April 23, 2010

Invitations, not Limitations


Invitations, not Limitations

Feel free to forward or copy this article to your direct sales friends as long as the ENTIRE article is left intact, without any editing.

S: Schedule (Click Here to view)
P: Post (Click Here to View)
R: Ring (Click Here to View)

These are three simple things you can do to SPRING your business into SUMMER.

This week, I'm sharing the I

I: INVITE...

Invite is a term we use every day in the party plan industry. You encourage your host to invite "everyone she knows" to her party. And really smart party plan people add the word "personally" as in

PERSONALLY INVITE

This means more than sending out a postcard or e-mail blast, don't you agree? We all know when we talk to someone on the phone or face to face and extend PERSONAL invitation, we get an

IMMEDIATE RESPONSE

We know the prospect has received our invitation and she can reply.

I'm sure you've experienced the cost and frustration of mailing out a stack of printed invitations only to have no one show up at a party. When this has occurred, I always check to see if the printed was followed up by a phone call, and sure enough the personal invite was never given.

Our company recently created a mailing piece for a business who sent out fewer than 100 targeted advertisements. The owner was not happy with the results: one new committed customer and one possibility.

Average direct mail response is ONE PERCENT! So, my client was on target average. We're negotiating to teach his sales force how to PERSONALLY INVITE the prospects now that they've received a printed piece. If you want to SPRING into SUMMER, follow the advice you so often give your hosts:

PERSONALLY INVITE

prospects to book, sell, or recruit.

Yes, e-mail is a great way to open and build a relationship, but you never know if the e-mail was open or deleted. Sending a postcard might create a thirst, but the

PERSONAL INVITATION

is where you get to inquire about the prospects' needs and match them up with your product or service. You also know that your prospect has connected with you and not deleted your e-mail or thrown away your catalog.

Last week my five-year-old granddaughter and I threw a Princess Party. She lives in Las Vegas, and I surprised her with a visit last week. She only had a few friends to invite, so we walked around the neighborhood with the invitations. She was so nervous! After two positive responses, she wanted to invite dozens more people! Guess which of her friends came to her party? The ones we were able to

PERSONALLY INVITE

Put yourself in a host role...make a list of the thirsty people you want to book a party with, sell product to, or recruit on your team. Then give each of them an

INVITATION...a PERSONAL INVITATION.


©copyright 2010 Christie Northrup, The Lemon Aid Lady™

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