How Set Selling Can Boost Your Product Sales

One way you can maximize your personal sales as a Direct Sales consultant is by set selling. If you are not familiar with the concept, it basically means that you demonstrate and sell items in sets.

If your company doesn’t provide prepackaged sets, you can make your own by grouping similar products together and offering them at a discounted price.

Customers want value when it comes to purchasing in quantity, so stress to the customer the savings they receive when buying a set. In addition, it is important to demonstrate why the products work well together, instead of separately.

When I make my own product sets, I like to provide gift boxes and/or gift bags with the purchase, along with a generic greeting card. You will find that a lot of customers purchase these types of items to give as gifts, especially around the holiday time.

When I do home parties, I offer 5 different product sets to my customers. I will spend 20 to 30 minutes demonstrating and talking about the items along with the benefits of purchasing them as a group. (example: value and convenience.)

If you really want to boost the average of your home party sales, focus on demonstrating sets instead of various single products. If the average cost of a set is around $50.00 and you sell six of these at your party, then your party sales are easily at $300.00. However, if you focus on demonstrating five single items that retail for $10.00 each, you would have to sell thirty of them to equal what you would make in selling just six sets.

Should you still offer the low-cost single items at your home parties? Yes, but limit them and offer more affordably priced sets to your customers and see how the benefits of selling in sets can boost your home party sales.

~ Shelly ~

Are You Booking Your Holiday Parties Now?

What are you doing right now…this week to fill up your dating and booking calendar for your fall and holiday season home parties?

Are you still sitting on the fence? Are you taking action and getting your calendar filled up? Not sure where to find your holiday bookings yet?

Well…the clock is ticking. It is time to get busy booking your fall and holiday parties now!

Here are a few ideas on where you can find some holiday bookings.

1. Contact all of your past party hosts. Ask them to book a party for October or November. Offer them a holiday themed party if possible.

2. Contact local schools, sports team and groups and offer them a holiday fundraiser if your company offers a fundraising program.

3. Contact some adult daycare centers and assisted living facilities and offer to come in and do a holiday party for their residents. Seniors have a hard time getting out and about to do their holiday shopping so take the shopping to them. Parties of this nature need to be planned and scheduled at least 30 to 45 days in advance.

4. Contact local daycare centers for children. See if you can come in and do a party for the parents and daycare teachers & staff.

5. Contact local consultants in your area and team up! Find a nice place and all of you go in together and hold a shopping event. You will all need to help promote it to get the customers in there.

6. Contact some churches and local groups to inquire about their fall festivals and holiday events. A lot of them hold open house shopping events and craft shows. You can usually get a booth or table for less than $40.00

Yes…I know this is the beginning of September but it’s time to get busy and start working on your fall and holiday home party calendar. Pick up the phone, make a few calls and watch your calendar fill up with party bookings.

Shelly

5 Online Party Game Ideas

Online parties are really popular these days and are much like a home party. If you are looking for some fun online party games, I have 5 game ideas to share with you.

1. Guest Scavenger Hunt – Before the party begins, pick 5-7 items from your website to use for your Scavenger Hunt Game. Write them down and come up with 2-3 clues about the product and its location on your site. When you begin the game during your party, let the guests know that you will give them a few clues about a particular product and they have to find that product on your website. The first person to find it, gets a point. The one with the most points, wins the game.

2. Word Scramble – Before the party begins, come up with a list of 10 of your products and scramble up the letters. During the game, copy and paste in the scrambled word and have the guests unscramble the letters to form the correct word. Award 1 point to the person who correctly types in the word the fastest. The person with the most points, wins the game.

3. Power Word – Before the party begins, decide on which word that you would like to use for the Power Word. I am with Tupperware so I like to use the power word ROCKS! Let your party guests know that every time you use your company name during the presentation, that the first person to type in the power word gets a point. Example: Tupperware has lunch products to…first person to type in ROCKS! gets the point. At the end of the party, the person with the most points wins a prize. This game is great as it holds the attention of all party guests during the entire length of the party.

