Believe it! You
can easily make $50,000 in the next six months or
less! After that, you can practically be
guaranteed at least that much, but probably much
more, every year for the rest of your life,
without, really working!
The way to accumulate this kind of wealth is with
your own business of selling merchandise via The
Party Plan. Few other businesses can so easily
give you this kind of wealth as quickly, and keep
your income growing.
A recent questionnaire, circulated among hundreds
of successful direct sales merchandisers across
the country asked this questions: "If you
were to start over today, knowing what you know
now and could choose the one method of
merchandising that would make you really rich in
the shortest period of time, which would you
select?" Of these questionnaires returned,
94% stated they would go The Party Plan Method.
The sharp party plan operators (and the richest)
simply hold motivational sales meetings for their
sub-distributors about once a month. During these
meetings, they are teaching their
sub-distributors how to recruit new hosts and
hostesses, or husband and wife host and hostess
teams.
A host or hostess can be any person who is
agreeable to holding a sales party at his or her
house. Almost always, this person is rewarded for
having the party with a percentage of the total
business or an agreed upon special merchandise
gift.
These people invite friends, neighbors and
relatives to the party. Your sub-distributor
doesn't have to do much more than make contact
with people willing to hold parties, supply the
merchandise, and sometimes offer to help or be
there to make sure every thing goes smoothly.
Here's the kind of money you can realize with
this business: Say you have ten sub-distributors,
and each one arranges only five parties a month,
and each party does $2OO in gross business.
That's a total of $10,000 per month in total
volume. And from that total volume, you make only
30%. Figure it out for yourself. This would give
you a personal income of $3,000 for thirty days
in which you did no more than hold one or two
motivational sales meetings!
Besides, each party is almost guaranteed to give
your sub-distributor at least two more hostesses
for future parties, and those future parties will
provide still more hostesses. This chain is
endless, and will build as fast as you can keep
up with it.
To get your start in this fabulous method of
merchandising, become a host or hostess yourself.
Give a few parties yourself, and learn the ropes.
Choose an evening for your party - any evening
excepting Friday through the weekend. Generally
7:30 is the most convenient time for the greatest
number of people. If it's inconvenient for
whatever reason to hold a party in your home,
arrange with a friend to hold the first couple of
parties.
Make up a list of 30 to 60 people you can invite
to the party. They can be friends, neighbors,
relatives or people you know from work, even
acquaintances with whom you do business such as
the check-out clerk where you buy your groceries
or people you meet at the bus stop on your way to
work.
After formally inviting these people, you then
call to remind them of the party at least a
couple of days before the date of the party. This
is important, because of the original 40 people
you invite, at least 15 will not show because it
slipped their minds, last minute circumstances
that force a change in plans, and those that
really weren't interested in the first place.
On the day of the party, get your merchandise
display set up early. The party should be held in
the largest room in the home - usually the living
room - with the merchandise display the center of
attraction.
The merchandise should be set out on a sturdy
table covered with a good white or light colored
cloth, and the merchandise should be arranged by
group or type - the jewelry items together;
perfumes, bath oils and colognes together;
crystal together, and so on.
Try to put a bit of imagination and showmanship
into your merchandise display. This will have the
effect of making your merchandise look much more
valuable than it actually is. Those that do put a
flair into their merchandise displays find that
it in creases their sales by as much as 25
percent over an ordinary showing.
For instance, a high intensity light focused on
the display will cause the jewelry to sparkle,
the stainless steel to gleam, and the brass-ware
to glimmer like valuable heirlooms.
Another idea would be to tack a piece of velvet
onto a 4 by 6 foot piece of ply wood and use it
to display rings, earrings, necklaces and
watches.
In jewelry sales, another idea is to hang a
mirror on a wall near the merchandise display. If
you or your hostess has room, you might want to
set up a card table, covered with an expensive
looking piece of material, place a dressing table
type mirror on this table, with a chair available
for your guests to sit at the table while they
try on the various items. The guests then make
their selections after determining how each item
looks on them.
Regardless of what you do to make it easier for
your guests to select and buy, a hand mirror is
an absolute must whenever you're showing jewelry.
