Adventures in Direct Sales Land

Having Fun at the Party!

2011-09-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

I am not a huge game player at my parties because I want to make sure that I keep the attention of my guests throughout the entire party and I do not like my presentation to last much longer than 30 minutes. Much more after that amount of time and your guests start getting bored and looking for ways to sneak out! (I haven’t actually had anyone sneak out, but I have been to parties where I thought the distributor was never going to end so I have always been a bit conscious of the time factor.)

That being said, I do want my parties to be fun and inviting so that my guests want to come to more parties and they want to have parties of their own. So I have adopted one “game” that I use throughout my show and it really does engage the guests and if you have a really rowdy bunch, it can make the show a hundred times more fun for them. This “game” is called the purse game. The purse game is easily adaptable so you can do different things with it but I am going to tell you how I do it so you can get an idea of the structure.

I explain the game to my guests at the beginning of the party like this: “Ladies, we are going to play a game throughout the party and receive tickets for some fabulous prizes at the end of the party. I need you ladies to pull out your purses. I have some cards here in my hands and each card has a letter on the front of it. Each letter stands for something I want to share with you tonight. When I turn the card over so that you can see the letter, dig through your purses and find something in there that begins with the same letter that is on the card, pull it out, yell out what it is and if you are the first one (you can use the first two if there are 10 or more at your party) then you get a ticket!!! The lady with the most tickets at the end of the party will get to choose her favorite gift from my treasure box and then we will draw for another winner. So you want as many tickets as you can get! Everyone understand? Great, let’s get started!”

Then I proceed to do my entire party using these cards. I will list the cards that I use and what they stand for but keep in mind that you can use any letters you want, so make it your own.

W – WISH LIST: helps them see the amount of items they want and great for a booking tool.

P – Stands for my company’s name so introduce my company to them at this point.

I – INTRODUCTIONS: I have each lady tell us her name and what she would do with an extra $1,000 per month.

This is a two-fer because I also stands for INCOME – I do my sponsoring activity at this time.

M – MODEL: model your product here whatever it is.

G – GUARANTEE: I go over my company’s guarantee policy

C – CARE: I tell my guests how to take care of their products

H – HOSTESS PLAN: I go over my company’s hostess plan, any hostess specials and then I do my booking activity

S – SURVEY: I use a guest survey at the end of my parties so I step the guests through each question here.

This is another two-fer because S also stands for SPECIALS: I announce that night’s buying specials.

Then that concludes my game and my presentation so I have everyone count their tickets and the one with the most gets to pick out a prize and then I draw from the other tickets for another prize winner.

Ok DS peeps! I hope this fun game is useful to you and adds a little different spin to your parties!

Jules~The Fun Party Lady

Help Me Help You!

2011-08-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

I want to know something about my blog viewers...leave me a comment with the type of direct sales business that you own (please do not put the name of the company - just type such as jewelry, bath products, home decor, candles, etc.) and what kind of things you wish to see on this blog. If you do not own a direct sales business then just let me know what kind of things you would like to learn from this blog. I want to try to tailor my posts to the needs of my viewers so that I can possibly be of help to you all :)

Love ya'll!

Jules ~ The Fun Party Lady

Lifestyle Bookings!

2011-08-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

Those two words are enough to make some people sick to their stomachs. The thought of talking to random people in stores or restaurants is a terrifying thought to some people – most people actually.

I have never loved doing it, but after the first few times, I figured it out, I got a “script” down and I have learned to not hate it anymore. There are a few things you need to learn about lifestyle bookings. The first thing you need to get down is your commercial.

Your commercial is what you say to someone who you want to talk to about your business. Let’s say that someone in the line at the grocery store comments on your shoes. If you sell these shoes you can’t just say “thank you” and let the person go on without talking to them about your business! That is a missed opportunity for at the very least a new contact or at best a new booking or prospect!

Make a 20 second commercial telling about that product and how it fits into your business. You need to get their information so you can follow up with them.

Let’s go back to that shoe example. A lady compliments me on my shoes that I sell. I say, “thank you so much! These are my favorite shoes in my line that I sell! I have given 15 pairs of these away for free to ladies who let me show my shoe collection to them and their friends. Would you like a coupon and catalog?”

