Home | Business | Sales Training
If you launch and operate like most direct selling companies, statistically your attrition (drop-out) rate will be 80% per year. In other words, out of 100 people you bring to your company in January, only 20 will remain by the end of the year. And, if you are like most, you are thinking, “I’m worrying about getting started and I look forward to having an attrition problem. . . that means that I’m seeing people coming in!” Here’s another sobering statistic: out of the 80% who leave, half of them drop out in the first 13 weeks. This underscores the importance of building your company correctly, so that you employ the best practices that lead to improved retention statistics from the very start. In January of 2004, our firm received a telephone call from a well respected direct selling company with operations throughout the world. After introductions, the voice on the other line told us that in 2003 the company had experienced 35,000 new recruits in one of its international regions, but that the company had experienced a net growth of only 900. Can you imagine the hard work ahead of them to change so many things that were not working? In the final analysis, the company would have been better off to have 1,500 new recruits then employ key practices to keep 1,200 of them. The two most important MLM distributor retention questions that you will ask yourself are these: 1. When does attrition (drop-out, inactivity) begin? 2. When must our retention efforts begin? By answering the first question, you also answer the second question. The forces of attrition go to work the moment that someone joins your company. In the instant that they sign the distributor agreement or press “send” in their online enrollment form, the evil forces of attrition begin to erode the belief a new person has in your company. Therefore, you cannot delay your company’s efforts to begin working on retention, to help keep the forces of attrition at bay, or at least in balance. Over the course of 20 years of research on the subject of customer and distributor retention, we have learned the basic five reasons that people leave or go inactive: 1. Communication 2. Training 3. Unmet Expectations 4. Support 5. Life Changes You will find it very interesting that reason # 5 (life changes) accounts for only 15% of the reasons that people drop out. You cannot do much about life changes, but you can influence the 85% of reasons that people leave. You can take responsibility for better communications, better training, understanding and managing expectations, and providing better support. The responsibility for these ultimately falls on the company, although with the right leadership and systems in place, you can help the field sales force to do their part. Working together with your field leaders, you can win the war on attrition. The LaunchSmart™ Team is ready to help. Contact us for a free Guided Assessment to help you pinpoint where you are and to define the roadmap to launch. Our approach is to help you assess and plan, and then to support you at whatever level you need. Or if you just need our encouragement, that won’t cost you a dime! www.launchsmart.com
Article Source: http://www.mycontentbuilder.com
Terrel Transtrum is author of this article on mlm startup consultant. Find more information about party plan consultant here.
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
Full name
E-mail address
