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Leading the Way
As a Branch Advisor, one of your most important roles is that of leader. Through leading you are helping your team members reach their dreams.
What does leading have to do with American Craft Originals™, this month's business builder training for your branch meeting? Everything! With the introduction of this new collection your team needs to be able to come to you for guidance and business tips and ideas on how to make the make the most of this new opportunity.
Connection
Our company is about building relationships and making connections. As a Consultant, your focus tends to be on providing excellent customer service to your hostesses and customers, as well as sharing your incredible stories with others so they might enjoy the Longaberger Opportunity.
As a Branch Advisor, your connection needs to be as much with your customers and hostesses, as well as with yourself and your team. You can make a connection with your team by truly understanding them and helping them reach their potential through the goals they set.
One way to start helping your team is to listen. Another powerful tool is asking questions. The questions you ask can help your team develop specific goals that lead to strong, healthy businesses and balanced personal lives. Approach your questioning in one of two ways:
- Open-ended questions. Ask a series of open-ended questions that lead your team members to their own conclusions. Your role is not to tell; rather, it's to help your Consultants reach their own conclusions. By asking a series of questions that lead to generating specific desires, you are helping them define their goals. Begin your questions with words such as: how, why and what. You can also use phrases and words such as: tell me, comment on, describe, explain and evaluate.
- Closed questions. This is a little trickier because our natural tendency is to ask questions that elicit a Yes/No answer. However, you can ask closed questions and still help your Consultants arrive at a valuable answer. Rather than ask questions that result in a Yes or No, ask questions that require your Consultants to choose between two or more answers. For example, instead of saying, "Do you want to set a goal for sponsoring this year?" ask, "Would you rather set a goal for sponsoring three or five Consultants?" In order for these questions to be meaningful you need to know your Consultants.
Why is knowing your Consultants important? You can't ask meaningful questions if you don't know what's meaningful to someone. In the example above, you would not be able to give the Consultant a choice of how many people to sponsor if you didn't know what she had done in the past and what her potential is going forward. This information comes from your reports and your understanding of her desires.
Present
This requires that you work in the present moment with all your capabilities. This does not mean that you are not a visionary or that you should sacrifice your needs. After you've taken care of you, make sure you take care of those who need you.
As you help your Consultants set goals and maximize the opportunity of our newest collection, make sure you that their goals can for the new sales year can be realized, and this is yet another tool to help them along the way. As you lead them toward achieving their dreams, remember it's about their dreams and needs, not yours.
Responsible
Your responsibility here is not for someone's achievement of their dreams. However, if you are leading then you do have a responsibility to provide guidance. Your responsibility is also to set the right example for your team and model the desired behavior you want. Before your branch meeting, spend some time learning about the new collection and think of ways you will maximize it in your personal business. As you walk them through the Business Builder exercise, share what you discovered and some things you are going to do to make the most of this new opportunity. It's as much about walking the walk as well as talking the talk.
We always welcome your suggestions for topics!
Email us your comments and suggestions.
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