How to capitalize on Easter for your direct sales business

Do you want to have an eggcelent Easter this year? (sorry, couldn’t resist a cheesy pun)

In this article I have 5 ideas for you to capitalize on Easter in your direct sales or party plan biz.

1. Booking Incentives

Create an Easter-themed booking incentive by adding some brightly colored Easter eggs with a product and/or a bottle of wine. Wrap this all up with a pretty ribbon and some cellophane. The trick to making booking incentives like this work for you is to make them look beautiful and enticing.

Offer these incentives to guests who book a party in April or in the week before Easter – whatever dates you want to highlight in your calendar. Adding some cute Easter eggs really adds to the visual appeal of your incentive and strengthens your seasonal theme.

Promote your Easter theme at parties and your social media.

2. Guessing Competition

This is a great little game that you can play in-home or online (or both).

Fill a jar with mini Easter eggs to create a guessing competition where people guess the number of eggs in the jar.

You can use this an icebreaker at your in-home parties by taking it along and putting it on your display. Also take a good photo of the jar and post it on your social media for an online competition in your customer group or on your business page.

You’ll need a prize for the winners and you can also give away the jar itself as a prize at your last in-home party (or online) before Easter.

3. Chocolate Games

How to make the most of Easter in your direct sales business. Read the 5 quick and easy tips!

Easter is a great opportunity to use a Chocolate theme in your parties. As you know I love themes – themes really help your parties to stand out and it will help you to get more bookings.

I have a fun chocolate game you can download here but I’ve also got a host coaching trick and chocolate game combination called “Chocolate Extravaganza” that you can read about here.

4. Facebook Tiles

If you’re running any Facebook parties in April, you’ll want to add some Easter-themed games to your parties. Also add some tiles to your business page and customer groups to add some seasonal fun and engagement.

Read this article on how to increase interaction and grab the free Easter-themed Facebook games.

5. Customer Love

Our aim with our direct sales businesses should be to be remarkable. And little things like having a bowl of Easter eggs at the ‘check-out’ at your parties makes you stand out.

I also like to pop in a few mini Easter eggs with my deliveries in the weeks leading up to Easter. Small thoughtful gestures like these make you remarkable!

Are you looking for more games to add to your stash? Check out the Ultimate Games Bundle for Direct Sellers. It comes with 26 done-for-you games for in-home and Facebook parties. Check it out now!

21 Days to Success in direct sales

Title: 21 Days to Success in your Direct Sales Business: Take the Challenge

Here’s a serious question: Are you ready to take consistent action every day? Are you ready to build good habits for direct sales success?

The habits you implement in your business are the difference between a thriving business and a stagnating one.

Are you even ready for success?

You’re still reading, so I’m guessing the answer to the above questions is YES!

I’ve created a 21-Day Challenge designed to help you move your business forward while you build habits for success.

The 21-Day Challenge aims to ‘talk’ to 3 people every day. And when I say ‘talk,’ I mean to have contact with. You can talk to people in person, over the phone, via text message, via Facebook, etc. It doesn’t matter how you speak to 3 people as long as you contact three people daily.

But don’t worry – you’re not alone in this Challenge. I’ll be there with you every day.

My Promise

I promise you this: if you can contact three people every day for 21 days, you will grow your business. Not only that, you will build those good habits that will help your business to thrive.

During the Challenge, I will contact you every day via email. I will help you with ideas on how to find people to talk to, provide pep talks and help you stay motivated, and help you with free printables and tips.

Your Promise

You might be thinking now, “But I can’t do this because….” Perhaps you’re an introvert, shy, busy, or you don’t know how to do it, or you only know seven people …. or whatever other reason you must hold yourself back.

But have you ever tried this for 21 days before? Why don’t you throw yourself into it and ‘have a go?’ as we like to say in Australia. Then at the end of the 21 days, you can decide whether you can do this.

When you start the Challenge, I want you to promise to put in effort every day and not give up.

