We almost always think of the external customer when we think of serving our customers. The people that are using and loving the products we sell. We focus on customer service, customer retainment, getting new customer leads, and utilizing CRM (customer relationship management) systems to track potential and existing customers.
However, as a Network Marketing Leader, your team is also an important customer you serve. We might argue it’s the most important customer for a leader to serve. Even if you’re part of a great company with incredible products, if your team isn’t getting what they need as far as leadership, coaching, training, community, culture, direction, etc., your business might not grow as fast as you would like.
Both focus on a strong service mindset.
Serving your External Customers with Excellent Customer Service
Customer service is critical for not only retaining customers, it’s also very important when it comes to acquiring new customers. The more your team serves their customers, the more they truly understand the customer and their needs. Customers that are served well are happy…. and happy customers are the key to your business. In addition, customer service will help in all areas of the customer cycle: awareness, consideration, purchase and loyalty. Here’s a few things you can do as a leader to help your network marketing team strengthen their customer service mindset:
1. Encourage Your Team to Use (and Love) the Products – Make sure your team is using the products! One of the most unique and significant advantages to network marketing is that the sales representatives are brand ambassadors (true users and lovers of the products they sell). This is where “If you love it, you can sell it” rings true. When a customer is purchasing from someone who truly believes in the product, the sales cycle can be not only more authentic, but more influential, when it comes to the customer decision to purchase. This results in more sales and more happy customers. Here’s a few tips to make sure your team is using (and loving) the products they are selling: create and share testimonials, highlight personal product success stories, share your love for the products with your team and have other leaders on your team do the same.
2. Provide Product Training – Training your team on the products is so important for two reasons. First, not only will product training help your team understand the value and the benefits of the products, they’ll also get an idea how to “upshare” (or upsell) to existing customers. When your team understands the value and benefits, they are more likely to believe in the products and become more confident sharing those benefits with prospective customers. In addition, your team is also more likely to use the products themselves to receive those same benefits. Lastly, if your team is knowledgeable about all of the products you offer, they are more likely to “upshare” additional products with existing customers. This not only increases customer satisfaction, but it also increases the customer spend per order. That’s a win-win for your customers and your business.
3. Share Customer Service Best Practices (and do it frequently!) – Make Customer Service a key topic on your team. The more you talk about customer service, the more your team will focus on it. In addition to sharing product testimonials and training, you can also share customer service best practices around the following: Loyalty programs, upshare ideas, the value of your company’s customer programs, tools for keeping track of customers (like CRMs), and trainings by team members who have high customer sales and are experts when it comes to customer service.
Serving your Team through Servant Leadership
When it comes to network marketing leadership styles, Servant Leadership is one of the best. Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the leader’s main goal is to serve. This style is different from standard leadership where the leader’s main focus is the growth of the company. If you’re looking to build a strong team culture of success, a culture in which your team members truly love being a part of, adopting a servant leadership philosophy is a great place to start.
By being a servant leader, you’ll create a team environment in which all team members feel appreciated and valued and you’ll most likely see more team engagement and a stronger culture of success.
Here’s a few qualities that all great servant leaders possess:
1. They are great communicators: Not only do they provide clear communication to their team around what’s important to help their team focus on growth, they are also honest and transparent, and truly listen to their team. This helps team members stay focused, and also trust their leadership and feel valued. All are very important for the success of a network marketing team.
2. They are committed to helping their team members step into their own leadership: Servant leaders don’t create followers, they create leaders. Duplicating leadership is one of the most important aspects of a successful network marketing team.
3. They encourage open collaboration: Like we mentioned, servant leaders want to show their team that they are appreciated, valued and heard, through open collaboration and engagement.
4. They care: Servant leaders care about their team members and not just what’s happening in their businesses. They care about what’s going on in their lives too.
If you’re ready to adopt servant leadership as your own leadership style, here’s a few actions you can take to develop your skills as a servant leader:
1. Lead by example – This is especially true in network marketing. Network Marketing leaders are not bosses. They’re performing the same actions that their teams are to grow the business. By leading by example, you’re not only continuing to grow your own business, but you’re showing your team how it’s done. Remember, you can’t ask your team to do things that you’re not willing to do yourself.
2. Encourage open collaboration – Solicit your team’s feedback and opinions on important issues or ideas via an open communication platform. Not only will they feel valued and heard, they’ll be more likely to buy into and execute on plans and actions that are rolled out if they contributed to the idea in the first place
3. Help your newer leaders rise up – Share the spotlight and give your up and coming leaders opportunities to develop their leadership skills. You can do this by having your rising leaders take over some of your leadership roles, like training, recognizing team members, starting and leading group discussions, etc.
4. Show your team why the work they do is important – It’s human nature to want to feel like you are a part of something larger than yourself and truly making a difference. By providing your team with success stories, impact stories and stories that truly show how your company and products are making a difference in people’s lives, you’ll reinforce your great team culture and strengthen your team community!
