Does Anybody Give Away Something at Every Show?

[pamperedcheermom]

I have some shows coming up and just wanted to see if all PC consultants give away free stuff at their shows. I did "another" type of business for about two years at every show the hosts were more concerned about what they got for free rather than having a good show. With the "other" business, anything they got for free or at a discount came out of my pocket. The company gave nothing away to the host. This is one reason I joined PC because the company pays for the free products and it doesn't come out of my pocket. And the fact that I LOVE LOVE LOVE PC PRODUCTS!
I've given the hosts a mini whipper or the $1 cookbook but I had one who looked up the product in the book and mentioned that she knows how much it cost me. I found that to be very rude considering I wasn't obligated to give her anything.
My director said she doesn't give ANYTHING to the host at her shows. I like this idea but what do you say when a host asks what she's getting for free. :cry:
I don't want to be known as "The PC consultant who gives away free stuff at her show" because that's where it went with the "other" business I had. It got out of hand and I wasn't making any money so I got out of the business.

Any advice!!!????

 

[SandiLeigh]

I just started with Pampered Chef and I have only been giving out a Season's Best to each of my hosts. I have been adding to thier order at the end so it only costs be about $1.60 (in Canada)

Also, curious about how many free things people give out during thier shows.

How much money do you personally spend at each show?

 

[chefgailliard]

I bring little or extra stuff for the guests to get them to fill out the info sheets for the newsletter, to get booking leads, and follow-up customer service. If I am running a special for hosts, I usually do it when I am needing shows. But when I book shows from people who are genuinely interested, I don't offer a gift. I do give them something small when I submit their order as a thank you, such as the hand soap or a seasoning, but I don't advertise it if I don't have to. Hosts usually host for the free products. That's what you should emphasize as the free products earned will be worth more than any gift you can give them.And that was rude that the person decided to tell you how much the gift you gave her cost. What happened to it's the thought that counts?

 

[chefann]

I give the host a Season's Best, but I pass it around and have all the guests sign it. I use that as the lead-in to mentioning the SBRC as an add-on, and to mention the host program.For a door prize, I give away free shipping.

 

[missyciccolella]

At my shows, I always give my host a Season's Best Cookbook and have all the guests write a little something to the host. I give a door prize - the winner gets to choose from the bag and usually is either a quikut knife, retired Season's Best, Twixit Clip, Citrus Peeler, or 1 bamboo sm spoon (those who bring an ordering guest get a little gift too). I do use a booking tree (pick this date and get a gift), but the gifts are smaller like spice of your choice as show closing, or choice of recipe card collection at your show...usually around $5, but the show has to be held within the next 2-4 weeks. Also, when I give the host a gift of any sort, I use her host discount. Hope this helps.

 

[pamperedlinda]

I usually give the host a SBRC. If I remember that they won it at an earlier show I'll give them something else from my stash (maybe the discontinued bamboo tongs). I always add a surprise on to their host order too - usually a spice or small serving spatula, if it's a $1000 show I'll add a more expensive item.

For guests I usually give out 2 gifts, one for the door prize slips and another for my ticket game. If it's a really large show I might do 2 drawings. These are discontinued SBRC, Qiukut Knife, Twixit samples (I put 4 clips in a snack-size baggie, one lg, one med, two small).

 

[J.Corley]

Same here, my host gets a SBC.
If my host asked me what she got for free, I would repond in a very excited way. "Suzie Host, FREE is why I love Pampered Chef so much. They love pampering my hosts for me! Depnding on the level of success of you show tonight/tomorrow/next week you will have your own shopping spree. Mos of my host have a spree from $60 to $90 FREE in addition to half price items. If there is something still left on your list you'll still not pay full price with a discount of 20-30% with your show and 10% for a whole year after. And if you fill your seats, I'll help fill your kitchen!"

If you have them thinking from the start about what their goal is and tell them how to get to that goal (i.e. attendance) they will never question you for FREE stuff.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

I also give my hosts a SBRC. I write a little thank you for hosting note in it & this month I plan on sending it around to have guests sign it. I also have a door prize drawing at the end & the winner can pick from my goodie bag of twixits, old SB, quikuts, etc. Plus I also give anyone who brings an adult guest a gift & the guest gets a gift too. Those are also out of the goodie bag.

