Leadership!
If you are in Social/Direct selling (sometimes known as MLM) you will know how important inspiration and motivation are. As a Leader you simply have to utilise these – but you also need to be able to set expectations and drive your team in order to fully realise yours, and each individual’s success.
I remember one conference where a team used the Spice Girls, “I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want”, as a theme; this came back to me this morning when thinking about a couple of Leader’s I occasionally work with who seem to have ‘lost their drive’.
In reflection, I believe they’ve lost their drive because:
1. They are not setting new team members up in a structured way.
2. They are not observing team members as they go about their work.
3. They are unable to assert themselves with existing team members.
Whether people are employed or self-employed they need to know what is expected of them from day one. If you want a team of ‘may sell, may not sell’ folks then that’s fine…as long as you don’t want to build a serious business and generate a good income. If you do want the latter then you simply have to sit down, explore what each and every team member wants and set goals with them.

When I was fully employed in a Social/Direct selling business I would start every single person with a plan designed for them. How often they needed, or wanted, to work – and what to do if they weren’t achieving what they had told me they wanted to achieve – would be key factors.
Attending a monthly team meeting and communicating/feeding-back to me at appointed times (to suit both) would also be part of our ‘agreement/partnership’. Meetings are key – if your team member doesn’t ‘need’ the meeting, the meeting ‘needs’ them and if they do ‘need’ the meeting, then attendance is a must!
Of course, I would never refuse to take on a ‘Smart Shopper’ – those people who would want to order regularly just for themselves and family – but anyone who joined me to earn money would know exactly ‘What I want, what I really, really want’ and that would be for them to succeed, which, ultimately would lead me to succeed too. A win-win!
If you have team members, or you yourself are not focused and driven then even reading motivational books or listening to inspirational people won’t lead to success.
Warm wishes
Leigh
Note: I work with more than one company as an independent trainer/coach and I will never reveal anyone, or any companies name in a blog! Neither would I ever ‘poach’ from one company to another!
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