Direct Sales Leadership – The Balancing Act

As a percentage of your working time, what amount do you dedicate to keeping in touch with your team? Do you have a system in place to do this?  Natalie Collinson, Phoenix Trader

The most successful Leaders in the Party Plan Industry will tell you there is one word to keep in your mind at all times in this industry – BALANCE.  Whether you are talking about the balance between work and home, the balance between your personal business and your team, or the balance between sales and recruiting, the #1 best thing that you can do for yourself and your business is strive to always be in BALANCE.

Obviously the balance between two parts is 50/50 – meaning of your work time you should spend 50% of your time on your own personal business, and 50% of your time on your coaching your downline.  Sound impossible?  It really isn’t.  Let’s look at some ways to find the balance and get control of your time!

Your Office Hours. Every Leader must schedule time for her team.  By offering her undivided attention to her downline on certain days, your Consultants will be able to schedule their coaching times within your schedule.  For instance, consider doing one-on-one coaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays (per The Diva Success System) so your Consultants knows those are the best days for their one on one coaching.   Then you both can schedule what time is best with each other, and know that for that time you have each others complete undivided attention.

Weekly Conference Calls – Having a one hour weekly conference call with your team is a great way to get training out to a large group at one time.  Schedule your calls to be the same day and time each week, so that your members will know exactly when they are, and when to tell their new  members to join in as well.  On your conference calls you will go over any Recognition, Incentives, Corporate Happenings, etc as well as training and a Q&A section.  Services like FreeConferenceCalling.com give free conference call lines for up to 250 people!  You can also record these calls to be embedded into your training website, or downloaded as mp3 for future training.

Contact Methods - Obviously in order to coach and work with your Downline, you need to be reachable.  This is another great way to put in some boundaries around your time.  Using a service like YahooMessenger allows you to control when you are reached.  Simply put – if you are logged in, you are available.  Also, encourage your team to use text messaging and email over the phone on days that are not scheduled for coaching.  On the phone we all have a tendency to lose focus and start talking about life, the weather, family, etc and before you know it, you have spent an hour on the phone and gotten very little done.

YahooGroups – This has to be my favorite service for team building, training, support, and coaching.  Yahoo has this awesome service that has been around forever that I recommend EVERYONE – regardless of the size of your team – implements immediately.  YahooGroups are an open discussion forum that offer a place to store files, photos, polls, databases, discussions, and more.  You can set the privacy to moderate new members so that you only allow your team members into the group.  If a team member has a problem/question, she can post a message to the team YahooGroup, and get answers from all of the other team members as well as from you.

Obviously you want your team to always feel that you are there for them and that you support them, but having boundaries and balance is crucial to the longevity of your business.   Remember also that your team will mirror what you do – so instilling these boundaries will pave the way for your up and coming Leaders to do the same.  If you look stressed, over worked, and overwhelmed – “Leadership” will not look very attractive.  Showing that you can in fact have a fantastic team and personal business, while still maintaining a relaxed and balanced life is the key to building a strong and active team.