Should I Start Mailing Invites for My Hosts Myself?

[mistym]

BAH! I messed up and I am stressed. I said I would mail the invites for my host. She sent me around 30-40 addresses. At the time I was preparing labels and invites for 4 other shows...somehow I must have not sent them b/c after talking to a few guests in my reminder calls today - they didn't get the invites! Either the post office lost them or I messed up....grrrr.

I talked to the host who still has 10 people coming so far but man am I walking in with my tail between my legs...I HATE when I screw up something so stupid.

Pat me on the back plzzzzz - I have done a really henious thing?

M

 

[JAE]

Misty, I'm surprised I haven't messed up that way, too. Nobody is perfect and we all mess up. You'll be fine, and most people are kind and forgiving.

 

[cmdtrgd]

Don't forget, postcards are not guaranteed to get there.

 

[katie0128]

You have just emphasized the importance of the initial contact from the host (BEFORE the postcards) and the reminder call. How many people would not be coming if the host relied on the postcards?
Yep, you might have made a mistake. But as JAE said, we are not perfect. Life will go on, the Show will go on and soon it will all be in the past.






(P.S. - I've done the SAME thing and beat myself up for a long time. But just think - you are probably never going to make the same mistake again!)

 

[Teresa Lynn]

create some sort of checklist so you know when:
you received the names,
you've addressed them &
when you've mailed them

 

[stacywhitlow]

create some sort of checklist so you know when:
you received the names,
you've addressed them &
when you've mailed them

I just found one in the file section here. I love it! I am going to use it for that same reason. Sometimes life happens fast around here (4 kids & remodeling) and I don't keep up with dates. At least I can post this sheet & see it daily so I know what still needs to be done & when. I attached it to this for you.

 

[Brandi2007]

The good news is that she still has people that are coming to the show! We all mess up... I know I certainly did recently... deep breath... I put thehosts work phone number as the RSVP on the invite. AHHHH! She was so not impressed! Too late to take it back now! But man do I feel horrible!

 

[smile10308]

Me Too!!So heres a good one for you. I send out invites for my hosts also. I sent the invites for one party with the wrong time on them. My host was kind of upset and instead of me calling all the guests she preferred it for me resend all the invites. So I did, because I was so stressed about it. Then when I resent them, I some how put the wrong phone number. OMG talk about bad!!! The show is tomorrow so I will see if anyone mentions it....I sure hope not!

 

[finley1991]

The invites I sent out for my show last Tuesday had the wrong house number on them. Over 20 people came so I guess no one noticed! (Although the host did!)

 

[janetupnorth]

Don't forget, postcards are not guaranteed to get there.

SOOOO true! My host for tomorrow night was making her reminder calls tonight and a few people didn't get them. I personally addressed them all, stamped them at the post office and HAND DELIVERED them to the lady at the post office.

 

[mistym]

Thanks guys - you made me feel better. The show is tommorrow so hopefully it goes with incident!

I just got in from a show right now, I have that one tomorrow and then I have a tradeshow on Saturday! Sheesh - busy busy!

 

[finley1991]

For my invitations, I send a flyer in an envelope to all guests. For the return address, I use the Host's name and address. I do this for 2 reasons: 1. People are more likely to open something from someone they know and 2. if it gets returned for some reason, it will go to the host so she'll know.

I had a host 2 weeks ago that had a guest that was VERY ANGRY that she wasn't invited. The host blamed me and I told her that if she hadn't gotten the invitation, it would have been returned to the host. The guest came and ordered and might have a show of her own so who knows!

 

[Teresa Lynn]

I mail the postcards, but I make sure they never go out on a Monday or Tuesday..... that way they don't get mixed in with all the junk mail flyers and inserts we get on Wed.

 

[katie0128]

I screwed up, too!Misty - how'd the show go?

I was thinking of you when I had to make a "tail between my legs" call a few minutes ago for a show that is scheduled for Monday. I had a lady at church decide to c-host a show with her sister. When the sister and I picked the date, I kinda talked her into October even though they were leaning toward November... because I wanted a 4th show on my calendar... mind you, this was at the beginning of the month.

And then the show fell off my radar. For some reason I didn't write it in my planner (have no idea why), didn't create it in P3 or PWS and actually forgot about it COMPLETELY!!! I got the host packet to my church friend two weeks ago and she got me the guest list 2 days later. I addressed and sent out all the invites the day after that. The church friend called me on Wednesday (which DH didn't tell me) to tell me that almost 1/2 of the guests hadn't received invites yet and it had been a week since I sent them.

Tonight I had to call and apologize to her and her sister... MAN, I HATE these calls even more than I hate booking calls!!! The two of them are going to talk and see if they want to keep the show, reschedule or cancel all together. BLEH!!! I kinda hope they decide to reschedule so I can use the time on Monday to get a bit more organized, step back to look at why this one fell through the cracks and figure out how I am going to keep this from happening again! I am so mad at myself right now I could scream! BLEH!!!!! :yuck: :grumpy:

 

[mistym]

ohhh Katie..I so know how you feel! I just got in from the "T.B.M.L" show....Its at $737 right now with 3 pending orders...so it was a good show and I reckon it will hit the 800-900 mark. I didn't mention not mailing the invites once....I just breezed over it and hoped it would all go away - LOL.

