Motivation

It is hard enough keeping ourselves motivated in business so how do we help to motivate our team? If you have a problem with keeping your team or a recruit moving forward in their business then this is for you. We will touch on a few problems and some answers. There is no single right answer when it comes to dealing with people so you will have to follow your heart and look for clues.

- A stalled New Recruit - This is a very common problem because it is easy to get excited about an unknown but when reality hits it can be daunting and cause people to freeze in their tracks. For help in this area you can read Networking Gals eBooks "Leader's Handbook or Leader's Handbook 2 or New Consultant start for leaders" for now try using baby steps. Start with organizing their starter show or go with them to their first show, etc.
- Top seller sometimes but not all times - Now it could be this Consultant has a busy life that keep him/her from putting full attention on their business. However, I have noticed that many Consultants lose their vision and their motivation or do not have the ability to focus. Networking Gals has a presentation "Finding Focus" that really helps but also you need to get to know this Consultant and remind them of their excitement. Help them to make some goals and offer an incentive.
- Knowing a slacker from a lacker - Each Consultant is different and you need to understand their needs and meet your objectives as well as train and be an example. So you have a Consultant that rarely makes it to a meeting, never phones in stats, is frequently unreachable or fails to return your calls. This could be either a slacker or a lacker- only you can determine this through conversations and visiting the Consultant in his/her home. If the Consultant has 3 young kids running around, let's say a broken vehicle in the driveway and seems very rushed or stressed then this is a lacker - a person who either lacks the time or the training to keep up with her business but this Consultant could also be a lacker of a different nature. That is someone who lacks the passion or desire to continue the business. On the other hand if the Consultant is too busy getting mani/pedis or shopping at the mall or talking on his/her cell phone then perhaps you have a slacker which is someone who is most likely not serious about the business or who prefers to do things the easy way or the slacking way. What you do with Consultants like these will have to be up to you but I have no time for slackers!
- End of the month Consultant - You know these Consultants, they are so busy doing shows in the last 2 weeks of the month that they become stressed and worried they can't make deadline or their quota and they are madly inputting all their shows on the last day of the month. This is someone who need to find focus and calendar control. Networking Gals presentation "Calendar Control" is easy to understand and so is the presentation "Finding Focus" Some Consultants are happy to skate by with as little work as possible and they may go on for years like this but I personally do not feel that these people are either happy in their business or happy with the money they are making. I choose to train these people in small amounts as not to stress them out further and I also let them see what it is like to earn at a different level by getting one of my Leaders to take them to a show.

It takes all sorts of different Consultants to keep your business going and to maintain a great team. I believe that as long as they are earning something and they are serving their customers without complaints from the customers then that is a good Consultant to me! The best way to manage a team is to learn as much as you can about each team member and try to offer some form of fun times every 6 - 8 weeks. Such as, taking the team out for lunch, taking your kids with your team and their kids to the zoo, going for a walk in the local garden park, etc. Another way I like to connect with my team is find a craft that we all like and have a craft night every 6 weeks.Remember...

                          Life's too short..................so go out and Party!

Team Efforts

As a Leader there are many choices to be made as to how you want to lead or how you will help your team. Leadership is usually a lengthy journey that gives you time to grow and time to learn where your short comings may be and how to deal with that. One aspect of leadership that I have always found cemented my team is finding a team project. Here are some hints and tips on finding the right project for you and your team:

- Who,What,Where and When - You will need to decide the answers to all of those questions firstly and then the rest kind of follows.

- I like to choose a group project by my priorities - Do I want my team to get along better? Do I want to teach them something else? Am I just showing them more things about business that they may already know? So let's say my priority is to get the team to work together better for the purpose of this exercise.

- Extra Curricular Events - These are the best way to get people to relax and unwind and therefore see their team mates on the same level as themselves. It could be a group outing designed to illustrate how businesses today uses goal setting, for example, followed by a group discussion or interaction. A possible example of this could be to go to the grounds where Expo '86 was held. Note how much the province wanted to do this and then look at the key feature (the giant Globe) was not only a representation of the world but also a huge focal point that many people came to see. Then look at how they used cutting edge technology to keep people's interest and to help them move through the entire exhibit.There are tons of businesses around the world that used strategic methods and goal setting to obtain results.

