Some will join your team because they want to earn extra income or be recognized for their accomplishments. Some will join because they want to be a part of something bigger than they are. Regardless of why someone joined your team, though, they’ll engage and participate more when they know that you appreciate and value them.
A leader does four key things:
*Builds vision in others
*Trains team members
*Coaches team members
*Mentors team members
Builds Vision in Others
Building vision in others is one of the most important things you’ll do as a leader.
A vision is a big picture of what a person wants in life. Building vision in others is important because it helps them remember why the challenges they face are worth going through. As someone who has become a leader, you know that whether it’s hearing no, adhering to a busy personal schedule, working with an unorganized calendar, or dealing with personal situations, there will be challenges to building a business.
When those challenges come, your new representatives need to be able to focus on the vision they’re working toward, so the challenges are put in perspective. Without your help, the majority of your team members may not have a clear vision of how they want their new business to impact their lives; so when the challenges come, the challenges are what they focus on. By helping them build vision, you give them staying power!
Becoming a trainer
I think this part is the scariest for most people. It’s one of the biggest things that hold people back from recruiting: the fear of training. Many people avoid leadership within a company because of this fear.
Being a trainer to a new representative is not difficult. Some people have natural abilities in this area (this has always been my strength). But it can be taught, and you can learn how to be a good trainer. The good news is, with all the technology and multiple resources available to you, you don’t have to figure out what to train — you just have to execute a good system.
Usually a company can provide nearly endless resources. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You may have to pull the most important pieces of information and feed it to your new recruits in bite-size chunks. You may need to email them a cheat sheet, so to speak, telling them where to find the necessary information. But the what of training is probably already done for you.
Put together a checklist of things your recruits need to learn and where to find them. Then follow up with them. Post some of these trainings in your social media.
Here are the main things your recruits need to learn right away:
*How to get bookings
*How to bring in their first recruit
*How to host coach
*How to place an order
*Where and how to order additional business supplies
Knowing when to coach
First, let’s talk about what a coach does not do: instruct and teach. Instruction and teaching is done when you’re wearing your trainer hat. Coaches also do not work alongside people, allowing them to gain from observing a more seasoned professional — that’s mentoring.
In business, coaches help people determine a game plan based on the teammate’s individual desires. They then encourage, direct, and redirect toward those goals.
As a leader in direct sales, you’ll wear your coach’s hat most frequently during individual coaching calls to team members. Coaching calls should not be more than 30 minutes but can take as little as 10.
While coaching, one of the most important steps is to find out what the individual’s personal goals are. When I first began coaching, I made the mistake of assuming that all my team members wanted what I wanted — to create a full-time income with their business — so I was encouraging them to meet goals of eight parties and two recruits a month. You can imagine how overwhelming that was for representatives who only wanted to earn a part-time income.
Ask questions and be a great listener. During an initial call with a new team member, ask what she wants to achieve with her business within five years, three years, and one year.
Once you know their goals, you’ll begin coaching recruits based on what they want — representatives who want to earn $400 a month won’t want a weekly or even bi-weekly call from you; touching base once a month will be sufficient.
After the goals are determined, you won’t need to discuss them in depth during each call. Instead, you’ll ask them how they’re doing regarding their business. When they respond, ask them if they are happy with that. Your conversation might go something like this:
“So, Katie, how are you doing with your business?”
“Well, I’ve had three parties this month, and sales were good.”
“Are you happy with that?”
“I’d really like to get more bookings.”
Although her initial response sounded positive “…sales were good,” by asking whether she was happy with that, you allow her to tell you exactly what she wants to be coached on, rather than assuming she’s satisfied because she gave you an upbeat answer.
Once you know what they want coaching on, ask more questions:
“Tell me, what do you say during your booking talks?” or “What booking seeds do you sprinkle throughout your parties?”
The more you ask about, the more you can pinpoint where they may need to do some tweaking.
Mentoring Team Members
I personally believe that no matter where you are in life, you should have a mentor and also be a mentor.
Mentoring doesn’t mean “teaching” someone the ropes, nor is it simply being encouraging while redirecting efforts. Mentoring means working alongside someone, allowing them to gain from observing a more seasoned professional.
Being a good mentor requires you to be accessible and vulnerable, willing to share the mistakes you’ve made as well as what’s worked. The goal isn’t to seem like the all-wise expert, but rather to let them know that you have been where they are, and then show them how to get to where you are now.
Mentoring does require an investment of time. Often, I would allow a representative I was mentoring to listen while I made calls and watch my parties. And I would watch their parties. They would drive to my home to ride with me to one of my parties, or pick me up for me to watch one of theirs. This meant we had great discussions during travel time — often discussing what to watch for, or analyzing what was said and done.
When a representative I was mentoring needed help with phone calls, I would allow her to come to my house to make them so I could overhear. After just a few calls, I could provide a tweak that would help them get better results.
You can mentor team members who don’t live nearby, too, even for phone calls. Simply utilize three-way calling or video conferencing. Simple introductions so that the third party understands what is happening will make everyone more comfortable. Skype is a common video-conferencing program. It’s easy to use, and most computers and tablets have the capability to run it.