 |
 |
Givers Get – Product Donation Can Really Pay Off
Most Business 101 books will tell you not to give away the farm; remember you’re in business to make a profit. However, when it comes so to direct sales parties, guests will be more likely to remember the fun event if they walk away with a prize. Just make sure it’s a product prize from your company. I’m amazed at the number of consultants who give away chocolates, lip balm or other items that don’t even represent their own company product line!
So how do you determine the best way to establish who receives the prizes?
Know your hostess and the crowd. If you decide that you’re in front of a group of guests who may be open to some games, then play some. People are by nature a bit competitive, some more than others, and a game is a great way to get the party started. It helps people become acquainted and adds a bit of fun competition to the festivities.
Assuming you have a competitive group, pick a game, anything from a trivia game about the products or a game of strategy and skill. Another benefit to playing games is that it provides the perfect opportunity to find people to donate prizes to. Depending on how much time you have and how many prizes you have to give away, you can award first, second, and third place a prize. Or you can play a couple games and the first place winner of each game gets a prize. Just be sure to give a disclaimer that each person can only win once!
Obviously if you get blank stares or groans when you announce a game, that may not be the best crowd for games. Instead have a simple drawing. Invite each guest to enter the drawing and the first, second, and third names drawn each receive a prize. The upside to this method is that a drawing is a great way to generate leads. Instead of having people simply put their name on a piece of paper, they can actually fill out a pre-set postcard.
Consider asking for the following information:
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Email
- If they are interested in becoming a consultant
- If they are interested in hosting a party (and earning free gifts)
Make sure you actually use the information you’ve collected to send out information about promotions and new products.
Whether you choose to host a drawing or ask your attendees to play a game, giving away prizes is a great way to introduce new people to your products and gain future customers.
About the Author: Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan and a Star Director with Scentsy Wickless Candles. She enjoys helping others start and maintain a candle business. You can find Laurie at http://www.Scentsy.com/LA or http://www.ThrivingCandleBusiness.com
3Ps of a Direct Sales Launch Party
You’ve either found or are seriously considering a direct sales opportunity that fits you well, therefore you are obviously going to want to tell people about it. Plan an open house launch party so that everyone you know gets the opportunity to come and support your new venture. Below are some suggestions for preparing, planning and presenting your first direct sales launch party.
Whether you’re selling candles, gourmet food/spices, jewelry, home decor, makeup or any other product line an open house format will work best. This will be your official launch party for your new business so you can showcase and roll out the entire line you will be selling. Referrals will be a wonderful tool in your business; so if people don’t know about your offerings, they won’t be able to give your referrals. Start with a date.
Prepare
Carefully consider the date for your launch party. You want maximum exposure, therefore choose a day when the majority of your invitees can come. Remember that no matter what date you select, it won’t be good for some people; just accept that. Be sure to over invite. You could invite 150 people and have 12 people show up, and that’s actually a good number of guests!
Weekends tend to work best. Stay away from holidays unless you know people don’t mind coming. More people will come if you give them at least a two or three week window before the event. Ask for R.S.V.P.s so you can get a head count for food. If you don’t get a R.S.V.P. (and chances are you will not receive many) it is vital that you follow up with a personal phone call. History has shown only those who R.S.V.P. or whom you actually speak with will show, and even then you’ll have some no-shows.
Once the date is set, the fun begins. It’s time to plan your strategy for the party. Keep a few goals in mind that you want to accomplish at the party:
* Let people know about the products
* Provide a non-threatening atmosphere with no sales pressure
* Have products available for sale
* Have recruiting information available
* Provide simple snacks
Most direct selling companies provide a starter business kit so that you will have enough supplies to have a show of your own. You don’t have to keep an inventory for your open house. It is okay to use your products as advertisements and take orders; just allow enough time to for delivery of the orders for those who purchase for the purpose of gift giving.
