PARTY PLAN SALES programS: DEVELOP YOUR OWN
A veritable Gold Mine for Wealth Builders!
Believe it! You can easily make $100,000 in the next six months or
less!
After that, you can practically be guaranteed at least that much,
but probably much more, every year for the rest of your life,
without really working
The way to accumulate this kind of wealth is with your own
business of selling merchandise via the Party Plan.
Few other businesses can so easily give you this kind of wealth as
quickly, and keep your income growing.
A recent questionnaire, circulated among hundreds of successful
direct sales merchandisers across the country asked this question:
"If you were to start over today, knowing what you know now, and
could choose the one method of merchandising that would make you
really rich in the shortest period of time, which would you
select?"
Of those questionnaires returned, 94% stated they would go with
the Party Plan Method.
The sharp party plan operators (and the richest) simply hold
motivational sales meetings for their sub distributors about once
a month.
During these meetings, they are teaching their sub distributors
how to recruit new hosts and hostesses, or husband and wife host
and hostess teams.
A host or hostess can be any person who is agreeable to holding a
sales party at his or her house.
Almost always, this person is rewarded for having the party with a
percentage of the total business or an agreed upon special
merchandise gift.
These people invite friends, neighbours, and relatives to the
party.
Your sub-distributor doesn't have to do too much more than contact
people willing to hold parties, supply the merchandise, and
sometimes offer to help or be there to make sure everything goes
smoothly.
Here's the kind of money you can realise with this business:
Say you have ten sub-distributors, and each one arranges only five
parties a month, and each party does $400 in gross business.
That's a total of $20,000 per month in total volume.
And from that total volume, you make only 30%. Figure it out for
yourself!
This would give you a personal income of $6,000+ for thirty days
in which you did no more than hold one or two motivational sales
meetings.
Besides, each party is almost guaranteed to give your sub
distributor at least two more hostesses for future parties, and
those future parties will provide still more hostesses.
This chain is endless, and will build as fast as you can keep up
with it.
To get your start in this fabulous method of merchandising, become
a host or hostess yourself. Give a few parties yourself, and
learn the ropes.
Choose an evening for your party - any evening except Friday to
Sunday. Generally, 7.30 - 8.00pm is the most convenient time for
the greatest number of people.
If it's inconvenient for whatever reason to hold a party in your
home, arrange with a friend to hold the first couple of parties.
Make up a list of 30 to 40 people you can invite to the party.
They can be friends, neighbours, relatives or people you know from
work, even acquaintances with whom you do business such as the
check out girl where you buy your groceries, or people you meet at
the bus stop on your way to work.
After formally inviting these people, you then call to remind them
of the party at least a couple of days before the date of the
party.
This is important, because of the original 40 people you invite,
at least 15 will not show because it slipped their minds, last
minute circumstances that force a change in plans, and those that
really weren't interested in the first place.
On the day of the party, get your merchandise display set up
early.
The party should be held in the largest room in the home, usually
the living room, with the merchandise display the center of
attraction.
The merchandise should be set out on a sturdy table covered with a
good white or light colored cloth, and the merchandise should be
arranged by group or type - the jewellery items together, perfumes
bath oils and colognes together, crystal together, and so on.
Try to put a bit of imagination and showmanship into your
merchandise display.
This will have the effect of making your merchandise look much
more valuable than it actually is.
Those that do put a flair into their merchandise displays find
that it increases their sales by as much as 25 percent over an
ordinary showing.
For instance, a high intensity light focussed on the display will
cause the jewellery to sparkle, the stainless steel to gleam, and
the brassware to glimmer like valuable heirlooms.
Another idea would be to tack a piece of velvet onto a 4 by 6 foot
piece of plywood and use it to display rings, earrings, necklaces
and watches.
In jewellery sales, another idea is to hang a mirror on a wall
near the merchandise display.
If you or your hostess has room, you might want to set up a card
table, covered with an expensive looking piece of material, place
a dressing table type mirror on this table, with a chair available
for your guests to sit at the table while they try on the various
items.