I do not offer booking gifts or any other incentives like that (I do usually offer something at my open house each year for booking--this year it was a caramel or cinnamon sprinkles). So I'm only out of pocket a few dollars each show.

I say, do what you feel comfortable doing & if a host says something (which is rude anyway!), mention how great our host program is. I don't go to shows like ours just for free stuff, I go for the fun, food & great tips. So play up on that!

 

[finley1991]

WOW! I don't ever give anything free to my hosts! Because she's getting a ton free with her host benefits. I give a SBRC to the winner of the door prize and free shipping to the winner of the on-time drawing.

I don't offer anything else free... no booking gifts or anything like that either.

 

[sfdavis918]

I don't give anything to the host anymore either. I used to but stopped. Now I give a Season's Best to the door prize winner. If I do a game then I give free shipping.

 

[crystalscookingnow]

I give the host a Season's Best, but I pass it around and have all the guests sign it. I use that as the lead-in to mentioning the SBRC as an add-on, and to mention the host program.

For a door prize, I give away free shipping.

This is exactly what I do too. Sometimes if I play a game, I give away a quickut or something of that nature.

When the host asks what they get for free, tell them it depends on what their show totals are! Your average hosts receive $## in free products & she can too when she reaches a "$###" show!

 

[pamperedcheermom]

Thanks everybody! These posts have helped alot. I think I'll do the door prize drawing at my next show and give them the SBC. As for the host, we've had her show planned since July but she had to reschedule twice. She's had PLENTY of time to get outside orders but as of now, she has one. She didn't send out the invitations I gave her b/c she said she knows who is coming. Not sure what to expect from the show but at least I know I'm not giving her anything as far as product value. I am doing dessert for her, only because I already have the ingredients. I don't mind doing that b/c I know she's on a really tight budget. She's buying the ingredients for the main dish though.
Any other ideas are greatly appreciated! I love how quick everybody gets back with to us with their thoughts on this website.

 

[Chef_2_Four]

I usually give a SB to the host. I gave a friend the caddy for the SA small bowls. I already had one and got it when I got the pink bowls. I knew she would use them, and she bought the small bowls to go with it. Other than that I don't give anything.

 

[PampMomof3]

Hey Sandi,

I along with everyone else (well most ) give a SBRC and also pass it around for all the guests to sign. The hosts really like the personalization of the note I add to it and also the guests. I feel good when I give it out as well. I also have a bag of goodies (twix its, quick cuts, nylon scrapers and citrus peelers) and we play a couple games during my demo. I give away 2 or 3 prizes per show. I also let the dpds pick from this bag.

Also, Sandi, who's your director? Is she in Rock Hill?

 

[heat123]

Hmm, after reading all of these posts I think I need to scale way back and pocket more profit for myself!
I give the host a SBCB signed and I used to give them a chocolate heart using my old stoneware heart mold, until it broke. So then I started giving them a prep bowl filled with chocolates.
I do a game so I give away the raffle prizes of their choice and then the door prize drawing, again their choice of the: can strainer, easy opener, i-slice, quickcut, citrus peeler etc. basically all of the items avail on the order supply sheet is what I carry for prizes.
I think I should just stick with the citrus peeler, twixtis, scrapers, old SBCBs and that's it to keep it cheaper for myself!

Thanks for your thread for a wake up call to myself!

 

[kam]

I just started and I give the Season's Best to the host. (When I hosted in the past I always liked getting the SB).

I figure the SB is really only 60 cents for us. I also started the bring a guest or outside order and get a gift thing. I was giving a choice of a Quickut paring knife or 3 twixits tied with 2 recipe cards.

Somewhere on here (chefSuccess) was the idea of little spice bags. There are labels to put on the bags. Also, someone on here at posted a fold up tag for the dill spice that I thought was nice.

I figure the spices cost us $3.75(?) and I make up the tag for Southwest or Dill dip for HALF a dip recipe that is listed on the bottle. That way I am only using 1-1/2 tbsp Dill Seasoning per bag. I only made a few so did not count how many bags I could get out of each bottle - but I figure it HAS to be more than 6 (which makes the cost VERY cheap).

