In multilevel marketing (MLM), your income is based not only on your actual product sales, but by the number of downline individuals you have working under you. In theory, the more downlines you have, the greater your passive revenue stream.
But too often, you work to create a good second or third tier only to have the marketers walk away. Those aren’t just individuals quitting; you’re losing a valuable investment. It is by far in your best interest to solve any retention problem in your downline.
Broken Dreams
MLM isn’t for everyone. Some MLM businesses heavily hype their program to make it seem amazingly simple and assure recruits that they will see thousands overnight. When the dreams don’t come true, the charm is gone and the person quits. To avoid broken dreams, avoid selling them in the first place. Sell the business plan, not empty promises.
Missing Motivation
Individuals are recruited to join a MLM program. You get them signed up and turn them loose. And they quit. They didn’t join up to be turned loose. They want guidance, advice and motivation. If you’re selling the program, you need to continue selling it until your downlines are seeing their own success and can begin to motivate others.
Other Opportunities
Other opportunities might pull marketers away. If they aren’t successful fast enough with one program, another might be worth a try. Again, simply motivate and remind your downlines that there is a payoff, and share some tricks and tips to help them find success and stick with it.
Comparisons
If Sally is making ten times less than Bob, she might become disillusioned and quit. Rather than letting Sally stew about why Bob’s doing so much better than she is, help her find the reasons. Improve her techniques and possibly even mirror what works for Bob. She’ll be feeling worthy for comparison in no time.
Laziness
Unfortunately, some people are just lazy or unmotivated. While these people can make decent employees, they don’t always make the best independent workers. If you find your downlines are simply unwilling to do what it takes, consider targeting different kinds of individuals as downlines or treat your existing ones like employees. Give the lazy members of your team goals and reminders about what to do each week, and they might just do it.
Unstructured
A MLM program can feel unstructured to someone unused to working on their own time. A downline can quit if they feel they can’t make heads or tails of their time and efforts. To prevent this, offer your downlines a handbook or schedule to help them structure their time and efforts most effectively.
Bullied
If management for a MLM program is too strict or aggressive, you can lose downlines. Bullying is rarely effective for anything long term, so if your upstream is constantly putting pressure on your downstream or the program guidelines are too strict or limiting, your downlines might simply decide it’s not worth the effort.
Poor Program
Like all things there are good programs and poor ones. If you’re in a poor program that doesn’t offer enough incentives or makes things more complicated than necessary, your downlines are constantly at risk. Find a quality program that is comfortable and profitable before building a downline.
Reality Check
Sometimes downlines live in a dream of passive revenue for too long and then balk when they realize they are salespeople. If they don’t have the personality or skills for sales, they will not be successful. Sales can be an intimidating job for many, especially those without marketing or closing skills. Help your downlines learn to navigate the sales industry and you will all be successful
If you want to short cut your way to 100% downline retention even if you are an MLM newbie, take a free tour with the Dream Team Formula system. Our system works with any MLM and gives you the ability to automate your downline placement for long term profits.
Tags:
downline retention,
downline training,
mlm leadership
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