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Monitoring And Tracking

by Chris Bradford

Monitoring and tracking are 2 aspects of business that most people tend to ignore. However, they are 2 of the most important aspects of business.

For the purposes of this article, monitoring is simply a structured way of making sure specific tasks are performed. Tracking is simply tabulating the results of your efforts.

For network marketers, these are usually very simple tasks. You want to self-monitor you actions every day. The easiest way to do this is with a check list. Your check list should include such questions as:

• Did you follow-up with any prospects today?
• Did you return all business phone calls today?
• Did you answer your business e-mail today?
• Did you take your business cards or drop cards with you on each outing today?
• Did you leave a business card or drop card everywhere you went today?
• Did you give a business card or drop card to everyone you met today?
• Did you make prospecting phone calls today?
• Did you review your goals today?

The above are just a few examples of the questions you want to ask on your checklist. Any important task you need to perform needs to go on your checklist. You can also keep a check list for weekly and monthly tasks.

You may think this is so simple you do not need a checklist. But, you do. The reason for the check list is to serve as a reminder to do these things, and to make you recognize when you fail to do them. What gets monitored gets done! Try keeping a check list for 30 days. Then review them. You will be surprised at what you are not doing.

Now, about tracking. As I said earlier, tracking is tabulating the results of your efforts. It lets you know what is working and what is not. For network marketers, this is especially important with your marketing efforts.

Say you purchased a lead list and are calling off it. If you keep track of the results of your calls, you may find you get one new recruit for every 100 calls you make from the list. If you purchase a different list, you may find you get one new recruit for every 80 calls you make. Which list provider is the best? The one you get one new recruit for each 80 calls.

You might run a classified ad in your local paper costing $25.00, get 100 calls, and 5 new recruits. Or you might run a classified ad in a network marketing magazine for $100, get 250 calls, and 15 new recruits. Which is better?

With the local paper, each recruit cost you $5.00.

With the network marketing magazine, each recruit cost you $6.66.

With this example, the local paper is better. But you would not know that unless you tracked your results. Many would assume that just because they recruited more from the network marketing magazine ad, that it was the better choice.

The same holds true with phone prospecting. Make 100 calls using one script, and 100 calls using another. Which produced the better results?

Many people I know spend hours and hours placing on-line ads, many of which simply do not produce. Why waste your time? Track your results from every advertisement and see what works. If the same ad placed on two different ad sites gets results at one site and no results at the other, don't waste your time on the second site, or try changing the ad. However, the only way you are going to know which is working is by tracking your results.

The same logic works with drop cards. Which works better, a white card or a yellow card? Track your results and find out.

All of this may seem like an awful lot of trouble, and it can be. But by constantly tracking your results you will eventually eliminate many efforts you are making that are unproductive and concentrate on your most productive efforts, resulting the most efficient allocation of your time and resources.

One word of caution. There are many variables that determine if a particular effort is productive or not. Thus, you usually can not make a judgement off one effort. You must track results over time, and consider all those variables which might be affecting your results. Here are some things which you have no control over that can affect your results.

• Current Economy
• International Events
• National Events
• Local Events
• Seasonal Changes
• Holidays
• Time of month (When are bills usually due?)
• Day of week (Most people get paid on Fridays.)
• Time of day. (Do you get better results in the morning or afternoons?)
• Weather

By monitoring your actions and tracking your results over a long period of time you will both do those things that are important to get done, and accumulate the knowledge necessary to properly allocate your time and resources.

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