TRAINING

“Tell me thy company and I will tell thee what thou art.”

 

Cervantes

It’s been said that nothing succeeds like success. In network marketing, you succeed by helping the people in your organization succeed. The key to this success is the proper training of your downline.

Training is critical to helping your downline develop and stay motivated. Training is an ongoing process that involves constant effort on your part to make the basics of this business second nature to your people. Consider the professional football team. These people are experts, they’ve played football their entire lives. But what do they do five and sometimes six days a week? Train.

Master the fundamentals of your business. Practice. Practice. Practice.

As your organization grows you need to make regular training sessions in your living room a habit. Invite everybody in your organization, and cover the basics of the business over and over:

a. Focus on the big picture

One of the most important things you can do for the members of your downline is to keep them motivated. To do this, remind them why they joined. Rekindle the fire of their dreams and aspirations, and be an example to them that is worthy of emulation. Have a dream session at the beginning of each meeting. Ask each of the attendees in turn, “Why did you join this company? What can I or any of the other associates do to help you succeed?”
b. Goal setting

At this point the people in your downline should know how to set goals. During the meeting ask people to share their goals with the group and then lead the group in a discussion of how that person can best achieve that goal. Remember, keep the goals focused on those areas where results can be seen and measured, preferably within the month.

c. Working the Action Plan

The same applies to the action plan as to the goals in item (b) above. Openly discuss each individual’s action plans, and help him or her, as a group, to fine-tune them. Throughout the training session, reinforce the idea that your organization is a team, and should work together and openly, to help one another achieve his or her individual goals.

d. Demonstrating the product

The importance of sells is discussed in the next section. In your training session it is important that you not only remind members of your downline of the importance of sales volume, but also give them some ideas on how to do it. Don’t be like the proverbial boss who assigns a task to some hapless laborer, then walks away without providing the tools or training to accomplish it. If you are serious about sells, then train your people how to conduct sells. If you don’t know yourself--learn; or ask someone from your upline to come in and help.

e. Recruiting

The issue of recruiting should be discussed in every training session, and individuals should be allowed to share with the group their successes and failures in this area. One of your distributors may be on the edge of dropping out, fearing that his recruiting failures are unique and incurable. However, fifteen minutes of group discussion may show him that he is not alone. A few more minutes of group brainstorming may find a solution to the problem.

A group of people, working towards a common goal, has access to an enormously powerful tool called synergism. Synergy is where the culmination of the mental resources within a group is greater than simply adding up the number of people in attendance. Synergy lets you share ideas, enlarge upon another person’s thoughts, correct somebody’s misperceptions, and feel the joy of teamwork. In your training sessions, don’t waste this valuable resource by not engaging everybody in the training process.

f. Managing the business and your image

Finally, remind people of the criticality of presenting themselves and representing the sponsoring company in a professional matter. Be a good example here. Your downline will follow your lead in this area quicker than any other.

Activities

Attend an opportunity meeting or free training seminar this week.

 

Write five things about the style of presentation, the environment, the presenter’s personal input, or any other things that grabbed your attention during the training session.

 

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Write an itinerary/agenda for an opportunity meeting or sales training meeting you would host:

Beginning with your first sponsored distributor, organize and conduct sales training classes. Discuss product uses, benefits, methods of demonstrating, and techniques of meeting and approaching prospects. Practice on each other. Two people working together, towards a common goal, form a team.