My 10 Top Tips to help boost building your team
This has to the most common question I get asked so I am going to share my tips with you right here, but firstly if you already are not familiar with my story and how I first started team building here’s a brief overview then let me share my 10 Top Tips to help boost building your team exactly how I have done it.
I started my network marketing business with no previous experience whatsoever, nada, zilch! I came into the industry not actually knowing I was in the industry of MLM (multi-level marketing) I just saw a fantastic product that I loved and knew others would to and one that I could re-sell quickly to those I worked with.
Three months later I saw the bigger picture of what building a team and large organisation could give you, not that I ever thought it was possible, the cars, the holidays, the income and the chance to quit my job before I was 40 and work from home but guess what, with hard work, focus & consistency I did it within 12 months of adding my first team member.
So how did I do it? What was my secret?
Do you really want to know?
So like many of you I also hear this all the time; I don’t know anyone, I haven’t got the time, the goldfish just died (but seriously I did have this once but it was a guinea pig and a week off to grieve was needed!) or I have tried and I only have four team members and can’t do it (so in other words excuses).
Well guess what, I am an only child and didn’t have a circle of friends to sell to and lacked confidence to speak to strangers (yes, it’s true!) I just had the girls I worked with in the office and that’s it (and I only worked 3 days a week!) so I started using Facebook and booked in local events & parties (to those I worked with and went to school with) and grew my relationships up from there.
But maybe that’s what I had that others didn’t (or hadn’t found yet), a vision for where this business could take me by helping others and a goal of where I wanted to be in 3 years and never dreamed I would achieve the first success level in 6-months, I hadn’t even read that far ahead in the compensation plan!, but I did or because my passion for the product and helping others and the vision for my families future was so big & strong, I would do whatever it took for a better life, to never be financially dependent on my husband (yes, I’m all for girl power and an ex-single parent, so have always been the sole income provider for my kids - that’s for another blog post).
NO EXCUSES!?!?!
So baring all this in mind, let me share below my tips that have helped me and my team grew an organisation from zero to over 11,000 team members through duplication, following a simple team system and by being patient, we have to allow the process to happen at the speed we can work, that life allows us to work. Just never stop driving your chosen vehicle (your company), never stop adding to your structure or taking your foot off the gas. You will just have to start all over again!
My 10 Top Tips to help boost building your team
Push your recruiting efforts in peak seasons Sept, Oct, Nov, Jan, June (and push, I mean daily). Advertise outside of Facebook, like Gumtree, mums business sites, local publications, flyer drops, book in more parties, attend fundraising events and ask your friends on Facebook if they know anyone who could do with a few extra pounds until payday just from talking to people - get your name out there!
On Facebook why not create your own buy & sell group or a genuine interest group like a local wedding, baby, rock hunting, gardening, cooking group. What interests you? Think of the new friends you can make who will perhaps come and check your profile out (I guarantee they will) so have your personal profile fully optimized for your business - make it easy for people to follow you and fall into your funnels and find you outside of Facebook..
In your day, spare 10 minutes to check in on the group (and find some pages) and create conversations, give advise, help people and build up relationships. I have a ‘Weddings in Cumbria’ Facebook group that I set up when I got married as I had a genuine interest and could share my experience with others. I don’t allow and network marketers in the group as I know they will just want to post recruiting posts, this is strictly for weddings. But I do have a banner on promoting ‘earn extra cash for your wedding’ with my website on and links to signing up!
Be very careful about people looking for a ‘free opportunity’ in some of those MLM sites on Facebook. As we all know, nothing in life is free, effort and time and samples are needed so some investment is required so make sure you have this initial conversation with all potential new team members that want to make money. There are lots of groups on Facebook that have lots of people ‘fishing’ for that golden egg, but guess what, that golden egg is looking in other ‘professional marketing and education groups’ and are other places like Google search, Instagram and reading blog posts they find on Pinterest and Twitter. They are attend local networking groups, they will pick up leaflets & business cards locally, at the salon, the local shops. So why not do what I also done, get out there, attend local networking meetings, book in some local fundraising events and parties, share your advice and value on social media posts and the people will come to you. I love attraction marketing and know you will too if you have a little bit of patience and time to build up your personal branding, local reputation and social media platforms.
Invest in advertising flyers ASAP and hand them our locally, leave them everywhere, give them to friends to leave in workplaces, salons, soft play area’s and post locally on new housing estates, leave them where your ideal customer (or team member) is hanging out through the day. Many new home owners are first time buyers and needing as much cash as the can get so why not grab the dog and add in some exercise and get walking around these new estates! As a team we have sample business cards to hand out, why not get creative on Vista Print yourself.
