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Archive for the ‘Hostess Coaching’ Category

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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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!

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When it comes to being a successful Direct Sales consultant, one of your biggest business assets is to invest your time in coaching your party host/hostess. If you are not investing your time to properly coach your host, you are doing yourself and your party host a disservice.

Let’s take a look at the benefits of hostess coaching.

1. When you are in proper contact with your party hosts and coaching them before the show date, they will be more excited about their upcoming party. This excitement will encourage them to work harder to make the party a complete success.

2. Working closely with your host reduces the risk of cancellation or rescheduling of party dates.

3. Hosts who are properly coached have higher guest attendance at their home shows. The more guests there are…the more sales you will make. In addition to the sales you make, your hostess will be satisfied because he/she will earn more free and half-priced products.

4. The more attendees that you have at the party, the more bookings you will receive. Keeping your booking calendar full equals a steady paycheck.

5. A big part of a Direct Sales business is building a team. Again, the more attendees at the party, means you can generate more recruit leads.

When you invest your time 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.

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 both will benefit.

This article is copyright 2009 by Shelly Hill, All Rights Reserved. This article can not be reprinted without Shelly’s official Author’s bio attached to it. Please contact Shelly to obtain it.

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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.

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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.

This article is copyright 2010 by Shelly Hill, All Rights Reserved.

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