Summer is here, the weather is hot, and many of your customers are on vacation. But you can turn a hot summer into a sizzling selling season by focusing on providing value to your customers throughout the summer, which will lead to a fabulous fall selling season!
One simple way to do this is to make some changes to your direct sales parties. Here are our 5 top tips to make your summer parties sizzle!
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#1 – Go Live and Show Your Face
If you can’t go live, I get it; I have four kids and homeschool all of them. When they were little, it was tough for me to get on a live video without somebody showing up in the background and saying who knows what.
If you can’t go live, it’s totally okay to use pre-recorded videos. The point is to show your face. Think about what people are doing over the summer. They’re lounging by the pool and playing at the park. They’re outside doing things! And guess what they do while they’re there. Scroll through social media. So make sure your face is the one that they see! This will build better connections and relationships within your parties, which in turn leads to more sales, bookings, and team members.
Aside from building better relationships, another big benefit of using video, especially live video, is better reach on Facebook. This means that there are more eyeballs on your stuff, which in turn means more sales, etc. You get the idea.
You might be wondering how often you need to show your face. If you’re doing a shorter virtual party, like one day or one hour, sprinkle some in some posts or videos before the party kicks off and then maybe once during the actual party with a pre-recorded product how-to or live demo. If you’re doing a multi-day party, I recommend showing your face a couple of times day at least. One could be a video (pre-recorded or live) and another could be when you’re sharing a product or asking a question. Bottom line – When people see faces, they will stop scrolling because they want to know what you’re talking about.
#2 – Focus on Summer Product Themes
I get it. When you’re busy, it’s tempting to just repurpose old stuff. However, people aren’t thinking about the same things in the summer as they are in February.
Summer is more laid back, the kids aren’t in school, and the calendar isn’t as full. Make sure your party posts resonate with that summer vibe. Share products and content that focus on the problems that your customers have over the summer.
Not sure what your customers are thinking about? Ask them! Do a quick poll in your VIP group and ask them what their biggest pain point is related to your product. Oh, and if your marketing department has done a good job, search your product catalog for ideas. They’ve probably already paired together some products and themes because they’ve already done the research. If you’re still struggling with ideas, go to Pinterest and search for your product niche and summer ideas. For example, if you sell anything related to food, you could search for “Summer Food Ideas.” If you’re selling something related to skincare, you could search for “Summer Skincare Tips.” But set a timer for your Pinterest search, because it can be a big rabbit hole.
Another idea for your VIP group or business page is to use easy engagement posts to do some “social snooping.” Here are some quick examples of questions to help you figure out what people are thinking about:
- What’s your favorite food right now?
- Are you going on vacation or staying home?
- What’s your biggest struggle with your skin right now?
#3 – Have Fun
Friend, parties should be fun. Period. End of story. Especially over the summer. Wondering how to make sure your parties are fun? Do a party audit. Sometimes we can’t see what’s happening because we’re too close to the problem. So have a friend, spouse, or business bestie review your parties and give you honest feedback. Ask them to evaluate if it’s fun or so boring it’s like watching paint dry. You can also ask for feedback from your party guests or your hosts. An added bonus is that you can use their feedback as a testimonial to help you book more parties if you want to.
Oh and don’t be a buzz killer at your parties. Here’s what I mean. Do your party games have a long list of rules that people need to follow? Are you constantly reminding people to follow the rules? Let’s be real. Nobody wants someone bossing them around and no one wants to play games that feel hard. So make sure your games and questions are simple and easy to follow. If you have to write a paragraph to explain the rules for your game, it’s probably too complicated.
#4 – Change Up Your Lingo
Once you narrow down the types of products that go well with summer, change up how you talk about them. Get out of the pattern of saying what you’ve always used. Tailor your content and lingo to fit the summer season.
Head back to Pinterest and look up some fun summer marketing words to use in your party captions to describe your products. Don’t forget to put in some emojis like sunshine, palm trees, beach towels, and other fun stuff to break up your text and make your posts easier to read.
#5 – Host Coach
It’s tempting during summer to allow your host coaching to slip, which will cause your party average to drop. Ensure your systems and checklists are in place so you can easily duplicate what you do for every party. This will help you stay consistent over the crazy summer months.
If you have your host coaching nailed down, you might be wondering how to adapt it for summer. Since people are all over the place during the summer, coach your hosts to get orders outside the actual party. Send the link further in advance or send them some catalogs with paper order forms. This will naturally increase your party average.
At the end of the day, your business in the summer is what you make it. By showing your face in your parties, focusing on summer product themes, changing up your lingo, prioritizing host coaching, and just having fun, your summer parties are sure to be a success and create a sizzling summer selling season!
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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.
