getting parties

what is it with the people where i live?

i go out of my way to leave tear of posters slips up in shops people tear of my information and dont get back to me.

and the attention slips i leave at the school office and shops the lot of those get taken and i still dont get a call or email.

and i did a letter box drop around where i live.

what am i doing wrong?

yeah i found that problem too when i did other party type sales. ive just started this and i had about 10 people say yeah i definantly will. ive only got 3 confirmed and 2 i gotta check dates.

its more the fact people just arent motivated to bother organising these things. they worry bout puttin on food cleaning the house people not showing up. Im doin an expo stall thing which is just advertising soon and Ill be taking peoples info instead of leaving it just to them to contact me.

maybe when you go to the school take a bag of lollies and strike up a conversation with another mother and try to get their details and explain how easy it is.

i find best approach is to get details rather than give them out as you only get about a 5% call back.

i hope you find some bookings

also try recreational things you do like join a sports team or your kids sports teams or take up a hobby thats only an hour a week and bother those people lol. waving lollies infront of people always gets them wanting more...

Always have a couple of catalogues in your handbag. It is dead easy to bring up CA in your general conversations too.

Let everyone you meet know. Like I have said here before, my Drs surgery has a catalogue, the dentist, the chiropractor, the dermatologist, the physio - everyone! (god, it sounds like I am falling apart! lol)

What has got these people's attention?? My email address. It is chocolateaddict@... or they ask in general conversation.

If you have young kids that do sports/activities/go to kinder/school, anything you can drop it in to conversations while watching the kids play.

Have a launch party at your place. Call it a mystery host party, anyone that orders over X amount (I say $20) goes on the draw to be the host of the day. Invite all your friends and ask them to bring a friend. At that launch party give them items that are not normally available to sample.
Last mystery host party I had here they tried the rocky road, freeze dried ice cream, choc stones etc..

Facebook - use it to your advantage. There are tons of buy/swap/sell pages, just check each one allows business advertising then go for it with a link to your facebook page. I got 5 bookings in one weekend from advertising on a few b/s/s pages.

If someone emails/inboxes asking for info and then don't get back to you just get back to them saying that spots are filling fast and if they want to book for "April" they better get in quick. It isn't pushy, more a reminder.

I was told recently that a survey was done by another party plan company (le reve maybe??) and you need to letterbox drop one house 8 times before the people actually take any notice.

I have done a few letter box drops but only gotten one party from over 200 drops. Word of mouth is easier and cheaper.

Also, next time personalised stationery is available get a car magnet. I got a once off order from a school mum cos she saw my car magnet. She also offered me a spot at a baby and kids market. I couldn't do it but she knows where to find me for future events.

Let up a mailing list with all your party contacts. Encourage them to fill out that part of the form. Easiest way to get them to do it is tell them you do not pass on the details to anyone else, including head office. I also tell them I never email begging for parties as I find that annoying and also that I am busy enough already that I don't need to hassle people. (they don't need to know my diary is empty!!)

Then once a month send out a newsletter. It reminds them of the product. We do a monthly newsletter from head office, it is normally emailed out to our contact list (over 1500) people. Sign up for it if you haven't already, though it will be going online at the shop site soon. You can still email your customer base to let them know of any new flyers, monthly specials etc...

Hope that helps. This time of year is a bit quiet because of Easter, so the rest of April is usually quiet but it does pick up once they get over the whole Easter thing.

Thanks Michelle,

Do you know when personalised stationery is available again

We only closed it at the beginning of March so probably won't be available til July/August?? I am not too sure.

You can buy the business cards and flyers etc in generic form at any time.

Michelle do you have a standard letter you use when approaching local sports clubs etc to hold a party?

No, sorry. I have never approached anyone to do a party, they always come to me.

Perhaps ring the club and find out who the social secretary is and speak to them directly.

I actually do a lot of retirement villages but they are mostly buy on the day type ones so you need to have a lot of stock on hand. Again, I have always been approached by them. They see me at other market days or attend a party etc..

Post on your facebook wall that you do sports club etc fundraising, it can't hurt to try and it is free.

i was all set this month to get my free products with 7 parties booked and now i am down to only 3 parties for the month. everyone has cancelled their parties.
what else can i do?
help me please
i have tried to convince them to have a catalogue party but i have found that hardly ever works out in my area.

I had a couple of cancellations too this month. It sucks but there isn't much you can do. I usually just ask if they are ready to re-schedule the party, not much more you can do.

I too am having trouble with parties since moving here to the NT. People are very interested but not keen on confirming a date and having the party. Lots of people too live in singles accommodation so don't have room for parties. i am thinking that I am going to have to have more mystery host parties so that people don't have to use their own houses. This option also makes it easier for me in one way as I don't have to cart the stock around in the heat.

And that is why you will probably be our only ever NT Rep! lol

I was pretty quiet in July but August - busy as!! I have also been getting a lot of fundraiser market requests so it is that time of year again.

I only do them if my friends ask or I have nothing else booked.

I am loving the information you are providing Michelle.. One question? You mentioned about personlised stationary etc.. Do we have to order through CA or can we get them done ourselves, say VistaPrint?

You have to get it through CA. You should have gotten a flyer with the things on it. If not, on the bottom of the P/O it lists the things. At the moment it is just a name badge and personalised flyers. They are ones that advertise the business and have the tear off tags on the bottom that has your information in them.

We used to have car magnets and other things too but no more.

Ok thankyou