Depending on what part of the country you live, summertime can bring all sorts of fun outdoor events. Take advantage of this time of year to meet new customers, clear old inventory and in general, gear your business up for the fall. Here are some quick ideas:
Sidewalk sales - If the retail establishments in your town conduct these, see if you can tag along!
Farmer's Markets -Many local Farmer's Markets allow vendors. Check with your local organizer.
Fairs/Festivals - County, state, balloon fests, eating extravaganzas and every food festival imaginable; you name it. It may not too late to be a part of these high traffic events, check it out with the organizers. You might even get a spot at a discount if booths are still available.
Garage Sales - Clean out the basement, garage and closets and participate in your neighborhood garage sale. Don't forget to have a separate table displaying your products with lead cards. Remember, this is a bargain shopper's paradise and what better bargain than to get your products discounted or FREE as a hostess?
Today's “best comeback” comes from one of our favorite ex-team members. When a customer flaunted the fact that she had purchased a product that our company sold new for $36.00 at a garage sale used for just $5.00, here was Sally's comeback (feel free to use it yourself). “Oh, that's a shame, I wish I'd known. I could have gotten you a brand new one for FREE as one of my hostesses!”
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Attraction Lifestyling
As many of you know I'm part of the Ladies Who Launch network and receive uplifting emails from them weekly which help me to focus on acheiving the dreams through "launching" Urban Botanic.
As a huge fan of The Secret movie, I was excited to see Brooke Emery's post on styling your life with the law of attraction.
Read here for more ideas on putting this law's power into your own daily life!
As a huge fan of The Secret movie, I was excited to see Brooke Emery's post on styling your life with the law of attraction.
Read here for more ideas on putting this law's power into your own daily life!
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Over Invite and Double Book - TSF
Talk about a vivid illustration as to WHY it is SO important for our hostesses to OVERINVITE AND why YOU should encourage last minute bookings.
This morning at 8am, I opened my email box to three messages. Two lunch invitations and a note from a friend arriving from CALIFORNIA TONIGHT to visit family and can we get together? Needless to say, I jumped at EVERYTHING. It has been too hard to get people pinned down this summer (myself included) and so, my day is shaping up in a very interesting way. Back-to-back lunches (yes, I just had a Diet Coke at lunch #2) topped off with a late evening visit and a glass of wine with a friend I've not seen in several years. It's a great day!
Summer is the one time of year when many people have the freedom to be super loose with their schedules - so, it is important to coach your hostesses accordingly. The chances that a party scheduled at the last minute will be a success are excellent! The ingredients are simple: Take ONE motivated hostess, add a LARGE guest list and top off liberally with some cool, sparkling summer beverages and VOILA you have an awesome PARTY. Keep it light, keep it simple and keep it fun. After all, that's what summer's all about, wouldn't you agree?
This morning at 8am, I opened my email box to three messages. Two lunch invitations and a note from a friend arriving from CALIFORNIA TONIGHT to visit family and can we get together? Needless to say, I jumped at EVERYTHING. It has been too hard to get people pinned down this summer (myself included) and so, my day is shaping up in a very interesting way. Back-to-back lunches (yes, I just had a Diet Coke at lunch #2) topped off with a late evening visit and a glass of wine with a friend I've not seen in several years. It's a great day!
Summer is the one time of year when many people have the freedom to be super loose with their schedules - so, it is important to coach your hostesses accordingly. The chances that a party scheduled at the last minute will be a success are excellent! The ingredients are simple: Take ONE motivated hostess, add a LARGE guest list and top off liberally with some cool, sparkling summer beverages and VOILA you have an awesome PARTY. Keep it light, keep it simple and keep it fun. After all, that's what summer's all about, wouldn't you agree?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
A Girls Gotta Spa Post
Your homework assignment today is to read the latest post from a favorite blogger of mine, Shannon Nelson from A Girls Gotta Spa!
I still think that partnering with Bloggers is the fastest way to grow your UB Website Hits and really get the word out there for little to no cost to you. For this blog I did offer up free samples to her readers, but for Fashionable Housewife (coming on board next) I did a signature lotion for her that I'm sending to her and that will cost me just the product and shipping for a ton of publicity!
Be creative and don't be afraid to approach bloggers locally and nationally!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
You've Got Mail - TSF
One of my all time favorite - can't watch it enough times movies is, You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
In our town, for years we have had a real life You've Got Mail scenario playing out. There is a small independent bookstore that has been in town forever and about seven years ago Barnes and Noble built one of there HUGE stores just around the corner. We all were pulling for the little guy - hoping against hope that it wouldn't fall prey to “the big bad superstore” - but secretly thinking that it wouldn't last.
