Have you tried hosting an open house with other vendors?

[Princess]

Just wondering if you guys have had success with shows with other vendors displaying their stuff? I was thinking of doing one

 

[lde1403]

I have done an open house with a Mary Kay rep and had over $500 in sales. I was very pleased with the turn out. We really advertised it and worked it. We also offered some door prizes and things. Let me know if I can help you.

 

[Princess]

I was thinking of having one in the penthouse of my parents building & inviting 3-4 other vendor consultants

 

[AmyLee]

I participated in a Christmas Demonstrators Expo. There were vendors from all over - Mary Kay, Candlelight, Tupperware, Southern Living, etc. I had over $500 in sales at mine as well. People flocked to the table when they saw the Pampered Chef sign. Some even knew what they wanted before they looked at a catalog! I am going to participate again in it next year.

 

[kimcooks4u]

Did you have a goal for your display?Did you do this to get bookings, sales, recruiting? Was it a cash n carry display? I've found people WANT IT NOW! How did you handle this?

Also, I'm having a hard time finding places to hold these events, vendor fairs, Bingos, etc. Hotels don't want any sales going on. HWC month is coming up and if I could find a place to help support that it would be great. Any thoughts?

 

[pampered gal]

I have a host who is having me with Pampered Chef and one of her friends with Tastefully Simple do a show. I hope it goes well for me. Anyone have ideas for drawings? It seems to be the thing to do now, having more than one type of party at the same time.

 

[AmyLee]

The Demo Expo I was involved in was held at a church. I didn't have any cash and carry, but I will next time. The vendors that did had a lot of success with that. I just had everyone place orders at the time and tacked on the individual shipping charge so I didn't have to hand deliver.

 

[heat123]

I had one for christmasAt my house with Mary k, a scrapbooking co, and a purse and jewlery lady. Must have been a bad time of year to do it! We sent out 150 invites and only 16 people showed! My sales was about $400+ so I was happy I did it!

For cash and carry items I bought all the door prize things on our paper supply. Put together 4 batter bowl cookie recipes to sell and some gift sets with again misc. door prize items. Got a few sales on these small things but mostly eveyone ordered from the catalog.

good luck if you decide to do one!

 

[monica_sweetconsultant]

i do a craft fair/flea market every month and anytime i get an order i pay the direct shipping for them. when i did the day after thanksgiving sale i ended up with 300 dollars worth of orders....one order went all the way to atlanta!! its a real nice incentive...they save money!!

 

[Harrle]

C & C discount?When you have cash & carry do you offer any sort of discount on it? I have some current and retired items and was thinking I would offer 10% off on current and 20% off on retired items. I participated in a 'vendor blender' the 10th of Dec. I think that was too close to Christmas because I didn't have much in sales at all!

 

[KathyG]

Did you do this to get bookings, sales, recruiting? Was it a cash n carry display? I've found people WANT IT NOW! How did you handle this?

Also, I'm having a hard time finding places to hold these events, vendor fairs, Bingos, etc. Hotels don't want any sales going on. HWC month is coming up and if I could find a place to help support that it would be great. Any thoughts?

I do a lot of booths during the year and I almost always get the question if they can buy it now. Most people that know PC know that they have to order it. What I tell people who want it now is that's the great thing about my business that I do not have to keep stock at my home. (The company now has such a fast turn around with orders that it does not take long at all to get an order in, especially if they order from my website!)

My point is to not feel pressured to have things to actually physically sell at an open house or anything like it, just because the other business' do. To me it is a great feature to not have to keep stock and that is a great recruiting benefit!

 

[BethCooks4U]

I do a lot of booths during the year and I almost always get the question if they can buy it now. Most people that know PC know that they have to order it. What I tell people who want it now is that's the great thing about my business that I do not have to keep stock at my home. (The company now has such a fast turn around with orders that it does not take long at all to get an order in, especially if they order from my website!)

My point is to not feel pressured to have things to actually physically sell at an open house or anything like it, just because the other business' do. To me it is a great feature to not have to keep stock and that is a great recruiting benefit!

Another thing to point out to people at fairs that want cash and carry is that with us they don't have to carry it around for the rest of the day. It can be delivered directly to their door (or if they live locally I can bring it to them).

