Know Thyself…But Don’t Forget About
Sun Tzu said, “It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”
Thankfully, our craft is not warfare. It is not destruction, but rather creation, but Sun Tzu’s premise holds true.
The only thing that remains constant in business is change. You must continuously reflect on all aspects of your business and continue to look for ways to improve. This inflection should be constant and never ending. You will always find room for improvement.
Additionally, we should never stop studying our competition. Evaluate their strengths. What do they do right? How strong are their products and services. Where can they improve? How is the marketing? Do they know their target market well? Are they communicating well with that market & giving their prospective customers reason to take action and buy? Do they service those customers well well enough to turn them into raving fans?
Which network marketers do you see that are creating momentum? What are they doing? Get on their lists & study their marketing. Read their emails. Evaluate how it is that they are connecting with prospects. Watch their videos. Study their posture & communication. How is it that they’re able to resonate with their target market so well?
There is a tremendous amount to be learned from what is being done correctly by both yourself and your competitors. There is also a lot that can be learned from the mistakes. Quite often, the best lessons come from bad examples. Be aware of this and watch for these learning opportunities. Study the marketers don’t do it right. Show them to your team as examples of what not to do and why.
Keep a file on the best network marketers that you see. Connect with them & begin to build a relationship. You can use social networking sites & the telephone to start, but look for opportunities to get around them in person. There is nothing more powerful than making that face-to-face connection. Focus first on developing that relationship and looking for ways that you can provide value to them. You can certainly be open about the fact that you are a home-based business owner and that you’d love to have them on your team, but don’t be interested only in your own success. They will recognize it and be repelled by your selfishness.
Things change in time &, if developed a relationship & proven yourself to be a good leader, some of these people will follow you. On the other hand, you may find that your circumstances change. Should your primary network marketing company fail, having a list of other teams you’d like to work with could become a valuable asset. If you’ve already developed strong relationships elsewhere the transition can be smooth and quick.
Never stop learning. Continue to pay attention to what is happening in the marketplace. Study the strong leaders in your own company, but don’t neglect what is going on in other teams as well. You never know where that next great nugget of information or powerful relationship is going to come from.
Dale Horton is a passionate entrepreneur with a mission to help other home-business owners find success. For more articles by Dale, visit DaleHorton.TV, or visit the Million Dollar MLM Formula for access to strategies used by leading network marketing professionals.
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