How Do You Decide What Is a Success?

[krzymomof4]

I did a holiday bizarre on Sat. It was with 7 other vendors of other sales companies. I was not in it for the sales(they would have been nice), but mainly to get my name out there locally. They had split us up into 2 seperate rooms..4 in each. I only saw 7 people all day(4 were tried and true clients). Had 10 people enter my drawing. Took home $85 in orders, but 2 of the 3 orders came from the other vendors that were there. I got a definate kitchen show from the Longaberger lady and 2 possible catalog shows in January. I am out of pocket about $50 between what I bought to give away as prizes and extra catalogs and the booth rental.
I don't know whether or not to consider this a success or not. My husband has said he doesn't know if he will let me do this kind of thing again because it was sooo much aggrivation(long story).
What do you guys guage as a successful event so that I can assure my husband that it isn't as bad as we both think.

 

[fruit76loop]

I did a holiday bizarre on Sat. It was with 7 other vendors of other sales companies. I was not in it for the sales(they would have been nice), but mainly to get my name out there locally. They had split us up into 2 seperate rooms..4 in each. I only saw 7 people all day(4 were tried and true clients). Had 10 people enter my drawing. Took home $85 in orders, but 2 of the 3 orders came from the other vendors that were there. I got a definate kitchen show from the Longaberger lady and 2 possible catalog shows in January. I am out of pocket about $50 between what I bought to give away as prizes and extra catalogs and the booth rental.
I don't know whether or not to consider this a success or not. My husband has said he doesn't know if he will let me do this kind of thing again because it was sooo much aggrivation(long story).
What do you guys guage as a successful event so that I can assure my husband that it isn't as bad as we both think.

That is a good question! And I have an example for you!! I left a kitchen show, that I had traveled over 100 miles to get to, with 0 sales 0 bookings and 0 recruit leads. There were 4 people in attendance, even though the host said 15 had said yes. So, on the way home I thought to myself...WHAT DID I DO WRONG? Needless to say, by the time I got home, all I wanted to do was get in bed and go to sleep. Well, I decided the next morning to call the hostess to see how everything was going. She already had 5 orders and this was at 9 am! And she said that her sister wanted to do a show. So, I thought to myself...maybe it's not that bad. The show ended up at $400 and I had 1 booking. So I was satisfied. But the best part was once her sister had her show, she had $1500 in sales and I added a person to my team! So without this 0,0,0 show...I would not have had the wonderful show and now a wonderful team member!

So, I think it is hard to judge a shows success until you see what comes out of it! Just remember that if you were trying to get your name out there...then you did just that! Also, did you send out invitations or do advertising? This really helps the attendance of events like these! I always go in with the other vendors on newspaper ads and such!

 

[pamperedbecky]

I think Marlene's example is perfect! You just never know. Sometimes no leads will come out of it until a year later. I have that happen all the times with the various fairs and booths I do. One woman did a catalog show for me a YEAR later! And it was an $800 catalog show. The very next month she did another one because she loved that special too and it was $600!! She's about to do another one early next year. So, you JUST NEVER KNOW!

By the way, I think those stats you ALREADY have are pretty good! I think a Kitchen Show and 2 possible catalog shows is a really good return so far.

Here's what I would suggest: If you can swing it, call all the people who entered your drawing and tell them they've won a free kitchen show (you supply the ingredients and drinks). You may not have all take you up on it, but highlight the awesome host benefits, the upcoming host specials and that it would be no cost to them. All they need to do is get their friends there for a fun evening (or daytime, whatever). YOu may drum up another one out of there. I don't know if you have a website, but use those phone calls as an opportunity to promote online gift ordering for the holidays and tell them to check out your website. Good luck! I don't think that was unsuccessful at all....plus it may get better.

 

[danidag]

I just did a kitchen show last Saturday for a very good friend of mine that lives about an hour from me. She told me that there were about 8 people coming and that she had some outside orders. When I got there she only had 1 outside order, and only 2 people showed up. She didn't even qualify for any free money. I told her that I would leave her show open for another week for her to try to get some outside orders in the help her show. I spoke with her last night and she said that she did get 2 more outside orders and that her mom wanted to book a show and the other girl that came might want to do a show also. SO even thought it wasn't a big show as far as money goes...1 definate booking and 1 probable booking is a good thing.

 

[krzymomof4]

I guess I was discouraged because the sales and bookings were from other direct sales vendors. I don't want to feel like I owe them something if you know what I mean. I didn't want to get into the whole swap parties thing because I did that with the jewelry lady and that didn't work out to well. I was probably having a bad day and feeling sorry for myself.
Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.