Coaching your downline in goal setting

I believe that coaching is an integral part of success in a network marketing business, as it is in any endeavour. Successful coaching of a down line is one of the inherent strengths of network marketing. By fostering an environment of teamwork and support from an upline, you can make help make each affiliate greater than they would be on their own. Better affiliates means more success. You will be more successful because your down line will send more commissions up the chain and your affiliates will be more successful because they will feel empowered to work harder and stay with the program longer.

One of the traits that I have discovered reading blogs of top network managers is that they have had great coaches and become great coaches themselves. One of the fundamental aims of this blog will be to help you become a better coach to your affiliates. There are many aspects to good coaching but the aspect I will focus on in this post is motivation. One way to help motivate is to help your down line set goals.

A lack of realistic and concrete goals is a major reason for people quiting network marketing opportunities. They see the claims of tens of thousands of dollars being made with little effort and when that doesn't happen they give up. To combat this, I like to set 3 goals covering the short, medium and long terms with specific content linked to each.

Here is an example of my goals:

Short Term: Earn enough income to pay for the cost of my businesses at the premium level.

Medium Term: Make enough extra money to take my family on a nice vacation once or twice a year

Long Term: Have enough residual income to retire early on a reduced pension and still enjoy the lifestyle I have become accustomed to.

Notice there are no specific dollar amounts listed. I know about how much money I need to accomplish these things but I also know that over time those dollar figures will change. By giving the goals as something I want to do, I keep the focus on why I want to make the money rather than the money itself. The money is only an means to an end, not the end itself.

Set goals for yourself and help your down line set goals as well and you will all profit for it. Once your initial goals are reached, set new ones. They don't have to related to money either. Maybe you have goals of helping 20 people a year achieve their goals or getting your website a higher Alexa ranking. Your goals are only limited by your imagination.

Hope that helps,
Tony