It’s hard to actually say the “biggest reason” for failure is any one thing. But after coaching all these years, I do believe there are two huge reasons we have such a high failure rate in MLM. The first is we send our new recruits out to talk to people only knowing what to do but not being clear about how to do it. Another reason our new recruits stumble and never quite get back up, they’re not emotionally in the game. Often they don’t have a clear idea of why they’re starting a business. (I know about the ‘extra money’ thing. But where’s the emotional attachment in that?) And if they’re not clear about how their business is going to change things for them, neither are we. If you follow this outline with every recruit it should make a huge difference to them and you!

If you live in a perfect world these are the questions for your first meeting. (Don’t worry if you don’t live in a perfect world, there’s a solution for you too below.)

Ask your new recruit,

1. “How much money do you want to make in your first three months so this business is real for you?”
2. ‘In the longer run over the next six months to a year what kind of money would you like to make?”
3. “How will that change your every day life?” (This is a huge question!)
   All of these questions start your new recruit’s vision. These questions feed an emotional reason to keep them going when the going isn’t so easy.
4. Store hours – Without good clear working hours your recruit’s business courts chaos. A business won’t survive chaos. If you don’t have a great system to get your new recruit and their friends and family on board with store hours check out our Savvy Sponsoring Store Hours CD
5. Identify how many events and what kind of events your new recruit needs to do in order to accomplish their first set of goals.
6. Out of the number of dates she has available to her for the month, if possible circle more dates than she needs to meet her goals. It seems easier to fill six of eight spaces than six of six! All of us can buy calendars. But knowing how to use them makes them a great tool and not something we either leave behind or forget to open. Need help to make your calendar work?
7. Ask her to identify (right then) at least 3 to 5 people who she thinks will be interested in playing and working with her in a business of their own.
8. Identify the first few people she’s going to speak with about holding an event that she believes will only be hostesses. (Make sure she realizes she could be wrong and to always ask if they have interest in starting their own business. The best way to do this in my coaching opinion is using the “after thought” technique. Only a couple of sentences necessary.
9. It is your job to go over Step 2 with your new recruit for each of her first contacts. That means people who are going to simply be customers and for sure all those people she identified for you in step 7 above. Every minute you spend making sure your new recruit is ‘thoroughly trained” in what they are going to stay (written out, rehearsed and then practiced) will be worth solid gold to both of you.
10. Follow through using the “Five Steps” to make sure she knows exactly what to do with those who say, “Yes, I’m interested.” (I’ll call you next week is not the appropriate response.)? You also need to use the “Five Steps” to set her next follow up with you to go over her success and frustrations.

And If you Don’t Live In A Perfect World

Ok, so you don’t live in a perfect world. There isn’t enough time in your first meeting to get through this agenda. What then?

The first three questions are essential. Do those! I would also do store hours with every new recruit in your first meeting. Please note I did not say, “Send them home to do store hours.” I said do them with your new recruit.

Even if you can’t get any further than through store hours because you have no time left check out what you have done. You’ve left her with an emotional response to her business and time for her business. Huge.

If you only get through the first four or so, then using the “Five Steps” (if you’re not familiar with our “Five Steps” click on the link) set up a firm follow up appointment and give her homework. Ask her to write out:

• What life would be like if her business was bringing in the kind of money she’d like to make.
• Ask her to describe her day.
• What would her week look like?

This is a good exercise to keep the excitement juices going before you meet the next time. She can also start her list in between appointments.

By the way, she doesn’t need to know how many events she needs to do unless you can start step 2. The events can look really hard unless they know how they are going to make that happen. Your next appointment with her needs to be ASAP. Not too much time in between. We don’t want her saying too much to people until she’s trained.

If you split this process up, make sure that you go back over the first three steps and store hours (five minute review) when you meet the next time. Do this by asking questions about her vision. Ask her to read to you what she wrote. (Make sure you ask her to bring it along).

Then complete the process so she’s got her calendar planned out and a solid idea of what she’s going to say and do.

Keep an eye on her ability to keep moving through the material the first time you meet. If her eyes are rolling back in her head she needs a break. It may only be a few minutes, maybe another appointment. You’ll get more productive time out of someone if you’re meeting early in the day than in the evening after their job.

