3 Weak Leader Word Choices – Lead Your Direct Sales, Home-Based Team to Be More Responsive and Active

by Barb Girson

Tags: direct sales, direct selling, direct selling leader, weak word,home-based team,weak word choices,word choices,weak results,word choices lead, team-building strategies, home business, team training, not responding teams, unresponsive teams

Are you a direct selling leader who frequently gets frustrated if your home-based team:

• Is unresponsive and inactive?
• Does not do what they say they will do?
• Does not devote enough time to their home business to see the results you know that they can?

Sometimes we want to scream to our team, "Helllllllllllo, is anyone in there?" We have set up a team meeting, conference call or send out a newsletter. Why are they not responding?
We can "Lead a horse to water yet we cannot make it drink!" We do not want to be forceful with our team. Nor do we want to nag them. We certainly are not trying to babysit our team either. Especially since the nature of our work entails staying in motion to recruit others and repeat the cycle. This dilemma often causes us to resort to language that land on deaf ears.

Here are 3 direct seller leader weak word choices that lead to weak results:

1. "It is so easy to work this business!"

Do not oversell the business opportunity. The business is easy to get into and simple to work. However, to be successful most people need to invest both time and energy to build a business, especially when home-based. We do prospects a disservice by presenting an over simplified view of what it takes to build a successful business; whether full-time or part-time. The challenge is to make sure that you establish clear and honest expectations of the time and effort involved without reducing the exciting and limitless possibilities.

2. "Call me when you need me."

Avoid using this phrase because although it seems facilitative, it is passive and unspecific. Not least is that this phrase rarely generates the intended gesture. Most people who join your team will run the other way before asking for help. Your team is more likely to deal with difficulty and discouragement in private. As you wait for your team to call when “[they] need you”, they are determining that their shortcomings make them unfit for the direct sales business. We do not want to lose our team members by waiting until it is too late. Instead, set up regular checkpoints to review business progress and have open conversations on what difficulties your team may be facing.

3. "You need to do ‘w, x, y, and z’”

There is a time for being directive with your team members. Being direct however does not mean barking off a litany of To Do's or solutions without incorporating your Consultant’s perspective. Failing to do this, even unintentionally, makes a leader vulnerable in many ways. If you and your Consultant have different plan for success, you are at risk of being tuned out. If however your Consultant follows your plan and it flops, the blame rests with you. If you think they have agreed to a certain action and they have not, you will feel frustrated that your Consultant did not follow through. Take the time to ask thoughtful questions. Then after the collaboration process is complete, formulate a plan together and move forward in agreement.

To build a stronger and more active direct selling team, avoid language that produces weak results. Use new communication strategies and set up systems to prevent the unresponsive hollow team effect. With time and focus you can refine your team-building and create productive results.

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About The Author

Barb Girson, International Direct Selling Industry Expert, Trainer & Coach, helps companies, teams & entrepreneurs gain confidence, get into action, & most importantly… grow sales by sharing her "Strategies That Stick™". Barb is a highly interactive, creative speaker and author offering customized, professional skill development programs for workshops, meetings and teleconference training programs. Active participants "Sell more, stop worrying and STICK with what works™. Visit www.MySalesTactics.com to learn more.