Grow your team with an elevation pipeline

An ‘elevation pipeline’ is essential if you’re a direct sales leader and you want to grow your organization.

The ‘elevation pipeline’ is the path your team members are on in their journey to leadership.

You want people at all different levels in your team so you want to ‘fill’ that elevation pipeline.

Far too often I see leaders get into trouble when one strong team member elevates to leadership themselves. Then their sales no longer count in the leader’s central team anymore which leaves a sudden gap.

If you have only one strong leg in your team, it puts you at risk of this happening to you. To prevent this you want to work on a healthy elevation pipeline.

How to build an elevation pipeline for your direct sales biz

I recommend dedicating time each day to coaching people with an aim to moving them up to the next career level.

I use a roster and allocate the same day every week to the different levels to keep it all manageable for myself. A coaching roster could look something like this:

Monday – New consultant coaching
Tuesday – People who want to start recruiting and grow their biz
Wednesday – People who already have a couple to team members but now want to find more
Thursday – People who are close to elevating to leadership
Friday – Existing leaders in your downline

You might only have one or two people at some of the levels and no one at some others. But your aim is to work towards having people at all these levels – this is your ‘elevation pipeline’ and it ensures you continue to have a strong and thriving business.

Grow your direct sales organization with an 'elevation pipeline'.

Don’t make the mistake many leaders make of concentrating all your energy on only one or two of these levels in your business.

You need to keep pushing people up from the bottom – from brand new party plan consultants to consultants building a team, and finally encouraging them to leadership.

Elevated leaders come out of your ‘pipeline’ at the top, and you keep working with them to strengthen their business and your organization.

How to coach teamies on getting bookings

If you’ve sponsored any team members into your direct sales business, you will definitely hear this: “I can’t get any bookings!” or “I’ve asked everyone and no one wants a party….“

It can be tricky to respond well to these types of concerns from your team members. But I’ve got you covered today with some ideas and a cheat sheet that you can use when coaching your teamies.

Who and How to Ask

Sometimes people new to direct sales assume that one Facebook post is enough to get parties rolling in. You’ll have to break the news to them that putting up a post saying “I’ve started with XYZ company, let me know if you want a party” isn’t the same as ‘asking everyone’.

Perhaps you can guide them to use the FRANK worksheet to make a list of who to ask. Then help them to find some wording they can use to actually ask people personally, which can be face-to-face, phone, text message, or a personal Facebook message.

Another common problem lies in the way people ask for a booking. Newbies, when they mention their new direct sales business, often say something like “Let me know if you’d like a party or want me to send you the catalog…” And then they’re disappointed with the lack of interest in their biz.

Instead, teach them this clever strategy to get those early bookings:

2 Tips for your launch (and common mistakes to avoid)

Keep their business rolling

Once your team member has a couple of parties booked, the next step is to help them to get more bookings from those parties. Because that will keep their business rolling.

And I’ve got 2 great articles packed full of ideas on how to do that:

What to ask in your coaching calls

When you talk to your new team members, concerns about bookings (or lack thereof) will be very common. So it’s helpful for you to have a few questions ready to help you to coach them.

Here are a couple of helpful questions and statements, grab the complete Cheat Sheet by filling in the form below.

Coach your direct sales team on getting bookings

What have you tried this week?
Tell me what you are doing to get bookings?
Who exactly have you asked so far?
How do you ask? What words do you use?
What did they say when you asked them?
How many parties are you aiming for per week?
How would you rate the amount of fun your guests are having on a scale from 1-10?

By asking these questions you don’t just drill down to what the problem is so you can be of better help to them. You are also teaching them to evaluate their performance and adjust what they are doing if it isn’t working. You can then help them to brainstorm new things to try!

Grab the complete Cheat Sheet below with even more questions and teaching points you can use with your team members.

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How to Motivate Everybody in Your Team

Newsflash: not everybody is the same. Okay, it’s not news. You know this already!

But do you know how to use that fact to keep your team motivated and engaged?

To cater to the different personalities in your team, it’s helpful to divide people into three categories: Action, Feeling or Fun. This makes it easier to ensure that you cater to all three categories of people in your team.

So let’s have a look at these categories:

Action People

Action people are often your high achievers. They plan, commit and succeed. However, if you don’t cater to them in your communications and recognition, they will quickly lose interest.