If you start each and every new recruit this way your new recruit will have a solid business tract to run on. She will also have a great system with which to train her own recruits.

The big payoff, your business is starting its new recruits with a system. A system any person can use. Now how duplicable is that!

Warmly,

Jillian

Too often we have our attention on things we have no control over; specifically our results. We focus our attention on what the other person is going to do. Yet, we have absolutely no control over them.

It’s true we have control over what we say, do and how we act. But as good as we might be at those things, it is not a good indicator of what someone else might do. You can be the most eloquent. You can be a master at enrolling. You can have the best opportunity for someone to make a change. But if they aren’t motivated, none of it will happen.

If we stay focused on things we can’t control, it doesn’t take long for anxiety, disappointment to take hold. Then the resistance to continue sets in.

What should we be focused on?

Only what we can control. Ourselves. How does that make for a robust, financially sustainable business? Because by doing the action we have control over we create possibilities. Think about that for a minute.

You make a call to someone who may be thinking about starting their own business. Did you create a possibility? Sure you did. You created the possibility they may say “No” or may say “Yes” to you. Do you have control over what they say? Nope. But you do have control over how many possibilities you create.

How do you get proficient?

Ever hear the joke about the guy who stops someone walking by and asks, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer is “practice, practice, practice.”

But that’s really only part of the answer. If someone was practicing the violin daily with all the focus they could muster, but didn’t understand music would they get to Carnegie Hall? No of course not. The adage practice, practice, practice means, “Improve what you do and how you do it.” If you keep practicing the same thing the same way but expect different results, it’s not to Carnegie Hall you’ll get!

How do you get better and better at what you do? You pay attention. You take a few minutes after each possibility you create and ask yourself questions like these:

• How did I do?
• Did I feel comfortable throughout the conversation?
• Did I listen more than I talked?
• Did my questions help to me understand what they really wanted?
• Did the person I was talking to appear comfortable?
• If not, did it change during the conversation?
• What was my reaction to their change?
• Did I check out if they changed, or ignore it or simply change my approach?

In my coaching practice I call this debriefing. Taking a few minutes after each call, or event, or activity will give lots of insight into how you might want to change or strengthen your approach.

And read and then read some more. Ask questions of those who know more than you. Join a mastermind of your professional peers. Hire a coach. Go to business seminars. (If you would like to be more proficient in your business in, consider our Savvy Sponsoring program.)

As Michael Gerber says in the E-Myth Revisited, “…people who are exceptionally good in business aren’t so because of what they know but because of their insatiable need to know more.”

Why keep track of the points?

How many people do you need to talk to before someone says, “Yes, I’d like to start a business? How many people do you need to talk to before someone is willing to meet with you? Or, host an event for you? Or, buy from you.

Having a good working knowledge of these details in your business is known as your “ratio of success.” It’s tough to run a business if you don’t know how many calls it takes before someone says, “Yes, I’ll listen to you.”

The only way to determine your ratio of success is to keep track of what you do. When you first start out you’ll take a guess at what you think. But the only way to know for sure what kind of activity you’ll need to generate, in order to get the results you want, is to determine your ratio of success.

Goals don’t have to be tough or a guessing game.

Even though you have no control over the people you’re talking to, you do have control over how many possibilities you create.

• You determine the work you do.
• You determine how many calls you make.
• You determine how many real connections you make at any event.
• You determine when you do your follow-up.

I’m sure you’re getting the picture. As soon as you know how many times you need to repeat an action before you get a desired result, you now know your ratio of success.

Your business and the money you make is not a guessing game.

It is really straight forward.

Make your calls. You create possibilities. Get better at what you do and you get proficient. The more points you get, the more possibilities you create. The better you get at creating possibilities the more profit you make.

Not hard. Simply, straight forward good business foundations. If you would like to be more proficient in your business, apply straight forward good business foundations to your business. If you don’t know how or simply aren’t doing what you know you should, ask for help. Go public. Put yourself on the spot. You could even hire a coach (Our new Savvy Sponsoring program is all about giving you the tools you need and keeping you accountable.)

