Direct Sales Team Training Tips

When you join a direct sales company, most people have goals and dreams to expand their business and start recruiting team members quickly to start the second income arm of their business flowing.  You then become responsible for your team’s training and effectively become their coach.

Coaching your team can be difficult if you are new to the company and new to coaching others.  The first thing you will want to do as your team grows locally is learn as much as you can.  The second thing you want to do is start having team training meetings to offer direct sales help.

Team training meetings are a great way to bring your team together.  They can be a critical part of a team’s success and each team member’s success too.  Team training meeting don’t have to be difficult and they are definitely not as scary as they sound!

When you are planning your meeting, choose a theme that works around your message of that meeting.  For instance, if you are planning on talking about leadership, use the popular garden/seed theme…sowing seeds in your business means planting seeds, dripping water for healthy recruits, hoeing out the weeds, nurturing the seeds, caring for the blossoms and plant (recruit) as it grows.

Maybe from the sales and prospecting side, you can use the Funnel system. It’s wider at the top as you talk to more and more prospects and as you funnel through your prospects, you may get a few good ones that end up joining you. You can tweak it for winter to a snowflake theme… not everyone is alike so never assume that the person you are talking to knows about your business opportunity.

At your team meeting you can use the theme all the way through your meeting. You want to create excitement and have some fun too!  Invite speakers to come and teach on a new technique. This keeps your team up to date on different methods they can employ in their business.

Come up with a new game that they can play and play a few rounds together for some demo product prizes or office supplies.  Celebrate team milestones with ribbons or other keepsake items. Create a safe and fun environment for your team top learn and enjoy some team building too.

As a team coach, it is your responsibility to take your recruits and team members under your wing and teach them what you know.  Monthly team meetings are an important and very effective method of training your direct sales team.  Plan one today!

Many people that are involved in direct sales or MLM type work at home businesses plan to join the leadership programs by recruiting members into their team.  Some people have a knack for leadership; others have to work at it.  But either type of personality you happen to be, continuing to learn tips and techniques of being a great team leader is essential to growing your team and making the money you so richly deserve.

One trait that a team leader must have is a positive attitude and patience.  You are probably saying right now, “Oh ya, that is a cinch for me. I have a great attitude and tons of patience.” The reason that we are writing this article today is because of the enormous range personalities that you will be dealing with on any given day as you grow your team.

Depending on how large your organization will become, you can be inundated with a multitude of different people and each one of the will need different assistance, guidance and direction from you.  Then you will have those consultants that many not need help from you per se, but will need your contact at least weekly or several times a week.

Remaining positive and patient can be tough for a leader especially as your team grows.  By knowing what personalities that you are dealing with, you can effectively set up different methods of contact that will allow your consultants to reach you when needed but at the same time allow you to control your time and efforts.

Many team leaders use regular office hours for contact purposes. Also setting up training programs to keep you on track with your downline will help you know who is at what stage of their training.  Another great idea is to keep note of personalities and their personal goals and needs from your interview process.  This will help you in their ongoing training process and also with encouragement exercises.

The more processes you can automate the better.  Having one area that your consultants and sales team can go for ongoing training articles and references docs, will save you hours of time emailing and forwarding information.  The more time you can save will help you with remaining positive and patient; no one want to work with a cranky leader!  It will also help in the training of your team to your selling strategies.

Take a look at your processes and see how you can implement strategies to preserve your sanity and improve the overall training of your team.  You and your team will benefit in the long run.

Most of the direct sales companies are spreading their wings and are allowing recruiting by leadership consultants to occur across the country.  Some direct sales businesses are even expanding into other countries and are allowing representatives to recruit teammates from other countries too.  This is the time to look at your methods of team training and make sure that you are incorporating effective means of communication that will work across state and country lines.

One great thing about selling and recruiting via the internet is that there are resources available to communicate with others easily.  If you are growing your team all over the country and into many countries, team training processes are a critical factor in the success of your online business.

Many teams have started with the basics like a yahoo group. This has now moved over into the Facebook groups and private pages.  There is the ability to upload documents and share information and even expand into personal relationships and mentorship.

Another wonderful tool to use is online conferences.  Holding your team training in these types of rooms is exceptionally beneficial as you have the ability run power point, word and excel type programs and have it showing to your reps.  They can follow along and interact with the training too.

You can also utilize other reps to help you with the training too.  Scheduling different types of trainings at different times allows your reps from time zones all over the world.  By the use of conference calls, you can have one leadership rep hold a training on booking tips several times during a month.  Then have a different reps hold training calls on recruiting; party methods; selling tips, etc.  Each month have multiple topics that relate to direct sales and your niche.

By taking the time to set up processes that will help you stay on top of the team training now will benefit you in the long run. Recording your calls and trainings will allow others that join later to go back and listen to your tips.  Hire a VA to convert your calls into a word doc so that you can send it out in printable form for those that prefer that method.

Taking your direct sales business to the next level is going to increase your income for sure, but only if you can find solid methods that work for your team training.  Utilizing different training formats will allow your team access to training whether they are around the corner or around the world.

The structure of most direct sales companies is based on current representatives recruiting new representatives into the business.  The actual training of the new rep falls to the leader that brought them in to the company in most cases.  If you are a new leader and need some tips on how to train others to be successful, here are a few tips for you.

Education

Training incorporates a large area of expertise. Taking the time with your new recruits is critical to the success of their business and your overall team.  Set up systems so that you can make sure all of your team is being reached.

One of the most important parts to training your team is to make sure that they are educated in the policies and systems that run the business.  Take the time to train on how to place orders, how to find information on products and booking gifts, how returns work and all of the intricate policies and procedures that will help them run their business correctly immediately. This will cut frustration on your end and on your new reps end.

Remember that your new reps started this business to make money.  Helping them make money quickly and easily is their first priority and yours.  Set the systems in motion so they can learn quickly and easily.

Motivation

Motivating your team is another critical portion of team training. If your team is local, set up regular meetings to provide encouragement and participation.  If your team is scattered, use conference rooms and do the same.  Offer incentives and rewards to help to reach new heights in their business.

People are motivated by different things.  Find out what motivates your team and personalize the reward.  That makes things fun and exciting. Several good ideas are business tools, trinkets like charms or pins, cash prizes, certificates of appreciation to name a few. Get creative with your team.

Not everyone wants to be coached, but always make yourself available for when they need your advice.  As you learn and share, so will your team and together you can build a strong and prosperous direct sales unit.