A party with no bookings is a nightmare for us Party-Planners, isn’t it? What I found was that during my shopping time, where I would meet 1 on 1 with each of my guests, there were always those ladies that would do the runner out the door before you could catch them! Has that ever happened to you? The result was that I was always missing out on bookings and my hostess was missing out on her FREE PRODUCT because of that! Aaarrrgh, so frustrating!
So…. with my thinking cap on…. I decided to try some new strategies to fix this problem. I thought, “Imagine if there was a way that I could get 2 bookings before I even opened up for shopping time at my party! My stress levels would dramatically decrease and my income would sky-rocket! I wonder if there’s a way to do that?”
I tried and tested a few theories, using my background experience in sales as a Membership Consultant in the fitness industry…. Some ideas resulted in disastrous experiences of embarrassment and discomfort in front of all my party guests that I would wish upon no-one! HOWEVER… I don’t give up easily & I ended up using a strategy time and time again that enabled me to consistently book 7-8 parties a week, every single week for almost 3 years in a row! And this is not something that I used to do in the ‘Olden Days of the 90′s or Noughties’…. NO! This is cutting-edge stuff that I still used at all of my parties just this last week…. I got 2 bookings at every single party I held last week using THIS EXACT STRATEGY, can you believe it?
I call this strategy the “Group Bookings Pitch” and today I am sharing it with YOU!
This magical strategy allows you to get 2 or 3 bookings even before you open up for shopping time!
Traditionally, most party plan consultants skip right past this bit, they go straight to the shopping time, then attempt to meet with each guest individually to go through the 3 main offers, which are JOIN, BOOK, BUY. But what happens is, it takes time to meet with everyone, you miss some people as they sneak out the door before you realise and you have lost potential new business!
My new way of thinking is, that we can take another bite of the bookings cherry by offering the FREE PRODUCT in a group setting! That way, you can ask EVERYONE straight away before the food comes out and because you are offering the free product in a group, in front of the hostess and for everyone else to see who is and who is not booking, a little bit of healthy peer pressure goes a long way! What I mean by healthy peer pressure is this…. One of the main reasons that hostesses book is to help the previous hostess get her free products; friends help friends and friends WANT to help friends.
The ‘Group Bookings Pitch’ comes after you have done your product demonstration but BEFORE you open up for shopping time. I recommend you make it visual by holding and displaying your hostess rewards flyer, have your bookings calendar open and ready with your next 2 available dates and also have the list of your guest’s names close by so that you can refer to them personally. Of course, you will speak with enthusiasm, confidence and you will be smiling from ear to ear with an excited and friendly expression (even though inside your stomach may be doing somersaults and your knees are shaking….. this is what we professional party planners call ‘faking it till we make it!’ In other words, even when you are nervous, pretend you are not.
So, HERE’S HOW IT GOES:
“OK, Ladies, what we are doing next is giving away the FREE PRODUCT! So grab your free product brochures and come take a seat. What we are doing is giving away the FREE PRODUCT! This is how friends help friends have a fun get-together like we are doing today and it’s also the main way that we can help Sally achieve her hostess rewards and her free product! So, we are simply looking for the first 3 ladies who wish to say ‘yes’ to the FREE PRODUCT!
So, who wants to be the first to say ‘yes’ to the FREE PRODUCT?”
And the magic is that most times someone actually puts up their hand and says, ‘yes’! That’s it! So, you quickly go straight for the definite booking by saying something like, “So Jenny, what would you prefer…. Weekday or weekend?” You continue on, give her 2 dates to choose from that are as close as possible, then congratulate the hostess and explain what that achieves for her in front of the group. Then you announce in a big loud voice what the NEXT booking will upgrade your hostess to. And you ask the question again…..
“So, who wants to be the next one to say ‘yes’ to the FREE PRODUCT?”
At this point, you work your way around the group, making eye contact with each guest and asking her directly, but DON’T go through objections here, just be friendly, acknowledge each person individually and continue on. Most times, you will be able to achieve 2 bookings right there and then before you have even opened up for shopping time! It’s MAGIC!!
This doesn’t mean that you don’t offer the booking to each guest again at the time of placing an order. What you will find is that when you are talking to that guest 1 on 1, you then have an opportunity to overcome any objections she has and find a solution so she can say ‘yes’ to the free product as well.
So, NOW you are ready to open up for shopping time and to start taking orders…….
