The masses who contribute to company growth seldom like to “sell.” Selling is a barrier to entry for the common person who joins as a distributor or a consultant, wishing they could receive income but dreading the idea that they must sell. Thus, to be wildly successful, carefully and purposefully create tools that take the dread out of selling and that make sharing simple and affordable. Effective tools will accomplish much:
- Tell the stories that have to be told (the product story, the company story, the distributor income story)
- Demonstrate success
- Impart skills and confidence
- Inspire action
To really wrap your arms around this question, begin by evaluating the behaviors you wish to elicit and reinforce with customers, MLM distributors, party plan consultants, and hostesses. One of the most helpful planning tools is revealed below.
Because MLM recruiting and party plan business development is behavior-driven, this simple approach will prove to be invaluable as you create recruiting strategies, training systems and tools to support growth. The LaunchSmart™ System trains in detail how to use this powerful framework for organizing incentives, training and tools.
The process begins by identifying the categories of new recruits that will join your MLM company or party plan organization. Because every direct-selling business has at least two categories, the example below will show customers (those who simply buy and consume your company’s products and services) and distributors (those who also have a business and income motivation). Once the categories are identified (carefully consider your true market segmentation, because one of the greatest mistakes that companies make is to assume that “one size fits all”) then fill in the next column to identify the behaviors that you wish to elicit from each category.
Next, identify the incentives that will most certainly elicit the desired behaviors, followed by the training, communications and tools that will best support the desired outcome. All that remains is to seek out useful resources to make sure that you do not overlook the proven tools and best practices.
In our age of technology, give careful attention to selecting the best tools and media for presentation and skill transfer. Each medium has strengths and weaknesses, pros and cons, depending on what is being communicated, to whom, and by whom.
Likewise, each tool in the MLM training toolbox or party plan training system has pros and cons, and the key is in identifying those that work best for your company’s mix of distributors and consultants, desired behaviors that support recruiting and booking, and incentives that are designed into the MLM and party plan compensation system. In evaluating the right medium for the message and desired result and the right tool for training as well as recruiting, also keep in mind the importance of balancing cost and return on investment.
The table below illustrates how you might organize your work in evaluating your tools as well as your media and your messages:
| Medium | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Training Systems with Manuals & DVD / CD-Rom / Audio Cassette | Orientation (field rep / customer) Basic training, Advanced training systems Skills training, Audio news features Convention highlights |
| Internet & Website | Specific systems and best practices are offered in the LaunchSmart™ System to help you speed through this process |
| Conference Calls | |
| Live Training Meetings | |
| Annual Conventions | |
| Regional Conferences | |
| Postal Service | |
| Video Mail | |
| Etc. |
| Tools | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Web Tutorials | Specific systems and best practices are offered in the LaunchSmart™ System to help you speed through this process |
| Product Sample Packs | |
| Etc. |