SFI RESOURCES
OVERVIEW: Leadership Building In SFI
EXCERPT FROM: SFI PTL Conference Call, February 20,
2003
[Lori Robison, SFI Communications Editor]

Hello, and welcome to today's PTL conference call on this Thursday, February 20th, 2003. I'm Lori Robison, communications editor for SFI. The purpose of these calls, as you know, is to help you be the best PTL leader you can be and to teach your Powerline members to do the same. Now, one of the issues we'd like to address in today's conference call includes the leadership qualifications as outlined by the new compensation plan that was unveiled in January.

Just a quick review...most of you probably know this already:

To get PTL status, you must be MIQ, have at least 4 customers and/or personally referred affiliates, one of whom may be yourself, and account for a minimum of 40 SVP each month. There's been some confusion on the SFI Dboard regarding this last requirement.

Very simply, for your personally referred affiliates, the 40SVP counting toward your PTL status MUST be for IAHBE memberships. You can also gain SVP for PTL status through personal purchases of any SFI product or service, which you can then resell, OR through retail sales of IAHBE memberships through your SFI Gateway.

The SVP your affiliate gains toward simple MIQ status may be for any SVP-generating product, service, or action (2 SVP for completing Smart Start), however- again-only SVP from your personally referred affiliate purchases of and retail sales from IAHBE memberships will count toward YOUR PTL status. Under the new comp plan, qualifications for Group Leader has been vastly simplified. You only need to meet the requirements of PTL and have 10 personally referred PTLs in your Powerline for a minimum of two months. First, though I'd like to go over the focus of SFI's new compensation plan. Brian Nelson, SFI's Chief Operations Officer, discussed this in last week's call too, but I think it bears reiteration.

It's important the you, the PTLs and leaders of SFI, fully understand the new comp plan and just how this is designed to help all SFI home-business builders. In this way, you can better lead your personal referrals and Powerline team members into success and build you own commissions while you're at it.
The focus of the new comp plan is-plain and simple-to help build leaders in SFI. If you've been involved with network marketing for any amount of time, you already know that building leaders in your Powerline is essential to achieving good income from the business.
It's true that it's very important to reward leaders who sell products or whose personal referrals purchase products. That's the mark of any good, reliable, and aboveboard company. And that still holds true for SFI's comp plan. SFI has always and will continue to provide commissions for retail sales and personal referral purchases for SFI products...with double commissions for MIQed affiliates.
That said, though, it's important to make a distinction between commissions earned for sales and affiliate purchases and getting the big rewards inherent with a true network marketing home business. The aim of network marketing is not simply to sell products, though, like I said, it certainly is a vital part of any trustworthy company.
If you don't have a real, viable product to sell or a service to offer, after all, then there's no real point in being in business in the first place. But to have and run a successful network marketing company, you must also build leaders within your sales team. That, by definition, is what network marketing is all about. The new SFI Comp plan has been redesigned to reward leaders and encourage more leadership building within SFI.
This has been accomplished by focusing the bulk of commissions toward leadership status. Simply by becoming a PTL and helping others to do the same, you can share in ALL of the income streams available through the comp plan, save one: the Group Leader bonus pool.
Of course, there's the 40% of commission volume for initial sales and 40% of commissionable volume for recurring sales. There's also the PTL bonus pool, which everyone on this call is already eligible for. Last month's pool
was $32.95.
But by encouraging other leaders to become PTL in your Powerline, you'll also receive: Silver Infinity and Bronze Overrides-When affiliates whom you have personally referred to SFI start their own Powerlines, you'll earn 10% total on all commissionable
volume in those powerlines.
Gold Infinity-You'll earn an additional 10% of commissionable volume in your Personal Powerline.
Platinum Overrides-You'll earn an additional 10% of commissionable volume in all your offshoot Powerlines, whether started by your own personally referred affiliates or those referred into your Powerline by others.

One you gain 10 personally referred PTLs in your Powerline for a minimum of two months, you'll be elevated to the status of Group Leader. Now, you'll still be getting all the overrides you're entitled to right off the bat immediately after these PTLs become active. However, you'll have to maintain these PTLs for two months before getting a share of the Group Leader pool, which, last month, was worth $2,597.85. And unlike the PTL pool share, which you can only receive one of, you can grab as many Group Leader shares as you're eligible for. Get 20 PTLs in your line for two months, get two shares of the GL pool.
Now, if that kind of money doesn't start turning heads and getting others excited about building a home business of their own, nothing will. And you should move on to someone with eyes open and who can see the untold potential in this system.

Also, by building strong network marketing leaders, this whole new focus will naturally strengthen the entire SFI program for all involved. Before, the comp plan tended to provide rewards for people who came in, purchased something, then sat there inactive. This did not provide the duplication necessary to generate excitement on building a strong leadership program. Also, NO ONE ever got rich in their home businesses, no matter what the program, product, or service, by always rewarding others for simply purchasing products. It would be like Wal-Mart paying you every time you walked through the door of the store.
However, the new comp plan encourages retention, continued activity, continued leadership building, and continued home-business ownership and responsibility. And that will inevitably reap untold rewards in the coming months for all entrepreneurs in SFI willing to work their home businesses and who take their success seriously.

The evidence of the power of a network marketing system like this is everywhere for everyone to see. Ask yourself how many established brick-and-mortar companies have launched their own affiliate programs in the past couple of years...they know that by expanding the number of people out there selling their products, they're increasing their sales figures at an exponential rate. SFI takes this a step further by giving even bigger rewards for people recruiting other go-getters like themselves.

