booking tips
Booking Idea: Host a RESTAURANT Party!
Have you ever done a RESTAURANT Party??
This is so much fun and so easy to do!
I recently went to one held by another direct sales company (at an Applebees Restaurant) and was SHOCKED at how well it was going for her!
I am a people-person, so I started conversations with the other guests there and they were talking about what a great idea this restaurant party was because there was no “sales pitch” and they could come and go as they pleased, and could eat dinner or get drinks if they wanted to! How awesome is that??
This consultant basically had 2 parties going on at the same time, with 2 different hostesses.
She didn’t even have it in a back room or anything, her party was at 4 tables near the back of the restaurant, but still in the dining room. One table in the middle had a simple product display. So what do the hostesses love about it? Well, you know me, I totally asked them! They said they loved being able to host it somewhere NOT at their home, where they didn’t have to clean or cook, or kick out the hubby and kids for the night! It more like a Girls Night Out where people stop by during a 2-3 hour time frame. This restaurant offered 1/2 price appetizers during a certain time period, so the hostesses each ordered a few for their individual tables. When the guests came in they sat down for a bit with their hostess, had some appetizers, maybe got themselves a drink, checked out the product display, grabbed a catalog, asked questions, placed product orders and left (or hung out)! Fast and simple! In fact, it turns out that most of them were actually on their way home from work, so they just stopped by on their way.
Top 5 reasons to host parties at a restaurant:
1. Free or cheap venue (especially if you hold it in the regular dining room)
2. Open house style, people come and go as they please!
3. Food — potential 1/2 price appetizers, drinks and hostess can buy or guests can buy themselves
4. Super easy for the hostess — no cooking, cleaning or kicking out family
5. Perfect “girls night” feel
This is a great out-of-the-box booking idea, something different.
What have you go to lose? Choose your favorite restaurant, I am thinking a local Mexican place margarita specials is gonna be my go-to place! Who wouldn’t want to come to that?? 😉 Why not start by just hosting your own party at the restaurant? In fact, maybe you book one every month during the first week of the month to share new products, specials, etc and invite your entire customer group and friend/acquaintance circle to your local Girls Night Out event.
Don’t forget to join DIRECTLY SOCIAL on Facebook for more tips and tricks!
Melissa Fietsam @DirectlySocial
Power Hours for your Direct Sales Business
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So many people sign up for Direct Sales with the assumption that they won’t really have to work.
If you’re in this for a hobby, that is an absolute truth: you really don’t have to work at it.
If you’re in this to make an income or achieve a financial goal: you couldn’t be farther from the truth.
You can’t expect to make a substantial difference in your finances if you’re not willing to put in the work to get it.
Using Power Hours can help you run your business in 20 minutes a day.
If you’re not willing to work 20 focused minutes a week, in certain areas of your business, then quite frankly-you don’t DESERVE that paycheck you’re complaining about NOT GETTING!
People ask me ALL THE TIME…how do you do it. I’m sorry to inform you, there is no secret. It’s hard work. That’s it.
Tried and true, get up and get to work every single day. The RENT IS DUE EVERY SINGLE DAY. You want to make money in this business, PUT IN THE WORK. People seem to want the benefits without the commitment. You can’t have one or the other. You get exactly what you put into this business. Plain and simple. I don’t do magic tricks. I don’t do anything YOU can’t do. I don’t skate by on my good looks and charm, trust me, I live 90% of my life covered in babies bodily fluids and food. You just have to get to work.
WHEN YOU WANT SUCCESS AS BAD AS YOU WANT TO BREATHE, YOU’LL BE AS SUCCESSFUL AS YOU WANT TO BE.
Take 20 minutes a day. Dedicate 20 minutes to ONE of 5 focused tasks per day.
- Booking
- Customer Service
- Recruiting
- Marketing
- Hostess Coaching
Monday Booking:
Spend 20 minutes working on booking parties. Whether these are Facebook parties or home shows, you still have to ASK. Spend this 20 minutes:
~personally reaching out to people
~creating a game or graphic to book
~do a FB live talking about the hostess special
~contact PAST hostesses from the previous years
~make hostess packets and post a picture on social media-and make them COOL so everyone wants one!
There’s a million things you could do.
