Patricia Kagwiria Makhulo asked:


As a home party consultant and direct sales consultant for a home party plan or direct sales company, it is rather important that you learn how to market your business, find recruits and hostesses, because  Home Party Business is booming, just ask Warren Buffet, the richest man in the world and oh by the way he own three home party companies e.g., Pampered Chef!

Marketing through home parties and home party sales has been be identified as one of the most effective methods of marketing with business opportunity companies.

Home party companies place many restrictions on their home party consultants and direct sales reps. when it comes to marketing!  And yet many are seeing wonderful results

But what separates the struggling, frustrated, heartbroken, cash-poor Home Party Plan Business Owner and direct sales consultants from the confident, pink Cadillac driving, white Mercedes Benz owning, obviously clued-in home party plan marketers pulling in huge numbers and results (EVEN in this chaotic, soul-sucking economy)?

(No, wait ESPECIALLY in this chaotic, soul-sucking economy). While average home party business owners are cowering in bed with the covers pulled over their head the top home party sales representatives are still fearlessly bringing home the bacon, even as everyone else panics and freaks out!

Have you ever wondered how the top earners in your direct sales home party company got to be so successful while you struggle every day to build your organization? 

I can tell you this:

It’s not because they’re any smarter than you are

They don’t work any harder (in fact, they work LESS)

And it’s not because they’ve spent thousands of dollars on high priced

seminars (although I highly recommend you attend the ones I hold and I

they will be reasonably priced ?)

The reason behind their success, get this, is the fact that they implement a system!  I know seems so simple huh!

Home Party Marketing Tip: Create Systems That Will Do The Bulk Of The Work

I practically famous for this quote:

“95% of people fail when they start a business without a system.

95% percent of people are successful when they start a business with a system!

- Entrepreneur Magazine

A system constitutes a set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole, in particular a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network. It spells:

S-ave

Y-our

S-elf

T-ime &

E-nergy

M-oney

If your home party plan system involves the 3-foot rule, list of 100 or more, hotel meetings, 3-ways, everyone with a pulse is your prospect, then repeat after me: time to re-group!  Those are all methods, functions and/or processes, not systems.

Systems are able to run with very little human involvement.  Think about all the systems in your body.  Do you have to manually pump your heart to get it to force blood to the rest of your body?  As I’m typing this report, I don’t have to think about the position of my fingers on the keyboard, or lifting them up and down.  My nervous system takes care of that for me.  Think about how long it would take to create this eBook without the assistance of the systems in my body.  Hint:  you wouldn’t be reading it right now!

Just like your body, your home parties business needs systems to function, grow and defend itself from outside forces that mean harm.  So get a system and put it to use right now!

And I belive I have just the thing for you, The Little Black Of Home Party  Plan Marketing Success is system like none other, provides tips on how to generate ongoing  home party sales and some of the best ways to promote yor home partys business!

Additionally you get Home Party Plan & Direct Sales Marketing And Training all in one place!  Isn’t it about time you create a cash flow?



parties

Patricia Kagwiria Makhulo asked:


Direct sales and home party businesses are booming. Direct selling is definitely the wave of the future as the world goes the current economic restructuring. With party plan companies blooming on every street corner how do you pick the right home party plan company for you? Do you like jewelry? How about make-up? Perhaps food is your thing, no fashion! Skin-care, that’s it! Seems as long as there are products being made, there is a party plan company selling it. The following are the 7 Pillars & Tips For Direct Sales Home Party Consultants for the success to consider when selecting a party plan company.

1) You, The Home Party Consultant: As an independent direct sales home consultant you are the company representative. People will judge the company by how you conduct yourself and your direct selling business. If you find people are a little resistant to what you have to say, don’t take it personally. I can guarantee they had a bad experience with another direct sales consultant. Now is your chance to build a new relationship.

Home Parties Tip: A home party business is not about the party plan company. A home party business is about the home party consultant.

2). Home Party Plan Company Leadership: Does your company of choice have proven MLM/Network Marketing/Direct Sales Experience? How long have they been in business? Are they ethical? –What about their integrity? Is the company privately held or publicly traded? (If the home party company of choice is publicly traded I hope it is one that Warren Buffet owns e.g., Pampered Chef) Have you actually read their Policies & Procedures? How Many pages? (Less is usually better.) WHY? Because the more paper work the less creativity and options you have. It means your every move will be monitored by the party plan company gate-keepers. You might as well get a job! Who does it protect? Comp plan set up to favor/protect distributors or company? Allow ‘walk away’ income? Loopholes to steal your commissions someday?

