Start the Engine of Success:
How to Do a 48-Hour Strategy Session

Your new enrollees have plenty of fuel. Your job is to help them build the engine that will convert the fuel into a successful business. How do you do this? By holding an effective 48-hour follow-up strategy session.

Corporate Director Russ Paley with his fiancée, Ronni Krasin.

Marc and Carole Selness, Executive Directors IV of Minnesota, have an effective system for teaching new enrollees how to build the business. With an average monthly check of $15,000, their system is paying off! Another leader who really focuses on the 48-hour follow-up - and reaps the rewards - is Corporate Director Russ Paley. His strategy sessions help his business builders earn $2,000 or $3,000 their first month, and helps him earn an average yearly income of $500,000!

Follow the simple steps outlined here and you, too, can help your new enrollees get off to a fast start. With a few "homework" assignments, some honest discussion and a lot of practice and appointment-setting, you'll help the new enrollee build a powerful engine that will drive them on to success.

Know Before You Go

In truth, you need to start your new enrollees on the path to success immediately after their enrollment, not 48 hours later. By giving them "homework" assignments you can get them oriented on how Melaleuca works and make your session much more profitable.

Marc and Carole Selness take three minutes immediately after signing up a new customer to discuss issues such as being coachable and setting up "store hours." Then they get out their calendars and plan the follow-up session. They leave the new enrollee with a few assignments:

Carole Selness goes through some paperwork with Bob Gjovik during his strategy session.

1. Make a Contact List. "Our only requirement for the people on their contact list is they have to be breathing," says Carole.

2. Discover Your Why. "If we are going to be partners we need to know what they are working for so we can help them reach their goals," says Marc.

3. Learn the Value of Value Packs. "Even the people who are a Category 1 get this information," says Carole. "For Category 2-5, we show them statistics on how much faster people grow when they buy a Career or Value pack."

4. Place an Order. "We help them place their first order," says Marc, "then tell them we plan to help them place their second and third order as well."

Do Your Homework

Russ Paley follows a similar system when he enrolls a new customer. Before he leaves on the night of the enrollment, he finds out the new customer's category. If it is 3, 4 or 5, he gives the customer six assignments (see "Homework Assignments" below).

"I always call to see if they have done their assignments before I show up for the 48-hour follow-up," says Russ. "If they haven't, I reschedule for a later time when they will have them completed. I never waste my time with someone who hasn't done all six - there's no reason to go forward in their training if they are not ready to be trained."

Getting Started

After two days of studying, the new enrollee comes to the strategy session ready to get started. Russ Paley's first item of business is to answer any questions his new enrollees have. Then he makes sure the Career/Value Pack and Business Kits have been ordered. He reviews their store hours and days that are scheduled to work Melaleuca, then makes sure the goals that they have set are realistic according to the time they are willing to spend. "This session allows them to be very clear on their 'why' and tells them what to do to be successful in reaching it," says Russ.

Marc and Carole start with some practical business suggestions: subscribe to the BEST series, order business cards, get an answering machine with a business message, and find a way to access a fax machine and computer. "Then we qualify their category," says Carole. "If they say they are a category 4 yet have only five hours to give the business, we will downsize their category because we don't want them to have unfulfilled expectations."

The Pacesetter Program

After discussing the importance of carrying Business Kits, the Selnesses explain the Pacesetter program. "We take out the yellow Pacesetter flyer and personalize it - we mark down the side which month that they need to achieve each level," says Carole. "For instance, if they enrolled in March they need to become Directors by May."

"Of course, we're not going to take two months to get them to reach that level," says Marc. "We move with a sense of urgency. We know the bigger goals are harder to reach, so we work ahead of the timeline."

Russ Paley is careful to explain the Pacesetter program in very simple terms. "In month one, you need to get eight customers, become a Director, and get your $100 bonus. In months 2-12, you need to enroll four personal customers a month. Every other month you need to develop a new personal Director. So in month two you will enroll another four people personally, then help one of your enrollees enroll four people. In month three, you will sign up another four personals and create one personal Director. Then you will be a Director II and make an extra $250 bonus."

Russ's formula is clear, concise, and it works! "If you work 10 to 18 hours a week, do at least seven appointments a week, enroll four customers a month and develop one personal Director every other month you will be a Pacesetter Senior Director and earn $10,600 in cash bonuses!"

Take Action

The Selness family. In back, daughter Nicole and son Ryan. In front, Marc, Carole and daughter-in-law, Melissa.

The final portion of the 48-hour follow-up session is spent "getting down to business" and setting real appointments. "I spend 20 minutes teaching how to invite and role-playing with them," says Russ.

"Words are extremely important," says Carole. "We can use words that intrigue or words that scare. We've learned which words work, and we share several effective approaches and teach how to answer objections."

The Selnesses' use three-way phone calls to help the new enrollee set appointments. "Our customers get off the phone and say, 'Oh, that was easy. All I did was say a couple sentences, then you did the rest, and now they are interested!' It takes away the new person's fear," says Carole.

"I am there to coach them through each call, or get on a three-way call to help them make a few appointments for that first week," says Russ. "Then we can set them up for a group meeting, and soon they have eight appointments and are on their way to becoming Directors."

It Works!

"With a thorough 48-hour strategy session, we save ourselves so much work down the road," say Marc and Carole. "After this session they have a good handle on Melaleuca so they don't stumble and lose any of their best leads."

"The presentation is the forum to sign up customers," says Russ, "but this is the forum to get them started." In February, Russ helped two brand new enrollees get first checks of over $3,000 by doing 48-hour follow-ups. "Greg Lagana and I enrolled Willey Butler and Joseph Hambrite from Atlanta. We trained them on the phone then traveled down to do follow-up in-home presentations with their prospects. In their first month they both reached Director II - Willey made $3,000 and Joe made $3,500. Joe ended up with 26 personal enrollees, Willey had 20, and they had over 200 in their group!"

Your new enrollees' excitement will get them nowhere if they don't have the knowledge to apply it properly. Do the crucial 48-hour strategy session, and their excitement will fuel up the engine of success and keep it running for years to come!

Editor's Note: This is the fourth article in a seven-part series featuring the seven critical business-building activities.