Time to sparkle and shine ... sell and tell

Thursday, November 08, 2007  by Susan Julien-Willson
Category: sales, selling, retailing, sales event, party

I'm ready to get stylin' with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers! My Personal Accents party is drawing near. It's next week and well, I haven't heard from everyone so I have NO IDEA how many are attending, but I plan to do some follow up this weekend just to be sure who is coming, who wants a catalog to look at instead (they don't have to party at my place to order through me), who will be bringing friends, and well, let them know how FAB the collection is this  year  ... and what a great time the party will be. Sure, I call it a party, but it's similar to a seminar or event or gathering. Selling in a group setting when it comes to jewelry and accessories is PERFECT. So don't think it's just about partying ... it's about seeing, touching, and trying on products. It's about telling each other what looks good, what's not quite right, and what's "to die for." It's also about finding holiday gifts for special people in your life.

Many of my friends commented on the beautiful invitation. Have you seen the Personal Accents postcard invite? A 50-pack of cards are available at www.quixtar.com through Quixtar Brand Support, our Partner Store. You can also get Personal Accents order forms. I did this. Not too costly and well worth it!

Hmmmm. I am thinking this gathering is a great cross-sell opportunity. I ordered a few Simply Nutrilite products to give away, plan to display some of the Artistry essentials makeup, and I will be serving XS Energy Drinks, Kahve coffee, maybe Zsenso teas. Definitely have to serve that Waldorf nut mix that's sold in an assorted pack of mixes (71-8927) in the Options Catalog. I absolutely LOVE that Waldorf mix, but I like the other two mixes, too. Guests always seem to go for these mixes. (If you serve 'em, don't be surprised if guests don't ask where to buy 'em! An opportunity to sell for you!) Now, I'd like to have a giveaway that complements the Personal Accents line ... I think Artistry essentials, NAO, and Body Blends are the best choices. I may go with Body Blends as a giveaway since it's fairly inexpensive.

I also plan to have samples of the following Ribbon Albums on hand: Personal Accents, Pamper, I Do!, Choices, and Arrival. I've chosen these albums because they're bound to have the most appeal to my guests.

What else am I planning? Well, I definitely plan to wear Personal Accents jewelry. I have the flower neckalce and ring that's on the front cover. I get compliments all the time on them.

I'm a little concerned about the number of people who can't make it BUT that doesn't mean they are disinterested. In fact, some are very disappointed about being unavailable. I plan to follow up with them (when it is convenient) by giving them a Personal Accents Catalog -- and having a leisurely chat about jewelry and holiday gifts at that time. I don't want to pressure people to purchase, but I do want to make it ultra-easy and convenient for them to do so.

Have any of you had a Personal Accents or gift-giving party? How 'bout an Artistry Time Defiance No-Tox Party? Or a skin care consultation with a group of women? We'd all love to hear about your experiences selling in a group setting. What works and what doesn't. What sales materials you need to help you sell in a group setting. Some of you may feel a group setting  is not the way to sell. I want to hear about that, too.

Sell and tell ... that's what the Sales Speak blog is all about!

 

Comments

# Bridgett said on November 9, 2007 11:54 AM:

Hi Susan,

When you first posted on Sales Speak that you were going to have this party, I thought, "Yep, must be nice to have access to the entire jewelry line without having to shell out $3,030."

The catalog is nice. But it just isn't the same as touching and feeling and seeing "live". Jewelry is a hard sell via a catalog--particularly if a potential customer is not familiar with the Personal Accents line.

Even explaining the money-back guarantee doesn't seem to be effective.

Only Platinums and above can borrow the Starter Kit from the Corp. But this isn't good enough. The Starter Kit is okay, but not great. 12 of 127 pieces?

And offering it to only Platinums doesn't help all other IBOs who either don't live near their Platinum or don't associate with them (System clashes).

If the jewelry were the only product line, and an IBO were looking to jump in with both feet, and she was diligent about retailing, and she'd spend a ton of money on jewelry for herself anyway, then it would make sense for her to buy the kit.

