What Incentives Do You Offer at Your Show

[photochef]

I am looking to start some new incentives this year and focus more on show attendance. Last year I did $10.00 if free products, drew one name at every show. Gave out tickets 2 ticket for RSVPing, 2 Ticket for coming (so everyone has a chance to win), 4 tickets for booking a show and 3 tickets for bringing a friend - and the friend also gets 3 tickets (to show my appreciation for coming without knowing anyone.)

I thought about doing an on time drawing - tardiness is a pet peive of mine
then for the winter months a white sale - if there is snow on the ground the day of the show guests can take 15% off everything white in the catalog that's 25% off for PHDs; however, that's only for guests that attend the show.

Any other ideas?

 

[BethCooks4U]

I rarely offer any incentives at my shows. Pampered Chef's program is SO generous. If we offer extras we are saying that we don't think PC is doing enough.

I always do a door prize and sometimes a second door prize at my shows but that's about it.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I am looking to start some new incentives this year and focus more on show attendance. Last year I did $10.00 if free products, drew one name at every show. Gave out tickets 2 ticket for RSVPing, 2 Ticket for coming (so everyone has a chance to win), 4 tickets for booking a show and 3 tickets for bringing a friend - and the friend also gets 3 tickets (to show my appreciation for coming without knowing anyone.)

I thought about doing an on time drawing - tardiness is a pet peive of mine
then for the winter months a white sale - if there is snow on the ground the day of the show guests can take 15% off everything white in the catalog that's 25% off for PHDs; however, that's only for guests that attend the show.

Any other ideas?

Wow - I'd be giving everyone a discount from Nov - March!

 

[mscharf]

I agree- I don't really offer a lot of extra discounts. I do the ticket game for my door prizes (between 1-3 based on the attandance and how fun they were!)

I did offer an extra at my aunts show (b/c I drove an our). I offered an extra $10 to two girls who booked on the same day. It was a great crowd and great show, so I wanted to do shows for them, plus one is a strong recruit lead, so offering this will give me two shows on one day, making the drive worthwhile, and hopefully I will recruit the girl when I go back, then she can do the bookings from the two shows.

 

[pamperedlinda]

I offer extra specials when I want more shows than what I have booked. Usually I offer extra free $$ so they can get what they want (mostly what I do is offer them an extra 10% of their FPV - that way they work harder!). Or I offer something that I have in my stash.

 

[DebbieJ]

Wow, you are giving away a lot! I give an iSlice to my hostess, a Season's Best as the gift for my recruiting game (write down three questions, first one done gets it) and then I draw 2-3 more names and they get to pick out of my basket (citrus peelers, nylon pan scrapers, single TwixIts, and Quickut paring knives).Like Linda, I will offer more when I need a booking, but that is it.

 

[susanr613]

I offered to bring the 30-minute chicken to everyone who booked from my last show. Out of 5 guests, one booked and one will book from her.

I heard that bringing the chicken helps motivate those guests to book and/or buy the DCB.

 

[pamperedlinda]

Wow, you are giving away a lot! I give an iSlice to my hostess, a Season's Best as the gift for my recruiting game (write down three questions, first one done gets it) and then I draw 2-3 more names and they get to pick out of my basket (citrus peelers, nylon pan scrapers, single TwixIts, and Quickut paring knives).

Like Linda, I will offer more when I need a booking, but that is it.

When I'm NOT pimping for bookings I just give my host a SB, I give guests who brought a friend - and their friend a Twixit - I draw a door prize (I just started the 5 questions) and they can pick from my goodie bag (old SBs, bamboo spoon, that's about all I have in there right now) Once we can order them, I'll start giving my host the new shopping bag instead of a SB.

 

[Sheleif]

I offered a free gift for anyone who ordered online for my last show and it worked great. I like offering little perks. It makes it fun and everyone likes something for free.

