The Tracy Biller Newsletter 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved.

Transcription

1 The Tracy Biller Newsletter 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. The Tracy Biller Newsletter comes with reprint and redistribution rights as long as it is done so in its entirety with no editing. We encourage you to share this training newsletter with everyone in your downline! (Scroll down to the end of this newsletter for an explanation of Limitations for use of Tracy Billerʼs Free Trainings. ) Many of Tracyʼs previous training newsletters are available as PDF files at:. To receive a FREE subscription to the Tracy Biller Newsletter go to:. To reach Tracy Biller direct, you may call him at , or him at: Tracy@UltimateSuccessCDs.com. Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 1

2 The Tracy Biller Newsletter 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. By Tracy Biller producer of the Ultimate Success CDs Last week a long-time network marketer (who has been a customer and subscriber for nine years) called me to vent about her company s lack of persuasive and effective sales tools. Before she called she had sent me the link to the company s web site along with the replicated site the company provides for its distributors. She was right. Both web sites were horrendous, and I m being kind. I jokingly told her that I believe that the person who created the sites has the I.Q. of a doorknob. For example, on just the home page of the company s web site I pointed out to her 14 problems and oversights. The web sites lack of effectiveness was stunning, to say the least. HOWEVER... there was something else about our conversation that caught my ear. It was her constant use of the possessive term my team. After the first five minutes of talk I began counting her use of my team. Over the next ten minutes I counted twelve uses of my team. I thought to myself, She never read my newsletter. So after another five minutes of of hearing her say my team, I asked her, You ve been a customer and subscriber for over nine years. Did you read my newsletter titled Don t call your downline your team? No, she replied. I didn t read it. Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 2

3 I suggest you read it. I ll you the PDF. Call me back after you ve read it and tell me if you agree or disagree with my view, I said. I ed it to her. Fifteen minutes later she call back. I agree with you, she said. I won t ever say my team again. I had no idea. Here s the newsletter I sent her... A couple of days ago during a phone conversation, the guy I was talking with repeatedly called his downline, My team. After about the fifth or sixth time of doing this, I asked him, Let s pretend that you prospected me and signed me up under you on your first level. Would I then be on your team? He said, Yes, you would be on my team. I asked him, Well then, suppose I sign up a lady named Mary and then I sign up a fellow named Bob. Are Mary and Bob on your team, or are they on my team? He answered, Both Mary and Bob would be on my team. At what point in time do I get to say that certain people are on my team? He said, Well, I supposed all of the people under you would be on your team. But you said Bob and Mary, the two people I sign up, would be on your team. Now you re saying they re on my team. I m getting confused. Well, it s like this, he explained. Because I m the upline, then I m sort of the leader, so most people are just on my team. Well then, that brings up another issue. Who is your sponsor? He answered, My sponsor is Paul. Okay. Then am I on Paul s team, or am I on your team? And of course, Paul has a sponsor. So am I on that person s team? And what about that person s sponsor. Where does all this team stuff begin, and end? Do you see how confusing this is? Yes, I do, he said. Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 3

4 This whole problem can be fixed in one simple step. Do you want to know what it is? Yes! he said. It s real simple. Starting right now this second, STOP CALLING YOUR DOWNLINE YOUR TEAM!!! o Whose team is it really? Is it your team? Or is it my team? Or is it your upline s team? Whose team? What team? STOP THE MADNESS!!!!! Sometimes when I hear a network marketer repeatedly refer to their downline My team, I ll sometimes ask them this question: So how many people are on your team? After they answer, I sometimes say this to them: Now those people who are on your team, do they have their own team below them, or are they indentured to be on your team for as long as they are involved with your company? And are the people below them on their team, or are they on your team, or are they on both teams? And what about the people above you such as your sponsor and their sponsor and so on; are the people below you on your team or your sponsor s team? In other words, is it your team, their team, or what team? Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 4

5 Whenever I do this, it almost always causes the person to say something like, Well, huh, um, I uh, well, uh, I never thought of it that way. You bring up an interesting point. Yes, I did bring up an interesting point. Believe it or not, during the years when I built my two big downlines, I never once called my downline my team. NOT ONCE!!! Instead, I always referred to my downline as my group, or my downline, or my organization. But never my team. Why is that? It s because I believe the term my team is too possessive, almost like ownership. Also, the term my team creates the mindset that we re all working together, when the fact is that in network marketing distributors are sales and marketing agents who actually work alone 99% of the time. But more than all of that, I felt that the term my team causes confusion, and puts a restriction on people in my downline, making them dependent upon me instead of being 100% self-responsible and self-functional. Let me illustrate why the use of the term my team is detrimental in network marketing. Suppose a network marketer named Bob is brought on as the Master Distributor for a network marketing company. Bob immediately sponsors a guy named Jeff, then Jeff sponsors a lady named Sue, and so on. Bob (Master Distributor) sponsors Jeff. Jeff then sponsors Sue. Sue sponsors Gary. Gary sponsors Pat. Pat sponsors Tim. Tim sponsors Laura. Laura sponsors Vicki. Vicki sponsors Rick. Rick sponsors Paul. Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 5