So, here it is, seven years down the road and in our newspaper this week our little local bookstore was featured along with nine other independent bookstores in the area as one of the ten best! YAHOO for the little guys!
These stores were featured because they were deemed unique and attuned to the needs of the people in each of their particular locations. They also were lauded for great customer service and community involvement. In the case of the store in our area, they are involved in many area literacy programs, school fundraising sales and also sponsor many big name authors who come to our town on speaking engagements. In short, they do more than just unlock the doors every morning and wait for people to wander in.
Our tip for today is to encourage you to think creatively when it comes to your business. In the next few days we will talk about customer service (our decided edge in direct sales). However, are there other things that you can you with your business to get involved with your community? Here are some ideas to get you started:
**Don logo wear, have some fun with your team while getting fit and participate in the next walk/run for charity,
**Does your local PBS station do a telethon? Put on tee shirts and volunteer some time to take pledge calls.
**Offer to speak at a local woman's club, sorority alum club or MOPS group. **Depending on your product line, perhaps you can display product and business cards at the next house walk in your area.
You get the idea. The idea is to give back to the community and get some positive name recognition at the same time.
Have YOU done something creative to advertise your business within the community? Let us hear from you!
Shawna's Note: I know that a lot of you are great with networking in the community. Please post your comments with ideas for others!
In our town, for years we have had a real life You've Got Mail scenario playing out. There is a small independent bookstore that has been in town forever and about seven years ago Barnes and Noble built one of there HUGE stores just around the corner. We all were pulling for the little guy - hoping against hope that it wouldn't fall prey to “the big bad superstore” - but secretly thinking that it wouldn't last.
So, here it is, seven years down the road and in our newspaper this week our little local bookstore was featured along with nine other independent bookstores in the area as one of the ten best! YAHOO for the little guys!
These stores were featured because they were deemed unique and attuned to the needs of the people in each of their particular locations. They also were lauded for great customer service and community involvement. In the case of the store in our area, they are involved in many area literacy programs, school fundraising sales and also sponsor many big name authors who come to our town on speaking engagements. In short, they do more than just unlock the doors every morning and wait for people to wander in.
Our tip for today is to encourage you to think creatively when it comes to your business. In the next few days we will talk about customer service (our decided edge in direct sales). However, are there other things that you can you with your business to get involved with your community? Here are some ideas to get you started:
**Don logo wear, have some fun with your team while getting fit and participate in the next walk/run for charity,
**Does your local PBS station do a telethon? Put on tee shirts and volunteer some time to take pledge calls.
**Offer to speak at a local woman's club, sorority alum club or MOPS group. **Depending on your product line, perhaps you can display product and business cards at the next house walk in your area.
You get the idea. The idea is to give back to the community and get some positive name recognition at the same time.
Have YOU done something creative to advertise your business within the community? Let us hear from you!
Shawna's Note: I know that a lot of you are great with networking in the community. Please post your comments with ideas for others!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Updating your Urban Botanic Image!
At TSF we are BIG fans of HGTV (Home and Garden Television) at our house. It is a great place to get ideas for giving your home a little facelift or teaching you the `how-to's' of some projects that you might never consider doing yourself.
One show we've been interested in lately features everyday folk who decide that they want to flip a house. It follows them as they purchase a sad and sorry looking fixer-upper and set about the business of fixing it up in order to sell at hefty profit.
During the course of the `flip', an expert in the field, advises the burgeoning real estate tycoons on what they can do to minimize investment and maximize return.
If you ever get a chance to check it out, I would recommend it. It is an interesting show on many levels. Fix-up techniques aside - I find it fascinating to see coaching personality profiles in action. Episodes and ultimate profit vary depending on the personalities of the `flippers', market conditions and demographics.
But what does this have to do with the subject of today's tip, IMAGE?
I got to thinking about our home businesses. What can WE do to `flip' things that may need some fixing up so that our businesses have great `curb appeal' to someone from the outside looking in?
Why not use the following checklist for starters to see how your home business measures up?
One show we've been interested in lately features everyday folk who decide that they want to flip a house. It follows them as they purchase a sad and sorry looking fixer-upper and set about the business of fixing it up in order to sell at hefty profit.
During the course of the `flip', an expert in the field, advises the burgeoning real estate tycoons on what they can do to minimize investment and maximize return.
If you ever get a chance to check it out, I would recommend it. It is an interesting show on many levels. Fix-up techniques aside - I find it fascinating to see coaching personality profiles in action. Episodes and ultimate profit vary depending on the personalities of the `flippers', market conditions and demographics.
But what does this have to do with the subject of today's tip, IMAGE?
