Ok, Pardon My Question...for All These Awesome Things I Am Reading

[smilesarepriceless]

Ok, pardon my question...

For all these awesome things I am reading on here..talking about incentives for bookings ( $50 in free product for those who book, products, etc..) is this money which you actually are taking out of your own profit?

Super new..Excited..but so excited to learn as much as I can..

 

[katie0128]

Welcome to PC and to CS... our little crazy corner of cyberspace!

Yes, these are from the consultant's own pocket, except the guest/host specials that PC offers each month. Those we don't pay for.

I typically only offer additional incentives when I'm confident that I can make up the $ by getting the sale I'm using the incentive for. Example... I did a vendor fair as part of a fundraiser. For people who booked shows the day of the fair, I agreed to donate 5% of my income and $1 from bookings from their show back to the organization. I had one booking that day, the show sales weren't all that great, but I got 3 additional bookings. So, I'm spending about $30 for the incentives I offered, but made more than that on this one show and will make my usual commission on the other three shows.

However, I didn't offer any additional incentives for the first 9 months or so... what PC offers is really great and I didn't have the extra money to spend.

Hope this helps!

 

[raebates]

Yes, Heather, any incentives come out of our own pockets. That's part of why, if I offer an incentive, I never give it until after the show is held. I can simply add it to the host's order, and label it "Consultant Gift." If it's a $10 item, the most I'm out is $6.80 (10 - 1.5 host benefit discount - 1.7 minimum commission). Of course, the higher the show sales and the higher my commission rate, the less it costs me.

 

[chefann]

The other trap that extra incentives leads to is having to offer them all the time. Guests at your shows start to expect that little extra. So if you are desperate to fill a couple of specific dates, go ahead and use a small incentive, but make sure you make it clear that it's not a common occurrence.

A cluster-mate of mine seems to always offer several incentives. I don't know how she keeps track of them, or keeps any money from her commission.

 

[pamperedgirl3]

The other trap that extra incentives leads to is having to offer them all the time. Guests at your shows start to expect that little extra. So if you are desperate to fill a couple of specific dates, go ahead and use a small incentive, but make sure you make it clear that it's not a common occurrence.

I agree. Plus, I have a friend who does another DS business & offers specials like once a month. Even if I need something, I usually wait until I receive her emails stating what the special is before I get something. If I don't like the special, I wait until the next month. So doing specials could backfire on you too if you offer them too often.

 

[finley1991]

Chefann and pamperedgirl 3 are sooooo right! Incentives are a tough thing... they can backfire, they can make you look desperate, they can cause others NOT to order because they will wait for your "sale." PC has an AMAZING host program... THE BEST out there! Just offer that! And since you're new... save your $$$! One of the reasons that a lot of people lose money in direct sales (not pc per se but others) is that they have to put out their own money for incentives because their companies don't offer them. I always tell my team to save their $$$. I've been with PC 10 1/2 years and back when I started (and even up until about 6 years ago), PC DIDN'T offer a host bonus or guest special EVERY month... they did it a few times each year! They also noticed the difference in our sales and how enthusiastic consultants were when they offered them. We as consultants asked them to start doing it every month and they did! It was so exciting! So take advantage of what PC has FIRST, before you add something else to it. Hope that helps!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

The other trap that extra incentives leads to is having to offer them all the time. Guests at your shows start to expect that little extra. So if you are desperate to fill a couple of specific dates, go ahead and use a small incentive, but make sure you make it clear that it's not a common occurrence.

A cluster-mate of mine seems to always offer several incentives. I don't know how she keeps track of them, or keeps any money from her commission.

I fell into this trap a couple of years ago.....so now, I offer the incentive to the host when she has 3 bookings from her show.......and occasionally, when I want to, I offer a small "book to look" incentive. This spring, I found really cute small boxes at the Dollar Store - and they were the new spring colors. I used those, and put in a quik-kut knife, with a note that when they closed their show at $400 or more, they could trade up for either the green tomato knife or the mini santuko knife. When I would remember, I would take these to shows.....interestingly, my bookings were the same whether I used them or not. So I decided not to use them anymore - then I don't have to try remember who gets a special incentive! I'm lazy, and I'm all about easy!

 

[missi.robbins]

I usually give my host something small - at her party as a "thanks". It's usually a twix-it clip set, mini whipper, or mini serving spatula. Which you can get on the supply order forms. That way I'm only out a couple of bucks! Then I use the small things, paring knives, citrus peelers, season's best and bamboo tongs for door prizes or if someone brings a friend. Depending on the party - it's usually less than $10 per party on prizes.