LONG TERM focus with a solid foundation, or “get rich quick” mentality? I recently read up on the ‘dead’ Circuit city company. The CEO said that their greatest failure was focusing on short term profits instead of long term value. Is your company of choice has not been in business for 5 years…think again

3) Timing of INDUSTRY and COMPANY: Did you know that jewelry home party plan companies are the hottest thing in the party plan industry? Yes Gold home parties are taking the nation by storm. Bill Gates willingly shares his secrets to success, he says:

1. Recognize the future of an industry

2. Take immediate massive action

3. Be at the right place at the right time!

If you can grasp this, success as a home party consultant is all but guaranteed! That said people will never be too young, too thin, too fashionable, too glamorous or too ****. Any home party plan business surrounding these questions and problems will always be a hit! Run from Startups are to be avoided at all costs. This is what we call trending in the direct sales industry. E.g., once Mary Kay unveiled her company suddenly everyone had a beauty and skin care line you could sell from home. You want to find balance in your choice.

What phase is the Party Plan Company? Formulation? Momentum? Critical Mass? Plateau? Companies in the plateau phase offer more name recognition and less of an opportunity. (Under 5 year or 25 + I’d stay away)!

4). TARGET MARKET for your PRODUCTS: Is there huge demand for the home party products you plan on representing? Is the Future bright? Does the product meet Long Term TRENDS? The BIGGEST mistake people make is by making an emotional decision about their choice to become involved in direct sales. Sure your neighbor who is only a high school graduate jumped into party plan company ABC and made a killing and drives the car of your dreams. That is all well and good. However are you suited to the direct selling business? Is it the right time for you to jump in? More importantly have you identified a market for your product? Want to know why most home party consultants fail? because they found a product but have no one to sell it to. Your first step in succeeding is identifying a market for your product and then finding the right home party company. Trust me on this one, you will save yourself a whole lot of trouble!

5) Flagship PRODUCT(s): Products have to be REMARKABLE Not over-priced CONSUMABLE! Seth Godin, author of the best seller Purple Cow speaks at length on the issue of product remarkability. He talks about the mundane-ness of a regular black and white cow over a purple cow. A purple cow is remarkable. Remarkable incidentally doesn’t mean good or awesome

adjective

worthy of attention; striking

Is your home party product of choice one that will compel other to talk about and thus market for you? This is the essence of word of mouth. Is your product average or top of the line? Your product must be good enough to compel repeat buys and persuade me or any other person to tell a friend or ten about it!

6) Compensation Plan: The comp. plan should be the least of your worries, but I will discuss it for your benefit. The home party, direct sales and direct selling industry are all victims of the recruitment scam. You see you are paid for volume not the number of recruits you get. Look it this way what benefit is it to enroll 100 people who buy nothing? However if you make get 10 customers, and each buy $100 of products then you have a percentage of $1000 home party sales. The compensation needs to pay the average person fair percentage. Party plan companies reward home party consultants for selling products NOT for recruiting reps. Avoid comp. plan that pay on levels. Volume is quantifiable. Levels is cut throat and breeds the scams and failings that network marketing has a bad reputation. Paying on VOLUME not levels – drives BEHAVIOR in the field. Do you have a break-away plan? I would be cautious and careful. Best ’statistics’ to determine comp. plan include

‘TAC’ Total Average Commission? ‘PTV’ Percentage of TOTAL volume ?

7) Training, Education, Experience & Personal Development: Duplication is all well and good. Remember what I said at the beginning a home party plan business is about you. You are the single most important determinant of how successful this home party business. There is no such thing as proven SYSTEMS, UPLINE SUPPORT. The only thing that will help you build a successful business is personal development, training, education and experience. Do you have an Action Plan / Game Plan? It is one that can be taught to others i.e., duplicatable while still leaving room for creativity, innovation and expansion? Times have changed. Some things that worked just a few years ago, do not today. Many companies and TEAMS are using outdated systems and methods. Most people (92+% of population) do not like to sell or be sold. Are you building a home party business using 8 track methods in an iPod world? Don’t get caught in a rut!