 

[Sophie's Cookin]

For me it depends on where I am at in my business. I like to be more generous if I can. I don't think that their free item for $60 purchase is a nice enough gift most of the time. So I offer an incentive for a $60 purchase. It is either something small or a ticket into a drawing for a larger item. I have only offered the larger item twice, but both times I have had a $1000 or more show.

Alot of it is about the atmosphere that you set too. If you are excited then you guests get excited. I try to make it as fun as possible and I am not a comedian and entertainer like my director so sometimes it helps me create the atmosphere that I want.

 

[pampered1224]

I can't afford much these days either but I do the Early Bird drawing as, yep, late arrivals are a pet peeve of mine too and I make sure it is on the invites and exactly what the prize is and it works!!! Then I do one more drawing for the heck of it. Both are free shipping.
And I my only host gift is the $15 increase for hosting a Cooking Party. It is the FREE SHOW thing but I do this all the time. Two reasons: 1) I do the shopping so they don't have too and I get exactly what I need and ALL of my hosts love that gift and 2) They get extra money to spend as they do not have to give it back to me for groceries and actually there is a 3rd reason, 3) I can write it off as a show expense. So nothing I can't write off. Plus you ahve so much going, how do you keep track of what you are giving who and how much and Yikes I would be crazy trying to keep it all straight.

 

[candiejayne]

Just wanted to share that I had a host once who struggled to get her show to qualify. Once she finally got enough orders, she thought she should do something for her guest because of how long it took her to close the show. (over a month! eeekkk) She bought all of her guest the SB and citrus peelers. I thought it was a nice gesture from her. Of course I was happy that it raised the sales a bit too.

 

[lpacker]

I pay the $4.25 shiping on each person's order who books a show and agrees to hold it within the 6 months. I enter it as a "consultant gift", so it can be used as a tax write off at the end of the year. I have found that I also have very few people who cancel their show. I think they see that I already have made a commitment in helping them have a sucessful show. But the reason I started it was to force me to ask everyone at the show if they would like to book a party. I can not complete their receipt until I ask, so I know if I am paying the shipping or they are.

 

[harmony3]

When they write 3 questions down what do you do with them.

 

[pkd09]

It depends on what I am trying to achieve. This month, January, I offered a FREE cooking show (mail invites, supply ingredients for demo) to those who booked a show. I did this because of double points; I wanted more shows. There are certain days during the year I offer an incentive. For example: April 15....have a show on that date and I pay your sales tax (you must be in attendance at the show for this perk). There is a special every day of the month that you can do this for if you want to. Again, a lot depends on what I am trying to achieve. PC offers our hosts so much; why should I add to it? Sometimes I play a game....sometimes I don't. That really depends on the time we have (waiting for a recipe to come out of the oven, etc.). I am in business to make money; not give away the farm! If I gave $5 in product at every show (SB, Citrus Peeler, Twix It clips, etc) that would really be cutting into my income. If you start doing something like this, your hosts will expect it so be careful what you start. Just my 5 cents worth.

 

[Bluiydangl]

When I'm NOT pimping for bookings I just give my host a SB, I give guests who brought a friend - and their friend a Twixit - I draw a door prize (I just started the 5 questions) and they can pick from my goodie bag (old SBs, bamboo spoon, that's about all I have in there right now) Once we can order them, I'll start giving my host the new shopping bag instead of a SB.

I love that idea- to give them the cranberry shopping bag! Thanks for sharing

 

[chef131doreen]

Well I do give incentives too depending on what I need for the month ext .. I am going to have to do a really good one from now till March 31 , now that TPC is due and with the weather here that sucks. I have to do 5,900 each month till March 31.to make it in Sales.
So I am going to give 25.00 extra to each host that books now till March 31 and a SB and new Reusable shopping bag to each guest that has an order .

Not to happy about TPC with no April and May cause HWC sales really help .And this Snow really is going to be a stuggle

Anyone else not happy about TPC ?