But the IBO I just described is a teeny tiny minority.

How can we QUICKLY engage and empower the IBO who wants to focus on not just one, but a few product lines, and/or wants to start slow, and/or doesn't have the funds for that kind of investment?

 

Bridgett, I have to be honest in that I thought the Starter Kit was the ideal solution for an IBO who didn't have $3,000 to shell out for the Complete Jewelry Kit. But you're right-the Starter Kit isn't really enough to entice all your guests and their varied tastes. Perhaps a kit that has about half of the pieces would suffice ... what do you think? Jewelry is definitely a try before you buy kind of purchase--it doesn't sell itself off the page of a catalog. Quite frankly, many of the pieces of jewelry in our catalog and the Personal Accents Ribbon Album are even prettier than they look in print.

I have passed your comments on to the jewelry marketer and merchandiser. As we plan the next year's program, I am sure we will consider some of your ideas. After all, the jewelry is for IBOs to enjoy and also SELL.

Thanks for commenting! Keep your ideas and suggestions coming. I definitely share them with the brand managers, sales advisors, and merchandisers. 

# Ben said on November 9, 2007 4:26 PM:

Susan,

I haven't had any parties for my personal business lately, but will be doing a few in the next couple weeks for my downline. To get people to commit to coming, we've started using evites, www.evites.com. It's a free site, of course you have to deal with the advertising, but seems to be very useful in conjunction with personal phone calls and postcards. We haven't had an event yet where we've used this service but I'll let you know the results when we do. Also www.sendomatic.com has a similar service but without the advertising.

Thanks for the tip, Ben. I just received an evite for a Gift party through Quixtar. I thought it was very clever--especially where you can comment when you RSVP and everyone can see it.  Let me know how your gathering goes! I just interviewed an IBO about the Ribbon Program this afternoon and he is having two holiday gatherings to sell Ribbon Gift Collections. He promised to let me know how those go as well. He said that the Ribbon Gift Collections like Ghirardelli, Pamper, Personal Accents, Guy Gear, and Delicious are selling well as holiday gifts.

# RBXS said on November 11, 2007 12:18 AM:

90 same as cash is offered thru our wonderful support Quixtar. Get it sale thru it, pay it off.

# Ben said on November 11, 2007 7:16 PM:

Hi Susan, well we just had our event where I used Evite in conjunction with telephone calls to invite people. I think it did help in getting a few more people to come to it. Overall though, I think personal phone calls are still the best way to invite customers.

I also have a suggestion for the Ribbon catalog. Can you include a retail price list as an insert? I know you can download it from Quixtar but I have some downline who don't really go on to the site much and would have a hard time finding it.

Thanks!

I will pass your suggestion along on the Ribbon Price List. I think you're right about personal contact and phone calls. Seems I've had the same experience! sjw

# CJ said on November 12, 2007 5:36 PM:

Ben,

I thought the catalog pack came with an insert? I personally like the idea that we can customize the price lists to accomdate a pricing schedule we prefer.

Susan, on a similar note, would it be possible if the Ribbon Retail sites could be more in line where we could set the pricing to match our customized price sheets or whatever prices we prefer? It looks like a similar discussion is taking place on the recent blog called "Retail and More Retail" by Steve Cole in Coding.

Ability to customize pricing is something we have requested of IT on a personal site for IBOs who are retailing Ribbon. I think it is being considered. It's a great idea. Thanks, sjw

# Ben said on November 14, 2007 4:20 PM:

CJ, I just opened a new catalog pack and there's no pricing insert. I think the old Gift and Incentive program used to come with it. I've printed out the pricing guide on hard stock paper and it comes out looking very professional though.

Good suggestion, Ben. Thanks!

# CJ said on November 15, 2007 10:12 AM:

My bad Ben. I think you're right. Probably what happened is that my wife printed them up from the website and I didn't realize. Thanks for the tip on the hard stock paper-great idea.