It would be wise to have several hand mirrors
available - two for your merchandise display
table, and an extra one on the
"admiration" table.
Besides your merchandise display, be sure also
you're organized with your refreshments. These
usually consist of coffee, tea, soft drinks,
cookies or other "nibble" items. The
host or hostess usually makes arrangements in
advance for one of the guests to assist with the
serving of refreshments.
Be sure you have nametags for your guests, and a
couple of felt tip marking pens. And don't forget
the order forms. These should be standard
two-piece self-carbon order forms - one copy for
your customer and the other for your files. The
best idea is to buy the order forms. All these
items are commonly available in stationery
stores. Rubber stamp your name and address on
each copy of each order form, at least a couple
of days in advance of the party.
Still another item to remember is your
merchandise catalogs. Be sure you have a good
supply on hand, rubber stamped with your name and
address. Later on, when you're established and
the money is rolling in, you can have your name
and address imprinted on the catalogs.
While we're on the idea of catalogs, we'd like to
point out that a lot of Party Plan Merchandisers
are also dealers for the extra-income book
catalog, "Unique Books." They feel that
almost everyone is interested in extra income
ideas, and the Unique Books catalog has a wide
selection of reports and manuals describing
supplemental income opportunities. Leaving one of
the book catalogs with guests at the party
results in an ongoing flow of book orders for
months afterwards.
Back to the Party Plan. About a half hour before
your guests are due to begin arriving, turn on
all the lights in the room where the party is to
be held. This will give the room a bright, warm
feeling conducive to a party kind of atmosphere.
And by all means, be sure to turn off all the
radios, stereo and TV sets. Eliminate any and all
noises from other rooms in your home that might
distract the attention of your guests.
Every party should be planned, and follow a
prescribed format or agenda. This is because
without a plan, it will just be a gathering of
people wasting time at your home instead of
theirs. You must have a plan to know what to do
next in order to achieve the desired results.
Having a "pattern" is also the easiest
way to teach others to duplicate your success,
and the idea of following a successful formula is
a proven method of making the most sales in the
least time.
Phase one is the greeting and get-acquainted time
slot - about thirty minutes. The hostess greets
the guests as they arrive, prints a name tag for
each, introduces them around, gives them a
catalog, points out the refreshments, and leads
them into conversation with the other guests.
The second phase is the "game-playing"
portion of your part. This phase is used to relax
everybody and get them involved in the party. It
should last about 15 to 20 minutes.
Next comes the merchandise presentation by the
hostess, who shows and describes each item on
display. If you have jewelry available, ask
different guests to try on particular items and
show the others what these articles look like in
use. The length of time spent on this phase of
the party will depend in large part on how much
merchandise you have on display, but generally,
you shouldn't spend more than about 20 minutes
showing and describing your merchandise. Then
give your guest s about 10 to 15 minutes to
personally inspect and try on the items that have
aroused their interest.
You should mingle and converse with the guests
during this time period in order to answer
specific questions or explain the possible uses
of an item, where it might look good in the
buyer's home, and any interesting tidbits
relating to where an item came from, how it was
made, or the satisfaction of an earlier buyer.
When you seem to have answered all the questions,
and everyone appears to have made their
selections, start writing orders. Don't hesitate
to ask for orders. Writing orders should take
about 15 minutes, and then you should let the
party begin to winding down.
During this time, mingle with your guests and
anyone showing a spark of interest should be
approached with an offer to serve as a future
host or hostess. As each guest starts to leave,
thank them for coming and walk with them to the
door.
The total length of your party shouldn't be much
more than two hours. Time and time again, it's
been proven that you can do everything necessary,
and make the most sales in this period of time.
You lose effectiveness and make fewer sales with
appreciably more or less time.
There are a couple of proven ways to recruit new
hosts or hostesses from the people attending your
party. First of all, watch the guests as they
look over the merchandise, examine, admire and
wish for something they don't quite have enough
extra money to buy. When you've determined that a
particular guest wants a specific item but can't
quite fit it into the budget, simply take her
aside to a secluded corner of the room, and
explain privately that you're willing to give her
the item she has been looking at and wanting, if
she will agree to invite her friends and
relatives to a party in her home.
