Chapter 7
In This Chapter
Maintaining your calendar, hours, and schedule
Securing and dating bookings
Overcoming common objections
More tips on getting bookings and more business
In today’s direct selling world, there are many ways in which you can conduct your business. The most efficient and strongest way is through live presentations or parties. These are most often held by hosts in their homes. However, getting bookings for shows in offices and cafés and a variety of other locations is popular now, too.
Okay, maybe your business won’t die, but it certainly won’t be living up to its full potential. One of the most important goals of a direct sales or Network Marketing representative is to see the people. You want to try to get your product and business in front of as many people as you possibly can. And the way you do this, of course, is through scheduling home parties, online parties, and one-on-one appointments. (I always equate three one-on-ones to equal one home party.)
By booking a party (or show, demo, tasting, jewelry bar, Facebook party, and so on), you are able to see lots of people in one setting. You present your product and show them how fun and easy your job is. Online parties are great because you can connect to potentially a lot more people at one time, especially with people who don’t live in your local area (see Chapter 11 for more on online parties). Being able to connect with people face-to-face is an important aspect of direct sales — if you do it right, people will buy in to your personality just as much as your product. Home parties and appointments are also important because your guests get to experience the product first-hand.
This chapter takes you through the importance of bookings, controlling your calendar, ways to get bookings, how to overcome objections, and other odds and ends.
If you hit your booking goals (see Chapter 5 for more on goals), you will have the income you want. It’s as simple as that. And I’m guessing you went into business to make money (at least it was one of the reasons), so what could be more important than striving for your goals?
Collecting orders through friends, coworkers, and social media contacts is a great way to top off your monthly orders and get you closer to your monthly sales goal. But bookings, whether accomplished online or in-person, are a sure way to generate the income you want and desire.
Just why are bookings so important? Well, bookings give you the opportunity to do all of the following:
You get to kill four birds with one stone. How important (and awesome) is that?
Decide when your business is open. Will you work weekends? Weeknights? It is completely up to you. One of the amazing benefits of direct sales is the ability to create your own schedule and work your business around your existing priorities. Be intentional. Make a clear-cut decision on when you are open for business and then lead clients towards those dates.
Managing your calendar is one of the most important factors to your continued success. It all begins with scheduling your first six parties (online or home party) within a 30-day period of time. (See the section “Practice, practice, practice” for more on why six parties is the magic number.)
When you’re starting your business, getting those six parties scheduled within a three-week period (21 days) is even better! The first one or two could be your launch party (see Chapter 8 for much more on launch parties). You want to create momentum and build a firm foundation for your new business. When you start with just one or two parties, most people never really get going and their business continues to limp along.
First things first. Decide how many parties a week you want to hold. If you only want to hold one party a week, open your calendar and clearly mark the day or night you want to work. If you want to hold two parties each week, decide which two days or evenings you want and then mark those dates in your calendar. For three parties, mark three days, and so on.
Always try to book within the next four weeks (or sooner if your party is online), unless your calendar is already full. When you book too far ahead, people have a tendency to cancel or they lose their excitement for the party. Keep in mind that people book parties because they had a fun experience. They are excited about the products and enthusiastic about offering them to their friends, and they have the drive and desire to get free and discounted products for themselves.
When you book too far out, the host’s excitement begins to wane, and the host may lose the desire to have the party. The booking may not hold, and then you’ll have to scramble to fill the hole in your calendar left by that cancelled party. And of course, parties are often cancelled at the last minute.
So it’s really important to keep your bookings within a four-week timeframe to capitalize on your host’s excitement and build momentum for your business.
If your goal is to hold two parties every week, challenge yourself to make your night “equal two.” That way, you’ll never feel overwhelmed.