- Do a Charity - I find this is a great way to get the team out and working together on a goal for a charity. You can choose any charity that you want then try to raise funds via car washes, penny drives, rent-a-maid, etc. Think big and find a way to get out there. You can purchase a vending license from your city and then go and sell pre-made (heated) hot dogs and cold pop at the local beach or in a mall parking lot (with mall's permission). Make each Consultant set a personal fund goal and how he/she will achieve it or do it as a group activity.

- Book a hall or your condo's amenity room - Do a goofy relay indoors where each member must set a goal and try to achieve it. Offer joke prizes, refreshments, etc. Make it a fun day. Encourage another team to join in the fun or at least be the audience. Do a scavenger hunt where each mini team must find a customers needs. (Use your audience as customers or divide entire team in half and work in rotation)

- Something as simply as a demo at a cafe - Take your team to a cafe and schedule a time with the owner when you could come back and demo a tiny amount of products. The object being to gain customers or potential customers and leads. Go back to the cafe as scheduled. Show your team how easy it is to do this and how easy it is to get leads like this.

Each year I try to take my team out in different ways. I always do 1 all day training a year but I try to make it fun too plus I try to do a cafe visit once a year. From there, the odd lunch out just to chat or a trip to one of my favorite charities to help pet, clean up and cheer some cats. These outings are meant to challenge the way we think about things and are not intended to be lengthy or frequent. Remember.....


                             Life is too short.............so go out and Party!

Recruiting - where are you at?

We have talked in this blog before about striving to find recruits and about the difficulties in getting the recruiting ball going. We have also spoken about what a Leader's job is when it comes to recruiting but what we have not talked about is the fact that your recruiting abilities may be miles ahead of where you are at or miles behind. Let's take a closer look at how we can do what is best for us and also for our business:
* Some leaders can recruit very prolifically and do so with great ease. I remember at one time I had recruited 24 new Consultants in a 6 week period. Too much? I didn't think so but I found out right away that I was not only poorly prepared to help my new recruits but also very ill advised! You see I had only been with the company for approximately 6 months and didn't know enough to answer all the questions I was faced with nor was I capable of training. My manager was so discussed with my ease of recruiting she took the hard road and left me to my own resources. Needless to say that many of my recruits fell by the wayside and those that remained eventually passed me in the business as I was unable to continue due to an accident. Moral of this story: Recruit 1 or 2 at a time and try to complete all training before recruiting again. Are you ill prepared? Have you landed into leadership and lack the abilities? Chances are over 60% of all Leaders are! This is where Leaders learn to either Lead or Leave.
* Now what if the other end of the scale is true? You have 1 recruit but can't seem to get another - am I right? This is the typical scenario in this industry. I have spoken before in the blogs about the importance of  finding your passion and your niche product line. That may be one reason you are not recruiting but the other reasons are big hurdles to overcome. If you are not advertising your business opportunity to 3 New customers or potential recruits a day then you do not have the numbers it takes to find another recruit!!! Look at it this way - 3 people x 30 days = 90 people So let's say on average you are doing 8 shows a month with an average attendance of 10 people per show. 8 shows X 10 people per show = 80 people This means you need to either do another show a month or find 10 more people to talk to about your business. Seriously, this is what it takes!!!! Now the other main problem I see and hear about all the time is that Consultants lose either their desire to recruit or become disheartened with their business that they stop trying. When bookings or recruits get too few and far between we tend to go into starvation mode which means we fear getting the things we need for our business because we actually fear failure! I see more Consultants sit at this stage clueless to the fact that their business is dying a slow death!! You have to remind yourself of how great it felt when you recruited and how excited you where when you began this business. All of that excitement and enthusiasm is still there you just can't see it because you are too nervous to move at this point. I am sure we have all met Consultants/Leaders who jump at potential bookings like it might be their last chance to ever get a booking. If you feel this starved in your business then it is time to stop and look in the mirror and have a talk to yourself. You can't find bookings when you are crazy mad for one and you can't get a recruit when you worry so much about getting one!!! This is your business and if it is important to you then you have to know how to stop worrying and put on that happy, relaxed "I am enjoying my business" face because then and only then are more things going to come your way. If you are struggling with your business then consider buying the Networking Gals " Leading by Example" presentation.

