Direct Sales Mommies
Online Parties
Direct Sales
Coupons
Catalog Request
Featured Business
Featured
Products
Direct Sales Directory
Representatives by State
Contests
and Giveaways
Online Parties
Calendar of Events
Monday
Coffee Break
New Online Party Room
Business Resource
Goal Setting
Booking Tips
Online Parties
Theme Parties
Recruiting Tips
Team Motivation
Party Plan Games
Hostess Coaching
WAHM Online Safety
Promotional Supplies
You Want to Be a WAHM
Family Resources
Share a Family
Recipe
Avoiding Identity Theft
Keeping Kids Safe Online
Tips for
Teaching Manners
Just for
Fun
Plug Board
Message
Board
Link Exchange
Top 100 List...Get
Listed
Home
News
Links
Advertising
MomPack
Request a Mompack
Visits Since August 28, 2009
Online parties are similar to home parties, except it allows the guests to stay at home, in their pajamas if they like. This makes for a more relaxed atmosphere, there’s no setting up for your hostess to do, there’s no hauling your items to your hostesses house and there’s no display case to set up.
While each party will vary in the number of guests, the number of party orders, and the length in time the process of the steps to have an online party is basically the same. So follow these steps to help make your online party successful.
Just like a home party, an online party has to be planned and set up. The planning and setting up is one of the major steps in planning a successful online party.
Finding a Hostess
The first step to setting up an online party is to find a hostess. The Hostess is a big part of your party, they help you in the planning by inviting their friends and family.
A) Consider Friends and Family as potential hostesses
B) Email Groups and Message Boards to ask for a hostess
C) Mystery hostess party - This is where you would invite your guests and let them know one of them will be receiving the hostess benefits. At the end of your party draw a name from among the members who have come to your party and give them the hostess benefits.
D) Multiple Business Parties (fairs) - Pair up with one or more business owners to do a multiple business party. Each business could take turns telling about their business or you both could just do the party together, working on each others business as well as your own. You could swap each other’s hostess benefits, keep your own or give the hostess benefits away as a prize.
E) Swapping Parties - People love to swap parties. Put out an ad requesting other direct sales representatives to swap online parties with you. This is a good way to get hostess all year around but during the holiday season this is very popular. You benefit from this in two ways, you get a host for your business and you earn free products by hosting for the other rep.
F) Host your own party
Here are some good host incentives you can offer to your hostess. You
will want to find what best work for your circumstances.
A) Percentage in Free Products - A percentage of total party sales before shipping/handling and taxes, in free products. You can decide whatever amount you want to be that percentage. 10% is a popular amount.
B) Free Products - Give your hostess a free small product and let them know that when there party reaches an x amount in sales that you will give them more free products.
C) Gift Certificates - Offer your hostess gift certificates for hosting, you will want to tell them they need x amount of sales to get the gift certificate. Try to keep the amount of sales needed an attainable goal. Remember to include all the details needed to use the gift certificate.
D) Discount Card - Offer your hostess a 10% discount card good for future purchases up to a year. If they want to renew the card they will need to host another party. This is a good way to keep your hostess returning to you as a customer and a hostess.
E) Hostess Gift Basket - Fix up a gift basket, take a picture and put it up on your site, and let the hostess know, that the hostess with the most sales during a particular month will win that basket. This will get your hostesses competing against each other for the gift basket, which will boost party sales. It will also give guests an incentive to become a hostess since they would like a chance to win the gift basket.
Getting a
Chat Room
You will need a chat room to have your online party in. At a home party
there is a certain room where the party is held. The chat room is that room
for an online party. You need this so you can tell your guest about your
business, specials, play the game etc....
There are several places on the internet to get a chat room. Again you will want to do some research and find the best one for your needs. You have the option of getting your own chat room and hosting it on your site or paying for a party room.
Below are some free chatting rooms and some party rooms that you can get for a fee.