 

[DebbieJ]

Well I do give incentives too depending on what I need for the month ext .. I am going to have to do a really good one from now till March 31 , now that TPC is due and with the weather here that sucks. I have to do 5,900 each month till March 31.to make it in Sales.
So I am going to give 25.00 extra to each host that books now till March 31 and a SB and new Reusable shopping bag to each guest that has an order .

Not to happy about TPC with no April and May cause HWC sales really help .And this Snow really is going to be a stuggle

Anyone else not happy about TPC ?

I have to do 5292 every month Doreen. And they haven't announced the new TPC yet--if I earn it this year and they change it, I don't want just one diamond in my ring. That would look silly!

 

[pcchefjane]

I usually offer free shipping at booths to encourage people to buy since sometimes they only want 1 or 2 things. I plan on giving all my March-December hosts the shopping bag whether it is Catalog or Cooking Show. I also give all Hosts the "Cooking Show $15" to encourage them to book either way. I make sure to tell them they don't "earn" the $15 for a Catalog Show but I give it to them because they have "worked hard" to get orders. They really appreciate that! I rarely get just $150 Shows... They are usually at least $200. I've also been putting in one of the older SBs (that we got for 10/2.25) into anyone's order of $75 or more and write my "thank you" message inside. I have my sticker with my info on it on the back to remind them who I am.I gotta get on the phone tomorrow morning and evening to get my Shows booked for the rest of the month. I am frustrated that everyone who kept telling me they wanted a January Show is not answering calls or emails!

 

[lauradahl]

I always do the "bring a friend-get a gift" thing and the guest and their friend get the SBCB. I also usually do a drawing from the drawing slips. That is usually the paring knives, small bamboo spoons, citrus peeler, can strainer...the stuff we get for shows on the supply order. Only recently have I started adding incentives and it sounds like I am like many others. When I'm trying to reach a sales goal or something and need shows/sales, then I sweeten the pot a little.

 

[pampered.chris]

I give the hostess a SB and then draw for a door prize at the end of the show. This month I have been offering free ingredients. I mail out the invites for EVERY show I do b/c then I know they are going out. I have been offering my hostess's a free spice w/ 40 guest addresses and another one when they return the list w/in 5 days.

I have been having higher shows since I started offering the free gift w/ a list of 40. That gets people motivated!!

 

[koima]

I am doing a ticket drawing for free shipping and a little surprise gift (quikut, orange peeler, Season's Best, etc.) during the show.

I'm also offering a big incentive to my Jan/Feb hosts. My show with the highest sales will get the level one promotion prize of the 10" covered skillet. They're helping me to meet my personal sales goals, and I'm passing the reward along. I've had two hosts so far get REALLY excited about the possibility of winning it and say, "I'll have to invite more people!" or "I can have out of town friends order online, right?" I currently have 7 shows in the running, all in the last two weeks of the month, and I'll be announcing it at those shows as an additional booking benefit. Even if each show is just $500, I'll have gotten the pan for free. I am expecting better than that since my hosts are giving me long guest lists.

 

[Chef Bobby]

If I did PC as my only source of income or depended on it to pay bills, I would have to give away alot less than what I do. I have several totes full of new items that I got free from doing my own shows that I use as host and door prize gifts. I also use them as cash and carry items at craft fairs.

 

[gailz2]

I give SB to the host, but will add the shopping bag when available. I do one game with a gift from my bag, and a door prize drawing with a gift from the bag.In my goodie bag, I put each item in a snack ziplock bag along with a bus. card and my label attached to the item. I also put in there a few non-PC items. They love to get recipe cards that I pick up for $1 at stores sometimes, and some kitchen notepads. I let them choose. I also have a bunch of PC HWC whisk pins, individual small bamboo spoons, paring knife, even measuring spoons from the outlet.In Nov. and Dec. shows I gave each host one of the Holiday cookbooks, added to their orer.

