No Summer Swoon In June! Denise Hill Jumps Bad with $4,690 in June Sales!
Summer months tend to be a little slower in the direct sales industry, but Denise Hill said, "I ain't buying into that" and proceeded to throw down $4,690 in sales anyway.
So here's some adversity for you. Denise had six shows cancel in June. Yes, you read that right... six! Most folks would have just folded up like an accordion, but Denise said she's grown accustomed to bigger checks and was determined to make at least $1,000 in June.
Where there's a why... there's a will. And where's there a will... there's a way. And, Denise found a way.
The way was to do the parties that didn't cancel, which is the reason you want to overbook. Plus, she hosted her own Juneteenth party and her own birthday party as well. Half of her sales came from personal supporters that she asked to support her Black owned business for Juneteenth, and from personal supporters that she asked to buy themselves a gift for her birthday. Denise says she's not creative, but we all
know creativity when we see it, don't we?
Something that Denise does consistently is to post curated, cultural content for her VIP group, which is now at 156 customers and counting. So, in between her cultural posts, she's able to make everyone aware of new booking specials and new arrivals very quickly. Her parties, plus social marketing, plus e-commerce, plus using her God given, Black ingenuity have been a winning formula.
Are there any lessons to be learned here?
Well for one, be ready for Juneteenth next year. LOL.
Second, overbook your calendar!
And third, start tending to your VIP group. It's how you stay connected to your customers and hostesses so you can reach out to them when you need to. If you have a better way to stay connected... please tell us. Inquiring minds want to know!
Just bear in mind that it's a lot like farming. You don't plant your seeds and come back the next day expecting a crop. You have to patiently water and fertilize your VIP group by adding value to their lives. If you want a great example of how to do it, join Denise's group and support her by commenting on and liking her content. Then... rob and duplicate.
Congrats to Denise for having the why and the will to overcome six cancellations... and then make "a way out of no way" in June.
Plucky... Not Lucky. Cheryl Rickard Rolls to $3,559 in June Sales!
Like Denise Hill, Cheryl Rickard found a way to stay busy in June. And like Denise, Cheryl also had her share of cancellations and hostesses ghosting her.
Still, she was able to keep it moving and do five Zoom parties that netted her $3,550 in sales.
That works out to $733 per party, which is sweet when you're doing that from your dining room table. But if you do a deeper dive into Cheryl's party stats, you'll also learn some valuable lessons that can help you in your business.
Party 1
- 23 invited guests
- 3 orders
- $205 in sales
Party 2
- 22 invited guests
- 5 orders
- $285 in sales
Party 3
- 64 invited guests
- 11 orders
- $929 in sales
Party 4
- 28 invited guests
- 11 orders
- $924 in sales
Party 5
- 36 invited guests
- 18 orders
- $1,060 in sales
Lesson 1: Coaching a hostess well comes down to building a great guest list and then having the hostess invite them personally. You can clearly see that the parties with the lowest sales had the smallest guest lists. They may have been low even with a bigger guest list. But on some level this is a numbers game... and an extra 10 or 15 names can make a difference.
Lesson 2: All of your parties won't be home runs. But if you give each hostess your all and coach them well, you'll get your share of good and great parties. In Cheryl's case, two of her parties were low, but the other three were very good. So, don't expect every party to be a winner. But do expect to get your share of them if you do enough parties and coach well.
Lesson 3: You can't see this in the stats, but the two low parties were parties with millennials. They show that we have work to do... because younger generations are the ones who will run the next leg in the African American relay race. After everything our people have been through, we can't drop the baton now. So keep trying... and keep looking for young "woke folk" that can reach their peers. This goes beyond
money. This is a cathedral.
Congrats to Cheryl for another good month and for reaching out to the younger generation. As we said in the last monthly meeting, "How shall they call upon something they have not believed? And how shall they believe in something they have not heard? And how shall they hear... without a preacher?" So kudos to Cheryl for being that preacher and preaching the message that Black is beautiful, bountiful and
brilliant!
Donna Houston takes the 2nd Runner Up Spot in June with $2,960 in Sales!
Donna Houston continued to "take care of business" in June with another productive month.
Donna, who is trying to "hold it down" in the midst of an extensive home renovation, was still able to generate almost $3,000 in June sales.
Like Denise, Donna decided to build her June around Juneteenth. That makes sense, because if you think about it, on July 4, 1776, our ancestors were still enslaved. So Juneteenth makes more sense as an Independence Day celebration for Black people. Take, for example, the Jewish community. They don't celebrate Christmas. They celebrate Hanukkah.
So Donna challenged her friends, family and customers to buy a shirt that they would wear on June 19th to celebrate a Black holiday.
It's a great idea and a beautiful strategy. Art is beautiful, but it hangs in your home where few people are likely to see it. But a t-shirt... that's a whole different story. It allows the wearer to express their ethnicity and their truth wherever they go.
