Home Party Consultants Want More

Bookings, Bookings, Bookings!

Every home party plan sales consultant I ever met wants more bookings.  In my opinion, one reason that this is such an issue for most sales consultants is the actual term, bookings.

What exactly is a booking, anyway?

• An invitation to someone’s home.
• A scheduled show.
• A home party.
• A fun gathering.
• A good time.
• A get-together

Don’t they sound nice? Booking is a technical term.  It is not friendly, nor is it encouraging to the guest, the consultant or the future host.  It actually is sort of an insult that makes it more difficult to schedule shows.

The word BOOKINGS is a turn off!

Find More Home Parties

The first thing that will help you schedule more shows is to start using friendlier terminology.

Does the dentist say to you: “I am going to extract your molar”? No, he/she says: “I am sorry to say this, but I am going to have to pull your back tooth.” I am sure you won’t be any happier about the situation, yet you will feel better about your relationship with the dentist.

Sales is all about relationships.  Eliminate the words BOOKINGS from your vocabulary! To schedule more shows, stop saying things like this:

• When you BOOK a show, you get this…
• The host gets a XZY when she BOOKS 2 shows.
• If you have three BOOKINGS you get a ……

Start using the phrases like this:

• When you invite me to your home, we will….
• When you schedule 2 shows at your show, my gift to you is…
• Whose house should we get together at next month?

At first this will be difficult and with time it will become second nature. I bet you will see a difference in the number of shows you schedule too.

No Time Like The Present To Increase Sales

Even when it comes to your home party business, the old expression ‘there is no time like the present’ holds true. Don’t make the mistake that many sales reps make, and always be looking off into the future.

It is true that what you do now will affect your business the most three months down the road and yet there are certain things that you can do to generate instant income.

Now is always a perfect time to focus on developing your business through proactive marketing techniques. Game players see your score card for a discount code to apply to the Power UP program.

Ten Techniques to Generate Sales

Here are 10 steps or techniques to perform over a period of 10 days that will bring you instant cash flow now, and also a solid business down the road.

• Practice Show: Pick a date (or two) for a show at your home next weekend or not more than a week away. Write out a short script about the new products, the change-over to Summer, or a new theme. Call all of your friends and relatives and tell them you are having a practice show to get ready for the new season. Just say: ‘I am making some snacks and practicing my new tailgate party, would you like to come over and help me practice?’ Or: ‘I am having a Summer outdoor show for practice. Would you like to bring the kids over and help me practice our Summer theme show?’
• Wedding Shower Show: Pick a date to host a show in your home. As you call your guests for follow up or customer service, offer them an invitation to your Wedding Shower Show. Say something like this: ‘Everyone knows someone who is getting married this year. The XYZ Company has many perfect wedding items. Are you planning a wedding? Are you going to a wedding or shower? I am teaching participants how to create unique wedding favors, pick out gifts for the second marriage, and bridal shower gifts too. Get all your wedding shopping gifts done in one fun afternoon.

Tailgate Show: Go to kids’ or relatives’ soccer, baseball or other sports games. Create a kid-friendly theme like ‘Creating Photo Totes’ or ‘Scrap booking for the Athlete’ or ‘5-Minute Snacks for Hungry Soccer Players’ or some other theme that fits in with your product line.

Go to the game and open the tailgate, set up a card table, pass out catalogs, and provide lemonade and snacks.

• Pamper the Business Day (aka Secretary Appreciation Day): You can call it what you want. The point is that you are providing a service to the boss to appreciate the employees. Call the dentist, chiropractor, bank or fitness center and tell them that it is Pamper the Staff Day/Month at XYZ Company. You are providing complimentary cookies and lemonade in appreciation for their professional services. Create an appropriate theme based on your products, such as Coffee Break, A Mug of Appreciation, Sweet Tooth for Sweet Staff, etc. Ask the office manager what time you should stop in with the trays. Put the gifts on real dishes and bring catalogs. Ask if it is OK to leave the books and what time you should return to pick up the dishes and any orders.
• Perform a show or educational workshop at a school, church, sports club, Girl Scout group or library. Create three snappy titles and start calling. You could literally have a couple of these on the calendar within days.
• Summer Teachers’ Shower: Act quickly on this one before the schools break for the Summer. This is a show to celebrate teachers who are having a baby over the Summer, a Summer birthday or wedding. Call all of the teachers you know and tell them you can come to the school and do an all-purpose shower for them in honor of all the teachers having babies, getting married, or having a birthday over the Summer. This would be an after-school event and you would arrive and set up as the classes let out. Then all the teachers show up, and you do a quick show. They buy for themselves and for the teacher(s) being honored. This is a huge market and can be done every year!
• Apartment Community Show: Go to an apartment complex or residential development and ask the manager to distribute fliers to all the residents for a show. It could be a regular show in which the manager gets the host benefits for distributing the fliers. Or in most cases I have found that attendance is better if it is a fund-raiser show for the development. Returns from the fund-raiser will build or buy something for the community. The last time I did this, they used the cash back to buy a school bus stop booth for the kids.
• Residential Development Show: If you can step out of your comfort zone, this works really well. Go around a development and knock on doors and say something like: ‘Hi, I am Deb, with XYZ Parties….some of your neighbors would like to have a XYZ Party show. Are you familiar with XYZ Parties? At XYZ Parties, we have fun, laugh and learn more about creating economical and unique solutions for year-round gift-giving ideas. At this point we are just trying to see if there is enough interest in the neighborhood from enough people to put a ‘get-to-know your neighbors’ party. If we decided to have one, would you be interested in some afternoon fun if you could bring the kids?’ After they say yes, then get the name and number and go on to the rest of the houses. Give each person a catalog or flier. After you have about 30 or 40 people, then change your script a little bit and say after the lead-in: ‘We have 40 people who definitely want to come. We are looking for a host. Would you be interested in receiving the host benefits and providing the beverages?’ Boom! Pick a date and you have a show!