I got to thinking about our home businesses. What can WE do to `flip' things that may need some fixing up so that our businesses have great `curb appeal' to someone from the outside looking in?
Why not use the following checklist for starters to see how your home business measures up?
- Voice mail/Answering machine
Message should be short, energetic, professional and informative
If you share your family's answering machine - include the family information first.
Include your name, rank and company name
Consider a short `teaser' - what's on sale, what hostess or recruiting perks are happening. But SHORT is the operative word! - What are you carrying with you?
2-3 catalogs WITH customer information cards attached
Business Cards - In the car
i. Hostess/Recruiting packs
ii. Your calendar or date cards - Be a walking/driving advertisement
Window decal
Bumper sticker
Logo wear
Your NAMETAG (Realtors do this ALL the time!) - Spotlight your products constantly (this will vary depending on your product).
Use them
Give them as gifts
If you can, carrying a small amount of inventory is a great idea. - Take a look in the mirror and remember that YOU are your company
Hair
Clothes that are neat (not wrinkled or stained)
Some makeup (ok, no emails on this please - most of us can use a little help here).
Accessories - does your briefcase/tote bag need replacing? Has it been to too many parties?
You get the idea. I recommend that you enlist the help of a friend or peer who will be upfront and honest with you to help you properly assess your image. And BE COACHABLE! You'll be surprised at the difference some small changes can make!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
I SURVIVED 8 YEARS OLD!
Ok I'm seriously exhausted. New braces, laryngitis, a cold, and cold medicine including a birthday party for my son with 40 people in 85 degrees sweating to death and thanking the Lord for a tree with shade and a bday party that lasted 2 hours on the dot.
My son is fried and just laying on the couch chilling and looking around at his presents while watching Sponge Bob. (Which I find to be the most annoying and whiny cartoon EVER!)
Tomorrow is D-Day for Downtown Dog Lounge so I'll be dropping off 535 samples (I ran out of strawberry for the recipe so will fill the others later and drop those off in a few weeks) to get things started for them and I'm very excited to see what type of "buzz" this starts. I feel like the company wide guinea pig so hopefully I'll have WONDERFUL news to share with all of you on this investment in a couple of weeks. At the least I hope to do a nice amount of personal volume and up my RSV selling perfume spray and bubble bath to puppy owners in the Seattle area.
100 postcards left to do for the La Mode Fashion Show and those can ship and then 300 for the Crave Party due by 8/2 and I'm done for summer events! Woo Hoo! The best news of all - my house will start to look like a house and not a factory! I have boxes stocked to the ceiling and postcards everywhere, sample jars and perfume vials all over counters, kitchen tables, and the living room - it's NUTS! I love the activity and the excitment that planting all these seeds will bring in the fall and late summer. I've already had 2 party requests booked and I already mentioned the $200 in RSV from website orders so those are very exciting! A couple of them are even interested in becoming Fragrance Designers so this is REALLY exciting! I can feel the recruiting in the team picking back up again and I know we'll be at 40 by the end of August so that's exciting. If I could have 50 on the team by end of August that would be 50 team members in 1 year which would be amazing! It's all sinking in again and feeling wonderful! Now if I could just tap some of my sons energy I'd be good to go!
My son is fried and just laying on the couch chilling and looking around at his presents while watching Sponge Bob. (Which I find to be the most annoying and whiny cartoon EVER!)
Tomorrow is D-Day for Downtown Dog Lounge so I'll be dropping off 535 samples (I ran out of strawberry for the recipe so will fill the others later and drop those off in a few weeks) to get things started for them and I'm very excited to see what type of "buzz" this starts. I feel like the company wide guinea pig so hopefully I'll have WONDERFUL news to share with all of you on this investment in a couple of weeks. At the least I hope to do a nice amount of personal volume and up my RSV selling perfume spray and bubble bath to puppy owners in the Seattle area.
100 postcards left to do for the La Mode Fashion Show and those can ship and then 300 for the Crave Party due by 8/2 and I'm done for summer events! Woo Hoo! The best news of all - my house will start to look like a house and not a factory! I have boxes stocked to the ceiling and postcards everywhere, sample jars and perfume vials all over counters, kitchen tables, and the living room - it's NUTS! I love the activity and the excitment that planting all these seeds will bring in the fall and late summer. I've already had 2 party requests booked and I already mentioned the $200 in RSV from website orders so those are very exciting! A couple of them are even interested in becoming Fragrance Designers so this is REALLY exciting! I can feel the recruiting in the team picking back up again and I know we'll be at 40 by the end of August so that's exciting. If I could have 50 on the team by end of August that would be 50 team members in 1 year which would be amazing! It's all sinking in again and feeling wonderful! Now if I could just tap some of my sons energy I'd be good to go!
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