Feeling People

These are the people who need time to reflect. They are considerate of others and often make the most nurturing and welcoming team members.

Fun People

Your Fun People really show their enthusiasm. They’re often very creative and can provide the social ‘glue’ in a team.

How to cater to your Action, Feeling and Fun people

Suggestions for Action People

They thrive on recognition. The more public you can make it, the better.
They love compliments.
They often thrive on challenges with a deadline.
Delegate tasks to your Action People, they like being thought of as valuable and important.
Many Action People like to present to a group, so you could let them help you run a meeting or training.

Suggestions for Feeling People

Ask them how they feel about doing a task or setting a goal. They typically don’t like to be pushed out of their comfort zone, so respect this.
When coaching them, keep in mind they need time to reflect.
Recognize Feeling People for the small things they might think you haven’t noticed.
They value people so you can help them feel like a valued member of the team by emphasizing their value in helping to welcome and develop new team members.
Recognize their efforts, not just achievements. For example when you know they’ve stepped out of their comfort zone.

Suggestions for Fun People

Your Fun People make fabulous ‘social directors’ for the team. Make use of this when organizing special events.
Fun people are often very creative with their displays, the team will appreciate their ideas.
Seek help from Fun People in your team to organize food or music at meetings.
These teamies respond well to a positivity award.
When working with Fun People, focus on the fun they’ll have as a result of achieving a goal or moving up the career ladder.

With a little thought and attention, you’ll be able to cater to all the different types in your team. It will help you to create an upbeat, positive and inclusive culture in your team where everybody feels valued for who they are. This in turn will help to keep them engaged and motivated in their direct sales biz.

Inspire your team members to leadership

Title: How to inspire your direct sales team to leadership

What actions do you take to inspire your team members to want to become leaders of their own team?

Below you find four tips you can implement to inspire your teamies to go for leadership. These four tips are part of my own leadership strategy and have worked well for me.

Attraction Marketing

Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the methods you can use is ‘attraction marketing‘. You don’t only use attraction marketing to attract people to join your direct sales business, but you can also use it to attract people in your team to leadership!

Show your team the benefits of being a leader in your team’s Facebook Group. You can post about training or meetings you’re attending as a leader. With videos or photos show how much fun you’re having running training, attending events, etc.

You want to be that magnet that attracts people to want to be you and have fun, rise to challenges, and have that interesting life as a direct sales leader.

Encourage attendance at company events

Company events are a massive booster for anybody in the direct selling industry. It makes people more excited to be part of the brand, it builds your team as they get to know each other better and seeds the desire to grow in their business.

Part of why events are such a booster is the recognition. Being recognized at a regional or national event is super powerful – not just for the person being recognized but also for their peers. Seeing someone they know being recognized in a huge and public way will increase their desire to also be recognized.

Company events can turn an average consultant into someone who’s excited to build her business and move forward!

Check this article for tips on how to encourage your team to go to the next company event.

Personal Invitations to Leadership

Sometimes leaders forget how powerful they can be. It can mean so much to someone if you phone them up and tell them that you think they’d make a great team leader!

Look at your team and identify people who you believe are ready to strive for leadership (even if they don’t believe it themselves yet). Check this article for some tips on how to identify those teamies that are ready to move up.

Direct Sales Tip: Inspire your team members to leadership

Then make personal contact with them. When you tell them that you’ve noticed that they’ve been doing a great job, they know that their efforts matter and have been noticed. You give them recognition and then you encourage them towards leadership.

If they agree to start on the path to become a leader, you can work with them to get there. Check this article on coaching for some tips on how to do that!

Create a cohesive team

Part of leadership is creating a motivated and engaged team. And part of that is make everybody feel like their part of your community. In turn, your new leaders will want to create their own community!

Here are some quick tips:

Choose a team name
Choose a team color
Create a logo or team mascot

Use your team name and color in your team groups (like your Facebook Group). Use the logo or mascot occasionally and creatively.

Even if your team is small, do these things. It’s like dressing for the job you want rather than the job you have!

And of course, once a team member elevates to leadership they can choose their team name, their team color and mascot.

For most direct sellers this is immensely exciting and you can help to motivate your leadership candidates by encouraging them to choose a team name already and think about a team color.

Now over to you: what thing do you do to inspire your team members to strive for leadership?

Create an engaged and motivated direct sales team

Creating a team that’s engaged and motivated takes time and effort on the leader’s part. But it’s so worth it!