Now, I don’t know about you but I have never had anyone turn me down for me to send them a catalog and a coupon! I have a tiny notebook and pen in my purse and I pull it out and ask them to just jot down their name, address and phone number so I can get it in the mail to them. Sometimes they will leave off their phone number. When they do this, I will say, “oh! Do you mind writing your phone number down there real quickly so that I can make sure you got the catalog and coupon alright?” They will usually write it down for you.

Now, go home and get the catalog and coupon in the mail IMMEDIATELY! Do not wait. You want to provide good customer service and let them know that they matter to you. When it has been about 1 day after they should have received the catalog, you must follow up with them. Ask them how they like the catalog products. Then mention any promotions going on, but do not ask them if they would like to host a party with you. Mention that you would love to show your products to them in person so they can see it up close and if they invite their friends to see it too, then you will give them some free products.

Spice it up a bit and make it your own, but NEVER let another compliment pass you by without offering the person a look at your catalog!

Happy bookings!

Jules ~ The Fun Party Lady

Random Musings

2011-08-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

I was listening and watching a webinar this evening (instead of writing a paper for my Master’s program of course) and I just wanted to share a few tid-bits with you that I really enjoyed. This will not be a whole explanation and whatnot of the different facts I am about to present, but just some FYIs for you all. J

Random Musing #1: After booking a party from a life-style booking and following where that one party led to after 2 years, the presenter had 121 parties, over $35,000 in sales and 14 new recruits! What a difference that one party can make…try not to kick yourself for letting that super fun looking lady standing in front of you in the check-out line go without giving her an opportunity to say YES to getting free product!

Random Musing #2: 2-10% of telemarketers got sales after the 1^st-4^th call to the same person, BUT after the 5^th call, that number jumped up to 81%!!!!!!!!!! Lesson to be learned….KEEP CALLING UNTIL THEY TELL YOU “DO NOT CALL ME AGAIN!!!!”

Random Musing #3: I really need to start filming and marketing my random musings and tid-bits that I am giving out! LOL Kidding….kind of. J

Ok, that’s it…for now!

Jules ~ The Fun Party Lady

Wow Your Prospects

2011-08-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Like my other topics, this is one that I can write and write and write about, but I will have to break it up for the purpose of this blog. I will need to do a whole series on this topic at a later date because this is a huge part of the direct sales business and the way people make unlimited amounts of income from it. Not only the income potential of it, but sponsoring people can be a true blessing to them as well. That is the thing we need to realize as potential sponsors – we need to be a blessing to those we sponsor and we need to make sure we take the time and energy it takes to train them well and keep on encouraging them.

Now, in order to be a blessing to someone you sponsor, you have to actually sponsor someone first! This begins at your party. If you do not hold parties, it is harder to sponsor people. So getting people to your parties is essential. After that, it is about creating a WOW statement and demonstration. Then follow up – this is where most people drop it!

So let’s begin with the WOW statement. This is what I do. When I introduce myself, I tell people why I started doing what I do. I say:

“I was a nurse at a doctor’s office, working 40 hours a week and I loved my job, but I had two young sons at that time – now I have three – and I felt like I was missing a part of their lives. So I started looking around and found ___________________ and signed up immediately. After a month of doing both ___________ and my other job at the doctor’s office, I was able to quit my job and do _____________ full time. Full time with ____________ is only doing 6-8 parties a month, and that’s what I have done consistently since I began and I have been making more than I was at the doctor’s office since then as well. It has been a huge blessing to me and my family and now I get to stay home and pick my boys up from school!”

This gets interest up right at the beginning of my party AND it lets them know that you are just a normal person, doing normal things but making extraordinary income! People will start thinking about what it would be like to stay at home or to make an extra full time income working only 6-8 times a month. This is very powerful.

Now one thing that I do want you to know is that your WOW statement HAS TO BE TRUTHFUL! If you are not completely honest in what you say, most people pick up on that and they will not trust you. Trust is another essential ingredient in sponsoring so when you begin your relationship with them, you must be truthful. Your WOW statement must be about you, why you do what you do, what it has done for you, etc. Even if your story is very short, there is still something that you have from your business that other people want. Even if it is just HOPE for a brighter, debt-free life.

