If you’re reading this, you’ve probably found yourself in that spot that no direct seller wants to be in. You’re staring at an empty calendar with no party bookings.
Friend, I’ve been where you are, and I’ve coached countless party people who have been there, too. I’m going to walk you through five things you can do to get your calendar back in shape and get party bookings now!
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STEP #1: SET YOUR BOOKING GOAL
Before we talk about how to book more parties, let’s chat about how many.
How many bookings do you want on your calendar?
That’s the question I want you to ask yourself when setting your goals. Without a booking goal, you don’t know when you’re done filling your calendar, and you also don’t know how many people you need to follow up with or prospect.
You can approach your party booking goal in a few different ways. It could be income-based. How much commission do you want to make in a month?
Your booking goal could be personal. How many times do you want to interact with adults this week?
It could also be based on earning a company incentive. How many parties do you need to hold to earn the freebie, incentive trip, or other goodies your company is offering?
If you’ve never set a booking goal, here’s a quick math lesson.
Let’s pretend you want to earn $300 a month. Let’s also pretend that your commission rate is 25%. Take your $300 income goal and divide it by 25%. Quick math tells you that you need to sell $1,200 at a 25% commission rate to earn $300.
Now ask yourself how many parties it will take on average to sell that much of your product.
Viola! There’s your booking goal!
STEP #2: Plan time to work on filling your calendar
Once you have your goal nailed down, you’re going to need some time to work on it. Depending on how big your goals are and what else you have going on in your life, block off time daily or weekly to work on booking prospecting and follow-up and give yourself a deadline. How quickly do you want your calendar back in shape?
When my party calendar had a little too much white space, I would give myself a hard deadline to get it back to where I wanted it. I also planned a little reward once I got it done!
So whether you spend twenty minutes every morning for the next three days or ten minutes every day on your lunch break for a week, set aside time to make it happen. Do whatever works for you, your schedule, and your goals. Just make sure it’s physically blocked off in your calendar. Treat it like a date with your business that you can’t cancel.
Once you have your work time and deadline planned, find someone to hold you accountable. It could be your spouse, upline, or friend in the business, but it needs to be someone who will check on you to see how it’s going and not let you off the hook when you want to give up.
STEP #3: Make a List of People to Ask
Did you know that you’re way 25% more efficient when you work from a list? Yep, you better believe it. Ever tried wandering around the grocery store without a list? I rest my case.
So before you start randomly reaching out to people that pop up on social media, take some time to think through who you want to offer the hosting opportunity to.
Here’s a list to help you get started:
- Anyone that fell through the cracks – This is anyone, and I do mean anyone, that has ever expressed an interest in hosting a party, and for some reason or another, they didn’t make it on your calendar. Trust me. You’re not the first direct seller that totally dropped the ball and forgot to follow up with that one person six months ago.
- Past customers – Next, make a list of people that have purchased anything from you in the last 2-3 months. You need to do some follow-up and see if they love their products anyway, right? If they love their products, why not offer them the opportunity to get more of them for free?
- Past hosts who haven’t seen your new products – Past hosts love to see what’s new in your catalog. Why not offer them the opportunity to be one of the first to check it out?
- Chicken list – We all have a chicken list. It’s full of people we’ve been too “chicken” to ask. You know the ones. You start to send a message and then get all in your head about it and hit backspace until the message disappears, and you get back to creative procrastination. Just do it. You might be surprised!
- Other direct sellers – Party swaps are an out-of-the-box way you can quickly book a party. Know another direct sales consultant that sells a product that you use? Do you have a relationship with them? Why not offer to swap parties with them, so you can both stock up on a product you were going to buy anyway? It’s a win-win!
- Fundraisers – If your company has a fundraising program, make a list of organizations that are near and dear to you and reach out. Many organizations look for creative ways to hit their goals.
- Referrals – What better way to meet new people than with a personal referral? If someone gives you a firm “no” on the hosting opportunity, don’t hesitate to ask if they know anyone that might be interested and see if they’ll introduce you.
STEP 4: Decide What You’ll Say
I like to call this “Check Your Ask.” Are you sending a mile-long letter or a novel? You want your follow-up and prospecting messages to be short, sweet, and come from a place of service. You don’t want to sound like you’re just checking people off your list, and you also don’t want to overwhelm them with too much information.
Take some time to think about what you have to offer and why the person you’re reaching out to might be interested. And then offer it to them!
Keep it to 3 to 4 sentences, and make sure you’re making it personal and focusing on how you can serve them.
STEP #5: Start Asking!
Alright, friend. Now’s the time! You’ve set a booking goal, set aside time to work on it, and figured out what you’re saying. It’s time to make some magic happen!
And no creative procrastination here. I see you checking email, scrolling Facebook, and spending way too long making graphics so you can avoid this part. Actually asking people to host is the only way to get bookings. Unfortunately, there’s no magic wand in direct sales. Parties won’t magically appear on your calendar no matter how much you wish for it.
STEP #6: Think outside the box
I love to tackle a problem from different angles, and my calendar was no different. If you want to make sure your calendar gets booked, here are some other ideas to try.
- Try Something New – The direct sales industry is constantly changing. There are about as many party formats as there are consultants. If you haven’t done a Facebook party before, go ahead and give it a shot. If you want to learn how to use Sqweee for your virtual parties, go for it. Ever heard of partying on Instagram? Yep. It’s a thing. It’s been my experience that hosts love to be guinea pigs and give you feedback on new party formats. So don’t be afraid to jump in with something new and offer that to friends, family, and customers that love a little adventure!
- Vendor Events – Vendor events are my favorite way to get outside my current party circle and warm market! I’ve gotten some of my best parties and long-term customers from these. Vendor events could be anything from a church fair, local holiday shopping event, craft fair, or a school carnival. The possibilities are endless on this one!
- Host your own party – When was the last time you hosted a party, friend? If you haven’t played hostess in a while, let’s say 3 or 4 months, it’s time to host a party. Whether it’s a Mystery Host Party, a birthday party so you can celebrate with all your friends, a launch party for a new product line, or any other fun reason, you can host, too!
- Host a class or workshop – Your calendar doesn’t have to be filled with just parties. Think about business-building events, too! Learning events like classes and workshops are super fun, and they’re value-centric and focused on educating while also getting your products in front of potential buyers. Just make sure you do a solid booking push at the end!
Be consistent, and don’t give up! Your calendar didn’t get empty overnight, friend. It took time. So, building your party calendar back up will take time, too. That’s okay!
Once your calendar is where you want it, make sure you consistently offer the hosting opportunity inside and outside your parties, so you never have to stare at an empty calendar again.
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Want a proven plan for growing your direct sales business without feeling like you're chasing your tail? The Direct Sellers Business Blueprint explains the 4 key areas you must master to build a simplified, systematic business. It will even tell you which area to tackle first, so you can stop feeling overwhelmed or confused about what to do next. The best part? It's completely FREE!
Mary Haynes is a highly successful direct sales leader turned strategist and coach. Her passion is helping party plan people streamline and scale their businesses using simple, proven strategies. Her goal is to eliminate business overwhelm so direct sellers know exactly what to do and when to do it. Mary is also a homeschooling mama that lives in sunny Florida with her husband, 4 kiddos, 2 dogs, and various other backyard animals.