Your motivated leaders will in turn motivate their own team members better. Your engaged team will want to strive for goals together to grow as a team and as individual businesses.

And it’s more fun and satisfying for you and for your team too!

Below I’ve got a a few things you can do to create an engaged and motivated direct sales team.

Challenges

When you set challenges, you’ll also need a reward. Think about what your team members would love and what is convenient for you to post (not too heavy) or get to them digitally (vouchers, gift cards, etc.).

When setting your challenges you want to target something you want them to do more of in their direct sales business. For example you might want to set a recruiting challenge, a Facebook party challenge, booking challenges, or sales challenges.

Besides the different aspects you can focus on, you also want to have challenges for all ‘levels’ in your team. For example, I have a challenge that’s for people to keep their account open but I currently also run a challenge for people striving for the next international trip.

Every now and then when I see that one of my team members is coasting and could do better I might set them a personal challenge. Some of my teamies want extending and really appreciate being set a big goal. I work with them individually and reward them when they meet the challenge.

Recognition

I recognize people who achieve a certain standard (for example the different commission levels in my company) or recruit or have a certain number of parties. Some teams have a monthly Top 10 for recruiters or sellers and that can be very motivating!

Pin: Create an engaged and motivated direct sales team

But I also sometimes recognize an individual who’s put in a lot of effort or stepped out of their comfort zone. They may not have achieved the goal they’re aiming for just yet but I want them to know I see the hard work they’re putting in and I want to cheer them on.

When you do recognition, it’s important to do it in lots of different ways. You can do a team Facebook post, a fun Facebook Live, send certificates or trophies, post cards via the mail, or call someone personally to congratulate them.

I use all those methods!

Another fun thing to do is to start a ‘brag thread’ in your team group. And you allow them to brag about their achievements or stepping out of their comfort zone. It’s a great way for members to inspire each other and to celebrate together – not just from you as a leader.

Loyalty

Loyalty is about recognizing not just what your team members do in their business but also what’s happening in their lives.

I send cards and messages for significant moments like weddings, birth of a child, graduating from studies, etc.

I want my team members to know how much I appreciate them and that each and every one of them contributes to the team.

Goal Setting

Encourage your team to set their own goals. You can set up a Facebook poll to find out what their goals are and you can keep track of that.

Rocket Ship Printable for Direct Sellers

You can follow-up with a text message or Facebook message to see how they’re going and how close they are to meeting their goal.

When they meet their goal I congratulate them and recognize them for that!

I have created two printables for my team to use to track their own goals. It’s a ‘savings jar’ and a rocket ship that they can color in as they make progress towards their goal. If you’re interested in providing these to your team, grab the printables below.

Spend your time wisely

You are probably just as busy as I am so you want to spend your time wisely. The best way to do this with your team is to spend only a little bit of time on your small players. Then invest more time in your ‘rising stars’ (people striving for the next level in the career plan) and your leaders.

It’s a bit of a tightrope: you want to create an engaged and motivated team but you also need to guard your time.

How do you know if you’re ready to start building a team?

Are you thinking about building up a team in your direct sales or party plan business?

Or do you feel that’s something for the distant future?

Here’s something to think about:

Increased income
The opportunity to change more lives and have a bigger positive impact with your business
A sense of team pride
Creating your own team name and team identity
Attending leadership meetings, training, and other opportunities

For these reasons I encourage everyone in the direct sales or party plan industry to recruit and build a team.

Are You Ready for Direct Sales Leadership?

And you don’t have to wait until you know everything – jump into recruiting as quickly as possible and learn together as you go!

It’s not rocket science and you can be honest with your new team member when you don’t know the answer…you can find out together.

I’ve created an assessment form for you that helps you to see how ready you are for leadership. It’ll tell you where you still want some improvement where you are strong already.

What are you waiting for? Grab the assessment below.

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4 Keys to becoming a leader this year

Title: 4 Keys to becoming a direct sales leader this year

Have you decided to strive for leadership in your direct sales or party plan business this year?

Maybe, you are a leader already and you want to help others become leaders?

Excellent. I have 4 key steps towards leadership for you.

1. Have a clear vision

Make sure you know exactly what recruitment and sales are required to achieve your goal. Put it on paper and keep it in a place where you’ll see it often.

Set a review date for your goals to keep yourself accountable and keep yourself motivated.