Make the most of the next 21 days.

You can focus on getting bookings, sales, or sponsoring during the Challenge. Or perhaps a combination of those 3. It depends on your goals and what your business needs right now.

I recommend offering each person you contact three opportunities: to join your business, host a party or event, or become a priority customer and join your customer VIP group.

The secret to success with this Challenge is consistency. So if you genuinely want to make yourself consistent, you want to get a streak of 21 days. If you miss a day….go back to the start until you have had three contacts per day for 21 days straight. And once you reach the end of 21 days, your business will flourish!

Focus on the doing, not on the results.

Part of the power of this Challenge is that it allows you to concentrate on the numbers, on the doing. You can allow yourself not to focus too much on the results. You need to talk to 3 people daily, but you don’t need to get 3 ‘Yes’s’!

By focusing on the process, you can take some pressure off yourself and each conversation. All you need to focus on is having those conversations and having some fun with them – don’t worry about the outcome just yet.

Before getting started…

Before starting this Challenge, gather all your contacts:

past hosts
previous customers
friends
family
acquaintances
sponsoring leads that were on the fence before

Create a nice hefty list of contacts. And don’t worry if the list isn’t that long. We’ll also work on finding more people to contact during the Challenge. But it’s helpful to be ready with your contacts, so you have no excuses to procrastinate!

As you go through the Challenge, tracking your results is helpful. That way, you can see the work you’re doing, and you’ll also be able to see your conversion rate. Throughout the Challenge, you’ll see how many “No’s” you get for each “Yes.” And you’ll notice that getting several “No’s” is standard. When I went through a similar process, I would get excited to get those “No’s” out of the way to get to my “Yes”!

Let’s get started!

Are you ready to get started on your 21-Day Challenge? I want to invite you to sign up below – and if you’re smart, you start the Challenge with a team buddy so you can work together and cheer each other on!

Let’s build some great habits and get your business to the next level!

Get more referrals

Title: Are you ready to make referrals work in your direct sales biz?

Many consultants don’t view referrals as an important strategy in their business. But used consistently, referrals can be used to grow your bookings and your team with very little effort.

Referrals are a very powerful way to grow your business because people trust the recommendations of a friend more than from anyone else!

And when you encourage people to recommend your business, you’ll have a better chance that past party guests or hosts will actually mention you to a friend.

Sometimes just mentioning your referral incentive at a party will remind people of that one friend they know would love a party or your products.

Make referrals work in your direct sales business.

So, to make things easy for you I’ve created a few different referral vouchers that you can use in your direct sales or party plan business.

You can choose to focus on either bookings or recruits – depending on what your business needs. Or you can offer both options – it’s up to you!

How to make referrals work

Use your vouchers consistently, hand them out at every in-home event, post them in your Facebook parties, and have them on hand at your vendor events or markets.

Make a habit of publicly thanking people who refer others to you. People like to be acknowledged – especially if there’s a reward involved 🙂

Regularly post about your referral program on your social media to make sure everybody knows about it. Remind people that they can cash in the voucher for themselves if they host their own party or if they themselves join your team!

Grab the done-for-your referral vouchers below and drop us a line to share how you encourage referrals in your direct sales biz.

Festive Booking Ideas

The ‘silly season’ is rapidly coming closer! And as a direct seller you’ll want to make the most of this peak trade period.

You’ll want to party, party, party – so you need bookings, bookings, bookings.

Here are 5 festive and fun ideas to get those bookings now:

Crack a Cracker

Buy some cheap bon-bons or Christmas crackers. Create small pieces of paper and write the description of a prize on it (a product, a discount, free delivery, chocolate prize, etc.). Anyone who books a party with you, gets to ‘crack a cracker’ to see what their prize is.

It’s a festive way to incentivize bookings and gets people in the Christmas spirit already.

Advent Calendar

Buy an advent calendar with little drawers or pouches so that you can put little notes inside them.