Wishing you success,

Party Plan Pat



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Patricia Kagwiria Makhulo asked:


Home Party Business Marketing is largely a matter of understanding what one is getting into. The party plan method is the use of social events – home parties to parade, demonstrate, show off and sample products used primarily to sell items whose main appeal is to women by women, such as Tupperware, Mary Kay Cosmetics, kitchen utensils, home decor items e.g, home garden & party, jewelry, skincare e.g, Arbonne International, candles e.g, Mia Bella. Recent additions to the field include lingerie, and *** toys e.g., Passion Parties.

It is very evident that the home party plan traditional business idea is fresh once again as a new generation of sellers open their homes for direct sales.

Home parties now account for approx. 30 percent of the nearly $30.8 billion in U.S. direct sales, and 15.2 million Americans bought or sold goods from home in 2007; according to the Direct Selling Association, the premier resource for all thing direct sales.

With the growth of the internet, customers find that they continue to benefit from a personal and convenient way of purchasing products.  The Internet is fast becoming an essential element of home party plan business success. It gives both the home party consultant and their customer each a worldwide base.  The growing trend is to host virtual parties online.  Internet sales account for 14% of all home party sales!



The 4 Elements Of A Successful Home Party Plan Business

1. A Home: As with real estate, location, location, location matters.  Let me share with you some statistics. Home parties account for roughly 70% of the 78% face to face sales made in the US.  Cozy, comfortable, social always wins out!  So be sure to host home party plan fun monthly meetings at the least.

2. It’s A Party: Success with home partys lies in the fact that it’s a party at your home–or better yet, at someone else’s. Customers socialize, and you make money. Need more convincing? Make fun is the order of the day. Party like a rockstar!

Home Party Plan Success Tip: Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun

3. Plan(ning) : When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  You need to plan the party elements.  You need to plan your business element i.e., marketing, business plan, training, education & development.  Your party plan hostess must be coached and prepared.  The Home party demo must be planned before hand.  Don’t get side tracked and have a show that goes on for 3 hours.  No one makes great purchases when they are tired

4. It’s A Business |?biznis| ( bus.):

noun

2 the practice of making one’s living by engaging in commerce : the world of business | whom do you do business with in Manila? | [as adj.] the business community | [with adj.] the jewelry business.

• trade considered in terms of its volume or profitability : how’s business?

As Max Sanborn asserts, “The ultimate objective of a business is profit. The primary purpose of a business is to create customers. Profitability without customers is an impossibility.”

You are a home party consultant, you are in this of course to have fun, partying in your home or that of a hostess for the express purpose of making and increasing home party sales and profits.

Party like a rock star,



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Patricia Kagwiria Makhulo asked:


As a Home Party Consultant, I see and hear the stress and pressure to increase cash flow in your home party business. Many of you are questioning not only your skills, but also your decision to get involved with a party plan company. Other direct sales consultants who were really raking in the money are now feeling as though they lost the touch!

What separates the struggling, frustrated, heartbroken, cash-poor Home Party Plan Business Owner and direct sales consultants…from the confident, pink Cadillac driving, white Mercedes Benz owning, obviously clued-in home party plans marketers pulling in huge numbers and results EVEN in this chaotic, soul-sucking economy?

(No, wait ESPECIALLY in this chaotic, soul-sucking economy). While average home party business owners are cowering in bed with the covers pulled over their head the top home party sales representatives are still fearlessly bringing home the bacon, even as everyone else panics and freaks out.

People are still buying, the only question is – are they buying from you?

Here are 5 simple, yet powerful tips to help you and me to sell our way out of this ‘crisis’ and become a SIX-FIGURE home party success!

1) Selling is About Behavior

Success in our home party business is not about being a certain type of personality. When I talk to other home party and direct selling consultants, their biggest concern is they do not want to be the pushy car salespersons. I am often told I do not want to sell. Problem is this is the direct sales industry. There is a reason it is called home party sales and direct selling. Because of this fear of selling, there is a common catch phrase we have been taught “you are not selling, you are sharing!” Might then suggest that with that approach you are not building a successful home bases business, rather you are operating a Non-Profit Organization. Is it any wonder you are frustrated? The BIGGEST myth in the sales is that you have to be a certain type of personality to succeed in sales. Sales is about behavior, ANYONE High Performance.

2) Are You Pursuing Relevant Sales Activity

Many home party consultants are a lot like Alice In Wonderland when she meets the Red Queen. Let me share a little bit about their interactions your sales activity relevant? In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass there is an incident involving the Red Queen, a representation of a Queen in chess, and Alice constantly running but remaining in the same spot. The scene is often referred to as The Red Queen’s Race.