Also have a clear vision of what it means to achieve that goal. How will your life be different?

2. Get good at the basics

Have you ever heard the saying “The speed of the leader is the speed of the team” ? As a leader you’ll need to be a role model for your team.

You don’t have be the top seller or top recruiter in your team, but you do need to show that you’re consistent in all aspects of your business!

3. Don’t wait until you have the title

Leadership is very much about who your are and what you do. You don’t need to have the title to behave like a leader. The sooner you start to act like a leader, the faster you’ll get there.

Some key leadership tasks you can start immediately:

recognize effort and achievements in your team;
regularly touch base with your teamies and support them in achieving their own goals;
aim to be their number 1 cheerleader and they’ll be proud to be in your team!

4. Ensure you have balance

A great work/life balance is critical. Not just for your own mental and physical wellbeing, but for your business too!

Start thinking about your entire life as one big magnet – an attraction marketing magnet. That way, current and new team members can see your awesome life and want that for themselves.

You need to find a balance between work and income and living your life with plenty of time for your family. That’s not just best for you, but it’s super attractive to others who will want to strive for leadership.

I’d love to hear what step you think is vital on the road to leadership? Leave a comment below!

If you want to learn more about ‘attraction marketing’ and how to draw people to you without being spammy, I’ve got just the thing for you: the Attraction Marketing Course for Direct Sellers. Check it out below!

5 Ways to Maximize Valentine’s Day

Special occasions like Valentine’s Day are a fabulous opportunity for your party plan or direct sales business.

I’ve listed 5 ideas that you can swipe to maximize your February!

Shower your customers with love

Declare February “The Month Of Love“. During this month pamper your customers and show them how much you appreciate them. Perhaps you can offer a free gift with every order, free shipping, or a discount.

The free gift doesn’t have to be a big or expensive gift. I recently made an online purchase and I received a small heart-shaped soap as a free gift. How cute is that for February? Another option is to add some chocolates to every order, just to make your customers feel special.

Declaring the entire month of February as your “Month of Love” gives you the opportunity to promote your special deal all month, not just for Valentine’s Day.

I’ve created some tiles that you can use to promote your Month of Love on social Media. Scroll down to grab them.

Shower your leaders with love

If you have a party plan or direct sales team, you can use Valentine’s Day as the inspiration for a “Share the Love” recruiting incentive.

Encourage your team to focus on promoting the business opportunity during February by sharing their love for their business. Leaders can offer heart shaped jewelry, luxury gift boxes of chocolates, or other Valentine’s Day appropriate incentives to teamies who recruit.

Bonus tip: wait until after Valentine’s Day to buy your incentive prizes, when they’re on sale!

The direct sales opportunity really is a gift, share it with as many people as possible in February.

Make Buying Easy

Make buying gifts super easy for your customers by creating gift bundles.

Gather a few of your products that make a nice set and add a free gift that complements your bundle. Think of gift items like a bottle of wine, a tea towel, a candle, etc.

The best way to promote this is to buy some nice boxes or baskets and create a few different bundles in a range of prices. Use gift wrap, cellophane, and ribbons to make your gift look stunningly attractive.

The benefit of pre-purchasing and preparing your gift bundles is that you will be able to offer last-minute gifts (as you don’t have to wait for stock to arrive) and you have something physical and pretty to promote.

To promote your bundles, start taking them to your in-home parties a few weeks before Valentine’s Day. Also, take some photographs and share your bundles on social media with a focus on the men in your customers’ lives.

Depending on your products, you could even take these gifts to workplaces and offer men these gift packs for their loved ones.

Add Valentine’s to your display

A great way to promote Valentine’s Day and spark the gift-purchasing impulse at your in-home parties or vendor events is to add some Valentine’s Day themed items to your display.

Just like a window display is designed to entice people to enter the shop, your display is designed to entice people to purchase products or book an event of their own.

In the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, make sure to add some lovely heart-themed props to your display so you can promote gifts.

Don’t forget Self-Love

I would like to expand the meaning of Valentine’s Day to include self-love. At your events and on your social media, encourage your customers to treat themselves to something special as well.

Self-care is vital for our mental health so let’s all make sure that people are treating themselves in February so they feel fabulous!

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I hope these ideas sparked your creativity to make the most of Valentine’s Day. And I’m curious to hear what you’re doing in February to maximize the special occasion, so leave a comment below.

