The better you become at securing bookings from parties, the faster your business will grow and the easier it will be.
And suppose you don’t have wild dreams of becoming a hugely successful businesswoman, but you want your direct selling business to supplement your family’s income consistently. In that case, it’s super helpful to keep your business ticking over efficiently by securing new bookings at every party.
Why am I giving you so many ideas?
Different strategies work for different personality types. You don’t always know what will work for you (with your personality, company, and products). So keep trying out new ideas until you find a few techniques that work well for you. Then get really good at those!
Don’t stop once you’ve found one thing that works for you. For example, you want to mix it up so that guests who’ve seen you at one party won’t get bored with you. If you work through the same “script” every time, you’ll bore the pants of people who’ve seen you at multiple parties. Also, when you present the hosting opportunity in a new way, you may resonate with someone who didn’t respond before.
So that’s why I like to give you as many ideas to try as I can.
Bribery Basket
This method is a fun and exciting way to entice guests to book a party. I take a pretty basket with a good range of different products (wine, chocolates, candles, etc.). Anyone who books a party within the next few weeks can choose a product from the basket. This is one of my most popular booking enticements. Some of my regular hosts actually ask me to bring the basket to their party.
Deal or No Deal
This method is a great way to turn the subject of bookings into a game. I use two different versions:
- Put six pretty boxes on display. Three contain an instant gift, and 3 include a gift AND a party booking. So they have a 50% chance of getting a booking with their prize. Anyone who’d like to can pick a box and open it.
This game is a lot of fun, and I find that anyone willing to try their luck on an envelope or box usually goes ahead to book a party whether they “win” one or not.
The trick to making this game work well for you is to pay a lot of attention to the presentation. The prettier the boxes or envelopes are, the more guests want to open them.
Pay the Date
This strategy will front-load your month with plenty of parties. People who book a party can are offered a special price.
For example, you can offer them a special product at the price of the calendar date. So if they book on the 1st of the month, they pay $1. Booking on the 10th will cost them $10.
Many of my booking strategies or recruitment strategies use product incentives. The way I make this work for me is by using every opportunity at my disposal for free or cheap products.
Many direct sales companies offer opportunities to win products or get extra discounts on products. I use these opportunities to get some high-value items for Pay the Date, and I also get a range of low-to-medium value items for Deal or No Deal.
Keep your incentives in mind when you have an opportunity to get free or cheap products.
Have fun with these strategies. I’d love to hear which you have tried!
