Question:

I am in direct sales, Tastefully Simple, and also a Golden Girl (we have home parties for buying people’s old, unwanted, or broken gold jewerly). My biggest challenge for Tastefully Simple is getting people interested in parties. I am a business minded person, always have been, and know how to network but when it comes to getting parties booked and getting bookings when I have parties from other guests. I can sell anything but the bookings don’t come easy. Especially where I live in Colorado (Castle Pines) … it’s an affluent area and even those in the middle class area feel like they have to live up to the ‘snob’ mentatilty b/c we are surrounded by tons of million dollar homes. At my daughters school 3/4 of the kids live in mansions and are pretty stuck up which says a lot about the parents as well. How do I break into a community where it’s not popular to have these parties? Whenever I am out I always have cards, brochures, and catalogs on hand and give them to everyone I meet. I post on the internet on various networking sites and business groups. Nothing seems to be working- any advice

Susan’s Answer:

Hi Jami!
I just checked out Tastefully Simple..it looks like a fun company to work with!

What about Tastefully Simple is attractive to the typcial affluent woman in your community? Is it the quick and easy appeal? The gourmet solution? The time saver? What are these women needing and wanting from your service? Are they looking for extra income? Are they all working during the day?

I would first do some research on the typical affluent woman who you would be serving. What are the buzz words that she might be paying close attention to?

Could it be the term ‘party’ might be turning these women away? When they hear that term, they might be thinking about all the work they will have to do in order to get ready for the ‘party’…maybe call it something different…with an elegant twist as you emphasize that YOU Will be doing all the work?

Think about how you can make these events extra special. Where does this community love to eat? Shop? Stay? What about those places make it extra special for them? How can you incorporate the special perks into what you do? Focus on getting one event booked and make the changes to create an “experience” for these women…your name will spread like wildfire!

Another resource you might want to check out too is The No B.S. Guide to Marketing to the Affluent by Dan Kennedy.

One last thought…how do you explain what you do to these women? What do you call yourself?

I hope this helps! Feel free to reply!
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