TSF on Booking a Party

Subject: HELP! I need to book a party!
Mary Ann writes: I've had a <> for three years and have yet to do a show. I have picked up lots of customers but they only seem to want to shop at my cash n carry room. I don't have a problem talking to people, I just don't know how to "close the sale." I need HELP!I hope you can. Thank you.

Dear Mary Ann,
Thanks for your question and WELCOME to The Success Factory free E-mail subscription service.

I have a couple of thoughts regarding your challenge of closing the sale and booking parties.
1) A `cash and carry' room is not always the best choice in terms of selling product when you are in a party plan business. It gives your customers a more `retail' feel to your business and defeats the whole purpose of party plan. As long as you make your products available in that fashion - your customers will be more than happy to purchase them in that manner and will, unfortunately miss the fun experience of earning your products at a discount or for FREE! Your email did share with us that you are also involved with a company that sells their products strictly in a direct sales `non party' way and that is probably part of your mental roadblock. So, with regards to your party plan business, you need to make a paradigm shift in your thinking.


2) When you say, `they only want to do the cash and carry thing' - I'm curious - what are you saying in regards to booking a party? Are you excited and enthusiastic or are you apologetic and hesitant? Are you as excited about them hosting as you are about them buying a single product from you? Do your best to listen to yourself the next time you ask someone to host and see what you think or better still - let someone else (your upline perhaps) listen in - maybe on a 3-way phone call?


Consider trading a party for a party to `warm yourself' into the idea of booking parties. Tell one of your friends who is in a party plan business that you'll do a show for her if she will return the favor. Sometimes enjoying the `fun' of hosting yourself helps you to be enthusiastic when asking others to host.


Be your own hostess. Invite those great `cash and carry' customers over all at the same time one evening for a party. Make it a `mystery hostess' night and draw one person's name to be the winner of the hostess products for the evening. Consider giving extra raffle chances to everyone who books her own party.


If you have a goal of booking 6 parties and then commit to asking every person at each of those parties to host - you will get the ball rolling. You should book 1-2 parties at each of your parties held and that keeps your cup full and helps you get in the groove of `closing the sale' for booking parties.


One last thing to consider - it takes about as much time to talk to a customer about booking a party as it does for them to purchase one product. But, when you book a party - you come home with 10-15x the commission (or more) as well as 8-10 new customers and potential leads for new parties and new consultants on your team. THIS is the most important reason that you want to be booking parties instead of doing the cash and carry thing.