In my recent travels and training I am always intrigued when someone complains about not having enough parties (presentations) booked. I ask this simple question, “Why not?”
Let me ask you a simple question, “If you don’t have enough parties booked on your calendar, why not?” Do you believe in what your company has to offer? Do you believe you have a fantastic product? Do you believe it’s better to be a Hostess and earn product than it is to pay full price for everything? When you can answer “Yes” to all of these questions and really believe it’s better to “Host than Buy” you will have more bookings than you can hold!
So how do you get more parties? It’s simple…ASK! It blows me away that someone will go across town looking for leads and not focus on who’s in their own backyard. Let’s face it, we come in contact with at least 10 people every week that can use our products and services. Have you gone to the Post Office this week? What about UPS or Federal Express? Have you been to the grocery store, drug store, bank, credit union, restaurant, gym, dentist, doctors office, or office supply store? Have you been to your child’s’ hockey game, basketball game, gymnastics or dance class, PTA meeting, etc.? When you go somewhere I you prepared with a quick ten second introduction of yourself and what you do?
The fact is we do come in contact with people every week and we don’t mention what we do. Worse yet, we don’t mention what we have to offer! All you have to say is, “I’m with a fantastic company that has the best widgets on this side of the world and I will bring you a free widget just for inviting me and a few friends over for an evening of fun!” If you took 6 friends to Nieman-Marcus or Sears, for a shopping spree and spent $600 between all of you, would the store give you something FREE just for bringing them? I don’t think so! Yet that’s what you do! You are the Store that is going to give the Hostess Free and discounted product!
January 22, 1996, I held a party for a lady I met while conducting a meeting at the local hotel. She had a $275.00 party and had 3 bookings. I traced the chain of parties on a poster board for 2 years and stopped only when I ran out of room on the poster. Here are the totals: 121 parties were already held, total sales for the parties were $35,072.66, my commission was $14,029.06. I had sponsored 10 people from this chain, I still had 8 more parties booked and had given 8 shows to my team in the last month!
I thought I’d share this just in case you’ve been thinking, “What difference does one new party make?”
Hi Karen.
You are so right about this. I have found bookings difficult and have often looked to the other side of town (so to speak) to find them not even thinking about the people in my own backyard.
I don’t find myself at a doctor or dentists office enough to say I have “sold” myself and what I do to those individuals, however, the next time I am there, I most certainly will let them know.
I have told grocery clerks when the subject comes into conversation, or even people sitting at the next table at my favourite coffee shop. My product is very visible and people comment all the time.
Can you recommend, or suggest ways in which I can take the comments into bookings or better yet, recruiting?
Allena
Karen’s reply: Keep asking for referrals. You can never ask enough people for referrals! Always ask, “who do you know?”
Comment by Allena — July 4, 2007 @ 12:33 pm
[...] and can help you refine the best places to concentrate your marketing efforts. I believe it is Karen Phelps’s site where I first read about the idea of tracking your parties to see how long each chain [...]
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