Retirement Home Show: This is not a huge money-maker, yet it works every time and can be a consistent event on a monthly basis. The activities coordinators at local retirement homes and disability or rehab centers are always looking for entertainment for the residents.

Offer your services as a presenter. Create themes and economical product packages for the residents.

Use catalogs to generate sales with the staff. Usually the activities department needs funds for more activities, so a fund-raiser is a great way to go. Do not expect huge sales from the residents. Some will order if you create packages for gift-giving ideas that are affordably priced.

• The Yard Sale Promo Show: This is a cool technique to involve the whole family and create income and leads with your business at the same time you are cleaning out the house and creating income with the annual yard sale. My neighborhood has a community yard sale every year. It’s actually coming up soon. I am not really a yard sale person, so I never would have one on my own, yet I always take advantage of the steady stream of “strangers” coming into the neighborhood, not to mention the neighbors who are mingling around and networking with each other. To take advantage of all the traffic and interest in the neighborhood, you only have to set up a business table within the yard sale activities. Selling product or inventory, taking orders, doing a small demo and collecting leads using prize drawing slips are just some of the things you can do at the Yard Sale Show. Have your family staff the yard sale area and you staff the business show area. Like an expo or fair, you must connect with your customers quickly.

Successful Direct Sales Consultants Love the Word ‘No’

Successful direct sales consultants love to hear the word NO because they know that you must hear no to get a yes. If you never hear the word no, then you are not asking enough. Get on the phone and start calling. These ideas can be thrown together within the next 10 days, they do not have to be a futuristic thing.

Create Desire At Home Party Plan Business

Selling The Benefit  = Increased Home Party Sales

Features never sell products. Benefits sell products. When you are talking about your products at a home party or out and about,  be sure that you are creating pictures for your guests using the benefits of a product.

This works even if you are not in a home party plan business.  The key is to create desire for your products, opportunities and services no matter what your business model is.

Features Are Your Business Product

A feature is about your product or your services.

• The ball is orange.
• The whisk is stainless steel.
• The lip balm is petroleum free.
• The vest is a polyester/cotton blend.
• You earn free trips

A Benefit =Your Business Product Or Service Helps A Person

A benefit is more about the person and how your business services or products can help or bring value to the person.

• Lots of kids came up to Johnny to play because of his bright orange ball.
• The ball was easy to find when Johnny kicked it into the woods.
• You can put this stainless steel whisk in the dishwasher.
• This whisk will last a lifetime because it will never rust.
• The lip balm does not dry out your lips even more.
• This lip balm will stop the lip balm addiction, as it actually soothes your skin instead of drying it out more.
• You can put this vest in the dryer because it is a poly blend.
• You will never worry about this vest shrinking.
• I took my husband on an all expense paid vacation to Cancun!

Business Sales Techniques For All Direct Selling Companies

This business sales technique will work for all direct selling companies.  This feature and benefit comparison will work with any product or service. Just sit down and list the features of all your products, offers or services. Then, next to the features, write a list of the benefits to the person.

Direct Sales = Emotions

People buy emotionally. Direct sales businesses work because of the emotional connection that is created between people.  The next step is to create an emotionally charged statement with each feature and benefit on your list. People shop and purchase emotionally, so create and memorize statements that draw out the emotional benefits of a product.