The Queen kept crying “Faster!” but Alice felt she could not go faster, though she had no breath to say so. The most curious part of the thing was, that the trees and the other things round them never changed their places at all: however fast they went, they never seemed to pass anything. “I wonder if all the things move along with us?” thought poor puzzled Alice. And the Queen seemed to guess her thoughts, for she cried, “Faster! Don’t try to talk!”

Not that Alice had any idea of doing that. She felt as if she would never be able to talk again, she was getting so out of breath: and still the Queen cried, “Faster! Faster!” and dragged her along. “Are we nearly there?” Alice managed to pant out at last.

“Nearly there!” the Queen repeated. “Why, we passed it ten minutes ago! Faster!” And they ran on for a time in silence, with the wind whistling in Alice’s ears, and almost blowing her hair off her head, she fancied.

“Now! Now!” cried the Queen. “Faster! Faster!” And they went so fast that at last they seemed to skim through the air, hardly touching the ground with their feet, till suddenly, just as Alice was getting quite exhausted, they stopped, and she found herself sitting on the ground, breathless and giddy. The Queen propped her against a tree, and said kindly, “You may rest a little now.”

Alice looked round her in great surprise. “Why, I do believe we’ve been under this tree all the time! Everything’s just as it was!”

“Of course it is,” said the Queen: “what would you have it?”

“Well, in our country,” said Alice, still panting a little, “you’d generally get to somewhere else — if you ran very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.”

“A slow sort of country!” said the Queen. “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”

Does your daily activity produce desired results? If not, determine which activities (i.e. dials, presentations, networking, etc.) produce results. Develop a sales process that strings together the relevant sales activity.

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. Thomas A. Edison

In Direct Sales Dials, Contacts, Presentations, Appointments are all relevant sales activities that lead to Sales Conversions.

3) Focus on Action and The Results Will Take Care Of Itself

Pareto’s Law (also known as the ice-berg theory of change) dictates that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. Your results will naturally continue to be evaluated on the amount of business you bring in. However, without the underlying data on sales activity, results will be inconsistent. Start tracking them and determine accordingly how one influences the other. When I talk to direct sales consultants the question will come up what is your closing ratio? The common pattern that emerges is inconsistency. Inconsistent action leads to inconsistent results. That there is a direct correlation exists between activity and results is not unknown to you.

Home Party Plan Success Tip: An ounce of action, is worth a pound of theorizing – Emerson.

4) Determine Your Biggest Return On Investment For Home Party Sales & Leverage It

If you do not know where you came from, how can you possibly know proceed?

Do you know which of these 6 types of sales approaches – Telephone, Trade fairs, Networking, Hostess training, Home Parties & Home Party Demonstrations and my personal favorite Referrals are giving you the biggest return for your time and money? If your answer is no, we have a problem. For the next six weeks it will be important for you to track your results based on these 6 sales approaches to see where your money and time will be best spent. Why you might ask do I need to do this?

Research and common sense teach us that people enjoy doing what comes natural to them. Use the sales approach that works for YOU.

Experts say it take 21 days for something become habit. For the next 21 days I encourage you to use the information and you will see results.

See, Isn’t Sales is Simple!

If you are tired of building your home party business with dead-beat leads, poorly attended home parties, while barely making any home party sales; Get your own personal copy of The Little Black Book Of Home Party Marketing Secrets TOADY! Now you too can stop struggling as a home party consultant and start on your path to 6-FIGURE home party success!



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Patricia Kagwiria Makhulo asked:


The party plan method is the use of social events – home parties to parade, demonstrate, show off and sample products.  The home party model of business has been used primarily to sell items whose main appeal is to women by women, such as Tupperware, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Kitchen utensils from Pampered Chef (which incidentally is owned by the richest man in the world – Warren Buffet). Also ome decor items e.g, home garden & party, jewelry e.g,. Lia Sophia, skincare e.g, Arbonne International, candles e.g, Mia Bella. Recent additions to the field include lingerie, and *** toys e.g., Passion Parties.

It is very evident that the home party plan traditional business idea is fresh once again as a new generation of sellers open their homes for direct sales. Home parties now account for approx. 30 percent of the nearly $30.8 billion in U.S. direct sales, and 15.2 million Americans bought or sold goods from home in 2007; according to the Direct Selling Association, the premier resource for all thing direct sales.  It is said that there appox. 1,500 home party business in the U.S.

