The Edington Collection Hostess Coaching

Hostess
Coaching
www.edingtoncollection.com© 2014 The Edington Collection. All Rights Reserved.

Identifying opportunities for growth becomes a priority to ensure your business
moves beyond the start-up phase. The goal of every home party business is to fill
their calendars. After all, the best place to sell your products and book more
parties is at a party. Host or hostess coaching is the act of guiding your party plan
show hostess in how to have a terrific show.
Hostess Coaching is one of the most important parts of growing your home party
business, if not the most important part. Hostesses will be your biggest ally in
referrals and helping you to continue your businesses forward with their friends,
and their friends’ friends and so on.
When you are an effective hostess coach, it gives you an opportunity to become
good at all the other parts of your business. In this time we have together I will
provide you with some fresh ideas and suggestions that could take your hostess
coaching experience to the next level.
Let’s Get Started!

1. When you are in contact with your hostess and coaching them before the show
date, they will be more excited about their upcoming party. This excitement will
encourage them to work harder to make the party a success.
2. Working closely with your hostess reduces the risk of cancellation or
rescheduling of party dates.
3. Hostesses who are properly coached have higher guest attendance at their
home shows. The more guests there are, the more sales you will make. In
addition to the sales you make, your hostess will be satisfied because she will earn
more free and discounted products.
4. The more attendees that you have at the party, the more bookings you will
receive. Keeping your booking calendar full equals a steady income.
A big part of a home party business is building a team. Again, the more attendees
at the party, means you can generate more recruit leads and more sales.

When you invest your time coaching your
hostess towards a successful home party,
you reap the rewards. Studies have shown
that when you coach your hostesses, they
have higher party attendance which means
higher party sales. Those higher party sales
equals more profit for your business.
If a hostess is completely satisfied with their
home party experience, they are more apt
to rebook parties from you in the future or
refer others to your business. Do yourself
and your business a favor and take the time
to properly coach your hostesses and you
both will benefit.

Your hostess coaching system should include every medium available so that you
have a better chance of connecting with each type of personality. A good hostess
coaching system will use:
Hostess coaching should include all of these approaches because people respond to
different types of contact. If you only use e-mail you will never connect with the once
a month e-mail checker. If you only make phone calls you may not get to chat with
the one who never answers her phone. If you do not leave a message then the one
who screens her calls will end up canceling.
A hostess coaching system will bring more people to your shows so that your hostess
does not cancel. With more people at the home party, you will get more
opportunities to meet people who may schedule to host a show.
Snail Mail
E-mail
Phone Calls
Web Invitations
Answering Machine Messages

You are the boss of your own business and there isn’t always a right or wrong way to
do things. If you are not happy with how your business is going you may have to
relook at your steps and maybe make a few changes that will help you to get to
where you want your business to be. Many people choose to use a hostess checklist
as a way to keep track of ensuring you are doing the best for your hostesses and
doing what it takes on your end to help her have a successful show.
We are going to offer a few suggestions for you to consider for hostess coaching:
Hostess Packet
Before the Party
Hostess Incentives
After the Party
Avoid Cancellations
Ask yourself are you doing any or all of these, if so is it working? If not, how could
you modify your current routine and give your hostess the best experience possible?

Each hostess will need supplies and you should give her a hostess packet that includes:
Guest List Sheet
Post Card Invitations
Catalogs
Order Forms
Information about hosting incentives
Your contact information – business cards
If your hostess prefers to have you send out the invitations you should still provide her
with post card invitations to have on hand. She may forget someone on the list or she
may want to provide a formal invite to someone she doesn’t have an address for.

Hostess coaching starts at the party your new hostess is attending and books a party.
If you did not meet her at a party then the moment she books a party you need to
begin coaching so that she understands your expectations of her as the hostess. In
turn, it will help you to do your job and provide her with the best experience.
1. Sincerely “Thank” your new hostess for booking a party.
Let her know that both the current
party hostess, if applicable, and
yourself appreciate her hosting a party
of her own and remind her that she will
not be disappointed as all of your
hostesses reap many benefits.

2. Set dates with your new hostess.
You need to set a date for the party and for
when the hostess is to get the guest list back
to you, regardless if you are sending out the
invites for her or if she is sending out the
invites herself. You can also use this as
another way for you to coach her about her
attendee list.
Be sure to write the two dates on the front
of the hostess packet – clearly labeled with
what each date means. Make sure you also
make note of the two dates in your planner
so you can properly follow up.

3. Gratitude.
Send a hand written thank you card by postal mail
the day after you have met your new hostess. This
is just another way to show you truly are appreciative
of the booking. You can also use this thank you as a
small reminder that you are watching for her guest list.
Inside the thank you card you can say something along the lines of…
“Gloria, It was a pleasure meeting you at Tammy’s home last night! Thank
you for selecting to host a party of your own on Thursday, June 7th at 7pm.
We are going to have so much fun! Don’t forget that I will need your guest
list back by our agreed deadline of May 17th so that we can provide your
guests with ample time to start putting their wish lists together. I am
looking forward to spoiling you as one of my hostesses – Thank you!”

