Home Parties - Part 4 – Catalog Parties
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Catalog parties are a low-pressure way of having a party. There are pros and cons to having a catalog party. What is a catalog party? It’s simple.
A catalog party is one way for someone to host a decorating party without having to open up her home or deal with the planning stages and, yet, still be eligible for the hostess benefits. The hostess will take around your catalogs to her friends and take as many orders as she can in 7 – 10 days. She will still charge tax and shipping to all of the customers.
The hostess’s friends will not benefit from seeing any products in person so you can expect the total party sales to generally be less than they would have been at a home party. At the end of the 10 days, your hostess will turn in all of the orders that she has received. You will total up the sales and then offer your hostess her benefits. You then place the orders and have the items drop shipped to your hostess. She will then deliver the products to those that placed orders.
When having a catalog party, you won’t need to worry about setting up a floorshow or planning games for the guests. However, you still need to check in with your hostess often to be sure things are going smoothly and that she is still trying to get more orders. Make sure she is getting the contact information from everyone that orders. These people are still your customers and will be added to you mailing list for future specials.
Holding catalog parties for longer than 10 days becomes counterproductive. Your hostess will lose enthusiasm and other things will take precedence in her daily activities. Of course, if she just needs one or two days to finish things up, you may certainly allow for that.
You still want to offer your hostess extra incentives for getting her friends to book a home party, but ratio of booked parties from a catalog party will be much lower than at a home party. You are not there to do the talking! This doesn’t mean that you can’t contact these customers at a later date and offer the opportunity of hosting a home party.
If you are booking parties at home party and someone wants to host a catalog party, find out why, before you say yes. If they are too busy to do the planning, offer to help. If they don’t have sufficient space at their home or apartment, you may offer your home or discuss using a public hall. Offer more incentives for having a home party as opposed to a catalog party. If they are simply too busy, and feel that they will have better luck passing catalogs around work, than go with it. A few sales are better than none!
When the customers have received their merchandise, don’t forget to follow up! Find out how they liked their product and if they would be interested in buying from you again. Find out if your hostess enjoyed her experience. She will likely host a party again later on!
Catalog parties don’t require much planning or time on your part. Your hostess is doing all the work for you! So catalog parties are nice to have anytime. Even if you are booked solid at other home parties, a catalog party can be in progress at the same time! If you run into a slow season, you can take your catalog around and get some orders. No one knows your products like you do!
To summarize:
- Catalog parties are low-pressure for your hostess and little work for you!
- A catalog party should only be 7-10 days in duration.
- Your hostess will still benefit from your hostess incentives!
- Total party sales and bookings are generally less than they are at home parties.
- Get all of your customers contact information!
- You still drop-ship the orders right to the hostess!
- Find out why a hostess wants to have a catalog party and offer help to her!
- Follow up! These customers are just as important as any other!
- Catalog parties are a great way to supplement you schedule in slow times or busy seasons!
- You can host your own catalog party!
Table of Contents
- – Home Parties – Finding a Supplier
- – Home Parties – Finding a Hostess
- – Home Parties – Happy People Spend More
- – Home Parties – Catalog Parties
- – Home Parties – The Conclusion