Planning
Above all else, keep it simple. For an open house, there is a window of time when people talk with you, mingle, eat and look at products. It takes the pressure off since you don’t have to be standing in front of a group the entire four-hour period.
Have a table with your products prominently displayed as well as marketing collateral including business cards (and samples if applicable) to give visitors a way to contact you later if they find that direct sales is an opportunity they are considering. A table for the food and drinks also keeps you from feeling like you’re waiting on your guests and gives them an opportunity to do as they please according to their time frame.
Present
On the day of your launch party, decorate your mailbox with balloons and/or yard signs to alert all attendees. Also place a sign on your door that invites guests to “come on in.” Your main assignment for the day is getting introducing your new business and the product line.
Use this opportunity to book hostess parties, sell products, and let people know who and how easy it is to order. If you have a website or webstore, encourage orders online. More importantly, relax; have fun; you don’t have to have all the answers; and remember to keep it simple, as you want others to see how easy it is!
About the Author: Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan and a Star Director with Scentsy Wickless Candles. She enjoys helping others start and maintain a candle business. You can find Laurie at http://www.Scentsy.com/LA or http://www.ThrivingCandleBusiness.com
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=494919c5-0374-4737-9fb1-3f517b14dab0)
Music Is Unprofessional on Your Business Website
Why You Should Avoid Background Music On Your Website
Don’t put background music on your website. If you want a professional website that has high traffic and retains visitors, it’s a good rule of thumb to stick with. There are always rare exceptions (which I will list later), but for the most part, you should take this small tid-bit of wisdom to heart.
Here are the reasons why:
1. Credibility – There are certain hallmarks that newbie website builders cannot help but fall for. Background music on a website is one of them. Unless you’re selling music or music services, having background music play on your website makes it seem unprofessional. This lowers your websites credibility, and thus you lose retentions of your visitors. People aren’t visiting your website to listen to music… they are probably there to find information. Think about it… does Google, Yahoo, Newsweek, Sprint, or Amazon play music on their websites? Do any ‘professional’ or ‘credible’ websites you know of play music? Now think back to all the website that you know of that DO play background music… how credible did they look? Did most of them look like a first grader designed them? Did it look like a MySpace website? How credible are MySpace websites? Would you trust content on websites like these? Hmmmm…..
2. Bandwidth – Streaming a full version of a song (4-5 minutes) as a background music for your website takes up too many resources. That being said, if your website is super slow to load and ‘choppy’ to visitors with slower connections, I can pretty much guarantee you won’t have a lot of returning visitors. Not to mention the fact that every time you refresh or load a new page, the song starts over – super annoying.
3. Repeating Music – Many people will play smaller segment of background music that loop so as to minimize load times to their websites. If anyone comes to your website and spends any amount of respectable time there, it won’t take long before they go crazy listening to a 15-20 second long song segment loop a thousand times. If you ‘play that funky music’… you’re going to have visitors leaving your website in droves.
4. Taste In Music – Everyone has different tastes in music. What songs you like, others may detest. I know, I know, it’s hard to believe not everyone loves Barry Manilow as much as you do, but the last thing you want to do is drive people away before they even look at your content.
5. Music Already Playing – Now days, people spend a lot of time on their computers. Because of this, they often have music playing from Cd’s, MP3s, Internet radio, etc. on their computer to help pass the time. How annoying is it when you visit a website and it starts playing music that mixes in with your music? Nothing fun about trying to listen to two tracks at the same time. The quick fix will be to leave your website.
6. Public Computers – Nothing like being at work and hitting a website that all of a sudden starts blaring ‘The Piña Colada Song’ at 300 decibels. It’s highly unlikely you will get many return visitors if half of them are out on the streets looking for a new jobs.
7. Legal Issues – Do you have the legal right to broadcast the song you want play as background music? If you don’t, you might get away with it for a while, but if you plan on your website ever having any amount of significant traffic, be warned. The more popular your website, the more likely you will get noticed playing songs illegally. Litigation, fines, and law suites are no fun.