This is where I will begin on the topic of sponsoring. Like I said before, this is a huge topic that will take a series of posts to fully go through. We will go one step at a time and you can add each step to the next party you do and see what you gain from it.

Happy WOWing!

Jules ~ The Fun Party Lady

*SPECIAL OFFER - If you would like me to read and critique your own WOW statement, it will be $5.00 for the service and that is for the entire process. You send it to me, I will read, add my notes and suggestions, send it back to you. You may then re-write (if needed) and you can re-send to me with changes for another 3 times if needed. Email requests to direct.sales.land@gmail.com – include your name, email, your business and how many WOW statements you would like me to critique (if you have more than one business that you do parties with, you may need more than one WOW statement).

$25 Gift Card Drawing!

2011-08-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

This $25 jewelry gift card could be your's when I get 25 followers! Tell your friends to follow this blog!

Money, Money, MONEY!

2011-08-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

In the direct sales industry or the home party business industry, bookings are the life lines of our businesses, but retail is how we make money. So retailing is certainly one of the most important aspects of our business. If we aren’t retailing, we aren’t making any money and if we aren’t making any money then we can’t fulfill our needs for our personal as well as business lives. I will spend this blog talking about how to get orders before the show, because that is where you need to start, and then I will follow up on other ways of retailing.

So what do I do at my parties to make retailing higher? First, you have to start BEFORE your party even takes place. I always hostess coach my hostesses. In a future post, I will write about the topic of hostess coaching, but in this post, I will only deal with the retail part.

Hostess coaching is extremely important to the party. You cannot just give your hostess a packet of stuff and say “have fun and call if you need anything,” and expect to have a great party. Why is it important for retailing? Because you coach her and show her exactly what to do to get orders before her party starts.

If your company’s hostess plan doesn’t already award your hostess with something when she gets a certain amount in pre-sales, you need to offer her something. My hostess gets $25 in free product when she reaches $100 in pre-sales AND when she gets to $300 in pre-sales, she get a free product (I give a watch) that costs around $70 out of the catalog. Now, I have had a few ladies reach the $300 mark, but most of the time, they get around $200-$250 sold before their party – who wouldn’t love to have a $200-$250 party before the party even starts?!

Another thing to be doing is keeping in touch with her before her party. I make about 2 calls after I hostess coach her and check on her. I always remind her about her pre-sales and how important it is for her to get them so that she can get even more free product. I encourage her to show the catalog to everyone who is unable to come to the party and ask if they could help her out with even just a small order. (5 $20 orders is $100!)

Offer a special for her pre-sale orders. Tell her to offer her customers a buy 3, get the 4^th half price special (I always let the half price piece be the most expensive). This helps to get retail up. Or offer a package deal – put together products that work well together and offer them all at a discounted price. I suggest putting these specials on a piece of paper and going over it with the hostess during the hostess coaching.

Hopefully, this tips help and I will be back with more ways to increase your retail in later posts!

Happy Selling!

Jules ~ The Fun Party Lady

Bookings - the Life Line of Your Business

2011-08-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

Bookings – the life line of any direct sales business. We all need bookings to stay alive in this business and getting bookings is my specialty! I get 3 or more bookings each party I do! Here is how I do it:

USE PASS OR PLAY!!! Now, most people HATE this booking game, but it WORKS.

Hand out cute and pretty boxes – I do this at the beginning of the party so they feel like they own it when this time comes, but you can hand them out whenever. Tell them NOT to look in the box – this creates a feeling of suspense and wonder so they will want to open up their box when the time comes.

Describe a gift or two that you will give your guest when they host their party to everyone right after you show the hostess benefits – and sell them on why they need it! Explain that one of these gifts is in each of the boxes they are holding. Tell them that the only way to find out what is in their box is to play the game.

Explain that you will be coming around and asking if they would like to “PLAY” the game and if they do, they keep their box and whatever is in it PLUS they will be getting all of the free product at their very own party! Also explain that if they don’t play, it’s ok, they just won’t get all of the free product having their own party and they won’t be getting the free gift either and you all will feel very sorry for them – make it funny and not mean.

