The Seven Habits of Highly Effective
Network Marketers 

Steven Covey's classic "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" has much to teach network marketers.  To the detriment of the industry, much network marketing training is conducted by assorted "Gurus" with their "Secret Systems."   Many times, their "Guru Wisdom" is long on mysticism and short on actionable ideas.  Network marketing is just like any other business.  When networkers realize this and act accordingly, they will make more money, more quickly.

 The first three of Covey's Habits are:

• Be Proactive
• Begin With The End in Mind
• Put First Things First

These three habits make up your Private Victory.  To maximize your success, these are the things that you must do whether anyone is watching or not. 

Many times these private activities never get done.  As management legend Peter Drucker said, "What gets measured, gets done."  Affinity Marketing can help you with measuring your personal activity.  Below you will find two free tools that will help you keep track of what you've done and when you've done it. 

Networkers adopting these tools, position themselves for success.   

If you look at the success literature that helped build the United States in its first 150 years, you'll note that success was defined in terms of  "Character."  Developing good character was perceived as the foundation of success. 

Steven Covey's "7 Habits" is about developing your character.  

Compare the writings at the nations founding to what we have now.  You won't be impressed. 

Many recent writings seem superficial and transient.  Many of them say that success is a function of public image, behaviors and social skills whose principal purpose is to deceive.  They're epitomized by networking "Gurus" encouraging you to "Fake it Until You Make It."  Sound familiar?  Has faking it ever worked for you?  You're much better off when you actually know what you're doing, rather than pretending you know what you're doing. 

The second three of Covey's Habits are:   

• Think Win-Win
• First Understand - Then Be Understood
• Think in Terms of Synergies

These habits are necessary to achieve your Public Victory.  Once you've mastered yourself, it's time for collaboration and cooperation with other successful people.  Working with other Independent Distributors, either in your organization or not, is one of the indispensible keys to your ultimate success.  Fortunately, there are extraordinarily profitable ways to collaborate with anyone in the networking industry.      

The Seventh Habit is:  Sharpen the Saw.

When you slow your learning, you speed your death.  There are four quadrants to your existence that need constant attention and development.  They are:

• Physical - exercise, nutrition, stress management
• Mental - reading, visualizing, planning, writing
• Social/Emotional - service, empathy, synergy, security
• Spiritual - spiritual reading, study and meditation
  

We'll go through the 7 Habits and learn how you can use them to prosper more quickly in your networking business.  

Habit One - Be Proactive

The very first of the your "Private Victories" is to get off the couch.  In any business, network marketing included, there's a lot of work involved.  There are many things you can do to build your business, but, you have to do them.  Many network marketers are part timers.  That makes it even more important to use your time effectively.  If you're getting home at 6 in the evening from your day job, you have only a few hours to make phone calls to prospects. 

You heard right.... phone calls. 

To succeed in network marketing, you'll be talking to strangers on a regular basis.  Blogs, emails and product samples may suffice as initial contacts and be useful in the sorting process, but who's going to do your deal based exclusively on an e-mail?  Those people don't exist.   

I found two very useful tools to help assure you're on track and doing the work.      

 Chains - Click Here  - Chains will help you create and sustain good habits.  You need to be prospecting every day.  Every day that you do what it takes to build your networking business, you get another link in the chain.  Done properly, you'll soon have an unbroken chain running for months and months.  When you have that, you should see significant positive results in your business.

Time Doctor - Click Here  - Time Doctor permits you to track what you're doing and when you're doing it.  It can be used to supervise employees, but that's not our purpose.  You're going to use it to supervise yourself.  As Shakespeare said in Hamlet, "To Thine Own Self be True."  Don't tell yourself you're working when you're not.  Use these tools and you won't be able to fool yourself.  

Habit Two - Begin With The End in Mind

Stephen Covey said:   

"All things are created twice; first mentally; then physically. The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blue print of the desired result."

In network marketing, you need to have an idea of how much you need to earn to make it worth your while.  When you have that number, you need to understand what you'll have to do to earn that money.  To make those calculations, you need to understand your compensation plan and understand how many folks you're going to need to get there. 

There are lots and lots of people running around making absolutely ludicrous claims of earning $10K/month, $20K/month and more.  They're asserting this can all be done with nothing but incessant yapping.  The only requirement is that you yap at a "Fever Pitch." 

They're wrong.  Hype doesn't work. 

At some point, people will do a reality check and move on.  It's tragic that some of those moving on actually joined a network marketing company.  They joined a company, taking it on faith that their sponsor knew something.  When it was evident that he didn't, they left.  For those folks, the well has been forever poisoned.   

It doesn't have to be that way.  Leader's Club provides a tool permitting anyone in any company to calculate exactly what it's going to take to earn a sum of money.  It takes into account attrition and other things that impact your groups growth.  You determine what you want to earn, then Leader's will help you determine EXACTLY how to get there.  The tool is here:  Click Here 

If you make certain that each new distributor you sponsor is fully apprised of what they might earn and the work required to earn that income, they're far more likely to remain.  People are willing to work if they know what they're working for and can measure the progress towards that goal.  

Use the Leader's Club Income Calculator, in concert with Time Doctor and Chains.   Pick the amount of money you want to earn from your business, figure out what you need to do to get there and then undertake the effort, "By The Numbers."    You'll be very glad you did. 

Habit Three - Put First Things First

"What is the one thing you could do - which you aren't doing right now - that if you did it regularly would make a tremendous difference in your business and personal life?"

I taught accounting, finance and operations at the university level for many, many years.  All my students were concerned with the economy and their job prospects.  To make sure they were a desirable hire, I told them to write about what they wanted to do.  I suggested they write as though they were a compensated professional in the industry they hoped to serve.   

