Staff Training & Development
When it comes to MLM customer service and operations, your network marketing support staff is the lifeblood of the operation, even if you start with a few select, trusted individuals. On the front lines of MLM customer service and Party Plan operations, the heart and soul is the staff. Select wisely and then commit to a long-term training and development plan to ensure depth and breadth of skills demanded by fast growth. Systems and processes are the foundation of an effective enterprise, with exceptional people to use and manage those systems. Let’s make something very clear: Even if you created the most sophisticated systems in the world, you still need qualified, committed people, not only to use those systems and processes, but to improve them.
Systems are not designed to remove the humanity from your company. Instead, they free you and your people from daily concerns such as, “How do we get orders coming in today? How do we answer commission questions? How do we train new field reps?” Your systems tell you how. With systems in place, everyone can focus their creative energies on “How can we do it better?” rather than, “How do we do it?”
Of course, one of the most important areas requiring your attention is on selecting the right people for MLM customer service and creating a work environment where your people can grow with you as they help your business grow.
Here’s an important truth: you cannot motivate your people to do anything. If you want it done, you’re going to have to create an environment in which “doing it” is more important to your people than “not doing it,” where “doing it” well becomes a way of life for them.
People development has everything to do with creating an MLM customer service workplace where people motivate themselves to do it well, where they feel valued for doing it well, and where they’re constantly looking for ways to move beyond their limitations to do it better.
Systems development is really the easier part of building a successful enterprise. When it comes to people development, the challenges are exciting. This section will give you the checklist for setting up your staff training and development plan.
Finally, one of the top three problems that CEOs from MLM companies and party plan companies always describe to us is that distributors and consultants complain that answers from customer service are not always consistent. In fact, many MLM distributors and Party Plan consultants take advantage and “shop” answers, knowing how to work the system. Let us give you the secret to gaining greater consistency in what your employees tell people who contact them.
The secret is found in a methodology that is used in law school to teach how to study or brief a case. We call it IPAC. I stands for Issue. P stands for Policy. A stands for Analysis. C stands for Conclusion. By teaching your employees how to identify the true issue (or issues) when someone contacts them, then how to identify the appropriate policy (or policies) that applies, properly analyzing the facts and issues and applying the policies, then reaching a conclusion and moving to action, they serve the field so much better than without these skills. And at the heart of consistency is knowing the “why” behind each policy. When your employees understand the “why” then they can more consistently arrive at the same outcome.
MLM Customer Service Staff Training & Development Checklist & Key Considerations
- Have we put into motion our staffing plan?
- CEO
- Operations
- Technology
- Finance & Accounting
- Sales / Marketing
- MLM Customer Service
- Do we have a staff training plan?
- Policy Administration
- Compensation Plan
- Field Policies
- Internal Systems
- MLM Customer Service
- Staff selection criteria
- Job descriptions, internal grades
- CSR training, development, advancement, certification
- Staff compensation
- Employment policies, MLM customer service policies, employee handbook