Hawaii!

This could be the view from your room. Oh yeah!

Do yourself a favour, OK? At a minimum, be active in August. Just get $900 in sales this month. No matter what.

At our Unit Meeting next Wednesday, we'll be setting up a game plan for all of us to get on a plane to Hawaii next May 29th. Mark May 29-June 2 on your calendar. You can do it!

Angela and I will show you how. But you have to be active. Don't let it pass you by in the very first month. Go for it! If you don't have any shows this weekend, that's OK. Get on the phone and put in some effort to collect orders. Get $900.

Of course, if you're working hard already to bonus, that's great. Keep pushing. Get as many points as you can in this double points month. You can get on the phone, too and put another order in. It all adds up.

We're going to Hawaii! Let's go as a team!

Sydney Candlelight Night

Hi. Thanks for making the Sydney Candlelight Night a raging success. Now that you've seen how it works, perhaps you have some suggestions on how to improve it and make it more valuable for your clients. Feel free to write some suggestions to me or to comment at the bottom of this post. It's really your night, so give us your feedback on how it went for you. (Remember follow-up is the key. Even if you are calling people who didn't come, you can use the event as an excuse for the call. "Sorry you couldn't make it....")

Does anyone have any pictures from last night that they can share?

Canberra and Cardiff are the other two Candlelight Nights for the Rainbows. Good luck to Kathy in Canberra and Tamsin, Kylie, Tash, Susanne, and Teresa in Cardiff. Use these nights to get your clients excited about the PartyLite opportunity. Whether they are clients, hosts, or potential consultants, it's a great atmosphere to share.

FYI, here is an article I just put up on my client blog site.

On Wednesday, August 13th, 20 Sydney-based Consultants and over 100 guests filed through the door at Parramatta RSL to see presentations on our new 2008 Summer/Holiday catalogue. Six table displays and presentations were prepared by Eliana Scott, Grace Juco, Claire McMurray, Angela Little, Judi McIlwrath, and Amanda Duckitt. Yours truly was the MC.

We worked hard on our preparations to make the presentations flow smoothly. One highlight of the night was turning out the lights and letting our guests watch the video on how the Heirloom Nativity Tealight Creche is made. What an impact that had! It gave our guests a little bit of insight into the care and detail for all of our products. They loved it.

Obviously most of the guests are already big fans of PartyLite, so Candlelight Night is simply a fantastic opportunity to cement relationships, get bookings, and sponsor new consultants. We've had great success with our Candlelight Nights and we get better and better at this every time.

This was the best one ever!~Amanda Holley, Consultant

All Sydney Consultants are invited to participate in this semi-annual presentation of all things new at PartyLite. Consultants contribute $5 each toward expenses (we usually have a consultant raffle, too). Guests come for free and can buy $5 prize envelopes until we sell out. This time, every ticket was a winner which made it an easy task to sell them out. After expenses, we raised over $200 for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Australia. Every little bit counts.

If you were there, thanks for coming! If you missed it, that's OK. Just give me a call and let's schedule a show. I'll bring what I have and we'll make it a lovely afternoon/evening for you and your guests. Burn those candles! WLC.

OMG! She said YES!

OK. I only have a minute or two, so I'll type fast. At Conference I learned a new method for taking care of clients at the end of a show.

My normal approach after a presentation is to set up at a table with a stack of order forms and a calculator. As people are ready, they bring me their door prize slip and I take their order, offer advice, upsell when possible, see if they wanted to host a show of their own, and then ask if they are interested in learning more about the opportunity. The most common result of that conversation is, yes-thanks-maybe-no-no. Most often, I ended with two no's. And a smile. I felt great that I had asked.

What I learned at conference was a new approach. Completely the opposite of the way I had been doing it. Here's the method.

1. Hi. Thanks for coming. What did you like best about the show?
2. Can you think of anyone who might be interested in doing what I do?
3. How about you?
4. OK, are you considering hosting your own show?
5. Super, what can I get for you today/tonight?

What's great about this method is that you get to the juicy bits first. Imagine if the client is already thinking about joining and you start by taking her order. You would approach her order completely differently if you knew that, wouldn't you?

