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Featured
Article...
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What
do Golf and Other Games
Have in Common with MLM?
And
How Are YOU Playing
these days?
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I
came home to a voice mail from Ruthie, a really good friend.
The message was short but it ended with Ruth painfully
proclaiming, “Well another lousy golf game
today.”
It
is spring here in Seattle and Ruth is ready to get her
golf game out of the winter closet and back on line. Her
golfing buddies of the last couple of years weren’t
available to play this year so she found herself looking
for new ones.
Ruth
is a professional food server in a high end restaurant
here in Seattle. She’s the kind of woman you love
to have serve you. She listens well and asks questions
to clarify your preferences and just generally makes everything
to make your dining experience enjoyable gets done.
Even
though Ruth is in the public service sector of our economy
I would not classify her as particularly “outgoing.”
In
fact I’d say that Ruth is really a bit of an introvert.
She re-fuels either by being alone or with a friend or
two playing golf.
But
in order for Ruth to play golf this year she was going
to have to meet other golfers. She found herself having
to join a ‘golfing club” -- something way out
of her comfort zone. Now she’s in the company of
lots of other women during the time she’d really
like to be recharging.
But
worse, her relaxing game of golf just got really serious.
Ruth has to determine her handicap. That means every stroke
counts. Every one.
No
longer is the game just for fun and a way to relax! Suddenly
every stroke is being recorded and used to determine just
how “good” her golf game is.
Ruth
is now focused on the one thing she has absolutely no
control over, the “results” of her golf game.
It
all sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it? Now, what I
know about golf you can put into a thimble and shake, but
I asked Ruth if she’d play along with me for a minute
to see if we could take some of the pressure off. Even
if you're not a golfer, I think you'll be curious how we
did this...
I
asked her how she felt when she got up to hit the ball. “Tense.
I know that every shot counts toward that handicap.” As
Ruth talked a bit more she realized that she was also afraid
she might not remember exactly how many shots she took
so she was being hyper vigilant about writing it down.
Bottom line Ruth was acutely aware of her score every time
she picked up her club.
What
was Ruth focused on? Results, results and more results.
I
asked Ruth, “What do you think you need to remove
to make your game more fun?”
She
said that when she played with her old friends for the
last couple of years there was no pressure on score. She
cared and felt good when she played a “really good
game” but there wasn’t the pressure to do so.
If she didn’t need to be so vigilant about her score
it might help.
In
thinking about that, Ruth remembered a “stroke counter” she'd
seen, a keychain-looking thing with beads on it that worked
a bit like an abacus. If Ruth got one of these she wouldn’t
need to remember her score until after the hole was finished.
She would just move a bead over and at the end of the hole
count them up.
Ruth
and I have been friends for years. We share the belief
that awareness is in and of itself curative. But often we
work too hard at trying to fix something rather than
trusting in watching ourselves as we move through the activity. In
this case Ruth was trading the fun in her golf game for
worry about the number of strokes it took to move the ball
toward the hole.
What
needed to change? Not her golf stroke but what she was
feeling and thinking as she was taking her stroke. So along
with the stroke counter Ruth decided to simply be aware
of how much she was enjoying her game (or not!) as she
played.
Can you see the similarities between golf and MLM?
Can you relate to the feeling of struggle Ruth was working
through?
Maybe you've lost the 'fun' in your business lately too.
We
spend so much energy worrying about our recruiting results
or product sales (golf score) that we eat up the fun
we can have if we just enjoyed ourselves in the process.
I
think we can find simple tools to make our work easier
too...
Do
you have your elevator speech ready to go so you don’t
have to “think” about what to say when someone
says “What do you do?” Do you have a good
referral card ready to hand someone to make your close
easier or leave the road open for a call later? Are you
ready with a comfortable way to ask for referrals?
These
are easy tools much like Ruth’s stroke counter that
will take the pressure off.
And
here’s something you can do right this minute that
will take almost no energy and every one of us can do
it.
• Be aware of how you’re feeling when you’re working your
business.
• Be
aware of how you’re feeling when you’re doing
the admin duties.
• How
are you feeling when you’re talking to a team mate?
• How
are you feeling when you’re talking to someone about
your product?
• How
are you feeling when you’re talking to a prospective
business builder?
Then
ask yourself what is it that is preventing you from having
a better more enjoyable time while you do these things.
Not only might the answers surprise you, but I’ll
bet things start changing simply because you are aware.
Take
a few minutes now and write some answers down won't you?
You might just find the fun in your business again.
As
for Ruth, I’m not sure what will happen to her game,
but I’ll let you know. And I’d love to know
about any changes you see in yours.
Click
here to post your comments or questions.
Savvy
Sponsoring's Next Mini-Program begins May 14...
The
Best Little Marketing Soldier Ever: Your Business Referral
Card (AKA No more ordinary business cards!)
What
do you think Would Happen if Your Business Card Looked
Like THIS?
Compared
to a regular plain-vanilla business card, a card like that
has been proven to:
- make
it MUCH easier to open up productive conversations
- increase
the number of people who follow up with
you on THEIR initiative
- help
sort through those who will be interested so
you waste less time
with nonstarters...
In
my opinion, every serious network marketer runs the risk
of working too hard getting very little result. The
Referral Card like the above, done right, is a key way
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As
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get-real-work-done, intense experience.
'Your
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What
Will You Get? Simple.
At
the end of the 4 weeks, you can have your Referral Cards
ready and marketing their little hearts out for you - even
when you're not there, really! The only remaining
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As
you may know, we like to actively reward you for taking
action - it comes from being a Coach. :-)
So
don't be surprised - there
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Last, but not least...
The
Savvy Coach's Corner
In
today's Coach's Corner, I'd like us to think about the
difference between short and long-term thinking in our
businesses. It's worth exploring, especially
if you feel you do a lot of rushing around...
As
with everything at Savvy Sponsoring Strategies, feel free
to use the coaching questions at the bottom with your team.
A Solution Versus An
Answer
Definitions
Solution - the process of
resolving a difficulty
Answer - something
needed to address a question or problem
Comparisons
immediate vs. long-term
Example
Jeannie thought that the
answer to her financial concerns was to increase the
sales of her business. In fact, the solution was to double
profitability through cutting costs, improving leadership,
and letting go of unproductive team members.
Key Point
An answer is an immediate
response to what appears to be the problem. A solution
is an approach that goes to the source of the problem
and prevents it from recurring.
Benefits
Look beyond temporary answers
to permanent solutions.
Your
Coach's Corner Questions:
Are
you in your business for the long haul? Even if you're
not sure, are you behaving as if you're 'just trying it
out?' How might you be wasting time and energy addressing
short-term problems?
What
problem have you been fixing over and over again?
What is the source of the problem and how might you solve
it permanently?
Click
here to post your thoughts and questions
The
distinction "Solution versus Answer' was originally
created by Isabel Parlett and Thomas Leonard. Copyright
97, 98, 99, 00, 2001 CoachVille.
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