I was talking with someone the other day and they told me they were disappointed because someone who said they were going to go to their website and sign up on June 1st didn’t do it. Their question to me was, What should I do now? What surprised me was that they would set up a potential new recruit to do that on their own. I felt they were really dropping the ball.

Why? Not because they might not do it as in this case (although that is in itself a pretty good reason), or that they couldn’t figure out the website. But because of how anti-climatic it is for the new recruit. Plus it impedes what we all work to create, excitement and forward motion. Explore this with me for a minute.

When is someone the most excited and motivated about their new business? Until that first check comes in, the answer is “right now.” Don’t you want to take advantage of that excitement and motivation? How can you do that if you’ve sent them off to fill in the blanks alone?

Here’s the deal. When they make the final click to pay for their kit and the privilege of doing business with your company, you need to be right there to say “Congrats!” Now, let’s get started.

Then you do the first steps you always do with new recruits. You start them using your getting started system. That means you start everyone the same way each time. Every new recruit is trained through each step of your system. The only time your system changes is when you find something that needs fine tuning or you decide to add or remove something.

This makes it much easier for your recruit to learn exactly what she needs to learn in order to create financial possibilities in her business. If she creates enough financial possibilities some of those will turn into financial probabilities and some of those will turn into solid business.

Here is what else you accomplish. If you’re using the same system each time you start someone, then you’ll be able to train them to use the same system too. You are less likely to get resistance to your ideas and coaching, if your system helped them become successful.

If you send someone to your website to sign up without you or without a binding, clear appointment immediately afterwards, you in affect throw away a great deal of energy and forward momentum. This is energy and momentum that you don’t have to do anything to create! It’s yours, simply for being organized and a good sponsor. That is, you give recognition to someone who has just made the decision to start their own business - and get them started now!

Warmly,

Jillian

Have you ever been really generous and handed a lead to someone on your team. They promise they’ll call. They’re excited. They’re grateful.

But they don’t call.

Why? It’s the difference between What we are supposed to do and How we are supposed to do it. Yes, they knew they should call the lead. But when it came time to pick up the phone and make the call, they were uncertain how to proceed from there.

If you’ll take the few minutes (even the 15 minutes) to go over not only what your recruit is to do but how to do it the difference in your business and your recruit’s business will be night and day. Or should I say broke or rich.

For a “how to lesson” on this go to Step 2 of the “Five Steps to Work Less and Make More Money In Network Marketing”

Enjoy your weekend.

warmly

Jillian

When you go into the hospital you expect to get care and treatment that allows you to get better. Right?

Yet, in 2005 nearly 94,000 patients in hospitals all over the country contracted a preventable drug resistant bacterial infection they didn’t have before they entered the hospital. Nearly one out of five who got the virus died.

It is true that 94,000 patients is a very small number of people when you consider how many people enter the hospital each year. But it is not a small number if it happens to you. An additional heartbreak, these infections were preventable!

What can this possibly have in common with your business?

This is a story about a doc with entrepreneurial spirit. No, he didn’t start a business to fight this resistant bacteria (MRSA). But I believe he acted as one would expect an entrepreneur to act.

Dr. Richard Shannon, Chairman of Medicine at Alleghany, Pittsburg General became started looking for a solution to the problem at large when MRSA struck his own practice.

In other words, Dr. Shannon stepped out of his one-to-one care model and studied the bigger picture. He looked at how existing systems supported unwanted results.

What did he do?

He set out to learn more about how to make care more reliable and safe. And he didn’t do it by throwing everything out and starting over. He built upon traditional experience. He also said something else that was the trigger for this ezine.

His take is the first step for any leader is ownership of the issue! Sound like an entrepreneur? I thought so too.

As I said earlier, DR. Shannon’s first step was to look at how existing hospital systems supported unwanted results. Interestingly, he found that anonymity was a culprit.

Here is what he found and his three prong approach.

1. Because infection data was reported in statistics, complex numbers, Dr. Shannon realized no one felt responsible. Here’s an example of how these infections were reported, “5.1 infections per thousand (intravenous) line days.” How’s that for anonymous and non-emotional? Anyone see a human face on those numbers?

   Dr. Shannon put a human face on the problem. If fifteen people were infected they said just that. Then the stories of those 15 people were told. People’s lives and how they were affected by the infection told the stories rather than anonymous numbers simply reporting data. Anonymity was replaced by real people’s loss.

2. All staff members were asked to observe their work and see where there were defects in current delivery of care that could propagate into error. Their job was to see with “new and different eyes.” This is an important piece because typically it is not one thing but a combination of things that create a problem.
3. When they encounter the possibility of infection they solved to root cause why it happened that day. Historically infections were reported months after they occurred loosing any chance of context to ascertain why it happened.

Now when an infection has occurred Shannon gets an email message. He goes to the bedside and asks one of these questions? Which question do you think he asks?

1. Who did it?
2. Why did it happen?

If you said “Why did it happen” you’re correct. The goal is not to ascertain blame but rather to find a reproducible solution that can be used 100% of the time to prevent the circumstance from happening again!

Let me ask you these questions:

1. In the bigger picture what’s your job as a sponsor?
2. Do you have preventable problems?
3. Have you taken ownership?

What is your job as sponsor?

Dr. Shannon’s take in the big picture was to provide care that was “safe and reliable.” When I was a sponsor I saw my job was to provide a solid proven business platform for my new recruit’s business? It was also my job to provide an environment for them to work through setbacks and celebrate successes.

Which of the following describes you?

• Do you take ownership (not blame) for the issues that recur in your business?
• Do you lament how many people start but don’t build.
• Do you wonder, “Where are all the good people?”
• Do you scrutinize your system(s) as they worked (or didn’t work) with each and everyone one who joins your team?

What does ownership look like?

• Does your weekly team meeting feel like a mastermind where people talk about their activity and how it’s working or not working?
• Does everyone leave that meeting with a “personal activity goal,” something inside them they’d like to change or continue to develop?
• Do your team members leave that meeting looking forward to “watching themselves” in action in order to learn more about themselves?

Hmmmm?

If all this sounds overwhelming to you, relax. It’s not. This is nothing more than systematic skill building. You are just as capable of running a winning, dynamic team as the next person. Ask any graduate of our “Savvy Sponsoring” program.

And for those of you saying, “I don’t have the time to build a business this way.” If you’re putting time into building a business, any amount of time, you have time to build it properly. It does not take more time to build a business right. It saves you time … and your sanity.

If you listen to the Terry Gross’s NPR interview of Dr. Shannon you’ll hear how he actually went to Alcoa and also Toyota to study their successful business systems. Do you think Dr. Shannon was determined to get a handle on something that had been plaguing medicine for years? Yes, so do I.

Our industry (like most small businesses) is plagued with a very poor success rate. However, it does not have to be that way. But in order for it to change in your business:

• Take ownership, it’s not about your recruits
• Look with new eyes and identify your problem areas.
• Build reproducible systems you use 100% of the time

I hope this ezine makes two things very clear:

1. You can build a financially successful and sustainable business.
2. If you don’t know how, like Dr. Shannon, work with someone who does know how.

Click Here if you’d like to hear Terry Gross’ January 9, 2008 NPR Fresh Air interview of Dr. Richard Shannon.

Warmly,

Jillian

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