A)
Bravenet- offers a free chat room to be hosted on your own site. Just copy and paste the script onto your site and your chat room is ready. Bravenet offers many things great for work at home moms. B)
Parachat
- Offers a
free chat room to be hosted on your own website. Just copy and paste the
script onto your site and your chat room is ready
C)
The Mouse Connection - Offers party rooms hosted on their
server. Fees vary. There are many features that come with these chat rooms.
These are just 3 rooms we have either had a party in or been to a party in. These are good for online parties. If you would like to research online party rooms more do a search on yahoo or google for free chat rooms or online party rooms.
If you want to get a feel of each room, you could always host a party for others. This gives you hands on experience of how the rooms work.
Figuring out Specials
Most
companies offer specials on a monthly basis. Use your company specials for
your online party too, these will help bring in sales. You may wish to make
up a special that is only good for the guest of the party also. This lets
them know they are getting something special for taking the time to come to
your party.
Guests will ask you about your specials, make sure you know them by heart or have them close by so you can respond quickly.
Whatever you give as a special make sure isn't going to leave you with no profit though. Here are some good specials that have worked for us:
A) Free small product with an order - This is good for bringing in orders makes people curious what they will get for free. Just about everyone loves FREE.
B) 10% off price - This will come out of your commissions/profit but it could bring in extra sales that might not have come in without the discount.
C) Free Shipping - This special is really popular but be sure it doesn’t take all of your commissions/profit to offer it.
Once you have figured out where to set up your party page, you have to decide what to put on the page. The following is what we recommend:
A) Who your hostess is.
B) Any specials you and/or your
company has going.
C) A link to your website and/or the companies website.
E) How you would like the guest to order - via email or website. If via email include your email address.
F) Payments that you are accepting - if you are accepting paypal or any other form of online payment include your id that is needed for payment.
Games
You want to have games at your party to get your guests relaxed,
interacting and having fun. The number of games you play is at your
discretion. You don’t want to have too many games where your guests don’t
have time to look at your specials and site, but if your having a long party
you will want to have several games.
Games add a little competition to your party, which encourages more participation. There are many games that can be played at parties.
Prizes
Once your games are figured out you need to decide what prizes you want
to give away. For each game you have you will want to have a prize. When
picking out a prize pick out one that is suitable for the game. For example
if it’s a harder game you might want to pick out a better prize than if it’s
an easy game. There are many different prizes that you could give, below is
just some suggestions for a prize.
A) Gift Certificates
B) Product
C) Gift Baskets
Preparing
Invitations
You have to let people know about your party. You do this by sending out
invitations. An invitation to an online party is like an ad, but instead of
trying to sell your product you are trying to get them to come to your
party. You will want it to entice people to come, by showing them why they
should come.
Sending
your invitations
Send the invitations to all your friends, family, any online groups you
belong to and place on message boards you are a member of. Do not to send
them to people you don’t know or groups you're not in, this can be
considered spam if you do and you don’t want to get in trouble for spam.
There is a service that will send an invitation via email for you about your party called Evite.
Message boards and Yahoo Groups are a great place for announcing your party. Remember before you post your party announcement on a message board to read their rules and introduce yourself. Become a member of the community it’s a great way to network and market your party.
Send out your party announcements a few days before the party, then the morning of the party and then right before the party. This will let them know ahead of time about the party and remind them of the party also.
You have your party all setup; now it’s time for the party.
You will want to be in your party room before time for the party, just
incase guest show up early. We usually show up about 15 minutes before the
party.
I like to have all my
information for the party typed out ahead of time and then you can just copy
and paste it. It makes for quicker response time to questions asked as
well.
Introduction
of your business
Greet your guests
when they come into your party. Let them know who you are and that you are
glad they are there. Chit chat with them while you are waiting for more
guests to show up, get to know them, ask how their day was, etc. Help create
a relaxed atmosphere.
You will want to wait a few minutes after time for the party to start to give more guests time to show. There will be more guests that will come in later during the party, be sure to greet them and welcome them when they come in. Sometimes the chat will get quick and it will be hard to keep up don’t stress, if you think you missed a question or comment just let your guests know, they will be happy to ask again.