Tuesday Customer Service:
Spend 20 minutes creating a buzz.
~send a thank you email to anyone who has ordered in the last week
~contact each person who ordered the previous month and make sure they’re happy with their product (and have you seen the new specials?)
~contact anyone who has open orders and make sure they knew about the customer specials if they didn’t order one
~go comment on all your open parties and start some conversations with the guests
~scroll through Facebook and actually interact with your customers on THEIR pages
Wednesday Recruiting:
~touch base with all your new consultants within the last 3 months
~reach out to any potential consultants
~don’t have any potential consultants? create an opportunity event and GET ONE!
~put some pins on Pinterest about joining
~create a youtube video or FB live about joining…then share into all your FB parties!
Thursday Marketing:
This is all social media to me. Sharing my love of my product on all the different social media sites. And because I love it, this isn’t even work. This is my play time!
~schedule some tweets in Cinchshare
~pin some things from your Cinchshare history onto Pinterest
~schedule some Instagram posts onto Twitter/FB business page
~go post your social media links in all your parties
~create a contest on a social media channel and direct all your customers to it
~create a newsletter to email your customers
Friday Hostess Coaching:
Spend 20 minutes contacting every hostess.
~ask them if they need any extra order forms or catalogs
~tell them what their total is for online orders so far
~give them a task to do that day: post this, tag 3 friends on some posts in your party, or text this to 3 people today
~tell them how much farther they are from the next level and TELL THEM HOW TO GET THERE!
This is just a small breakdown of a HUGE list you should already have! 20 minutes a day. If I can do it, YOU can do it!
Melissa Fietsam
5 Ways to Book a Party for Your Thirty-One Business
I recently did a training on booking for my team. Here is a list of ideas on “Booking 101”. These are the fundamental ideas to keep you going with a solid booked calendar for your direct sales business. Check this out below:
There are 5 main ways to keep a full booking calendar:
- Booking through new customers
- Booking through past customers
- Booking past hostesses
- Booking at the party
- Customer Page/Facebook
Check out the video above as I go into detail on all 5 ways to book a party.
Handing out mini catalogs:
Everybody always asks me…WHAT DO YOU SAY….when you hand out mini catalogs??
“I just don’t know what to say”
Ready for it??? This is monumental…this is going to be a turning point in your career….pay very close attention…..you ready for it????……………..”Do you mind if I leave this with you?”
-she’ll say……. “Sure, what is it?”
-and you’ll say…. “I help people organize their lives. And this is our mini catalog. And if you fill out the form on the front and text me the picture of it, I’ll send you a free gift!”
A great way to remind yourself to do this is to put a post it note on the front of each mini catalog
All you need to make your own is…………
-a mini catalog
-catalog label
**that was tough, right? It’s not hard. You simply have to get over the fear of talking to strangers.
#1 Where do you put the mini catalogs?
IN YOUR PURSE!!
IN YOUR CD VISOR
IN YOUR FRONT SEAT
**every Sunday….make up 25 mini’s….and put half of them in your purse and half of them in your CAR! Your job each week is to hand out 25 mini catalogs a week to complete strangers…
Who do you leave them with??
*** EVERYONE!!!! When you go into the……
-grocery store, give it to the cashier
-bank, send it in the tube
-gas station, give it to the clerk
-library, give it to the lady checking you out
-walmart, give it to the cashier
-doctor, leave some for the staff
-dollar store, give to the cashier
-WORK…leave in the BATHROOMS, breakrooms…
-servers….attach your bill to the mini catalog
ANYONE you come into contact with. And when you get really good at this…you not only go into the dollar store you intended to, but you go into the store NEXT DOOR! Why not? You’re already THERE!
AND WHAT DO WE SAY WHEN WE HAND THEM OUT????? “Do you mind if I leave this with you???”
Now one more thing that’s fun to do……
You CAN get some kiddy looking goody bags and a sticker book, mini notepads, and a pack of 64 crayons at your dollar store. Put some stickers, two sheets of paper folded over, 2 crayons, and a mini catalog packet. Hand them to rowdy kids in stores-the moms will love you 🙂
Melissa Fietsam, Ind. Senior Executive Director at Thirty-One Gifts
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