4. Constant contact with your new hostess is a major key to a successful show!
Contact your new hostess one week after she booked her
party to follow up and confirm the party date. This also allows
you to check in to see if she needs any further invitations or
catalogs and answer any questions she may have.
It has been proven that this step has truly kept hostesses
excited! They tend to be quite talkative and you can hear the
level of excitement in their voice because you are a team and
you are in this together – they truly appreciate the follow up
and communication.
Don’t forget the tools you have available to help you.
Use the Home Party Handbook to help you coach your
Hostess on party preparations.

5. 1 week before the party date.
At this time you want to encourage your hostess to call and remind her friends of the
party, send an e-mail follow up or some type of a reminder – and also remind your
hostess to let her guests know it is okay to bring friends to the party with them!
6. The last point of contact.
Contact your hostess by phone one or two days before
the party. This is when you get directions and do a final
check in to make sure she has heard from all of her invited
guests and confirm how many guests will be attending.
These points of contact with your hostess are quick check-in calls that are meant to
let your hostess know she is important and that you are thinking about her party.

Some hostesses may need a little incentive to really put 100% into their party – it is
good practice to offer incentives to help with Hostess Coaching and to see results.
Here are some ideas:
1. Give a free inexpensive gift or an item ordered discount for booking on the spot!
Offering an immediate reward starts the excitement early.
2. Give a free small gift for getting the guest list back to you in a timely manner. You
could tell the new hostess to get the guest list back to you by the set date and she
can select an item from your treasure chest at your show.
3. Offer a free product for having outside orders before
you arrive at the party. These gifts can be inexpensive little
items. You could offer discounted items or whatever you
feel is a good item that you would like if you were the hostess.

4. Hostess Rewards are always a great incentive for your hostess to work towards
getting the best results she can. Your Hostess Rewards should be based on the dollar
amount of product sold at your party, excluding any sales tax or shipping charges
that may apply. For example:
Party Gift - If the party sales hit a set minimum, say $200, have your hostess select
an item from your samples as a gift. Be sure to present this gift in front of the guests
as it will generate new booking interests.
15 order bonus - Receive $15 more in FREE products when her party has 15 orders.
Item Discount - Choose any item in the catalog for 25% off for each guest who books
a future party! (Up to 5 discounted items per party.)
More people means more fun, more fun means more sales, more sales means higher
hostess benefits and higher host benefits means you have happy hostesses. Happy
hostesses means they book another show and you get to hostess coach again.

Even after the party is over and you have left the show, you still need to hostess
coach for continuing success. You should remain in constant contact with that
hostess to keep the excitement going and have her out trying to improve her sales
and earn more credit.
1. Call and e-mail the hostess within 24 hours after the party to
thank her for being a wonderful hostess. Reflect on the night
and the fun you had, comment on her attendees and tell the
hostess how much fun they were all having. This is the time to
review her party totals, the orders, the bookings, and to go
over her guest list with her – inquire if there was anyone that
was not able to attend that may want to place an order.
You should also encourage her to take a catalog to work or special events to do a
last call on orders for her party. Inform her of the date that you will be closing her
party and set up a date that you can go over her hostess order together to ensure
she gets the maximum benefits for hosting a party.

2. Send a hand written thank you card by postal mail to the hostess just reflecting
on her show and truly thanking her for being a hostess.
3. Most of the time you will see your hostess at future shows that booked from her
show, but you also want to contact your hostesses every 3 months to get re-
bookings or referrals, and to see how they are enjoying their product, keep them
up to date about specials, and new catalog launches.
Following these coaching tips will help to
ensure a successful home party. If it’s a
positive experience, the more likely it is that
she will re-book another party with you, refer
a friend for bookings or even want to join your
team. It is important to form a bond with your
hostess so she remembers her experience with
you and shares it with potential new hostesses.

The goal of almost every Party Plan consultant is to fill their calendars. After all,
the best place to sell your products and book more parties is at a party. But
getting those dates filled is only the first step. They only count if they stick.
The best motto for this situation is “the best defense is a good offense.” In a
Party Plan business, it’s all in the hostess coaching. Hostesses find all sorts of
reasons to cancel. Some are, of course, legitimate. In those cases, she most
likely will reschedule. But some just aren’t.
No body likes to hear the lame excuses, so how do we avoid them? Why do
hostesses cancel? Cancellations are somewhat inevitable in the direct sales
business. These steps can help you to minimize your cancellations, so you can
better build an income you can depend on.