 

[Yani]

I always offer FREE dessert for booking a show. I keep it in a budget of no more than 6 dollars, usually somenthing made in the 24 mini muffin pan so I will have enough for up to 24 guest. I buy my ingridients in bulk so I have enough for a few parties (cheaper and I can write it off). I have a few recipes but I let the host choose. I give the host a SB and I do the game with the riddle where they find products in the book and they get a SB. Somentimes depending on the crowd I give a scraper and have them pass it around when I say certain word like host or book and that also lets me know who is really paying attention (I wouldnt do this one in a large party). So far it has worked out good.

Yani

Anyone can cook..let me show you how

 

[chefsteph07]

Usually I offer free ingredients for SAT incentive...and it's always the 30 min chicken...

This month, however, I am offering to make the Molten Brownie Skillet Cake and I'm bringing the ingredients for that to show off the pan and get bookings for Feb...so far it has worked, my show on Sunday I had 3 bookings for Feb! :sing:

 

[k1tchng0ddess]

My shows are mostly interactive and its sometimes hard to get people to volunteer to try things, so I offer tickets to anyone who helps me. I joke around and tell them the products aren't going to bite! LOL Anyone that brings a friend also gets 2 tickets, and their friend gets one. Everyone gets 1 ticket for coming. All the tickets go into a drawing to pick from my basket, which contains SB's, citrus peelers, paring knives, and little gifts I pick up at the dollar store like candles, appt books, shopping lists for the refrig, etc.
I also do another raffle for the door prize using the drawing slips-you have to give me your info in order to be in it. Also, I don't serve anyone until I receive all their slips. I just say the the recipe has to cool!
Another incentive I just tried tonight: I'm in NY and people are definitely feeling the pinch of the economy. As a results, it's so hard to get people to invite 40 names, so after my hostess only gave me 15 names tonight, I said I would give her $20 to spend if she gave me 40 names, $15 if she gave me 30, and $10 if she gave me more than 20. I am sending out all her invites since she said she was busy. Even if she gives me 40 names, she will most likely have a lot of people there and will reach the 30% discount level, so $20 I "give" to her will become $14 anyway with her hostess discount. If I call it a consultant gift it will be a tax write-off. I think this is a small price to pay to get a lot of people to show up, and increase sales and potential bookings. The show is 2/7, I'll let you guys know how this worked out for me.
Barbara

 

[lisagoins]

I have a product bag (SB, citurs peelers, nylon scrapers, sometimes some outlet stuff, etc.) and play who's left holding the bag for questions instead of the ticket game. I also draw for another prize out of the bag from the drawing slips.
I also have a Host Bag with products I've gotten free, stuff I've ordered off the outlet, etc. If a host has $100 in outside orders when I walk in the door, she gets to pick a product from it. (Orders after the show don't count!) I've had lots more outside orders at my shows since I started this--gets them to at least one highter level. I also give a SB (ordered with the host discount if I don't have enough on hand) for a bring a friend incentive.
Finally, I sometimes give a prep bowl filled with candy in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon to the host--I sell a TON of prep bowls! so it's worth it.

 

[ivykeep]

I give a gift (orange peeler, season's best, old style bamboo tongs (I bought 50 when they were discontinued)) to anyone who brings a guest to the show and to anyone who has never been to a Pampered Chef party.

I usually do an intro game where I have everyone introduce themselves and tell me if they have ever been to a PC show and what their favorite PC product is. I'll often point out the product and talk about it and what makes it great. Allows me to touch on almost all of the product lines in the catalog and guest raves are often more valuable than my raves. Anyone who says they have never been to a PC show gets a free gift (after everyone has been introduced so that no one changes their answer just to get a prize).

I also have everyone fill out a door prize slip and have the host do a drawing of the slips and give out another small prize (or two).

Also if I am having a particularly busy time personally I will offer to anyone who books a catalog show with me to give them an additional $10 free in products (essentially making it a cooking show). I've done this with my director's blessing (she's a National Executive Director -- and suggested I heavily promote this this spring since I'll be pregnant with twins and physically unable to do many cooking shows).