We all want the most for our business but sometimes circumstances and events kind of pull us apart from our vision. Having a clear vision of what you want and need in your business and understanding what it takes to accomplish that is crucial if you wish to excel. I suggest that you keep a progress diary of sorts about your business. Start by listing what you want, what you need and how you are going to tackle the task of getting those goals. Check out Networking Gals "Goal keeping" and "Finding your focus" presentations. There are many excuses to why we do what we do and then there are actual factual 's - the reason why things are not going the way you hope. I say it is better to be an Actual Factual than an excuse!!! Remember...

                                        Life is too short........so go out and Party!!!

Reflecting on your Dreams

As a Leader it is so easy to get lost in all the things that need to get done. We have our business dreams (booking, recruiting), our team dreams (getting them trained, helping them to become consistent), and our daily life dreams ( buying that house, happy healthy family, etc.) then beyond that we may have so many other dreams that we seldom have the chance to acknowledge or pursue.Time is so crucial in all things, which is why Networking Gals has created the presentation "Calendar Control" but beyond that there is a ton of unwritten guidelines that we have never looked at which I hope to illustrate now.

Basically I believe that each day of the week has a function. Some of my ideas have been long standing but also I have noticed over the years a shift in what those days are. Here is my idea of what a week could mean:

- Meeting Mondays - It use to be true that this was the day for meetings but it seems it is no more which is good. Now you can make Mondays the day they should have been all along - Ordering/Banking Mondays - after a busy Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday of doing shows then you will need to get those cheques into the bank and put those orders in. Double check your supplies before you put your orders in so you can order what you need too!
- Training Tuesday - This is usually a good day to go to meetings or have meetings. Perfect time to follow up with your team and do that training conference call if you can't all meet.
- Working Wednesday - This is the day for your Hostess Coaching, filing and finding recruits. This the one day a week you really want to reach out and touch people both by phone and by going out.
- Thinking Thursdays - Believe it or not this is one of the most important days of the week!If you are not making time for this then you are losing out.I spend this time looking at my "Vision thru Focus Board" (we will be talking more about that later in the week) re-evaluate my dreams, but I mostly spend time with my calendar in hand and looking forward into the next week. What appointment do I have that can not be forgotten or changed, What do I have to do to be prepared for those appointment and do I have anything I need to accomplish to even get to this appointment. When I look at my "Vision thru Focus" board I try to  spend time realizing my dreams and also I try to take away a feeling or a desire that I want to focus on for that week. IE: you look at your board and you realize that one of the items (dreams) is to get more organized so maybe your thought for the week is organization, perhaps you will try to be more organized and envision what being more organized may do for you.The most important thing to Thinking Thursdays is taking the time to do something in your life/business that propels you forward!!! Thinking Thursdays is also about me time, getting re-energized, refocused, refreshed with your life and your business.
- Future Fridays - This could be the first day towards a hectic weekend so take time now to plan ahead. Do I have everything I need to do my shows? Have I arranged any meal preps I may need to or did you schedule the sitter, etc. Then do 1 thing towards the future of your business. It could be taking a Hostess out for a coffee, handing out business cards out front of the mall, having a mentoring lunch with a manager, placing ads on various free sites, etc.

The rest of the week is up to you. I have left it that way because you will most likely be doing shows. One final point I want to make is this; real feelings like joy, caring, sincerity, hope, love, etc. come from within us - they come from the heart and can not be produced in falseness. This means you only cheat yourself if you choose to fake those. If you can come from a real place of joy, hope, sincerity then you will have the power to move more people and more obstacles in your life. Use the power within you to reach out to people and it will always pay you back!! Remember...