Sales Specials
You have your party page set up with the specials on it, but you will want to tell your guests what they are too and let them know where on your party page they are located. This keeps them from searching for the specials and gives them more time to look at the specials and your site.
Give your specials several times during the party but don’t get overdue it.
If you have a special that is just for your party guests, make sure you mention that they are getting that special for attending your party. It lets them know they are special.
Games and
prizes
You have your games and prizes figured out, pick a good time to play
them usually after everyone has had a chance to look through your specials
and site.
Talk about the game you are going to be playing through out the party. Building your guests interest in playing the game. Tell them what you're playing and what the prize will be and the approximate time the game will start.
When its time for the game ask your guests if they are ready to play a game, some might still be shopping and looking around. That’s ok, ask them to let you know if they have any questions and when they are ready. You will start the game when everyone is ready.
Hostess
Rewards
People love to get free stuff, so be sure to talk about what the hostess
is getting for free tonight. Then tell you guests they could get the same
thing for hosting an online party with you. Go over your company hostess
plan and any extra’s you give your hostess.
Then ask them to let you know if they want to host a party and earn free products. If someone agrees then try to set a date for the party, if for some reason a date can't be set right then ask for a email address so you can contact them about setting a good date for their party.
Recruiting
Leads
Talk about
the business opportunity your company offers, commissions, what comes in a
kit, the flexibility of the company. Let them know what’s so great about
your company.
Let your guests know that if anyone would be interested in signing up to let you know, you will help them in anyway you can. Give your email address and let your guests know if they would like more information or have any questions about signing up to just email you.
You could give your phone number if you want to have them call you instead of email. Or you can give them both and let them decide which way to contact you if they want to sign up or for more information
If someone would like to sign up, ask for their email address, snail mail address or phone number so you can send or call them with more information about signing up.
Chit Chat
Make room for general chitchat all through your party. You don’t want it
all to be business but make sure to participate in the chitchat, so when you
need to gear it back to business you can do it easily.
Closing the Party
A lot of times online parties don’t end right when they are scheduled
to, so plan on being there longer than what is actually scheduled. When
everyone is getting ready to leave (they will usually leave at different
times) be sure to thank them for coming and let them know you will be in
contact with their total (if they ordered and if you hadn’t already gotten
their total to them).
Also let them know you hope they had fun and you hope to see them again. Ask if they would like to be added to an invite list you are making for upcoming online parties.
Be sure to thank your host for hosting and let her know you will be in contact to let her know what she has earned from her party. See if she has any questions for you.
This is just a basic way to have an
online party. You will want to do what feels comfortable to you. Play with
the ideas, do what works best for you. Remember the most important thing is
for everyone to have fun.
Have Fun!
10 Tips for a Successful Online Sales Party by Linda Stacy
1 – Plan Ahead. Schedule your party at least a week or two ahead of time to
give yourself plenty of time to promote your party and invite guests. Even
if the site where you host your party is advertising the event, your party
will be more successful if you also promote it.
Create more excitement by planning your party for holiday shopping or a
special sale or promotion your company may be offering.
Attend other parties to observe what works and what doesn’t.
2 – Send Personal Invitations. You will have the best turnout if you invite
people you know or people who have expressed an interest in your business.
Send personal invitations, ask guests to RSVP, and send a reminder on the
day of the party.
3 – Offer Incentives for Participation. Give guests extra reasons to attend
and to bring friends. Many online parties are “Mystery Hostess” parties with
the hostess gifts being given away in a random drawing from the guest list.
Offer free shipping or a discount if someone brings a friend who buys
something (and give the discount to both the invited guest and the friend
she brought).
4 – Be the Perfect Hostess. Stay cheerful and polite. Make everyone feel
welcomed and appreciated. Greet them by name when they arrive and thank them
when they leave. Make sure you tell your guests a little about yourself and
your company.
