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Archive for the ‘Direct Sales Home Parties’ Category

A lot of consultants ask me for my opinion regarding alcoholic beverages being served at home parties and over the years my answer to this question as never changed. Today I thought I would share my opinions about this topic of Alcohol being served at direct sales home parties and open up the topic for discussion here on my blog.

First I want to say that I am aware of several direct sales companies that are “wine” companies and those consultants hold wine tastings in party host’s homes…I have no problem with that as everyone attending the party is aware that alcohol is being served and it will be available.

However, I do take issue with “a lot of alcohol” being served at home parties. Here is an example of a situation that happened to me 5 years ago. When I was selling Tupperware I worked closely with one of my hosts for her upcoming Tupperware party. I knew there would be approximately 20-25 guests plus the host & her sister. I knew she planned on serving her guests 1 glass of wine if they wanted it. I had no problem with that.

When I arrived to do her party most of the guests were there 90 minutes before the party start time and had already been drinking (more than that 1 glass of wine she told me about). Matter of fact…I can honestly state that at least 4 of those guests were totally “tanked” on alcohol before the party even started. You see…she was serving beer, mixed drinks and wine and serving A LOT OF IT!

By the time the party concluded that number of “tanked” guests climbed and I would say at least 9 of these women had “way too much” to drink. These women were not there to shop…they were there totally to party and have a good time. They were not interested in listening to my demonstration, booking parties or ordering items from their hostess, etc. They just wanted to keep on eating and drinking. Several of the “tanked” guests were loud, rude and obnoxious to say the very least.

After the party I collected what orders I could, packed up my stuff and I went home. The following afternoon I called the host to give her a report of her total sales and bookings (which were all poor because guests were partying too much). At that time she informed me that one of her guests who left 2 hours after I did…got into an accident and wrecked her car. She had minor injuries but still a very scary situation. I totally BLAME THIS on the party host as alcohol was not needed at the party and if she was going to serve it should of been kept to 1 glass or 1 beer per person.

I have no issue with alcohol being served but it should be very controlled so that these “parties” don’t get out of control and someone get hurt. Furthermore, guests were more in a partying mood than a buying mood so it greatly hurt her party sales.

During your host coaching sessions it is important that you find out if alcohol is going to be served and if so you need to stress to that party host the importance of keeping it controlled. Guests are coming to listen to your demonstration, to book parties & to place orders from your host’s party so that your hostess benefits from the booking. You should explain to your host that if guests are getting “tanked” it will hurt her bookings & sales and furthermore does that host want to be responsible if a guest leaves the party intoxicated & get into an accident?

Alcohol being served at a direct sales home party should be a topic that is discussed between the host and the consultant and both of you need to be on the same page regarding how you feel about it. I am not anti-alcohol at home parties but I firmly believe if it is being served that each guest has no more than 1 drink and that is the bottom line on this topic.

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A few weeks ago a consultant with one of the direct sales companies emailed me to ask me for my advice concerning a party host that she was currently dealing with. You see…this party host called the consultant a week before her party date and asks her what food and beverages was she bringing to the party because one of her “guests” has a nut allergy and she wanted to make sure that the consultant wasn’t bringing any type of nut products.

While some consultants with cooking and food companies do bring food to parties to share with the guests those who are in NON-FOOD companies should realize that it is not their job to supply the party host with food and beverages for her party. That is the HOSTS job, not the consultants!

This particular consultant who contacted me is with a “candle company” and always makes it clear to her party hosts that if they are serving refreshments to please keep it simple and easy…she told me that she told this party host that twice during her hostess coaching sessions but for some reason one week before the party the host calls her and wants “her” to bring the refreshments. The consultant did tell her (again) that she doesn’t bring refreshments that it is the hosts duty to provide them if she wants them at the party.

Well…this host gets super nasty with her telling her that she can’t “afford” refreshments so the consultant would need to bring them. The consultant then tells her…well…then don’t have any refreshment at the party. The host then comes back to her and tells her “If you can’t bring food and drinks for my guests then perhaps I should cancel the party”.  As you can see…the consultant was totally caught off guard by this party host.

I advised her to “stick to her guns” and tell this party host yet again that if she wants refreshments at her party she would have to provide them! After 2-3 days of this nonsense the party host CANCELS the party.

In my opinion…I think this party host was looking for one of two things.

1. A reason to cancel the party and using the “food” was a reason and the only reason she could find at the time.

(or)

2. She was looking for a FREE dinner for her and her friends.

ugh! Some party hosts can be real sticklers at times. With that said, it is important that when you do your hostess coaching that you always tell the party host what they are responsible for…including any type of refreshments that are being served at the party.

I understand if you are consultant with a food company or kitchen/cooking company as you usually do bring a few goodies to share with the guests at those type of parties but if you are NOT with one of those type of companies…it is clearly your party hosts job to provide any and all refreshments for her guests.

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Are you properly filling out your customer’s order form correctly? Are you using the order form to it’s fullest potential?

I see a lot of consultants who just put their name and phone # on the customer’s order form and thats it. Well…I am here today to tell you that you need to do more!