Mark the dates on the calendar that you still have available (use a sticker or ribbon). When a party guest books a party they get to open the drawer or pouch to see what their prize is.

This strategy creates a sense of scarcity because there are only so many dates open for them to book a party in a very visible way. Also, you get to control which dates you want to be running parties or events.

I use the advent calendar for November and December party bookings!

Mini Christmas Tree and Baubles

You can take a mini Christmas tree to your parties from the start of November. Prepare a bunch of little baubles by writing an available party date on each of them with permanent marker. Put the baubles in the tree and make it part of your display.

Once a guest has booked a party, they find the corresponding bauble on the tree and trade it for a prize.

The Great Bauble Smash

Find some Christmas baubles that let you take the top off easily. Prepare a bunch of small pieces of paper with prizes written on them. Roll up the papers and put one in each bauble. Put the top back on and write your available party dates on the baubles with a permanent marker (one date per bauble).

Put the baubles in a pretty basket or box to display. When a guest books a party, they get to smash the bauble with their party date on it to find their prize.

I recommend using plastic baubles because the mess is a little easier to deal with. Also, bring a towel with you so you can put the bauble on the towel for them to smash and easily remove the mess.

12 Days of Christmas

Choose 12 prizes and wrap them as beautiful Christmas gifts. The more enticing they look, the better this will work. You use these gifts for your last 12 party dates before Christmas.

When a guest books a party with you at one of those dates, she gets to choose one of the gifts. You write her name on the gift tag but don’t give it to her yet. You present her with the gift at her party so that her guests get to see that she gets this beautiful gift for booking a party.

This incentive is not only very ‘Christmassy’ it also creates a genuine sense of scarcity because you only have the 12 gifts for the 12 last party dates before Christmas.

These are some of my favorites for the Christmas season. I’d love to hear how you encourage bookings at this time of year…leave a comment below!

Halloween Party Game

Themes are the best way to get (repeat) bookings because your events will always be different and never boring. (More on themes here.)

Halloween is a fabulous opportunity for a themed party. Here are some ideas:

For your display you can add some Halloween props.
You can also look at your product range, perhaps there certain products in your range that pair well with autumn or pumpkin, or black /orange and you can highlight those.
Buy some Halloween candy for little prizes for your games.
Play Halloween-themed games.

I usually go into ‘Halloween mode’ 2-3 weeks before Halloween and promote specific dates I have available for my annual Halloween events.

One of the things I love to do is to play Halloween games at my parties. And the Spooky Drawing Game is one of my faves because it always gets a good laugh.

Spooky Drawing Game

This game is a drawing game and guests play it with their eyes closed as they follow your instructions (download below).

The game can be played at in-home or Zoom parties.

All you need is a pen and paper for each guest and a prize for the winner (and perhaps the ‘loser’).

There is a points system so it’s easy to pick a winner.

To play, all you need to do is read the drawing instructions. Make it fun and don’t go too fast, they need a chance to draw but also don’t go too slow because that makes it boring and annoying.

At the end you ask guests to open their eyes and show their drawings. This is generally very funny and you’ll get lots of laughs. To score, you read out the points for each element of the drawing. Guests add up the points and a winner is then declared.

I’ve got the instructions and point system prepared for you, just download them below by filling in the form.

Are you looking for more games to add to your stash? Check out the Ultimate Games Bundle for Direct Sellers. It comes with 26 done-for-you games for in-home and Facebook parties. Grab it now!

Secrets of how to Maximize Holiday Trade

Title: 5 Little-known secrets to maximize holiday trade

The holiday season is coming and I’m doing a little happy dance here in my study….

Because the holiday season is the most lucrative time for most direct sellers. But…(yes, there’s always a but)…but you could miss out on a serious amount of $$$ if you’re not ready for it!

I’ve got 5 little-known secrets to maximize your peak trade this year. So let’s get started!

Plan Peak Trade Times

The more organized your calendar is for peak trade, the better.