• Johnny is so excited with the new friends he made at the park today, while playing with his orange ball.
• I can’t believe I will never have to buy another wire whisk in my whole entire life! And it goes in the dishwasher too!
• Ever since I started using this lip balm, my husband has commented on how soft my lips are.
• Today I was rushing around and just pulled this vest straight out of the dryer and threw it on. Wash, dry and wear. It is so simple!
• My husband and I renewed our wedding vows — all expenses paid by MyCompany, on the beaches of Cancun!

Get in the habit of sprinkling these emotionally charged statements that people can connect with everywhere you go.

Find Unlimited Bookings!

The law of attraction will work for you when you share the benefits of your products, services and opportunities at the grocery store, the mini-market, the hairdressers, the dry cleaners, at the show, at the dog kennel………. Power Up For Professional Results is a 8 CD/MP3 set of systems that will bring you unlimited business. I promise! - Game players: See your score sheet and save $20!

You can have a sensational Summer in your sales business when you believe that you can do it! It is mostly about attitude. Listen to this hour recording on how to set your self up for success and have a terrific Summer selling season. For that matter these techniques can be used any month out of the year. (This recording was recorded live and is totally unedited.)  More systems to increase party sales.

How would you like to have your customers coming to you?
Would you like to attract more customers than you can handle?

I know that some of you are thinking that sounds impossible, but I am telling you that it is entirely possible.

Direct Sales Attraction Marketing

When you learn how to create desire for your direct sales product, services and opportunity people will be attracted to you and will start to ask to do business with you. You can literally create customers by creating desire for your services. It is called attraction marketing.

How To Attract Business – Create Desire

This is a simple system to create desire for your services and attract business. There are only four steps:

1. List the Top 20 reasons why your business is the best thing since sliced bread.
2. Create powerful benefit statements from that list.
3. Sprinkle the Top 20 powerful statements everywhere you go.
4. Watch the customers flock to you.

Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

What are the Top 20 reasons why your business is the best thing since sliced bread? Make a list. Write down the 20 reasons why you love what you do. Not just about your company… about you too.

The list might go like this:

• Fun!
• Free products
• Discounted products
• Great way to entertain
• Save money
• Educational
• Excellent service
• Etc.

Continue all the way up to 20 reasons why your business is the best thing since sliced bread! Include things that set you apart from others in your company too.

Your Direct Sales Business Benefits = Value

• Features do not “sell”.
• Benefits, advantages and value “sells”.

You may have a stainless steel mixer in your product line and if you do not tell customers the benefits of stainless steel, it won’t sell. ‘This is stainless steel, therefore it is dishwasher safe.’ ‘This plant stand is wrought iron, therefore it will not rust when put outdoors’, etc.

The benefit or advantage to the guest is what sells the product. The listing above are the features of your business not the benefits. Just like stainless steel or wrought iron; free products or learning about your products is not very interesting in themselves. Now take those features and turn them into benefits.

What is the advantage to your customers of free products having a show or or a stainless steel item? How are you adding value based benefits to their lives? Did you read the other article on how to increase sales for your home business?

Sales Connections

People buy with their emotions. Your best way to make sales connections is to make friends by sharing emotionally.

The next step in attracting more business than you can handle is to take your Top 20 features that are now benefits and turn them into emotionally charged statements. Like this:

“My sister bought one of these then a week later called and scheduled a show so she could get everyone in the family one for Christmas!”

“We had a blast last night at my show… Our theme was coordinating earrings with complexion. The hostess earned $200 free jewelry and everyone had fun!”

Create 40 different emotionally charged statements. One from each item on your top 20 list for scheduling shows and one for recruiting.

That’s right, I said 40. That would be 2 emotionally charged statements for each one item listed on the Top 20 list. One sentence will be for the benefits of hosting a show and one for the business opportunity. If you are not in a business that relies on home parties, then create one for the product line and one for the opportunity.

Leads For Free

This lead generation system is free. The only thing you have to do now is memorize your Top 20 emotionally charged statements and start sprinkling!

People pay big money for leads. This system works! Just start sprinkling your Top 20 reasons why your business is the best thing since sliced bread everywhere you go.

You may be at the grocery store and someone says, “Hey, long time no see, what’s new?” You say:

“I think I told you last time I saw you that I was thinking about starting a business. Well I did, and I am so happy with it. I get to go to all of the twins’ soccer games and am chaperoning all of Jennifer’s school trips. I love it!”

Or maybe you are at the gym and get to talking with someone who says: “Whatcha been up to lately?” You say:

“Wow! Just before I came here, UPS brought me the new XYZ Company Spring products! I just unpacked them and started redecorating the living room with the new wall hangings… I can’t believe I get to redecorate every six months for FREE!”

Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle — then listen. (Key word: Listen) The sprinkling takes practice and the listening takes practice. When you practice and sprinkle everywhere you go, the business comes to you!