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!
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.
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.
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!
