Last week a consultant with one of the gourmet food companies emailed me to ask me for my advice regarding home parties and pets. Her question was “Do I have the right to ask some of my party hosts to lock up their dogs if they are habitual barkers, growlers or dogs I feel that could be vicious?”

I thought this would be a good topic to discuss here on my blog and I am going to share my thoughts with you about this particular topic. (although I know there will be differing opinions out there).

You should ask all hosts during your host coaching sessions if they have pets and how they plan on controlling those pets during the home party. A lot of times when you bring this up during your host coaching sessions a host will freely talk about it with you and you both can come up with a plan that is beneficial to you both before the party date arrives.

With that said…you will find some party hosts that refuse to lock up pets or to secure pets (mainly dogs) in other rooms or the backyard during the home party session so you need to be tactful when discussing this issue with them.

You need to clearly explain to your host that it is important that you and the guests attending the party “feel” safe around the host’s pets and that you want the host and guests to not be distracted during the party from “unfriendly” pets in the home.

In my opinion…you can not demand or order the party host to “lock” up pets (dogs) during the home party show but you can indeed discuss this topic with the party host and the best time to do that is during all of your host coaching sessions.

If you feel that party host’s pets will be a problem for you or the party guests perhaps you should suggest to the host that he or she hold the home party in a different location…which would put everyone at ease regarding having pets loose during the party presentation.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

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The holidays are finally over so it’s time to get back down to business and January is the perfect time for you to buckle down & get busy building your direct sales home business!

The majority of direct sales companies launch all kinds of great booking incentives for the month of January each & every year and it is YOUR JOB to use those booking incentives to fill up your January and February booking calendar.

A lot of companies will offer double host rewards, extra 1/2 price off items, attendance specials and other great deals to get people to book parties during the month of January. In addition, they often offer deep discounts and unbeatable deals to guests/customers who attend those booked parties!

Let’s get busy today calling up all of your past party hosts and asking them to book a party right away! They can call up those they want to invite or send them email invitations to the party. You can plan and get a party onto the books and ready to go in just one week. Trust me, it can be done! 

You also want to call up potential hosts who have been dragging their feet in booking a party with you and let them know about all those great booking incentives you have going on for the month. While you are at it let them know about the customer sales deals too…give it all to them and “rev them up” for a party booking! Make sure you sound super excited when speaking to them so that your excitement becomes contagious and they catch it!

If you work hard this first week in January lining up bookings/datings for the month of January that will carry you over into February and March because you will get bookings from those January parties to feed the next 2 months on your calendar.

So what are you waiting for? Time to get busy, make those calls and book those parties!!!

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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.

Most consultants are trained to do some type of hostess coaching in the weeks prior to the host’s party date. Those topics that you normally discuss with the party host usually include how many guests are coming, outside orders/bookings, directions to the host’s home, mailing out the invitations and so forth.

However…many party plan consultants forget to discuss 3 important topics with their hosts during the hostess coaching sessions and today I thought I would bring to your attention 3 topics that I think should be discussed with every home party host. These are not topics you are trained to do but they are important!

1. You should discuss with your party host the topic of alcoholic beverages. Will there be alcohol served at the party and how much? In my personal opinion, alcohol should not be served (guests get into a party mood and not a buying mood when there is alcohol involved). However if there is going to be alcohol served I think you need to stress to your party host that it needs to be kept minimum.

2. You should discuss with your party host the topic of children. Will there be small children at the home party? Are they the host’s children or will the party guests be bringing children to the party? If there is going to be children at the party you should suggest to your party host that she line-up someone to watch over them at the party so that she can be involved in her party and so can her guests. Having 1-2 adults look after children in another room works best in a home party environment.

3. You should discuss with your party host the topic of pets. Does your host have pets in the home? Are the pets friendly? If there are going to be dogs I like to suggest that they put them in a different room if they are not friendly towards strangers. In addition…some guests have pet allergies so having pets put into a different room will also help with that.

You are not normally trained to discuss with your party hosts the topics of alcoholic beverages, small children and pets but in my experience these 3 topics should be incorporated in your host coaching sessions.

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A couple of weeks ago a direct sales consultant with one of the home party plan companies emailed me to ask me for some advice. After I read her email my mouth about dropped to the floor. After talking back and forth with her for a few days, I asked her if I could share her “home party issue” with the readers of my blog along with my answer (advice) on it.

This consultant emailed me to tell me that she demonstrated a home party at a particular party hosts home (she is with a home decor company) and that 11 small children under the age of 8 were at the party mis-behaving and that the parents did nothing to simmer them down or to control them. She told me that the party host was NO help on the issue either.

Apprently this group of “children” thought it would be funny to dump food all over the room (they started a food fight with each other) and they ended up breaking the host’s living room stained glass lamp and they broke 2 items that the consultant was demonstrating. In addition…two of the older children (7 and 8 year olds) took a guest’s purse and threw it into the kitchen trash can to “hide” it from her as they thought it would be funny. In the trash can was all kinds of trash, food and coffee grounds which stained this woman’s $150 purse! OH MY HEAVENS! She went on to tell me that these kids did other naughty things during the 2 1/2 hours she was there.

She wanted to know if anything like that has ever happened to me at a home party and if so, how did I handle it. Well, no…not with kids…but I have been at home parties where the ADULTS got out of hand and acted like little kids! ugh!

I told her that I always ask my party host during hostess coaching sessions if there will be small children attending the party. If so, I recommend to them that they have 1-2 adults there to monitor the children and perhaps take them in another room to watch a movie or out into the backyard to play so that they don’t disturb the guests.

I told her that if this had happened to me, I would of quietly asked to speak to the hostess and pull her aside into another room to discuss the situation that was going on. I would of told her that guest’s are feeling uncomfortable and that perhaps she should talk to all guests and ask them to simmer down the children or she could ask one guest to take the children into another room or outside until the demonstration was over. If the host would refuse or ignore the problem at hand, I would cut my demonstration short and wrap up the party as quickly as possible.

When people book parties they need to be respectful and that includes having too many unruly children attending a party with NO responsible adult supervision watching & entertaining them. This certainly was not the demonstrator’s fault. The party host and the guests (parents of these children) are 100% responsible for this disasterous party. I understand that sometimes parents can’t find babysitters so they will take their children along. With that said, these same parents need to be MONITORING their children at the party and not have them running loose through the host’s home terrorizing other party guests. geesh!

Anyway, has this ever happened to you? If so, how did you handle it?

Shelly

Back on April 6th, 2010 I made a blog post about my thoughts on refreshments being served at your home parties. In that post I shared with my readers an experience I once had while demonstrating my goods at a particular home party where my party host went “way” over board with the refreshments and why I think serving food and beverages at the party should be kept simple and easy. You can read that post —> HERE

Today I am posting about this topic again but from a different angle. A few weeks ago I attended a home party (candle company) that one of my friends was hosting and let me tell you…she went over board with the refreshments! She had 4-5 snack foods, 4-5 hot small appetizers, 2 (6 foot subs), 8+ beverages and a few finger-food desserts. Wowza…she totally went overboard on that and you can tell that the consultant who was demonstrating was really upset about it.

I had been in this same consultants shoes once so I knew exactly how this consultant felt. It was hard for her to get all of the guests together and to sit quietly during her presentation. Guests were more interested in eating and get seconds shoveled onto their plates than listening to this consultant’s sales presentation. The presentation itself was to last about an hour and ended up being 30 minutes. Once she was done speaking…90% of the guests got up and went to refill their plates instead of shopping!

I personally decided to shop and didn’t have a single bite of anything to eat until after I placed my order. I made a point to spend a few minutes asking the consultant questions about products and spending a few minutes with her instead of mingling with the guests. The party host herself was too busy to even listen to the presentation herself because she was helping guests refill their plates and glasses.

I counted 19 guests at this party so you would think that sales would be high…however…my friend only got $297 in sales at her party and the reason is because she went over-board with the refreshments and guests were more focused on eating and mingling instead of shopping! By the host doing this she “shot herself” in the foot and damaged her party sales which means she lost out on higher sales which means more free and 1/2 price products…after all, this is why you booked the party so that you would get all of that!

So here we are a little over a year later and my thoughts are still the same on this topic. Food and beverages that are served at home parties should be kept simple and minimal.

