A Leader Must Know

 

A Leader Must Know
by Michael S. Clouse

Attended a Network Marketing training the other day. A nice group of
people who were, for the most part, just getting started in the
business. The instructor seemed to know his material, and was a good
presenter. In fact, everything was going along quite smoothly, until the
incident...

Let me ask you a question. If you could design, and then create, the
perfect organization of distributors, what would it look like? How
large? How skilled? How duplicatable?

Duplicatable? Oh! There's that word again! Why is this concept of
repeating an agreed upon methodology so vitality important to the
long-term success of your enterprise? Let me explain...

It has been said, and rightly so, that the only commonality religions of
the world share is belief. All asking you to consider as true, things
you may, or may not, fully understand and at times can't necessarily
prove. Right or wrong, that's the way theology works. And your Network
Marketing business should function pretty much that way too. Everyone
singing off the same hymnal. Now that's not a bad idea.

Here's the problem. From a leadership perspective, our industry doesn't
tend to attract drones. To the contrary; this form of entrepreneurial
experience entices the motivated maven movers and shakers of the J.O.B.
Community. And then, as soon as we've enrolled our newest potential
superstars, we allow them to tell us how they're going to build the
business. Who knows, perhaps that explains why we have but one true God,
and so many different downlines!

How about you? How are you doing with this duplication thing? Fair?
Average? Great? And based upon your answer, if there were a simple way
to predict your Networking future, would you be interested in peering
into the vast unknown? Because we all have two ways to view the
future—one with anticipation, the other, with apprehension—I'll share
the information, and leave the rest to you.

Go get a copy of your organizational printout—you know the one your
company will send after you've signed your life away, and paid a small
fee. Next, select one, two, or three individuals from each different
level shown on said report. After highlighting these—making sure you
randomly choose some new, some old, some successful, some not—pick up
the telephone and give them a call. After all, if they're in your
business, getting to know them would be the right thing to do.

Introduce yourself, ask if they have a few minutes to speak with you,
and let them know the reason for your call; you're conducting a little
survey, and were hoping they could help you out. Find out how long
they've been with your company, why they decided to enroll, their
favorite product, and so on, and so forth.

What you ask is really dependent on what you would like to discover.
However, I would suggest that you prepare your list of about ten
questions, to avoid the possibility of winging it... And then somewhere
along the way, shift your inquiry to the business structure. In essence,
where are they finding prospects? How are they introducing the business?
What audiotapes, or videotapes do they use? Are they attending the
weekly events, etc.

What you're looking for, of course, is "top to bottom, left to right,
everyone being on the same page" commonality. By the way, we don't live
in a perfect world, and, therefore, that probably won't be the case.
However, you do need to discover if the overall system is in place. Even
if the people and personalities are different, the principles and
processes should be the same. Because in Network Marketing, duplication
is what success looks like!

Back to my story—you remember, the incident... What this instructor went
on to say in part was, "We are now going to conduct business a new way."
That "new way" was not approved by corporate, and would, if implemented,
eliminate upline, downline, and crossline, taking money out of other
people's pockets, and potentially placing it directly into his... Not a
good idea.

Luckily, this issue was quickly discovered, and immediately corrected.
Which reminds me that over a lifetime, parents, and yes, even Network
Marketing leaders, need to be asking, "Do I know what my children are
doing?" Believe me, finding out is a better than great idea.

Therefore, if you would like to improve your duplication, get your
printout, make the calls, and then find out what everyone's up to...
Armed with that information, seek out the counsel of someone in your
upline you respect, and then make the necessary adjustments. Because a
leader must know what the organization is doing.

All the best,

MSC

Copyright 2002 by Michael S. Clouse.
_______

Michael S. Clouse
Editor-in-Chief, Nexera e-News™.
Former Editor-in-Chief, Upline® Journal.

University of Illinois at Chicago
Certified Network Marketing Professional.

Author of Future Choice, Building Your Empire,
Seven Prospecting Secrets, Business Is Booming!
Prospecting 101, and The TeleCoaching Workshop.


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