have met otherwise. Here’s something surprising: I’ve found that smaller, less expensive events tend to provide a bigger return on your investment.
I’ve also discovered that there’s a key ingredient to creating success: Decide on your purpose for that particular event. If it’s to get bookings, then don’t focus on selling product. Concentrate on engaging people so that you get bookings. That means you’d most likely have just display product and only a small amount of product to sell. Your focus will be on creating an urgency to book a party with you, perhaps with a Book Today special.
If your goal is to earn enough to pay for your booth as you expand your contacts, you’ll want to focus on selling product you have on hand. You’ll experience the best results if, instead of bringing along your catalog or a variety of items, you instead offer a specific Show Special. A Show Special is a particular item or bundle of items that you’re highlighting for that particular event. You’ll have a supply of this to sell cash-and-carry to people who visit your booth.
If your goal is recruiting, make a gift basket that goes to a new team member and make sure all your conversations include the message “I’m looking for people to join me.”
Event parties are an exciting new twist on the home parties that have been the bastion of the Party Plan industry for decades. Event parties are held outside the home, and are growing more and more popular. There are two basic types of event parties: those held at an office, restaurant, or coffee shop and those held in partnership with a retail establishment. The first type has been around for years. It is really just a home party held in a different venue.
The second type seems to be growing in popularity, as more shops are starting to pair up with representatives on a monthly basis. A boutique, gym, or bookstore might want representatives that offer tea or food samples, or even an unrelated but still non-competing product. A cafe might like to invite representatives of jewelry, clothing, or home decor companies to display their products.
For example, a cafe near my home features a different party each month, displaying a flyer every day until the event. They let the selected representative set up a display of products, and the cafe owners and the representatives both tell me they love it.
Because both the store front and the representative promote the event, it becomes a blending of their customers. The representative’s customers return to the store, and the store’s customers become the representative’s customers, too.
Want more examples? Appliance stores let cookware representatives do cooking demonstrations. Women’s gyms love partnering with nutrition supplements and weight-loss product representatives. Some boutiques who don’t carry jewelry allow jewelry reps to set up their displays and meet their clientele during key weekends. Libraries have been known to allow food and beverage reps to distribute samples during book readings. The key is for the establishment to provide added value for their customers, while also using your business to drive more people to their location. Of course, the added benefit for you is the exposure to a new clientele.
These days, one of the most touted aspects of direct selling is the benefit of doing business online. There’s no question that online parties can be a great boost to your business. They allow you to reach people outside your general vicinity and offer the convenience of being able to cover your responsibilities at home while popping over to the computer to host an online party on Facebook.
When it comes to doing a great online party, you use exactly the same skills as an in-home party. The difference is in how you utilize those skills. To succeed with virtual parties, you need to engage guests, make it fun, and show them how your product really answers a need they have. Successful online parties also demonstrate why hosting a party is exciting and rewarding and how becoming a representative meets a need that each guest has.
Fundraising is a $19 billion market. The great part of fundraising programs is that people want to support their community. Fundraising can introduce you and your products to an entirely different crowd. Many companies offer a fundraising program that divides your normal profit so that the bulk of it goes to the school or organization. But if not, you can develop your own program. Focus on offering about a dozen top items on a flyer rather than using the entire catalog. Make sure the receipt offers an opt-out option for future contact and that the products are delivered with your contact information included. People who come from a long-term corporate background find this model of doing business very successful and appealing.
This is a piece of the business that many people leave out, and that’s a huge amount of cash to leave on the table. Re-servicing is more than simply posting on Facebook “I’m putting in an order, does anyone want anything?” Re-servicing is true customer care, meaning it involves contacting customers by phone with a simple, short conversation to ensure that they’re doing well and like the products, and to determine whether they need more or would like to try the monthly special.
For more details on re-servicing, see Chapter 13.
Personal shopping may not be something you can base your entire business on, but it is one more layer you can add to it. Though you may have time to do just one party a week, perhaps during the middle of the day you can do a couple of personal shopping experiences.
A Brief History of the Direct Sales Model
Nearly every culture shares a heritage of direct selling. What they sold direct to consumers varies from era to era, continent to continent, and community to community, but around the globe, as far back as history is recorded, individuals have sold goods to their neighbors and countrymen. These networks of commerce were direct-selling distribution channels, much like the direct sales companies of today.
Salesmen,