Open House for Church Tonight... Need Help

[mandydollie]

Hi Everyone~

Ok, here's the deal. I am doing a show tonight at a church. One of there members (Kyla) is moving and the ladies at the church wanted to do a going away party and give all the FPV to Kyla to stock her new home with Pampered Chef products. Now, here is my question.

I'm going to give Kyla a catalog when I get there tonight and have her list a few items that she would love to add to her new home.. a wish list of sorts. If the guests want to purchase for themselves and for Kyla how will that work. Normally I know how it would work, but here's the wrench in the plan. Kyla moves on the 14th. We are going to put another member of the church in as co-host so that the local orders can be shipped here, and then have Kyla's FPV shipped to her new address. (We didn't want to risk the products not shipping quickly and then having Kyla's stuff sitting here while she's in another place)

Where I am getting stuck is how to enter the products that the guests want to purchase for Kyla and her family.

HELP!!! I've been up all night thinking about it and can't come up with a very logical answer, although I'm sure there is a very simple one.

 

[jenniferknapp]

what is fpv?

 

[mandydollie]

Free Product Value

 

[jenniferknapp]

Ohh duh! Here is what I would do...Have a guest named Kyla, and a co-host named Kyla. Kyla the co-host will get all of the FPV and benefits. Kyla the guest will order everything that the ladies want to buy for her. (Kyla the guest and co-host will have things shipped to Kyla the co-host's address) ...and then the guests can also order under their own name as normal. these will be shipped to the local co-host. The only tricky thing is going to be keeping track of the monies. I wouldn't accept credit cards from anyone, unless they are also ordering for themselves. (You can charge a credit card over their guest total amount to cover their portion of Kyla's gifts) .. as for the people that are paying cash/check , you will have to keep track of their pymt towards Kyla's gift plus their own order, if they do order.... does that make sense or help?

 

[mandydollie]

yes, that makes sense. I never thought about doing Kyla the Host, and Kyla the co-host. Would it look funny though to have two hosts with the same exact name?

 

[jenniferknapp]

I think I would do Kyla the guest and Kyla a co-host...and the 2nd co-host would be a local church member that would receive the local orders.

 

[jenniferknapp]

Or, maybe you can split the shipping and do the local orders to you, the consultant...and do Kyla's stuff to her, the host.

 

[mandydollie]

maybe I could order on Kyla the co-host using her husbands name as the guest. He can receive the products that church members buy for them, and she can receive the free stuff as the co-host????

 

[jenniferknapp]

That would work too, but, I have added a guest with the same name as the host. I have ordered items on it, but the main reason is because this is the only way that you can give the host a booking benefit from their own show.

 

[mandydollie]

oh good thinking...

 

[britishchef]

Another way you could do it is just have it all shipped to the co-host, and they can ship it on. It'll probably be cheaper than what TPC charges for direct shipping, and they could put all her stuff together in one box quite easily and split the cost between themselves.

 

[mandydollie]

That's another good idea... and much easier!

 

[jenniferknapp]

Since there is a cap on direct shipping costs, and PC is responsible if something arrives damaged, etc that I would direct ship her co-host and guest orders to her. If she orders heavy stuff, plus insuring the pkg...I think it could easily max the 14.00 direct shipping cap.

 

[pamperedlinda]

Are you sure you can have a co-host order shipped somewhere other than with the show orders? You might want to check on that.

 

[jenniferknapp]

I looked at a co-host's order on a past show that I entered in to PP, and you can check the Special Shipping box...so I am assuming that you can! (when you try to do that with the host order, it is grayed out)

 

[mandydollie]

you know what.. I think you are right. I don't think I can split up the order and have part of the show sent one place, and another part sent somewhere else. CRAP!!! Now what??? Maybe I just make sure that we close the show by Friday and surely it would all be here by the 14th????

 

[mandydollie]

But what about a guest that you want shipped to the co-hosts address? Does that work? I don't have my PP installed here at work. I liked your idea of having the co-host as Kyla and a guest as Kyla (for her stuff that church members purchase for her, if they do that). I would assume that both could be shipped to a "special shipping" address....

Pulling my hair out now!!!

 

[jenniferknapp]

Alright, new idea. You don't let anyone use a credit card...only cash/checks. You make 1 guest order for all of the church members, and direct ship that to 1 person. the rest of the show (kyla co-host and kyla guest) is shipped to her (and theirs to them)!

 

[mandydollie]

now that's an idea... but then what about warranty issues... and who gets the giant receipt for that? Sorry to be such a pest.

 

[jenniferknapp]

Haha that is fine! Well, if they have a problem, they could go through you and you could print it out and do it for them and just have it sent to you (since their address probably isn't on the receipt) Or, they can go to another consultant, just like a lot of people do and say that they forgot their receipt.

 

[mandydollie]

ok...i think that's how this will go down tonight. BUT WAIT!!!! what about the guest special???? ha ha

 

[jenniferknapp]

crap! i forgot about that... let me think...or if anyone else has any thoughts since i have been the only talking here!! ....but for as far as Kyla's gifts from everyone, no matter how you decide to do it, I wouldn't count it towards their $60 unless they want it shipped to themselves with their personal order, and then they send her portion to her on their own.

