Building the Ultimate Network

November 8, 2011 Leave a comment

Hi. A couple of links:

  1. The book I reference in this video can be purchased from Amazon. My proceeds are all donated to charity. I have read the book and have gotten some great ideas from it. I reckon it can help you build your business, too.
  2. The networking group I reference is BNI. Investing in BNI has been great for my business, but remember, I had a pretty established business. You don’t have to join a network to take advantage of the tips in building your ultimate network. Over time youmight find groups that you believe are worth invbesting money and time in, but don’t feel like you have to.

Filed under Benefits of Party Plan, Networking, Party Plan

Party Planners Outsource by Design

May 5, 2010 Leave a comment

Hi. Last night I was driving home from a meeting and a friend texted me to say, “Turn on the ABC.” All the way home, I listened to this interview. It is 45 minutes long, and I think it’s worth the time to listen. This entire post was inspired by the interview (when you click on the link, it will open as an audio in a new window – then you can come back to this tab/window to read more).

As party planners, we are each our own small businesses. The best part is that we only really have to focus on four key areas: Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, and Finance. We get to outsource the rest to our company. Fantastic!

Work for yourself, but not by yourself.

Marketing (and we don’t have to do everything here – just this sort of stuff)
Getting the word out. Networking. Looking good. Smiling. Being organised. Putting our names and contact details on every piece of literature. Hosting home shows. Wearing our company logo. Telling people what we do with pride.

Sales (we don’t have to do everything here, either – yippee)
Going to parties. Listening to our clients. Discovering and unveiling their reason to buy. Taking orders. Getting payments. Processing orders.

Customer Service
As you listen to the interview (are you listening to it? take some time and do), pay particular attention to the discussions about customer service. Do you ask people if they are happy? If they liked what you did? If they have any recommendations for improvement? If they would buy again? If they would refer you? Even an informal survey as part of your client calls might give you some amazing insights. People like to give their opinions.

Finance
To be a profitable party planner, you cannot avoid the numbers. You must keep track of your income and your expenditures. You also need to keep track of the time you put into your business (serious time, not time chatting with clients on Facebook) so that you can see if the end result is lucrative. If your hourly wage low, you need to increase your profit (either increase your income and/or decrease your expenses), and/or become more efficient with your time. (I’ll write about this in another post soon.)

The rest of the work is done by your company.

Marketing (there is so much we don’t have to do)
Product Development – Selecting products. Developing. Designing. Packaging. Pricing. Creating catalogues, literature, and websites. And what about all of the promotions! I don’t know if you’ve thought about it, but it takes a lot of effort to develop promotions, to make them exciting for party planners and customers alike, and to implement them in the systems.

Sales (you though you did it all, but there is lots of sales stuff we get from the company)
Direct selling companies provide an incredible amount of training for party planners. We are not expected to know it all. Annual events – most party planning companies host an annual conference of some sort to celebrate sales efforts and to get us excited about what the company is doing. I would guess that the price we pay to attend these is nothing close to the cost to put them on. Incentive programs – if a plumber sets some goals for her business and hits those goals, does she give herself (and her partner) an all expenses paid trip overseas? Well, she should, but it takes a lot of effort to put together the targets, the measurements, and the trip.

Manufacturing et al
Vendor selection, logistics, import/export, warehousing, handling, shipping, labelling. OMG there is so much to do here, I can’t even tell you how grateful I am the I don’t have to do it (or even think about it).

Back office support
This includes consultant website maintenance, calculating and paying consultants, organising group public liability insurance, participating in direct selling associations, legal, finance, accounting, and all kinds of things that ensure that our companies stay profitable. You want them to make money, too. If they stay strong, we can keep selling with confidence.

I’ve owned my own business where I had to think about absolutely everything. I appreciate the fact that as a party planner, I get to focus on the areas I am good at, the areas I like, and the areas that enable me to make an unlimited income.

I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did.

Make it a great day!

Filed under Benefits of Party Plan, Party Plan, Selecting a Company, Uncategorized Tagged with , ,

The Easy Way to Make Money….

April 20, 2010 2 Comments

Everyone would love to find an easy way to make money. Lots of money. We dream of scratching a single lotto ticket and finding our mortgage paid off, our holidays paid for, and our savings account full.

I’ve written about how to increase your income. But if you’re looking for the easy way, the magic bullet, the fast track, I think you need to recalibrate your thinking. Unfortunately, I haven’t found an easy way to make money… even with party plan.

In Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, the author researched successful people like the Beatles, Bill Gates, and Professional Canadian hockey players. He shows how being in the right place at the right time helps, but he also proves that , in the end, you need to put heaps of time into your work, play, business, craft, or hobbies, to make them successful. To make them incredibly successful, he espouses and then illustrates the theory that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice and effort.

So, let’s put my party plan business to the test. How much time have I put into the business? Here is a high level account:

Consulting: 5 years, 52 weeks, 2 shows per week, 3 hours per show+ 3 hours per week customer care = 2,340 hours
Leadership: 3 years, 52 weeks, 3 hours per week in consultant development = 468 hours
Personal development: 3 years, 10 days per year, 8 hours per day = 240 hours
Total = 3,048 hours

In the last year, I’ve increased my hours. Not in my parties, but in my personal development and recruiting efforts. This investment is paying off and I’m increasing the number of people on my team. By increasing the amount of time I work on the business, I’m getting results. I am making money. I’m enjoying the flexibility. I’m meeting new people all the time. I have a fantastic and dynamic team. I don’t have a boss. I don’t have employees. I have goals for increasing my income. Simple? Yes. Easy? Well… it requires persistence… time… more hours. Only 7,000 to go until I’m an expert!

It takes incredible will power to begin any business. ANY business. Not just party plan. And every business needs sales to succeed. So every business is working on ways to attract clients.

If you are just starting in party plan, your challenge is to work through the initial contact list you have and develop a robust referral base.

  • Whenever someone invites you to come to their home and to meet their friends, it is the most personal and powerful referral they can give. They aren’t just referring their friends with a phone call or by passing you their business cards… they are actually giving you a personal introduction at their home. WOW! Soak it up and thank them profusely.
  • Whenever someone buys from you, it is up to you to ensure that not only are they getting the great product, but that they are getting your great service. The nature of this business is that there are many distributors for your company out there; so they can call anyone to get the same products. There are also retail and web competitors out there, and you have to compete with them, too. So you have to make your contact with each client friendly, exciting, professional, and, ultimately, memorable. My strongest recommendation is that you not only serve them at the show, but that you give them customer service calls to broaden the customer care.
  • Whenever you meet someone, listen to them. Network well. Don’t make it all about you. Develop a relationship with them and then bring them into your world as it is appropriate. Perhaps they aren’t going to be a client. They might be a fleeting acquaintance.  They might become a friend. They might become a client. They might become a distributor. They might become your best referrer ever. Listen. Learn.

I regularly read articles and forum postings on the Flying Solo website. The last forum post I read is what inspired me to write this article for you (Flying Solo Without a Compass). This person has started a business and is struggling with the start up phase. Interesting…. that’s what I hear from most people who start party plan. Seems there is a pattern to this. Work through it… persist. It’s simple…. it’s just not easy.

And that’s why it’s worth it.

Filed under Customer Service, Good Advice, Networking, Party Plan, Second Job Tagged with , , , ,

How to Get Your Mojo Back

April 10, 2010 2 Comments

Q: I’ve lost my motivation and I’m finding it hard to get my business going again. How do I get my mojo back?

A: Quick! Get involved with other people in your business who are motivated for you to succeed.

When you work for yourself, you have to do everything, right? Wrong! Not in party plan.

Party plan businesses are made up of people. How can you get your mojo back? Tap into the people who are motivated to help you succeed. You are in business for yourself, but you are not alone.

YOUR SPONSOR – The person who sponsored you into your business is motivated for you to succeed. Why? It could be any or all of these things: money (she will make money if you succeed), achievement (she will earn a reward from the company if you succeed), pride (she will be proud of you and your achievements), or reputation (she recommended that you become a party planner, so she wants you to actually achieve the level of success she said you could).

ACTION: Call your sponsor. Meet with her to discuss your business.

YOUR UPLINE – Your upline is motivated for you to succeed. All of the reasons above apply, and there is another: Once a party planner ascends into a leadership role, she is motivated to maintain and continuously develop a team. A team is a group of people who work toward a common goal. Your leader is measured by her own performance and the performance of the team, so it is in her interest to assist everyone in her lineage.

ACTION: Call your upline. Read her communications to you. Attend her meetings.

YOUR DOWNLINE – Your downline is motivated for you to succeed. Though not as obvious, because we think money is the  key motivator, people under us in our structure want us to succeed. They want to brag about the team they are on. They want to be proud to bring others into that team. They want to have a good role model above them to provide advice, training, and support. They will look for your name in the company literature. They will talk about you to their partner, their family, their, friends, and their clients. They are motivated by your success, so they are motivated for you to succeed.