Those that took my advice seemed to do well. 

Say you're in an interview and are trying to get an accounting job.  The interviewer is asking questions about the needs of their company.  Continuous auditing is a current hot topic.  A number of firms are implementing systems to do it.  The interviewer asks what the student knows about continuous auditing.   

What if that student could say,

"Why yes... I've been researching continuous auditing and have published two papers on the topic."

The applicant gives the interviewer the URL for his BLOG and BAM, that student is head and shoulder's above other applicants.

Back to network marketing.  Our task isn't as difficult as implementing a continuous auditing system.  To make money in network marketing, we only need to do one thing.

Tell the Truth

If we do that, we're good to go. 

I wrote another piece here at the site called:

"The Rule of 50"

The "Rule of 50" provides you with the time investment required, and the work you must be prepared to do to build a network marketing business. 

You're looking at the tools you need  to put "First things First" in your networking business, i.e. the  Income Calculator, Time Doctor, Chains, The Rule of 50  and Leader's Club.  

It's no longer possible for you, or your prospects to say you don't know what to do.  That's a good thing.  Knowledge is power.

Habit Four - Think Win Win

Win Win is the name of the game in networking marketing.  Think about it.  You can collaborate with others, regardless of what company they're with.  That's the principle reason I selected Leader's Club as the company I represent.  It permits me to help anyone prosper more quickly in any network marketing company. 

Leader's is all about Win Win. 

Leader's Club provides significant giveaways permitting us to engage prospects while helping them build whichever network marketing company they choose.

That's Win Win. 

I know full well that most of the people I speak to will not join my opportunity.  That's OK, we're still friends.  I invite them to join my LinkedIn Group, Texas Networker.   Within that group, we provide significant guidance and resources to help assure a rising tide lifts all boats.

In network marketing, it's worth trying to collaborate with anyone.  It's the same in the non-networking world. 

I know a Realtor.  She regularly collaborates with other Realtors, loan officers, and others to mail post cards and do other marketing activities.  It doesn't really matter if the Realtor she's working with is with the same company, as long as there's a mechanism to assure respondents are distributed equitably.  It's the same with network marketers.  Make certain you're trying to help people do what they want to do, and you'll have an excellent chance of doing extraordinarily well.

Habit Five - First Understand - Then Be Understood

When you approach people for your network marketing business, you're usually the supplicant.  You're the one with something to present.  You're trying to get the person you're presenting to give you a few moments to make a presentation. 

Before you make your presentation, you need to understand what motivates the person you're speaking to. 

There is a very old, very bad  joke that asks, "How do you sell a chicken to a deaf person?"  You get right in their face and SCREAM:

"DO YOU WANNA BUY A CHICKEN???!!!!!

Unfortunately, many network marketers take this approach.  They lead by screaming about "Financial Freedom", "Big Money," "Explosive Growth" all before they know what their candidate wants.  Presenting your opportunity to people that didn't ask and have no interest will not make you money.

There are five levels of listening:

• Ignoring
• Pretending
• Selective Listening
• Attentive Listening
  
• Emphatic Listening
  
  

Many of the networkers I've known have NEVER got past someone pretending to listen to them.   

Don't forget, your business provides much more than money.  Participating in your networking opportunity is going to require time, energy and resources.  What if your potential associate is not motivated by money, but, instead is moved by:    

• Making New Friends
• Learning How To Lead
• Staying Inspired and Motivated
• Broadening Their Knowledge
  
• Giving Back to the Community
  
  

The business you represent offers all of the above.  Take time to find out what your prospect wants.  Once you know what he wants, present that facet of your opportunity.   

I recently read,   "The Secret of Selling Anything" by Harry Brown.  It covers discovering what your customer wants very well.  It's worth a look. Click Here

Habit Six - Synergize

English poet John Donne said,:  "No Man is an Island."

Network marketing is all about synergy, collaboration, cooperation, and consultation.  Throughout your business building efforts you need to be working toward  1 + 1 = 5.   Your new people are looking to you for guidance.  Don't fail your people. 

The phrase everyone uses:

 "In Business For Yourself, But Not By Yourself"

is true.  How true is up to you, their sponsor. 

Growing your network marketing business is not a project, it's an integrated process.  There are numerous things that you can and will do to grow your group.  You, and other members of your team will be very good at some of these activities and very bad at others.  When you've created a synergistic group, you will have determined who is good at what.  People will do what they're good at and the group will become more prosperous. 

Habit Seven - Sharpen The Saw

In Stephen Covey's book, he tells a story of a man in the forest trying to saw down a tree.  His saw is blunt. 

He saws and saws and saws and saws to no avail.  He's working incredibly hard and getting nowhere.  A guy walking by suggests he take a break and sharpen the saw. 

For his trouble, the wayfarer gets a terse reply:

"I don't have time for that!!"

Does that sound like you? 

Are you working your networking business very, very hard and getting nowhere?  If that's true, you need to sharpen your saw by affiliating with network marketing's finest training organization, Leader's Club.  

Let's review Covey's Seven Habits.  They are:    

• Be Proactive
• Begin With The End In Mind
• Put First Things First
• Think Win-Win
  
• First Understand - Then Be Understood
• Look for Synergies
  
• Sharpen Your Saw
  

To build your network marketing business easily incorporating all of these Seven Habits, look to Leaders.  

At Leaders, you'll find wise people helping networkers of every stripe build their business.  Leader's Club has a 20+ year history of success.  They, like you, are in it for the long haul.  

Join Leader's Club:  Click Here

Have additional questions?  Call me.  Click Here