Do You Want a Higher Guest Average?

Increasing your average guest spend is NOT about hocking lots of unnecessary products and upselling everything to everyone. It's about guiding the guests into a decorating mindset, story selling to give them emotional connections to the fragrances and decors, and giving them excellent customer service with quantities of fragrance (wax, oil, sticks, etc.) so that they enjoy everything they purchase.

Here are a few of the ideas I have to share our products.

TO START: I always start my parties with a story about how some of the pages will call out to them and most of them will not. Focus on the pages you like and think about how those pieces will look in their home. I always say that if nothing calls out to them, that's okay, too. I'd rather have them buy nothing than buy a nick-knack.

DURING: The Wow! card and the Show it off! Card are great for talking about the specific products I've brought with me. I let people know that the collections are specifically designed so they can purchase smaller items at a party and get larger items for free or half price when they book a party. (I also acknowledge that some people don't like to have parties, so they just buy the larger items outright.)

AFTER: I hand out the Love it! list and give them information about why they should fill out the front. Then I ask them to use the list to capture their favourites - favourite pages, products, and fragrances. I tell them that PartyLite isn't a one night stand... it's a journey. We can fragrance and decorate their homes one corner at a time.

WRAP IT UP: When this card comes up, I ask them to think of one person who has a birthday, or is moving into a new house, or has done something special for them recently. I share the Brighter World and Forbidden Fruits collections then. I also offer Gift Certificates in $30 and higher for people who are difficult to buy for. I say I want to be their Gift Service and I promise I'll never go above their budget whether it's $20 or $200.

SETTING EXPECTATIONS: When I give an example of the party sales for a booking seed, I always use $1000 as the party total in my example. Also I give out catalogues at the beginning of the party to allow them time to get used to our different products and prices throughout my presentation. The presentation captures the essence of the quality and value they get with PartyLite.

I'm sure you have ideas on how to best position the products and promotions to encourage your clients (new and returning) to buy. I'd love it if you'd share them here and make this post an even more valuable training piece.

How to Follow-Up After a Networking Meeting

Lost Training Notes

Do you take notes at meetings? I have a special notebook I take to all PartyLite meetings so I can keep all of the training notes in one place and re-read, re-inspire, and renew my business when I need to. One of our conference speakers, Terri Hawkins, gave me that advice.

But I just found a lonely piece of paper. One with some great notes on it... I'm going to capture those notes here and then recycle the page....

What meeting was it? Don't know.

How long ago? Don't know.

Who was the trainer? Don't know.

Who took the notes? Me.

Bookings

• No one will get you bookings.
• You won't get bookings unless you change you.
• YOU NEED TO OFFER.
• Set a schedule, make the calls.

Ideas:

1. Customer Service Calls
2. Tealight Surveys
3. Asking at parties

Increase your party average

• Increase the number of guests (through consistent CARE calls)
• Increase the average guest spend (focus on decorating and fragrance - not just candles)
• Ask how they envisage burning the candles.
• Upsell as good service for THEM versus higher sales for YOU.

Guarantee Everything

When I do a party, I always mention that absolutely everything in the catalogue is guaranteed. Not just that it will arrive beautifully boxed and in perfect condition, but also guaranteed that they will LOVE it. That it will be the perfect piece. That if they aren't 100% happy, I will be happy to exchange it for something else or refund their money.

I let them know that for 90 days after the delivery, PartyLite will support me in that guarantee. If they change their minds, there is a small shipping and handling fee. If something is our fault, we will cover all costs to make it right.

When a client wants to exchange or needs a replacement, that's simple.... First, assist the client in using the product correctly (hugging, burning long enough, moving diffusers into another space, taking out reeds, taking the little plastic knob off the spike of the Changing Seasons Lantern, etc.). Then, if you determine that the product is faulty, or if the client simply wants to exchange, you fill out a Replacement Order Form (ROF). If a shipping and handling fee applies, you have the choice whether to cover the shipping and handling fee yourself or to charge the client. (If the client decides to exchange the item, I usually get them to pay the exchange fee.) 

Here's a link to a video on how to fill out an ROF.

So what do you do if clients want their money back?

As long as you meet the 90 day time limit, you have 2 choices with a return. 

(1) Let PartyLite process it (ROF). The subsequent reduction in party sales affects your commission, host benefits, and is generally a pain. However, this may be your only option if you don't have the funds to do option #2. Be aware that if the exchange takes the compensatable sales of the host BELOW $500, then the host will lose her 20% (reduced to 15%) and will lose her eligibility for the $50 host bonus voucher. Also, your commission will be reduced and PartyLite will reverse your next profit payment accordingly.

(2) YOU give the client the money back and you now own the product. You now have the choice of whether to keep it, sell it, or exchange it with Partylite (ROF) and get something else. 

I CHOOSE OPTION 2.

If you have exceeded the 90 day limit, you also have two choices.

(1)  YOU give the client the money back and you now own the product. You now have the choice of whether to keep it or sell it (or, if you're a leader, raffle it).

(2) You politely explain to the client that the guarantee is for 90 days from product delivery and unfortunately there's nothing you can do for them now that the 90 days has gone by.

I CHOOSE OPTION 1.

