This is the second in a series of direct sales team building articles that focus on planning effective meetings.

In our last article, Successful Direct Sales Team Meetings, we discussed how important networking is to encourage social friendships. Collaboration, on the other hand, has more of a business focus.

Direct Sales Consultant Collaboration

Networking also fosters collaboration between your direct sales team members. That is another important reason to schedule adequate networking time for casual collaborative interaction. Collaborating with like-minded professionals enhances the results for all involved. Bouncing ideas off others, using the mastermind technique of solving problems, and searching out solutions are creative ways to use the personalities of different team members to grow everyone’s business. Creating a team meeting that encourages collaborative efforts will greatly increase your team meeting effectiveness, as well as the results of your sales team. The networking time that we discussed in the last article will automatically generate natural collaborative efforts.

Some examples of structured collaboration activities that should be included in every direct sales team meeting in addition to scheduled networking time are:

• breaking off into groups with an assignment based on a workshop topic
• setting up teams of consultants to troubleshoot various scenarios
• sharing success stories as a group

Team Building Support and Education

All direct selling companies have structured training materials and support systems. Support and sales training are reasons that direct selling is such a successful business model. There is always someone upline or sideline who is willing to support fellow team members without fear of being replaced. Unfortunately, education and one-on-one team-building are pieces of the industry that are getting diluted in the age of technology. (Our last article in this series will address specific challenges to technology based education and support.)

At a live team meeting, support and recognition can take on a wide variety of forms. It is important to remember however that everyone’s needs are different. Whether in recognition or in individual or team support an effective leader must recognize and serve all of the different personality types.

Planning Meetings For All Personalities

Sales meetings that reach all personalities have several different teaching styles. Following meeting planning guide will make meeting planning simple for you and fun for your team, so that they keep on coming back no matter what personality type they are. In our next article we will discuss a simple template that will give you a step-by-step technique for planning an effective team meeting month after month.

Meeting makers make more money. Planning an effective team meeting that is fun will keep your direct sales team coming back for more.

Team Building Meetings

This article is the first of a series that will address a simple approach to team meeting planning both online and off that creates an environment that is fun, interesting and keeps team members coming back for more. When building a direct sales team it is essential to have effective team meetings!

Meeting Makers Make More Money!
No One Quits When They Are Making Money!

It is obvious that, based on the above two statements, the key to team building and retention is to get your sales consultants to meetings.

Connect Your Team At Meetings

Like everyone else, the marketing industry is relying on online networking to bring in new team members, as well as for team training. With the technological focus of the direct selling industry, it has become more and more important to connect with your team in a meeting environment.

Sales leaders who are keeping up with the times and recruiting using the internet will take advantage of live meetings as well as meeting formats such as webinars, tele-seminars and online forums or chats.

Regardless of the meeting format, all meetings should planned is such a way as to serve five purposes to be effective. Your team meetings should include aspects that support and encourage:

• networking
• collaboration
• friendship
• education
• support/recognition

Meetings That Encourage Networking

The networking and collaboration aspect of your team meeting should not be overlooked. Encouraging the sharing of ideas with like-minded professionals is a key aspect of running a good sales meeting. This piece of your meeting is as important as the educational piece. Specific steps should be taken to encourage networking, especially so with internet or tele-seminar based meetings. (We will discuss this further in a later article.) In the live meeting setting, scheduling a specific time and activity to encourage networking is beneficial. Networking games or icebreakers will encourage your team to get to know one other.

Team Networking Games

Examples of team networking games are:

Network “Find Your Partner”

As the meeting organizer, you set up a series of matches that will encourage networking.

• ham and beans
• turkey and stuffing
• waffles and syrup
• chocolate and ice cream
• peanut butter and jelly
• and so on….

Then as the team arrives they are required to pick a card with one half of the combination on it, and network to find their match. Participants can only ask open-ended questions, not those requiring a yes or no answer.

“Sales Consultant Find Me” Game

Another good ice breaker is to create a series of note cards with interesting facts on each card about each attending sales consultant. Examples of this include:

• Has twins
• Husband is a dentist
• First name begins with a St
• 3 boys over 18
• A newborn baby
• Is a lawyer
• Loves the color purple
• And so on….

Each arriving team member picks a card and then networks to find the appropriate person, then chats to learn more about the team member. During the meeting, each person would introduce their person to the group.

These icebreakers will encourage your team to get to know one other and become friends.

Successful Direct Sales Meetings

Another sales meeting trick that will create an environment that is more conducive to successful networking is to NOT have the chairs set up as the team arrives. Regardless of whether the meeting room is using tables or theater style seating, the important thing is that if the chairs are placed then most likely your team will sit in their comfortable little groups and not network as a larger group. One of the easiest ways to encourage networking is to NOT set up the chairs. Each team member can grab a chair out of a stack on the sideline when the meeting is going to start.

