Ups and Downs

This past weekend has been a series of ups and downs for me, as this business often is. It started Thursday night (the beginning of my party weekend) with a fundraiser party for the Tri Sigma sorority at Eastern Illinois University. This is the third year in a row that I have done this and it is one of my favorites. The chapter room (which is like a large living room) had 52 girls packed into it, mostly sitting on the floor. When I asked how many had been to this event in the past, about half raised their hands.

I conducted this party just like any other party, and these girls are some of the most attentive guests I can ask for at a party. Cassidy Johns, one of my PR daughters, shadowed me as a training exercise and she also helped put products on the guests hands and arms so it would not take as long. I am very appreciative of her help and I think she learned alot as she had only been to one other consultant's party. I encourage my team to shadow other consultants to get to know different styles, demos, etc.

While I was packing up my demo, three of the guests inquired about becoming a Consultant. I gave each of them my recruiting brochure and scheduled follow-up phone calls for the following Monday evening.

The ordering was done in a separate room, of course, but time was saved by several girls coming in at once (their choice), and when there was only one or two left in the ordering room, several more were sent in so that there was not the dead time in between customers placing their orders. 25 guests placed orders, with the party total being just over $1,000. I wrote a check to the sorority for $200 (20% of sales) to go into their charity fund, plus gave a couple of free products to the organizer of the event.

Friday night I did not have a party scheduled (no idea how that happened), but I had two on Saturday and one on Sunday. The two on Saturday were relatively small, with sales for the two totalling about $800. One thing was that at each of the parties, in the ordering room, at least one of the customers said to me they had been to Pure Romance parties before but never ordered anything because the consultant was dull and did not inspire them. So much for "these products sell themselves." Apparently they do not. If your sales are low and you think you could use a little more pep in your presentation, ask one of the more successful members of our team if you can shadow them at one of their parties and take notes. See how lively they are; notice how they interact with the guests; feel free to "steal" their jokes and demos. Although the sales were not great, I felt good because they liked me!

Another note about the second party. By the time the party was scheduled to start, there were only two guests present. They started calling others and I encouraged them to be positive. I told them they should not tell people to come because no one else is there - who would want to come to a dead party? I told them to talk about all the fun they were going to miss. I waited about an hour, by which time there were 12 guests. Although I didn't like the idea of waiting, I spent the time listening to the guests, joking with them, etc. If I had left without doing the party, not only would I have a very dissapointed hostess, but I would have lost out on a $500 party, so I am glad I stayed an kept a positive attitude.

The party on Sunday afternoon was a bachelorette party. When I arrived, everyone was already there and had been hitting the booze pretty hard. Plus they were all smoking. I started with the dirty ABC's game, followed by the game where they divide into two teams and create sexy lingerie out of plastic garbage bags, crepe paper, etc. In that game, it is always difficult for the bride to decide which design is better, so I changed it up and gave prizes to the two models instead of one of the teams. The game got them focussed, so I was able to conduct the party. At first alot of them were leaving the room, having conversations, etc. I just kept plowing through and after a bit they settled down and were quite attentive. I took the bride's wishlist into the ordering room, and most everybody bought her something. The party sales were over $1,000, with only eight guests ordering. One order alone was over $300 in products!

Monday evening I made my three phone calls to the potential recruits from the sorority party. Two said "no, maybe later" and I never reached the third. Later that evening, I got a call from a hostess whose party was several weeks ago. After the party, there were several outside orders, so I was able to send the hostess more free products. She called to ask what her actual party total was and when I added it up, it was over $900!! We were both amazed, and she asked for info on becoming a consultant.

Another typical weekend as a Pure Romance Consultant.