Friday, May 11, 2012

Star Achievers Team: What has it done for me?

Gentle Reader,


I am standing on the boardwalk in Oceanside, CA, cell phone to my ear, talking with my master coordinator about my future in Shaklee.  She and her husband are among the finest leaders of the field.  With all their vigor and care for the 100's of people in their organization, they have grown and developed the company their parents built into one of the strongest legs in Shaklee.  Kathy loves me and wants the best for me in my business.  


It was after the Shaklee convention in St Louis.  I had a card from another sales leader about a franchise model for managing your business, one with detailed scripts.  A few weeks later, a builder in the Vita Mom group, my up line's organization, sent me several scripts for introducing the business opportunity to a new person, with typed out responses and questions leading the prospect to a willingness to look at a website about the wellness industry.  I experimented with this script making several calls, and felt the language to be genuine and believable.  


My 25 yr old business had been frustrating.  I had lost confidence in the MLM industry and even in the products.  There are so many new companies coming along all the time.  People talk about their results and how quickly they can sign up new people.  Surely there are companies equal to Shaklee, I thought.  It was harder and harder to call people, ask opening questions, get an appointment.  I hadn't sponsored many people in a long time.  Where was that enthusiasm that carried me quickly to a bonus car, the rank of coordinator, an income of $4000 monthly, parties every week, weekly meetings for my new recruits, even a hired part time employee?  I was driving my fourth bonus car. (I still am.  The 2002 Prius runs like a top!)  


My husband and business partner had died and I felt I was at a cross roads.  Maybe the Star Achievers Team manuals and web capture pages with simple clear steps for every phase of the business would give me the road to run on and the support I was looking for.  Kathy gave me her blessing, saying, "It's your business.  The beautiful thing about Shaklee is that you can build it anyway you want."


The leadership team accepted me as one of two sales leaders to take through the whole process as if we were brand new recruits.  I was a challenge to the team because I wanted to do it my way.  To follow a plan step by step, to show up every Tuesday for the training hour on the phone and do the homework on time was more discipline than I was used to.  While I am a highly disciplined person, I rely on my own internal task master to direct my structured life.  Now I was submitting myself to the structure of a group of leaders I hadn't met and didn't know.  


Over the 25 years I have been a sales leader in Shaklee, I have written my goals many times, but now I was being asked to insert them into a computer form using the correct present tense language, and select the top 3 goals which I put in the bathroom, kitchen and on my car visor.  I carry another copy in my purse at all times.  Yes, Shaklee University suggests these same techniques. The difference is that I am accountable to the Star Achievers Team leaders, and to a personal mentor.  


These leaders actually made phone calls with me to my top 10 and my to 40 consumer prospects.  I had done 3 way calls with my down line in the past, stammering and unsure the whole time.  This process is spelled out, leaving nothing to chance.  It is written right there on the page, what to say when the prospect says this or that.  The other sales leaders listened while I was being trained on this weekly call.  They learned and after my partner and I were complete with our kindergarten MLM learning process, we joined others to listen while 2 more sales leaders went through the initial steps.  


I was present on Tuesdays for 3 rounds of first steps.  I was unlearning all the stutters and confusion of the past.  My confidence grew.  I was listening to Confessions of a MLM Millionaire by Dale Calvert, 2 audio tapes, over and over and over. It was sinking in.  


Besides the training calls for current sales leaders wanting to learn a steady, concrete method for building a Shaklee business, I began to show up every Saturday morning at 7 a.m. to attend the weekly Breakfast of Champions meeting.  I love this meeting.  Even though I have to dial in to a phone conference at 6:50 when I would rather be sleeping in, I am on this call.  It is exactly the same every time:  people checking in from all over the United States with the facilitator ticking off the states.  We each report on our success with one marketing strategy during the previous week.  


We share our product stories.  I find myself thinking about the products I have used all week that were especially helpful to me so I can share. Or perhaps one of my customers had a particular result that I can share. Others give their result and tell what product they love that they wouldn't want to be without, and why.


We hear an in depth presentation on one Shaklee product from the Product Guide with a Q&A on that particular product at the end of the call.  These two product segments help me remember why I love Shaklee and remind me of benefits and strategies for using Shaklee products which I may not have thought of before.  For example one participant takes 3 Immunity Formula I with breakfast to kick start the immune response to histamines so hay fever is not so bad.  This suggestions benefits me greatly stopping my allergies.


We have a leadership training piece, usually a reading from a master MLM trainer.  Listeners have a chance to tell their success which brings encouragement and applause.  


Every segment of this call is scripted except for the individual responses.  A new person is comfortable joining the meeting to listen and learn.  The call lasts 45 minutes and is followed by 15 of discussion about the current reading project.


Let me say something about the reading.  When I first got into MLM with Shaklee, I was handed books and tapes and encouraged to read about this industry.  Without an accountability strategy, the reading didn't get done.  On the call, the facilitator says, "At this time we would ask those of you who have read last month's recommended book to give a 30 second report on something you learned from the book which was important to you."  I am the kind of student who likes to be prepared to speak in class.  I read the book and have something to say.  Without this weekly requirement to show up and be accountable, I probably would not sit for 15 minutes each morning to read the recommended book.


Once the initial 6 step training is complete, a new person is invited to go to the Star Achievers Team Shaklee MLM school.  I showed up every Tuesday morning (there is a class every Monday night as well) for 12 weeks to learn every aspect of MLM from overcoming call reluctance to how the money is made.  I took this class 3 times back to back and often drop in on the Monday night class as a refresher.  It is on going and anytime a new person comes along, it is there for them to learn everything they need to know to run a successful Shaklee business.  Again, the class is scripted carefully.  The variations come from the students who bring their comments and questions.


What are my results, you might ask?  No, I have not developed a new sales leader as yet.  I do keep going in my search for the person who is ready to follow a proven system.  I am in action every day, making calls to prospect lists, some of which I have purchased.  I put fliers about the business and the product (we stick to Vitalizer) on bulletin boards all around the Seattle area.  People call me from these fliers.  I know what to do with them.  There is a script to follow.  I have complete confidence in the superiority of the Shaklee products and can, without being defensive, walk a person through a comparison with whatever they are buying.  I have faith in the MLM industry as the best alternative to a 9-5 job  as well as a legitimate way to save on taxes.  I comfortably talk with anyone about both the product and the business.  I do not chase anyone, begging them to join me.  If they say no, I am OK with that and ask who they know who might be looking.


Dale Calvert describes the people who make up the pool of prospects in three catagories:  3 percenters, 27 percenters and 70 percenters.  I have many of the 3 percenter characteristics:  self starter, highly motivated, innovative "I know how to do this. I don't need your rules."  But I am also a 27 percenter, a person who thrives when told what to do and how to do it.  I read manuals (after trying to figure it out on my own), I can follow instructions even while thinking I could write the manual better and I do best when there is routine and repetition to learning.  This program has taught me to be patient with other 27 percenters.  And to never give up on the top 20 % of the 70 percenters.  I have learned that recruiting and training is not about me.  It's about the other person. I am a more compassionate listener.  And my PV is growing again. I have more income from retail sales, allowing new customers to experience the benefit of Shaklee before giving them the privilege of membership.


Thank you to the Star Achievers Team leadership and all the wonderful people from around the United States who join in the weekly calls.


If this sounds like something you have been looking for, call me.


Be well and Do well,


Betsy


Betsy Bell's Health4U LLC
206 933 1889
www.StarAchieversTeam.net/betsybell
www.HiHoWealth.com
www.nowheelchair.blogspot.com  how to managing arthritis without medication or surgery.