 

[jody]

multi-vendor eventI am coordinating an Open House with 4-5 other vendors in mid-February. Tupperware, Mary Kay, Signature Homestyles, Stampin' Up, and Cookie Lee, so the selection should be pretty diverse. Several of us are newbies to our respective businesses, so we're all hoping for some bookings, cash, etc. Any tips from anybody who's been through this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated.

At this point I'm doing most of the work, but others have offered help. We'll advertise in the local paper with a flyer insert and then there's a free paper that is distributed to surrounding towns and counties. In total we figured that with venue rental and advertising that it won't cost more than $40 for each of us and everyone seems satisfied with that amount. Hopefully it's a successful day for all of us.

Since it's so close to Valentine's Day (will be held on Feb. 12), I'm wondering if I should decorate in hearts and the like and have any kind of theme to my booth. (I'm only in SS2, so this is all very new to me) Would the batter bowls with mixes sell well or does anyone have other suggestions for cash & carry gifts?

Thanks a bunch!
Jody

 

[kimcooks4u]

Where are you holding this event? I've called some hotels and they don't allow exchange of $. Same with our Community Center - unless it is a fundraiser for the local kids baseball league.

 

[Chef Jill]

I am coordinating an Open House with 4-5 other vendors in mid-February. Tupperware, Mary Kay, Signature Homestyles, Stampin' Up, and Cookie Lee, so the selection should be pretty diverse. Several of us are newbies to our respective businesses, so we're all hoping for some bookings, cash, etc. Any tips from anybody who's been through this kind of thing would be greatly appreciated.

At this point I'm doing most of the work, but others have offered help. We'll advertise in the local paper with a flyer insert and then there's a free paper that is distributed to surrounding towns and counties. In total we figured that with venue rental and advertising that it won't cost more than $40 for each of us and everyone seems satisfied with that amount. Hopefully it's a successful day for all of us.

Since it's so close to Valentine's Day (will be held on Feb. 12), I'm wondering if I should decorate in hearts and the like and have any kind of theme to my booth. (I'm only in SS2, so this is all very new to me) Would the batter bowls with mixes sell well or does anyone have other suggestions for cash & carry gifts?

Thanks a bunch!
Jody

I have done a multi-vendor event at a friend's home in early Dec.(Mary Kay, Southern Living, Traveling Vineyard). It was a good way to meet people and get some bookings. The great thing was, there was no vendor fee! I had a baskets of misc. small items and random inventory that people enjoyed the "cash and carry" option with. Sccops, spatulas, scrapers...these things tend to go over very well for me. A theme idea is great. I tied red, green and gold ribbons around the products...maybe pink and red for Valentine's day? Good luck. It was a lot of fun. We each had our own area for people to view products and catalogs. I did have a couple of orders, and was able to give personalized attention to each person as they came by.

 

[saradest]

Pampered Chef & Tastefully Simple Open HouseI had an open house at my home with my sister in law that sells tastefully simple. We each had over $1000 in sales, we were very pleased. We made her food and served it on all PC items. It was a hit!

 

[jody]

Open House venue

Where are you holding this event? I've called some hotels and they don't allow exchange of $. Same with our Community Center - unless it is a fundraiser for the local kids baseball league.

We're holding it at the local VFW Legion building. Electricity, tables, chairs, kitchen and all accessories are available if needed for only $75. There is no restriction on money exchange.

 

[bbauman07]

Jody,
I would love to know how this goes. I have down multi vender events (2 good and 1 bad) before but I have never thought of hosting one.

 

[jody]

update on Feb. 12 eventI thought I'd update you all on the progress made so far with planning this event. To date I have 8 vendors participating (including myself). Tupperware, Cookie Lee jewelry, Stampin' Up, Mary Kay, Signature Homestyles, Lemongrass Spa products, PartyLite, and Pampered Chef. The funny thing is that I know all of these people and we all live nearby or have ties to home. Word of mouth is a powerful thing and everybody knows somebody. With advertising and expenses, it's averaging out to be less than $25 for each person.

