Get More Home Party Bookings

If you plan on continuing to sell your crafts this way, you need to get more home party bookings.

This is the biggest challenge of a home party business, but hopefully my trial and error experiences will help you along.

Make sure guests know about the hostess incentives

But don’t be pushy! You are more likely to lose hostesses than gain them if you make the guests feel uncomfortable. It’s better to make a big deal of how much free stuff the current hostess is earning (it’s especially great if her guests see her choosing all her free purchases afterwards, so don’t save this for after guests have left). Guests will make the connection themselves and want those same benefits!

One tactic I do use sometimes is if a guest wants something but is worried that it’s over her budget, mention that if she hosts a party of her own she’d hopefully be able to get that item and more for free. I always say it really lightheartedly though, and don’t push any further than that.

Offer an incentive to book on the day

If I really need more home party bookings, then together with my flyers that list the benefits of hosting a party, I also sometimes offer a reward to guests if they book a party that day.

The incentive can vary, sometimes it’s 10% off their order at the current party (they usually won’t spend much anyway if they’re going to have a party of their own later), or a gift voucher to spend at their own party (which also helps ensure they don’t cancel later on), perhaps even a small gift like a bookmark. Make sure you point these rewards out!

Prize draw/survey

You could use a prize draw as a reward for booking a party, entering the names of those that have booked into a prize draw for a voucher or gift. But I’ve found a much more effective way of using a prize draw...

I have little survey forms for all the guests to fill out and these get entered into the prize draw. I only put 3 or 4 questions on it, and they provide me with useful feedback, but the most important question is:

“If you’d like me to contact you in the future about hosting a party of your own, please write your phone number below & indicate roughly when you’d like me to call.”

This is where I get the majority of my new home party bookings from. A lot of people don’t seem to want to commit to a specific date right then and there, they want to think about it, or perhaps have forgotten their diary. Some are even too shy (or too busy chatting) to come over and book a party with me.

But as most guests fill out the form to be entered in the prize draw, this gives them another chance. And giving them the opportunity to say when you’d like them to call means you don’t bug them at inconvenient times.

Some people who aren’t able to have a party immediately (perhaps they’re having renovations done) also fill in the month they’d like you to call, so you have a list of hostesses to phone in the future.

Of course you will need to follow up on these potential hostesses, and some will fall through, but it’s a really good way of getting leads for more home party bookings.

Keep reminding your customers

Every time you package an order for a guest, pop a business card as well as one of your flyers advertising your home parties in the bag. This especially goes for custom orders that you do after the party.

In fact, you might as well put one of your flyers in with every single sale you make, whether it's at a craft fair or from your website (provided the customer is local - otherwise advertise your e-parties if you do them!) It might not be the right time for someone right now, but if they have your flyer they may come across it later when they are ready for a home party booking.

You might also find the page on local advertising for home party bookings useful.