Motivation

It is hard enough keeping ourselves motivated in business so how do we help to motivate our team? If you have a problem with keeping your team or a recruit moving forward in their business then this is for you. We will touch on a few problems and some answers. There is no single right answer when it comes to dealing with people so you will have to follow your heart and look for clues.

- A stalled New Recruit - This is a very common problem because it is easy to get excited about an unknown but when reality hits it can be daunting and cause people to freeze in their tracks. For help in this area you can read Networking Gals eBooks "Leader's Handbook or Leader's Handbook 2 or New Consultant start for leaders" for now try using baby steps. Start with organizing their starter show or go with them to their first show, etc.
- Top seller sometimes but not all times - Now it could be this Consultant has a busy life that keep him/her from putting full attention on their business. However, I have noticed that many Consultants lose their vision and their motivation or do not have the ability to focus. Networking Gals has a presentation "Finding Focus" that really helps but also you need to get to know this Consultant and remind them of their excitement. Help them to make some goals and offer an incentive.
- Knowing a slacker from a lacker - Each Consultant is different and you need to understand their needs and meet your objectives as well as train and be an example. So you have a Consultant that rarely makes it to a meeting, never phones in stats, is frequently unreachable or fails to return your calls. This could be either a slacker or a lacker- only you can determine this through conversations and visiting the Consultant in his/her home. If the Consultant has 3 young kids running around, let's say a broken vehicle in the driveway and seems very rushed or stressed then this is a lacker - a person who either lacks the time or the training to keep up with her business but this Consultant could also be a lacker of a different nature. That is someone who lacks the passion or desire to continue the business. On the other hand if the Consultant is too busy getting mani/pedis or shopping at the mall or talking on his/her cell phone then perhaps you have a slacker which is someone who is most likely not serious about the business or who prefers to do things the easy way or the slacking way. What you do with Consultants like these will have to be up to you but I have no time for slackers!
- End of the month Consultant - You know these Consultants, they are so busy doing shows in the last 2 weeks of the month that they become stressed and worried they can't make deadline or their quota and they are madly inputting all their shows on the last day of the month. This is someone who need to find focus and calendar control. Networking Gals presentation "Calendar Control" is easy to understand and so is the presentation "Finding Focus" Some Consultants are happy to skate by with as little work as possible and they may go on for years like this but I personally do not feel that these people are either happy in their business or happy with the money they are making. I choose to train these people in small amounts as not to stress them out further and I also let them see what it is like to earn at a different level by getting one of my Leaders to take them to a show.

It takes all sorts of different Consultants to keep your business going and to maintain a great team. I believe that as long as they are earning something and they are serving their customers without complaints from the customers then that is a good Consultant to me! The best way to manage a team is to learn as much as you can about each team member and try to offer some form of fun times every 6 - 8 weeks. Such as, taking the team out for lunch, taking your kids with your team and their kids to the zoo, going for a walk in the local garden park, etc. Another way I like to connect with my team is find a craft that we all like and have a craft night every 6 weeks.Remember...

                          Life's too short..................so go out and Party!

Recruiting - where are you at?