To offer dates, you need to know them, of course. Make it a habit each day to look at your calendar. Mentally, you should always be moving towards a target and know your next available dates. Always know where you stand, how many bookings you need within the next four weeks, and your available dates. If you know your next available dates at all times, you’re more likely to be able to offer a date, without hesitation, and get someone to date on the spot while you’re out and about. Be intentional! Random acts get random results. If you act with intention, you will get your desired results.
Whether you are a new representative or someone who has been doing the business for a long time, it is never too late to start over and take control of your calendar and bookings. This section dives a little deeper into bookings and schedules.
As I’ve mentioned, your first objective in starting your new business (or re-launching your business) is to book six parties (home or online) in a 30-day period. I call this jump-starting your business.
Another way to jump-start is to book three parties in a row. That can bring big benefits: The average representative who does three parties back-to-back generates seven new bookings to schedule in their calendar. That creates momentum, builds confidence, and makes instant money. Plus your enthusiasm grows and you feel great about your business. As a bonus, you’ll be able to reference the previous party at your new party by saying something like this:
Being able to say something like that implies a few things:
You may say, “Well, I came into this business to do only one party a week,” or, “I came into this to do it part-time.” That’s fine. It is your own business, after all. But to really establish yourself in the very beginning, it is very important that you hold six parties in a three-to-four-week period. The closer you can make that time frame, the better off you will be. There is no substitute for getting off to a strong start.
The only way to get really good in this business is to practice — whether online, in person, or in one-on-ones. The more bookings you hold, the better you get, and the more comfortable you become. You can build mastery quickly, but it involves repetition. Usually, out of your first six parties, a couple of them are fantastic, a couple don’t work out so well, and a couple are just average. Once you get through those first six parties, you’ll be able to look back and honestly evaluate the entire experience.
The more targets you aim at, the more you hit. In the early days of direct sales, when I was in the field, it was mandatory to have six scheduled parties in a two-week time frame in order to receive your kit. At that time, the average representative held eight parties a month. Many years later, it was a requirement on most contracts to list the six parties you had scheduled in a 30-day period of time. The average representative at that time held about five parties per month. Today, there are typically no requirements in order to enroll and receive your kit, and the average representative today in the industry holds … just 2.3 parties per month.
What you start with is usually what you will easily maintain. So, if someone starts with two to three parties in their first month, that is what they will likely maintain. Two to three parties per month will not generate a significant amount of income, and with that, most new starts are left not feeling excited about their business or their success. If you started with six, you will usually be able to maintain that. Six gives you more income and will create a success story for you. When you feel you have a success story, you will share it with others more readily, thus attracting more people to you and your business opportunity.
A concentrated “training” period like this helps you really get the hang of this business and gain confidence. With each party, you’ll have something to compare to the last party — what you liked, what you didn’t, and how you would do it differently.
Having several parties in a month builds momentum. Those first six parties will provide new business for the future, and you can schedule those new bookings however you like on your calendar: one party a week, two parties a week, or even three parties a week.
When you reach the end of your first month — your training or trial period, if you will — you’ll have more bookings and can plan your business to fit your desires and goals. It’s much easier to keep things going and continue to make money when you reach the end of the month with new bookings on your calendar. Your new skills will make you more confident, and you’ll enjoy a feeling of success.
When you’re new, you’re also very excited; it’s human nature to want to jump on the phone, call everybody you know, and try to explain everything about your business to them. But because you’re brand new, the best thing to do is make a list of everyone you know and put them in your Booking Lead Notebook. You can keep your notebook on a physical pad of paper, on a document in your computer, or in an organizational application like Evernote (check out www.evernote.com
for more on this popular tool). You know a lot of people. And they probably divide into more categories than you may have considered. Here are some ideas for your list:
There are a couple of ways to organize your list. Beside each name, you can categorize them as 1s, 2s, or 3s — the 1s being the people you think are most likely to have a party (what you usually classify as your friends and family), and the 3s being those that you think may be least interested. Your inclination would be to start with the 1s because you think they are most likely to help, but this is not always true. Sometimes your best friends feel more comfortable shutting you down and giving you a no.
