Retention is vital to your work from home business. With a network marketing industry average retention rate of 20%*, that is like losing 8 of every 10 people you sponsor. This is why it is essential to do things such as working in depth with your group and cheering on those working to move up the ranks, being available for 3-way calls and having weekly communication with the whole group. If you do nothing but just sponsor someone, it will devastate your profits. That is because more than likely you will be spending more money than you are making just to recruit new people to replace the ones that are leaving.
Think of attrition as passing a fire bucket full of holes. It doesn't matter how much water it starts out with, by the time you get half way down the line, you are out of water unless you stop and fill it up again and again and again.
How do you start to develop the relationships with your organization in order to increase your retention? The answer should be really obvious, but I've broken it down into three actions.
Step 1: Getting to know the people you recruit into your home business.
Discover what their "WHY" is. What is it that they really want more than anything else. This will help you be an effective coach when it comes to keeping your downline accountable to themselves and to their businesses. It shows that you care enough to bring them back to what is most important to them (bringing their wife home from her job, buying a house, paying for their kids education) and to steer them toward those goals.
Step 2: Keep in mind that people are worthy of personal attention and respect.
Keep in mind that most of the people you recruit into your home based business are currently professional employees. At work, they are probably just a number that has little or no real value to the company and they probably get little to no respect for the work they do.
People have to know that they are genuinely appreciated for who they are and not just the paycheck they provide to you.
Let your downline know how much you respect their choice to make a better life for them and their families. Exhibit the basic courtesies of saying, please, thank you and congratulations. Do the extra little things like remembering their Birthdays and Anniversaries, thank them for their military service, etc. These are simple little touches that show you care and strengthen a relationship.
Step 3: Offer yourself as great value to them.
You need to be knowledgeable about your company and how to market yourself and your products, but what you DON'T want to come across as is a Marketing Guru who is unapproachable and who won't have the time for them. Remember, people will listen to what you have to say as long they feel like you are not patronizing them. Always talk with them.
When the people you recruit into your MLM business picture you as not only a leader but as a friend and confidante, you will be well on your way to having a business partner for life.
The most valuable thing you have is your time and people appreciate you sharing your time with them. I was lucky enough to be sponsored by one of the top ten money earners in my last company. He was a great sponsor, but the downside was that he was so busy that there was a 24-48 hour response time to your phone calls and emails. This meant training questions were held up and scheduling a 3-way call took coordinating 3 different schedules. He simply did not have enough time to work effectively with the downline.
Keep in mind that as you are building relationships, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
There has never been a truer statement that applies to all aspects of life. Building a relationship comes down to living the Golden Rule. Always treat people the way you want to be treated. This truly is the foundation of relationship building.
So my challenge to you is to get to know the people you sign up, give them the respect they deserve and be of great value to them by sharing your time and your knowledge. If you have these three bases covered, then you will be well on your way to beating the industry retention rate and generating financial freedom for both you and your downline.
*Statistic from ServiceQuest website.
L.R. Hand has utilized his MLM success formula to not only build a large organization, but to help others gain the knowledge they need to succeed in their own MLM and increase the retention in their own downline. To learn more about L.R. Hand and his home business, you may visit his blog: http://www.TheZurvitaBailout.com
