Open House- 1 year anniversary

Porchechef

Hello folks! I am having an open house tomorrow night. I want to see if there is anything else I should have.

I have 25 people RSVP'd (I invited 125 so not too bad!).

Here's what I am having-

Station 1- DCB display with the mexican chicken lasanga

Station 2- Appetizer- Greek Torte Dip- will display the batter bowl and small tools used

Station 3- Molten Chocolate Mini Cakes- displaying the pan used

Station 4- Ultimate Mandoline- guests will get to play with it

Display area- The booking slide idea- I made it into a bulletin board with statements like- Do you want fun with your friends while learning a new recipe? etc. I also displayed the benefits of hosting a cooking show/benefits of hosting a catalog show- very brief!

I will have order forms and catalogs ofc for the guests- I am giving away prizes for those who order, book a party, or bring in an outside order- I am using the host benefits as a prize- free products, 10% discount for the year, half-price products, etc. I already have 3 outside orders (I didn't have to ask for these yet).

I also will demo the 8" saute pan with the ice cube to advertise the August special for hosts.

How does this sound? Anything else I should remember? I don't want to be overwhelming.

By the way, I think the reason why I have so many people rsvping (I also did the reminder calls) is because I stated it was a "come and go" open house- they could come in anytime between 6-9.

Ok- thanks in advance for your comments!

taterbug

Sounds like you have it well planned. I did a come and go "Death by Dessert" deal one night, but it didn't go so great. I had invited close to one hundred people, but only about five or six showed up. I had made about seven or eight desserts.....
Those of us who were there had a good time and I managed to wrangle a little over $300 in sales. Since I was still in my first 90 day period, my son ended up with a $150 show and my husband ended up with one too.

emo812

I love all the details that you are sharing! The stations are a great idea too! I'm curious if you just mailed your invites or e-mailed them as well. Please update how everything went. I'm thinking about doing an open house in either August or Sept even though the July host special is so great!

Porchechef

Hi ladies! I apologize I didn't get to sit down and share my success!

It was a great open house! I had sales of $515 and 2 bookings and 2 potential bookings (which became bookings two days later) therefore 4 bookings!

I also had 2 potential bookings for fundraisers- I never thought of bringing this up before. There is so many details to share! But I mentioned the benefits of a cooking and catalog show. Then I explained the wedding registery and fundraisers- many people had questions about the fundraisers. I will be meeting with these two potentials next week about it.

Emo812- mailing invitations never did me justice for Open House (it works good for cooking shows). I just emailed through PWS and had details about the prizes and how many recipes they would be tasting. You should have a fall kickoff open house at the end of Aug or beginning of Sept.

Email me if you want more info about my open house :-).

Thanks!

Porchechef

OHHH I also added one more station- the Lemony Gingeritis (without the vodka) THIS WAS A HUGE HIT!!!!!!!!!

esavvymom

Thanks Tyler for sharing!

My 1-yr is Aug 31st also, so I'm thinking of trying a Anniversary/Fall Kickoff Open house too. I at least have more people to contact now (my other open houses for HWC and my grand opening were FLOPS- big time). But I've had several shows, more contacts, and maybe could get a few more people. We'll see. least by doing it at home- I am not lugging things somewhere.

Porchechef

That's right- and what you can do is invite everyone who has attended your shows. I invited about 125 and 25 showed up. My previous open houses has been a flop too! Its better once you have a larger number of people to contact and OFFER prizes! I offered 1 half price item, month host special, and $25 of free products (use the freebies that you earn from this show). I was excited cuz I was wanting the grill pan and was able to get it free AFTER giving away the three prizes I mentioned. You can do it! :-D