Network Marketers: What Happens When Your Downline Attacks?

Obviously I do not mean the above title litterally. If that were the case you would have a lot more serious issues. What I am referring to with the title is when a member of your team attacks your character, your credibility, your ability, your availability or any other imporatant characteristic about yourself. What do you do?

This exact situation happened to me this past week. A member of my team decided to speak with representatives in my upline and voice his displeasure with the lack of support he was receiving, not only from me, but from my sponsor.

I was first shocked at what he had done. How could he say such things when they could not be further from the truth. Myself and my sponsor always made ourselves available to this person and were in constant communication with him. At no point did he ever indicate any dissatisfaction with us.

Once the shock wore off, I became angry. I wanted to immediately approach this person and confront him with the allegations he had made about me. The day I became aware of this incident, both he and myself were in attendence at a training session. My sponsor brought the situation to my attention that day. I could have easily approached the person and confronted him about it then and there.

I decided not to. After I had some time to cool off and discuss the matter with my sponsor, I decided not to say anything at that time. I began to think, that he had every right to do what he did whether I felt it was right, unjust or unfounded. It is his network marketing business and he can choose to operate it in any fashion he desires.

I felt that if he believed that he was not receiving the support he wanted, then he had every right to speak to others whom he felt would assist him to his liking. I had no right to deprive him of what he felt was the right thing to do.

On that same day, I decided to bite my lip and actually assisted him in a matter that involved a person he had recently sponsored. The issue at hand was never discussed and I did not alloow it to interfere with the member of my team who needed assistance.

I have not yet addressed the matter with my team member but will very soon. I feel that it is important that he know that I am aware of what he did. I do not want to confront him with this as a means of embarrassing him or placing him in an awkward position. I simply want to let him know that he has every right to do what he did, but I want to remind him that i am there to assist him if he needs it.

At the end of the day, the most important thing is that someone help this person. he obviously wants to succeed or else he would have simply left the business. So it really does not matter from where he receives this guidance, as long as he applies it to his business and continues to grow.

So I think that if a similar situation were to arise in your organization, you must not take the matter personally. If you do, it will have a ripple affect which could seriously hinder the success of your team. The main thing to remember is that netwrok marketing is a team business. When working with a team, we all have to assist each other. We all have to set our egos aside and do what is the best for the team.

In a case such as this, the best thing to do is to simply let that person know that what he did was okay and that you will be there for them in the future.

Vince A. Giorno
www.residualincome4you,acnrep.com