Free Consultations . . .
Marketing Bonanza or Waste of Time?
Many direct sales organizations are based on the idea of offering free consultations and complimentary sales presentations in order to get their products and services in front of customers with the hopeful end result of sales and future re-orders.
When offering free samples and free services, be sure to leave your potential customers wanting more. For example, if you sell beauty products and offer pampering hand or foot treatments, you may wish to only do one hand/foot. It will show the results and leave your customers wanting to have the same results on the other hand or foot.
If you sell food items, you could have a self-made cookbook of many different time-saving recipes using your products. You could give one or two of these during your presentation, but offer to include it free with a purchase (today!) of $40.00 or more.
The idea is to give a “taste” or sample of what you offer, and leave your customers interested versus fully informed. This freebie needs to be done with the full intention of booking a future consultation, party and/or sales or products. Offering freebies gives the prospect a chance to sample your products and services, but you should have be prepared to entice them to buy, book or recruit.
Hostess Coaching 101
Have you ever booked a party only to have it cancelled? Have you worked a party to only have one person show up? Have you worked a sales events with very meager sales?
If you can answer yes to these, you may need to re-think your hostess coaching . When you book a party, you need to let the hostess know you are counting on it. You have it in your schedule and you WILL be there.
One idea is to consider getting the names of the invitees and sending invitations yourself. This way you can have the names and addresses of the guests and you are in control. If you leave it up to your hostess, she may get caught up in life’s many tasks and forget. Even if a guest cannot attend, you can follow up and send her a catalog, samples, etc. If you have the guests names and contact info, you have them to add to your prospect list even if they don’t show at the party.
If you check in with your hostess at least twice before the party (to get directions to her home, to verify the date/time, to let her know how many participants there will be, etc.) you will keep her on-track with the event.
Call before the event to confirm and let her know how excited you are about the party. Be sure she understands you are really looking forward to it and counting on her and she will be more apt to follow through with the party. Be very firm but professional. Remember, this is your business.