A few years back I wrote a blog on being All About the Team. If you are in Direct Sales, your team is SO important! A team is a bonus! Many become friends and feel like family!
For starters…
Let me start by saying that you can only lead a horse to water. You can’t MAKE them drink.
With that being said, you definitely want to at least try to lead them to the water.
What exactly does “leading” the team mean?
So many times I hear about leaders that do just about everything for their team when they first start. I’ve even heard of leaders that make pretty notebooks to give to them with all of the directions to get started. Keep in mind, these instructions are all available in their back office, so this is just something extra they have decided to do.
These same leaders later tend to complain about their team not looking for answers for themselves. Or they quit after a few months. I truly believe if we do too much for them, they don’t pick it up and run with it for themselves. We have to remember that this is THEIR business. Just like ours is OURS.
Tools & Resources
Make sure your team has the tools for sure! But this means SHOWING them where to find their answers. Not answering for them. You’d be surprised how good they feel when they know where to find their answers! They tend to be much more confident in themselves and their business.
Most companies offer some kind of training portal in the back office. With Pink Zebra, we have a terrific Resources tab in our back office that even includes a drop down for brand new consultants. It covers everything from what to do when you first start, to how to put a party in the system.
We also have a consultant manual that lays out the rules along with do’s and don’ts for all consultants. You can find the career plan there too!
So help your new consultant be successful and independent! To learn where to find answers so that as they grow their team, they can duplicate what you did and set their own team members up for success as well!
Personalize it if you want
Years ago I decided to have a separate website so that I could create blogs and even have a place where I can do training videos that I have prepared over the years in my business. This isn’t necessary by any means, but I thought it would be a great idea to have everything in one place that I have done personally.
Your team typically wants to know how you work your business. This is great because not only does it hopefully help them, but it also keeps us as a leader on our toes. As a leader we want to be sure we are setting a good example, right?
Don’t feel like you have to have a separate website by any means, but do consider how you can share with them what YOU do to get your sales and recruits. Let them know how you work your business so they can take pointers or tips from that and do what works for them!
Other ways to communicate
Communicating with our team is vital. Where we don’t want to work their business for them, we DO want to communicate with them! Facebook has become a great tool for this when wanting to get a mass message out.
On Facebook, you can have a group or groups for your team members where you can post inspiration, challenges, and encourage others to share their successes too. It is also the perfect place to talk about company specials or important dates.
The challenge with Facebook is that not everyone goes to look at the groups, but I believe if they want to be connected, they will be. Again, we can’t force the horse to drink the water we have provided!
Live & In Person
Facebook also allows the opportunity to go live in your groups! Doing a live team training, or inviting another consultant on to share what they have been doing and their success is a great format!
Then if you have team members that are local to you, getting everyone together (for those states not locked down anymore anyway!) in person is fun! Having a team meeting once in a while to share, learn, and collaborate is so helpful. Even getting together for a fun activity once in a while is great for team morale!
One-on-one
And finally, one of the things I love doing is offering one-on-one calls with any team member that wants it. Often times a team member wants more accountability or has a goal they are striving to meet. If us getting together over the phone or a zoom once a week for a period of time to discuss this helps, then I’m all for it. Over the past couple of years there have been quite a few team members that have hit big goals for themselves and it’s been so exciting getting to encourage them through it.
Company Sponsored
Some real talk here: The company sponsored events are a must. We’ve had to do many virtually this past year, but slowly we are coming together in person again. The old saying is “whoever shows up goes up”. I didn’t use to think a lot of this, but after being witness these last several years, I now know it is true.
Sadly I’ve seen team members that decided to ‘skip’ a company event for what ever reason and then suddenly they feel disconnected and eventually fade away. Now, I know that sometimes life events don’t give us the option to make it to that event, but those people typically have a real drive to be sure they stay on top of things. It’s when someone is feeling kind of down and gives themselves a “pass” for this one. That pass turns in to disconnect unfortunately. So don’t pass unless you just HAVE to! You’ll be SO glad you stay connected!
Be a cheerleader
If nothing else, be their biggest cheerleader. Celebrate successes. Cheer one another on when they are striving for certain goals! This is actually one of the most fun parts of the business for me. Seeing others so happy for achieving the goals they’ve set!
Celebrate, encourage and support.
Cheers to growing an amazing team! You’ve got this!!
