Believe it! You can easily make $50,000 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
questions: "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 these questionnaires returned, 94% stated
they would go 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, neighbors and relatives to the
party. Your sub-distributor doesn't have to do much more than
make contact with people willing to hold parties, supply the
merchandise, and sometimes offer to help or be there to make
sure every thing goes smoothly.
Here's the kind of money you can realize with this business: Say
you have ten sub-distributors, and each one arranges only five
parties a month, and each party does $200 in gross business.
That's a total of $10,000 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 $3,000 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 excepting Friday through the weekend. Generally 7:30 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 60 people you can invite to the party.
They can be friends, neighbors, relatives or people you know
from work, even acquaintances with whom you do business such as
the check-out clerk 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 jewelry 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
in creases their sales by as much as 25 percent over an ordinary
showing.
For instance, a high intensity light focused on the display will
cause the jewelry to sparkle, the stainless steel to gleam, and
the brass-ware to glimmer like valuable heirlooms.
Another idea would be to tack a piece of velvet onto a 4 by 6
foot piece of ply wood and use it to display rings, earrings,
necklaces and watches.
In jewelry 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 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 jewelry. 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 organized
with your refreshments. These usually consist of coffee, tea,
soft drinks, cookies 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 nametags 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 the 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 catalogs. Be sure you 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 imprinted on the catalogs. If you don't have a
merchandise catalog, consider making one of your own.
About a half 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 sets. 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 will 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,
prints a name tag for each, introduces them around, gives them a
catalog, points out the refreshments, and leads them into
conversation with the other guests.
The second phase is the "game-playing" portion of your part.
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 jewelry
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 guest s about 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 tidbits 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. Writing orders should take
about 15 minutes, and then you should let the party begin to
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 with 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 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 extra
money to buy. When you've determined that a particular guest
wants a specific item but can't quite 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 "Show Biz" 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
honor" 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 home. You ask those who voice 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 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 catalog these
merchandisers give to each person attending the parties.
Sometimes these letters 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 very good, with the conversion rate
better than sixty percent!
Most people tend to feel party plan 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 $400 parties, you must have the widest selection of
merchandise possible.
Many beginners, not understanding that 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: 1) The kinds of
gift items, personal decor articles, and general merchandise the
people in your area are buying; 2) The styles or fads currently
in vogue in your area; 3) Contacts with enough sup pliers who
can furnish you with the kind of merchandise your potential
buyers want; 4) 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 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!
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