I find that the 2s and 3s are actually better candidates. These are your second tier friends, old friends from high school and so on. This group of people is actually happy to hear from you and are more likely to say yes. So think about starting with those first.
When we start with our friends and family, and if we start to get no’s from them, we often feel discouraged and never move on to our 2’s and 3’s. This is why I think it is important to start your list with your 2’s and 3’s then move on to your 1’s.
Another way to organize your list is to write C, H, or R beside each name. C is for those likely to be customers, H is for those most likely to host, and R is for recruits, those who could potentially be right for the business. This list will help you be more intentional in your conversations when you’re reaching out to your list.
However you categorize your leads, your goal is to get them to see the product in person — or if you run your business completely online (see Chapter 11), to send them a video or share photos of the product. After that, your goal is to secure a date for a party within your first 30 days.
For those first parties, it’s important to create several chains of business — this means having people from as many different categories as possible. Doing so exposes you to many different circles and areas, which makes for a healthy and diversified start to your new business.
Think of a wheel. The spokes on a wheel represent the different categories of people you know. If your first parties are done with your sister, mom, aunt, and cousin, that may sound like a lot, but all of those still only represent one spoke on the wheel (the “family” spoke). With only one spoke, a wheel collapses.
Instead, if your first parties include a family member, a friend from church, a neighbor, and a coworker, you will expose yourself to a larger group of people. Your spokes are spread out, and your wheel will continue to roll along successfully.
Once you get your six bookings secured and dated on your calendar you should continue to refer back to your original list in your Booking Lead Notebook for ongoing bookings. Don’t forget to add to this list with the people you meet moving forward.
When you’re trying to secure bookings, you need to talk about your business. You can’t just hope that people will want to book with you or that people will approach you on their own. You need to talk about what you offer — parties, products, and the business opportunity — wherever you go.
Learning to be sociable and confident with your customers is important. But you don’t want to become an actor. Honing your sales techniques is about using the personality you already have. You want to be authentic with your customers and you want to seem likeable and approachable. People want to do business with people they like and people they want to be friends with. Being pushy or sales-y with your customers is a sure way to get a no.
This section talks about a few of the many ways to present your booking opportunity.
Make it casual when you’re in casual conversations. You don’t even need to use the term home party. You can offer your customers “a fun night to get together with friends.” It’s as simple as that.
I was out and about at the mall one day when a woman complimented me on my necklace. I thanked her and said that it was part of a line of jewelry that I represented. She said, “Oh, I am a jewelry nut.” I enthusiastically explained to her what I did and asked her if she would be interested in hosting a party. She replied with, “No, I don’t like home parties.”
Now, many representatives would have taken this as a no and walked away feeling discouraged. But I knew that there was still an opportunity to gain this woman as a customer. Instead of accepting defeat, I let her know that I also offered one-on-one appointments where I would come to her house, bring my jewelry, and help her match them to her outfits. The woman loved this idea and can you guess what she asked next? “Would you mind if I invite my daughter and some of her friends?” And what are we doing now? You guessed it — a party! Sometimes people have their own ideas of what this industry is, and what it means to host a party, or even be a representative.
Make sure you are always talking to potential hosts about the benefits for her friends.
One of the best skills you will ever learn as an entrepreneur is to listen. Listen to what your customers, leads, clients, and team are telling you. They may still be interested in what you have to offer, just maybe not in the exact manner that you are offering it. So be sure to listen and start conversations. You have to know and understand your customer in order to sell to them effectively.
In this business it is important to see the people — meaning you want to get you and your products in front of as many eyes as possible. You want your friends, family, and customers to experience the product first-hand. That creates a bigger desire for the product and a sense of ownership.