Networking creates friendships. Friends do not let friends down. When your direct sales team members become friends and not just fellow sales consultants, they will have a higher likelihood of coming back to meetings. Meeting-makers make more money, so networking is key to developing friendships and those friendships will improve team retention.

In the next team meeting article we will address collaboration. Keep your sales team meetings fun and encourage networking so that your direct sales team members becomes friends and your sales organization will grow as team retention increases.

Winners Of CashFlowShow Game Share Their Training Experience

Last night on The CashFlowShow – Direct Sales Radio the leaders and winning team of the pre-launch CashFlowShow Game shared their training experiences on the air. Even I was amazed at how Game has impacted their direct sales business!

Enjoy the call here or download it on The CashFlowShow – Direct Sales Radio host page.

• Click the links within the white part of this page to allow your audio to continue and browse the other pages.

Jenn Monterrozo and Vickie Hildebrandt were both team leaders in the first match of The CashFlowShow Game. Mandy Hull, a brand new consultant for Biltmore Inspirations was a player on the winning team.

The CashFlowShow Direct Sales Game

The CashFlowShow Game is the latest in direct sales training. This is cutting edge technology that will leverage team leaders’ time and revolutionize the training of a sales organization. This is the next wave of training for the direct sales industry.

Direct Sales Team Training Game Launches

The CashFlowShow Game has been in beta pre-launch for the past 30 days and enjoyed by the Elite Club CashFlowShow members. Launching this week to the public The CashFlowShow Game will take your team training to the next level.

The CashFlowShow Game – First Match Winning Team Leader

The winning team of the first match of the Professsionalism course for The CashFlowShow Game, Independent Lia Sophia Consultant, Jenn Monterozzo, says:

“The Game teaches you to be more consistent and then is something that helps to hold you accountable. Our team took The Game seriously and practiced the actions that earned points based on our learning everyday no matter what! I found myself naturally doing the things I learned after a few days without having to consciously think about it.”

Sign up for a free trial and you will be hooked!! The CashFlowShow Game

Announcing The Direct Sales Game – Revolutionizing Business

Direct Sales Business Coaching!

This Game WILL Amplify your results in your direct sales business. It is a coaching program, it is new consultant orientation and it is a game!

We have teamed up with the company Gamplify to create the CashFlowShow Game.

That is Gamplify…. take amplify and add a G for Game and you have Gamplify…which is what the http://www.createacashflowshow.com/education-training/team-building-game.htm will do for you and your direct sales team. This game will AMPLIFY your team results.

What we have done is make a game out of running a profitable home business. The CashFlowShow Game takes game thinking and game mechanics and applies them to the NON-Game environment of your business to create fun, team engagement and real sales problem solving.

Team Training Program

Think about it! The best way to learn is to use all of your senses. Whether you are training your team or growing your personal business, your learning will be accelerated by not just hearing or reading the information but by engaging in the process.

This is part of an email that Passion Parties’ team leader, Vickie Hildebrandt sent to her team today:

Tammy and I just received our diplomas for completing the Professionalism game and we are now moving into Game 2, which is Finding Business! We both agree that we have been amazed – we have learned SO MUCH from this game – even simple things such as how to organize your email to stay on task! If you want to stay on task every day in your business, learn information on how to be organized, book parties, make a better party presentation, etc., join us!

WARNING: This game is addicting! Be prepared to play every day (about 15 minutes of your time), learn a TON of information and grow your business!
Vickie Hildebrandt, Passion Parties Leader

Engage Your Sales Team

While engaged this way, your sales team will learn with multiple senses. When you are training your downline, your lessons will be remembered much more readily if you create accelerated learning environments that will interest a broad range of people. Playing and learning use both sides of the brain simultaneously so you have to learn more!!

CashFlowShow Game = Direct Sales Success

Everyone who joins direct sales wants to succeed and yet many do not because they do not have a professional business attitude. Whether you are a part time, full time or hobbyist consultant working from home, the The CashFlowShow Game is a fun way to learn the tricks and secrets to running a professional and profitable home-based business.

• This game is about actions!
• This game is about fun team interactions that lead to direct sales success!
• The CashFlowShow Game will teach you and your team how to have fun and make money.
• You will use both sides of your brain so you will learn more.
• No one quits direct sales when they are making money!
• The CashFlowShow Game will improve team retention.
• The CashFlowShow Game will change your life!

The game takes you step-by-step through the process of setting up systems that will create a consistent cash flow from your home-based business.

You will find community, empowerment, friendly competition that fosters growth.

Learn more about the The CashFlowShow Game and get a FREE trial or watch the launch webinar.

I personally guarantee that you will have fun and make more money in your direct sales business. You deserve a consistent cash flow so take advantage of the free trial of The CashFlowShow Game by joining now.