By Dana Phillips.
As leaders in direct sales, you welcome many new members to your team. Great leaders have a system for onboarding new team members. Without a system to orient new people, there is a remarkable pattern of failure. Activity, productivity, and satisfaction are the lowest in new consultants who started with little or no help. Like many of you, even self-starters complain that they wish they would have had more help at the beginning.
These systems vary from the simple to the complex. You, the leader, must decide what your system will be. Despite what many trainers out there tell you, there is NO one system that works for every organization. However, more important than you using MY system, it will help you to think about what a new Consultant needs, what you want them to learn, and then develop your personal system.
You may have had lots of support or very little, but here are some common traits of a new Consultant. We use the acronym “ACE” to help you remember what a new team member needs.
Assurance: They may be a little fearful: “What have I gotten into?” They need assurance from you that they have made the right decision. They are all wondering if this might work for them. They need assurance from you that they can be successful.
Clear Directions: They need the next steps to begin their journey. It is important to keep the directions in bite-sized pieces, so you don’t overwhelm a new person. We use an exercise when we coach top leaders to discover the most important directions a new person needs. List every single activity you want the new team member to carry out in their first month. Next, chose the top three activities that you feel are most important. Continue prioritizing the next three so that you can give them small bites of directions. They need to know some specific activities that successful new Consultants do. Consult your company’s training.
Expectations: New people need to know their working expectations. They need you to be clear about what they can expect from you and what you expect from them—simple expectations like returning phone calls, attending conference calls. Take time to write ideas about what they can expect from you and what you expect from them. Think about the expectations of your company.
You can create your system by yourself, with other leaders on your team, or partnering with a coach. In this way, you will find the best system for you and your way of doing business.
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