Spring is here and the milder temperatures bring the sprouting of bulbs that were planted in the fall. Your business is much like the growing cycle of plants. Just like the flowers, "seeds" that you plant in your business may take 30-90 days to show visible signs of growth.

The most fertile "field for planting" is at your Parties. Parties are a "paid prospecting appointment". It is the best place to meet future hostesses and future team members. This is a business of sharing. There are three things to offer at each and every Party...product to purchase, the ability to earn free product by hosting a Party and the opportunity to become a consultant. Are you offering all three products at your Parties? If you aren't then you are only doing part of your job.

Making sure that your calendars are full is the best way to ensure a wonderful "harvest" of business. Work to keep 6-8 Parties on your calendar each month. By doing so, you will be meeting 8-20 new customers each week. 1 in every 4 or 5 people will say "yes" to hosting and 1 in 10 will say, "yes" to the opportunity. If you do the math, you will see that by asking everyone, you could be adding 3-4 new team members each month.

Here are a few suggestions of some simple things you can do at your Parties to present the business opportunity to customers.

1) Visuals
a. Put "Help Wanted" stickers on each of your catalogs
b. Place recruiting information in each guest folder and hostess packet
c. Make a recruiting poster to set up in your display

2) Make your job look fun, easy, and duplicatable
a. Keep your product display simple enough that you can arrive just 15-20 minutes before the guests.
b. Don't forget, your hostess is your BEST recruit potential. When you are coaching her prior to her Party, be sure to ask her to watch what you do the evening of her event to see if she can picture herself doing the same thing.
c. Keep your presentation short, 30 minutes tops. It's OK to use note cards!

3) Plant "seeds" about the business opportunity throughout your presentation
Think for a moment about why you joined and what you love about your business. Now, take a moment and list three ideas in the spaces provided below and practice weaving these stories into your presentation

(1)_________________________________
(2)_________________________________
(3)_________________________________

4) Body language
a. Who came early or stayed late?
b. Who was a high purchaser?
c. Who was nodding and smiling throughout your presentation?
d. Who loved everything so much she couldn't decide what to buy?
e. Who asks you questions about your business?

These can be signs that someone is interested in the business. Ask these people, "If I gave you some information about joining our company, would you read it?" or "You really asked me a lot of questions tonight, have you ever considered doing what I do?"

5) Invite personally without giving your guests "hurricane hair"!
When guests express an interest in the business it is natural to be excited. In that excitement it is possible to overwhelm them with too much information. Your job is to be an "investigative reporter". Building repoire and asking questions to uncover needs is key. Here are three great conversation starters. How would you fill in the blanks?

a. "Tell me about___________________________________________"
b. "Have you ever___________________________________________"
c. "What if you could________________________________________"

Here are some other tips to keep in mind when sharing the business opportunity:

1) Never prejudge...you are in the business of sorting NOT convincing. It is not up to you to decide who would or wouldn't be interested in joining. Your job is to make sure that you invite everyone, regardless of appearances. Whether they appear too old or young, too busy, don't need money or seem not to have enough money to afford a kit; you really don't know their circumstances. It is not up to you to decide that this business is not for them! Remember that people join for all kinds of reasons. If you feel like you are being pushy by talking about the business opportunity then you are focusing on yourself and not on their needs. "Help enough other people get what they want and you will get what you want" - Zig Ziglar


2) Don't take a "no" personally; every "no" gets you one closer to a "yes"! This is simply a numbers game.
Remember, studies show only one in ten people that you ask will join. Do you thing that the kid that works at McDonald's takes it personally when you decide NOT to Super size your meal? Of course not...he's just doing his job!

3) Have a recruiting pool; follow up is key! As we mentioned earlier, not everyone will join the first time you ask. Keep a 3 ring binder with a separate information page for each person you share the opportunity with. Make notes when you chat and if now is not the right time, a great response is "I don't want to bother you before you'd like to hear from me, when may I check in with you again?" Then put a note in your calendar to call back at the agreed upon time. Work to have at least 30 people in your pool at all times!

4) Remember, if you can book a Party, you can sign a consultant.
It's the same job! You are just selling a different product. Actually - your opportunity is the best product you have to offer!