It is easy to keep score.

Check out our Points = Possibilities + Proficiency = Profits tally sheet.

You will be amazed at what this simple tally sheet will tell you about how you’re spending your work day.

Go on Take a Chance Create a day full of Possibilities And keep track of it!

Warmly,

Jillian

How do you create possibilities?

Calls, Calls, Calls,

Here are the questions that most people hate to answer.

How many calls did you make this week?

How many possibilities did you create this week?

Here is the simple truth about your business.

You only have control over what you can do. You can create possibilities. Here are the possibilities for your possibilities

• They say, “I don’t want to talk to you.” It ends there. You’re exactly where you were before you called.
• They say “Yes, I’ve got a minute to talk.” Now you’ve got the possibility of creating a new relationship.
• They ultimately say, “No thanks I don’t want your product.” You’re exactly where you were before you called.
• They ultimately say, “Yes, I’d like to try your product.” Your possibility turned into a business relationship. You’re better off than before you called.
• They ultimately say, “No thanks, I don’t want to start a business.” You’re exactly where you were before you called.
• They ultimately say, “Yes, I’d like to start a business.” Your possibility turned into a business relationship. You’re better off than before you called.

Two big questions for you:

1. Are you creating possibilities?

2. Are you creating possibilities in the best possible way?

If the answer to either question is “No.” Isn’t it time you did something about it? You have absolutely no control over the results of what you do. The results are out of your hands. But, you do have full control over how often and how well you create possibilities.

• You have full control over how many possibilities you create.
• You have full control over how many calls you make.
• You have full control over how confident you are.
• You have full control over how well prepared you are.

Want Help?

• Get on every complimentary call we offer.
• Read everything you can get your hands on about business. Pay particular attention to “sales.”
• Do what you have to in order “to get over you.”

If you need help in these areas check out our upcoming Savvy Sponsoring program. Only two days left for early bird savings. Savings end March 21st!

There is no need for you to feel unprepared, afraid and unwilling to create possibilities in your life and business.

If you wanted to learn yoga or tennis what would you do? If you want your kids to learn to skate, play the piano or dance what do you do?

Do you or your business deserve less?

Bottom line: If you are not doing in your business what it is going to take for it to be successful, go find help.

If not us, then someone else.

It’s that simple.

Calls, Calls, Calls, create possibilities that create results.

Click here for information about our Savvy Sponsoring program. You have till Friday March 21st to save up to $465.

Folks, there is no time like the present time to take control.

Warmly,

Jillian

Ever have your life going along just fine, thank you very much, and then POW, life delivers a one-two punch that changes things forever. When that happens, it can rock you right off center. I don’t know about you, but it humbles me and brings into sharp focus how fragile life is.

None of us are immune to these things. It’s all a part of life. We’ve lost pets, changed jobs, moved, dealt with illness and lost loved ones. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what life can bring. The one thing we can all count on, life will bring change and it won’t always be change we want.

Typically I can have two re-actions to these kinds of crisis. I can throw myself into work until I drop trying to “catch up.” Or I walk away feeling totally overwhelmed saying, “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Neither action solves the problem. Let’s take the first example, I throw myself into work. The problem, I’m already depleted because of the crisis I’m dealing with. Therefore, I’m not very effective. And when I start working all the hours I can muster, it typically doesn’t take me long “to drop” either. Actually, it’s not uncommon for me to “drop” right into some kind of cold, flu or some other stress related illness. Ringing any bells with you?

Great. Now I get to be mad at myself for getting sick as well as being behind. I don’t want to do anything, plus I’m fairly ineffective because I’m unwell! Not a great combination for success.

I don’t fare much better in the second scenario, walking away in overwhelm saying, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” This produces guilt plus a mountain of (ever increasing) undone work and broken promises. Why? Because of course, I don’t do it tomorrow. Nothing has magically changed. I’m still in overwhelm. And the situation snowballs. I’m further behind and feel guilty too. It’s not unusual for me to add that cold or flu into this scenario as well.

The typical end result of both of those scenarios is being so far behind that everything feels hopeless.