ACTION: Call your downline. Ask what support they need. Go to one (or more) of their presentations. Host a meeting. Throw a party.

YOUR COMPANY – Your company is motivated for you to succeed. Money, achievement, pride, and reputation are also motivational factors for the company to help you succeed. Support from the head office of your party plan company comes in many forms: emails, websites, programs, literature, training sessions, conferences, incentive trips, promotions, and newsletters – to name a few.

ACTION: Review everything your company has provided to you and make a list of things to do.

So, don’t let the chairs be empty. Fill them up with the people who want you to succeed. Ask them for advice. Turn their advice into action. Share your results and keep moving. You’ll get your mojo back and then you’ll be able to share your mojo with someone else.

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed under Good Advice, Improving Productivity, MLM, Party Plan Tagged with

How to Develop Confidence

March 17, 2010 Leave a comment

Be confidentSuccessful party planners are confident people. If you are new to the party plan business, you need to figure out how to develop your confidence to a level that makes you successful too.

So what are the steps to developing confidence?

Know your product

First of all, you need to become very familiar with your products and your catalogue. Using your products will help you enormously, so open up those boxes or packets and get dirty! Read the catalogue from cover to cover. Pick out products that you want and write down why you want them. You don’t have to buy them all – just know what it is that inspires you to have them. Pick out products you don’t like and think hard about who would want them and why. Your taste is not everyone’s taste.

Know your offer

Most party plan businesses have benefits and special offers for people who host shows. You need to know these and offer them with confidence. If you are wishy-washy about the benefits, your potential hosts will be wary about your professionalism. Don’t say, “we can negotiate a good deal for you if you have a party.” Say, “I offer you a 10 percent discount on your order if we achieve $250 in sales.” Or, “Hosts with a $400 party are eligible for our great hostess specials.” Being specific about the benefits demonstrates confidence.

Plan and Visualise

Plan and visualise every step you will take to put on a presentation. What will you bring with you? How will you pack it? How will you get it into the host’s home? How will you unpack it? Where will you set up? How long will you speak? What will you say? Will you play games? Will you need pens? Will you hand out order forms or have the guests come to you to place their orders? (I’ll write another blog post about why you should take the orders yourself later.) Will you need change? How will you get future bookings? How will you treat people who do make a future booking? When will you take the host’s order? When will you pack up? How will you get out to your car? Will you need help? How will you submit the order? How will you communicate to the host that you have submitted the order? How will the host know what the status is of the order? How will  you know if your clients receive their order? How will you make sure they are happy?

Did that list seem like a lot? Well, at the beginning, it probably does seem a bit overwhelming. But the reality is, that every one of those questions needs to be answered before you go do your first show. You are starting a new business and you want to come to the party in control, unflustered, and prepared for each step of the party. That will only happen if you practice and visualise what is going to happen and then plan and prepare for each step. After doing 3-4 shows in a 2 week period, these things will start to happen naturally. You will know what to do. That list of questions will be answered, practiced, and repeated. You will be more confident.

Make it easy

At first I had the subtitle say “Make it look easy.” But that’s just not right. It’s not an act. Or it shouldn’t be. Make your job as easy as you can. Bring less, talk less, don’t duplicate things already done for you, get paid by your clients, work when you want to, and have fun. Don’t arrive flustered because you got lost – look up where you’re going and arrive early. Don’t leave four messages with the host asking for her order so you can submit the orders – get her order before the party or before you leave. Don’t chase people for money for two weeks after the party – make it a habit to collect money from them at the party. This is your business – make it easy – that shows confidence.

Don’t let one (or two, or three) bad shows get you down

If the host is disorganised, if the children are screaming, if the guests are talking, if the best friend is late, if no one shows up at all… don’t worry. Don’t panic. Don’t complain. Breathe. Wait. Perhaps change tactics. And smile. Sometimes your best clients will come from your worst shows – especially if you handle them with dignity, style, and confidence.

Practice speaking to small groups

Some people don’t even try party plan businesses because they believe that the cannot speak in front of people; it takes them out of their comfort zone. To me, that simply shows that they have a lack of confidence. In all truth, those people will benefit from running a party plan business in more than just their bank account. By developing speaking skills (which can only happen by doing it) they will become more confident people in every social situation.

On the other hand, some people think that they are great speakers, but that doesn’t mean that they are great communicators. Great communicators can tell a story AND listen to their audience to ensure that their message is heard. In the beginning of my party plan business, I talked too much and didn’t listen, so I had to learn this lesson. Now, I learn so much from the guests at each party because I incorporate them into my presentation. I listen to them. It has resulted in a wonderful breakthrough in my style. It makes me part of the audience. It makes them part of the presentation. It has made me more confident.

Confidence comes from putting yourself into difficult, out-of-the-comfort-zone, and sometimes intimidating situations and then coming through them with the experience to make the next time easier. And the next. And the next.

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.”

~Peter T. Mcintyre

Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed under Good Advice, Party Plan Tagged with ,

Email Hurts Your Productivity

January 29, 2010 2 Comments

Email ImageWith a title like that and after quitting Facebook, you must think that I am becoming a technophobe…. Not really. I actually think social media and email and blogging are brilliant technologies.

I just think they can stop me from doing other, more important, more lucrative work.

“When I turn off email, even for an hour, my productivity triples.” ~Seth Godin

Isn’t this the truth?

Here’s my advice. Check email in the morning. Write your replies. Write out a to do list. Then log off email for 3 hours and do your to do list. For ‘party plan,’ your to do list should include making calls, preparing host packs, writing letters to your up or down line, going to a networking event, restocking or cleaning demonstration products, and examining your goals. I’m sure your ‘family’ to do list is subtantial. And lots of you have ‘other job’ to do lists, too.

If in the course of your actual doing, you find that you want/need to send an email, start another to do list… one especially for emails.

  • Email Linda about golf
  • Email John about dinner
  • Email Cassie about hostess specials
  • Email team about Unit Meeting

Don’t write the emails as you add them to the email to do list…. Just keep working on your to do list(s). Then, at some set time (maybe after lunch), log back into your email, reply to new ones and write the ones you need to. Then log off again.

The computer is a tool. Party planners can use email effectively. All by iteslf, it will NOT get the job done. Interrupting your day all the time, it will destroy your productivity.

“Technology does not run an enterprise, relationships do” ~Patricia Fripp

Try my advice for a week and let us know if you got more done.

Filed under Good Advice, Improving Productivity, MLM, Party Plan Tagged with , ,

Q&A – Can You be Too Smart for Party Plan?

January 18, 2010 2 Comments

Question MarkQuestion: Yesterday I was telling a very good friend about my new PartyLite job.  Her comment was “You’re smarter than that.”

How do I respond to that, Wendy? “Then, I’ll be really good at it.” ????

What would you say if your friend said that to you?

Answer: This is an easy one. It’s also a common question. When I started, I was confronted with comments like this. Here is my answer when people ask me. I don’t necessarily say it all, but if they are interested, it’s all here and all true.

Working in party plan is a lifestyle choice. I choose to work when I want and where I want. (Insert here that you get to spend more time with your children by being a party planner. See my other post: Be a Mum!) I am completely responsible for my success or failure. I have the luxury of owning my own business, but have no capital costs to start it; no client inventory; a free marketing department to produce all the products, prices, and promotions; a free finance department to process credit cards and produce reports; a free IT department maintaining my reports, client database, and order systems; a free warehouse and distribution centre; and a free business coach to help me with my business plan. Just to name a few.

Party plan (direct selling) is a business model that allows entrepreneurial people to give better customer service than any retail store. In my business I am responsible for customer satisfaction on products and service.

It seems to be easy for people to shoot down this industry, but don’t underestimate how big it is and how fast it is growing.

The industry is global and growing. Recent figures from Direct Selling Association members throughout the world show almost fifty-five million people being involved in retail sales of over AUD 140 billion. Sales by DSAA [the Direct Selling Association of Australia] members have reached $1.3 billion annually, with more than 620,000 Australians having some involvement in the industry. With a long and proven record, direct selling is an obvious alternative to conventional retailing.

~ DSAA Website

Finally, intelligent people treat party plan for what it is: an entrepreneurial opportunity. For some it’s a small business, for others it’s a career. It doesn’t take education to run a successful party plan business. It takes training, persistence, and intelligence.

Of course, to be credible, you need to believe you have made the right choice – you need to develop pride in your job.

Success is the best way support your decision for yourself. I have seen too many women succeed in this business, and develop that pride, to not believe that. When I finally quit my other businesses to focus on party plan, people stopped wondering why, they could see why: I was (am) happy, successful, and committed.

Comments: I’d love to see what other people think. Feel free to leave a comment here.

Filed under Good Advice, Lifestyle, MLM, Party Plan, Q&A, Second Job, Working Mothers Tagged with , , ,

A Few Ideas to Get You Going in 2010

January 6, 2010 1 Comment

How can you kick start your party plan business in 2010?

As party planners, after the Christmas break (which most of us take), sometimes we need a little motivation to get started again. When you work for yourself, it is sometimes hard to get the ball rolling again. But, my husband didn’t need motivation; he just went back to work. His vacation was over. So, this year, I treated my business exactly the same: like a business.

So, do you need motivation?

Well, I just watched a video with 3 simple suggestions. (1) Call your clients and friends and ask them for some referrals. (2) Contact someone you look up to in your business and ask her to mentor you. (3) Invite a friend to come to a show with you and get some feedback from her about how your presentation can be improved.

I think those are pretty good ideas.

It’s also always a good idea to get reading. Personal development comes from reading blogs (like this), books, and company literature. So , to start off the year right, go get yourself a book or two. I can suggest one that will be quick to read and will help you think about this business as a business: The Skinny On Direct Sales. Another one I strongly recommend is Mary Christensen’s Be a Network Marketing Superstar.

And finally, if you live in Australia or New Zealand, Mary Christensen is coming to town (play video below). I suggest you book a ticket to go see her. I promise you will be motivated, energised, and you’ll leave with a to do list.

Mary Christensen in Australia
Sydney – February 11
Melbourne – February 22
Brisbane – February 24

Tickets are available from the DSWA (click here).

Well, I hope those suggestions help you. Do you have any other ideas? You are welcome to share them here so we all can benefit.

Make it a great day! WLC.

Filed under Coaching, Good Advice, MLM, Networking, Party Plan Tagged with , , , ,

Wendy Tip: Only Sponsor People You Like

November 12, 2009 3 Comments

Friends

Make Friends in Your Business

I’ve been taught not to prejudge people, to offer the business opportunity to everyone, and that this party plan business is a numbers game. So I imagine that people might think that I’ll sponsor anyone into my business.

That’s just not true.

You see, I only sponsor people I like.

Really.

You see, party plan is a relationship business. It is the relationships we start, nurture, and enjoy that makes this business tick. Whether I’m talking about your recruits or your hosts, you simply will get better results if you genuinely like them.

The key to this numbers game is to meet a lot of people. How does it work? The more people I meet, the more likely I am to meet people I like. The more people I like, the more invitations I’ll extend for them to host shows or join the business. The more people accept my invitations, the more people I will recruit. And the more people I recruit, the more money I will make. That’s the numbers game.

If I only had one or two shows a month, I imagine I would have to sponsor people I don’t like in order to keep my business growing. But I refuse to do that. Life is too short. The best way to avoid working with people you don’t like is to increase the number of shows you do. To do that you need to be an effective networker both at shows and away from shows.

As an aside: To be a successful networker, do you know what to do? Meet people and make friends with some of them. Follow up with them when it’s appropriate to share information and ideas and laughs. But only make friends with people you like.  Here’s an article on networking that I wrote earlier.

Will you like everyone you meet? No. Will you be happier working with people you like? Absolutely. Do you agree with me? Hmmmmm? Comment away!

Filed under Good Advice, Networking, Party Plan, Sponsoring Tagged with , , , , ,

Training – Do you put in the hard yards?

October 28, 2009 Leave a comment

Stretching and training

Training will make you a better party planner.

Today I was listening to a tele-seminar presented by the DSWA (the Direct Selling Woman’s Alliance), and I gleaned the most wonderful insight. Training is different than coaching.

Training is telling someone how to do something. Coaching is asking someone how they would get something done.

The analogy used was for a sporting team. A sports team has a coach. The coach gives the team a vision (winning) and challenges each player to go do what they’ve been training to do. Training is the work you do before the game. Trainers work with athletes to hone their skills. To teach them new ones. To get their fitness to a level where, when the game begins, they can perform at their peak.

As Party Planners, we must take the responsibility to participate in training. Training is offered by our uplines, by our companies, and by industry associations (like the DSWA). We  also better ourselves by reading books, listening to CDs, and attending workshops.

The magic is that it’s all under our control. We will perform better if we train.

It is up to us to get ourselves in good shape. That way we perform at our peak performance when it’s game time. And if develop our skills to reach the peak performance , we will be easier to inspire and motivate when we involve a coach.

Imagine how successful we’d all be if we took responsibility for our own training and then asked for coaching to improve our performance. It takes both.

Be bold and make it a great day!

Wendy Lloyd Curley is an expert on profitable party planning.
www.profitablepartyplan.com

Filed under Coaching, Good Advice, Party Plan, Training Tagged with , , ,

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