How To Have An Online Party
Online parties are a great alternative to the traditional home
parties done by Direct Sales companies in the past. They are
very similar, yet at the same time, so very different.
Home parties are just as they sound, A party in the home. They
can be very time consuming and require the Representative to be
comfortable talking in front of crowds of people, and generally
to have products on hand, and demonstrate. No doubt, seeing,
feeling, tasting, smelling products is a great way to get sales,
but it can also be costly if you must pay for your demonstration
products!
Online parties are great in the fact that you dont have to worry
about how you look or sound, you can even do them in your
pajamas (as I have done many times!), you do not have to be
comfortable talking to a crowd, you just have to be able to type
into a chat room full of people! There is no need to have
product on hand, you can send your website address out and
people can look at your "online brochure" and ask questions from
there.
Now for the basics:
Preparations -
*Find a Hostess
*Set a date
*Choose a chat room to use, or make your own
*Plan any games or specials you want to offer
*Send out invitations
Actual Party -
*Thank people for attending
*Introduce yourself and your business
*List your specials
*Discuss your products
*Allow time for product questions
*Discuss business opportunity (if available)
*Allow time for opportunity questions
*Games can be done at any point during the party
Tips -
*Try to keep the conversation flowing and on topic. It might be
a good idea to have a friend or family member participate with
the job of asking lots of questions that you can answer to keep
your other attendees interested in the topic of conversation.
*Be prepared! For almost every party I do I create a script to
use. I create the outline of what I am hoping to accomplish
during the party and then in a notepad file I write down what I
am planning to say, along with my website address, special
offers, email address, etc, so that it can be easily posted
throughout the party.
*If you have late arrivals be sure to repost your website, email
and special offers when they arrive.
*If you choose to play games, make sure they are games that
pertain to your products and/or services. Games that make the
party goer visit your website and look around for answers are
the best! (Product Name Scrambles, Description/Product Matches,
etc)
*It is a good idea to let your special offers be extended for a
couple days after the party, in case the attendees do not see
something they are interested in at that moment, but gives them
a chance to save your information for awhile in case they think
of something they want that you might be able to offer.
*One thing that has been fairly successful for me is for every
online party that I do, I offer free shipping on orders over a
certain amount, a free gift with every order (use your profits
to purchase something small), and I choose a random item to
offer a big discount on if they order it that night. People LOVE
anything free and discounts!