Today, I want to teach you everything I know about how to create a team culture in your network marketing business.
I should tell you right up-front that this is one area I am REALLY working hard to improve in my own business. It’s been one of my biggest challenges since I started building my network marketing business online, and I also see many other distributors struggling with the same thing.
Hopefully, my insights and experience can steer you in the right direction so you don’t have to make the same mistakes that I did.
What is a Culture?
Here’s one definition I found online.
A culture is a way of life of a group of people–the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
The best example I can share with you is the military. I spent 15-years in the Army and the experience was very different from being a civilian. As I see it, the military is a sub-culture within the American culture. It has its own set of values, beliefs, rules, policies, procedures, customs and courtesies.
People in the military talk a certain way. They dress a certain way. They act a certain way. There are rules that are very different from rules outside of the military. There are traditions, customs and courtesies that are followed and honored. People inside the military culture understand it. Most people outside of the military culture don’t get it (not normally anyway).
Within our society, there are probably thousands of different cultures and sub-cultures, each with their own set or rules, customs, traditions, courtesies and ways of doing things.
Why Your Network Marketing Team Needs a Culture
You might be asking yourself “why does my network marketing team need a team culture?” That is a great question. Your team needs a culture of its own for a couple of different reasons.
First of all, everyone wants to feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves. People want to be part of something great. People want to spend time and be around other people who are like them, with similar goals and interests.
Another reason your team needs its own culture is because most people on your team will have low self-esteem, lack confidence in themselves, and have worthiness issues. Your culture can encourage your team to work on their personal development, get their thinking right, and get out of their own way.
Your team culture can give people time to grow UNTIL they develop the right skill-set and mind-set they need to succeed, so they can go out and build a big business.
Examples of a Team Culture in Network Marketing
When it comes to team cultures in network marketing, one company really stands out: AMWAY. No, I am not affiliated with Amway either, although it was the first network marketing company I ever joined.
Amway is far from perfect, but their team cultures are the best in the industry. They do a good job at keeping people around five, ten, twenty, even thirty or more YEARS, even if they aren’t making money!
What they do right is create an atmosphere that people are happy to be part of. People are encouraged to attend meetings, rallies, listen to motivational tapes, counsel with their upline, set goals, and work on their personal development.
Most serious distributors will attend several meetings each month, where they can hang around other people in the team who have similar interests and goals.
In Amway, most of the distributors are taught to dress the same (blue suit and red tie) when they show the plan. There is a certain lingo or jargon that is used. People read similar books and listen to similar tapes so they start to think alike.
Some people might call this brainwashing. I disagree. Let’s go back to my definition of culture again for a moment.
A culture is a way of life of a group of people–the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
I would argue that almost everything you know and think right now has been taught to you by your culture, probably without you even realizing it.
Here are a few examples:
- Picking your favorite sports team because of family preferences or where you live
- Attending a certain college based on its reputation or price
- Driving a certain automobile because of the way it makes you feel
- Being frugal or choosing to try to keep up with the Jones’s
The truth is most of us make decisions based upon the values and beliefs that we were taught by our culture.
How to Create a Team Culture in Your Network Marketing Business
So, how do you create your own team culture in your network marketing business?
This is a million dollar question and I’m going to try to give you a million dollar answer.
You need to create an atmosphere (culture) that people are happy to be part of and one that gives people a sense of belonging. It’s next to impossible to do that on the internet.
One of reasons for high attrition with online recruiting is that there is no face to face time. Everything is done through email or video and it’s just not the same as meeting face to face. It’s hard to build relationships and establish a culture 100% online.
If you want to develop your own team culture for your network marketing business you need to do a few things. Here are some things that come to mind.
# 1: A weekly or monthly meeting – Love them or hate them, meetings are powerful. When you bring 20, 50, 100 or more people with similar interests together it’s powerful. It gives people something to look forward to and a sense of belonging. It also provides social proof.
# 2: A recommended reading list – You should have your team members reading similar books to help them develop their skills, get their thinking right, and improve their attitude.
# 3: A weekly call – Your team should have a weekly call or webinar to share information, share ideas, and learn new skills. It’s also a great way to inject some motivation into your team.
# 4: Big regional events every 90 days – These are VERY powerful events, typically done once a quarter. It’s where people from several states get together for a big event with several thousand people.
# 5: Standardized training for all team members – You need some type of standardized training for everyone on your team, so everyone is getting the same information.
# 6: A powerful recognition system – This could be one of the most important parts of your team culture. Most people crave appreciation and recognition more than anything else. Even worse, most people feel underappreciated at home and at their job, so if you can make them feel appreciated, you will keep them around.
# 7: Team jargon and lingo – You want to have your own jargon and lingo that your company or team uses that only people on your team understand.
These are just a few things you can do to create your own team culture for your network marketing team.
What Others Are Saying
A strong long term network marketing culture will repel the people who don’t fit in (primarily because they have bad intentions) and attract the right kinds of people. You can create a culture that is so awesome that people will want to learn more about your business as a result of the kinds of people you attract.
There are essentially 4 cultures in the business. The industry culture, Company culture, the team culture you joined, and the culture you create for your team. The first three you have no control over initially. They simply exist. You can positively affect these other cultures as a whole by developing your own awesome culture for your team.
Source: Todd Burrier
Your team culture has the potential to either crush or skyrocket your team and residual income. So its worth cultivating and duplicating.
Source: Jules Kalpauli
Final Thoughts
In summary, culture is a very important part of society. People want to belong to something bigger than themselves. People feel comfortable hanging around people with similar interests and values.
To make it big in your network marketing business, you’re going to need to create a team culture where people can experience a sense of belonging, feel appreciated and get the training they need to succeed. If you haven’t already created a team culture yet, you should start working on it now.
What are your thoughts? What do you do to create a culture in your network marketing team? Leave a comment below to tell me what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Chuck Holmes
Network Marketing Professional (21+ years)
Top Recruiter & Top Rep
mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
I currently do weekly calls but I like the idea of a reading list because everyone has the same information and are thinking about the same things. I can see why its hard to create a culture on the internet. A team has to spend time together and have shared experiences in order to gel. I also like the idea of a uniform so that when you’re out in public people will be able to recognize other members of the group. A culture is not something you can manufacture, it has to grow organically over time as the leader shares the vision and the rest of the group catches it and begins to live it.
These are all great ideas. Having a team shirt is huge and is great.
If you want a successful team that you want to keep expanding and keep being successful, I think it is important to develop a team culture. I think you even go a step further and not only have regular team meetings, but every month or other month have some kind of fun gathering. Sure, members could discuss the results for the past moth, but the focus would be getting together as a team and having fun.
I also like the tshirt idea (comments).
Like you said, people want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. If they see this group of people being successful AND having fun doing it, they’re going to want to be a part of that.
Having a great team culture makes a big difference. It will definitely help retain more people.
I do believe creating a team culture is important. Little things that can be done to satisfy this is:
Develop a nickname for your group
Buy T-shirts that depict the name of the business or team name
Have get togethers for fun and enjoyment
Much more
Of course, you do not want to go so far that it gives the impression that you have joined a cult, but if you really consider it, everyone is a member of 1 or more types of cultures.
This was a very good post that should get people thinking.
Having fun is so really important. People want to be part of something bigger than themselves.