Whether your hostess has hosted a million parties or this is her first one, Hostess Coaching is a good way to help your hostess have MAXIMUM success at her party.
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Training:
Staying in contact with your hostesses and coaching them in the days before their party can and will make a huge difference in the number of cancellations you get. Here is my Hostess Coaching formula in 3 steps.
1. Invite:
You want to have your hostess invite 40-50 guests. Its proven that only about 1/4 of the people your hostess invites will actually come. While 50 people might sound like a LOT, that means only about 10 guests will show up.
When you hostess is inviting her guests, I HIGHLY recommend inviting MULTIPLE ways. Why? Because some ways reach more people but others are more personal. So, I will send a text, paper invitations, and make a facebook event for the hostess to invite her friends with. Each of these take only a few seconds to put together, but will make a HUGE difference in the number of guests that show up the night of the party.
If your hostess doesn’t want to do all 3, I feel like the most important is the paper invitations. It’s easy to ignore a text or not see the Facebook invitation, but a paper invitation either mailed to you or delivered in person is a lot more difficult to ignore.
Reminder: One last thing that I think makes a HUGE difference is reminding the guests about the party. Let’s face it, we are ALL super busy and tend to forget things. I send my hostess a text the day before her party to help remind her guests about the party. She can then copy/paste that text to her friends or give them a quick phone call to remind them.
As a BONUS, I let her know that if her guests bring a friend to the party that wasn’t already invited, I will give them a free gift! This gives you a good reason to remind them about the party AND gets more guests at the party. (The free gift I give is a piece of Starlet Shimmer of their choice). Here is a copy of the text I usually send out –>
Don’t forget about my Paparazzi $5 Jewelry party
tomorrow night from 6-7:30 at my house. It is open
house style so you are welcome to come
for 5 minutes or stay the whole time. Also, if you
bring a friend that wasn’t already invited,
you get a FREE gift!! See you tomorrow!!
2. Bookings:
Your hostess knows her friends better than anyone else. She knows who is most likely to host a party and who isn’t. Have her be your advocate! If a friend can’t make it to your party, have your hostess ask if they would be interested in hosting their own party. I also let my hostesses know that if they book 2 parties before their party even happens, I will give them a bonus FREE item at their party! This is a great way to fill up your calendar quickly and have your hostesses doing some of the work for you!
3. K.I.S.S – Keep it Simple, Sister
I usually tend to over complicate things — like a lot. Baking all day to impress my guests coming over and cleaning my house for DAYS to make sure that even the craft room downstairs in the basement (that no one will actually even see) is spotless! Kind of silly, I know, but it makes wanting to host a party an overwhelming task.
I always tell my hostess to Keep It Simple, Sister. The BEST party I’ve ever been a consultant at, the hostess served Oreos and milk. IF your hostess wants to serve refreshments, encourage her to KISS it. 🙂 Also, a spotless house isn’t required. As long as the guests aren’t tripping over toys, they will be happy. 🙂
Another reason that I encourage simplicity with my hostesses is because the guests are looking that the effort she put into hosting that party. If she spent days or weeks getting ready, they are automatically thinking that hosting a party won’t fit into their schedules. When your hostess takes the simple approach, it saves her time and energy AND her guests are more likely to want to host as well.
Bonus tip:
I will send my hostess a postcard or thank you card just after she booked a party to say “Thanks for booking your show! I am so excited to get to party with you and your friends and I appreciate you supporting my business! This is a night of work for me and I’m excited to share it with you and your friends”.
Then, the day after the party, I will drop a Thank You card in the mail to thank her for the time and energy she put into the party and again, letting her know how much fun I had with her and her friends. I KNOW that these 2 simple things have been the reason why some of my hostesses never cancel and rarely have to cancel or bump their party dates.
Check the Resources Section below for the Hostess Coaching Packet I use with all my hostesses. Be sure to fill in YOUR info in the header before you give it to you hostess so she can get a hold of you whenever she needs to.
Resources:
Show Challenge:
Print out 4 hostess Coaching Packets and get them ready for your next hostesses. Then try to book 2 parties!