If you are consultant with any of the Direct Sales home businesses, it is very important that you concentrate on coaching your home party hosts on how to have a successful home party. Why you might ask? Studies have shown that party hosts who have been properly coached have higher product sales and party bookings.

If you are not sure how to coach a party host, let me give you a few tips on how to do it.

1. When the individual books and sets the date, it is important that you immediately get a hostess pack to them. This packet of information should include your contact information, guest lists, extra order forms and catalogs for outside bookings, business opportunity information, booking and product specials, and other printed materials that they will need to help guide them through the coaching process.

2. Set up regular coaching telephone calls or emails with them. I recommend starting this process 4 weeks in advance of the home show date and I recommend that you contact them on a weekly basis. You will use these ‘coaching’ sessions to motivate your host about the party, answer any questions that he or she might have, and to inform them of any specials or booking offers. The more you motivate and excite them about the party, the more effort they will put into it to make it a success. A successful home show for the host, means a successful home show for you.

3. As you are conducting your coaching sessions, keep planting the seeds about your booking specials, product specials and home business opportunity. Over the years, I have found that the more I remind them of these specials and opportunities, the better return rate I have gotten out of it. We all lead busy lives, so keeping all of this information front and center in your hosts mind can pay off big time once the party time arrives.

4. If you have never done this type of coaching before, I suggest you talk to your manager or upline for guidance. In most Direct Sales companies, uplines have been properly trained by their respective home companies on how to do hostess coaching and they can pass that knowledge onto you.

When you take the time to properly coach your hosts, they will be excited when their party time finally arrives and this excitement will pay off for you! There will be great attendance, higher product sales and more bookings from the party attendees, and all of this means you and your host will have a successful home show.

Shelly Hill has been successfully working from home in Direct Sales since 1989. Shelly owns the popular Work At Home Business Options web site at http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com where you can pick up free home business tips, Direct Sales articles and free home business resources. You can visit Shelly’s Two Classy Ghostwriting Chic’s web site at http://www.twoclassyghostwritingchics.com to learn how a ghostwriter can help you with your Direct Sales business

Do you invest your time in coaching your Party Host/Hostess? If not, you are really doing a dis-service to yourself and your business.

When you invest your time into coaching your host towards a successful home party, you reap the rewards. Studies have shown that when you coach your hosts, they have higher party attendance which means higher party sales. Those higher party sales equals more commission for you. In addition to higher party sales, you will get more bookings and more recruit leads.

Hostess coaching is also beneficial to your party host. He/She will be able to earn more free or half-priced items from having the higher home party sales.

If a host/hostess is completely satisfied with their home party experience, they are more apt to rebook parties from you in the future or refer others to your business.

Do yourself and your business a favor…Take the time to properly coach your party hosts and you will both benefit.

Use this game idea to encourage your party host to invite as many people as possible to his/her home party.

To get your Hostess in the party spirit, give them this Hostess Scavenger Hunt. This is a list of 35 different types of people. If he/she has 12 of them at their party, award the party host with a special gift. Each person counts for only one category. (gift is at your expense so give something small)

Hostess Scavenger Hunt

1. A good friend
2. A relative
3. A grandmother
4. Someone the host works with
5. Someone who owns a camper
6. Someone with red hair
7. A neighbor who lives within 1 mile of them.
8. Someone who wears eye glasses
9. A person who lives in a mobile home park
10. A person who goes to college
11. Someone from their church
12. A secretary
13. Someone who enjoy sports
14. Someone who drives a mini-van
15. Someone who just moved into the neighborhood
16. Someone who is alot of fun!
17. Someone who works part-time
18. A daycare provider or babysitter
19. A former neighbor
20. Someone who works from home such as the Avon Lady, MaryKay lady…
21. Someone who owns a cat or a dog
22. Their best friend
23. Someone who they went to school with
24. A mother-to-be
25. Someone with all daughters in their family
26. Someone with all sons in their family
27. A school teacher
28. A nurse
29. Someone who is a hair stylist/hair dresser
30. Someone who does nails
31. Someone who enjoys crafts
32. Someone who works at a restaraunt
33. Someone who drives a white car
34. Someone who likes to cook
35. Someone who delivers mail or works for the Postal Office