I always say that when we get at least 3 ladies who play the game, then I will draw from those who played for an extra gift or if you give a certain amount extra for free, you can double it for the winner. Also, I offer an extra gift to my hostess when she has three bookings so I mention that the hostess will also get ______ for free whenever we have three bookings as well.

Then I go around and ask each person if they would like to play. When I get a booking, I say “yea…now we only need 2 more (1 more when I get the 2^nd booking).” And when I get my 3^rd booking I keep asking everyone else if they want to be in the drawing for the doubled gift or extra gift.

This is the only booking game I use. I have done other games, but this one is by far the most effective and most beneficial. I use nothing else and I train my new recruits on this booking game and they have the same results when they do it. If they choose not to, they usually come to me asking why they are not getting bookings and I have to explain the game to them again and encourage them to try it.

So try this out and let me know if it helps you out!

Happy Bookings!

Jules ~ The Fun Party Lady

Who I Am and Why I'm Qualified

2011-08-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

I was asked the other day, "what qualifies you to be a blogger about direct sales and give tips about the business..." so here it is!

I have been in the direct sales industry for over 4 years now. In my first year, I did 83 parties, sponsor enough people to be in the top 4% of my company and sold over $45,000 in jewelry. I earned almost every possible award a new person could have earned my first year. I also earned "Rookie of the Year" in my business team. My next year was similar - awards, parties, retail and sponsoring. My third year, I had health problems with a pregnancy and even though I was unable to do the amount of parties I was used to, I still held an average of 3 per month during it and immediately after. My fourth year was a re-building year and I chose to finish my college degree and not actively sponsor because of time restraints.

Right now, I am currently holding parties and sponsoring when someone takes an interest but not really "trying" to sponsor. I am still in the top 8% in the company and my calendar is full up until December and from December to February I have 1-2 spots left. I am in a stage of my business where I am bored and I don't feel very excited with it...so that's why I started this blog!

Starting tomorrow, I will post articles about getting bookings, sponsoring and retailing. If you have any specific topics you would like covered, feel free to comment or send me a message. I am open to any suggestions. I am here to hopefully help you with your business!

Happy Partying!

~Jules, The Fun Party Lady

Burnout to Re-Ignition

2011-08-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

So I am in the direct sales industry; hints the title of the blog! I have been doing this for four years so I am not a rookie. I have a wealth of knowledge to share, but I also have more to learn which makes creating this blog a perfect idea! (Yep, I'm tooting my own horn for a minute.)

After four years in the business, I felt completely burned out! I am sure that many of you have been there in your own businesses. Everyone does and if you haven't yet, don't worry...you will. Anyway, I was trying to come up with different ways to reignite the spark that I had for my business and I was going over every little piece of paper that I had taken notes on for the past four years.

That is when it hit me! Share! Share what I have learned with those around me. Every time I sponsored a new person into the business, I got excited! But I stopped actively sponsoring people when I began taking college courses to complete my Bachelor's degree. Sponsoring takes alot of time to make sure that your newbie starts out well and develops a basic good business, BUT it also revs up your excitement for your own business!

So that is why I decided to create a blog. I want to share the knowledge that I have about the direct sales business with someone. I have plenty of stuff to share on every aspect of the direct sales business, but I do not have the time to sponsor a large number of people in order to share this wealth of knowledge.

I will be back soon to start sharing the different things I have learned in this amazing business. I do want to leave you with something before I go though. If you are stuck in the same spot that I was in, please think about what it is about your business that made you love it at first. Was it the excitement of meeting new people? Or was it the possibility of making unlimited income on your own schedule? Was it the thrill of helping other people and filling the needs of others? Or was it the thought of living a life most people only dream of?

Whatever it was that made you excited in the beginning of your business, find it and write it down right now on an index card. Tape that card up on your computer, bathroom mirror or refrigerator - wherever you will see it every day. Whenever you see that card, read it to yourself. This will help you connect with your original purpose and excitement for your business.

Happy Sales to You!

Jules ~ The Fun Party Lady