Let's all congratulate Donna Houston for thinking outside of the box and encouraging her circle of influence to be cultural ambassadors in a small way. It may not be immediately obvious, but all of those small impressions add up over time. Big doors swing on little hinges!
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June 2021 Leaderboard ($300 and above)
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Denise Hill (NY)
Cheryl Rickard (NJ)
Donna K. Houston (NJ)
Cheryl Stephens (NY)
Rich & Tajuana Allen (NJ)
Donna King-Wright (NJ)
Theresa Wynn (NJ)
Gail Soanes-Taylor (NY)
Chicqueta Britton-Nutt (NJ)
Jo Anne Babbs (TN)
LaTonya Merchant (NJ)
Christine Rutledge (CA)
Rhonda Bazile-Griffin (GA)
| $4,690
$3,559
$2,960
$2,520
$1,613
$1,298
$1,256
$ 658
$ 536
$ 522
$ 425
$ 379
$ 316
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Year to Date Leaderboard (1/1/21 thru 6/30/21)
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Denise Hill (NY)
Donna K. Houston (NJ) Cheryl Rickard (NJ)
Chicqueta Britton-Nutt (NJ)
Theresa Wynn (NJ)
Carol Manigault (MD)
LaTonya Merchant (NJ)
Bernadine Kirkland (MA)
Tara Pinckney (PA)
Christine Davis Rutledge (CA)
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$25,475
$23,570
$17,200
$10,237
$ 9,997
$ 7,925
$ 6,465
$ 6,105
$ 5,913
$ 5,504
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Champagne Shows - June 2021
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Denise Hill (NY)
Cheryl Stephens (NY)
Cheryl Rickard (NJ)
Cheryl Stephens (NY)
Donna K. Houston (NJ)
| $1,257
$1,165
$1,080
$1,076
$1,002
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Top Bookers - June 2021 (Based on Party Portal)
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Cheryl Rickard
Denise Hill
Cheryl Stephens
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New Consultants on the Block - June 2021
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Antoinette Boone (PA)
Judith Lucas (CA)
Gail Richardson (NY)
| Sponsored by Denise Hill
Sponsored by Christine D. Rutledge
Sponsored by Gail Soanes-Taylor
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Let's GET Busy Award Winners ($1,500 in first 30 days.)
Monthly Host Special Co-Pays
If you use it properly, there's a new booking aid that will keep your calendar and your checking account healthy.
Currently, these monthly host specials are FREE to the hostess. But, they have consultant co-pays associated with them to offset the substantial costs of offering powerful incentives.
July Co-pays
- Dashiki T-shirt Dress ($6.00)
- Black Girl Magic Outfit ($8.00)
- Hold On & Reflections Prints ($8.00)
August Co-pays
- Dizina Handbag Set ($10.00)
- Tee, Tote and Earrings ($10.00)
- Silky Smooth & She Did It prints ($6.00)
Monthly Host Specials
There's a new booking aid that will help you keep your calendar where you want it to be. It's a monthly host special that will change every month, or every other month in some cases.
What's different about this special is this:
Limited Shelf Life
It's only available for hosts who have a party during the month that the special is running. So each special has a shelf life and won't be around indefinitely.
Free
It's completely free to the prospective host. So there's no partial payment or shipping expense. If they miss out on the special, they're missing out on a perk that they could have had at no cost to them.
Consultant Co-Pay
So that we can offer compelling specials at no cost to the host, there's a co-pay for consultants. It will vary depending on what the special is. In July for example, the Dashiki T-shirt Dress has a cost of $6.00 to the consultant. If it's something extremely valuable, like it will be in August, the cost will be $10.00.
The reason for the bump in value in August is strategic. It will prime your calendar so you can head into the fall months with some momentum. Important! Consultants won't be required to offer the special. If you wish to opt out, that slide will be taken out of your presentation.
Guests Must Book Within 24 Hours
This special maps onto a new 3-way call technique, which is a call to a prospective host that you and your host make together. Its' purpose is to help your host get the one or two bookings needed for the Step Out In Style and Deck the Walls bonuses.
These 3-ways are about going over the Hostess Plan, step-by-step and in detail. They are not about pressuring or coercing the prospective host. And, that's where the new monthly special can help. The pressure comes from letting them know that the special expires 24 hours after the end of the party. In order for that to be effective, you will want to stick to your 24 hour window.
Party Requirements
The party requirements are not onerous and are as follows:
- The party must be at least $400 in retail sales.
- The prospective host must book within 24 hours, even if the date is tentative.
- The host must have their party in the month that a specific special is running. For example, to receive the August special, their party will need be held in August.
Book-a-thon Results and How to Do Personal Book-a-thons
July was the month for our Quarterly Book-a-thons, which are done as a group to create energy and mutual support.