There is no right or wrong for any of the choices I've mentioned. My choices are right for my business.

The number of times I've had to give a complete refund in the almost 9 years I've been selling PartyLite can be counted on one hand. However the number of sales I've gotten by guaranteeing that people will be 100% happy can't be measured. I'm sure it helps make sales at every single party.

I hope this helps you feel AWESOME about guaranteeing everything when you are at a party. Happy selling! 

Related Articles: What I say for the Wrap it Up! Party Card.

Customer Service Calls DO Work

Yesterday's post ("Customer Service Calls Don't Work") got some interesting responses. My favourite one started with "Hallelujah!"

Well... it was April first and I thought an April Fool post might be fun. It was. But I was just foolin'!

OF COURSE customer service calls WORK. Not only that, they are in my opinion, the BEST way to do our jobs. We are in a customer service business. Contacting our clients, and sharing our excitement about the parties, the specials, and the business opportunity over the phone is the best and most efficient way to get the job done.

Here are a few of my top tips for making customer service calls:

Set aside time specifically to make the calls. I personally like to make them during the day BEFORE children would be out of school and/or while they at at work. So my favourite time is between 12:30 and 2:30. However, you can pick ANY time that works for YOU. How? See the next tip....

ALWAYS ask if they have time to take your call. I say, "Hi. I know you're busy, but I wonder if you just have a minute for a quick candle chat." If they say yes, I keep it short and sweet. If they say no, I ask when would it be a good time to call back.

Make a list of the people you want to call. Here are a few examples:

1. Upcoming hosts are important for CARE calls. 
2. Recent past hosts for post party follow-up. 
3. Candle Connection reports provide good lists of people who have opened or (even better) clicked on your email. 
4. Consultants in your unit to say hi, offer support, or organise a party observation (you watch them or they watch you... doesn't matter... it's great training). 
5. People you give Bonus Vouchers to. 
6. People you've met at a networking event (footy training, strata meetings, ladies lunches, or organised networking... it all counts).
7. Your leader.

Set goals. How many calls do you want to make per week? This should be directly related to how big you want your business to be. If you want to have 1-2 parties per month, I'd set myself a goal to ask 10-15 people per month if they want to host a party. Keep track of your results. If you find you get more parties than you want, you can always make fewer calls. If you find you don't get enough, you can make more.

Offer parties first, take orders second. The best customer service happens in person at parties. People can see, touch, and smell the products and guests who know PartyLite already can provide testimonials about how great PartyLite is. Added benefits are that you take orders from more than one person (higher sales), you get the items delivered straight to your host (no deliveries for you), and you get to meet new people (expand your network).


Always leave a voice message. Don't waste the call or the opportunity to be friendly. "Hi. It's Wendy the Candle Lady here. I'm just calling to make sure you got my email this month and to see if there's anything I can do to brighten your world. :) I'll try again later, or if you have a minute, you can call me on 0416 239 851. Talk soon."


Keep a log. Knowing who you call and what action you need to take is important. Don't wait to do your actions. Get catalogues into the post. Send follow-up emails with links to the online catalogue. Pop a Bonus Voucher into a card. Send off and ROF to fix something that went wrong.

Make lists. Have a list of people who want to be invited to YOUR next party. A list of people who want to be consultants SOMEDAY. A list of people who want a party, but NOT NOW. A list of people who are renovating and definitely want to have a party once the work is done. A list of pregnant clients (with due dates). A list of clients getting married. A list of 17 year olds would would love to do this once they turn 18.

Force yourself to do it. You don't like to make customer service calls? Boo hoo. (I mean that in the nicest way possible.) This is the "work" part of your business. The party part is easy. The order management is easy. The marketing is easy (only $7.50 per month). This is the sales part. Getting bookings requires courage, tenacity, and follow-up. It's the part that will make you a success.

For those of you who knew I was just pulling your leg, I hope this article has a few gems in to for you. For those of you who were happy that I didn't want to make calls anymore... Sorry.

Now I'm going to spell check this blog, post it, and hit the phones. I've got a double bonus month to achieve! :) Happy selling!

Customer Service Calls Don't Work

HAPPY HOUR

That's what PartyLite calls the hour of your day when you make customer service calls.

TELEMARKETING

That's all it really is. Clients don't like it when we interrupt them. They don't want to hear from us when they're working, driving, eating, drinking, playing, shopping, or putting the kids to bed. There's no real way of knowing what they are doing at any time of the day, so really, there's never a good time to call them.

So, after attending a leader luncheon this afternoon, and discussing whether or not customer service calls are valuable, I've decided they are quite simply a waste of my time. I have enough to do every day putting in orders, cleaning and preparing my kit, stamping catalogues and forms, and training my team.

Sending out Candle Connection is all I need to do to keep in touch. When my clients are ready for more candles or if they want to book a party, they have my number, and they can call me. Or they can email me.

This frees my time up for even more of the things I want to do everyday. That's the best part about my business... I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. Think I'll go play the geetar.

Using GUEST Specials to Get Bookings

Hi. Here's my first Wendy's Weekly Webinar of 2014. I will actually hold webinars soon, but in the interest of starting... here 'tis. :) WLC.