1. Procrastinated sending out invitations.
Although she may never admit it, your hostess will usually cancel if she has not
sent out invitations. It is easier to not have you show up then to only have one
or two people there. This is actually one of the easier situations to avoid.
It is a great service for your hostess, and you, if you send out invitations for her.
This is also a great marketing tool for you by offering to send out invitations as a
way to save your hostess time and money. You can accomplish several things
just for the cost of stamps.
First, you know the invitations were sent. Second, you can increase her party
attendance. Get the hostess to make her last minute calls by telling her that you
numbered some of the invitations. If she finds all the people with the numbered
invitations, she’ll receive a prize at the party. Third, you can follow up with all
the people who didn’t attend and possibly increase your party sales or bookings.
Usually only 25% to 50% of invited guests actually attend. If you don’t have the
guest list, you’ve missed out on reaching half her guests.

2. No longer excited about the party.
Hostesses can loose their enthusiasm for your party for a couple of reasons. Aside from
life just getting in the way, there are usually two main reasons for this. First, the party is
booked too far out. The more time in between her party and the one she attended, the
more likely she is to forget why she booked it in the first place. It is usually a good rule
of thumb to book your parties no more than three to six weeks out. Keep them close to
keep them booked.
The second reason she looses her interest is because you are not excited. One of the
biggest complaints hostesses have about their party reps is that they were not
contacted enough. On your end of the phone, it can sometimes feel like you’re
pestering them. Keeping in contact with your hostess does not mean that you have to
call them. Be creative and aim to contact her at least four times before her party date.
Send her a thank you note for booking the party. E-mail her to ask for the guest list. Call
her to let her know the invitations were sent out. Send her a postcard reminding her of
the date and time. Call her the week of her party to remind her to make her last minute
phone calls. This scenario is especially important if you have to book the parties farther
out. People appreciate good customer service. And the more contact you have with
her, the better chance you’ll have of catching a scheduling problem early.

3. She doesn’t respect you as a business.
Although it’s blunt, it’s the truth. Unfortunately, many people view Party Plan
businesses as a hobby and not a real job. Because they think this way, they don’t see it
as being any real problem to cancel on you. This issue can be difficult to tackle because
it requires you to change her perspective on your business.
First, make sure you treat your business as a business. You must think highly of yourself,
your business and what you have to offer. And, hardest of all, when it comes to
scheduling you cannot allow her to think you are always be available.
If you are always available, bending over backwards to meet the needs of your clients’
schedules, how can they possibly respect you. If your hostess knows that she can cancel
her party and you’ll have another date available for her, what is her incentive to keep
her party on the original date? You cannot act desperate no matter how open your
calendar is. The more in demand you appear to be, the more in demand you will be.
When a hostess is ready to book her party, offer her a choice of two or three dates you
want to fill. If she suggests or demands something else, simply let her know that date is
not available. You don’t have to explain why. Let her know that your business is very
important to you and you always plan for a full schedule. The demand for your parties
are extremely high and your available dates fill up entirely fast.

More people means more fun, more fun means more sales. With more people at
the home party, you will also get more opportunities to meet people who may
schedule to host a party. Here is a list of suggested guests your hostess can invite:
Now that I have gotten you started, I’m sure you can think of a few more!
Friends
Relatives
Neighbors
Co-workers
School Friends
Church Contacts
Social Contacts
Doctor/Dentist and Staff
Spouse’s Co-Workers
Spouse’s Relatives
Spouse’s Friends
Long Lost Friends
People You Do Business With
Someone Who Needs A Night Out

Now with everyone being on Social Media, you could also have your hostess set up
a Facebook event for their party. You would be able to post product tips, ideas,
video’s and play games for prizes. This allows you to connect with the guests before
the party. It also allows you to share specials and product tips, hostess benefits and
your business opportunities with those who may not be able to attend in person.
This can significantly increase outside orders for your hostess parties as well as
bookings and new recruits. This also works for online/virtual parties.
You will also find it helpful for the hostess to identify to you at least one or two
specific items she wants to earn from the purchases at her party. You can use it to
get the guests to make a purchase, or purchase more, so the hostess gets what she
desires. Make sure to communicate that to her guests often and how close she is to
her goal.

Hostess Coaching is one of the most important tasks for a Direct Sales Consultant,
yet it is probably the most put off, over looked task of all. Even consultants with the
best of intentions sometimes forget to call their upcoming party hostesses.
To help you remember, there are Hostess Coaching Apps for smart phones and
tablets that seamlessly keeps all of your Hostess Coaching efforts together in one
place – complete with notifications to remind you when its time to do the next task.
Fundraising parties are something that all party plan consultants should seek out.
When you make a specific effort to target groups and organizations that need to
raise money it will keep your business strong!
Everyone wants to raise money and fundraisers can be high volume when you
hostess coach them properly. You are giving back to the community and people
participate in fundraisers who will never attend a home party.

The Edington Collection Hostess Coaching

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