4. Trivia Game – Before the party begins, decide on a few trivia questions that pertain to your niche. Example: If you sell kitchenware, make your trivia questions related to food and cooking. If you sell jewelry, have your trivia questions related to jewelry. I like to use 7-10 questions for this game. The person who gets the most correct answers, wins the game.

5. Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader – Before this party game begins, decide on what type of questions you would like to ask (similar to trivia questions but from a variety of topics). I like to use 10 questions. Have each party guest type their answer into the chat room. If they answered correctly, they get a point. If they type in the incorrect answer, they lose 1 point. If they don’t type in any answer, they lose 2 points. Give them a time limit of 20 seconds per question that you ask. The person who has the highest amount of points, wins the game.

Deal Or No Deal Booking Party Game

Deal or No Deal Booking Game

Take colored or pretty printed envelopes and in each envelope put a slip of paper inside that says: “prize” or “book a party.” Pass out the sealed envelopes to all of the attendees at the party. Let them know this is a “deal or no deal” game. They could win a prize or book a party, but either way they have to do what their envelope says.

Towards the end of the party, remind the guests about their “Deal or No Deal” prize envelopes. Announce that they can open their envelopes if they are thinking about hosting a party.

On the Prize Slips – I just mark…You won a prize. I offer a simple prize that costs me less than $2.50

On the Book A Party Slips – I mark on those…You win 2 prizes if you book a party with me today. For these, I offer a simple prize that costs me less than $2.50 and then the booking prize which retails for around $10.00

However, you need to stress upon the party guests that if they receive an envelope that has a BOOK A PARTY prize, they will need to book a party and hold it within the next 4 weeks.

Tip

To make this easier, I will use pastel solid color envelopes and pretty printed designed envelopes. I put the prize slips in the pastel solid envelopes and the book a party slips in the printed envelopes.

If only a handful of guests are at the party, I might give out just 2-3 of the book a party envelopes, if there are a lot of attendees at the party, then I hand out 5-7 of the book a party envelopes.

You can adjust this Deal or No Deal game to suit your own needs.

The Balloon Game — A Great Booking Game

Before the party, figure out what you would like to give as a little booking gift incentive. Write it down on a slip of paper and fold it to fit inside a balloon. Blow up the balloons and tie them shut.

As guests arrive for the party, they get a balloon… as you hand it to them say… “this is yours for the evening after all what’s a party with out balloons and presents. Hang on to it and don’t trade it away, you may be holding the special balloon…. It’s yours” and if he/she asks any questions regarding what’s inside… just give a very sneaky look and a smile!

When I open the show, I casually remind them to hang onto their balloons, that we will get to them later in the show.

For the entire evening the guest “owns” the balloon and the gift inside. You will see them shaking the balloon and see the curiosity in their eyes. Towards the end of the party, you will want to say, “ladies and gentlemen, you all have your balloons, and by now you have figured out that there is a special gift inside from me! If you decide to book a show this evening the gift is yours. and you may pop your balloon to discover what you have won, otherwise you must return the balloon to me. If three of you pop your balloon then the hostess get to pop hers too.”

The wording here is key! There is not a person in that room who is not dying to know what their prize is… and not a single one who is thrilled to give you their balloon back. And your hostess will also want to pop his/hers to see what their MYSTERY prize is, so he/she will work to get other’s to pop theirs. They must bring their Balloon to you with their order and pop the balloon with you.

If you’re like me, asking for the future bookings should not be the hardest part of the show, but the easiest and something like this would sure move things along.

Prize Ideas: Your prizes should be little items that retail for less than $5.00 each.

Fun Home Party Games

Pass The Present

Wrap a little gift before the party. Once at the party, give it to the party host to hold. Start the game by calling out the list.