                                        Life is too short..............so go out and Party!

Goal setting

It is crucial to your business to learn how to set goals. Company heads will speak of this but few actually understand why this is important or are able to teach you how to. When you learn to set AND achieve goals then you make any level of success or acknowledgement achievable!

It doesn’t happen over night because learning to set and accomplish goals can be very difficult for most people. First the goal has to be something you can reasonably achieve. Don’t start off planning to do a show a day for the month when you have zero booking scheduled. That is the same as climbing Mt. Everest!! Now if you have 5 bookings that month and you were to set your goals to 10 bookings to be held in the next 6 weeks then I feel that is totally doable.

 It is very hard in the beginning to learn to set goals when you also have a timeline on it too. Consider getting use to setting and accomplishing goals without a time limit. This gets you use to achieving at a level fairly easy. Once you have been able to achieve many goals (10-15) then consider making them a tiny bit harder and with a time limit.

NEVER get upset that you haven’t reached a goal but instead go back and try again and again if necessary until you do achieve it. Don’t get frustrated with goals, if you are having particular problems with one then go on to a different one.

Setting goals is about understanding that business does not just get handed to you but that you go out and find it. It is also a little bit about learning to quantify your time or realize what time you have available and how to put it to good use. Check out Networking Gals power point presentation on " Calendar Control" as it teaches you some handy ways to improve on managing your time.

Learning to set goals makes you a true business professional. Leaders are where they are in the company because they genuinely earned it and most probably through goal setting and achieving! Check out the Networking Gals handbook “Finding the inspiration a Goal tracker” Take a leap of faith in your business today and you may be pleasantly surprised by your achievement!!! For more about goal setting check out Networking gals ebook "Finding the inspiration a Goal tracker".

                                              Life is too short...................so go out and Party!!!!

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Networking Gals and You!

As I work on this and our Consultant blogs I imagine what you the reader is interested in. What would you like to know more about. On our website, in our template library are tons of things to read,view and use for your business but perhaps there are more things you need.

When you become a Consultant/Leader for a Party Plan/Direct Sales company you believe that between Head Office and your Upline that you should be able to get all the info you need and want to run your business, improve on your successes and find all the awards and recognition you deserve......right? For some, this is true but for approximately 80% of all Consultants and Leaders it is not!!

I have spoken about this fact before on the Consultant blog, only 20% of all Consultants and Leaders find what they want in this industry. It is not because the industry sucks. It is not because no one has shown them the right things to do. It is not because we are all a bunch of idiots.....no..... it is because of many many reasons, as follows:
- If you can not relate to what is being taught you won't learn it well, if you have difficulty understanding what is being taught then you do not learn it well, if you do not believe in yourself and your ability to attain what is being taught then you never will. Shocking isn't it!!!( the last one is the #1 reason most people fail in this industry!)
- Focus is a tough cookie to crack! If you only know how to nibble on focus then all you will receive is crumbs. Learn more about Focus with Networking Gals eBook "Finding your Focus"
- Putting what you have learned into practice is also a bit difficult and unfortunately this industry expects people to grasp everything and does not have a system in place to track or follow up with Consultants to ensure they are getting it.
- Something I have always taught my Consultants and am now teaching on Networking Gals is learning to be duplicateable (not exactly a word but we'll pretend) in other words, learning to make yourself a carbon copy of your upline and then teaching your downline to do the same. Now that being said, I expect of course that you would input your personality and flair into it and basically just copy the successes!
- Life gets in the way very easily when your job is not at an office or work place everyday! People find it hard to respect your time and office space when you are at home working for example. I see more really great Leaders and Consultants lose their business to this fact. This is why Networking Gals teaches you how to get your business AND your life organized. We truly believe that both go hand in hand and you must respect the one in order to have the other.
- The "I wish syndrome" affects approximately 30% of all Consultants. When you join a PP company you see all these people up talking about how great their business is and how much money they make, etc. Unfortunately it creates an image that it is easy to become a Leader or become wealthy or  become successful overnight.....which we all know is not true! So many people waste time wishing and hoping to be something instead of understanding the time, money and commitment that is involved in getting where you want to be in this industry. This is where Networking Gals specializes in. We discovered the crucial steps it takes to find the various things you want in this industry. It is our proven success system. It does not happen overnight, it isn't easy and it takes a great deal of time and practice. For those committed and able to learn this you will discover how it works.

