The Home Party

The Home Party
Let me ask you something, if there was a way you could increase your sales by an extra $700 each campaign, gain an extra 4-6 new repeat customers and 1 new team member each campaign, would that be something you’d be interested in? What if I told you that you could do all this in just about 3 hours per week?
That is the power of the home party. Since you’re having the party in the home of one of your customers, your cost is limited to what you choose to offer her in hostess rewards (which will of course be based on her party sales). This makes home parties a very cost-effective way to do business.
The average Avon party yields around $350 in sales (based on my personal experience and the experiences of my team). Adding just 1 party per week to your schedule could earn you additional $100 per week to your bottom line (based on a $350 average). So why not offer home parties?
Some Tips:
Offer Hostess Specials.You are going to want to plan out what you are going to offer your hostess in terms of this free and deeply discounted product we speak of. Pictured is a copy of the hostess plan that I use. I print these 4 up on a page and cut in quarters and pass them out at events, and place them in customer’s orders. Make sure you actually talk to your customer about it however, not just stick it in their order to never be spoken about.
Essentially I offer 20% back in free product and 20% off anything over that in free product. Fixed earnings items count for 10%. To sweeten the deal they also get to order up to 3 items from the What’s New book at my price. The 20% in free product actually costs you less then that since you’re buying it at 40% or more off, so you’re still making a nice profit.
Finding Hostesses
Of course you will need to find hostesses. Let’s go back to last week’s scenario, someone at your holiday open house has told you that she will not be able to purchase all the items she would like because she just doesn’t have enough money. You ask her if she would be interested in getting them for free. She could say no, and that’s really not so bad, you’re still really happy she came and is your valued customer. She could have some specific concerns that you could discuss further with her. If she’s worried that she will does not know enough people to invite, you could reassure her that you will help her come up with a good guest list. After all, she probably knows way more people than she realized, most people do. How about her F.R.A.N.K. (Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances, Neighbors and people she know through her Kids), Have her browse her cell phone address book or her facebook friend list for people she may not have thought of. And remember, they don’t have to be her best friends; in fact a home party is a great way to break the ice with people you want to get to know better.
If her house is too small, or she has dogs or doesn’t want to clean it, you can always suggest finding a public venue where she can hostess her party. Many local coffee shops, churches and community centers will let you have events there for free.
Whatever you do, do not let a no get in your way of finding that first yes! I probably asked about 50 people to hostess parties for me before I finally got someone who said yes. It’s partially a numbers game and partially based on your skills. If you get as many nos as I did, you also got a lot of practice and it will only be easier from there on out.
Conduct Your Party
Your party will be conducted very similarly to your Holiday Open House. You will want to offer a door prize (the information collected on the entry form is especially valuable here).You’ll want to take some time to meet and greet the guests. You will want to share a short presentation. Demonstrate products.
Lately I’ve been in love with the Avon Spa Night. At an Avon Spa night we all get together to pamper ourselves with Footworks and Nailwear products. I bought some dish pans at the Dollar General for about $1 each and I have the guests all sit and soak their feel with the Footworks Lavender Foot Soak. Then I pass around the foot mask, the moisturizing foot cream, followed by nail files and buffers and my Nailwear collection of nail polish in a variety of shades. I like to give the guests little pedicure tips as we go and encourage them to share any tips they know. It’s a great way to get everyone involved. Then we do our finger nails. I use disinfect-able salon quality nail files and buffers (from Sally Beauty Supply) and wipe them down with rubbing alcohol to keep them sanitary. I also rinse out the foot tubs between parties with a bleach solution. A small 1 time investment gets me a lot of use.
At the close of the party you will want to thank everyone for coming and let them know you will stick around for a little bit to get everyone’s orders. Set up with your calculator, receipt books and cash box (you may need change) and talk with each customer about her order. Please do have them pay when they place their order. This will save you gobs of time later on. When they pay up front you can then bring all the orders to their hostess to deliver. It may sound like a good idea now to deliver them all yourself, but it absolutely will not when your order arrives and you have orders from 2 or more parties to deliver. The point of group selling is to save you time, not make more work for yourself. If by chance a guest orders something that is backordered, call her and ask if she wants to wait or cancel the item. If she chooses to cancel, place her refund in cash, in an envelope inside her order for her. If she chooses to wait, let her know you will deliver it to her hostess as soon as it comes in.
After the Party
I like to send a handwritten thank you cards through the US Postal Service following the party. Be sure to let her know how much you appreciate her business.
Be sure to send one to your hostess as well.
Be sure to follow up with those guests who booked their own party with you too!
For more on home parties, most of what I know I learned from Julie Anne Jones, please visit her blog at http://julieannejones.com/category/all