With the growth of the internet, customers find that they continue to benefit from a personal and convenient way of purchasing products.  The Internet is fast becoming an essential element of home party plan business success. It gives both the home party consultant and their customer each a worldwide base.  The growing trend is to host virtual parties online.  Internet sales account for 14% of all home party sales!



The Elements Of A Successful Home Party Plan Business:



Home: As with real estate, location, location, location matters.  Let me share with you some statistics. Home parties account for roughly 70% of the 78% face to face sales made in the US.  Cozy, comfortable, social always wins out!

Party: It’s a party at your home–or better yet, at someone else’s. Customers socialize, and you make money. Need more convincing? Fun is the order of the day.



Home Party Plan Success Tip: Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun



Plan(ning): When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  You need to plan the party elements.  You need to plan your business element i.e., marketing, business plan, training, education & development.  Your party plan



Business |?biznis| ( bus.):

noun

2 the practice of making one’s living by engaging in commerce : the world of business | whom do you do business with in Manila? | [as adj.] the business community | [with adj.] the jewelry business.

• trade considered in terms of its volume or profitability : how’s business?

You are home party plan business consultant, you are in this of course to have fun, partying in your home or that of a hostess for the express purpose of making home party sales and profits.

It boils down to, COMMUNICATION, which in humans is facilitated by three things:

i) neurons,

ii) neurotransmitters and

iii) cells. 

Our bodies communicate through chemicals (neurotransmitters) that are released by the pituitary gland and passed on to the responsive cells by neurons. The chemical substance of interest that facilitates communication that provides the positive side effects of *** is called dopamine. You can think of dopamine as the “I’ve got to have it” neuro-chemical, whatever “it” is. It’s the “craving” neuro-chemical.

The more dopamine one releases, the more your reward circuit is activated. The more “reward” you experience. A good example is food. I get a much bigger blast of dopamine eating high-calorie foods than I do low-calorie foods. It’s why I choose chocolate cake over Brussels sprouts (yuck!)

Dopamine is your major motivation, not the item or activity.  The motivation is pleasure. direct sales marketing then should be about activating the reward circuit as often as possible.  Remember neurons that fire together, wire together.



Home Party Plan Success Tip: Let your prospects associate you with all things good, all things pleasurable all things that create status.  



Why Are Home Parties  A  Serious Consideration For Tradiitional Business Owners?

There is the dopamine effect that we have highlighted.  Then there is the money and practically on the other hand.

Traditional catalogers and retailers are among the companies contributing to the home party industry’s growth. Monroe, WI-based Swiss Colony, for one, launched a direct-selling arm, Swiss Colony Occasions, in February of 2007. Direct Selling consultants/agents use a 24-page Occasions catalog to help them sell food, serving bowls, and decorative items. Bristol, PA-based women’s apparel merchant Jones Apparel Group in March introduced Million Wishes, a party-plan program that sells accessories such as jewelry, scarves, and handbags that complement the company’s other product lines.

There have been other recent big-name entrants into home-party marketing including Jockey, Crayola, Aerosoles, and Reader’s Digest’s Taste of Home division.

1.    It is an activity that both men and women can and do enjoy.  It is not uncommon to host adult home parties for couples.  Men just don’t get into candles and jewelry or kitchen knick knacks

2.    Adult toy parties at home are purely about education.  It is almost as though the advent of Viagra has given women permission to explore, ask questions, experiment and try new stuff.

3.    The other big reason home parties are a big it is that you get to sample.  We’ve all been to Costco.  We all love to try before we buy.  Trust me, the market research in try before you buy shows a fool proof method of getting repeat buyers.  Women attending a in home  show party get to try the lotions, and potions, the tingly gels and massage oils. They get to touch the various items. They get to see and smell.  Any activity that involves the 5 senses is bound to be cash cow because it doesn’t leave room for thought since the brain is so overwhelmed by sensory data!

4.    The atmosphere is one of ease, fun and calm.  Because of the weighty nature of the subject matter of money, a little jug of margaritas and some hor d’oevres go a long way to sate the nerves.  Nervous people make the worst buyers and our friends in lingerie home party plans have it all figured out.

5.    There is little or no guilt associated with the purchases.  When it comes to it buyers remorse tends to be very low.  People **** to feel pressured.  But we all know the postive effect peer pressure has on us, use it your advantage you savvy home party consultant you ?!



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