We have talked in this blog before about striving to find recruits and about the difficulties in getting the recruiting ball going. We have also spoken about what a Leader's job is when it comes to recruiting but what we have not talked about is the fact that your recruiting abilities may be miles ahead of where you are at or miles behind. Let's take a closer look at how we can do what is best for us and also for our business:
* Some leaders can recruit very prolifically and do so with great ease. I remember at one time I had recruited 24 new Consultants in a 6 week period. Too much? I didn't think so but I found out right away that I was not only poorly prepared to help my new recruits but also very ill advised! You see I had only been with the company for approximately 6 months and didn't know enough to answer all the questions I was faced with nor was I capable of training. My manager was so discussed with my ease of recruiting she took the hard road and left me to my own resources. Needless to say that many of my recruits fell by the wayside and those that remained eventually passed me in the business as I was unable to continue due to an accident. Moral of this story: Recruit 1 or 2 at a time and try to complete all training before recruiting again. Are you ill prepared? Have you landed into leadership and lack the abilities? Chances are over 60% of all Leaders are! This is where Leaders learn to either Lead or Leave.
* Now what if the other end of the scale is true? You have 1 recruit but can't seem to get another - am I right? This is the typical scenario in this industry. I have spoken before in the blogs about the importance of  finding your passion and your niche product line. That may be one reason you are not recruiting but the other reasons are big hurdles to overcome. If you are not advertising your business opportunity to 3 New customers or potential recruits a day then you do not have the numbers it takes to find another recruit!!! Look at it this way - 3 people x 30 days = 90 people So let's say on average you are doing 8 shows a month with an average attendance of 10 people per show. 8 shows X 10 people per show = 80 people This means you need to either do another show a month or find 10 more people to talk to about your business. Seriously, this is what it takes!!!! Now the other main problem I see and hear about all the time is that Consultants lose either their desire to recruit or become disheartened with their business that they stop trying. When bookings or recruits get too few and far between we tend to go into starvation mode which means we fear getting the things we need for our business because we actually fear failure! I see more Consultants sit at this stage clueless to the fact that their business is dying a slow death!! You have to remind yourself of how great it felt when you recruited and how excited you where when you began this business. All of that excitement and enthusiasm is still there you just can't see it because you are too nervous to move at this point. I am sure we have all met Consultants/Leaders who jump at potential bookings like it might be their last chance to ever get a booking. If you feel this starved in your business then it is time to stop and look in the mirror and have a talk to yourself. You can't find bookings when you are crazy mad for one and you can't get a recruit when you worry so much about getting one!!! This is your business and if it is important to you then you have to know how to stop worrying and put on that happy, relaxed "I am enjoying my business" face because then and only then are more things going to come your way. If you are struggling with your business then consider buying the Networking Gals " Leading by Example" presentation.

We all want the most for our business but sometimes circumstances and events kind of pull us apart from our vision. Having a clear vision of what you want and need in your business and understanding what it takes to accomplish that is crucial if you wish to excel. I suggest that you keep a progress diary of sorts about your business. Start by listing what you want, what you need and how you are going to tackle the task of getting those goals. Check out Networking Gals "Goal keeping" and "Finding your focus" presentations. There are many excuses to why we do what we do and then there are actual factual 's - the reason why things are not going the way you hope. I say it is better to be an Actual Factual than an excuse!!! Remember...

                                        Life is too short........so go out and Party!!!

What our Newsletter can do for you

At the heart of Networking Gals is our newsletter which goes out monthly and is free to you to send to your customers, friends, downline, etc. This is the wheel to your car. What that means that without using the newsletter each month you are missing out on a valuable resource that can help you to find a market (more customers) that you may never before have found. We have gone to great lengths to make sure this wheel of ours is something most people will want to look at and most people will pass along. Every time your ad runs in our newsletter you have an opportunity to reach tons more people than you would ever have reached before. This alone can make your chances at getting a sale or a recruit or hostess 4X more likely!! Let's look at our flow chart below to better understand this.

Now I realize these are just ribbon wheels but for the moment image that this is our idea of how this will work. The Yellow ribbon is you passing on to your friends/family/customers/downline the Networking Gals newsletter. The Blue is those customers. The Pink is their personal friends/family of whom you may already be selling to. The Lime is your hidden market - Your hidden market are all the people a Hostess or Customer has never introduced you to. These are the people who did not make it to the show or for whatever reason did not order. Most of the times we as Consultants/Leaders NEVER get to sell to these people let alone advertise or promote to them. Now the Purple is the market (people) you are reaching from your ad that runs occasionally in the newsletter. Again, this is a market that may not be seen at trade shows or may not go out or may not have a friend who knows a Consultant/Leader who sells ??? So that makes this an additional hidden market. What you don't see is all the other company Consultants/Leaders who are reading this newsletter and your ad. That means you have the possibility to scoop someone as a recruit.

It amazes me how many people receive this newsletter and forget to pass it on, forget how much people may be looking forward to this. Through this newsletter we are putting you in front of an audience and all you have to do is press send!!!! So when you get the April newsletter (which is late due to advertisers) which is any day now - first, press forward! It does not matter to us if your forward it but I assure you it will matter to you greatly. Remember.....