5 – Run an Organized Party. Have a schedule of activities and keep things
moving. Have a friend help you out. She can welcome guests and keep everyone
involved while you answer product questions and help people order. If you
play a game, make it one that is easy for you to run. You don’t want long
delays during and after the game while you tally scores and determine the
winner.
6 - Give “Real” Gifts. You can use discount coupons or free shipping as an
incentive to “bring a friend” or to place an order over a certain dollar
amount, but for game winners or a prize drawing, give a gift of your
product. Not only will your guest be more appreciative, but it’s also a
promotional item – the recipient gets to try out something she may order
again in the future.
7 – Inform Guests. Repeat your website URL, ordering instructions, and
incentives several times during the party and for any late arrivals. Make
sure guests understand shipping charges and expected shipping date. If you
are keeping the party open for several days or longer after the online
party, be sure to explain that the order won’t even be placed for some time.
8 – Grace Under Pressure – Be prepared for possible problems and handle them
calmly and effectively. What will you do if you start having computer
problems in the middle of your party? How will you answer a guest who keeps
asking off topic questions? Or what if there’s a disruptive intruder or
someone starts promoting sales of her products?
Be as graceful as possible when handling such issues. If your computer is
making participation nearly impossible, ask for email addresses and email
everyone an apology and a discount coupon.
Confrontation with rude and disruptive intruders will only escalate the
problem and make your other guests uncomfortable. Most chat rooms have an
ignore feature that you can instruct guests to use for the disruptive
intruders. Offer to contact someone by email after the party for off topic
discussions. And ask the person who is promoting her products to wait until
the end of the party and invite anyone who is interested to stay for a few
minutes.
9 – Bring the party to an end at the designated time and give your email
address so guests can contact you with any additional questions or orders.
10 – Stay in Touch. Email your guests to let them know when their order was
placed and when they can expect delivery. Inform them of any backorders or
delays and offer alternatives.
© 2006 Linda Stacy For free chat rooms for your online party or business
opportunity chat visit http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/online-party-rooms.html.
Article Source:
If you are in direct sales, the money is all in the parties you do. You want your hostess and her guests to have as much fun as possible, but at the same time, you need to educate them on and interest them in your products. You may also want to plant the idea of one of them becoming a consultant. Party games can accomplish all of this while providing entertainment to the guests. Here are a few of our favorite games. Give them a try and watch your business grow.
1) Bingo
This is an easy all-time favorite and an easy way to introduce a wide variety of products to the group.
Create some bingo cards by drawing a 4 by 4 box grid on a piece of paper. Write “Free” on the center box. Then write the names of your products on the remaining boxes in random order on each of the bingo cards and make yourself a set of cards with just one of the products on each card. You will use this set of cards to draw the bingo “numbers”. You may want to have a sample of each of the products with you and show it and talk about it when the product is drawn during the bingo game. As in ordinary bingo, the first person who has a row of items checked off wins a prize.
2) Get To Know Each Other Game
This game makes for a nice icebreaker, especially if most of the guests don’t know each other. It can also provide you some clues about who may be a potential prospect.
Pass around a bag of M&Ms. Tell everyone to take as many as they would like. Quickly ask them to count the number of candies in their hand. Each person then takes a turn standing up and telling as many things about themselves and their family as they have M&M’s. Of course no one is allowed to eat their M&Ms until they have had their turn.
3) How Well Do You Know Your Hostess?
Give a piece of paper to each of your guests and have them number it from 1 to 10. Then ask them to answer the following questions.
1) What is your hostess’s favorite color?
2) If she could have any vehicle, what would it be?
3) How many kids does she have?
4) What is her favorite hobby?
5) Who is her favorite actor?
6) What is her favorite animal?
7) What is her favorite TV show?
8) What is her favorite food?
9) What is her favorite scent or smell?
10) If you were in need of something, would your hostess give it to you if she can?