Check your calendar and block out times when you are available for parties or events to keep them free. Next, cross out the times you have other engagements or commitments so you know exactly when you’re not available too.

Now here’s the secret:

Put careful thought in the times that you offer for parties, events or demonstrations. At this busy time of year you might want to maximize your business by having multiple parties on one day, especially on the weekends.

If you take a single party booking for the middle of the day, you would be hampering your efforts to maximize your peak trade. I found that offering 10am, 2pm and 7pm start times work great for me.

When you have multiple parties on one day, you will need to take travel times into consideration. Another thing to think about is food. When I have 3 parties on one day, I’ll take lunch with me so I can make sure I have a healthy lunch and I won’t be hungry during a party.

Power Shopping

Power shopping sessions are my second peak trade secret.

In the holiday season I block out a couple of days in my calendar for power shopping. On these days I offer 1 hour “Stop ‘n Shop” sessions. These are power hours where I go and set-up a display with a few best selling items and choice gifts and the hosts invite guests to just call in and do a little Christmas shopping.

This is not the usual party experience but more like a personalized retail experience. Guests can still get demonstrations and advice but it’s a quick in-and-out for shopping.

I’ve found these “Stop ‘n Shop” sessions are very popular in the holiday season as everybody feels rushed and busy. When I offer these sessions they’re always quickly booked out. I usually fit 5 in one day and I’m careful about travel times between locations (no more than 20 to 30 minutes). I offer sessions at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00 and 6:00.

At the end of such a day I’m exhausted, but it’s very lucrative and most definitely worth the extra hustle.

Early Customer Appreciation

Secret number three:

Host a customer appreciation event early in the season.

I run my customer appreciation event in September or October. By hosting the event early in the season you’ll be in first with your offerings and it gets your peak trade season set-up early.

5 Secrets to Maximize Your Holiday Trade as a Direct Seller (free printable).

I invite past hosts and top customers to the event. On the night I offer beautifully wrapped Christmas gifts to anyone who books a party or Stop ‘n Shop session. I create a Christmas atmosphere with Christmas music, festive treats, and Christmas decorations.

I make it a special evening for my fabulous hosts and great customers. It’s great for them because it’s a fun evening where they can make a head-start on Christmas shopping before the rush and it’s a great evening for me because I get some bookings and make some sales.

I also aim to be the very first Christmas card my customers receive for the season. I always buy my cards in advance, during the post-Christmas sales. That way I have cards ready in early October to post to my customers of the past year.

If you don’t have a stash of cards, start looking around now. You can usually find Christmas cards before Halloween but it might be a little harder.

Be Super Organized

If you plan to maximize your peak trade, you’ll be very busy during the ‘silly season’. I have found that the best way to manage the workload and minimize stress is to be super organized.

This is secret number four:

Even if you think you’re already pretty organized, you’ll want to take it to the next level!

Here are some of the things you’ll want to get done now:

Order: extra forms, stationery, bags, etc.
Prepare: extra host packs, recruiting packs, etc. in advance

Prepare anything you can in advance and make sure you have enough of everything. Bribe your kids or a teen in your neighborhood to help you. It’s a real nightmare if you run out of these items during the busy season so make sure that doesn’t happen.

Another thing you can prepare in advance are meals for your super busy days. Closer to the season schedule in some cooking days. Prep a bunch of meals and freeze them. You’ll be so happy that you did!

Involve the Family

If you have a partner or children, it’s vital that you involve them so they don’t resent all those times you have to run off to a party or event.

This is my last peak trade secret:

Set a family goal that your business will pay for. For example a holiday, a special outing, a new television or game console.

Have a family discussion about it and set a goal.

My family uses a printable rocket ship with bars that we can color in so show the progress towards our goal. The kids love coloring in the next bar after a party and even ask me when my next party is! It’s a great way to get them involved and show them how setting a goal and working hard towards it will pay off in the end.

I’ve created a rocket ship printable for you too! Just scroll down to download it. The value of each bar can be set by you and depends on your goal and your average party size. I like to set the bars so that the kids can color in a bar after each party.