Soooooo, PHHHHEEEWWWWW...over and done with. Onto the next, and as some clever poster put "its a mistake that I will never make twice"!.

Good luck Katie and let us know how it goes...
m

 

[katie0128]

WOW... Sounds like you had a great show! How exciting!! And now back to my reorganization attempts!

 

[pamperedcheermom]

I think I'll start mailing out the invites for my hosts myself! I was "supposed" to have a show Sat morning at 11:00. There was a host and a co-host and I gave the packet to the co-host. The Host is a little "out there" (if you know what I mean) so the co-host told me to give to her and she would make sure everything was taken care of. It took a week for the Host to pick up the hostess packet from the co-host so that was the beginning of the problem. I called the Host two weeks ago, last week and this week. She told me on Tues that she had sent out the invites and was calling everybody on Thurs to confirm. I was impressed and even the co-host said she thought the host had it under control. My family went to a Halloween party on Friday night but I had the ingredients ready for the dessert and the guest packets ready for Sat morning. We got home from the party at 12:45 a.m. and I had three calls and an e-mail from the co-host about the show. She said only two people were coming and didn't know if I still wanted to do it. Both people had said they would come but couldn't buy anything. I called the co-host, at 1:00 a.m., and she was still up (has her days and nights mixed up and stays up all night). She told me the situation and said the Host had not talked to anybody and wasn't even sure she mailed the invites. I told her I would have appreciated knowing before 1:00 a.m. the night before the show. She said she had tried to call me all day but that was sooooo not true. We didn't leave our house till 6:45 for the Halloween party. I didn't take my cell and she didn't call it either. Normally, if she can't get me at home, she calls my cell. I don't think either one wanted to do the show and she was afraid if she called my cell I would answer and try to get it worked out to do it anyway. I told her it wasn't worth my time to go do the show with two people there, neither of which were going to buy anything.

Lesson learned...............DO NOT depend on the Host to send out the invites. They just won't do it for some reason. I'm depending on PC right now to supplement my income because I lost a big client two weeks ago who I made a lot of money off of. I'm an accountant the cliend decided to move their accountanting into their new office. I have a few other clients and I'm not interested in working in their office. So now I'm trying to book book book with PC and make up for the income I lost.
Needless to say I was very upset about the show cancelling but what do you do??? You can't force the hosts to do what they're supposed to do. The co-host wanted to reschedule but I told her no. I need people I can depend on and I obviously can't depend on these two.

WHEW! Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[dannyzmom]

I think I'll start mailing out the invites for my hosts myself! I was "supposed" to have a show Sat morning at 11:00. There was a host and a co-host and I gave the packet to the co-host. The Host is a little "out there" (if you know what I mean) so the co-host told me to give to her and she would make sure everything was taken care of. It took a week for the Host to pick up the hostess packet from the co-host so that was the beginning of the problem. I called the Host two weeks ago, last week and this week. She told me on Tues that she had sent out the invites and was calling everybody on Thurs to confirm. I was impressed and even the co-host said she thought the host had it under control. My family went to a Halloween party on Friday night but I had the ingredients ready for the dessert and the guest packets ready for Sat morning. We got home from the party at 12:45 a.m. and I had three calls and an e-mail from the co-host about the show. She said only two people were coming and didn't know if I still wanted to do it. Both people had said they would come but couldn't buy anything. I called the co-host, at 1:00 a.m., and she was still up (has her days and nights mixed up and stays up all night). She told me the situation and said the Host had not talked to anybody and wasn't even sure she mailed the invites. I told her I would have appreciated knowing before 1:00 a.m. the night before the show. She said she had tried to call me all day but that was sooooo not true. We didn't leave our house till 6:45 for the Halloween party. I didn't take my cell and she didn't call it either. Normally, if she can't get me at home, she calls my cell. I don't think either one wanted to do the show and she was afraid if she called my cell I would answer and try to get it worked out to do it anyway. I told her it wasn't worth my time to go do the show with two people there, neither of which were going to buy anything.

Lesson learned...............DO NOT depend on the Host to send out the invites. They just won't do it for some reason. I'm depending on PC right now to supplement my income because I lost a big client two weeks ago who I made a lot of money off of. I'm an accountant the cliend decided to move their accountanting into their new office. I have a few other clients and I'm not interested in working in their office. So now I'm trying to book book book with PC and make up for the income I lost.
Needless to say I was very upset about the show cancelling but what do you do??? You can't force the hosts to do what they're supposed to do. The co-host wanted to reschedule but I told her no. I need people I can depend on and I obviously can't depend on these two.

WHEW! Thanks for letting me vent!

I learned the same lesson in a similar way many years ago and have been sending the invites for my host ever since. I f I do not have thier guest list one month before the show (or whatever date we agreed upon if she books in close) then I open the date up to other hosts. This has REALLY helped me to keep my calender the way I want it and has kept my cancellations to a minimum.