Finish What You Start as a Trainer
Written by jslader on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 in Affiliate Programs.
Author Robert Byrne said, “There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on.” Does that quote describe your role as a trainer of your affiliate marketing downline? Do you undertake training initiatives and then, well, you know, and so on…? Do you initiate wonderful training programs only to let them lapse after a conference call or two. If you do, you are cheating your downline members out of opportunities to grow as Internet marketers.
Training your downline requires consistent effort. Instituting training modules for your downline without a detailed plan and timetable wastes your time and theirs. Procrastination in continuing a training program you began does not speak well of you as a leader either. To build a productive downline you must finish what you start as a trainer.
How can you ensure that your training program progresses towards its stated destination? The following are five ways to make sure you stay the course on any training program you undertake with your downline:
Have a Purpose
Any training program on affiliate marketing must have a purpose. You cannot tell your downline that you’re going to have a general training session, and then wing it. The first thing they will ask you is “A training session on what?” You should have an answer for them and it should be specific. An appropriate answer would be something like, “Our training session will be on how to engage in article marketing successfully.” That tells your downline exactly what the training module will deal with.
Plan
It’s great to have a purpose and know exactly what your training sessions will deliver. However, do you have a plan for your purpose? Having a plan is your roadmap on how the training sessions will progress. You may have a teleconferencing call with your downline once a week. You decide those calls will be on article marketing. You know you will need more than one teleconferencing session to get your message across to your downline.
This is where you plan exactly how the article marketing sessions will play out. You may decide week number one will be on the basics of quality article writing. Week number two may be on selecting a good article distribution service. Week number three may be on fine-tuning your writing and tracking your article submission efforts. With this plan, your downline knows what to look forward to and this encourages participation. It also keeps you focused so you do not lose interest and cancel sessions.
Prepare
You have your purpose, your plan, and now you have to prepare for your planned sessions. This means having your training module agenda before you so you can systematically get your information out. It also means having resources ready to distribute to those who will attend a training session. With a teleconferencing session, you may want to send e-mails with attachments beforehand. This is so your downline can review them before a session.
You may need to send them access codes and passwords to a site. This is so they can videoconference with you and look at multi-media resources. If you’re holding an in-person meeting, you will need to prepare hard copy materials. These could be training manuals, brochures, and articles for handout.
Communicate to Inspire
You have to let your downline know about your training modules. This is the who, what, where, why, and when of your training program. Don’t just tell your downline these things; inspire them about these things. When you inspire your downline to want to take part in training sessions, your enthusiasm is catching. If you find you are one of those who sometimes start initiatives and don’t complete them, an inspired downline will prod you to continue. When they see value in a training program, their interest will inspire you to continue with it.
Encourage Feedback on Training Modules
Let your downline play a role in how training sessions transpire. They may have great suggestions on how to make these sessions more valuable. Heed their advice. Let them know they are an integral part of your affiliate business. Let them know you place a high value on their opinions as part of the overall team. When you encourage feedback and institute your downline’s good suggestions they will stick with your training program. When they want to stick with your training program, you have an obligation to finish the training program you started.
Finish what you start when it comes to training your downline. Don’t be one of those affiliate marketers that goes gung-ho with a program then lets it fall by the wayside. When you finish a training program you started, the result will be a more productive downline team.
Jim Slader manages the affiliate program at Article Marketer, the largest article distribution service on the Internet. Earn commissions on a product that virtually sells it; become an Article Marketer Affiliate today. Join the winning team: it’s quick and easy .
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