Open House Tips
by Sr. Director Cleta Mitchell
1) When: Hold your Open House in early November or very early in December (or both)– don’t wait till the middle of December – for one the order form ends on December 15th and most of the Holiday items are sold out by then. A lot of MK consultants hold theirs on the weekend after Thanksgiving (after all it is the biggest shopping day of the year!) If you are busy that weekend – you can hold it the week BEFORE Thanksgiving! If you wait – a lot of people will have already bought their holiday items.
2) Don’t do a marathon Open House – 1-2 days max. I normally do mine in my home on Thursday 11-2pm (Catch those that are on their lunch hour – that is if you don’t have another job and are doing MK full-time) – then on Friday (payday for a lot of people) from 11-7pm. Then again on Saturday from 10am-1pm. I have tried it from 8am-8pm and you spend your time sitting around waiting for people to arrive –the longer the Open House is – the more waiting you will be doing. If you are newer in the business – say – less than 50 customers – I would just do it ONE DAY!
3) Invitations: Send invitations out a week in advance. I normally do a flyer and mail in an envelope (My sister puts hers in inexpensive Christmas cards) with a coupon inside for $10 off with a $40+ order – only to be redeemed at Open House. I also put somewhere on the flyer that the first 10 people that arrive get a special FREE GIFT!!! I have a basket of past PCP items that I wrap up and let them choose from. Or if you have been in for a couple of years – you could wrap up discontinued items – nail polishes are always a great choice. You might also include on your invitation that if they can not come or are out of town customers – they can still call in for a 10% Special discount.
4) Call all of your invites a couple of days before to confirm. During DEAD- TIME pick up the phone and start calling to remind them. This really works –the last one I did I got about $400 more in sales after calling to remind people.
5) Food – if I am doing on a Lunch hour – I just get the little quiches from Sam’s and have those ready – Spiced Tea, pound cake, crackers & cheese and nuts. Don’t cook for weeks to get ready – they need to be more interested in your products – not your food – nor your house decorations.
6) Speaking of house decorations…. You can get the gold or glitter poinsettias to pop in all around your house – in flowers you have by themselves on a table – in your baskets or bags. Gold sprayed pine cones are great too and inexpensive. But some iridescent shred and place around your displays for shimmer and shine. Use solid table clothes rather than Christmassy – it will seem more elegant and your products will stand out more. Lots of Christmas decorations will make your tables seem too cluttered. Have Holiday CDs playing softly in the background and have a couple of mulberry candles lit to create the holiday mood!
7) Product displays - One trick to highlight your products is to put shoe boxes or other boxes underneath your table cloth – in 2 or 3 places – then place baskets on top. A totally FLAT display is not near as attractive. Remember the eye buys! Don’t go cheap on your bows. 2 pieces of curling ribbon tied in a little bow on the top of a large basket cheapens it and makes it look like it came from K-mart. No bow is better than a cheap one. You can make your own pretty easily with wired ribbon and pipe cleaners or buy the pull-bows that are quick and easy. Have some of your MK Signature gift bags ready and tissue. You can just stick to these bags (the small and large) to do all of your gift bags in – except for maybe having a few larger one for things that won’t fit. I normally offer FREE Gift bags with purchase. Put some shred and take the products out of the gift set bags (2005 gifts) to make them look more full and prettier. Group things together – skin care – supplements on one table – Color products on another – Fragrances & private spa on another and Men’s on another table. If you don’t have extra tables – just group them in sections of your dining room table. I had the products out of the box and then the extra boxes of products sitting behind – so they could just pick them up and put them in a bag as they shopped. You will also want to have a table of gifts under $10 – Hand cream in a mug, body lotion, nail color – all colorfully wrapped for easy purchase. These make great Teacher gifts, gifts for drop by friends, and people they may have forgot.
8) Have one table with a mirror, tray and some samples – I have had several of my customers sit down and try some new colors – or bring their daughter or a friend for a quickie makeover. You might want to spray some cotton balls and put in a zip lock baggy with each of the different perfumes we have. Easy way for them to smell without spraying up the entire room.
9) Have a Sales Ticket, Look book, business card, a Wish list and list of specials together to give to each customer. Have a sign in sheet – ask for their email address and home address.
10) Specials…. Make this simple and don’t give away your shirt – as MK would say! No more than 10% off TW products and foundations. They are always going to purchase this anyway – there is no need to discount it. Put your biggest discount on your Fragrances and other items that you may not sell as regularly as skin care. You can do creative specials… buy 2 get one free or buy one and get one at ½ price. You could even do the balloon specials… insert the amount of discount on a piece of paper – slip it in a balloon and let them pop a balloon to see what kind of discount they get. Have plenty of 10%, 15%, a few 20% & 25% - and then maybe 1 or 2 at 30% and 40%. This makes it fun!
11) If you are low on inventory – you will have to take orders and then deliver later. Let them know the day you will be placing your order and tell them it will be a week from then that you will deliver. I would collect all of your money up front- that way you have the cash to do your order. The less inventory you have, the sooner you will want to schedule your Open House. During the Holiday season – UPS is slower and of course the “good stuff” sells out quick. Don’t let your people be disappointed. If you make baskets – keep at least one of each with you – so you can duplicate it – and then sell it as well at the end of the season.
12) Finally – look at your displays – look at your food and your specials – would it impress you? BRAND NEW? Buddy up with a sister consultant – do one at her house and one at yours on a different month! Invite your new recruits to come and help you that week – you can train in dead time.
13) Last piece of advice… CALL CALL CALL…. Do NOT depend on your invitations alone to do the job. Start telling everyone NOW that you are having an open house in November or December – so they will be looking forward to it.