After everyone writes down their answers (including the hostess), read the questions again and have the hostess tell everyone her answers. The other guests mark on their papers if they got it right or wrong. The person with the most write answers wins a small prize or discount on their purchase.
You can change and rearrange any of the questions, but leave the last one in place. It provides a nice lead- in to mention that the hostess will get free product if they purchase a certain amount, and/or book their own parties.
4) Left Right Game
This game is a great way to start a party, right before you go into your presentation. Pass out one or two small gifts. Tell your guests that you will read them a story and that they should pass the gift to the person to the right when they hear the word “right” and to the left when you mention “left. The person holding the gift at the end of the story gets to keep it.
Here is the story:
I left my house and was on my way to (insert hostess’s name) house. But I soon discovered that I had left my directions at home, right by the phone! Well, I knew right away that I needed to have the right directions to (insert hostess’s name) house, so I turned left and I turned left and I turned right and made my way back to my house for the right directions. Sure enough, there they were, right where I had left them, right next to the phone.
Finally, I was on the right track. I arrived right on time and set up my (insert your company name) presentation right over here. You all arrived and sat down. I’m going to get right down to work and tell you about (name of company). I hope nothing will be left out. In a moment I’ll show you our new line of (insert your type of products) products. If you left home with the intention of shopping for gifts tonight, you’ll find we have the right gift for everyone. Think about upcoming birthdays and holidays, we don’t want anyone left out. I’d be happy to help you find the right gift for that special someone.
(Insert name of company) has a (insert number of days) –day return policy. When your merchandise comes in please check it right away. If something is not right please call me right away and you can be sure I will take care of it right away. You don’t want to be left with something you are not 100% satisfied with, right? If you’d like to be a hostess and earn free and discounted merchandise, this is the right time for you to explore hosting a party.
I’m enjoying being here with all of you tonight and I hope you are having fun, too. I know you can’t wait to see if we have that special item you have been looking for, so without further delay I will get right to the point of this party, which is showing you our great products! So, there is really nothing left for me to do except congratulate the winner, right?
5) Ask Me About My Job
This game is a great way to get your guests thinking about joining your company.
Get or make up some tickets.
Tell your guests that for the next 3 minutes you are going to play “ Ask Me About My Job”. The first person to come up with a question will get 3 tickets, the second person will get 2 and every question after that earns one ticket.
You will hear questions like “How long have you been doing this?” and “How many hours a week do you work?” Answer them as positively as possible. Good answers to the questions above would be “I’ve been doing this for 12 months and I’ve never had so much fun” and “ I only work evenings and weekends because I want to be home with my kids”.
After the three minutes are up, tell you guests to hang on to their tickets. You will have another short Q&A session towards the end of the party (your guests will have thought of some additional questions by then). After that have a drawing for a small prize.
This game is a great opportunity for you to teach your guests about your business and they may see how could benefit them.
Give a few of these games a try and put your own spin on them. All of these can easily be adapted and modified to work for you and the particular direct sales company that you represent. Go out there and have fun!
WAHMWannabe.com offers all kinds of resources for building home businesses. Sign up for our newsletter http://www.wahmwannabe.com/newsletter/newsletter-subscription.htm to get helpful tips, recommendations and support delivered directly to your inbox!