Think about how realtors take you through a home you are looking to buy. They always refer to it as your master bedroom, your kitchen, your patio. They want you to feel a sense of ownership over the home, so that you start to imagine what it would be like to live there and have your things there. It is the same in direct sales. Having clients hold your product in their hands is better than showing them a photo on Facebook.
Using your Booking Lead Notebook discussed earlier, you will want to start to call some of your friends, family, and acquaintances to set up a time for them to see the products. When you call them initially, you may want to start with something like this:
Or maybe something like this:
Or even:
If they ask, “What kind of product is it?” just say, “Oh, it’s an awesome line of _______. And I know you’re going to love it!” After you show it to them, it also creates excitement for those who end up having parties because they’ve already seen your fabulous product and they have first-hand knowledge to share with the guests they will be inviting.
It’s especially important to get out and personally show the product as much as possible when booking your first six shows. Creating enthusiasm only over the phone or online is very difficult, so get out and see the people. Show them what’s got you so energized! Allowing your friends and family to see the product for themselves and how excited you are about it also reduces any need for you to “sell” them on the idea.
Once you get there, take a few minutes to relax and engage in small talk about common friends, family, and so on. When you’re ready to talk about your new business, begin by saying something like this:
Show her some of your favorite products and your current catalog. Get her involved and let her know that hosting a party would be a great way to get you started in your new business. In return, she will earn a wonderful shopping spree and have the opportunity to shop at a discount.
Let her know the dates you need to fill with your first parties and ask her to help you with one of them. People like to be part of the success of those around them. You’ll be surprised by how much your friends will want to help you, if you ask. When she says “Yes!” proceed to coach her for a great party (see Chapter 10 for more on host coaching):
When you’re starting your business, don’t hesitate to ask people for their help. Friends will often surprise you with their willingness to help you get a great start in your business.
Let them know what you need to be successful and that you need the practice; you’ll typically find them eager to know exactly how they can help you:
Or you could say:
Sometimes people are hesitant about having enough time to host a party for you. They don’t fully understand that there really isn’t that much work involved in having a party. You can alleviate their concerns and overcome their objections (more on objections later in this chapter) by saying something like this:
Ultimately, for you, a party is a party, but the choice helps people feel that the commitment isn’t as large as it would be to have a large party. They feel like it is okay if they only have three to five friends.
But it isn’t just your family and friends that will help you grow your business. That is why it’s important, even at these parties with friends, to do a good job and get their friends booked in your calendar (see Chapter 9 for more training on how to book a party).
So make your list, contact them all, and allow them to feel good about being able to do something for you. Those early parties help you get some practice, get those initial sales, and meet new people. The more parties you book in the first few weeks of your business, the better. So, get on the phone!
This is the perfect opportunity to show your friends and family what you’re doing, so it’s preferable that your launch party (see Chapter 8 for more on launch parties) be one of your very first parties. This way, when you’re creating interest by seeing the people and getting on the phone to enlist the help of your friends, you’ll have something fun to invite them to if they don’t immediately opt to book a party with you.
People you call who can’t or won’t book their own party with you are still often quite willing to attend a party at your home. When one of your contacts says they can’t host one of your first parties, for whatever reason, be gracious. They may have really good reasons! It’s just no for now. They may have a party in the future. You might say this:
Make your invitations sincere and make sure they highlight how much you’d like to see them there:
And send reminder texts like this for those who’ve said they’ll come:
Your launch party is a great chance for your friends and family to see the products and experience the fun and excitement of a party. Plus, it’s also a really natural and effective way for you to secure future bookings. You may find that you’ll want to host more than one party: to provide people who weren’t able to attend your first party a chance to attend and learn about what you’re doing, or if you have several distinct groups of friends.
Your launch party is a kick-off for your new business. You’ll want to include all your family and friends in the celebration.
Your parties are the best place for you to get new bookings. It’s easier and more efficient to get bookings at the party than it is to try to obtain them later.