Indentify Potential Leaders

Title: How to identify potential leaders in your team.

To grow your direct sales or party plan business you need to nurture people in your team to leadership. But how do you know who to invest your time in? How do you know who the next leader is? I have a fabulous download below that will help you with that! In my experience from promoting dozens and dozens of team members to leadership ranks within my business, I’ve found that there are a few critical things to keep in mind. So let me share what I’ve observed over the years in the direct sales industry. Always work on nurturing a few team members at a time to wards leadership. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket! Sometimes things change in people’s lives and they step back from their party plan business or become less active. You don’t want to feel like you have to start all over with a new potential leader when they do. And by you not putting all your investment and hope in one person, you also put less pressure (or neediness) on your potential leaders. It’s a better situation for you and them. Be careful with who you invest your valuable time in. If they’re not matching your efforts and actively showing you with their actions (not just their words) that they are working towards leadership, don’t continue to invest your time in them. Sometimes people ‘talk the talk’ but don’t ‘walk the walk’. In that case, just give them your ‘normal’ support for team members but stop your careful nurturing towards leadership. Before you invest your time in someone, complete the leadership assessment to ensure their attitude, actions, and results are aligned. I’ve adapted an assessment form for you from the ‘Build it Big Workbook’ produced by the DSWA. Download the assessment form below. Go through the form for your potential leaders. If the score is below 7, I don’t consider them ready for my focused attention towards leadership.

Pinterest: How to Identify Potential Leaders in Your Team

However, the assessment should have given you a good idea on the areas they most need to improve. If you help them to build up in those areas, they might quickly become ready to work towards leadership with you! You can also encourage your potential leaders to fill out the form themselves as a self-assessment to help them identify areas they want to improve. I suggest though, that you keep your personal assessment of each potential leader private. Sometimes these things can hurt people’s feelings and that’s not what it’s for! I’d love to hear how you identify potential leaders in your team and if you have any tips to share with us. Let us know in the comments!

Leadership Tips

The biggest mistake I see new leaders in the direct sales industry make is to make it all about themselves and their own targets, instead of their team and their targets.

Being a leader means you make it about your team, not about yourself.

I’ve seen leaders fumble through the month and only contact their team members in the last week to find out how many sales they’re going to place so they now if they’re going to hit their target that month…..

As you know I’m a planner so watching a leader operate that way makes me itchy all over. But the worst is that that call at the end of the month is not to benefit those team members. And they know it because they’re not stupid.

So today I’d like to share with you 8 pieces of advice on being a nurturing, inspiring leader.

Talk less and listen more.
I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but there’s a truth here. You need to make it about them, not you! Listen, really listen, to your team members.
Stop trying to fix everything.
Some things are out of your control and that’s okay. You don’t have to be superwoman – just a sympathetic (and encouraging) ear.
Know that your team member has the answer that’s right for them.
Learn to see your team members’ amazing qualities. We have a wide range of personalities in our teams and each person has a different way of working and communicating. As a leader, always look for the best in your teamies. Sometimes our faith in them leads them to discover amazing things about themselves!
Know their ‘why’ or their goal.
Remind them regularly of why they are in direct sales or what particular goal they’re striving to achieve. Sometimes life gets in the way or they go too far out of their comfort zone and slip back into habits that won’t move their business forward. Gentle reminders and encouragement from you will help them to step up again.
Let them choose the action steps they’re going to take.
You can discuss options with them, share your experiences and tips but in the end they have to walk their own path to success. By letting them set their own goals and action steps, they take ownership of the process and they are so much more likely to actually do the work. (Also see this article on coaching)
Help your team members to feel successful.
Helping your team members feel successful will help them become successful. The more you recognize and celebrate the small wins along the way, the better they feel. Success breeds success (read more about this phenomenon in this article).
Make it all about them!
Take responsibility for your own direct selling business without putting pressure on your team members to meet your targets. Be inspiring, encouraging, nurturing and helpful. Always make it about them – not about your business or your goals.
Let go of the outcome and enjoy the process.
I suppose this is a bit Zen in a way – to detach from the outcome. Setting goals is important, sure, but in the end you want to enjoy the process. When you work with your team in this way it’s a pleasure. You’ll find joy in seeing them shine and grow and your direct sales team will thrive.

I hope you find these tips helpful.

I wonder which one resonated with you the most? And do you have some leadership advice to add?