This approach works almost every time, and your
only expense is the wholesale price of the item
you give her as the free gift.
The second sure-fire approach is to offer a cash
incentive. You do this by offering to allow 5% to
10% of the total sales volume resulting from the
party staged for you by this type of new recruit.
There's a plus factor for you on this one,
because you'll be getting the enthusiastic
participation of the host or hostess on the
selling side. Once you've explained to them how
your program works, they'll generally do
everything they can to make the party a huge
success, and thereby increase their pay for the
evening.
When you give a gift to the hostess for having
the party, the presentation should be a special
ceremony staged with all the "Show Biz"
flair you can muster, at the end of your
merchandise showing. However, when your gift is a
cash award, carry your presentation over to the
next party and make a big production of it as
well. Don't forget to invite the "guest of
honor" to your next scheduled party for the
big presentation.
During these presentations many of the other
guests will be favorably impressed, and as a
consequence will ask you for details.
Actually, your recruiting efforts should begin
when you start taking orders. Every person you
talk with should be offered the opportunity to
hold a party of his or her own. Then just before
the party begins breaking up, ask your guests as
a group if any of them would be interested in
holding a similar party in his or her home. You
ask those who voice an interest to stay over for
a few minutes in order to work out the details.
You should have an Appointment Book for this
scheduling. Simply ask what date would be
favorable for them, mark that date in the book,
along with the name, address and telephone
number. Then assure each that you'll call in the
next day or two to work out the details.
Many party plan merchandisers also use a letter.
They write a letter extolling the fun and
excitement of the parties, explaining briefly the
opportunities to receive free gifts of their
choice or big commission checks. Then they invite
the letter recipients to call for complete
details on how they can stage a party. These
letters are usually printed in volume, and then
slipped inside the covers of the catalog these
merchandisers give to each person attending the
parties. Sometimes these letters are handed to
each guest as the party breaks up.
Some party plan merchandisers also run small
classified ads in the area newspapers. Their
advertising plays up the opportunities available
to make regular commission checks (extra income)
simply by holding parties in their homes. People
interested are invited to phone for more details.
Response to this kind of ad is generally very
good, with the conversion rate better than sixty
percent!
Most people tend to feel party plan merchandising
is exclusive to women, but don't you believe it!
It's true that women generally establish
themselves more rapidly than men with this kind
of sales operation, but over the long haul, there
are just as many men operating successful party
plan sales operations as there are women.
Men are usually not as adept in establishing
social "chit-chat" relationships as
women. Therefore, the man who wants in on the
vast potential of party plan merchandising should
consider working with a woman.
A husband and wife partnership is an ideal
working arrangement. An acquaintance, girlfriend
or relative will often work out just as
successfully. The basic requirement is simply
that the "couple" must function as a
team, with the individual talents of one
complementing those of the other.
Probably one of the greatest secrets of success
with this kind of sales operation is that in
order to make the sales, and talk about $400
parties, you must have the widest selection of
merchandise possible.
Many beginners, not understanding that offering
the potential buyers a wide and varied selection
of items to choose from is what builds your
profits in a hurry, base their entire
merchandising plan around a selection that's of
special interest or particularly appealing to
themselves. It's all right to include the items
that you especially like, but don't base your
entire merchandise line on the things you like;
you're selling to others, not yourself!
Most successful party plan merchandisers advise
that you should display at least forty different
items, and more if you have the supplier contacts
or the buying expertise. The actual decisions on
which products to carry and display at your
parties should be based upon these four factors:
1) The kinds of gift items, personal decor
articles, and general merchandise the people in
your area are buying; 2) The styles or fads
currently in vogue in your area; 3) Contacts with
enough sup pliers who can furnish you with the
kind of merchandise your potential buyers want;
4) Your ability to shop among the various
suppliers, and verify that you are getting the
very best merchandise value obtainable.
Still another important point to consider before
buying merchandise to display and sell: Do the
prices you're having to pay for your products
wholesale allow you enough room for a reasonable
profit when compared to your time and expense?
Do some market research relative to your
ambitions; get answers to the questions we've set
forth for you, and when you're satisfied that you
understand the workings of Party Plan
Merchandising, grab the opportunity and run with
it!