8. Browser Compatibility – Not every browser is capable of playing every type of music file. Having background music on your website comes with the risk that some of your users may have older browsers that lock up when the music is attempting to upload or play.
Exceptions
There always exceptions to every rule. Here are a few cases when playing background music would be considered acceptable.
1. Musicians And Bands – If you’re a musician or in a band and are creating a website about your work, then it would only be reasonable to have some of your songs playing in the background.
2. Establishments And Events That Revolve Around Music – Dance clubs, bars, concerts, etc. Playing music might help set the mood of what to expect at your establishment or event.
3. Personal Websites – Personal websites are off the table. Express yourself freely with whatever song you like if this is what you wish to do.
If you feel its appropriate to play background music on your website, be sure to display PLAY, PAUSE, and VOLUME controls one your website in plain view so that people can have the option to turn it off or lower the volume. You might also consider not having any music play upon page load, but instead, offering the option for them to play it if they want to hear it.
Hostess Coaching is Non-Optional
To coach someone means simply: To train or tutor or to act as a trainer or tutor. Hostesses aren’t expected to be professional hostesses and know all these is to know about home parties (else she’d probably be a consultant!) Without coaching, you should plan on low attended show, low sales and low, if any, bookings. Many consultants who don’t coach don’t do so because they think they are ‘bothering’ their hostess.
Rather consider it more that you are cheating your hostess out of her benefits if you don’t properly coach.
Coaching doesn’t always work – some will let it go in one ear and out the other. But that doesn’t give you an excuse not to do it. Coach the same each time so you cover all your bases; don’t take short cuts. The better you become at it the easier it gets. If you think she doesn’t need a portion of the coaching, ask her to just humor you so that you can continue to give her uniform training.
One of the most important things to educate your hostesses on is that their guest list and its importance. This is the key to the success of their show. Remind her that often 30 invites can do out and only one person will show. It’s vital to invite many, many, many! Next on the list of importance is their follow thru with those who have not RSVP’d (and that will be a long list) or for those who can’t make it. She should ask every non-attending guest if she wants to order from the catalog.
The snacks are secondary. Whether it’s a bowl of chips or an impressive spread, the guests are coming for your product display. It should not be any work for her. Easier said than done, I know. Many hostesses fret over cleaning the house and having just the “right” food. If your hostess is wigging out, offer to bring her a batch of cookies and you’ll even push the vacuum for her. Really, she needs to relax about the house.
Generally it is not a good idea to hold her party open for days (or longer). All the order collecting should be done prior to the party. If there happens to be some people who RSVP’d that they come and then later did not show, she can always call for their orders the very next day. Remember each time you need to make another trip to the hostess it eats into your profit margin – in both time and gas. If you let your hostesses know in advance to get advance orders, they will usually do what you tell them to.
It is equally important that you remind your home party hostess what she is getting out of hosting the party and that getting every item of her wish list for free is your goal for the party.
Effective coaching increases attendance, sales and your paycheck!
Reverse Home Party
Overcoming objections often begins with offering a solution to the potential hostess before she makes the objection. Some of the most common reasons people give for not wanting to host a home party include: “I don’t want to clean my house, my pet would be in the way, and I don’t have enough space.”
Why not offer a Reverse Home Party? When talking to a potential hostess tell her that you’ll have the party at your house. You’ll do the cleaning, provide some chips and beverages and you have plenty of room for everyone. The hostess will still get all the benefits of hosting a party in her own home, without all the hassle.
It’s also win/win for the consultant in that you don’t have to lug your entire inventory and continually set up and tear down your display.
Give this approach a try to see if it doesn’t increase your bookings!
About the Author: Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan and a Superstar Director with Scentsy Wickless Candles. She enjoys helping others start and maintain a candle business. You can find Laurie at http://la.Scentsy.us or http://www.ThrivingCandleBusiness.com
Follow Me!