I'm Such a Bad Host! (Whine Enclosed)

[DebbieJ]

Okay, I'm not really a bad host, I just had some crappy guests!

I hosted a Traveling Vineyard party today for my neighbor who is just getting started with them (yes, I tried to recruit her first). They are a direct sales wine tasting company. You and your consultant choose 5 wines for everyone to taste at your party. She gives you suggestions for accompaniments and other things to serve and you have yourself a nice little event. I spent PLENTY of money on fancy cheeses and a pound cake that was supposed to go with the first wine (which for some reason she ended up telling me NOT to serve until we had tasted two of the wines )

I like reds. With the holidays coming up, I asked my consultant to pick things that would go well with holiday dinners. She also likes reds. So we had a sparkling wine (like champagne), a white, and three reds. Even thought I like reds, I really didn't care what wines we tasted--I just wanted an opportunity for people to taste things that they usually wouldn't buy.

Maybe this is my fault for not knowing my guest's wine tastes (but I had over 15 people there, by the way...did reminder calls even though she didn't tell me to do them) or maybe my consultant didn't talk enough about how we chose these wines specifically for the holidays....

It appears that most people who attended my party do not like reds. Well, my consultant also did not really point out that they could order OTHER wines than just the 5 we tried NOR did she bring the inventory sheet for them to order from!!! (Their wine inventory is constantly changing, so she has to bring a new inventory sheet to every show so she doesn't sell something that's not available). Everyone had a catalog with accessories and that was it. I happened to have a catalog with other wines that the company had mailed to me, so I did pass that around, but by that time people had pretty much made up their minds.

The order process was slow and people were content to just hang out.

In the end, two couples and one single person didn't even place an order. My party is not even a qualifying show. I'm pretty ticked! Two of my sisters are in the "did not order" camp, so I'm going to have words with them for sure.

Ugh. I'm just so mad. I feel like such a failure.

Now I know how my non-qualifying hosts feel.

I gave away the ONE catalog she gave me to my friend who might order some gifts for her dad. I sure hope it is $77 worth!

 

[tlennhoff]

Ugh, sorry the party did not go well. Sounds like the consultant was not as on the ball as she should have been. You did the biggest part of a show - you had 15 guests.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

That sounds like it would be a fun kind of party. I wouldn't consider you a failure as a host--you got the people in the door! I think the consultant might not have done her part as much as she could.

 

[tiffanypc05]

If you had 15 guests show up and only 5 didn't order, why didn't you qualify for a show? How much does it have to be to qualify?

 

[DebbieJ]

It has to be $250 to qualify.

BUT since most people didn't seem to like the wines we tasted and then the consultant didn't bring the inventory sheet to help them choose other wines to purchase, they didn't place very big orders.

Also, there were several couples, so of course they placed just one order.

 

[ange13]

my neighbor sells this and i did one of her first parties too. I was just like you, had 15 people there--about 6 couples and a few singles. and my order barely made the qualifying. i believe your order counts towards sales too, so you can help yourself get there. but honestly their benefits aren't that great. i love the wine and the bottle opener that comes in colors and the silver pour spout one are AWESOME! I use those at least once a week (can you tell I drink alot of wine)

oh, and the wine away is good for kids vomit on carpet!! my daughter decided to get sick in the middle of the presentation in front of everyone! nice huh?! i felt so bad for my neighbor cuz it's one of her first show and this kid vomits! luckily we know each other very well--but still--that could be very nerve racking! but the wine away cleaned it up and smelled nice too! thank god! who wants to smell that while drinking and eating

from what my neighbor tells me--most of her parties are around that range too. she's only had a few that were really good! and she was really good at host coaching and demo'ing!

 

[pamperedbecky]

It has to be $250 to qualify.

BUT since most people didn't seem to like the wines we tasted and then the consultant didn't bring the inventory sheet to help them choose other wines to purchase, they didn't place very big orders.

Also, there were several couples, so of course they placed just one order.

That's a bummer! I wonder since the consultant didn't have the inventory sheet (another bummer because it sounds like that also would've benefitted both you and HER), is there something she can email all your guests that have that information about all the other wines available? Or she could forward it to you and you can pass it along? It sounds like you did all you could as a host, so don't be down on yourself. Maybe the consultant needs to host coach a little better so she could have coached you to see what kinds of wines the guests would like. I'm sure that's somewhat hard to do because I think they have quite a selection. I've looked at their website before and there's quite a lot. I hope your show gets to a qualifying level!!! Good luck!

 

[apriljc]

It sounds like you had a good turn out at your party. You did all that you could do. It sounds to me like the consultant could have done more on her part. I like to taste test wines so this would have been a great party for me to be at. I think the list of other wines would have helped your customers out a lot. I know the two times I have been wine tasting I had a sheet that explained what the wine should taste like and than you got to pick 5 to taste.

 

[jaye]

I had a show on Friday and I felt like the BAD CONSULTANT. I brought the Spring/Summer order forms, thankfully, they were write-ins, but I really wanted people to fill out wish-lists so I could send them to family members to invite to my party.I dropped all of my folders on the floor. I froze when a woman said that she only uses her round stone for pizza. I gave her other uses for it, but she said, no, she doesn't want it to get too greasy, and all of the knowledge of our stoneware went out of my head. (I was able to redeem myself, but NO ONE bought any stones.)I had another guest say what a piece o' crap the EAD is. It's a product I LOVE, so I offered to come to her house and help her. And she was like no, I threw it away!My dish that I was making - the potstickers - as I was ALMOST done making them, the host says, ooooh... can you make some vegetarian? A couple of people don't eat meat. Thankfully, I didn't put the chicken in yet. So, I had to do those, then I had to add the chicken and assemble the other one. It seemed like it took FOREVER.Then for my second recipe, I did the chocolate microwave cake. The hosts microwave was like NO POWER, so instead of 12 minutes, it took 20 and then when I inverted it... one of the sides crumbled. It TASTED DELISH! And was cooked all the way through, but it was a mess!So... MAYBE since it was your friends first show... she just got bogged down or busy or something... This definitely was NOT my first show... but I stunk as a consultant. And then of course, as I drove home, I remembered all the cool things that I was going to say and didn't! I have no idea where my mind was... maybe my mars is in retrograde too!You had 15 guests tho!!! That's AWESOME! I think that's the hard part!! Getting the people there, it's her deal to sell it!Good luck getting some more orders! Jaye