# CJ said on November 27, 2007 11:45 AM:

Just made another sale of the Ribbon 5 pack. I decided to run a promotion on them at a slightly reduced price seeing the need to catch some of the holiday shoppers. But, this sale wasn't so much for the person to give them away as Christmas gifts. The person is involved in another direct sales business and was looking for incentives to use to encourage folks in his group to do specific activities with the winner in that specific activity category receiving a gift album. I almost talked the client out of the sale-but thank God I caught myself midstream and focused on what they wanted to use it for, not how I thought he should use it.

Also, made another sale that was probably some of the easiest PV I've generated to date. In the office, one of my co-workers had a catalog on their desk called "Back to Basics Toys". Had some really cool toys in there. Well, anyway, they wanted to get a few items out of it for their newborn baby. I immediately thought of our Partner Store Shop.com seeing that they carry tons of catalogs merchandisers. Since she already knows about our business, I told her that I could possibly get for her as well. Lo and behold after logging on to Quixtar and going to Shop. com, it was there-same price, shipping, everything. Made the sale right there at my desk!!!

CJ, great news! Thanks for sharing. I particularly think your example about paying attention to the client and fulfilling his or her need is important. It's easy to get so caught up in and excited about what you think Ribbon should be used for, you forget clients might have ideas of their own. Good lesson for all of us.  sjw

# CJ said on December 3, 2007 11:35 AM:

Hey Susan-long time no blog-you have any new blogs coming out!

Quick questions on Ribbon:

1)Has there been any word on us being able to have a customizable Ribbon website as far as pricing?

2)Why is it that we can't have our personal contact information displayed on the Ribbon Retail sites as well as any of the other retail sites? I know myself personally that if I send someone to the site or whether they stumble upon the site, it makes it very hard for me as a client to plunk down my credit card info to buy if a)there is no address to the company or distributor I'm dealing with b) there is no contact number to the person I'm dealing with and c)there is no mention of the person's name on the website except for the hokey way of having your name on the top to the webpage. If we as the IBOs are the personalized extension of Quixtar, then we should have that option to "personalize" the retail sites. If not, our retail sites as well as Quixtar becomes what Quixtar has been trying to avoid and that is a big-box retailer where people are lost in the shuffle with no high-touch aspect.

CJ-thanks for the questions. I am forwarding them to the Ribbon Brand Managers and copying IT. I expect answers later this week and will report back to you. Hey, I blogged about my PA party and about gift shopping recently--did you read those posts?... Thought for sure you'd comment on the fact that Ribbon Collections sold at my party. Please take a look at Accent on Personal--tell me what you think. I had so much fun doing this and had a great sales month in November. Wondering if parties are the way to sell  jewelry, accessories and gift collections. What do you think?

# Ben said on December 6, 2007 4:37 AM:

CJ, have you done any B to B sales with Ribbon?

Also, I ran a November special for a regular customer of mine. If she purchased $150 of Ribbon or Simply Nutrilite, I would give her a free Variety album. I told her I would refund her the purchase price of the Variety album in a check back to her. That way I took full advantage of the 20% PV uplift. I gave her about half of my profit, but thought it was okay given the higher PV. She gladly took up my offer and was very happy with it.

Hope that helps!

# CJ said on December 12, 2007 12:32 PM:

Hey Ben! Sure have. We've sold Ribbon to real estate agents for use as closing gifts, booth operators for use at expos to draw folks to their booths, and small-to-medium size companies as a gift to their employees. I've also just recently sold Ribbon in a somewhat different but familiar arena of B2B and that was to another direct seller in a different direct sales business. They are using it as an incentive for their distributors in their downline to reward them for taking specific actions like making the most contacts, signing up the most amount of people in the month, etc.

Susan, along these same lines, I am soooo hurt about us not having the Ribbon Vacations. This latest call I had earlier this week, the company wanted and was looking for vacation promotions to publicize in their radio/television advertising for 2008. Imagine my face dropping when I had to tell them that the ones in the catalog were no longer available. And I had been working so long and hard trying to move the vacations and this deal all but fell in my lap. I guess it wasn't possible to find a replacement for the program at all? Cest La Vie..but still a major bummer :-(

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