Last night was my first show of the month. It was a starter show. My host was already sold. Our first customer, Clare, came up to me after the show; I took a breath and started to practice my new training. Here's how it went:

Hi. Thanks so much for coming and supporting Tamsin at her Grand Opening. We really appreciate it. Did you enjoy it?

Yes, it was great.

Can you think of anyone who might be interested in doing what I do? In being a candle lady?

[2-second pause.] Yes, me.

I was so surprised that I almost forgot what to say next. We discussed lots of things after. Tamsin will do Clare's starter show later this month. What a hoot!

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know. Oh, and I also want every single Consultant to read the Phone Phobia article in Reflections. After you read it... re-read it. Even if you're not afraid of the phone, that article is fantastic! In fact, I think I'll go read it again now.

Happy Wendy!

Conference 2008

A Message About Conference
By Judi McIlwrath
(WLC: I couldn't have said this any better.)

Having never been on a plane to anywhere in my whole life, the thought of flying terrified me, and waiting for my flight on Wednesday afternoon, I must admit I seriously considered running and not getting on that plane. I am SO glad I did! Not only did I get to conquer my fear of flying (Thank God, otherwise how could I get to Hawaii for the incentive trip next year!!!) but I got to experience conference, most of it anyway, and it was Amazing.

I guess that’s what happens when you have the pleasure of knowing some truly inspirational women, as I do.

I got up there a day early as I was leaving a day early to get home for my bubba’s 1st birthday. I knew I had embarked on a pretty special journey when I already felt inspired to start putting together this blog piece in my head, before bed on Wednesday night (ok, let’s be honest, early hours of Thursday morning) and conference hadn’t even begun yet! I guess that’s what happens when you have the pleasure of knowing some truly inspirational women, as I do. Little did I know I was about to meet so many more, as I did. If I was asked to sum up the experience in one word, I couldn’t, and not just because it’s me and I am seriously incapable of summing Anything up in one word, but because no mere one word seems anywhere near adequate to describe the life changing experience conference gave me.

It made me realize there is no mold, or a particular "type" that makes a PartyLite consultant, or leader, or RVP for that matter. It’s open to anyone from any walk of life. It made me realize success can be mine if I want it, and not only that but, yes, I even deserve it. It made me realize that FREEBIES ROCK!!! Because it seriously felt like Christmas, I don’t think I’ll be able to hear the song "Summer Holiday" and not expect to be handed free goodies for quite some time. I foresee a little disappointment in my future, but at least I know it’ll only last until conference next year! It made me realize there is no elaborate plot or plan required to succeed in my business, just simple steps duplicated consistently. Also that it’s ok to stuff up, I can’t fail if when sh*t hits the fan it’s ok to pick back up and start again, not to mention incredibly easy to do so.

I also came to the realization that I have an incredible amount of support, and that if I need help I just have to ask. I think it was really summed up for me when on Thursday night at the meet & greet ‘P’ Party, after watching one of the most awesome fireworks displays I’ve seen outside of Sydney Harbours’ New Year’s or Olympics displays, I was moved to tears. Tears of joy and pride as I felt so proud to be a part of something so amazing that is the PartyLite family. I can’t imagine the tissues I’d have needed had I been able to stay for the Gala dinner evening. Aside from the overwhelming emotional side to it that I experienced, there was also fantastic training which has given me tools to make my business successful.

I would so highly recommend conference to anybody joining PartyLite, I certainly plan to never miss one in the future. At dinner on Friday night Angela asked me what I would be taking home from conference, what had I gained from the experience? I couldn’t answer her at the time, but I have my answer now and it is this:

• Reinvigorated enthusiasm for My business
• PASSION, PRIDE and the drive to succeed - And last but certainly not least
• The courage to Dream BIG (plus the tools & support to achieve them)

What more could a girl ask for out of one (almost) weekend? Thank you, Wendy, for telling me I didn’t want to miss this... I certainly didn’t! Thank you, PartyLite, for offering all of us the best opportunity in the world! Thank you, Me, for having the guts to get on that plane!

Jude

[WLC: Here is a link to some pictures.]