Hosts Who Give Small Guest Lists...

[dannyzmom]

...how can we gently but firmly nudge them to cough up some more names?

 

[janetupnorth]

Maybe just say, "Hey, I was about to mail out your invitations and didn't notice any people with addresses on your street or around your house. Are there some neighbors you would like to invite too? Ever order helps get you more free items."...or remind them that only 25% of the people actually show up!I had one person give me a guest list of 8 people!!!! I tried and tried and couldn't get more. Luckily 6 of 8 showed up and with outside orders she had a $600 show. Sometimes you CAN'T get them to cough up more names no matter what you say...

 

[lkprescott]

You can try and make suggestions they may not have thought about... hairdresser, kids' teacher, other parents at kids' school, neighbors... etc. Or when you send out invites put a sticker on there that encourages the invited to bring a guest perhaps with an incentive. I don't panic when I see a short list. Sometimes it's a hand selected few the person KNOWS will come which could be more valuable than a list of 40 who may not show at all. I prefer quality over quantity any day, but that's me. I had a gal who gave me a list of 20... 3 showed up and one brought 5 friends... it was one of my highest shows to date!

 

[BethCooks4U]

My latest host gave me only 5 names but said 8 were coming. (She's a past host who has decent shows every year.) Well, all 8 were there and 3 outside orders so far and 3 bookings and she's talking to the outside order people about booking and her sales are at $500. Not too bad.

You just never know... oh, and yes, I have talked to her about the business! :chef:

 

[JAE]

The following is an e-mail I sent to a host. She is a host who is great with e-mail communication, so I didn't actually say this to her over the phone. She was supposed to have a show in February but rescheduled because she was sick. She gave me 24 names. For her rescheduled show she only gave me 13 because apparently she found out the first time that the others were not interested:

I'm sending out your invitations, today. Have you thought of anyone else to invite? Please, take the time to speak to everyone on your guest list. Let them know they may bring someone with them to your show. Also, let everyone know if they spend $60, they will get the Bamboo Spoon set (worth $8.50) for free.

With a $500 show you will get $90 in free product plus two items at 50% off. If everyone on your guest list spends about $39, your show will reach $500.

If you know anyone out of town who may like to place an order, it's very easy to do that from my website. You may send out invitations from there to people all over the country. They may choose direct shipping for the order to go right to their house.

Talk to you soon. Thanks.

Hope this helps.

 

[dannyzmom]

With a $500 show you will get $90 in free product plus two items at 50% off. If everyone on your guest list spends about $39, your show will reach $500.


Hope this helps.

That's a GREAT line!!!!!

 

[JAE]

That's a GREAT line!!!!!

When I was writing the e-mail I started by writing "Everyone on your guest list would have to spend $39 to get your show to $500." That would not be a good thing to word it that way. That's just how I was feeling at the time. KWIM?

 

[dannyzmom]

The host I am currently dealing with gave me a guest list of:
6 people in Michigan (show is in FL)
20 people in FL (but a good number of those people are children...)

I have addressed the invites "Jane and guest" and added "bring a friend get a free gift" stickers. I just know that lately even my hosts who provide guest lists of 50 are o nly getting like 10 to attend....so I am REALLY hoping to get more names out of her.

 

[JAE]

Most of my hosts only give me 24-30 names/addresses. I really stress the all over the country orders from my website. It's less $ for postcards with less than 40, and I'm finding that my attendance isn't any different than the 40 people lists. In almost every contact with my host I say something about sending e-mails from my website and how important it is to talk to each person on the guest list. I say it each time like I didn't say it ever before.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I used to try to get people to cough up more names - but I don't anymore. In fact, I just haven't seen a big difference in show totals whether people give me a list of 20 or a list of 40.

I've only had one host give me a list of over 25 people since the beginning of the year, and I've had 2 over $1000 shows this year so far (one of those was a 40 guest list, and one was a 12 guest list!), and my avg. for Jan was $689, and my avg for Feb was $520 (brought down I think by the 2 items for 60% off).

What I do encourage is for the host to hand out invites to people when they see them - I give them about 10 in their packet, and I address all of the invites to "Mary Smith & Friends". I also stress with them to ask everyone who can't attend if they would like to look at the catalog - and I give a few suggestions of things that people might like to purchase. I've actually sold as many Grill Baskets so far this month as outside orders! I just had a host who called and asked for more invites to pass out. I mailed out 18 invites for her, and she passed out 10, and now wants 10 more.

After the show, I let hosts know that most of my hosts can actually go up 2 levels by gathering outside orders. That works! I always leave them with the Show Tally Sheet - the one on supply order that shows where they are now, and then the next 2 levels.

 

[JAE]

I keep forgetting to address the invite with "...and Friends". I need to start doing that.