Are you ready for peak season?

To get ready and have a massively profitable peak trade, you only need to do 2 things: Get exited and get organized.

In this blog post I gave you 5 secrets on how to organize your holiday season partying and maximize your bookings and sales.

The other part, getting excited, is all up to YOU.

Key Takeaways

Plan your available party times so you don’t prevent yourself from having multiple parties in one day.
Schedule “Stop ‘n Shop” days where hosts have a 1-hour ‘Stop ‘n Shop’ or ‘Powerhour’ sessions.
Host your customer appreciation party early, in September or October. Also send you Christmas cards early.
Prepare for the ‘silly season’ by ordering extra stationery and preparing all your host and recruiting packs. Also prep some meals in advance for those insanely busy days.
Involve the family. Set a family goal and show your progress along the way so the kids won’t resent you being away so much.

7 Ways to Turbo Charge Your Direct Sales Business

Is your direct sales business in a bit of a slump? Is your account about to be closed? Or perhaps you’re restarting after a pause? Or maybe you’re going for a big hairy goal?

Then you’ve come to the right place: I’ve got 7 ways to boost your party plan biz without posting desperate pleas on Facebook (“Please order something from me before my account gets closed…”) and without annoying family and friends (“Mum….can you host another party for me….please…“).

Of course you could also use these ideas to level up your thriving business and expand into new circles, pick up some more orders, and generally turbo-charge your direct selling business.

I recommend you use several of these ideas at the same time because not all these ideas will work for all of you. It’s a bit like fishing, you’ll have to try different baits and lures and see what you’ll catch in your local pond.

7 ideas to turbo-charge your direct sales business without annoying your friends and family

1.) Market, Fete, or Event
Check what’s happening in your local area. Are there any markets or fetes you can book a site at to promote your business? This can be a great way to spread the word about what you offer and pick up new bookings.

2.) Letterbox Drops
Do a letter box drop in your local area. Create a special promotion for party bookings or orders and staple a bright flyer to your catalog. When you’re planning your letterbox drop, consider the ‘rule’ that it’s better to target the same house three times than to deliver as many catalogs as you can because people need to see something more than once before they take action.

For example, if you can afford 60 catalogs or flyers, deliver them to the same 20 houses over a ten day period rather than to 60 houses. Apparently, the first time creates awareness, the second time people see your flyer they might have an intention to act but the third time they see it they’ll act. I’ve definitely achieved better results following this method but overall my results from letterbox drops have been mixed. Sometimes it’s worked well and other times I had no phone calls at all.

3.) Posters
In most neighborhoods you can find some place to put up a poster to advertise your business. I use posters with tear-off tabs with my contact details. Put at least 5 posters in different locations such as your local library, university, café, laundromat, supermarket, lunch rooms at large offices, community notice boards, etc. Don’t forget to check back and replace posters if needed. This is a great low-effort method.

4.) Party Swap
Arrange a party swap with a consultant or distributor from another party plan. This of course means you’ll be hosting a party for another company and they’ll be hosting a party for you. It’s a fun way to get a booking as you’ll have an evening of fun with your friends and you’ll have a chance to watch another consultant at work and see if you can pick up some ideas from them.

Consultants make great party hosts because they understand how it all works and how to make it fun and successful. They are often eager to help a sister out too!

5.) Neighborhood Catch Up/Get to Know You
Host your own party at your house for your neighbors. If you don’t know your neighbors that well, you can make it a ‘get to know you’ party or if you’re more familiar with them it can be a ‘catch up’ party. Make it fun, casual with plenty of time to chat.

6.) Email Newsletter
Start gathering customer email addresses to send them updates. You can let them know about sales and special offers, new catalogs, new party themes, and new products.

You can use a free email service like Mailchimp to create beautiful emails and you’ll also be able to see who opens their emails and who doesn’t. It might be a small percentage of people that take action from the emails, but as your list grows you’ll pick up some orders, bookings, and maybe even new team members. Remember, don’t send emails without permission, you don’t want to be a spammer.