Time for Triage

What I talked about in the last ezine issue wasn’t theoretical. I was climbing out of overwhelm and regaining control. I don’t mean to amp up the drama here. But if you’re dealing with “high marks on the stress chart” your energy and focus are most likely going elsewhere. That means everything else is going to get short shrift including your business. (My Google search turned up this stress chart. According to this chart my stress score at the end of last summer was 378)! http://sweetchillisauce.com/Letters/Stresspic.html

Tom and I were dealing with death, sickness, his job change, and moving from one coast to another (and those are just the big ones). Talk about emotionally draining times. But I could have made it much easier on myself and everyone else around me. I could have been pro-active rather than re-active. I needed to do early triage.

Getting Really Honest

With everything (unplanned) that was happening, I was not going to complete everything I wanted to do. It was time to stand back and be the CEO rather than the “technician” (E-Myth, by Michael Gerber). I needed to make some business decisions. Tough to do? Of course it is. Some things are going to be cut out and not get done. That’s never an easy process. Plus there is another dynamic going on. Getting caught up in the drama makes for a lot of energy. All that energy can be pretty appealing. Unfortunately, it is negative energy.

When life turned things upside down on me, I decided not, - yes - not, to be rigorously honest with myself. I kept saying to myself and anyone else who would listen that I was going to do this, and then going to do that, and then going to… You get the picture.

I continued that behavior until my “red flag” (pushing my email send and receive button) broke through my stubborn hold on avoidance! That’s when I got honest with myself. That’s when I acknowledged I was out of balance and not in any kind of control. It only took a few minutes with “Back to Basics,” (yes, that’s all it took) to get myself back on track. I’m not saying that everything got fixed that day, but I got focused. I was on my way.

You know what else, I can pretty much tell you the day I choose overwhelm. I know when things are knocked off track (just like you do). And I know, realistically that whatever I had planned didn’t include this “change.” But I decided to lie to myself and pretend that I could get it all done and push myself into overwhelm.

Do you relate? Well there’s hope. Here’s what I could have done to avoid the heartache and stress. Triage. I needed to “sort my victims” as Dictionary.com defines “triage.” I needed to “determine priorities for action in time of emergency.” There was no other way to avoid chaos and ultimately getting really stuck. Because (again) the truth was I was not going to get it all done. But how do you do triage when you’re in chaos?

It’s Time for STOP

• Step Back
• Think
• Organize your list of things to be done
• Pluck*

Obviously, what Tom and I were going through was hard. But tucking my head under my unconscious wing didn’t help. I added a lot of stress to my life (and Tom’s) because I didn’t take a realistic look at my business. I also amped up my feelings of overwhelm. If I had paired down my list to what I absolutely could get done and let the rest go (till later or maybe forever), life would have been much easier. Things that were really important to me would have gotten done. And no one would have expected things from me that I couldn’t deliver. (That in itself is a big guilt reliever.)

It’s Your Choice - Damage Control or Damage Prevention

Here’s what the STOP does for you. You get to step back and get out of the “doing” mode (which can also be avoiding mode) for that CEO bigger picture point of view.

1. Take a quiet moment to think on paper so you can organize the list of things that you’d like to get done.
2. Give them a time in your calendar.
3. Tell everyone who is expecting something from you when they will get it, or if they won’t get it.

Number three above is really critical to your piece of mind. It stops those “broken promises.” The things you say you’ll do and there is no way you’ll ever have time to get them done.

Bottom line. You will not get to some things. It can’t be helped. There is nothing you can do about that. You don’t have time. But make sure everyone knows what they can or cannot expect from you. No surprises.

You may not like having to do this. But don’t you think it is better you decide what will, and what won’t, get done, rather than leaving it to chaos to decide. If you let chaos decide you end up dealing with guilt because of those broken promises and missed deadlines. Damage prevention is often difficult but it is always easier than damage control.

When life delivers a curve ball use a STOP to do triage and Back to Basics to get back on your way.

Then everyone knows what to expect plus the important things get done.

Please let me know if this ezine hits home with you and if the ideas and tools are helpful.

Comments? Leave one below!

Warmly,

Jillian Middleton

*Shamelessly adapted from The Inner Game of Work, by Timothy Gallwey