How Many Times to Call Hostess?

[Happy Mom]

I have a booked party on Friday. The woman is a friend. I have called her 7 times in the last week to ask about the # of guests for the show. I have been pleasant and upbeat and excited about the show. My son was at her house last night, and her son said she knows she owes me a call. I asked her to call me today. Still no call back from her.

I do not want to be a pest, but this is a rescheduled party from the summer.
Should I continue to call her, or just assume the party is off? Last time she did the same thing and cancelled at the last minute. Because she is a friend, I am doing a weekend show for her because she has Fridays off.

What should I do?

 

[MSmith]

Gosh, it's so hard to be in limbo...I feel like that every time I call a host and I don't get to speak with her. And most of the time, if I have a difficult time contacting them, they will cancel last minute b/c they never even sent out the invitations (which is where the advice to send out invites comes in handy!)

I don't know if you are leaving messages, but I would try one more time and say "I haven't been able to speak with you personally this week but I can't wait for your show, I'll see you on Friday at 6pm. Thanks for helping me kick off my business...you are a great friend!".

And if your son hangs out over there...pick him up/drop him off and speak with her face to face. Maybe have the excuse to drop off more catalogs that she can pass around or some other thing related to her show.

 

[ChefNic]

Do you trust that she will follow through for you? Was she excited about having a show?
I had a host once that I could never get ahold of. I would leave messages, and she'd never call back. I think I actually talked to her once before her show - after the initial booking talk - and I was worried.
I packed up, went to her house, fortunately it was in my neighborhood, and went to her door (carrying nothing in case she wasn't home) I didn't know if she would even be home!...
She answered the door, fully ready, and had over $400 in outside orders!
Granted, only her mother came, and her mother's order was part of the $400. But still I was so happy that she had all those outside orders... and her mother booked!

Hopefully this lady wouldn't cancel twice on you.
Don't count on any ONE show to carry you through the month... while waiting to hear from her, get a couple more bookings. The shows I thought would be great,sometimes aren't...then I dread other shows, and get a few bookings &/or a ton of sales! You just never know!

Good luck! I'll be checking back here to see how it turns out.

 

[Happy Mom]

I called her again yesterday and left a message about Friday's party. She was home because her son called a little while later to speak with my son.

It must be someything in the air. Another woman called to book a show; she told me when she would be home. The first time she was unavailable, and the next three times I left messages on her machine about her booking request. I called four times, but she did not return my call.

Who knows? We live in an area where people are very lax about courtesy. So I am going to concentrate on other avenues about PC.

 

[kitchenqueen]

Have you or the host bought the ingredients yet for the demo? If not - I would call tomorrow and offer to buy the ingrediants for her (she could just pay you pack) as a favor and ask how many she is expecting so you can better plan out the menu, etc. That to me would be another great excuse to call and hopefully she will feel the need to call you back about it.

Anyway, let us know how it goes. We all run into hosts like this every now and then. Just don't get down on yourself - you know you did all you could do. There is only so much we can do to help our hosts have a successful show!

 

[Happy Mom]

Yes, I had already purchased the ingredients; called her again last night and left the last message. I told her that since I had rec'd no response after leaving so many messages and talking with her four times in early August about her show, I assumed she was cancelling. I made a total of ten calls, and I would think if she did not want to rescedule her original show that she should have told me that from the beginning. We even planned the menu, etc.

I have no idea what happened, but if she suggests rebooking for a third time, I would be leary.

 

[Yvonne]

Lax HostsI had a lady at a show in January who booked so her friend would get the booking points, but didn't set up a date straight away due to domestic problems. I was new and needed the booking, so I said I would call her in February, which I did and she said the time wasn't right, I called in March and left a message, I called in April and left a message, I called in May and left a message. In June I left a message saying "let me know if you are not interested because I feel like I am stalking you". In July I left a message. Finally in August she answered when I called. She said "I am really not interested, that's why I haven't rung you back". Well I'm sorry but I lost it! I managed to control my temper (just), and I said through gritted teeth "If you had rung me back in March, I could have saved myself a lot of phone calls". I actually saw her a few days later in the street - she did have the decency to look sheepish. Not sure how I would feel if I ran into her again, but then again she probably wouldn't go to another show in case it was me!

Yvonne

 

[BethCooks4U]

Sometimes you can get a call back by saying: "Since I haven't heard from you I went ahead and chose ______ (recipe) to make at your party. I am excited to do your party! I will be at your house at 6:30 Wednesday night prepared for 12 guests. If I need to bring more catalogs than that give me a call!. The ingredients you need to pick up are ________________________ (end with something like 2 cups of)." If she is not planning to do the party she will call you because she does not want you showing up at her door and if she is she will call to get the rest of the ingredients. I would not do this with any host that lives more than a half hour from my home because there is still the chance that she won't be there.

 

[Happy Mom]

host turned it into a catalog showThe host turned it into a catalog show since she had only two rsvp's. I gave her a bunch of catalogs to distribute, and hopefully it will close the 3rd week of September. I am glad it worked out because she is really a lovely person and a good friend, but she is disorganized. When she explained why she waited so long, I understood her rationale even though it was at the 11th hour so to speak.