6 The vertical flow chart would look like this: Bob Jeff Sue Gary Pat Tim Laura Vicki Rick Paul Looking at the flow chart above, to whose team does Paul belong? Does Paul belong to his sponsor Rick s team? Or does Paul belong to Jeff s team, or to Tim s team, or to Laura s team? Or... does Paul belong just to Bob s team because Bob s at the top? Now... suppose that Paul gets to work and sponsors a whole bunch of people. Do all of those people that Paul sponsored belong to Paul s team? Or do they belong to Bob s team? Or to Pat s team? Or anybody inbetween? This whole my team confusion and silliness became evident to me NOT when I built my two big downlines, but during the sixth month I was in network marketing when I was a failing distributor. (That was over 23 years ago!!) The guy who sponsored me his name was Bill had sponsored several dozen people, and he constantly called all of us in his downline my team. But the gal who sponsored Bill her name was Maria was very gung-ho, and she too referred to all of us in her downline as my team. It gets worse. The lady who sponsored Maria her name was Catherine she also always referred to her downline as my team. And then six levels above Catherine was a heavy hitter named Dennis, and he always called his downline my team. So at hotel and training meetings, I had TWO, THREE, and sometimes FOUR OR MORE PEOPLE telling me I was on THEIR TEAM. Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 6

7 So one day I called up Catherine (who was three levels above me), and I asked her, Catherine, whose team am I on? Am I on Bill s team, or Maria s team, your team, or Dennis team? Her answer was just plain stupid. She said, Well, we re all sort of on the same big team, working together and all, if you understand what I mean. NO! I DON T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN! What team are we on actually? I mean, I don t work with you or Dennis as you live in different states. And I don t work with Maria, and I don t work with Bill. I mean, we talk on the phone and stuff, but we don t actually work together. The fact is, that we all work mostly on our own, from our homes. Sure, we come together on phone calls and at training meetings and such. But the idea that we actually work together is a bit far fetched, don t you think? Yes, I do kind of see what you mean, she said. Let me ask you another question, Catherine. Suppose I sign up 20 people. Are they on your team, or are they my team? Or are they on Bill s team? WHOSE TEAM ARE THEY ON? Her answer was, Well, I never thought about it that way. I guess you could say they re on everybody s teams. If someone I sponsor signs up just one person, say their name is Pete, and Pete signs up 50 people, are those 50 people on Pete s team, or are they on my team, or are they on Bill s or Maria s or your team? Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 7

8 Gosh, she said. This whole team thing is complicated. Maybe we should stop calling it team and instead just call it downline or group or organization. I remember that phone conversation with Catherine like it was yesterday. It was obvious she had never given any thought to calling a downline my team, and she hadn t realized how confusing and silly it is. After we hung up I decided right then and there that if I ever built a large downline, that I would NEVER call my downline my team. I kept my promise to myself, because during the years when I built my two big downlines, I never once referred to anyone in those downlines as being on my team. NOT ONCE! About four years after that phone conversation with Catherine, I was talking with my mentor about leadership, and he said something to me I ll never forget. Here s what he said: Do everything you can to make people in your downline feel like THEY are the leader of their own downline, especially the people they personally sponsor. The guy that you sign up wants to feel like the people that he signs up are in HIS downline, they are HIS people. Granted, they re in your downline as well, and he knows that, but he needs to feel important, and he needs to be in a position of leadership, self-responsibility and selffunctionality. You must back away from the desire to be the head honcho and defer the head honcho-ship to others so that they feel important too. And teach them the same. Never forget this. And that s what I did. It the common sense thing to do Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 8

9 Subscribe to Tracy Biller s weekly s and newsletters so that you receive his ongoing trainings, current leads specials and money-saving offers! Limitations/Restrictions: Many of Tracy Billerʼs trainings on his web site are free, and they come with free distribution and duplication rights. The intent of this is so that upline leaders will share Tracyʼs trainings with their downline distributors and organization. In other words, the free trainings are to be used for education purposes only with oneʼs downline. RESTRICTIONS: Tracy Billerʼs free trainings (including but not limited to Tracyʼs Ultimate Success CDs, audios, newsletters, ebooks, etc.) may NOT be used in the following manner: to promote a network marketing company and/or business opportunity; to promote any sort of business opportunity, to promote and/or be used as gift whether sold or given away free - with any sort of leads sales and/or leads generation business; to be placed in the back office of a web site subscription program; to be placed on a web site that requires a password for access; etc. Tracy Biller reserves the right to prohibit the distribution of his CDs and free trainings if he feels the user is violating the integrity and intent of the trainings. If you have any questions about the use of Tracy Billerʼs free trainings, contact him via or phone: Tracy@UltimateSuccessCDs.com Phone: (615) Tracy Biller's newsletter is published and distributed by: Owens & Lane Publishing, LLC P.O. Box 1752, Hendersonville, TN Phone: Tracy@UltimateSuccessCDs.com Copyright 2014 Tracy Biller. All rights reserved. 9