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!