The guests who then make their selections after determining how
each item looks on them.
Regardless of what you do to make it easier for your guests to
select and buy, a hand mirror is an absolute must whenever you're
showing jewellery.
It would be wise to have several hand mirrors available - two for
your merchandise display table, and an extra one on the
"admiration" table.
Besides your merchandise display, be sure also you're organised
with your refreshments. These usually consist of coffee, tea,
soft drinks, cakes or other "nibble" items.
The host or hostess usually makes arrangements in advance for one
of the guests to assist with the serving of refreshments.
Be sure you have name tags for your guests, and a couple of felt
tip marking pens.
And don't forget the order forms.
These should be standard two-piece, self carbon order forms - one
copy for your customer, and the other for your files.
The best idea is to buy order forms. All these items are commonly
available in stationery stores. Rubber stamp your name and
address on each copy of each order form, at least a couple of days
in advance of the party.
Still another item to remember is your merchandise catalogues. Be
sure to have a good supply on hand, rubber stamped with your name
and address.
Later on, when you're established and the money is rolling in, you
can have your name and address printed on the catalogues.
If you don't have a merchandise catalogue, consider making one of
your own.
About half an hour before your guests are due to begin arriving,
turn on all the lights in the room where the party is to be held.
This will give the room a bright, warm feeling conducive to a
party kind of atmosphere. And by all means, be sure to turn off
all the radios, stereo and TV.
Eliminate any and all noises from other rooms in your home that
might distract the attention of your guests.
Every party should be planned, and follow a prescribed format or
agenda.
This is because without a plan, it'll just be a gathering of
people wasting time at your home instead of theirs.
You must have a plan to know what to do next in order to achieve
the desired results.
Having a "pattern" is also the easiest way to teach others to
duplicate your success, and the idea of following a successful
formula is a proven method of making the most sales in the least
time.
Phase one is the greeting and get-acquainted time slot - about
thirty minutes.
The hostess greets the guests as they arrive, introduces them
around, give them a catalogue, points out the refreshments, and
leads them into conversation with the other guests.
The second phase is the "game playing" portion of your party.
This phase is used to relax everybody and get them involved in the
party. It should last about 15 to 20 minutes.
Next comes the merchandise presentation by the hostess, who shows
and describes each item on display.
If you have jewellery available ask different guests to try on
particular items and show the others what these articles look like
in use.
The length of time spent on this phase of the party will depend in
large part on how much merchandise you have on display, but
generally, you shouldn't spend more than about 20 minutes showing
and describing your merchandise.
Then give your guests around 10 to 15 minutes to personally
inspect and try on the items that have aroused their interest.
You should mingle and converse with the guests during this time
period in order to answer specific questions or explain the
possible uses of an item, where it might look good in the buyer's
home, and any interesting titbits relating to where an item came
from, how it was made, or the satisfaction of an earlier buyer.
When you seem to have answered all the questions, and everyone
appears to have made their selections, start writing orders.
Don't hesitate to ask for orders. The writing of orders should
take about 15 minutes, then you should let the party begin winding
down.
During this time, mingle with your guests and anyone showing a
spark of interest should be approached with an offer to serve as a
future host or hostess.
As each guest starts to leave, thank them for coming, and walk
them to the door.
The total length of your party shouldn't be much more than two
hours.
Time and time again, it's been proven that you can do everything
necessary, and make the most sales in this period of time.
You will lose effectiveness and make fewer sales with appreciably
more or less time.
There are a couple of proven ways to recruit new hosts or
hostesses from the people attending your party.
First of all, watch the guests as they look over the merchandise,
examine, admire, and wish for something they don't quite have
enough money to buy.
When you've determined that a particular guest wants a specific
item but can't fit it into the budget, simply take her aside to a
secluded corner of the room, and explain privately that you're
willing to give her the item she has been looking at and wanting,
if she will agree to invite her friends and relatives to a party
in her home.
This approach works almost every time, and your only expense is
the wholesale price of the item you give her as the free gift.
