Acorn to Oak Tree

Acorn to Oak Tree

When I was in sixth grade, I found an acorn while walking home from school. I planted it in a small can and took care of it. I ensured it had just the right amount of water and sunlight. When it outgrew its small can, I transplanted it to a larger can – always taking care of it because it was so fragile. Later, I planted it outside in a carefully chosen place. Unfortunately, the rabbits ate its leaves, so I placed a fence around the small, young tree.

That was years ago, and now that oak tree has a strength that I could never hope to achieve. My grand children can play in its limbs and swing from it.

The acorn to oak tree analogy applied to ideas.

When you first conceive an idea, it is tender and fragile. You must nourish the idea and ensure it has just the right amount of care. Later, as it grows stronger, it will take on a life of its own and, in fact, will start to control you.

Be careful of what ideas you plant in your sub-conscious or in the sub-conscious of those around you.

When we were young, well-meaning individuals may have planted negative and limiting ideas in our sub-conscious. Those ideas grew in strength and now control how we think and behave. But as adults, it is our responsibility to replace those old, negative and limiting ideas with new, positive and expanding ones of our own. Our new ideas will be like the acorn and need nourishment and care for a while, but then, like the oak tree, they will take on a life of their own.

The acorn to oak tree analogy applied to MLM companies.

When you sponsor a new person in your downline, that person is fragile in that position. Their income from the position is small, their loyalty to the company is weak, their knowledge of the product and compensation plan is only beginning; they are much like the acorn. They need you to nourish them and train them. As they become established, their income increases and their understanding of the product, company and compensation structure expands, and they become a much stronger agent. Perhaps even stronger than you. When they reach that point, the amount of nourishment and care they need will be much less, and they will be nourishing and caring for their own downline.

MLM 2 Step

The MLM 2 Step

Sponsor 5; Train 5

Would you like to have 1,000 people in your downline? How about 10,000? How is it possible to take care of even 50? The answer is, “Switch hats.” The first step is to wear your sales hat to sponsor five people. The second step is switch to your management/training hat and train those five to do what you are doing. Sponsor 5; Train 5. You train each of your five to sponsor 5 of their own and train them to Sponsor 5; Train 5. If each level on your downline did only this, you would have 19,530 on your sixth level, as shown in the chart below. Remember, each person on each level needs only to sponsor five people and train those five to do the same.

Level	People on level	Total People
1	5	5
2	25	30
3	125	155
4	625	780
5	3125	3905
6	15,625	19,530

In graphic format

Do you enjoy sponsoring new people and sharing you love for the product, company and compensation plan? After you have trained your first 5 so they have the same enthusiasm for the product, company and compensation plan as you have, you can start on your second 5. But before you move on to another group of five, make sure the first group is solid.

Step 1

Sponsor five consultants, marketers, agents, or whatever you company calls the first level under you. You can do this by your genuine excitement in the product, the company and the compensation plan. Of course, you tell everyone you meet about the great luck you have in finding this opportunity.

Once you tell someone about your great opportunity, you must listen! What do they need that you can offer. Most people will not see how your opportunity will solve their problem – in fact they may not know what their problem is. You can help them but only if you listen, not just their words, but the meaning and feeling behind them. Do they need a little more money, a lot more money, a social opportunity, the car, a fancy title like “Executive Director” or the free travel to conferences? Once you know what they need, you can show them how to achieve it.

A great pearl of wisdom that applies here is that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Do not lose or bore them by telling them how they can get the wonderful advantages in which they are not interested. Just because you are interested does not mean everyone is or should be.

This step is a modified numbers game. It is a numbers game because the more people you tell, the more that you will find that are interested. I call it a “modified” numbers game because you can increase the percentage that will be interested by being genuine and by understanding the product, company and compensation plan.

Step 2

Switch hats now and train those five to do the MLM 2 step. It is now up to them to Sponsor 5; Train 5. You have to change from the sponsoring mode to the training mode. I think this is where most sales people fail in MLMs.

To train, your method must be duplicatable. It must be simple and understandable using only material available from the company. Perhaps you can train your immediate downline your unique method, but can (or will) they train their downline?

If you have a killer PowerPoint® presentation, lose it. Many people do not know how to do PowerPoint® presentations, many people do not have the equipment, and many people do not like them. Therefore, unless your MLM company is selling self-contained presentation equipment, your killer presentation is not duplicatable.

Work with your five until they have genuine excitement for the product, company and compensation plan, and then teach them the MLM 2 Step.

Summary

Choose the number of people you want in your downline, then Sponsor 5; Train 5 and enjoy the rewards. Remember to work smarter; the only reward for hard work is more work.