Pass the present to The Person Who Arrived First
Pass the present to The Person Who Has The Most Children
Pass the present to The Tallest Person At The Party
Pass the present to The Person Who Has Been Married The Longest
Pass the present to The Person With The Most Grandchildren
Pass the present to The Person Who Needs To Buy 2 Gifts Tonight
Pass the present to The Person Who Has The Youngest Child
Pass the present to The Person Who Would Like To Earn FREE Products
Pass the present to The Person Who Is Wearing The Most Jewelry
Pass the present to The Person Who Needs To Earn Extra Money
Pass the present to The Person Who Arrvied To The Party Last
Pass the present to The Person On The Right
Pass the present to The Person Who Is Sitting 3 Spots Away From Your Left Side. Congrats, That person has just won the gift!

____________________________________________________

How Well Do You Know The Party Host Game

Ask the hostess to fill out a quiz before the party begins. Give every guest a piece of paper to write their answers down.

1 – What is the hosts favorite color?____________________
2 – What color are his/her eyes? _______________________
3 – What is the hosts favorite dessert? _________________
4 – Will the free merchandise items he/she chooses be just for herself, herself and others or all for others? ___________
5 – What is his/her favorite restaurant? ___________________
6 – If he/she could go on a vacation with money being no object – where
would he/she go? ____________________
7 – Would she over pack , pack just enough, or under pack and forget
something? _______________
8 – If he/she has 3 bookings from her party would she choose the 3 party booking gift or more in Free Merchandise of her choice? _______________
9 – How old is your party host? _____________
10 – If he/she had to pick a number what number between 1 and 10 do you think he/she would pick? _____________

Let’s check your answers against your party hosts!
Give yourself 1 point for every matching answer. Most points wins!!!
If there is a tie, then have hostess pick a number from 1-25 and the closest person will win.

T.A.C.O. Theme Business Opportunity Party Event

Totally Awesome Career Opportunity!

If you are in Direct Sales and looking to recruit new members to your team, then try hosting a T.A.C.O. Business Opportunity Party. This type of party can be done at a business networking event, expo, fair, community center or done from your own home.

How To Advertise The T.A.C.O. Business Event/Party: print up fliers and hang them up locally through out your community, mail out invitations to those who you know who might be looking to start a home business in Direct Sales, get a classified ad in your local newspaper and do some online advertising on local area message boards and web sites. It would also be adviseable to invite your past customers and party hosts to the business event.

Theme: Stick to the T.A.C.O. theme by serving mexican-style refreshments such as tacos, nachos, virgin margaritas, taco chips and salsa.

Decorations: If you are looking for some inexpensive Southwest and/or Mexican style party items, check out your local party supply store. You could purchase and wear a sombrero, get some southwest printed table cloths, use some cactus and aloe plants as accents etc, just get creative! You will want to set the mood as soon as your guests arrive for the T.A.C.O. business event.

Preparation: Make up some business opportunity information packets ahead of time and load them up with information about the business opportunity that you will be presenting. It is also helpful to have some visual aids on display during your presentation.

Time: Keep your presentation to about 30 minutes in length and then allow another 20 minutes for your guests to ask you questions and another 30 minutes for a little bit of mingling and clean up.

Make sure to get the contact information from your guests, a great way to accomplish that is by having a preprinted survey for them to complete or try offering a contest with a prize and have your guests fill out a contest entry form which will collect their contact information. After the event, follow up will be key in getting new members to join your Direct Sales team.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. You can contact Shelly at:
Web: Classy Home Business Women
Web: Shelly’s Tupperware Home Business

How To Find A Good Online Direct Sales Vendor Fair

I have participated in Online Direct Sales Vendor Fairs for the past 5 years. I am often asked, “How do you find good vendor fairs to participate in?”

You should really sit down and make a list of what ‘you’ expect to see and get from participating in a online vendor fair. Next, go to a major search engine and do a key word search for vendor fairs, direct sales, wahm parties, etc.

You can also find several vendor fairs online by visiting wahm (work at home mom) forum boards as members will post information about them in the online party folders.

Here are the tips of what you should be looking for when it comes to choosing the right vendor fair to participate in.

1. Convenience: Are the times posted for the Vendor Fair Time Slots, convenient? What I mean is this, are the time slots great ones that can be utilized by all time zones?

