What to do when your Downline Quits on you
First and foremost, recognize that your downline probably didn’t quit on you — In fact, they quit the business. And, this happens. A lot unfortunately. So the important piece to know here is how to deal with it. Attrition is the reality of any business — which is why we put a lot of emphasis on retention. So sure, there are key things you can do when your downline quits on you (or as we explained — the business).
The majority of people who join a network marketing company will quit within their first 90 days. By majority, we mean somewhere around 75% will quit.
This is a scary statistic, isn’t it?
Having a network marketing business can be a wild rollercoaster ride. One minute you are super excited that you found a leader on your team, and the next minute you have five (5) people just quit your team.
Why do network marketing downlines and teams quit and/or disappear?
It is a heart wrenching feeling. One moment you are addicted to your back office or dashboard watching the enrolments climb. And then, suddenly the next month you have more people inactive, a dozen aren’t taking your calls anymore and you have lost a grip on what has happened.
The majority of people don’t finish things they start. They don’t change things they don’t like, and they don’t achieve the success they say they desire.
That’s not a network marketing thing. It’s a people thing.
Attrition in network marketing is going to happen.
In fact, it’s part of the process of success in network marketing.
This is why it is important how to deal with it when your downline quits. Although like you, we believe that network marketing is one of the best financial vehicles in the world — it’s not for everyone. Some people have a huge love for their profession or career, and it has nothing to do with network marketing.
Attrition in network marketing is almost like a filtering system.
People join, they get a taste for it, and either take they decide to make it happen and run with it or they quit. And, although you may be inclined to see their reasons as excuses – it is irrelevant.
Maybe it’s because they are unrealistic dreamers. Or, others because it’s just not ‘their thing’ and guess what? That’s OK! Let them go. Too often people get hung up on this whole notion of convincing someone to stay. Stop that.
Now, we do think it’s important that if the other person is open to it that you have a real conversation about it. But, chances are they may have already made up their mind — and our suggestion is, respect it. Your downline quits, you feel like everything is coming apart — but remember why you started.
And, yes this can be harder when you’re new to the industry. It can be very confusing, incredibly frustrating, and almost deflating to the point you start to question your own network marketing existence. You might even wonder if it is something you did.
Or, what’s even worse?
You Block, Delete, Unfriend, ETC. the Person!
We hear this all too often. And let’s be really clear here for a moment … When this is your approach after someone leaves your business all that message is sending is you were only ‘good with them’ when you earned an income from them. These actions (which happen all the time, maybe even to you) are insurance that that person will never return to do business with you — and you can know with certainty they would never be your customer.
So your yourself a favor — if (or when) someone in your downline quits, you wish them well. You continue the relationship. Because, we would hope your relationship wasn’t only created or initiated as a recruiting tool. Because if that’s the case, the relationship was probably never authentic or genuine from he beginning.
People are people, first.
So we’ve covered why it happens. And the truth is, there is no real right or wrong answer there. People are the variable, and as a leader if we are playing our role effectively, that is all we can hope for. And, that is all the other people who have joined you in business can hope for.
Let’s look at a few ways to manage attrition or what you can do if your downline quits.
Managing how, or why your Downline Quits
Scenario One — The Warm Market
The team member — your ‘leader’ recruited their warm market. In other words, they brought all the friends and family into the business. They were all going to be rich. In the mean time, this leader was never shown how to recruit outside of the warm market. So when the friends and family funnel ran out, there was nothing left.
And, because people will always follow the leader … the leader becomes discouraged and stops recruiting, so the friends and family do the same and suddenly you have an entire organization wiped out before your eyes.
Solution: Be sure that your leader is equipped with skills outside of recruiting their warm market. This can include things like cold market, social media marketing, attraction marketing, networking, etc. This will show them that there is real wealth outside of a warm market, and in turn will help their growing team duplicate their efforts.
Scenario Two — Downline moves from recruitment to management
This is a recipe for disaster. It is common when people have a team starting to grow with them that they shift into this role of management. This is also called ‘micromanaging’ and does nothing but annoy and irritate everyone. And, it destroys any chance of success for the team.
Solution: This leader should continue leading from the front. Team duplication is what every person should strive for — so ensuring that they are demonstrating the right traits, skills, effort, and all things in between, is key.
Scenario Three — Half truths are whole lies
Are you familiar with the game broken telephone? It is where everyone sits around in a circle and the first person whispers a message in the ear of the person next to them. That person then does the same .. and so on. By the time the message of “we are having steak for dinner” gets around the circle, it suddenly says “the dog ate my homework”.
Point being, the message becomes distorted, and certainly not accurate.
This, is how rumours start. And the very reason we stress this next point;
Good news goes down, bad news goes up.
Solution: Never, ever, ever under any circumstance should venting, gossip, complaining, etc. go to your downline. If you have concerns — your upline or sponsor is where this (if at all) should happen. Your downline looks to you as the ‘go -to’, their leader — the expert. The last thing you want to do is reinforce negative emotions, misconstrue information, or perpetrate a problem that didn’t exist until you created it.
Final Thoughts on why your Downline Quits
Leaders will always reveal themselves. And, if no one on your team steps up to the plate to at least swing the bat — the best thing you can do is build a new team. Focus on your own efforts.
Stop trying to manage your current team.
Those who want success will take action. They will call for advice, suggestions, ideas, resources, etc. They will make sacrifices. They will invest in their learning. They will attend events, conferences, team meetings and company calls.
They will probably ‘harass’ you like crazy for the first 90 days and then you will rarely hear from them. Why? Because they have stepped into a leadership role and are too busy building their own businesses. That is what you strive for instead of focussing on why your downline quits.
We hope to see you on our upcoming webinar and we know it will help you manage why your downline quits, what you can do about it and how to push past it.
Let’s make the difference.
“How to Get 5X More People Interested in Your Business on Facebook Without Feeling Spammy or Salesy”
First, register here >>> WEBINAR REGISTRATION
Date: January 10, 2018
Time: 9:00 p.m. EST
And, to give you a sneak peak .. here are a couple things we will cover;
- The 3 common mistakes most network marketers make on Facebook that are REDUCING the amount of signups and sales
- A simple and proven formula to generate more customers and reps even if you are new
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