The incentives for distributors and affiliates to generate other leaders now shoots through the roof-compared with a straight affiliate program, strengthening the entire program with a rock-solid foundation and skyrocketing the possibilities for generating sizable income for everyone. Simply put: That's network marketing in action.

Imagine the results of something like that put to work for a Wal-Mart or a Ford Motor Company. OK, now that we've reviewed the true power of SFI's redesigned comp plan, what are some real ways that you, as a PTL, can take advantage of this new focus and build a solid financial foundation that will take you to and through retirement?

As we've mentioned in past PTL calls, the best place to start is with a clear plan of action or business plan. This doesn't have to be complicated...just set out some realistic goals for your business. Goals are absolutely vital to knowing where you want to go and keeping your focus razor sharp on what you're trying to accomplish. These goals can be short term or long term or both, but your time frame for them should-above all-be realistic. Setting a goal to be a millionaire by next month is, for most of us, probably not realistic. However, a goal to generate two IAHBE memberships each month in your Powerline is probably NOT unrealistic, especially if you take your business seriously. To help get you started, I'll give you a few examples of realistic goals you can set today for your SFI business: Let's say you'd like to earn $250 a month ($3,000/yr.)...Simply set a goal to sell 13 Association memberships, and develop just 2 personally-referred PTL's in your Personal Powerline. Then, help them both
sell 13 Association memberships.

However, maybe you're a real go-getter and are looking for more than supplemental income. Let's say, then that you'd like to generate at least $5,000 a month ($60,000/yr.)...In that case, your goal should include personally selling 60 IAHBE memberships, developing just 10 personally-referred PTL's in your Personal Powerline and helping each of them build a Personal Powerline with just 60 members.

Whatever your goal, be sure you include an appropriate time frame. You may not know exactly how long it will take you to accomplish the things that will make you $5,000/month in SFI, but at the end of a given time frame (say a year or two), you can at least reevaluate your goal, decide if you're still on track for it, or alter your methods or goals.

Once you've set these goals for yourself and your business, get busy doing only those things in your home business that will help you accomplish them. Too many times, people get distracted by busywork and other side projects that takes them away from the road to their goal. Maintaining a razor-sharp focus on accomplishing your goal and writing out and taking care of the exact steps you need to take to get you there will help you stay on task and achieve success. With the new SFI comp plan, your road to your goal is a two-pronged attack. One that includes selling Association memberships and one for building leaders. Fortunately, the SFI program makes it easy to combine these different tracts into one, streamlined plan of action. That's because, as we told you last week, those SFI affiliates who are also members of the Association earn bonus SVP each month for other purchases or personal retails sales.

For example, your affiliates can earn 10SVP just for selling Smart Customer cards w/the essential benefits package or 10SVP for selling VERIUNI liquid nutrition. This extra SVP from purchases and retail sales will count toward their PTL SVP qualification. Right there is a big incentive you can use to build leaders in your Powerline, while strengthening your own business. It's a simple, duplicative process that even newcomers to network marketing can understand and embrace. You'll also want to build excitement using the banked shares of the PTL pool part of the SFI comp plan. This action and reach their goal of becoming PTL themselves. By presenting real, down-to-earth examples of how much they can earn by becoming MIQ and working toward PTL status, you've given them some actual numbers and advice that they can then put to use. Be sure to include actual numbers in your conversations and Contact Manager e-mails to them.

For example, you can tell them that if they become MIQ this month, they'll earn banked shares of the PTL pool each month that they remain MIQ. If they become a PTL in, say, just three months, SFI will write them a check for all the shares they've accumulated to date. Give an example, saying that if a banked share is worth $25 in the month they become a PTL, they would have gotten a check for $75. Also, send your leaders monthly e-mails,stating that, if they had become a PTL that month, they would have been issued a check for such-and-such an amount. Personalize it, if at all possible, with the actual amount a specific MIQ would have gotten. This will generate enthusiasm and encourage them to take real action to get their banked shares.
And don't forget to use the Group Leader pool bonus as an incentive for your up-and-coming Powerline leaders. Again, give examples of actual Group Leader pool amounts, if possible. The GL pool for January, for example, was over $2,500. This IS an attainable goal and they could get that bonus each and every month, simply by working their own SFI home-business. Above all, you want to make it real for your Powerline team members.

You want to impress upon them that they CAN achieve this goal and reap the rewards. Reiterate this again and again in all your e-mails to your Powerline members. Pump it into their brains that the way toward riches is by becoming leaders themselves.
Finally, and this is an often overlooked and downplayed leadership-building option, you will want to become as educated as you can on network marketing, customer building, and follow-up techniques. Professionals do this all the time. Doctors must keep up with advancements and discoveries in their field, for example, and so do marketers and home-business owners. There will never be a point when you'll literally know everything there is to know about effective selling, follow-up, and leadership
building. Pass this on to your team members as well. I don't know how many times I've spoken with SFI Magazine interviewees (all earning six figures a year or more) who have said that they read about marketing techniques, personality building, and other important topics relating to home businesses on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. There are literally a ton of books out there, but to start off with, check out the "biggies" in the field. John Milton Fogg, Napoleon Hill, and others.
And again, this is where your association membership can help. By providing you and your leaders with tons of great business-building information and free books of the month, you'll be getting the information you need to hone your marketing skills and continue to build a solid business. It's all about leadership. Don't lose your focus on that and don't allow your team members to either. That concludes today's PTL conference call. As always, you can e-mail Annette or myself with any questions, suggested topics for future PTL calls, and other issues at callquestions@sfimg.com. Have a great weekend, and we'll talk to you again next Thursday!