There are three main reasons that people book and three reasons why they don’t. First, let’s talk about why they would want to have a party:
Fun: Guests love a fun night out with their friends to shop. At your parties, it’s crucial that you make sure all guests have a great time. This will get them to start to consider hosting one of their own, with their friends.
Always put an emphasis on having a good time — this is the number one reason people book.
Here are the three biggest reasons people don’t book:
You haven’t asked: This one is so simple, but is often overlooked. People think that asking is simply saying, “Hey, if you’d like to have a party, let me know.” But asking is more about doing an effective booking talk (see the section “The Booking Talk” later in this chapter). You always want to showcase your parties as something people will want to host. You should always ask, “Why wouldn’t you want to host? You will have an amazing time with your friends and will be able to enjoy some free and discounted products.”
The “ask” also comes at checkout time. This is where you sit with a customer while they’re making their decision on what products they want. What we find so often is that people are in deep thought during this time. They are contemplating their choices and how much money they want to spend. The left side of their brains, the analytical and computing side, is in full swing.
While they are thinking, you might say, “So, Lauren, would you like to have a party?” Because she is so deep into her analytical thinking, she will most likely look at you and say, “No.” She might also say something like, “No, I’m good,” or “No, I’m all set.” After this, your typical response is, “Okay, well if you should get home and change your mind, let me know.”
What you want to do is get people to use the right side of their brains, and you get them to do that by complimenting them on their selections and by making them feel good. “Oh, Lauren, you made a great choice. I know you’re really going to fall in love with it.”
People start to feel validated for their purchase, like they made a good choice. This leaves them feeling good and more likely to consider hosting a party.
They also fear the feeling of getting something for free at the expense of their friends. That is why you never want to focus too much on the free and discounted products. The way you overcome this fear is to remind guests throughout the party that their friends would love it and would appreciate them for having the party. Remind guests that their friends are going to enjoy a night out, shopping and learning about (whatever your product offers).
If someone seems unsure about booking, you should ask a series of three power questions that will get them to say yes. These three yesses will remind your guest how much they enjoyed the party and help lead them toward saying yes to booking a party:
When they have answered yes to these questions, we want to help them make a decision by offering choices. For example, ask your customer what works best for them — weekends or weeknights? And continue to narrow down a date from there. Aim to get three confirmations:
By following this process of choices, customers come to their own conclusions with a little bit of help from you.
All these suggestions will prove helpful in maintaining your calendar and controlling your business … and your paycheck.
Booking seeds are a subtle way to plant the ideas of why a guest would want to have a party, without actually saying it.
The following are booking seeds:
Sprinkling your booking seeds throughout your parties, one-on-ones, and even social media posts is a great way to get people thinking about hosting a party with you.
Show customers that by being a host they can get some of your most coveted products free and have fun with friends. You can also show them that parties don’t have to be in the home and that there are multiple ways that they can host a party, including starting a fundraiser with you (see Chapter 3).
Throughout the evening you have planted the idea of hosting a party. But a booking talk is one of the most important aspects of your party for encouraging people to host a party,
Your booking talk is usually at the end of presenting the products, before you start your shopping experience. It is a small commercial and really a call to action for them to book the party. It shouldn’t last more than 90 seconds. See Chapter 9 for more information on perfecting this.
When you deliver an effective booking talk, combined with sprinkling booking seeds throughout your presentation, you will get multiple bookings from your parties. Particularly at the beginning of your business, that is your primary goal: to get more bookings. Too many new representatives — or their sponsors (someone who welcomes someone else to the business) — focus on only achieving sales, so they bring far too many products to show and sometimes skip the booking talk altogether.
Your goal at your first few parties is to get practice and get comfortable — and yes, to get bookings. These bookings will replace and add to your business and lead to much higher sales as you continue.
When you’re new, you often think to yourself: “I’m running out of time. I’m sure if they want to book, they’ll let me know.” So, your booking talk consists of something like:
That’s not a booking talk!
