Eileen gives hope to old, worn out companies with pointers and possibilities for new life and a positive future through creative changes and new visions.
I know that all the great points in the world can’t offset the lack of a great commission check this month – nor can great products, massive inventory, fabulous sales aids, super management, nor corporate leadership.
However, if your company’s strengths and weaknesses list contains no fatal flaws, you CAN breathe new life and excitement into that tired old dog. Taylor Hegan (my husband), another distributor, and I did just that . . . and the results were nothing short of spectacular! We non-surgically re-contoured an existing company producing a few hundred thousand in monthly volume to one reporting 15 million dollars plus a month! We became trendy; We appealed to industry players; We revamped company materials to become competitive in the marketplace; We created BIG checks for lots of people; We gave the company a dramatic new personality; We increased company volume beyond anyone’s wildest expectations in just a few years! We ran a parallel “new” compensation plan along with the tried and true (or was that “tired and blue?”) compensation plan until a comfort level was established for management to welcome a merger of the two, with some grace period for “old” distributors to meet updated requirements.
When a new plan is fairly accepted and has a successful track record, you can either switch to it exclusively or maintain both old and new plans, allowing distributors to qualify on either or both, thus generating two monthly checks for themselves if they choose. Maintaining both pacifies fixed imagers who hate change and allows deeper payouts to the trendsetters, since the old timers usually don’t participate in both plans.
Always remember the golden rule of change: “NEVER TAKE AWAY!” Move money around perhaps, but if your company needs more money, the only sensible legitimate way I know to increase profitability is to do a financial analysis of expenditures, with an eye toward cost-cutting measures and ways that company management can help you increase sales.
One of the biggest problems in an established company is lack of excitement when distributors compare your plan to newer, more creative plans. You can choose to keep defending your current plan’s attributes and do nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is a good idea. Sometimes it’s not. Remember --- if you continue to think as you’ve always thought, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always gotten. Is that enough? If not, what are your choices?Choice #1. Ask your distributors. This is a disastrous move, in my opinion --- they seldom have enough knowledge of all the ramifications of company financial choices. Their opinions are often based on their own particular vantage points (i.e., whether they are relatively new distributors, with fewer than 2 years in the company, or well-established, with 3 or more years as distributors and downlines more than 5 generations deep, if the plan is a breakaway), and they tend to focus on the persistent concern, “What’s in it for me?”Choice #2. Let your company management decide. This one is risky. Seldom is management objective about what is competitive and what will work. There is a perceived notion in distributor-land that management wants to rob from the rich and give to the poor. But, have you often heard of a company pulling aside its top distributors, for example, and saying, “Hey, we’ve got to get you from $50,000 to $100,000 a month as soon as possible!”? There is also the alleged idea that management has “pets,” these being either the “overachievers” who make the rest “look bad” through their ever-constant hard work or the “squeaky wheels” who waste time making daily calls to complain and cry on company shoulders instead of really working the program.
Choice #3. Hire consultants to advise you . . . But who? Consultants should be carefully scrutinized for recent, successful track records. Ask for a list of companies that they have worked with before, and check references for some semblance of excellent and creative advice. Also, be aware that our industry changes so rapidly that today’s “prize winners” can be tomorrow’s “DOGGIES IN THE WINDOW.” Don’t discover what my mom did when she finally updated her home decor to the style she had been admiring in magazines for several years; she learned that everyone else was sick of blue and rose . . . and was getting rid of it!Choice #4. If you really want good advice, you might consider working with a company outsider who has a good pulse beat on the present marketplace and is currently involved with several facets of MLM. They can help you tailor your compensation plan changes effectively, based on your particular product/service line. Remember my slogan: “You REALLY CAN have it all!” Consider keeping your traditional compensation plan and then setting up a spin-off, bonus, compensation plan to create INSTANT SIZZLE and additional monies. You can add a new product and/or training that distributors can only purchase under the new plan. Working both the old and new plan will net them two checks. I really love this idea. You can transition gradually to a totally new plan without the disharmony of change destroying your company. You really can teach an old dog new tricks.
Exercise is a Choice
Dr. Silva gives alternative choices to mundane exercise for those who find that routine distasteful.
Your Child Has ADD
Dr. Silva gives a healthy, balanced plan of action for parents of children exhibiting ADD symptoms that does not include commonly used medications that are potentially harmful.
Not as much Money in your Check?
Eileen gives helpful advice to those whose MLM income has dropped to help them come through their slump with success and lessons learned.
