Boost Your Sales with My Curves - HWC Recap & Strategies for a Successful Show

[CarlyK]

Well, there isn't much really to be said about my day. I camped out, 8-5:30pm. My day was just slow. Until 3pm, I only had two orders. I would explain the pink HWC month, and even asked people to fill out survey slips to win free stuff, and only 4 people did.

Everyone kept talking about how they really don't need PC stuff and how it is so expensive. I explained that there is something for every budget and how you can get those expensive things for holding your own show.

I got a few sales totaling $119 (mainly thanks to a girl who bought 4 of the pink bar boards) and then 1 woman who is booked a catalog show right then and there and was starting it right away because she wants the cups & squares.

I have nobody to follow up with about a show or information except that one woman, and everybody checked "NO" on their forms. Oi vey, talking about a rough time?

I'm still really excited though and I have another Curves thing tomorrow in the next town over. I at least am hoping to hit the $150 mark with this to submit it as a show.

Tomorrow is a new day though!

 

[soonerchef]

Bummer that it wasn't what you expected but hey, at least you did get some orders and you never know what will happen at the next event. Way to go on staying positive!!

 

[AJPratt]

Carly: Try this... I just I did a 4H event. I called EVERYONE who filled out a slips, regardless of the answers, and told them that they won a free Kitchen Show or Cooking Class! I have 3 booked for June and four calling me back today with dates! I still have more to call!

When one lady asked what was involved I told her, "Well, since its a free show, you just have to give me names and addresses and I'll send out the invitations and we'll do a recipe or two, and I'll bring the ingredients. All you have to do is put out some chips and dip if you want and well, be home!"

I can't believe it worked!!!! I got out of my comfort zone and it felt great!

 

[CarlyK]

Better News to ReportWell, I just got home from the Curves lunch break (they close at a certain time for a few hours) and this morning was awesome. I had my food chopper on display, went on about how great it was, and managed to get 3 orders for them!

So far in the morning, the day had went so much better than 9 1/2 hours I spent at the other Curves, with a larger customer base. It's not much of a show though, but combined with the other one, it's sitting at about $250 in sales, which is awesome. I had $119 in sales in 9 1/2 hours and so far $137 in sales in 4 hours!

Woo hoo, I am excited, and I initially wasn't going to go back there in the afternoon, but I am going to and see what happens there.

 

[AJPratt]

Congratulations! The best part is your getting yourself out there, and being exposed to people who might not even know about PC. WAY TO GO!!!

 

[CarlyK]

Well... in the end, the fundraiser was $349 total, which isn't too terribly bad for a few hours and really no cost to me! So I am happy. I got a great response from the second Curves, so in all, it looks like everything went really well.

Today I am going to follow-up with my host is is doing a catalog show to get the cups & squares. I'm pretty excited & so was she, so hopefully this will turn out to be pretty awesome!

So, the fundraiser raised $34.90 for the ACS + $3 for the booking + $11 from the sales of HWC items. It's $48.90 and granted it isn't a huge amount, but at least it's a little something. I tried & that's what matters.

 

[AJPratt]

So, the fundraiser raised $34.90 for the ACS + $3 for the booking + $11 from the sales of HWC items. It's $48.90 and granted it isn't a huge amount, but at least it's a little something. I tried & that's what matters.

You're right! And $48.90 can go pretty far! I make a regular $25 donation to my local food bank and the director is just thrilled. The small ones add up! And just think, when we put your $48.90 in with the rest--its an impressive amount!

 

[Olivia'sMommy]

Hey all--I am new to PC, so I have lots of questions. What is the deal with Curves? I've seen people talk about doing displays there and I'm wondering if The Pampered Chef has some sort of special relationship with Curves... I recently qualified, ) and I have a full time job besides PC-- I'm looking for creative ways to get bookings. I haven't had the best of luck as of yet, but I'm staying positive! Thanks!

