No category with this ID : 11 > MLM Training - How to Keep Your Downline Interested, Focused and Productive

This bulletin is about how you as a leader can add incentives so your downline will produce more.

What I'm going to share with you here DOES NOT REPLACE what you learned in "9 Proven Actions to Get Your Downline Producing More," which was the importance of a well trained distributor. Training is the backbone of motivation. Nothing motivates a person more than fully knowing what to say on the phone, how to say it, and having confidence that they can do that.

How to use incentives
Adding incentives can be thought of as games you can play to keep your MLM business fun and in the spirit of play. I'm talking about dynamic, exciting incentives to increase your downline's enthusiasm, and make them excited and looking forward to doing the business. And in turn, have that enthusiasm translate into products sold and new distributors signed up.

This also creates a fun culture around your organization. And, as hard as it may be to believe on the surface, it is widely acknowledged that distributor recognition is as effective a motivator as an increase of income. Recognition raises self-esteem. It shows your distributors that you care about them, and you value and appreciate the effort that they put forth. You can't put a price tag on that. And once they know that you care about them BY YOUR ACTIONS, they will show you something you may not have thought possible. They will give you their best performance ever.

What you're trying to achieve with incentive programs is an increase of performance. The two important factors are:
a) What performance to reward
b) What to reward achievers

What performances to reward:
* Any of the 13 activities in Pocket Tracker. Such as the number of appointments set, number of presentations, the number of retail sales, etc.

* Total number of guests at meetings or on conference calls

* New distributors per week/month/quarter

* Retail products sold

* Training steps completed

* Highest volume, highest Increase in volume, and highest increase in volume percentage and pin level achievement

What to reward achievers:
* Two things you should always do for small achievements are handwritten thank-you cards and delivered balloons or flowers. Those two things should be a staple in your business.

* At every training meeting you do, you should give at least two awards to high achievers. If you do a newsletter - be sure to recognize your achievers in the newsletter. Get their picture with their guest(s).

* Weekly, whoever had the most guests at the meeting or everyone who had over three guests gets a free dinner.

* Professionally done certificates - in a frame ready for hanging on their wall.

* Recognition pins are good.
* Prospecting leads for high activity. Like whoever has the most number of prospects on the conference calls gets 20 free leads.

* Apparel - such as company shirts or hats.

* Convention tickets are a great one. Everyone who sponsors five new distributors in the next two months get a free national convention ticket.

* Travel is always a good one- Ski trip, beach trip, cruise, family trip.

Points that can hurt your program:
* Lack of MLM training - I've mentioned this already but it tops the list as being most important.

* Reward the achievers immediately at the end of the program period.

* Keep the program simple. If there's a ton of twists and turns - no one knows what they have to do.

* Frequent winners - if the same people win every time, others get discouraged. So change the program so that it rewards the super achievers as well as others.

* Lack of follow up after the program -at the end of the program right after the awards ceremony, pass out a 3x5 card and ask for comments.

* Lack of communication - someone has to be driving the incentive program. This means constant communication. Send pictures of the destination if it's a trip. If it's a car, send pictures of the car. Keep the incentive in front of them a couple of times per week.

* Lack of a good rollout. The means plan the program. Plan the promotion. Plan the award.

Let's say we're going to do a Schools Out Game that ends on Jun 1st. The winner gets a trip for four people to Disneyland for four days. March, April and May are the performance months. The winner is leaving as soon as school's out! This gets kids involved as well. We start promoting the program February 15th. Awards ceremony will be at a bar-b-q outing on Jun 1st where all family members are invited. At this event we will also announce the next program... Back to School Game.

As you can see this creates a wonderful unity between everyone as well as a fun culture.

Enjoy your MLM business!

Tim Sales