Encouraging a Friend: Helping a Host Prep for a Party

[beepampered]

I have a host having a party ten days from now (Sat. May 20). She was so sad cause no ones coming to her party and she's taking it personally. She wants to have the party (more for socializing than for the products) but is now feeling like a failure. I tried to encourage her to think of other people to invite but I'm not sure how I did since she had a co-worker walk in and my kids were fighting over something silly (with me trying to referee) most of the phone call. I think she said that she gave out 15 invites so I told her how the industry average is invite 40 and get 15 people at the party but I don't think that's what she wanted to hear since she was envisioning a happy gathering of friends - not acquaintances.

Anyway, I'm going to have to get a babysitter for this show (thankfully, a rarity) and don't really want to do the show but also don't want to lose a potential host. I want to call her back in a few days to pump her up a little more but am looking for pointers. She's single, has high school kids, works primarily with men and doesn't know their wives (although I did manage to tell her to give them a catalog cause they might order). She's very pleasant so I'm sure she has a wider range of friends than she thinks but I don't know if I should push her or just let her cancel.

Thanks for your thoughts....BEE

 

[soonerchef]

You could use the 50 guests in 5 minutes or whatever it's called, this way she will think of lots of people that she may not have thought about. The other option is to find out why people aren't coming and maybe reschedule for a better day for some of the friends.

Here is the sheet that I use...

 

[Jennie4PC]

has she gotten responses from all the people she invited? I had a host who once said they had like 10 no's so they cancelled the party and when she called everyone else she had about 5-6 people that were planning on coming. Some people just dont RSVP.

 

[CarlyK]

Also, you can encourage her to tell her friends or whomever else she is inviting that if they bring a friend, they will get a little incentive for coming. That might bring a few people to come along who didn't want to or couldn't otherwise?

 

[pchefinski]

Oh goodness don't let her give up yet. In our host coaching we ask that they do the RSVP calls the day before their party. When did she send out the invites? Some people may not have even gotten theirs yet. Others might have to wait for their next work schedule to see if they can come. Give it a little time. And while she's waiting, have her try to get 1 outside order per day (at least) between now and her show.. if she does that, she'll have 10 outside orders by the time her show comes along.. And if it happens that she doesn't have anyone to come to her party, she'll have gotten together a catalog show with minimal effort in the meantime! And she can book off herself for another party next month -- who knows, maybe all of her close friends are just really busy this month and next month they'll be free (school getting out, vacation time, etc). But no, I wouldn't let her just cancel with 10 days left before the party. Give it some more time. Be supportive, definately offer her the 50-in-5 sheet to do so she can invite more people.. maybe the hostess tic-tac-toe too. I know she wants really close friends, but this might be a chance to make new friends.

 

[cmdtrgd]

I was told one time that postcards are not guaranteed to get to the recipient!!! Maybe that is why I had lots of "surprised" guests when I called to remind them...either that or they lied to me...hmmm

 

[Kelley Sells]

I too was a "sad host"prior to doing Pampered Chef. I had a Silpada party for my neighbor who just began, I took the postcards, mailed them out but NEVER made the follow up calls. (guilty as charged I was NOT doing as instructed.) Needless to say I had 3 people here that night, she was dissappointed and it was pretty much the joke of the neighborhood.

I hosted my own first show as a PC consultant at my house, I TRIED to do everything right, I did the E-invites from my website, I sent them via mail, I did the follow up phone calls and the day OF the show (where before I had 15 confirms), I had 9 people call and bag out....so my neighbor was coming, and I was sooooo afraid it was going to flop again....I had 5 people here....

SO, for my own hosts, I took over sending out their einvites, I had them set up the email addresses, I had them put their addresses in, did up the labels for the postcards and dropped them off to the hosts. THEN I did the followup reminders on the website and then 3 days prior had the hosts calling for RSVP's.....so far this has worked very well, I actually did my last two shows where I mailed them myself as a bonus for the host.....my 2nd to last party had 15 people, my last party had 8....not bad at all and I made the SS2....

Tell her NOT to give up, and you shouldn't either......use those e-invites, if you have the website, it is the BEST thing, have her use her email address book to send to EVERYONE she can think of.....

I found from my 2nd show that I had booked at the beginning, she cancelled and from the talk in the neighborhood, there would've STILL been 5 people there, but SHE never called anyone.....

Oh, and I did a Partylite party for a friend 2 weeks ago? Well, I have gotten MUCH better as I had 12 people here AND I had her highest show sales ever.....woo hoo, and FREE stuff for me....WOO HOO.....

So DON'T GIVE UP.....Help her out with the invites, getting more things done, maybe she doesn't have time for calls? Maybe you both can split the reminder calls?

I wish you MUCH luck and success and hope that this show will surprise the heck out of you......

 

[beepampered]

15 invitesWell, she had only given out 15 invites and got responses from most of them - some with real and others with lame reasons for not attending. I gave her the flyer before but had not gone through the packet with her yet since the booking had just happened. (I am so blessed - she just walked up to me at church and said she was ready to book her party that I thought was going to be later this summer or never. That's like my sixth booking that's come out of the sky - yeah.)

I'm going to call again tomorrow night to see how it's going and encourage her some more. I don't want to sound too greedy by pushing the outside orders but I really think she might have better luck with that since she works with pretty much all men. It's funny how much of this PC stuff is pure Psychology 101. That's probably my favorite part but sometimes I don't want to see people sad because of their party. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Don't think you are being greedy!Bee,
When you talk to her about her show- what is she hoping to get from it? Outside orders are to help HER achieve HER GOALS!! SO don't think of it as being greedy - actually you are just helping her have the best show she can have - it's all about the host!

 

[beepampered]

Host Wants?Well, as with many of my hosts, she says, "oh, I don't care about the stuff - I already have so much. I just want to have fun with my friends." Of course, once they get $90 worth of free products, they enjoy all that shopping. But at the front end, the motivation is social so I try to keep it at that.

Darn, I forgot to call her tonight. UGHHHHH. BEE

 

[gabriwill]

e-vitesYou should definitely get her to send out e-vites. She'll get replies for sure. Do you have a PC website? Even if you don't the website, I think it is actually called E-vites, is free. If you know anyone who lives in her area and has been asking about shows, you could invite them to her show. Also you can see if she knows anyone who would co-host with her and therefore double her invite list. But small shows aren't necessarily bad. I have a show tomorrow with only 5 guests, but I will be optimistic that the orders will be big! It will be my smallest show ever. Luckily I have one of Saturday with 12guests.