The key to achieving leverage (working less and earning more) is fostering duplication in your down-line. If you can sell, are consistent and are able recruit efficiently you can grow your business. The benefit of home-based business (direct sales, MLM, etc) is that you can create leverage, essentially duplicating your own efforts to increase your income and cash flow.

Duplication is essential for any leader who wants long term success. One of the greatest joys is seeing the members you’ve enrolled achieving their goals and the success they desire. The more success your team as, the more momentum you’ll all experience…it makes for a great environment in which everyone can thrive. With our most recent venture, GiveOpp, John and I have developed an incredible team of leaders that is experiencing massive duplication…before launch!

So, what does it take?

First, it takes having the confidence and belief of a leader. Duplication starts with you. The old adage of “If it’s to be, its up to me” truly applies here. The more focused, enthusiastic and confident you are in your goals and your ability to achieve them with your opportunity, the greater the response from your team. When working with groups, it’s easy to get discouraged by people who are off-track, frustrated or complaining. But, if you keep your own head clear and your eye on your goal, the great the result and experience will be for everyone.

Second, there must be a duplicable system. Most companies fail to provide their members with useful marketing resources that give people a strong start. Keep in mind that most of the folks who get started with you will not have sales or marketing experience, so the easier you make it for them to follow a step-by-step system, the greater their success will be. Just telling them to get out there and talk to their friends and family is a guaranteed “bomb”. Most of their friends and family are going to tell them they are “nuts” to get started in “something like that”. But, if you give people excellent print, online and offline marketing materials with some training in how to use them, they’ll be off and running quickly. If the systems are complicated or new members are left to flounder in their own confusion or frustration, it will become like a virus that stops your momentum. Make it simple and easy for new folks.

Third, choose to work with the right people. John and I have built very successful teams. Our team was cohesive, confident and supportive of each other. We did not sign up everyone and sometimes turned folks away who wanted to get started with us because their attitude and energy was not a good fit. While that sale would have provided some immediate gratification, adding certain people to our team would have brought more headaches that benefits. So, target your marketing and choose your team members wisely.

Lastly, build momentum! It’s your “job” as the leader of your organization to keep the tone of the group enthusiastic and excited. Be sure to do lots of promotion. When someone has a great result, let everyone know. When your team approaches 50 or more members, do a team call (you may have your team on your upline’s call prior to that because starting a team call with too few members can, in itself, be a bomb) that let’s everyone jump out and talk about their success, announce new members, etc. If your company does regional or national training events, plan a time for your team to get together…spend a few bucks on food and drinks, the rewards are well worth it. The more you promote your team and it’s members, the greater the success will be.

Employ these strategies, take full responsibility for your organization and down line and keep the energy flowing high…this is the path to massive duplication.

I remember when I first got started working from home. I was so excited! My husband John and I would be working together and our goals were to make $20,000 a month within our first 90 days so we could quit our jobs and get John a new car.

The enthusiasm quickly waned as we struggled to generate enough quality leads to launch our business. We were already members of the NFL (No Friends Left) so friends and family really weren’t an option for us. So, we had to go “cold market”. Our advisor told us how to do flyers and newspaper ads and that was working ok. We ramped it up and with just flyers and newspaper ads, we were able to achieve our goal of $20K in a single month our third month in.

But, it was A LOT of work. Flyering cars requires a determined mindset and much perseverance (particularly when you’re doing it in 105 degree weather!). So, we wanted a faster, easier way.

And that began our journey into online marketing. Online marketing can be incredibly confusing and frustrating when you don’t know what you’re doing…it can also be very expensive! But, the rewards are great once your systems and ads are dialed in. It takes some diligence to track your results and optimize your campaigns, but over time, you will find that it gets easier to get good quality leads for a great price.

The key is to really educate yourself, put the education into action, track the results and modify the campaigns until they are fully optimized and you are getting a great result.

More on lead generation to come