                                               Life is too short...........so go out and Party!

Marketing yourself as a Leader

To keep active within a company there may be guidelines or minimums you are expected to meet. Besides sales, a lot of companies believe a Leader should be able to recruit a minimum of 3 new recruits a year. This can be very challenging for some Leaders. When you are new and you have 1 or 2 Consultants then meeting those minimums can be very difficult. The fastest way to get more bookings/sales or more recruits is having a web presence, an email opt-in list plus numerous other ways. Here are some ideas to finding those numbers but remember it is more than numbers. It is about forming relationships and meeting needs.

- Marketing You - when it comes to finding an audience it has to start with you. If you are a fun, out going and easy going person then more people will be open to talking and listening to you. This does not have to mean changing who you are but more about learning what impressions you are giving other people. You can start by rehearsing your pitch in front of the mirror. Remember that your pitch is important too (see other postings about this). Also talk to friends and other Consultants about what your clothes or personal style are saying about you too.
- Video promotions - the fastest way these days to find an audience is by promoting yourself through a video. Now the video is not suppose to be about you but rather it should be about the service you provide, what you are looking for. Example: recruiting - demo how easy it is to be a Consultant and how much money you can make. I will say that in doing GOOD videos there is an entire learning curve that goes with it. You may have to purchase/download editing software or audio content software, etc. There are tons of "How to" places where you can post your video as well as "You Tube".
- Social Networking - Places like Facebook can really help you find people, post ads, reach an audience that you may not already have. Create a Facebook business page like "Susan's Partylite Parade" or "Nancy's Tupperware Tribute" - you want to make it stand out and personal to compete with other reps who may have a page on Facebook.
- Opt-In Email Marketing - You should create a list that people can opt-in or join. With privacy rules changing all the time it is best that you have a signature from the people who choose to be on your email list. I believe you should be in contact with these people on a monthly basis. I highly recommend Networking Gals newsletter as a non-selling way to stay in touch with your email list. Having an opt-in email list is a little like having a piece of gold - valuable enough to sell.
- Webinars & Promo Companies - These two categories are both good ideas to get involved in once you have a team and some spare change. They do cost money but can really help you find an audience which in turn gets your message out to more people.
- Blogging - I think that blogging is a great way to communicate without selling or forcing something down peoples throats. It is a great way to talk about your experiences as a Consultant or Leader or Party Plan rep. People like to hear about others experience and you may even find that other Consultants want to hear what you have to say. Share your blog with family/friends but also on Facebook and to your email list.

Without a doubt Leadership is challenging in the beginning but I always say that it is worth every second of it. I loved my time with my Consultants and I learned and grew as a Leader over the course of time. Our world is changing so quickly these days and trying to stay on the pulse of everything is huge. The ideas I shared here are just some but there are many different ways to market yourself. I would love to hear what you do to stay active in the market and how you market yourself! Remember......

                                        Life is too short..................so go out and Party!!!

Maintaining Leadership

One of the aspects of Leadership that no one ever tells you is how difficult it is to keep a flow going. A flow is the ability to keep yourself working at a large enough level to earn the awards but also keep your team working and then keep on recruiting to fill in where you need it. This is where so many good Leaders feel like failures because they just can't get to the levels where some Leaders are maintaining. I think it is crazy to feel like you are not doing enough etc. because Leadership is a huge learning curve. Comparing yourself to other Leaders is silly as you have no idea how long the person has been a Leader, perhaps they may have been a Leader before in another company or they may have taken some extracurricular training in this area. So here are some sneaky secrets that may help you get an handle on this Leadership thing:

+ First and foremost is getting your business flowing before you even consider working with your team in this area. This means that you have to go back to Consultant school possibly. If you are not doing 12 shows or more a month then you can not begin to understand a team member who is. So go back to basics and start finding more bookings - forget everything else until you can maintain 12 bookings a month!!!! ( For some this may not happen but perhaps you could use some training from Network Gals, let us know)

+ Running your business (not your team) effectively and duplicateable with purpose is very important. The more that you let your business happen by accident the less control you will have on it! Be in Control!!