Your booking talk is not about what a host is going to get; it’s about why they would want to book a party. Your booking message should leave your guests thinking that booking a party is going to be fun. Why in the world wouldn’t they want to do it? They’d be crazy not to take advantage of this.
One way to initiate your booking talk is to do your opening talk where you thank the hostess and mention her generous shopping spree and discounted products. Then do your presentation showing groupings and a variety of products.
Now, as you’re showing your products, they’re wondering how they can get that shopping spree. After you are finished showing your products, continue with your booking talk:
It’s got to be the why factor and the wow factor that you share with your guests: “You would be crazy not to” and “This is what you’re going to be able to get. This is what you’re going to be able to experience.” And so on.
If you do all the following things, you greatly increase your chances of getting new bookings at your parties:
Don’t leave without a date. Even if it is only a tentative date. Do your job while you’re at work — going over the details while you’re there with your potential new host will save you a lot of time and energy later on.
In this business, the rule of thumb is: It’s not a booking until it’s dated. When people say they will book without setting a date, it creates a false sense of security. You may think you have six or seven bookings, but unless they are scheduled on the calendar, they are meaningless.
Play booking games. I have never been a fan of games, but I have played booking games if my calendar was lower than I needed it to be. For some people, a game makes it easier to incorporate the booking talk into their party script. There are a variety of different booking games — some are during the party, some are before the booking talk and sometimes your booking talk is incorporated into the game. Some companies encourage a particular game or leaders will recommend one that they find is successful. I have never trained on booking games, because they are not something that I personally liked, but if your leader has found success with a particular one and you feel more comfortable incorporating it, go for it!
The studies I have conducted throughout the years show that about half of the participants like games at parties and half don’t. So, decide what works best for you. If you are going to do a game, make sure it gets the results you want — in other words, it should bring in bookings.
Don’t give away something for nothing. An example of a booking game would be having a customer choose a box for a prize. And to receive that prize, they have to complete the action on the card — which is book a party, of course. Whatever you do, keep it simple and short.
Choosing the most compelling words and knowing when to use them is a must for overcoming common objections and keeping your calendar full.
This is the most common objection to booking a party. But what they are really saying is, “I don’t want to pick a night that no one will come.” This is people’s greatest fear. Nobody wants to host a party where no one shows up. But the reality of it is, they can’t check with their friends without a date.
In response to this objection you would say something like this:
This is a very positive hesitation because it means that she and her neighbors are very receptive to home party shopping, and they love to do this kind of entertaining. In response to this objection you would say something like this:
You may get this response if the home where the current party is being held is quite large. Your prospect may feel inadequate, so it’s important to make her feel like what she has to offer is exactly what you want.
This is another very common objection. The first response would definitely be to help them weed through the busyness in their head. You may want to make a little small talk to find out what your prospect is “too busy” doing. For example, perhaps he/she normally works part-time and for the next week or so is putting in full-time (or overtime) hours and, therefore, is feeling overwhelmed. If she knows she doesn’t have to date for this immediate week, she may be more receptive:
A catalog party is when a host collects orders from her friends using your catalog, instead of hosting a party at her home. The majority of the time, the host will leave catalogs at her place of work and other places like the dance studio, karate, baseball and so on. Her friends will look through the catalogs, try any samples you have given your host and place orders that way.
Catalog parties typically won’t result in the party totals that a home party will. If a guest at a party asks for a catalog party, your goal is to turn it into a mini party for her:
I always want to agree with my customer, but help steer them in a different direction:
Once you frame it like this they will most likely choose a date. This gives a close date to the party as well as the opportunity for you to get additional orders through a party. People who want to host catalog parties are usually afraid no one will come. So when they hear that they only need to invite a few friends, they feel better about saying yes to hosting.
This is a win/win for you both. The host will enjoy getting together with her friends, and you will receive additional sales through a home party. Even with a smaller group in person, the home party is still typically higher than the orders your host collects from her catalog party.