For example, Cheryl Rickard's team met on Tuesday, July 13th and booked 23 parties in one evening.
Whoo hoo!
But, with the new monthly host specials, you don't have to wait for Quarterly Book-a-thons anymore. Whenever you need to strengthen your calendar, you can do so, on the spot, by having your own personal book-a-thon.
Just make a list, send out your emails, and make phone calls to let folks know about the upcoming specials.
You can see all of the upcoming specials for July through October by clicking on the link below. But don't just gawk at them. What the heck will that do? Hit the phone jack... and your empty calendar won't come back.
Text Messages for Host Specials are Now Available
Textable files for the July and August Host Specials are now available.
To see them and download them to your phone and laptop, click on the links below.
Be careful not to reveal future monthly specials until you've filled your calendar for months that are closer in. Parties that are booked too far in the future are less likely to hold. By the time you're finally ready to begin party prep, they'll have forgotten about it, or will no longer be excited.
Computer System Stuff
(NEW) Check the SKU's that Hostesses Give You for Items with Multiple Sizes
Your host can easily make a mistake when selecting reward items with multiple sizes like clothing and canvases. The mistake is to go by the first SKU they see. If they do, you could be ordering the wrong item for them.
For example, if they want a large Rosa Parks t-shirt, the first size showing on the webpage is the SM, and the SKU that will also be showing on the page is for the SM size. They would need to select the LG size and see what SKU is showing on the page for it. Hosts are unlikely to remember this when you tell them, so you should doublecheck all of their selections that come in multiple sizes.
How to Add a Monthly Host Special to a Host Order
Monthly Host Specials need to be added to the Host Order manually on the admin side. BEFORE you enter any hostess items, email this info to bjatee@aol.com
- Party number
- Your credit card number
- Expiration and 3 digit security code
- Name on card
- The special being selected
Hostess Shipping Address
To make sure your hostess orders ship to the correct address, always enter their shipping address, and not just their billing address, before starting their order. To do that;
- Go to Hostess Manager which is under the Parties menu.
- Find their name and click the circle next to it.
- Click edit.
- Enter their shipping address.
Make Sure Your Hostess' Selections are In Stock
Currently, the enterprise system and Shopify don't communicate on stock levels. This means it's possible to enter a hostess order for something that's out of stock. If that happens, nothing on the hostess order ships.
To avoid this, have your hostess check availability on the website before she lets you know what she wants. Then double check yourself before entering the order.
(IMP!) Strive for Accuracy When You or Your Hostess Enter Email Addresses in the Party Portal
Imagine having a great customer that loves the product, but their email address is in your database incorrectly. Strive for accuracy if you're entering email addresses, and stress accuracy if your hostess is.
A good way to do it is for the hostess to copy and paste email addresses from their email service address book. Then you (or the hostess) can copy and paste them into the Party invite list.
Commission Is Paid Once a Month on the 10th of the Following Month
The enterprise system is programmed for monthly payouts... not weekly, which is what we've always been used to.
We wait until the 10th to run commissions to make sure any orders that need to be moved have been moved. Once commission has been run for a month, the system locks in all orders to whatever month they are in. In addition, waiting until the 10th allows time for cancellations and refunds to be taken into account.
Commissions and bonus are paid via ACH. So make sure your ACH is setup and correct.
Repeat the Importance of Checking Shipping Addresses
During your parties, you want to sound like a broken record when talking about the importance of accurate shipping addresses. Many customers are not double checking their entries and their orders are often undeliverable.
Waking Up! What Our Tribe Has Been Reading, Watching and Listening To
Ubuntu! An Inspiring Story About an African Tradition of Teamwork and Collaboration by Bob Nelson and Stephen Lundin. (We recommend listening on Audible.)
Caste - The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabella Wilkerson. (You can listen on Audible or read.)
The Autobiography of Malcom X by Alex Haley and Laurence Fishbourne. (We recommend listening on Audible.)
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It by Joann Gibson Robinson. (You can listen on Audible or read.)
A Quote
Some consultants will only move when the business is so easy that they don't have to do anything but send out links and sit back and collect cash. If that's you, the quote below may be helpful.
To live an abundant life, embrace challenges that are hard.
Strangely, life gets harder when you try to make it easy.
Exercising might be hard, but never moving makes life harder.
Eating healthy foods may be hard, but dealing with diabetes and hypertension is harder.
Uncomfortable conversations are hard, but avoiding every conflict is harder.
Mastering your craft is hard, but having no skills is harder.
Easy has a cost.
Questions
Critical thinking skills are essential in life and in business. Start thinking about what could keep you from succeeding in your EE business. The questions below will get you started.
What will be the most likely cause of my business failing? (For example, not booking well, not putting in the time, etc.)
Before it happens... how can I prevent it?
If it happens... how can I recover?
Take the red pill… and I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
~ Morpheus in The Matrix
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