+  You need to overbook and over recruit to find a balance in your business. If you are over booking then you can help to motivate that one Consultant on your team that isn't doing so well. You can offer to give them a booking once they have done a booking of their own. When it comes to over recruiting I believe this is very necessary. We tend to get a recruit and drop everything to get them going and forget about recruiting for a while. Challenge yourself to recruit/train/mentor 12 new Consultants at once and then you will see why it is so much better when you do many at once. I once offered people $100 to join, buy their kit, do their 6 shows and after that they could leave with all the great products plus my $100 to each person. This worked very well. Several of the 8 people I recruited left with their kits but 3 remained and went on to be great Consultants.

+ Talk to other Leaders! Stay in the loop. If you are having a tough dry spell you might consider asking a Leader who is doing very well if she would consider giving you one recruit or a few booking. This is what a Leadership relationship should be like. Understand that one day she will want you to give her one back in return - don't put it off because she may expect that one to come during a promotional period leaving you without.Ideally we want to keep all of our bookings and recruits but some company's may frown on this. I believe it is the key to creating a Leadership lock which keeps all Leaders humble and caring!

+ One of the best things I ever did was schedule a coffee time luncheon with the top Manager of the company. I was very nervous and very shy about asking but I also knew her time was valuable and I would have to be creative to find time enough to chat. That Manager was very helpful. She gave me some very clear and easy ideas on how to find more of everything I needed and also told me that most Leaders flounder for 5 years but usually get to a leveling off point there after. At the time, 5 years sounded way to long but you know it was there before I knew it and by then I had recruited over 30 Consultants and still had 24 of them after 2 years.

Check out Networking Gals website and template library for members as there is more help on this subject. Never be afraid to spend money finding bookings and recruits. We have talked about that before in the blogs. Another idea we have talked about is setting up a very lucrative referral system see Networking Gals "Referral Guide" in our template library. Remember.....

                                      Life is too short..................so go out and Party!!

Stepping out!

Life is so increasingly busy that it seems our work life runs into our home life and our home life into our social life and so on. There is nothing wrong with that at all because I truly believe that to maintain sanity and create less stress in your life that you need to create harmony within all aspects of your life. However, when you do that you can easily find yourself outside of your work persona when you actually need to be IN your work persona. So I have formulated a quick and easy way to get that persona on and still function and go about your daily life. (For more about the persona I talk about please see our previous blog posts) 

I believe we need to be our business everyday - be it for 5 minute or for a few hours. Here are my tips to accomplish that:
- Everyday you should get up, shower, do your hair/makeup and dress prepared for business. Even if you are staying home to watch the kids. This is an important task because not only does it put business on your brain but should you have to run out to send a fax or make some photocopies then you are prepared to be that business person should you talk with anyone. Therapists believe that you find a sense of self worth and importance when you practice a basic routine everyday. Now I am not suggesting that you put a fancy business suit on and then go scrub your kitchen floors. I believe there is such a thing as business casual - a nice blouse with comfy pants, simple earrings and casual hair with minimal makeup.I also think this routine should be something you could easily accomplish in a short amount of time. Even if you do all of this and then go and sit down with your cuppa something that's fine. Just get business ready everyday!
 
- I think that in this industry we need to be comfortable talking to people and we need to learn that well! Therefore I suggest that you should speak with 3 new people everyday. You don't have to give them your business run down just simply learn to talk to people and learn to create relationships. Try talking to the next telemarketer; (She says, "Hi Martha this is Nonsense company and I would like to know if you need our nonsense product? You could say, "Well I do not believe I need your product but I would love to ask you a question." she may hang up or she may say, "OK, what is your question?" you might say, "How is your day going? Mine is going pretty good" then lead the conversation where you will from there <Forming relationships> When the Realtor comes to your door and asks if you want to sell you could say"No not now but I would love to show you something." give him a catalogue with a gift. There are tons of opportunities to say a few simple words to people so STEP OUT and find those opportunities!!