So all of the above stands between you and finding what you want in this industry. Some people are happy at winning awards or getting the prizes, others like socialization, many people seem to be happy to teach, and yet others are driven. Knowing and understanding what you want and how to get it is the key. Networking Gals teaches all of these fundamental aspects of being a Consultant, a Leader, a Manager. Look no further than to our blogs, our website and all the other components that are being added each and everyday. You may never know your path unless someone points it out to you......let Networking Gals do that for you today!

                                           Life is too short so..............go out and Party!

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Structuring a Meeting

When it is time to start having your own meetings it can be stressful and difficult and very bumpy. You can learn how to do meetings with your team from your upline but if perhaps your upline has issues or perhaps is accustom to formatting it in a very boring and generic way then it will make you look the same. So I think it is time to challenge you to have occasional meetings. If you only have 1 or 2 recruits then only have 1 or 2 meetings every 6 months but if you have more then you need to schedule it a bit more often. Here are some tips on what to try for your next meeting:
- Now ideally you want to have 1 meeting a month but NOT training. Training should be separate and customize according to where your Consultants are at. I believe you should find a day of the week that works best with everyone and stick to it for as long as you can.
- Make it known that they are expected to attend and when they do not they will automatically be your personal lackey for the following week....well.... at least get them to take on the job of setting up the display for the following meeting.
- Delegate responsibilities to your Team and make sure they rotate each meeting. Assign one person to be the greeter and make sure everyone has a name tag, another to set up an example of a starter kit including their idea of how to dress it up, get someone to be your chalk board or write on wipe off attendant, someone else could be in charge of passing out paperwork, someone could collect for you twoonie draw (see Networking Gals for Meeting Notes), someone else could be in charge of the early bird game, and so on and so on. This is a brief example of how a meeting should be run but for full details members of our Leader group can receive the entire document on "Meeting Notes".
- Games are a big draw and are what keep your team eager to come back to each meeting. As a Leader you should have ample chances to get products at reduced prices so that you can have that twoonie draw or early bird and not have it cost you. Another item you can give away is a day with you - it could include a tour of how you file or how you organize all your orders to get them out to the hostess and it should include a small lunch that you could make if you choose.
- I highly recommend that every meeting should have visual content and audio content. For Visual - make a board demonstrating how to track your success or how to set goals or have a race game where you chart each person's progress for 3 months. There are tons of ways to make things visual just think a bit outside the box. For audio - I highly recommend a power point presentation played on a few laptops (copy onto CD and ask people to bring their laptop) with an audio track of how to do the following. In this format you can not only show what you are talking about but also they can hear it too. This is a creative and very effective way to show things.
- You could also consider a skit when you are trying to illustrate interaction with a customer or consider a road robin session (for more info on this you would need to read my Leader's handbook)
- As a Leader it will soon be your responsibility to keep track of your team's bookings/sales/recruits. The sooner you start asking for this info the better it will be. Keep records for your own information but it is also a great way to track improvement too.

- Aim to have one lead story or experience that you want to share then allow time to break up a bit and come back to discuss or illustrate you points further. It may interrupt your flow but makes it easier to understand.
- Do your best to end meetings within a 2 hour period. Start promptly no matter how many people are there.

Make your meetings fun and interesting and challenging and your team will come running to meetings. Never worry about how perfect you are or where you have meetings just worry about content and finding ways to communicate in a wide pattern of ideas. The less generic the meeting the faster it will go or at least seem to. Remember.....