Article Source: http://www.thewahmshack.com/articledirectory
| Need More Online Sales? | |
| Online parties are one of the
best ways to make sales online and build a solid list of customers. The
first online party appeared before many of us even started our business,
although the questions on how to hold a party never stop. For this
reason, Direct Sales Helpers has put together this special ebook
specifically on online parties: "Successful Online Parties - How To Make More Sales Online!" In this ebook you'll learn the following: - What type of party to hold - Which days and times work best - Where to find rooms - How to write invitations and where to send them - ...Plus other hints and tips! "Successful Online Parties" also comes with several pages of online party games and how to play them. *Free Bonus* We've also included one bonus you'll just love! As we've always said, one of the best ways to learn about an online party is to attend one yourself. We've included a transcript of a mock online party to show you EXACTLY how one can go! Visit https://paydotcom.com/r/11665/sjoyce/26095140/ to make your next Online Party a real Success! |
| Online Parties with a Twist
We know once you have a room full of guests at your online party, getting them to play games is the easy part. While hunting for answers to your game, a guest has the chance to see some products they simply cannot do without, thus making you sales! We also know from experience that getting the visitors to the party in the first place is like pulling teeth. We have given some ideas to increase your party attendance and really being able to talk with your future customers in a chat room is the best. However, for those that you'll never see in the chat room here is a way to increase some party-like sales without having to hold an actual party. After you build your list of potential customers (and if you don't have one - stop right here and do that FIRST. Your list of potential customers is your most valuable asset in business!), play a game with them via email. Announce on a Monday or even Friday (and you can test which days get the best responses) the start of a contest by email. Focus on a specific type of products like you would at your party, and set up some type of questions that can be emailed to you. Be sure to cover some good points about your products in a casual way (you know your subscribers want to get down to the contest part of this, so don't overload them with ads!). You can set this up in any way you wish really, just as long as it's something interactive you can do with them. At the end of the week, send out another email with the answers (this might grab a few that didn't participate before, or maybe got stumped and you never got an entry from). Give the details again of the products, which the answers were related to, and also be sure to announce the winner(s). You can possibly even give a special incentive to buy the products you featured in the contest, since many of your subscribers have been eyeing these products all week - a special might just give them the extra push to buy. You can do variations of this, such as having weekly featured products and instead of giving away prizes each week having a monthly drawing where those that win the weekly contests are entered in. Just as long as you are doing something other than just "weekly sales" you will stand out of the crowd and increase your sales! ------------------------ Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, authors of the ever popular Direct Sales Success Kit, have put together yet another resource to help your direct sales business. Stop by https://paydotcom.com/r/11665/sjoyce/26095140/ to learn more about their newest creation, Online Party Success. |
| 4 Tips to More Online Party
Sales I know most of us have held our own online party, been to one, or at least read about them. Many of the materials online are general, and the average online party (for individuals) has around 5 - 10 guests at the most. Maybe more, maybe less, depending on several factors. But really for those that do not belong to party groups, and are holding their first party the attendance is going to be very low. Instead of mass submitting party invites to wahm groups, let's take a step back and see what should be done FIRST. 1. BUILD a newsletter Before you have your next party or even start to plan it, set up a newsletter. This is something you should have already for your business, no matter if it's an informational newsletter or one that lists your specials - you NEED a list of potential customers. If you haven't started to build one, start now! 2. USE your newsletter list No I don't mean take advantage of them, but I do mean send your party notices to your list. Your list is the most important, targeted sources of free advertisement you have! 3. Give good REASONS to attend Simply saying "online party - join us" isn't enough. Not even saying "games and prizes" is enough anymore. Get creative and have a good reason for having your party. Such as announcing a new product not released yet, giving away free items (be specific in your email!), or featuring a specific type of product on your website. Informational chats are good as well, such as one that explains what a certain non-familiar product is. 4. Make a SCHEDULE If you have monthly parties introducing or featuring specific products, the attendance is going to be better than if you just have them at random. Weekly is the best for repeat guests, but you also do not want to burn your guests out offering them the same products. Monthly would work best, since it's not as often but still creates that habit. Make sure you have it on the same day every month (such as the 1st, 10th, 15th...something easy to remember). Don't forget to get creative with your parties! With so many offering online parties today, you really need to make yourself stand out. Granted if you do follow the first two steps, you WILL have a much better response since instead of just other wahms you will have a targeted group that may not be familiar with online parties. Even still, there is always room for improvement. ;) Good luck with your next online party! ------------------------ Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank, authors of the ever popular Direct Sales Success Kit, have put together yet another resource to help your direct sales business. Stop by https://paydotcom.com/r/11665/sjoyce/26095140/ to learn more about their newest creation, Online Party Success. |
(01/10)