At my last show everyone was hoping they would win the door prize so they could get the Southwest Seasoning sample (and that was my lowest cost giveaway - I was giving them a choice of the mini whipper or one small bamboo spoon).

 

[lockhartkitchen]

I too agree that our host program is so great, that I really brag up the host booking benefit at my shows. I do a drawing with the slips for the guests for something small like others mentioned. A new game I really like that gets guests more involved is the word game. I hand a guest an item (cinnamon sprinkles, etc.) When I say the word of the day "mix" the first person to say it gets to hold the item. It becomes very competitive and they love it. The last person holding the item gets to keep it.

During the holidays, end of november shows-December I bring a gift box wrapped up. The first guest to book a show gets to take off the ribbon, the second booking gets to unwrap the paper. The third booking gets to take out the item out of the box and present it (a picture) to the host. The host gets that item when the third show is booked. With the outlet store, the towel only cost $2.00. With the great host benefits for January, they will all want to take advantage of booking a show.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I give the host a Season's Best, but I pass it around and have all the guests sign it. I use that as the lead-in to mentioning the SBRC as an add-on, and to mention the host program.

For a door prize, I give away free shipping.

I do exactly what Ann does - with the addition of giving a Twixit clip if the show is their first PC show.

 

[DebbieJ]

I used to give the host a SBRC and I would joke "now I know most of you know this cookbook is only a dollar so you're probably thinking I'm pretty cheap, but do you know how much Suzy Host is going to get for FREE today?" and I go on about the host benefits.

I have a ton of I-slices that I had bought for another use, so now I give those to my hostesses, saying she'll need it to open all of those boxes she's going to receive....again, it leads into the host program. It also shows the guests a product that they might not notice otherwise and I find I'm selling more I-slices now.

For the drawing slips, I have a basket with Citrus Peelers, Quikuts, Twixits, and Nylon Pan Scrapers. I draw a slip for every five guests and those folks get to choose out of the basket. Then I draw one last one as the "grand prize winner" and I give that guest a SBRC from a past season.

Finally, I offer a gift to anyone willing to do my dishes. That gift is the current SBRC.

 

[pamperedcheermom]

Hey Sandi,

I along with everyone else (well most ) give a SBRC and also pass it around for all the guests to sign. The hosts really like the personalization of the note I add to it and also the guests. I feel good when I give it out as well. I also have a bag of goodies (twix its, quick cuts, nylon scrapers and citrus peelers) and we play a couple games during my demo. I give away 2 or 3 prizes per show. I also let the dpds pick from this bag.

Also, Sandi, who's your director? Is she in Rock Hill?

No, my director lives out of town! She's wonderful and I've learned a lot from her. Where do you live?

 

[obxchef]

Same here! I usually give my hostess the SBRC in their host packets. I usually ask them to pick out a recipe for their show from it. If the hostess is a repeat hostess I give her one of our spices and say "Thank you for allowing to come back into your home to "Spice up " your evening. Everyone usually laughs. I have also given "Spree" candy to the hostess before. And said "Hostess Suzie is so excited that you guys game out tonight because she is going to go on a "Shopping Spree" after you all leave. Then I talk about the host benefits.

For the guests. . .if someone helps me with the recipe direction I give them last seasons SBRC. For my prize drawing. . .I do a couple of different things. If there is more than 15 buying guests I will give out free shipping handling. I mark it as a consultant gift in P3. But if there is less than 15 they can pick from my basket. And my basket they can pick from the old bamboo tongs, quick paring knife, citrus peeler, SBRC (old ones) and a few other things.

Oh I forgot. . .Silly me! I have also made a 2nd recipe (prepared it when I got to the hostess house) if she had more than 10 RSVP guests and 5 outside orders when I arrived for her show.

 

[chefann]

I almost forgot - I take some SBRCs from past seasons for people who bring a friend. (Bring a friend get a gift.) And the past couple shows I have a little thing as the prize for the "Have it love it" ticket game. I've been using 1 clip from the help whip clips and a little notepad shaped like a candy corn. I'll change that in November to something I've got in my prize stash.