7.) Business Box
If you have some spare products or testers that are just gathering dust at home, put them together in a nice box or basket and drop it at a business in your local area. Make sure to include some catalogs, order forms, and host offers for parties. It’s a good idea to have a special gift or incentive to bribe someone to be ‘in charge’ of the box at the business (eg. the receptionist). Leave the box at the business for a few days and then retrieve your box or basket and any orders.

What would you add to this list? Have you been in a bit of a slump or on pause and had to restart? What did you do?

Bonus Idea: Train Your Brain for Success

Positive Prime is an amazing app with new technology based on the latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology. The app is a bit like Netflix for your brain meets a vision board on steroids! If you want to turbo-charge your motivation, creativity and drive, then check out Positive Prime to help you do that. You can read more about it here.

2 Tips for Your Launch

Have you started your direct sales journey? Or are you resuming your journey after a break?

I’ve got 2 tips for you on (re-) launching your business and common mistakes that you want to avoid.

And if you’re a leader, you might consider teaching this strategies to your newbies, just like I do.

The first tip relates to how to promote your new adventure (and how not to do it) and the second tip is about how you get your very first parties filled.

DO: Shout it from the rooftops!
You’ll want to announce your new business online. You’ll want a business Facebook page, Instagram account, Twitter account…whichever social media is ‘home’ for you.

But your new business account is pretty empty when you first start out. So, start with announcing your new adventure on your personal social media profiles.

A really great way to grab people’s attention and show your enthusiasm for your new business is by doing a Facebook /Instagram Live of unboxing your starter kit. It won’t take long and isn’t difficult, but it’s a very effective way to show how excited you are and what kind of products you’ll be selling.

You can then follow up with a link to your business page, of course!

DON’T: Spam your friends
A common mistake is that new consultants announce in a text status update that they’ve joined a direct sales business. Boring. Then they’ll add something like “contact me if you want to book a party”. That’s not very interesting, enthusiastic, or personal. It also just doesn’t work.

To make matters worse, they’ll then spam their personal feed with endless product photos. And they wonder why nobody is buying or booking except their Mum (bless Mum!)

Avoid this pitfall by reading this article on how to market online without being spammy, and then grab this free list of 50 social media post ideas. For bonus points, set-up an exclusive group for customers so you can start your social media marketing properly.

Launching your direct selling business? Here's how to announce it properly and how to get those first parties. #DirectSales #PartyPlan

DO: Set party dates for two personal parties
Set two dates within 3 days of each other (for example a Thursday night and a Saturday afternoon in the same week). By hosting your own two parties, you can take advantage of any host rewards and expand your kit quickly. It will also help you to achieve any starter incentives, if your company offers any.

How you approach the invitation can make a huge difference in the start of your business.

Here’s the secret: your number one aim when talking to family and friends is to get hosts. Filling your own two parties is secondary.

This is how you approach it:

Ask for help. Tell them how excited you are about your new business but that you really need their help to get the business started.

Tell them you’re looking for 2 parties in the next few weeks. (If you can secure more than 2 bookings from your friends and family, that’s fantastic but aim for at least 2).

Try to get your bookings within the first three to four weeks so you can build momentum and confidence quickly.

Anybody who isn’t interested in hosting their own party can be invited to one of your two parties. This is why you have your dates set already: you want this to be a smooth conversation where you ask them to host a party for you but you have a backup option where they can help you by being a guest at one of your parties. And you have 2 dates so that they’re more likely to be able to attend one of them!

Now, if they can’t host a party or attend your party as a guest, ask them if you can send them a catalog.

DON’T Start with the catalog option
Many new consultants are a bit nervous at first and make the mistake of starting the conversation by offering their catalog and then try to “upsell” to hosting a party.

But it’s much more effective to start with the biggest ask of hosting a party for you, then you can “downgrade” to the guest option and finally the catalog option.

