Leadership Characteristic????

Are you a heavy hitter in your network marketing business or is this something that you strive to be?  At first glance, one might think this is what the business is all about and a Leadership Characteristic one must have.

If you believe this to be true, I challenge you to keep your mind open and consider the alternative.

It is very understandable why you may feel you need to be a heavy hitter in the business based on your personal experiences with the industry.  It may have been how you were approached (or should I say attacked!) by someone who had the “perfect Opportunity” for you to join.  Maybe you received training that focused all your energy on overcoming objections, closing the deal and so on. I personally felt like a failure because I could not bring myself to do these things.

Heavy Hitters focus on outcomes and numbers.  So what’s wrong with that you may ask? Obviously you want to earn money and create a better life for yourself.  There is nothing wrong with that!  At the risk of sounding a bit cliche  - you need to consider the journey itself and how you get there.

If you are building a business, do you want to build one with someone who views you as another notch in the belt?  Someone who’s primary interest is the bottom line?  Do you think they have your best interest at heart? If you treat others like that – do you think they will want to work with you?

If you truly want success in building your network marketing business, you will want to forget about looking at each prospect as a stepping stone to building your own business.  I have learned that you really need to focus on building people period!

I used to believe that in order to be a success, I needed to convince people to join my opportunity and buy my products.  I was taught things that made me feel like I was being manipulative. It was not really my nature to do so but I felt that it was just a matter of going outside of my comfort zone.  Needless to say I did not get very far.

I was fortunate enough to come across great mentors and resources which taught me that my focus should be on building people.  Much more my style.

Think about it – if you place your focus on helping others, they will experience success.  Your return will be so much greater than what you put in.  It will be so much more enjoyable.  You will develop positive relationships.

So you decide – do you want to have a business with relationships focusing on building people, or are you interested in keeping a tally of how many people are on your list, how many people who have joined or how much money you earned?

If you are interested in building relationships, developing solid leadership characteristics, and learning more about this approach, please download this free book called Success in Ten Steps.  It is not an affiliate program and it is packed with useful information.

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

I came across a very interesting report done by IBM called “Capitalizing on Complexity, Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study” More that 1500 Chief Executive Officers world wide were interviewed for this study.

With today’s economy and high competition, the report indicates that CEO’s face a great deal of complexity like never before.

Creativity is the Leadership Characteristic that the CEOs in this study highlighted as one of the most important aspects of being able to deal with the complexity of the business challenges today.

So how does this apply to the business of network marketing?
Like all other business, Network marketing deals with the current economic state and the competition in the field.  While there are a large number of benefits to this industry, it is not isolated from the rest of the world.  Complexity surrounds us all! It is vital for companies within the industry to be creative in their approaches to building business.

This requires the leadership characteristic of Creativity.  So how do you  develop creativity in your network marketing business:

• Keep an open mind.  In my opinion, this is critical to creativity.  There are many ways of building a network marketing business.  Many of the traditional approaches have been replaced.

• Be flexible and willing to look at new ideas and ways of doing business.  If you have been in the MLM industry a while, you may be resistant to some of the new approaches.  If your business is not where it should be or used to be, consider looking at some innovative ideas.

• Re-examine past practices and toss them out if they are outdated.  Does making a list of 100+ or buying leads really help your business to grow?  Area you alienating your friends? Is it time to stop wasting your time and money on some of these practices?  Really think about this to see if it is still effective for you today.

• Interacting with your fellow team mates including those individuals who are new to the team.  Network marketing is about relationships.  What better way to learn, grow and come up with creative solutions than to interact with those in your business.  Even the new folks can shed a new perspective on a complexity you are facing.

• Finding out what your customer wants / needs.  Developing a relationship with them.  This can lead to creative ways of better serving them.  Having a happy customer is essential.  Think of the impact it will have if they see you are implementing one of their suggestions!

These are just a few insights on the Leadership Characteristic of creativity.  You have it within you and your team, be open to using it!

If you are looking for new ways of doing business that may differ from what you are currently doing now, I encourage you to look at the free report Success in 10 steps. It is free and offers an effective approach that can help your business grow.

Partners in Success!

Cheryl

Merriam Webster defines Courage as the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.  It takes courage to build a business.  It really is an important Leadership Characteristic that one must possess in network marketing.

My goal is to share with you my thoughts on Courage and how it can affect your Network Marketing business

Courage does not always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. ~ Mary Ann Radmacher

When I think of courage, the things that often come to mind are the acts of the brave fire fighters, police officers, and soldiers. Yes they truly are heroes and give a lot of themselves to help protect us. But Courage does exist in our lives more often than we realize.

