Don’t you love it when you are in the right place, at the right time to witness one of those “A-Ha” moments? I was lucky to have one of those moments this week.
One thing that you may not know about us in the home office is that many of us are “Consultants” of other Direct Sales Companies for the sole purpose of competitive research. This allows us to see best practices, potential road-blocks and keep our eye on the ball. There isn’t a Cosmetics, Nutritional, Jewelry, Home Décor, Food or Cookware Company out there that we don’t actively know about…and when I say active, I mean we have a Consultant who is required to hold group selling events. By the way…I didn’t mention that we don’t reimburse the cost of joining. Each of our internal “Consultants” earn the money back on their investment…so trust me, they take it seriously. Of course you all know Tami Merica, our Director of Sales Force Motivation and Promotions. Well, she recently joined a very trend-forward jewelry company and on Wednesday, she held her first “group selling event” in our Director Training Room in the building. She marketed her sales event as a “Trunk Show/Open House” and it was by invitation only (which really added to the exclusivity of it…no one wanted to miss it). Since it was her first event, the person who signed her up was there with her to help her if she got into a pinch.
The timing couldn’t have been better since it is close to the holidays and it would allow me to get my shopping done without hitting the stores. I got there a few minutes after the posted start time, and there were already a few people looking through her displays or enjoying the snacks that Tami had prepared. The minute I walked in, Tami greeted me and said I have just the thing for you…and she pulls out 2 leather wrap bracelets that she knew I would love and said, “you need these and you need to wear 2 together…you will look like a Rockstar”. I said, “OK!”. At that moment, Tami started a sales ticket with my name on it and started stacking my purchases in a pile as I collected them from the table. When it came time to give her my credit card, I had racked up a few hundred dollars in purchases…$100 being from those 2 leather bracelets that I probably wouldn’t have purchased for myself.
Then the magic happened. Without knowing it, I had just become Tami’s Wing-man (which is what your Hostess or one of those guests who fall in love with your products would be for our business). I was so pleased with my experience and my orders that I wanted everyone to see how incredible the products were and help Tami have an amazing sales event. Heck, I event put the guilt-trip on anyone who came and ate her food and made an attempt to leave without making a purchase. As more people arrived, everyone was trying on jewelry, showing each other, while I was running around “up-selling” them on additional items that would go with their purchase. In fact, EVERYONE was up-selling EVERYONE…and that is the magic of a group selling event! There was even the stereotypical “complainer” that was there, “I can’t believe how much this costs.”, “Are we going to get a discount?”, “Do I have to make a purchase to eat your food?”. You know the person…you have all had her at one of your Spas. Tami carefully reminded her of the incredible opportunity she had to get a discount on the products as a Hostess and pulled out her calendar to book a party. The ironic thing is, the “complainer” purchased $250 worth of products at full retail, created a “wish list” of products that she wanted for the future AND she booked a party as a Hostess.
After it was all done, I came back downstairs as Tami and her recruiter were packing up. Tami seemed a little disappointed, so I asked, “how did it go?” She said, “A little soft…I only made a little over $4,000, with 30 guests…I thought I would do more”.
Tami’s first sales event had sales of close to $4,000 for a 2 hour “Trunk Show/Open House”. She made a boat-load of money for her first time out of the gate, she has all of us as customers and I can assure you that the next “Trunk Show” she has will be standing room only.
Why it worked:
- We came with an expectation to buy
- We used this as an opportunity to get our Holiday shopping done early and without the crowds.
- The event felt “exclusive”, up-scale and prestige.
- The product line was there for us to try. Tami’s recruiter invested in her business and had one of every item for us to look at and try on and she let Tami borrow them for her event. This not only helped Tami have a successful party, but it also set the expectation that Tami needs to invest in her business and purchase or earn inventory so she can use for demonstration.
- We learned about the quality of the products, which gave us the confidence and pride in the products that we purchased
- If there was an objection to the price, Tami quickly let her know that quality comes with a price and helped her create a wish-list and opened her calendar to help her book a Spa and get the rewards of a Hostess. She NEVER offered a dscount on her products in order to make a sale.
- Tami immediately assumed the sale at the MOMENT that each person was interested in their first product by creating a sales ticket…there was no way we were leaving her party without purchasing the items that were laying on a sales ticket with our name on it.
- Her Recruiter was there to support her through her first sales event. She didn’t HOLD the event for Tami, she was there in case Tami needed her.
- We had fun.
- Group selling creates larger purchases, multiple bookings (to secure future business) and more than a few people asked Tami how they could sign up once they saw what a success her party was.
There is so much to learn here, and so many things that I want you to think about in your business…like every one of these points. Does this exist in your “Spa” today? Are you having “Spas” today? What learnings can you incorporate into your “Spa” to help grow your sales? When you have your Spas, Open House Events or selling situations, Ask yourself the following questions. Are you:
- Coaching your Hostess to be your business partner to help you increase Spa sales to count toward her host credits?
- Finding the guest at your Spa that can be your “wing-man” to help up-sell the guests based on their own excitement at the party?
- Creating a fun, up-sale, exclusive and prestige positioning to your events?
- Making sure you have the products there for the guest to try, explaining the value of the products, the integrity of the company and the value of having you as their personal sales Consultant?
- Selling at full price, using the Hostess Opportunity to help show any guests who object to the price to show them how to get their products at a discount?
- Assuming the sale by creating a sales ticket for each guest and writing down the items that they are interested in purchasing.
- Helping your guest to create a wish list that she can get for Hosting a Spa or to use for follow-up contact when you follow-up with them as a client?
- Helping your new Consultants hold their first Spa or Open House to support them and help maximize sales?
- Utilizing the power of “group selling” rather than one-on-one client sales to increase sales, increase booking and show your guests how they can make money by doing what you do?
- Utlizing the Holidays to set up in your local businesses, Hospitals, Schools, Churches, etc. to help people with their Holiday Shopping?
- Expecting to win! Do you have goals for your sales and a plan of how to make them happen? Only when you want more for yourself will you achieve it.
You have everything, and I do mean everything you need with BeautiControl to create a one-of-a-kind group selling event that rivals anyone in this industry. We have the BEST product line, the BEST price-points and the BEST Profit potential in this industry. When you know that and you Believe that, you will start to see your business take flight. Take control of your business and you will be amazed at the magic that you can create for yourself and for your guests. If Tami called me tomorrow and asked me to do it again…I would. In fact, I was one of her bookings. I can’t wait for my friends to come over and share in the same excitement.
I hope you all have a great weekend! Ciao.