The second sure-fire approach is to offer a cash incentive.
You do this by offering to allow 5% to 10% of the total sales
volume resulting from the party staged for you by this type of new
recruit.
There's a plus factor for you on this one, because you'll be
getting the enthusiastic participation of the host or hostess on
the selling side.
Once you've explained to them how your program works, they'll
generally do everything they can to make the party a huge success,
and thereby increase their pay for the evening.
When you give a gift to the hostess for having the party, the
presentation should be a special ceremony staged with all the
flair you can muster, at the end of your merchandise showing.
However, when your gift is a cash award, carry your presentation
over to the next party and make a big production of it as well.
Don't forget to invite the "guest of honour" to your next
scheduled party for the big presentation.
During these presentations many of the other guests will be
favorably impressed, and as a consequence will ask you for
details.
Actually, your recruiting efforts should begin when you start
taking orders.
Every person you talk with should be offered the opportunity to
hold a party of his or her own. Then, just before the party
begins breaking up, ask your guests as a group if any of them
would be interested in holding a similar party in his or her own
home. You ask those who have voiced an interest to stay over for
a few minutes in order to work out the details. You should have
an Appointment Book for this scheduling.
Simply ask what date would be favorable for them, mark that date
in the book, along with the name, address and telephone number.
Then assure each one that you'll call in the next day or two to
work out the details.
Many party plan merchandisers also use a letter. They write a
letter extolling the fun and excitement of the parties, explaining
briefly the opportunities to receive free gifts of their choice or
big commission checks.
Then they invite the letter recipients to call for complete
details on how they can stage a party.
These letters are usually printed in volume, and then slipped
inside the covers of the catalogue these merchandisers give to
each person attending the parties.
Sometimes these are handed to each guest as the party breaks up.
Some party plan merchandisers also run small classified ads in the
area newspapers. Their advertising plays up the opportunities
available to make regular commission checks (extra income) simply
by holding parties in their homes.
People interested are invited to phone for more details. Response
to this kind of ad is generally good, with the conversion rate
better than sixty percent!
Most people tend to feel that party planning merchandising is
exclusive to women, but don't you believe it!
It's true that women generally establish themselves more rapidly
than men with this kind of sales operation, but over the long
haul, there are just as many men operating successful party plan
sales operations as there are women.
Men are usually not as adept in establishing social "chit chat"
relationships as women.
Therefore, the man who wants in on the vast potential of party
plan merchandising should consider working with a woman.
A husband and wife partnership is an ideal working arrangement.
An acquaintance, girlfriend or relative will often work out just
as successfully.
The basic requirement is simply that the "couple" must function as
a team, with the individual talents of one complementing those of
the other.
Probably one of the greatest secrets of success with this kind of
sales operation is that in order to make the sales, and talk about
parties, you must have the widest selection of merchandise
possible.
Many beginners, not understanding what offering the potential
buyers a wide and varied selection of items to choose from is what
builds your profits in a hurry, base their entire merchandising
plan around a selection that's of special interest or particularly
appealing to themselves.
It's all right to include the items that you especially like, but
don't base your entire merchandise line on the things you like;
you're selling to others, not yourself!
Most successful party plan merchandisers advise that you should
display at least forty different items, and more if you have the
supplier contacts or the buying expertise.
The actual decisions on which products to carry and display at
your parties should be based upon these four factors:
The kind of gift items, personal decor articles, and general
merchandise the people in your area are buying;
The styles or fads currently in vogue in your area;
Contacts with enough suppliers who can furnish you with the
kind of merchandise your potential buyers want;
Your ability to shop among the various suppliers, and verify
that you are getting the very best merchandise value obtainable.
Still another important point to consider before buying
merchandise to display and sell: do the prices you're having to
pay for your products wholesale allow you enough room for a
reasonable profit, when compared to your time and expense?
Do some market research relative to your ambitions: get the
answers to the questions we've set forth for you, and when you're
satisfied that you understand the workings of Party Plan
Merchandising, grab the opportunity and run with it!
Good luck!