 

[mandydollie]

Heck, I don't even know if everyone will be ordering for her. I just assume they will be since this is a going away party with the intent to stock her new kitchen with PC products. Maybe since they are a church they will just order products for her, and then they can just box up their gifts to the family and ship them in one box from the church. Ship Kyla FREE stuff to her using special shipping, and be done with it.I think I'm just making it to hard on myself. Let them worry about how to get their gifts to her.

 

[jenniferknapp]

haha, Okay that sounds like a better idea. I try too hard sometimes too! Even though sometimes it pays off in the end. So, you are going to go back to your original idea of having ahost locally, and kyla the co-host...correct? because you want the members to have their own names on their receipts for the guest special and warranty stuff...so you will ship the entire order to the local host. but then kyla the co-host (who you can give 100% of the FPV and such to) will have hers shipped to her new home. then whatever the members purchase for her, they will get in their own order and then they can get it to her however!! phew!

 

[mandydollie]

man... all of that thinking for something that I should have just stuck with. Funny!!! I try to make it easy on my customers and sometimes at the expense of little sleep and major headaches!!!Thanks for helping me walk completely around in a circle right back to where I started out!!! ha ha

 

[jenniferknapp]

haha sorry to keep coming up with more and more ideas to help that circle get bigger!

 

[britishchef]

What about if you add their gifts to her co-host order at her co-host discount? If I were to do that I'd collect the full amount from everybody and then after I knew her final discount I'd tell her she had $x extra to spend. E.g. if total ordered for her by other people is $50 I would add those products to her order then if it took 20% off I'd tell her she had an extra $10 FPV. Of course that affects the show total..

 

[mandydollie]

i thought about going that route too... but i think it's going to get too confusing with all the different things going on.

 

[jrstephens]

IF you have enough in personal orders and enough in orders for Kyla why not just do two shows? Do the personal one in a church members name and Kyla's in her name. You could still let Kyla pick out the free stuff on the personal show and you would just have to worry about getting that to her.

As far as guest special if you do it all in one show, I would do the ones who order enough to get it as the actual guest. I did a bridal show one time and combined orders so the bride could get more than one guest special. As far as the $4.00 shipping I had extra I just let the bride spend it as FPV b/c they were going to spend it to order for her anyway. And the more guest specials for Kyla the better this month with getting to choose different tools.

As far as reciepts go, you could jsut not give them to anyone and tell them b/c of the way the show is being done they will need to contact you with any problems b/c you are entering it in the way to get Kyla the most benefits. They will probably appreciate the extra effort you are putting in to get her the msot stuff.

Keep the ACTUAL order forms people fill out to give to Kyla so she will know who ordered her what for her thank you notes too. That is what I did for my bride and then I gave her the actual reciepts for the warranty. This makes it easy for her to keep it straight and know she thanks a person for what they actually bought her.

 

[mandydollie]

I think I'll just get there and see how the gals want to work this. The lady who is kind of in charge hasn't been overly helpful. So it will be a learning experience. The show is running from 6-730 and I'm doing the berry and cream wontons, and the spinach/artichoke dip. Possibly may do some pull aparts just to demo cookware. Depends on how many people show up. I am afraid that I'm going to be so frazzled that I'm going to need my 7 year old daughter to help me with this one. She is going with me for moral support tonight... ha ha

 

[Grandmarita]

I call what you all have been doing, mental gymnastics. It keeps me awake at night, too. How about having your Guest of Honor circle all the items she wants in one CATALOG. Pass it around to the other Guests. They can then make a financial contribution of enough to help her get all she has circled. Focus on them perhaps ordering $60, themselves for themselves, and giving her the free Kitchen tools. They could also make their donations to help her pay for the 1/2 price items, and the 60% off item, of her choice. If there are 15 orders, they could also give her the Chef Tongs. Maybe, if the show is
over $500 you would be willing to pay the shipping on her order, if it benefits her more to have it as a Guest order than a Co-host order. NOTE: in my past experience when I had Host and Co-host in two locations, one had to pay for the Special Shipping. If all items were delivered to the same location, the Co-host did not have shipping charges. Hope this helps.

 

[Grandmarita]

Mandydollie, how did the Open House turn out last night? How much in value were you able to "GIFT" this special person with? How many attended?. Thanks.

 

[chefann]

Yeah, I was wondering, too. Hope it went resoundingly well for you AND the recipient!

 

[scottcooks]

call it a wedding shower - have the guest be the "bride" and setup a registry. That works, doesn't it?

 

[mandydollie]

Well 12 people ordered on the show. Sales were just over $400..not as good as I would have hoped, but she ended up getting quite a few nice things that she wanted. We just did it as a normal show and the guests just added the items that they were purchasing for her to their orders and indicated what should go to her. We are submitting the show tonight and it will ship locally. If it doesn't arrive before she moves, then the secretary at the church said that they will take care of sending the items to her in Colorado at her new address. All of that worrying for nothing.However... out of the 12 people who were there, I got two bookings. One for a younger youth group..they want to do a mommy and me show, and the other is for a lady who loves PC. I tried to recruit her, but she said that she is on Disability and she can't make over a certain amount of money. Said that she enjoys having the parties and would book another one off of the one that she is having in February.So, it wasn't a bad deal after all!Thanks for all of your help yesterday when I was going crazy. You're all the best!

 

[jenniferknapp]

Not bad at all! Good job

 

[Grandmarita]

Congratulations. That was a nice average per person. Glad it all worked out.
Thanks for letting us know.