theDollar a Day Stoneware Is the Best Thing Ever!

[Brianne]

I saw people talking about this Dollar A Day Stoneware idea and thought it sounded pretty okay. I've now changed my vote and am the biggest fan ever!

I'm trying to overbook my July and August, since I'm taking a 3 week vacation in September. Since I haven't had much luck in bookings at my shows this month, I decided to go for it and start making calls. I thought that even if I only got one show from it, it'd be more than what I had before.

I just spent 20 minutes on the phone and have booked 3 shows in July because of this idea. WAHOO!!! You can believe I'll be spending more time calling people about this. Yay!

 

[Stephanie S]

That's fantastic! Good for you! Do you have a script that you used? I'm pretty shy when it comes to picking up the phone and making calls. I'd love to hear any suggestions you have!

 

[jdavis]

me too!!

I would love to know how you went about proposing this and who to. I am also very shy when it comes to just coming out and asking somebody. I even had one woman that kind-of knows me at her daughter's show, my second show, how I could do this since I was so shy. I just said I don't know, I feel like I have gotten a little better over time, but as far as 'cold calls' I still don't feel up to it too much. I haven't had much luck with bookings this month the one, actually the one who asked that question was supposed to do a show at the first of the month for her birthday but had to cancel for now because she is moving again and I have absolutely nothing, I have shows a couple of shows the next 2 months but none this month, I am SOOOOOOOOO frustrated. I have placed a couple of ads in my SMALL town newspaper, hung up fliers several times different months and for this month I sent out fliers to everyone (30) that put in a drawing slip (legible ones that is) for my free kitchen show at a booth I had in another town, and the only thing I have heard back from that was one woman left me a message to take her off my mailing list. I have asked a few people that have said they would like to have a show at different times and none of them can or want to right now. ughhhhh. Anyway, would love to hear your whole line for this.

Thanks

 

[noradawn]

me too me too!

I would love to read what you say, too! I would love to book up at the beginning of the month, and have people have sales goals to help them get the promotion!

 

[karolynn mcmurray]

I would love to know more about this to increase my bookings. I just had 3 hostess cancel on the day of the shows even with host coaching. Also not re booking another show. What a disappointment since I try to only do 4 shows a month.

 

[kalm]

Dollar a Day Stoneware

I too am frustrated with lack of shows...and have a hard time with cold calling...so what is this dollar a day about?? I would welcome any ideas..

 

[kcjodih]

About $ a day

What dollar a day is - you make up a flyer (or can just verbally make an offer - it's great when you're making calls) stating that for anyone who books a show in ____fill in the month/time of month you want here, they will receive ______(whatever stoneware piece your offering such as large round stone) for the $ amount of the date of their show. For example book on the 1st get the stone for $1, book on the 6th get it for $6.

You do want to clarify that this will be given at the CLOSE of their show not before. This way they follow through and hold their show and you use their host discount (plus your commission on the purchase) to buy it for them. Some consultants also set a minimum show total such as $400, $500 etc and some do not.

I have only used this once when I was first starting out and getting desperate and generated one booking from it and have had 5 bookings from shows off of that first $ a day hostess.

Hope that helps clarify things!

Jodi

 

[dawn424383]

You can also use the Dollar a Day Promotion in somewhat of a reverse format if you are want bookings for the end of a month. Offer the amount of the day as extra host benefit dollars. For example, if someone holds a show on the 26th, they get $26 extra benefit dollars towards their show. Any item(s) that they choose can be added on with thier host discount, and it doesn't cut into your profit quite so much. I would recomend setting a show minimum, so that you know you'll atleast be getting 20-25% off. Also, stipulate that it cannot be applied towards half-price items. And, as someone else said, you may get additional bookings from that show, thus, making the little bit of money spent out of pocket well worth it! Remember also to enter in to PP the amount you pay as "consultant gift". This will give you a break come tax time.

 

[Brianne]

Here's what I said

When I left a message:

Hi Beth! It's Brianne Keene with The Pampered Chef and I have some really exciting news for you! I remembered how much you love our stoneware, and if you host a show in July, whatever date you host on is the price you pay for the stoneware piece of your choice. So, if you decide to host a show on July 5th, then you'll only pay $5 for a stone! Isn't that incredible! Call me back as soon as you can to reserve your date! I only have 3 dates left. 760-xxx-xxxx. Bye!

