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.
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.