I once had a host who lived in the country. She didn’t want to host because she didn’t think she could get a lot of people there, but she did have people at work who were interested. I used the preceding scripting on her, and she agreed to have a few friends over a couple weeks later. She only had four guests the night of the party, but her party with four guests had higher party sales than the eight outside orders she collected from the catalog. The biggest bonus was that I was able to use my booking talk to book two out of the four guests for parties of their own. The result was that the party was double what it would have been if she had only hosted a catalog party.
New business is everywhere. There are many different places where you can connect with new people, expand your network, find referrals, and obtain host and recruiting leads. This section offers some more ideas on drumming up new business.
The first step to finding new business is to use your social network. Reach out to your social media network and ask who they know in that area. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and referrals. Be sure to use your Booking Lead Notebook. As soon as someone gives you a referral or a lead, put it in the notebook.
I have found the best way to build a business is to use five simple words: Who do you know who? As in, “Who do you know who might like this product?” I built not only my direct sales business on this model, but my speaking career as well. Another strategy is to offer a referral gift. If someone that person knows books a party or joins the business because of their referral, I would always be sure to give them a special gift to thank them.
When you are reaching out to your referrals, always be sure to mention who referred you to them:
Use my tips on how to secure a booking in the earlier section “Securing Bookings or Appointments.”
If your lead seems hesitant, let her know that you appreciate her time and that you understand this isn’t the best time right now for her to host a party for you. But before you get off the phone, ask her who she knows who might be interested in hosting a party or who might really love the product.
Let people know that you are looking to build a team and a business in that area, so if they have anyone in mind who might be interested, you would love an introduction. I have found that the third-party approach really works best, especially in the areas of recruiting (see Chapter 14 for more on recruiting).
Continue to follow this trail of who do you know who and work on this daily.
Another great way to find new business is to frequent places where your clients would most likely be. Most of the direct selling, especially party plan, is directed towards women. So ask yourself, Where do women hang out?
Salons: Salon owners and hair stylists are amazing resources. They know a lot of people and have close relationships with most of their regular clients. I used to own a couple Curves franchises, and I was opening one in an area where I knew no one. When I drove to the town, my first stop was at the hair salon. I introduced myself, let the owner know I was opening a Curves, and asked if they knew an amazing person who could run and manage the facility. She immediately gave me the number of three people. And the best part about these three leads? It only took me 15 minutes. So, always ask who do they know who might be interested in hosting a party. And I did end up hiring one of those three!
You can also suggest that the hair salon have a party. If they hesitate, ask if you can at least leave behind some of your catalogs for the lobby. But this is the last-case scenario. Use your best booking talk and share how fun the party could be for the salon’s guests and clients.
I had a very good friend who had an established direct sales business, but needed to suddenly relocate. As soon as she moved, she began going to get her nails done and her hair cut every two weeks at a different place each time, just so she could meet new people. Her goal was to reestablish herself through this chain of engagement.
With social media, you have so many options, but there is nothing more effective than selling your personality, in person.
Malls: One of the ways I built my business was by going to the mall. I would have a small tote bag, equipped with my show-on-the-go (see Chapter 6 if you don’t know what that means) and I would head out for the day. I always made sure that I looked professional and presentable. I would go into stores, and when asked if I needed help, I would tell them that I needed an outfit for things like a convention, business meeting, or gala. I always made sure my answer had to do with my business. Naturally, they are trying to get a sale, so they also probed for more information. This gave me an excellent opportunity to let them know what I do, and mention I was looking to develop my business in that area and if they knew anyone who might be interested.
Often, the salesperson herself would want more information on the hosting or business opportunity. I would then ask what time her break was and would meet with her in the food court to grab something to drink. I would then talk about my three Ps: products, profits, and programs (see Chapter 2). I would lay out a couple of product samples, a host packet, and a recruiting packet.
18.118.20.231