LibrarianChef
Silver Member
- 317
I'm still very new, as a matter of fact, today was my 90th day as a consultant. So tonight was very eye-opening for me. I learned a valuable lesson that will help me tremendously in my future shows. Sorry for the LONG post, but I'm just very curious if others have had similar experiences.
I did a show this evening that was extremely frustrating, initially. There were about 10 gals there, but they were all pretty much best of friends. I had the hardest time getting started. It felt like I was having to yell over the group. So I finally just lowered my voice and started right into my demo--explaining which products I was using and smiling and making eye contact with those few who were listening.
We did two very quick recipes (a pizza and then the cream cheese brownies) all in maybe 45 minutes. Once the host popped the brownies in the oven suddenly all eyes were on me as if I had just shown up. This is when I thanked them for their patience with me as a new consultant and told them that I often forget to share why I became a consultant. I showcased how I enjoy getting "with the girls" and hearing the laughter, finding out who's newly pregnant (we had 3 new pregnant moms tonight), and getting to eat a delicious meal all at the same time. They suddenly were so into my talk (the demo was done) and were smiling and nodding.
After my consultant talk I went right into my host spiel sharing what benefits tonight's host would receive just for hosting a party and I passed around my laminated cardstock cards showcasing the September and October specials. Talk immediately started up again--deafening talk about the upcoming host specials. That's when I knew I had been blessed with my 5 minutes of "quality" talk and they could handle the rest.
Once they started eating the pizza everything became dead silent. Someone made a crack about the silence and I said, "Yeah, I guess I should have waited until everyone had their mouths full before I started talking." They all laughed hysterically and started talking about a previous PC party one or two of them hosted. They said the PC consultant got all snooty (they said p*ssy) with them and would stop what she was doing and just stand there, hands on hips, until they would stop talking (they said her demo for one simple recipe took 2 hours). They seemed very pleased to find a new PC kid in town.
Then things took a swift turn and they began talking about my demo--thanking me for letting them just talk and just doing my thing while they did theirs. They already all love PC and getting out of the house (away from the kids and hubby) was their time to catch up. I think I have at least 3 parties booked from this one and possibly a 4th and 5th. We'll just see. They were frantically talking and trying to plan their parties around one another's plans. It was so cute! :love:
All this to say, I've decided that if I get in a situation like this again where I have my outline and simply can't get a word in without being rude, I'm going to just let 'em talk. It's not my job to teach manners or force them into compliance. They're obviously here to shop AND have fun.
I did a show this evening that was extremely frustrating, initially. There were about 10 gals there, but they were all pretty much best of friends. I had the hardest time getting started. It felt like I was having to yell over the group. So I finally just lowered my voice and started right into my demo--explaining which products I was using and smiling and making eye contact with those few who were listening.
We did two very quick recipes (a pizza and then the cream cheese brownies) all in maybe 45 minutes. Once the host popped the brownies in the oven suddenly all eyes were on me as if I had just shown up. This is when I thanked them for their patience with me as a new consultant and told them that I often forget to share why I became a consultant. I showcased how I enjoy getting "with the girls" and hearing the laughter, finding out who's newly pregnant (we had 3 new pregnant moms tonight), and getting to eat a delicious meal all at the same time. They suddenly were so into my talk (the demo was done) and were smiling and nodding.
After my consultant talk I went right into my host spiel sharing what benefits tonight's host would receive just for hosting a party and I passed around my laminated cardstock cards showcasing the September and October specials. Talk immediately started up again--deafening talk about the upcoming host specials. That's when I knew I had been blessed with my 5 minutes of "quality" talk and they could handle the rest.
Once they started eating the pizza everything became dead silent. Someone made a crack about the silence and I said, "Yeah, I guess I should have waited until everyone had their mouths full before I started talking." They all laughed hysterically and started talking about a previous PC party one or two of them hosted. They said the PC consultant got all snooty (they said p*ssy) with them and would stop what she was doing and just stand there, hands on hips, until they would stop talking (they said her demo for one simple recipe took 2 hours). They seemed very pleased to find a new PC kid in town.
Then things took a swift turn and they began talking about my demo--thanking me for letting them just talk and just doing my thing while they did theirs. They already all love PC and getting out of the house (away from the kids and hubby) was their time to catch up. I think I have at least 3 parties booked from this one and possibly a 4th and 5th. We'll just see. They were frantically talking and trying to plan their parties around one another's plans. It was so cute! :love:
All this to say, I've decided that if I get in a situation like this again where I have my outline and simply can't get a word in without being rude, I'm going to just let 'em talk. It's not my job to teach manners or force them into compliance. They're obviously here to shop AND have fun.