Create leaders and party planners, not many of us have ready made and experienced team builders/party planners joining our teams, but we can certainly nurture and grow them. Look at who will invest in time and the business, who is showing up to weekly team training’s and getting their teams on to them? who is willing to travel and attend bigger training events, who is even creating them, who is duplicating a structure that works, your team systems – these are the true and solid leaders in your business. These are the ones you should be investing your time into by guiding and mentoring them , they are committed to the business!
*Do you remember the 80/20 rule? Invest 80% of your time into the doers and 20% in the rest, then move on.Identify who is going to be your promotional leg, the leg that helps you reach levels and help them do the same. Have you identified your 6 team builders on your front line helping you reach incentives and higher levels? If not, go help those that want to change their lives with goals and dreams and the work ethic to grow their business achieve their goals, help them become team leaders. Just keep building your ‘legs’ until you find them and duplicate your teams systems!
*remember the 1:10 ratioBrand yourself and optimise your personal profile and business page on Facebook (yes, you definitely need a business page). Now is the time to step up and be the team leader you want to join yourself. Share your lifestyle, behind the scenes, your fun and engaging personality and stand out to your ideal customer (have you worked out who they are yet?). Stand out to someone like Mary Jones who’s had a rough day at work and is surfing the internet and social channels and suddenly see’s that post that you are ‘talking to her about’ because she actually does need some extra cash to pay for the vet bill and is surfing work from home opportunities on google on her lunch breaks (this is spooky!) and then thinks, I’m going to check this Sharon lady out - so she’ll come over to my personal profile and will see my feed and think she knows her stuff and is fun as well, I think I could work with her, but hang on - she now wants to know more about me so will click on the links on my personal profile which will direct her to my YouTube channel (lots of tips & value their for her) and my business page (wow all those lives and product tips) and then she may be on Instagram too so will pops over there and by now… she is getting to know more about me, she wants to know more about me and is starting to trust me because she can see I post regular and have been doing this for some time now… and by this time she is also thinking I can do that – I want to be just like her, she’s doing great, I will look at her website (or message her) and get myself signed up! RESULT!!! Funnels that work and because your consistent on all your platforms (colours, profile pic, content) that know, like & trust factor is sealed!
The results using attraction marketing and personal branding can be priceless to your business and why you should always be professional, you never know where people will see your name and google you for more info as to how good you really are and believe me, team members DO google your name as many have joined my own team this way and many have found me from my YouTube Channel! (funnels).
Start up local team get-together’s as soon as you can and invite other cross-line team members to attend (the more bums on seats the more that will inspire your own members to push on up the plan). Working together strengthens your own position and will automatically help push you higher! Get established as the leader to go to in that area for new members looking to join! How good would it be to be known as the go to FM leader in Bristol or Glasgow? Who do you think people would rather join? A sponsor who is actively growing a team and been seen to publicly support and grow their team or a sponsor who does nothing and just sits back and blends in? I know whose team I would rather be part of.
I always hold off encouraging new sponsors in starting their own team Facebook groups until you are more experienced, confident, consistent and a higher level. You have to be an active sponsor yourself and be building a strong and active team that is pushing you up the pay plan to inspire others. Until then keep to using your main teams ‘hub’ or support page. Why not stick with a group chat (but they annoy me something stupid with the constant notifications, so be aware of people like me, we are out there!). Just be aware, you need your team to not be overwhelmed at the start of their journey with lots of info and groups. They need to be motivated and inspired by seeing others success and if no-one is hitting the top levels in your own group, or engaging and talking, then it will become a dead group which leads people to leaving and thinking what on earth is this about! Your team group has such a big impact on their development and until you are higher – make the most of the support and training you have already in your own sponsors or upline’s group which is giving you the support needed, you will then see more activity in your own downline as they see many more people succeeding, so they then will also follow and be motivated to get those sales as well, the only reason you should consider starting a group up earlier than this is if your own sponsors group is inactive, de-motivating and you know your team will not be inspired or motivated by this either – thus making them not even get started, it is why I started my own group!!
I have seen many legs drop due to starting groups to early from just copying the information that is in their main team groups, it really can de-motivate and is not very much inspiring.
Just think before you start pushing a team group and ask yourself, are my team active enough to have one or is my upline’s training good enough for now - they are actually doing the training for me!Never quit, create your own story. Your journey and why you are doing this is unique to you. Your story is what your will eventually stand up at a local meeting or national conference and talk about to your team and others in the company. Your journey really will be inspiring to many and one day you will be change lives with just a few words of your own journey. The minute you add one person to your team, you give that person an amazing opportunity, just remember it’s up to them to take that opportunity further and make it life changing, you can only sign them up and give them the tools and training, it’s up-to them to do the rest, only they can see the bigger picture like you did.