9 Effective Ways in Keeping your Downline Happy

 1. Everybody SUCKS at the beginning, let them know that!

            When new joiners are first gathered together, I usually start out by saying that everyone who joins this industry SUCKS at the beginning. And I am no exception to it. I make sure that they understand that what they see now is a result of a very hard journey and a very painful experience. Tell your staff that you've been rejected many times and site some very good examples. Tell them how you felt then and how you failed to face the pain sooner. Normally, I really tell them that I didn't know how to handle rejections and it took me some time to realize that rejections and pain are part of the normal process when one is growing personally and professionally. Ensure them that they are fortunate enough than the others because you are open to telling them all your failures and you can teach them how to prevent or at least minimize mistakes, rejections, struggles and confusion.

2. Encourage starting in groups

            Nowadays, it is hard to be successful on your own. The world's just become wiser. Consumers are more often than not smarter than new joiners. You can start grouping by 2s. Make sure that pair doesn't have the same strengths. What you want to happen is that they learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses.

3. Promote Leadership

            When you have a group of 2s, you would want your staff to feel that they are a step away from becoming a leader. The reason why they are grouped by 2s with different strengths is, because the other is the leader through his/her strengths. If person A is better at recruiting, person A is person B's recruiting leader. Likewise, if person B is better at selling, person B is person A's selling leader. Encourage them to stick with what they are already good at. They automatically have a person to guide and help. Everybody wants to feel valuable at the start. Who else doesn't want to feel valued?

4. Engage your downline

            The first time your staff is thrown out to the battle field of MLM industry, they are more likely shy, confused, unconfident and unprepared for unexpected questions. Encourage them to "shadow" current leaders and watch how that leader conduct seminars, handle recruiting, close a sale, properly persuade a person who said "NO" to him/her to at least leave the number and email of the prospect for a possible future business partnership. Applied education is always a better approach for new joiners who are just eager to jump right into the battle field half-equipped.

5. Enforce reading

            Most people today just don't have the time to read, especially to those who never loved reading in the first place. I normally tell my staff how I hated reading even during my young and youthful school days. I always thought I would never develop the habit of reading. It will be hard to enforce this, but I would always say that they should at least start with the 7 days of free videos of Mike Dillard's Magnetic Sponsoring. I tell them how long it took me to finish reading the Magnetic Sponsoring course. I always get sleepy when I read, but Magnetic Sponsoring is just that effective. That is why I give them a teaser like telling them to wait for the "light bulb" chapters, despite the fact that every chapter in Magnetic Sponsoring has a "light bulb" ticker. If they can finish Magnetic Sponsoring, it will be easier to suggest marketing, business, retailing and finance books for their reading in the future. I can now simply tell them to find a book that interests them especially if the idea of finding that certain book came from reading the Magnetic Sponsoring course.

6. Ask for any good news

            When I happen to see any of my downline at the office or anywhere, I always ask "So what's the good news?" Most leaders never realize that asking "So how many have you recruited this week?", "How many sales have you closed so far?", or "Have you been buying our products and use them?" is a major, major killer. It kills your downline's enthusiasm. It kills rapport. It kills confidence. It kills trust. Why? Because those questions translate to "Have you been making money for me lately?" It surprises me when leaders fail to remember how they felt when they were once in that situation. Prevent that same situation from happening to your own downline. Ask only about the good news. Let them voluntarily come to you for recruiting or selling questions. Or perhaps, shoot the question about recruiting and selling in meetings, "So who among you are still struggling on recruitment/sales?" Never ask for the volume of sales or how much people they have recruited already. You can always get their statistics through your company's report generator. Don't kill your staff!

7. Freebies (ooohhh freebies!)

            From time to time, I give people free stuff. It doesn't need to be expensive. There are practical ways on giving out free and valuable stuff. I don't just go around malls and bookstores then buy the cheapest things in bulk for give-aways. What I do is I secretly observe every person in my downline whenever I get the chance to talk to them face to face. I try to see the things that he/she carries and compare it to my other downlines who are successful already. For example, if this guy doesn't seem to bring a notepad and pen with him all the time, I buy him a pen with a personalized name engraved and a notepad that is big or small enough to fit his bag or carry folder. When I give it to him I'd say "Hey, I have a gift for you. It is not an expensive gift but if you use it wisely it could bring you millions!"

8. Hang out with them once in a while

            Most leaders would invite their downline to a party or a few rounds of beer to show their already abundant life by paying all the bills making his/her staff feel that they had the best drink and meal of their lives for free. While this is a good gesture, some leaders fail to realize that this kind of invite also kills a staff's enthusiasm. You don't want to do this if you don't have an announcement to make or a good reason for celebration. Why? Because you don't want them to think that you are just treating them so they would not burn out. You don't want them to feel that you are paying the bills because they still can't. You don't want them to think that you are celebrating because you have earned some money through their sales and recruiting efforts. What I’d do is I ask them if I could visit them in their respective homes and have a small meal with his/her family, with the intention that you just want to get to know them better and know their families. Tell them that you will bring in some food and drinks so they won't have to spend anything than what they normally spend for a night's meal. This shows that you are practicing practical spending and yet you are willing to spend a little more just to be a friend of theirs.

9. Give them a custom fit shirt (What? Are you crazy?!)

            You want your people to feel that they are truly valued despite their success and failures. Invite them to a monthly one on one meeting. You would not want to start a real talk by telling them stories about you and how they should be able to copy what you are doing. So it is wise to start with the question "Any good news?" Then let them drive the meeting. You want them to tell you their struggles so you can ask the "Why?" That way you have a good reason to give them your best suggestions. You don't want to do one on one meetings with a sheet of paper that has a list of current achievements and failure then tell them "You know what, I really think you should do this or that" ... etc. That's just simply showing them that you are a leader with an iron hand. You would want your staff to feel that you are giving them your best suggestion because you listened to them first and you based your suggestions from their experiences. People love custom fits! Give your advice like a shirt that is custom fit for them.