Example: a 9am to 12 noon EST time are not good time slots because West Coast Shoppers are still in bed or busy that early in the morning.

2. Is there a Fair Buzz? Are you seeing Fair Advertising? Are you seeing others talking about it? Does it have a previously established success rate?

3. Fair Spots should run 30-60 minutes in length. Anything under 30 minutes is a joke in my opinion. I once attended a fair that the vendors had 10 minute spots, are you kidding me? By the time they got done with their intro, they cut them off and moved onto the next vendor. Anything over 60 minutes loses the customers attention.

4. Be prepared ahead of time. Type up what you want to say, the specials you are running and so forth. Proof-read it and then copy/paste when its your time to present.

5. Will there be staff (moderators) or hosts of the fair in the chat room at all times? This is important because you will get spammers who run around online who invade chat rooms to cause trouble. So make sure the fair host or staff will be present should problems arise, PHYSICALLY present in the chat room! Not available via PM, IM or email.

6. Incentives for Fair Shoppers. Will there be contest drawings? Fair only specials? All of this helps to attract shoppers to the event.

7. Is there a back up chat room? When we hold fairs we have a back up chat room available should the host server go down. This is also an important fact that is often over looked. I also prefer fairs that the owner uses a paid chat room. They are more reliable, have nicer features and if trouble makers show up, they can be booted and banned.

8. Rules and Guidelines for Vendors. I think this helps to run a smooth and successful fair. Vendors should know UP FRONT what their responsibilities will be. Vendors should have to agree to them before signing up.

9. Reasonable Vendor Fees aka the costs. I think it should be less than $20 per spot.

10. Reputation…extremely important! There are too many website owners doing these vendor fairs and not properly promoting them! They are taking your hard earned money and it ends up being a handful (less than 5 people) in the fair and they are ALL vendors!!! You want to make sure that the vendor fair that you are participating in is being heavily advertised!

Ask around to see if others have done that particular fair and find out if it was successful for them. The more you ask, the more you find out!

11. Variety, again this is important! You don’t want to attend or participate in a fair that doesn’t have a variety of vendors on board. The more variety, the more shoppers it pulls in. I once attended a fair that had 4 cosmetic company consultants in 1 1/2 days and they were all from the same company.! Then there were 3 other cosmetic companies also being presented during that time, too many cosmetic consultants. Make sure there is a variety. I like to see fairs that limit it to ONLY 2 reps per company and that those reps can not present on the same day.

12. Is this fair being held on a professional looking website? I get irritated when I see these fair owners charging for fair spots but hosting the fair on a freebie website and using a freebie chat room or the website is not professionally done. Customers upon entering a fair site or chat room should see professional looking sites. You want customers to take your business seriously!

13. Are there Vendor Orientation Chats before the fair begins? I feel this is helpful too, especially to newbie vendors. Orientation Chats should occur to explain to you the process of the fair, your responsibilities and so forth.

14. Is there sufficient Pre-Fair communication between the vendor and fair site owner? Are they keeping you informed on things before the fair starts? I feel this is important, way too many times I see no communication between fair owner and the vendor.

15. Are you added to the Fair Schedule Promptly? How often is the public fair schedule updated? I had a friend who did a online fair and the fair owner took 9 days to add her to the fair schedule, which is unacceptable.

16. Are you provided with free banners, buttons and fair ads? This is great advertising and should be utilized. Vendors should be responsible for helping to advertise the event. The more we all pitch in to help advertise the event, the better the turn out and success!

17. I also believe Vendors should be screened. Is this fair site owner allowing anyone and everyone to be a vendor? Are they checking out the Vendors to make sure they are legit?

These are 17 very important things you need to remember when you are selecting a online vendor site to host your online party. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and please do your research before signing up and paying them money for you to participate in their online vendor fair.

Shelly Hill has been working from home in Direct Sales since 1989 and is a Manager with Tupperware. You can contact Shelly at:
Web: Classy Home Business Women
Web: Shelly’s Tupperware Home Business