Guest Post By Hope Groves
I can remember the first time I left a $1,000 party. I had just spent four hours having the most fun I'd had in a while with a bunch of women I was delighted to get the chance to meet and it thrilled me that I was also getting paid well for the experience. I spent the drive home trying to figure out what had been so different about that party.
- What had I done that made it so much better?
- What had I done differently that made 22 people attend this party instead of the usual six?
- What could I do for my next party that would make it turn out like that one had?
Here's what I figured out on that drive home:
Work With Your Host – Your first opportunity to increase your party sales comes the minute your hostess books a date with you. Your job as a successful direct sales professional is to help your hostess get what she wants. Get that wish list from her and explain what her sales need to be for her to get everything on her wish list for free. You?ll find yourself with a motivated hostess who has clear sales goals. Clear communication with your hostess from the outset helps her get the sales she needs to get what she wants from the party.
More Home Party Guests Means More Orders – which means higher sales. Why not take over the invitations for your hostess? I can?t tell you how many times I?ve given my hostess 40 invitations, only to have her hand 39 of them back to me at her party. Ask your hostess to give you her guest list within 48 hours of booking her party. Consider offering her an incentive for giving you 40, 50, 75 people to invite! Get an attractive invitation in the mail to each of her guests and be sure to include the the offer of a chance to get a free gift if they arrive on time, if they bring a guest with them or some other incentive to get their attention. Make your invitations festive and something the recipient will smile at!
Learn About Your Guests – Through hostess coaching, find out about the invited guests and their lifestyles. Talk to your hostess about her interests and ask her if any of her invited guests have mentioned a specific product they?re interested in. Tailor your party presentation to fit what your hostess envisions as a fun party.
Mingle with your party guests and find out what they?re like, what they?re up to this summer. Do they go to the club pool a lot? Are they travelers? Make note of the conversations and activities they discuss so that you can make spot-on product suggestions for them. Become their personal shopper and their experience transforms from a canned sales presentation (blah!) into a customized personal experience they?ll enjoy. Catering to their likes and interests makes you stand out as a Consultant and they?ll remember that about you later.
Learn to Upsell – Get comfortable with making product pairing suggestions at checkout. My motto is “Never sell a single product”, which sounds counter-intuitive, but really helps me increase my sales. What product do you sell that pairs nicely with the item on the order form? Take a second to grab that item from your display. Share it with your customer by showing them how you use the product on their order form with the product that you?re suggesting as a pair. Keep the item suggestion at a reasonable price and be sure to mention to your customer if their purchase qualifies for any special purchase price items.
Keep Your Host Excited – The key is keeping your hostess excited, motivated and making her job as a hostess easy and fun. Too often, people concentrate on party sales at the party. Your best opportunities for increasing your party average have already passed by the time you arrive at the party. Maximize those opportunities as soon as your hostess books her party and you?ll soon be driving home from more $1,000 nights.
Meet guest blogger Hope Groves. Hope is an Executive Director with Thirty-One Gifts. What began as a way to get adorable products for a discount became the way she could afford to quit her career in automotive quality management to stay home when her son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. When she enrolled, her mother asked her what on earth she was thinking. She'd never even attended a home party before. Little did anyone know that only eight months later, she would need this opportunity so she could be there for her family.
Since joining the company in September 2009, she has built a team of 170 Consultants nationwide and has promoted six Directors in her downline. Hope will be recognized at the Thirty-One Gifts National Conference in Columbus, OH in July for Top Sales, Top Dream Builder and for earning Dream Rewards and Thirty-One’s Leadership Incentive Trip.
Hope lives in Columbus, IN with her husband Ken and sons, Ethan and Jared. You can visit her Thirty-One Gifts website at www.get-thirty-one.com.