Think of your day to day life.  Then take a look as some of the following examples of courage:

• Express your thoughts and opinions
• Stand up for what you believe in
• Go out of your comfort zone
• Start a new business
• Change careers
• Learn or try something new
• Make new friends
• Make amends
• Be open to others’ thoughts and views

In Network Marketing, courage is very much part of the business.  It is evident that a growing number of people are aware of using the Internet to build their business. But still for many, the first thing that comes to mind is making a large list of people, contacting all your friends and family, making cold calls to people you don’t know or getting 100 “No” responses, please rest assured this is very much unnecessary.

Courage is needed to go out of your comfort zone and develop relationships with those who are interested in the business.  It may be to learn skills necessary to grow a successful business.  It can be a shift in thinking, being open to new ways of doing things or possibly just taking an honest assessment of how you are doing. It can be as simple as committing to take consistent daily action regardless of the time spent.  Courage to believe in yourself.

Courage in business does not always involve a huge visible risk.  It is the small steps we take and the courage that goes a long with it that counts.  It is an essential Leadership Characteristic in building your business.

Courage is being afraid but going a head anyways ~ Dan Rather

]]> http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/leadership-characteristic-of-courage/feed/ 4 http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/lead-with-a-servants-heart/ http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/lead-with-a-servants-heart/#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:00:05 +0000 Cheryl http://attractionmarketingleadership.com/blog/?p=59

I recently read an article on leadership in Success Magazine called “leading Multitudes, Moving Mountains: Leadership in the 21st Century” by Chelsea Greenwood. The article highlights 7 traits great leaders must have. One of the traits was to Serve Others. Yes we serve our customers, but it is essential that we do the same for the team we are leading.  As Kevin Blanchard, leadership expert so eloquently stated in his new book The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Art of Influence The flock is not there for the sake of the shepherd, The shepherd is there for the sake of the flock. We need to be working towards fulfilling the needs of our team members.  We need to find out what is important to them.  What are their goals?  What are they striving to achieve?

What does this all mean in the network marketing world?  I think we sometimes assume that one of our primary goals is to achieve financial independence. While this may be one thing we are striving for, there is probably more to it.  One thing you can do as a leader is to get to know your team members’ goals.  What are they striving for? More importantly, how can you give them the tools, support and encouragement to achieve these goals?  What is wonderful about attraction marketing is the focus on giving value and providing solutions.  We need to do this within our teams as well.  We also need to celebrate their successes, which can be more than generating  X number of leads.  Acknowledge their accomplishments. An amazing thing that I have observed is that when you do this, you create a loyal team who really are inspired to give it there all.

Please note: The link to Kevin Blanchard’s book is an affiliate link with Amazon.com.  I recieve commission on purchased made through this link.

I was recently reviewing a brief interview with Lee Cockerell, retired executive vice president at Walt Disney World.  He was asked what he thought was the most important leadership quality to have in business.  His response was integrity, honesty and trust.  I could not agree with him more.  Having these qualities is essential in any type of leadership role, but even more so in network marketing.  Unfortunately the industry has had a bad wrap.  People remember the scams, pyramid schemes and all of the other dishonest methods a few people used.  The industry is now very reputable.  Of course there will always be a few dishonest people pulling scams, but as with any type of investment, you should always look into any company you are considering to join.  Regardless of your industry, these qualities are critical for successful leadership. Let’s take a lot at the qualities identified by Mr. Cockerell:

Integrity:   Mirriam-Webster’s On-line dictionary defines Integrity as a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.  I consider things such as following through with what you said you would do or doing the right thing even if it means loosing a sale.  You are not trying to persuade someone to join your opportunity when deep inside you know this is not appropriate.  I know I may make a few people angry, but I also think that some methods of overcoming objections are close to being harmful to your integrity (it really depends on what and how this is being done). 

Honesty:  I believe this goes hand in hand with both integrity and trust.  I believe in being up front.  I don’t have all the answers and if a prospect asks me a question to which I don’t know the answer, I let them know.  I also tell them that I will find the answer and get back with them.  Then I follow through.  I truly believe most people are not out to get a sale at any expense.  It’s been my personal experience that people in the network marketing industry tend to be a helpful group. Not only do they want their customers to be happy, they know that dishonesty can be damaging to their business.  Any good leader knows that dishonesty can be damaging to their team. 

Trust: If you have integrity and you are honest, more than likely you will develop trust!  It’s obvious how important trust is to customers, prospects and your team members.  Trust comes through the process of building relationships.  As people get to know you and what you are all about, they begin to develop trust.  I believe this is sacred and should be protected.  If you gains someones trust, it reinforces the obligation you have to that person.

There are many imporant characteristics of great leadership.  I welcome your feedback and encourage you to post about your views on the subject.

To Your Success!
Cheryl