- I truly believe in what goes around comes around and by that I mean that our world does not have enough people doing good things out there. The power of paying it forward is huge and I highly recommend that we all do this everyday. The guy at the coffee counter does not have enough change - pay for his coffee!(then give him a biz card) Someone is standing on the sidewalk looking very confused - stop and offer assistance/advice. A mom struggles to get all 3 of her kids together - so go help her. These unselfish acts are the humane side of ourselves and in our busy world this side is disappearing very fast. So now we have to actually take time to make that side of us reappear. Practice finding ways to pay it forward no matter how small. Even if you send a Hostess a note because you heard she had a bad day or you take the time to thank the many people in our lives that contribute something to our world each and everyday! Just be humble enough to know that you are not an island and that everyone needs someone at some point in their day!

Those are the 3 things I think we should all do each and every day! They do not have to be complicated or take up a ton of time. Once you have done them for a few weeks they will be a more intimate part of your day and it will become so natural to do. Our business, friends, family, home life and community demand a lot from us which is easy to see but there is no reason we can't do all that we want to do and a tiny bit of business too! Step out there and let your business face shine even if it is just for a few minutes!! Watch our blog for a way to coordinate your business life in small daily ways! Remember....


                                          Life is too short.........so go out and Party!

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Leadership - are you there?

In the Party Plan industry we have this buzz word that groups a lot of people into it and it is called LEADERSHIP. This could easily describe someone trying to recruit people for the first time, people who excel at their business or people who spend their Party Plan career, so to speak, at the helm or the top of the heap!

Did you see yourself in there anywhere? There is a chance that you are in that huge group but has it or does it define your objective? Do you know how to maintain leadership or how to get to the top through Leadership? It is a challenge being a Leader and for most of us it will require us to continually work at it!!!! Now I am not trying to turn anyone away from Leadership! I simply want to help you understand where you are, how to get ahead and how to keep your sanity while trying to achieve your dreams! Sounds impossible but believe me, I can help and I hope you know that this is why I created this blog.

Here are some tips, the full story to any of my blog postings can be found in some of my files/Ebooks/Presentation/Audio files on the Networking Gals website.

- The biggest thing to finding/maintaining/keeping Leadership are the recruits you are recruiting. Let's say for a minute that you are recruiting on an average of one new recruit a month = 12 a year. Of that 12, 8 of them joined for the free items/kit and or for some short term income, 2 of the remaining 4 joined for a bit more money and some friendship/night's out which means that out of 12 people you recruit in a year there is an average chance that only 2 will look at the long term picture and only one of them will last past the 1 year mark. Very surprising odds!!!!

- Don't panic yet because there are things you can do to improve those odds - we have talked about in this blog before about choosing or not choosing your recruit. If getting to a certain award is your goal then don't choose just recruit but if you need more stability(consistent earners) then choose your new recruits wisely.

- So who do you choose and where do you find them? - First and foremost is your Hostesses. Approximately 65% of all Hostesses will become Consultants within 3 years of having a party. So stay in touch with your Hostess, keep her involved in your life not just your business, send her gifts from time to time and never harass or over extend your welcome. Then from there it is your customers, approximately 15% of all customers will become a Consultant within 5 years of going to a party. Third, it is your hidden market. Your hidden market is the friends/family/guests who where unable to attend the party the Hostess booked. A minimum of 5% of these people will become Consultants due to everything their Friend/Your Hostess told them about the party. They usually book a party first then become a Consultant. So it is crucial to offer to turn a Hostesses show into a starter and to offer a referral booking and a referral recruiting program that any customer/Hostess can take advantage of.Make sure your referral program is lucrative because getting bookings and recruits are very valuable - I suggest you offer $25 per booking (once it is held and qualified) and $50 for a new recruit(once they have paid, qualified and done their starter shows)
- You have 7 seconds - go! = making the most out of your recruiting commercial. It is actually true that from the moment you meet a person that you have 7 seconds to impress or inform them. Frequently after the 7 seconds, they have already made their decision about you or what you are talking about and little will change that. So in order to be a proficient recruiter you need to get your message down. The other common mistake we all make is the need to sell people on the idea of becoming a Consultant/Hostess and to be honest we do not need to do that. Try coming first from the heart, second from a position of reality, third from emotion and fourth from sincerity.For example you could say: " Hi are you rushing to get home to make dinner like I am? (allow space to answer) Life is so busy these days. I really wish I had the time to do it all but  money does not grow on trees. (allow to interject) That's why I am so glad I have a great business and an awesome team! (Now is the time to be quiet and let the person ask the questions) (Once the person asks "Oh what do you do?" then ease into it gently like "Just a little candle business but it gives me that extra spending money that I love to have.Show or speak of something personal, like: "See this great bracelet I was able to buy myself")

