hang around, those beliefs those strong positive attitudes will be developed over time. This business is fun and exciting when you work with people who have STRONG REASONS! So to improve your retention, to grow your organization, you must understand how this business really works. The real product in our industry is not a health tonic, vitamins, skin care, legal services, etc, it is PEOPLE and the better you become at getting people off on a positive track in the beginning the easier this business becomes. Please contemplate on this and take it to heart, internalizing this information can be the difference between Success and Failure in your enterprise. |