                                               Life is too short..........so go out and Party!

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A Balancing Act

Leaders have to be so many different people, as you may know. You may be a wife, mother, Consultant, Leader and Business professional, etc. I think that one of the skills that is crucial about management is finding ways to balance all that is required of you. Hopefully, you have a great upline who is helping you manage the load but if you are the upline then I know how hard it is. Here are some tips for all Leaders and Upline Managers;

- Learn to delegate!! = You don't have to be super woman! You need to learn to pass things on to your team managers to do. If you are not doing this then what are you teaching them? You are the head of a team and as we all know there is no "I" in team which means you have to put people into positions:
          + if you need to set up a display of products for the meetings then have a rotating list of all Consultants so they can each take a turn (give everyone ideas on how to do it different too)
          + Make sure that you recommend a Leader (from your downline) to be your co-Manager. There is no recognition for such a position but you would make sure there were great perks like lunches out, free catalogues, etc. It's a great way to mentor a Leader and then in turn have someone whom you share shows with, etc.
-  Organize outings with your team to make work easier. Need photocopying done then phone a couple of Leaders and see if they are doing the same. They can help you sort or staple once their stuff is done.
-  Get your team to each have 3 way calling and then divide up your team and get everyone on the phone for a brief meeting. It's great when everyone is busy because you can do this for a quick topic round robin. (Topic round robin is a way to make decisions about an ideas by sharing it with your team and tossing it around) (IE: offer an idea. How can we make ourselves known to this new neighborhood? make flyers, go door to door, rent a hall close by and get them to come to us, etc.)
- Unite over mundane tasks!= If you all need to get caught up on your laundry consider packing up a few loads and all meeting at a local laundry mat and discussing business between loads OR Line up your team to do their individual shopping at the same store and you can bat ideas back and forth as you shop.
- Create and share a call list across your team. It can help a lot when you are unavailable then your team can ask another member of the team but you can also do the call relay game. The call relay game is where you the Manager calls the first person on the list and challenges that person to find 3 bookings in 30 minutes but before she starts calling her customers she must call the next person on the list with the same challenge and so on. After 30 minutes you start it again by calling your first call and get stats. Then she calls the second and so on and the last person on the list calls you will ALL of the stats.

Sometimes it is a simple as thinking a little outside the box to accomplish what you need to. You need to be creative to keep your team functioning and interested but we will have more on that subject another day. Remember.......

                                  Life is too short......................so go out and Party!
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Lead Decisively

Many of us allow our business to lead us or take us where it will. Although this is not a bad thing if you choose to have your business or success be indecisive.

Personally I want my business to be decisive because I want to be a success and I want to maintain my leadership.

If these are things you want then you may need to make your business much more decisive. How can we do that? Here are a few tips:

- perhaps the biggest thing you can do BEFORE you become a leader is make your business and how you operate it duplicateable. Networking Gals offers tons of help on this subject. Some things you can do is make sure that you are duplicateable is do your shows the same way (in the same number of steps for example but vary the content),  organize your office and the way you handle the paperwork in a teachable manner, etc.
-  Teach yourself and your downline to recruit monthly. Settings goals can be difficult but Network Gals can walk you through it.
- Lead by example. Try to do the same work your downline is attempting. Challenge your downline to beat you.
- Pick your battles = which means choose the areas where you need improvement and seek help in those areas, work harder in those areas and have a friend Consultant attend your shows to critique you when you need it.
- Never think that you know it all even if you have been with the company many years. The manual is frequently updated and you may not be aware of the updates. Read your manual through at least once a year.
- Learn to demonstrate your business in a fun but informative way. See Networking Gals "New Consultant Training Manual" for more advice.

This is just the beginning to this subject. However it is impossible to explain everything in a blog. One tip I tell every new leader, follow your gut. If you feel that the person you are talking to is insincere about the business then chances are it is true. Leadership is an art form, it requires talent to know when to help or not. Lead with your heart and speak the truth and you will not fail but remember........

                                Life's too short...........so go out and Party! 
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