Developing the skills that you need to be successful in direct sales/network marketing is an ongoing process. To really stay on top of your game you’ll need to be constantly learning, growing and reassessing your skill level and finding ways to increase your skill as time goes by. Here are three ways that you can use to help you develop skills and stay sharp over time with your business.

Be Constantly Learning.

No matter how long you’ve been in business, be always checking to see if you are keeping up with the latest news, techniques and information in your company, your profession and your industry. Do you subscribe to trade publications and read each issue? Do you join groups of people in your profession that get together to network and learn from each other? Do you join trade organizations to get exposure to new and better systems, supports and techniques? What books are you currently reading that will benefit your business? What classes are you taking (online and in person) that will help you learn new skills that will help you build your business to new levels?

Surround Yourself with People that have a Higher Skill Level.

It’s important to watch others with the skills you desire to improve, so surrounding yourself with people that are at a higher skill level is very important. You can often find them as colleagues in your own company and even downline team members. Many times, you’ll find people you can model after by joining organizations or mentoring groups where there are professionals in different fields. For example, even if you are not a real estate agent, any salesperson would learn a great deal from a successful realtor if they took the time to watch and listen to them. Joining online groups that have a common interest that includes your profession or an interest in the type of products your company sells can be a great way to find skilled people to learn from.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Nothing, literally nothing, beats consistent practice over time. Write a list of the skills you want to improve or develop. Always be looking for books about those skills and classes being offered about those skills. Find people that have already mastered the skills and find ways to watch and listen to them. And then practice, practice, practice. Set a goal of using your skill every day. For example: I have a goal to improve my personalization of thank you cards that I send to my customers. I have a “rule” that every order gets a card, every time. I send a minimum of one thank you card every single day and look for ways to improve the personalization every time. Over time, my cards have gotten more personalized and better received because of the amount of time I devote to developing this skill.