Using Personal Communication in Your Network Marketing Business

January 10th, 2009 | by Chris |

By Elridge Jones

Most people do some form of communication all the time. When we work with coworkers, interact with family or even meet strangers in the street, we are always communicating a message of some sort. In network marketing, personal communication is a must and the best in the network marketing field have mastered their personal communication skills.

So what types of communication do people in network marketing usually encounter? It will vary depending on the company you represent but most network marketers will use some or all of these methods:

- Emails. This is one I commonly use to interact with my team, customers and prospects for my business. Being brief and clear is the best way to communicate in an email. Longer emails usually lose the reader’s interest and stand a chance of being deleted before you get a chance to get your point across. Try to get to the heart of the information you want to pass along to the reader and save extras for later emails. If you are writing customers or prospects, a signature line at the end of the email is appropriate.

- Training materials. Lots of network companies generally produce their own and if you are striving for duplication in your group, it is better to use company provided material. However, there are some skills as a network marketer you will have to acquire on your own and that means building a personal library to improve those skills. If you are a beginner, someone in your up line should be able to recommend tools for your training. If you are providing materials to your down line organization, be sure that everything you do is duplicatable and doesn’t require your presence to be effective.

- Phone. The uses of phone communication usually involve prospects, customers, and your networking team. Using the phone often means following a script for prospects or asking or answering questions for up line/down line. The use of the phone should always be as a supplement to other communications first.

- Instant messaging. This one has come more into use since the internet has become a more convenient venue for finding prospects. I use it sparingly, and always ask permission of the person I am contacting. A good rule is that a person who likes to use this method of communication will usually provide you with their IM contact info.

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Photo by Ville Miettinen

- Forums and social networking sites. These can be great for team communication and getting frequently asked questions answered without the need to repeat them. In a forum, the rule is to provide substantial input to the conversation or thread. This often means looking at past conversation in the thread to insure you are not adding useless or repetitive content. If you are advertising, you should restrict it to just your signature line if that is permitted.

The key form of communication is learning network marketing coaching techniques . You will need to coach down line and build a relationship with them and you will need to learn when to turn to up line for support. You should learn to be a student first and master the skills you will need to have duplicated in your down line team. This often involves leading by example so your team will follow the pattern you set for them. The temptation is often to buck the trend and try unproven ideas, but the best advice is to follow the template set by your up line and pass it to your team.

You should master the fundamentals of learning to become the teacher your team will need to make your business grow. Take advantage of learning opportunities at the beginning so duplication will take place and make your management of your business easier later on.

How can you improve your communication skills? I suggest working on the image you project to others first. This involves learning personal development skills so you can be conscious of how you appear to others and so you can do the work of making your messages clearer to other people. Improving listening skills is key here also so you can pick up on cues other people send to you in their messages. One of the things I have learned in my own experience is that often you will often have to ask questions to insure your communication to the other person was received and to make sure you received the right information from them. You should also try to practice being positive in your communication and avoid negative communications when possible. This is a rule where you attract people and avoid turning them off by using a poor choice of words for your communication. Ask for feed back if necessary to make sure you are getting your point across.

Personal communication can grow your networking business by strengthening your relationships with customers, prospects and your networking team. Practice to get it right and your business will grow. Let improving your personal communication with others become a daily habit.

I provide more network marketing coaching techniques on my website. There is also more information available about what I recommend to improve your own personal communication.

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