Every order form that you hand out to the guests at home parties, to direct customers or even if you are just stuffing those order forms into catalogs and handing them out should have a lot more information on them than just your name and phone number!

About 10 years ago I started using my customer order forms as an important sales tool. I made sure that EVERY order form had my full name, my office phone number, my cell phone number, my email address and my consultant web site address on them. Why? Well, sometimes customers don’t want to pick up the phone to call you with an order or a question and some of these customers would rather communicate with you via email or they would rather just go to your web site store and order directly thru that.

If you don’t want to “write” all of that information onto your order forms then get a rubber stamp or self-inking stamper made up with all of your contact information on it. You can then use it to stamp your catalogs and to stamp your order forms so that your customers always have ALL of your contact information.

Just a few weeks ago I attended a party for a candle company and that consultant ONLY had her first name and phone # on the order form and on the catalogs. Later that night I went home and thought about adding something else to my order that I handed to her earlier that day. I would of been “more” inclined to add on to my order if I could of sent her a “quickie” email or I could of went to her web site and just drafted up & placed another order.

In my professional opinion you are doing a disservice to yourself & your business if you do not include ALL of your contact information on both catalogs & customer order forms.

They should have the following (if applicapable)

Name:
Home/Office Phone:
Cell Phone:
Email Address:
Web Site Address:

Matter of fact…every flyer, recruiting brochure, catalog, order form, business cards, etc. should all have more than just your name and one phone number for the contact information. You will find that some people don’t want to call you to ask questions or to place orders…some people would rather just email you or go directly to your consultant site to place their orders.

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out this site!

When you in the home party plan business it is very important to keep your calendar full with bookings and one way you can do that is by getting bookings from parties already on your business calendar.

In Direct Sales, this is the “key” to your success so today I thought I would share a booking game with all of you that has worked well for me over the years.

Stack The Host Gifts Booking Game

* You will need one of every booking gift that your company has to offer.
* You will need 4-6 envelopes (inside place a slip of paper that says “Good for one 1/2 price item).

During your host’s party you will ask her to come to the front and to stand beside you. Tell all of the guests that you are going to spend a few minutes talking to them about the benefits of hosting a home party with you. In addition, you want to show them all of the “FREE” and “1/2 Price” items they could earn by hosting a show.

You will want to hold up and show the party guests the first gift that your host will be earning. This is usually a thank you booking gift or a gift for having 10 guests at the party, etc.

You then want to proceed up the ladder of all of the gifts and 1/2 price items that your party hosts can earn when they book and hold a show with you. The envelopes will represent the 1/2 price items since most Direct Sales companies offer these special 1/2 off deals to their party hosts.

At the end of your presentation you will want to look around the room and ask everyone to stand up if they would like to receive all of the free and 1/2 price gifts that you just showed to them. It works really well to put all of the guests “on the spot” and usually you will get at least one or two to stand up as they don’t want to let their party host down.

I always liked to reward my newly booked hosts with a little freebie gift at the party to just say thank you for booking with me that night. That is up to you if you want to do that but it did work well for me.

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out this site!

During the holiday season many direct sales consultants will see an increase in their business and one thing you can do during the holiday season to generate even more customer sales is to come up with a Holiday Wish List Program that you share with your customers. How do you do this you might ask? Well, I am going to tell you!

You will need to print up some flyers with all of your business contact information on them along with an order form or area on the flyer so that you customers can make a list of the items they would love to receive as gifts for the holiday season. Have your customer fill it out with the item #, product description, price and have them rank the items in order of preference…like #1 nautical necklace #2 seashell earrings and so forth. In addition on this form have them list the name, address, email address and/or phone number of the person they want you to give the list to. (in most cases it is their significant other).

It is then your job to contact their “SO” and present the list to him/her so that they can do their holiday shopping with you for the items that the customer would like to receive as their holiday gift(s). It is an easy way for their “SO” to do their holiday shopping and get gifts for their “SO” that they want to receive.

An added bonus would be if you went to your local discount store and purchased some dollar gift wrap, cards, ribbons and/or gift bags and offer FREE or LOW-COST gift wrapping service to them. Once the items come in it is your job to deliver them to their “SO” so they have them in time to present to their “SO” come holiday time.

When I was in direct sales I did this each and every holiday season and it always generated additional product sales for me! Give it a try this holiday season and see for yourself!

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out this site!

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out this site!

Over the past 2 1/2 years I have written several blog posts on promoting your direct sales home business during the holiday season and how to utilize this season to make even more money than what you usually do!

It is now November 4th and you need to GET BUSY booking your holiday parties NOW (if you have not already begun to do so) and since it is the beginning of the holiday season I thought I would make a little list of some tips I have posted over the years regarding direct sales and the holiday season.

You can click on each title/link below and it will take you to the post that I previously made on this blog regarding the subject title.

Fun and Interactive Holiday Party Ideas

Direct Sales – 9 Fall, Winter and Holiday Party Theme Ideas

Are You Booking Your Holiday Parties Now?

Direct Sales – 20 Seasonal Home Party Theme Ideas

In addition…browse around the Direct Sales category here on my blog and you will find 100′s of blog posts to help guide you to a successful holiday selling season!

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