This is a question that I am asked often, and rightly so. Business owners want to know how to best motivate their team as well as get them to perform. While there is a lot that you can do to impact the performance of your team, you can’t actually motivate them. Motivation is an inside job. You can’t do it for them. Your job as a leader or mentor to your team is to inspire. 

In Latin, the word inspire means to breathe. The goal is to encourage and breathe life and vision into our team members’ hearts. This is where the magic happens. This is where motivation is born, and this is where you will begin to see the will for your team members to perform. 

Network marketing adds another layer of complexity to this because you are dealing with a volunteer army.  

You can’t demand their performance or tell them what to do.  They are in business for themselves. Inspiring them with your own performance is the best tool you have.  There is no simple or one size fits all answer, but the below recommendations can get you on the right path and inspire YOU to find solutions that work best for you and your team. 

• Lead by Example: This is a given. The best thing that you can do for anybody on your team and anyone in your business is to build your own business to be enormously successful. Take care of business yourself. Be an example in every single thing. If you want your team to recruit, be recruiting. If you want them to sell, then sell. If you want your team to be at the events or plug into the calls, then make sure that you are. As the old adage goes, don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk. When your team members see your efforts, they will be willing to do the same. Be an inspiration and role model in every way that you can to motivate your team members. 

 

Last, but not least, demonstrate good communication and good listening. If you are willing to listen – and I mean really listen – you team members will be willing to listen to what you have to say as well. 

• Celebrate Activity, Not Results: Particularly when your team is just starting out or trying something new, support their actions and contributions. Maybe their initial actions are not met with success but celebrate their activity because at the end of the day, we can’t control the outcome of most of our actions. We are dealing with people. People who come with experiences and opinions as diverse as they are. They are the ones who ultimately make the final decisions and there isn’t much that we can do about that. 

 

However, for every reach-out, follow-up, or invite – whether they result in success or not – there’s benefit in the action. No matter the outcome, there is a lesson to be learned. Celebrate the activity as well as the small wins. Make sure that you acknowledge the little things including attitude. Acknowledgement goes a long way.

• Find Their Motivation: In the business of network marketing one of the first things we do is; elicit a person’s “why”. This determines what really drives them and what they really want. Once we understand their motivations and cherished desires, our job is to tie the daily actions into the bigger purpose. Simple actions that can seem repetitive or mundane are part of the greater picture. When the business purpose aligns with the life purpose, it gives team members fuel that comes from their own soul. 

 

It is important to know their “why” as well as to continue to refer to it. Maybe someone wants to spend more time with family, take that vacation, pay for their child’s education, or donate to charity. Whatever pulls at their heart strings or gets them going in the morning, is what you want to focus on. 

• Be a Strong Leader: What attracts someone to want to be on your team is a strong leader. It’s important to have really big vision about what’s possible. We hold our team members’ vision even before they see it. We see their vision with clarity. We see them walking across the stage. We see them achieving the things they want. We see them surrounded by a big team. We see them growing in confidence. We see them stepping into leadership. 

 

We see these things clearly for them while they are stepping into or working on their vision. This will give your team members the confidence that they can rely on you and look to you for advice. If you truly believe in their vision, you will best be able to guide and support them. Be positive and let your passion shine through. Your team members will accomplish amazing things when they know they have a strong leader behind them. 

As mentioned above, there is no one size fits all plan, but these strategies will get you headed in the right direction. 

You lose nothing by getting to know your team members more. The more you get to know them, the more you will understand their motivations. Celebrate them often and let them know that you believe in them. Be the strong example. Be the constant that they can rely on. 

If they begin to doubt you or the business, they will be less likely to work hard and dream big. See and believe in their vision until they believe in themselves. And then continue to believe in them. Find out what their dreams and goals are and align your business’ values and mission along with theirs. When your team members find themselves in the business, they are more likely to be passionate, dedicated, and motivated to deliver success.