Most people will want to help you and they don’t like saying “no” to you. They’re bound to say “yes” to at least one of your offers! But if you’ve already offered them the easy option of the catalog and they said “yes” to that, they won’t feel they need to say “yes” to anything else you’re offering them!

There are many more tips and ideas for new consultants that I could share, but I don’t want to overwhelm you.

If you implement the two tips above (and avoid the pitfalls) you’ll make a great start of it. Then continue to learn and grow!

If you want to continue reading today, I recommend these 3 articles:

Get bookings from parties

Once you have been booked for a direct sales party, how do you keep the ball rolling? How do you get new party bookings from that party? And then from those parties?

Learning how to consistently get bookings from your parties will keep your business moving forward.

Early in my own direct selling career I decided I had to become very good at getting bookings from parties. The reason for this decision is actually a confession: I found it quite hard to get bookings in other ways!

By becoming really good at getting bookings from parties, I avoided having to make phone calls, which I found nerve wracking. Although I have long overcome those nerves, the skill to secure bookings from a party is super helpful.

So here are 4 tips to keep your diary full by getting more bookings at direct sales parties or events.

Booking Box / Rewards Display
Try to always create an attractive display of host rewards. I create a display with product rewards most of my hosts achieve at an average party. I put these products in a beautiful box and display it as an attractive gift.

Not only is it very enticing for people considering booking their own party, it also helps me when I forget to talk about host rewards. Someone in the party would inevitably ask about the beautiful gift box on display…

In fact, you can use that as a bit of a strategy. I don’t mention host rewards but at some point I ask the guests: “Who’s wondering about that box…” and then explain what’s in the box and how they can get this box for themselves.

Another variation is to add a sign to your beautiful display with something like “Get Me For Free” or “Save 30% On All This” depending on the type of rewards your company offers.

Party Bags
This is an idea I adapted from a tip in Mary Christensen’s book Be a Party Plan Superstar. I take 3 bright and pretty gift bags and matching colored tissue paper. In the bag I put my host pack (catalogs, invites, order forms, etc. ) as well as a little prize (usually a small product and/or samples) and a chocolate. I put the tissue paper on top so it peeps out and looks enticing.

During the party I will mention a few times that the person who books their own party with me will get to take their very own party bag home as a gift. I regularly have people jump up to grab a bag they’ve had their eye on because they look intriguing and enticing.

Sometimes I put little notes on the front of a bag with “Free Shopping Spree” or “More Fun” or “Pick Me“.

It’s not unusual that all 3 bags are taken during a party!

Star Dates
This is a strategy to help you not only secure extra bookings but also make sure the bookings are in your diary where you want them. I want bookings within 3 weeks to keep momentum in my business and to reduce cancellations.

Side note: if you book too far in advance, the hosts lose excitement and are more likely to cancel their booking with you. If the booking is in the near future, the host remains excited and likely to take action to organize their own party quickly, rather than forgetting about it.

To create Star Dates, print off a calendar for the month. Put star stickers on the dates you are seeking bookings. Try to have a variety of dates and days of the week for hosts to choose from. If someone books on a Star Date, they get a little gift.

I use very simple gifts but make them look very enticing. You can wrap up an inexpensive product with a small bottle of wine, chocolate or something like that. Use some cellophane and pretty ribbons to make it look attractive. I usually have 5 or 6 different gifts to choose from so there’s always something that appeals to potential hosts.

Wish Lists
At the start of your party, offer every guest a wish list and a catalog. I encourage them to write down the products they like and are considering purchasing as we go through the demonstration. At the end of the party when they put in their actual order, it gives me an opportunity to suggest that people with long wish lists host their own party to qualify for host rewards. I explain that hosting their own party is a great way to get free or discounted products.

These are 4 of my strategies. They work well for me and can work well for you too. As with every tip, you have to make it suit your company, your personal style and the event. Which one will you try at your next party?