Communication is critical to any trade in this world but it finds quite an interesting application in a Direct Selling business.
Retention is a genuine problem in this trade. Growth is not sustainable. We are looking at a pot with numerous holes being filled up with water.
Moreover, there are additional problems such as these:
1. The communication coming from the business teams can get fully fabricated reaching the grassroots level sales teams. Because there is no singular Comm medium that can reach out to all consultants and users. Even if it was, we can not expect everybody to be able to use it successfully to stay updated.
2. There is flexibility to reinvent the wheel. Which is to guarantee the complete destruction of the team. People have no legal boundaries or financial constraints in this Business. To summarize, people lack a moral compass at large.
Hence they twist their greatest weapon against their favor for lack of vision and clarity- Communication.
Strong and Potent Communication brings growth, incredibly essential to this trade. So how do we bring the same to our team?
Below I will be discussing some pointers on how to do this practically.
These will teach you how to make your communication matter.
Common Sense
Common Sense is incredibly important and the groundwork for all trainings/seminars – and hence communication itself.
But similar to behavior, it is hard to be taught. But not impossible!
I will share with you a technique I preach amidst my team which will definitely get your brain running.
Common Sense in this business starts with deeply thinking about possible results before every action.
Applies to our Communication as well.
People need to be taught to think. Think Deep.
Unfortunately, most of us can’t. Here’s what we can do though:
Apply the WWW framework to any communication related to business. WWW = Where? When? Whom?
Always ask yourself these three basic questions before saying anything to anyone.
Is the thing I am going to say/do right for this place? What are the possible consequences?
Is the thing I am going to say/do right for this time? What are the possible consequences?
Is the thing I am going to say/do right for this person? What are the possible consequences?
Think very deeply about this.
Like every Communication skill, this will be very difficult at first but will get spontaneous with practice.
Follow the System
If you are into DS/MLM, you might have heard this phrase. Business Teams are aware of this lack of trust that brews between the consultant and the company from day one. There is always a tendency to reinvent the wheel.
As a matter of fact, this is one of the major reasons for the low retention rates in the industry. It is sad, that people fail more in Direct Selling of cunningness and the inability to trust the system rather than other things.
That’s why if you are into a reputable MLM company, you must have a ‘system’ that training modules and leadership enforce on new consultants periodically.
Following the system will help your business grow because it is a well-thought-out strategy by analytical minds. There can be no alternatives.
As can be seen in the visualization, if we are able to engage the people in the defined system the right way, Growth is imminent.
Engagement can be both through offline and online measures or a healthy mix of both. Covid-19 has taught us a lot about engagement and how to use it at a tool to accelerate growth.
Of course, the core leadership of a team has to take the charge and ensure this happens on a periodic basis. There will still be some wild weeds that will get cleaned through this same process.
Positioning the Leadership
Positioning is an extremely critical affair in the Direct Selling world, and some apply that subconsciously. Some without knowing that there exists a technique like that in the books.
Regardless, Positioning works best when applied to top leadership. Simply put, your team will not respect your boss if you don’t.
And if you don’t, what’s stopping the next generation to follow in similar footsteps? A child is as good as he is raised to be.
So, you have to respect your leader. Not only that, you have to position him/her in a positive tone to your team and new prospects.
So how do we put some logic to this positioning? Let’s refer to the figure provided. 90-9-1 is a popular strategy format that finds relevance in this field as well.
Or so, is what I have found. But it requires a bit of improvisation and common sense.
Consider 3 levels of active leadership. The guy at the bottom, who is early in the system, has the lowest experience and hence is the performer. 90% of his time needs to be invested in his team.
The individual in the middle is a guide with medium experience and will allow 9% of his time for the performer’s team.
The one at the top has high experience and hence will be allotting 1% of his time for the performer’s team, just for advisory.
So 90% of performance + 9% of guidance + 1% of advisory = 100% of efforts.
This process if applied logically with a bit of common sense, will ensure faster duplication and bolt down a strong leadership positioning for the larger team.
Communication at TOFU
Top of the funnel abbv. TOFU is another juncture in the journey where communication has to be very carefully initiated and placed.
Let’s recapitulate/learn the consumer journey funnel, and how it translates to Direct Selling.
Here is a generic funnel figure which represents how a trade attracts leads and pushes them down the funnel to convert into sales. The TOFU is the awareness stage, MOFU is the engagement stage, and the BOFU is the sales or loyalty.
In Direct Selling, the funnel is comparatively deeper as the journey itself is longer. The individual who enters the TOFU is a prospect, the one who exits the BOFU is a leader! Since the journey is so long, communication during TOFU becomes extremely critical.
Otherwise, you will have a problem with the BOFU. And it will be too late to make any changes!
So, what can we do to gain maximum output from the BOFU? Sharpen our communication at TOFU.
In layman’s terms: relook at the way we generate and nurture leads.
Fundamentals first: Direct Selling is a business of networks and word of mouth. So be very careful when you use other mediums to reach out to people. Especially Social Media like Facebook.
There are 2 factors in any DS/MLM business -the Pull factor and the Push factor. The Pull is your achievements, your team’s achievements while the Push is the product range, quality, and other company offering.
Facebook and Instagram by nature are Pull platforms. If you try to push too much here, you will be seen as ‘noise’.
Brands spend millions to cut through the noise and get 3 seconds of a consumer’s mind.
So let’s not even go where we have no hope to compete. On the contrary, there is a probability that prospects will block us.
The communication at the TOFU should be clear, to the point, and preferably over a phone or face to face. Facebook/Whatsapp if at all to be used, should be treated cautiously and only through DMs.
The Communication should be crystal clear but have the art of improvisation. Communication A works for Prospect A but might not for Prospect B. We have to look at various attributes of the prospect’s background, before refining our communication.
In Direct Selling, 95% of your efforts are on Communication and Relationship building, the rest 5% on the Demonstration of products and STP (Show the Plan).
Let’s sum up the learnings from the piece you just read. There is no MarCom in a DS/MLM. The sales team is the Marcom team as well.
Hence Direct Sellers can not religiously follow the rules of a Mainline Sales team. Sales Knowledge, as well as Communication, is paramount here.
What is your tone, what is your body language, what words you choose, the way you dress – Everything is a part of Communication, and everything matters.
But thankfully, other people have walked the thorn-laden path before you. And they have designed a ‘System’ so that you don’t have to suffer.
Respect that. Follow that. Instruct others to do the same.
Respect your leadership, position yourself well before your downlines. You will get the fruits of these later.
Devise your funnel with your leadership and then go for it. All the best!
