Stay Organized Using a Host Envelope

If you do home parties for a living, you understand just how important your party hosts are to your success. And nothing is worse than letting something slip through the cracks when it comes to your host because you're not organized. When I was doing home parties, I managed up to 14 hosts each month, so I knew it was essential that I have a system in place to keep all of their information organized. I used what I call host envelopes.

This simple envelope gives you a place to keep every single detail you need for each host and party. Whether you’re coaching in person or over the phone, everything your host gives you, from mailing lists and postage to outside orders or booking information, goes into this envelope. I'll even give you a simple checklist to help you keep track of all the details and your activity with each host (click here to download this form). Simply glue this form to the front of each new host envelope you create. With this checklist, you’ll never worry that anyone or anything is falling through the cracks.

As soon as you get home from a party (or the first thing the next morning):

• Transfer all of the host information onto a simple 9X13 manila envelope (with the checklist attached).
• Transfer the date and time of the party and the host coaching appointment into your calendar.
• Schedule the follow up calls you need to make to your host into your follow up system.

All of this will take you less than 10 minutes and you’ll always know exactly what you’re doing with each host and when.

Create a time on your weekly calendar to check each envelope and note where you are with each host so you can incorporate that into your weekly planning (in other words, will you need to be mailing out invitations, making a follow up call, etc. that week for your hosts?)

This simple concept will guarantee that you're following up with your hosts on time and will consequently increase your party attendance and ensure the overall success of your business.

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Julie Anne Jones is direct sales corporate consultant, coach, and trainer, and the CEO of Julie Anne Jones, Inc. She is known for her authentic and easy-to-use scripting and specializes in specific language and tools for success in direct sales. To learn more about Julie Anne and her products and services, and to read more blog posts, visit her at www.julieannejones.com.

Had Enough of the Snow Yet?

I'm lucky. I live "out west" in Washington State and, although we usually have quite a bit of snow here in Eastern Washington in the winter, this year has been mild and we've had virtually none. If you've watched any of the Olympics this past week, you know that they're having to fly in snow by helicopter and the cherry blossoms are blooming in Vancouver (I swear. I saw it on the news last night).

That being said, my Managing Director of Business Development Nancy Golya and our Director of Information Technology and Customer Support Julie McElroy live in Bel Air, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. Needless to say, they've been a little snowed in this past week, with over 80 inches of snow. Because of that, their kids haven't had school for 7 days (they went back yesterday). Since they, like you, work from home, I thought it would be a great idea to interview them to find out how they've managed to do their jobs, run my company, and still keep their kids happy and themselves sane over the past week. You can listen to our conversation (it takes about 12 1/2 minutes to listen to but it goes fast, I promise, and you'll get some great ideas) below.

Since a few of you might be in the same boat, you might be interested in their survival techniques. Plus, I'd really love it if you would share your own below. Come on, take a moment and let us know how you've kept from killing your kids this past week. Lets get a bunch of comments and learn from each other!

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