 

[AlowayFamily]

I would love some advice on Curves as well. I have a table display on Wednesday and I am not sure what to do. A co-consultant and I were there last week, and the response was dismal at best. What do you do to get them to come to your table? What do you do to entice them to buy products? It appeared they were almost scared to come to our table.

I am planning to wear my PC apron (didn't do that last time) and my name tag. I want to serve some food, but I want it to be in line with their efforts to get in shape, so a high-fat (although very good) food item is not the best. Any suggestions?

What should I display on the table? Do you bring a lot of product? I am new as well, so I don't have any of the new spring stuff.

 

[CarlyK]

I tried do different things at my Curves. The first one I was at had the same problem. Not many people wanted to come and check things out. I had the new spring products on display. If anyone in your cluster happens to have them, then ask if you can borrow them. Then I also had the HWC items out and on display. Nobody took the free information from the ACS that I had out.

The second Curves I went to, I decided to do things differently and I made a poster on a piece of foam board that I got from Wal-Mart. I put the information on it and then as the women were working out, they'd turn around and read it. 7 out of 10 times, the women would come up and talk to me a little bit after they were done and asking me for any extra details if they needed them.

For some reason too, I had the food chopper out, and it was a huge hit. I showed them how it came apart to wash it, and everyone "oohed" and "ahhed"

I was thinking about bringing food, but I didn't want people to feel obligated to come over because of free food or offend anyone because there were people on a ton of different diets.

It's pretty much up the each Curves to see if they will allow you to come in or not. Some of them will allow you to come in, others won't unless you're a member.

 

[pamperedbecky]

No, there's no official relationship with Curves. I'm not sure when it was first introduced here on chefsuccess, but I know I posted about it a LONG time ago because May of 2005 I came up with the idea of asking local Curves owners if they'd allow me to come in once or twice during the month of May because it was HWC and have a table with a few products displayed, especially the pink ones. The way this idea popped into my head was the summer before that I met a Curves owner at a party (totally unrelated to PC) but when I said I was a consultant, she offered me the opportunity to come to her Curves (it WASN'T close to me which is why I thought of pursuing area Curves the next time around) before the holidays to set up a table and get some sales. Thanks to her, it gave me the idea to call a bunch of them the following May. I called other places as well, but the Curves owners were the most receptive. I had a table at a couple different locations (different times of the day to catch a different crowd) I ended up having a few shows book from it, a good number of sales AND a host who ended up being a great consultant (hi Gina! ). This year Gina had a table at her Curves where she's a member and did awesome. I did two other Curves locations around us and will be at a 3rd on Wednesday. You never know how much traffic you'll get (be sure to ask the owner when her busiest times are), so there's no guarantee, but I figured it got the word out about Help Whip Cancer too. So far I've submitted two HWC fundraisers this month (a $220 one and a $475 one) comprised of the Curves orders and orders from my customers who needed products. Not too shabby! I'm hoping to have enough orders to submit one more fundraiser by the end of the month.

Ironically, I got a Home Office lead (being a Director is AWESOME!! I highly recommend it! ) last week from a woman who owns a Shape Express, which is similar to Curves. She invited me to be part of her "Fitness Party" event that she does periodically, so I'll basically be doing the same thing I've done at Curves. Don't bring too much to display. I usually only bring my card table, so there isn't much room. I bring the pink products, the chopper and a few of the new Spring/Summer colorful products. I always have a drawing for a few small things and a free cooking show. I then call most of the entries and award a free cooking show. Some take me up on it, some don't.

That's just a run-down of how this got started for me. The nice thing is you then can contact the same places year after year. I usually bring each owner a little something like a cookbook and a HWC pin or something as a thank you. Maybe around the holidays I'll approach them again to see if they'll let me set up a table. The main difficulty is that their busiest times seem to be Monday mornings. i've been lucky to get my mom or mother-in-law to watch the kids, but it's taken some coordination.