Should I Offer a Last Minute Show for Potential Hosts?

[acdugger]

I am a new consultant--just got my package today. I have 4 shows already booked. My first will be next Wednesday--Sept. 26th. I have already had a few people who can't come to my first show indicate they want to host a show! My question is at my first show I am going to offer dates for future shows. If people take those dates they will get a free item. I am wondering if I should offer Sept. 30th for a show. My show will be the 26th so it will be in 4 days later. The only reason I am thinking about it is because of the hostess gift. I think some people would really want that cookware.

If I do put that date as a potential show time--do I need to say the hostess has to secure an X number of people are coming to the show since it is so last minute.
Andrea

 

[Chef Bobby]

You can have a show in October and submit it as a September show and still have the cookware as the host special.

P.S. Welcome to the business and have fun!

 

[mommyhugz1978]

First of all welcome to our virtual family... secondly You can book a show four days after your own show... but it can get a bit tricky..... as far as getting invites out to people.......

 

[chefann]

You can have a show in October and submit it as a September show and still have the cookware as the host special.

P.S. Welcome to the business and have fun!

This is actually against the rules. If the show is HELD in October, then it must be submitted as an October show.

If you've already had people express interest in hosting, why not call them and ask if they want the 30th. That gives them a few extra days to invite people. It's not impossible to have a show that close in, but all of the inviting would need to be "live" - by phone or email (and of the 2, phone is better).

 

[PC_CPR]

You can "sell" that as a catalog show, which would close in October.

 

[BethCooks4U]

The show you are thinking of doing is an "express show". Like Ann said, they would do all the inviting by phone and in person. Those actually work very well because everyone knows what they are doing THIS week - the trick is convincing the host of that!

And, as Ann already pointed out, we cannot hold a show in October and call it a September show. For the host, the show specials are the ones that are offered the date they do their show. For US the commission and all other promotions are paid using the date we submit the show.

 

[lauraP2000]

Congratulations on joing PC and being off to a great start. The more shows you do in the beginning, the more rewards you can earn, themore leads you'll get for growing your business, and the better you'll get at the shows.

But your instinct about a minimum # of attendees is good -- a show with only 4 guests will more likely just frustrate you. I've found the fewer guests, the lower the average order is, which means you make little commission and the host gets little host benefits. Plus it's really hard to get those few guests to book. It's something about group dynamics and laws of averages. When you have more guests, there's bound to be a few people who are really excited about buying and hosting, and their excitement fuels the crowd. But when it's just a few people, the energy levels tend to stay low.

So, I'm not saying don't host a short-notice show, but I am saying that coaching your host to get lots of people there is even more important than ever. If you can line up that host now, that will help, so she can start inviting people. And let the host know what she stands to gain by enthusiastically inviting everyone she knows and following up with them -- more free stuff! If she's going to pay 40% for our amazing but expensive cookware, she'll want to get everything else on her list for FREE.

Follow up with the host to make sure she gets to that minimum # (at least 10) -- if she tells you people are saying "maybe", that means they're NOT coming -- she's either kidding herself or hesitant to disappoint you. So keep giving her suggestions of who to invite (think of the list of 100 categories). When you've gotten more shows under your belt, you can convincingly say that your experience tells you that it takes 40 invitations to get 10 people to show up, or that you've found human nature is that people say "maybe" when they mean "no" in order to be polite, or because we're all so busy these days, people forget to show up or last-minute conflicts come up. For now, you can use any or all of those lines by saying you've seen that happen at other people's shows, or your director/recruiter/fellow consultants have seen it happen. Or maybe you have other experiences in party planning, event coordinating, marketing, etc that might illustrate the point.

If the host isn't sure how to be enthusiastic in her invitations, give her lines to use, like: there are great Sept specials for guests and that's the last day to order them!, she's had fun at other PC shows or heard so much about how fun they are!, it's not too early to get great deals on holiday shopping!. And her enthusiastic invitations will get the energy flowing even before you walk in the door on the 30th.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[acdugger]

Thanks for all the info. Just tonight I meet someone new and they asked to host a show. That will be my 5th to host in the first month or so.
Andrea

 

[tiffnkaysmom]

Having a small show with only 4 guest isn't all bad. I had a show last night with only 4 and 1 that stopped by and I got 3 bookings and she had 3 outside orders. The sales are at $350 now and expect a few more orders. I had a show last week that only 4 were there and I just closed her show at $506.00 with 1 booking. So just because there isn't many people doesn't mean you won't have decent sales. I have found that offering a small gift if someone books a show & puts it on the calander that night is helping and if the host gets 3 bookings at the 3rd show I will give the original host a free "gift". I'm offering a few different stones or a salad chopper. Two out of my last three show's I've gotten 3 bookings each at 2 shows and 1 booking at the other.

 

[Chef Endora]

I threw together a last minute cooking show last Sunday on 2 days notice and it turned into my very first $1,000.00 show! :love: :balloon:
Its a looong story how it came about & I won't bore you with the details, but it just goes to show ya great things can come from working with your host & being flexible.

Good luck in your new business and welome to PC & Chef Success!:balloon: