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Following Up With
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I have to admit this is my least favourite part of having a home party business – I really don’t enjoy phoning people! But I have come up with a few strategies to make the following up process as painless (and successful) as possible.
Organise your leads
After every party you’ll hopefully have a list of potential hostesses and an indication of when they’d like to host a home party themselves. Occasionally you might also hear from a hostess that one of her friends is now interested in holding a party too (try to get the name and phone number straight away, so neither you nor your hostess forget about it).
Organise these into date order of when you need to contact them, so you don’t get yourself in a muddle when following up. After a few embarrassing experiences which I won’t dwell on at the moment, I now have a notebook where I write down all the information I need, including potential hostesses name and phone number, when to contact her and which hostess’ party she attended. That way when I'm following up with her (especially if it’s in a few months time) I can remind her that she was at so-and-so’s party and mentioned that she’d like me to contact her about now. It also means that if I do get a party booked I can remember which hostess to send a thank you voucher to.
Come up with a system that works for you, whether it’s scraps of paper, a notebook like me, or using your Outlook calendar on your PC.
Phoning up
If your potential hostess has indicated more or less when she’d like to be called (whether it’s a time of day, or a specific month), make sure you only phone her at this time. If she only wants to be contacted after 7pm, there’s probably a good reason for it (e.g. she’s at work before then, or putting the kids to bed). Equally, if she says to contact her in March, there’s no point following up with her in January, as she won’t be ready to book a party yet. Respecting her preferences will help make her more receptive to you when you call her.
Some people will forget that they said they might like to host a party (yes, it happens more often than you’d think!) So it’s always a good idea to start the conversation by reminding them that you met them at so-and-so’s party and that she indicated on the survey form that she’d like you to contact her about hosting a party herself.
Once she’s up to speed on what your phone call is about you can go about finding a date that will suit her and put it in your diary straight away (don’t forget to have your diary/calendar with you when you call). Also make sure you get all the other information you need, such as what time she’d like the party to start, her address to send the invitations to, how many invitations she’d like, etc.
Finally, let her know how it all works – when you will send the invitations to her, what time you will arrive at her house to set up, and all about the hostess incentives – and tell her to feel free to call you at any time if she has any questions or concerns.
If for some reason she says she doesn’t want to do a party any more, see whether it’s because of the timing and ask whether she’d like you to phone her back in a couple of month’s time.
If she’s concerned that she won’t have enough guests, reassure her that it’s not a problem and that if she finds she has no guests she can always let you know closer to the time and cancel. This probably won’t happen, as most people do manage to find plenty of guests.
But if she’s adamant that she’s no longer interested, thank her for her time, tell her to contact you if she changes her mind and then leave it at that. You don’t want to bully people into having parties for you, as they’re less likely to be successful ones if you do.
Sending invitations and information
Once you have the booking, make sure you send out the invitations in plenty of time (at least 2 weeks before the party if possible), and include any other information the hostess might need, e.g. business cards, tips on inviting guests and details on hostess incentives. If she feels unprepared for the party, and has to chase you to get the invitations, chances are she won’t be booking again. And following up doesn't end there either - give her another call a day or two before the party to make sure everything's ok.
Just do it!
Stop putting it off. The best thing is to put aside a chunk of time and get into the routine of following up with a certain number of people each day/week. Although I dread making the calls for following up on hostesses, I always feel so much better once I've gone ahead - especially if I have lots of new home party bookings in my diary!
You might find the article on Managing Your Time Wisely useful for following up too.