I spoke with my director yesterday and she had some great ideas. Since I'm pretty much the only one involved with food, she suggested I make something that smells great and strong enough to attract people to the booth. She suggested Stir-Fry apples. She'll send the recipe and is letting me use her portable burner to use the double-boiler on. She also suggested Tuxedo Strawberries and to go with a Valentine's Day theme, along with implementing a few bridal ideas, like a kitchen tool bouquet. If anyone has any ideas on how to do the bouquet, I certainly would appreciate that.

I'll keep you all posted on the outcome. I'm waiting to hear on one last vendor who sells Tastefully Simple and I think we'll have a great variety. (This may be my only competition in that food is involved.)

-Jody

 

[ldanti]

How?

I have done an open house with a Mary Kay rep and had over $500 in sales. I was very pleased with the turn out. We really advertised it and worked it. We also offered some door prizes and things. Let me know if I can help you.

at vendor shows do you take orders? and are they done individual or part of a show?

 

[mistym]

I just closed a $1000 multi-vendor show I did with a Partylite consultant. I was very happy and it worked out well. I did an interactive demo where I had the guests come and make thier own wraps using all my tools. This way they could do it at thier lesuire. I think it worked out really well.

Misty

 

[ldanti]

I just closed a $1000 multi-vendor show I did with a Partylite consultant. I was very happy and it worked out well. I did an interactive demo where I had the guests come and make thier own wraps using all my tools. This way they could do it at thier lesuire. I think it worked out really well.

Misty

Wraps? what ingredients did you bring?

 

[lisacb77]

I like that one! Maybe you can take a prepared recipe to show off a stone and then have stuff out for them to try? I like that...

 

[jody]

orders at vendor fairsI usually make it a mystery host and advertise it as such. I require at least a $30 order for them to be entered into the drawing for the mystery host. YOu have to choose whether you charge everyone for direct shipping or not. Most of mine have been local to me, so I'm willing to have it shipped to me and sort it and deliver it to those who order.

 

[Sk8Mom209]

I just did a "boutique". I made the host the homeowner. It was a very nice evening. I really did not know what to expect, so I brought boxes of duplicates and discountinued product for cash and carry, but ended up not bring any of that in, just set up display on the kitchen bar. It worked well, no one expected products that night and I have several sales, with more outside orders to come and booked two shows. No bad for 2 hours time.

There were several vendors, purses, Cookie Lee, Tastefully Simple, Arbonne and Gold Canyon Candles. Everyone seemed to be doing well.

 

[GetCookingTiffany]

So Excited!I did an open house today with 2 other vendors and my sales so far are $804 - We're expecting a few more orders to come in! Plus I have a booking for December, a wedding registry and a possible recruit!!

 

[mistym]

Wraps? what ingredients did you bring?

I just did veggie wraps and everyone seemed to like them - onions - chopper, tomatoes - forged cutlery, lettuce/cucumber - crinkle cutter, mushrooms - egg slicer, sour cream - EAD, Mayo in pepper that I cut with V cutter. I used my cutting boards the measure cups and other cutting boards I had. I grated the cheese in with grater ummmmm....i think that was it. Next time I might do something a little tastier - IE sweet chilli chicken and veggies.


Very simple and effective

M

 

[lisaterwilliger]

I'm doing a huge multi vendor open house on the 21st, the Tuesday before BLACK FRIDAY! It started with me and a Home Interior lady and is now 17 vendors! I hope that isn't too many but I figure if we each invite at least 10 people that would be 170 people at one place..that can't be a bad thing! I'm also putting a huge ad in the free paper that goes around town and local towns and also in the newsletter at our local hospital. We are having it from 5-8 on our busy main street at a bar that has a banquet room. We're going to have lots of tables in the middle of the room so people can just sit and have a drink if they want and look through catalogs..I really am hoping for some big sales! I haven't been as busy as I would like lately...I have 4 open houses this season and one was yesterday and today and so far I've only had like $40 in sales..its kind of a bummer so far but lets hope the leads I get out of the deal make it worth while!

 

[lisaterwilliger]

I had to tell everyone that I had my open house last night and so far my sales are over $1000! I am soo happy! This could not have come at a better time! This will definitly be a high priority event for me next winter!

 

[tlennhoff]

I had to tell everyone that I had my open house last night and so far my sales are over $1000! I am soo happy! This could not have come at a better time! This will definitly be a high priority event for me next winter!

That is great lisa. Way to go. You must be so excited.