I basically said the same thing when I was actually talking to a live person, but of course I would ask how they were doing. Also, every time I called, I used the July 5th as an example because I really want to fill that date! Once that date is filled, I'll make calls with the next available date I have as my example.

I am calling everyone who has been to a show of mine this year. I haven't had much luck with getting bookings at shows, and am hoping that this will peak some interest. Once I have July filled, I'll keep calling to fill August, though probably won't use the Dollar A Day Stoneware since I don't want to give away too much of my commission checks. But I really feel like this has given me a lot of confidence in making calls.

One thing... I have made a very deliberate decision to sound really glad to be on the phone and excited to talk to these people. I wouldn't want to talk to anyone, let alone host a show for someone, who didn't sound interested in what they were saying or doing. I think that has had a lot to do with how this is being received.

For those people who said no, I asked if they'd like to do a show later in the year. I have a few people who I'll be calling back for Fall and Winter shows! If they said no, then I said, "Thank you so much for your honesty. I appreciate it! Can I keep you updated when other exciting things come along for our guests?" And everyone has said yes to that. That gives me an open door to call them later.

 

[janel kelly]

Brianne,
I think we got this idea from Pampered by Julie' fair flyer. I thought it was a neat idea also and am going to try it at my show tomorrow. However I am doing a tempting tapas show so I'm going to do the dollar days with the simple additions. I have my show tomorrow so I'll let you all know how well it did as far as bookings.
I made a flyer about it to give out tomorrow. I used Julie's idea and rules for it also. So thank you Julie for the whole idea. I hope I get several bookings from it.

 

[janel kelly]

For those who may be wondering why I only picked an item worth $23, I'm going on vacation at the end of the month so I basically am not doing shows after the 23rd anyway. Plus I thought it would go well with the tempting tapas shows as far as promoting them and all.

 

[Brianne]

I think that's a great idea!

What a great way to tweak the promotion to fit the show. Good thinking!

I'm sure you could also do this with the US&G, Food Chopper, and I'd even be tempted to say the Generation II Square Griddle or Small Saute Pan.

 

[noradawn]

Thanks for giving us your words, Brianne!

 

[Stephanie S]

How did you manage to score 5 bookings from a single show? That's amazing!

I have only used this once when I was first starting out and getting desperate and generated one booking from it and have had 5 bookings from shows off of that first $ a day hostess.

Hope that helps clarify things!

Jodi

 

[kcjodih]

Whoops, need to clarify the "5" bookings thing! One gal took me up on the $ a day. At HER show I got a booking and then from that show I got 3 more. All from the first gal who took me up on the offer (and NO, I didn't offer it at her show to her guests)

 

[PamperedByJulie]

not a hit for me

The fair flyer that was referenced on the first page of posts was from a fair I did. I had hoped that the dollar days promo would be a huge success, but I didn't have a lot of success with it. Some of that is probably because I didn't hype it enough and some of it is probably because I'm a new consultant so I don't have a huge base of people to call and offer the deal to. I put it on my fair brochure, had it on my board at the fair, talked it up at my shows, told my friends about it, and included it in my newsletter that went out at the end of May. I thought that would be enough, but it wasn't because no one took me up on the idea except the host I already had scheduled for a show without the offer.

My Executive Director says that offering something to someone without a personal relationship isn't going to have high success rates just because of the lack of relationship. I'd have to say that I agree with her on that one. So far, my best leads for shows haven't come from a fair or other event, but from kitchen shows where people have seen me in action. Or from someone I do business with, like the girl who opened by Pampered Chef bank account. The leads from the fair have been the most frustrating because it's a lot of phone tag and semi-cold calling. I got one solid booking off the fair and my Exec Dir says that's a good result, after a lot of time on the phone I'd have to say I agree with her. The fair did give me a lot of e-mail addresses for my newsletter - I probably doubled, if not tripled, by distro list.

Morale of the story, for some it works and others it doesn't. The biggest problem wasn't a lack of interest it was the high number of conflicts for June. We're going on vacation in July and I didn't want to do a lot of shows, but actually have the most shows that month and they are squeezed in around my vacation schedule.