If you can practise some of the tips I have explained here then you should be a lot more successful at recruiting and possibly at bookings and forming relationships because that's what it is all about. Doing a service and forming relationships it is all a part of what we do - we do not sell we promote, we do not head hunt we help people grow! Be proud of who you are and what you do because we are unlike the 9-5 crowd because we are bridging gaps and creating great futures. Remember...

                                            Life is too short...............so go out and Party!

Trade Show Exhibits

It's coming into that time of year again when Bridal fairs, craft fairs and trade shows abound. Investing in some of these can be very expensive. So let's do our very best to make sure that each event is lucrative, eye catching and an over all success. I chose this picture from google images because it closely represents how a booth should be set up.
As a Leader you may choose to do a booth with or without your team. If you are doing it with your team then you should stipulate guidelines.Some of those guidelines are to follow.The booth above it a bit over stated and crowded which is something you want to avoid. Follow my tips below and you will have a winning booth:

-When using a team you should set a price for people to get involved and then the following guidelines: They must bring with them a minimum of 10 books, business cards,day timer, 2 pens, a calculator,10 - 15 Hostess paks and 50 order forms. I would also set these rules: they must be on time or lose their time slot and possibly their payment and involvement, they must come in business attire and must stay for their entire shift or find a replacement.

- I recommend that everyone bring some water and food or money to get their own food.

- As the leader you should break up the trade show into 4 hour increments and assign your team to each segment. I would never allow more than 4 Consultants in the booth at one time. You also want to schedule breaks and lunch/dinner breaks. I would try to schedule it so that 1 person has been there 3 hours and is almost ready to go home, the 2nd person have been there for 2 hours and is ready to go for lunch, the 3rd person has been there an hour and the 4th person is just arriving. Likewise you will want to be the float and come and go through out the show. This gives each person ample time to get lots of contacts and ample time to be able to rest if needed.

- It is trade show policy not to allow Booth people in the aisles unless they are going or coming from somewhere but I am here to tell you that sometimes the aisle is where your business is. I would recommend that 1 person rotate in and out of the aisle letting people know about your freebie (see below).

- The key to getting people into your booth is a large basket of items that you will hold a draw for AND your free tiny hand out. You will use the hand out as a way to get people to come into your booth then you will let them know about the draw AND the booking award. You will want to offer a great item for people who book. The booking item is the Consultant's responsibility. As the Consultant earns from each booking then it is only fair that same Consultant pays for each booking award that corresponds to a Hostess. Together all of you will pay for both the large basket draw and the tiny freebie. 

- As the Leader you will want to decorate the booth, provide signage, place recruiting and booking signs up, print/copy/cut draw slips (see Networking Gals template "Draw Slips"), extra pens, a float, tablecloths, etc. You will want to control the float which means if this is a 3 day event then you should close and open each day. That way the float goes home with you and is your sole responsibility.

- Never bring everything to a trade show/fair booth. You want your booth to be eye catching and lure people in. If someone asks if you have a certain item but you don't just tell them that you would be happy to bring it to their show.

- If your trade show is a Bridal Fair then you want to decorate it accordingly and don't be afraid to purchase a few bachelorette items for decorations. You could even wear a bride to be sash as a way to promote your fun bridal shower options.

- Down below is a drawing of a typical layout and it also shows where Consultants should be standing. Theft can be very big at trade shows so be aware of that. That is the other reason to use the typical layout shown below because it makes it more difficult for thieves to get in and out but be aware the minute you are extremely busy is the time a thief will do their best.

- Your goals at a trade show are: Information (draw slips), Bookings, Recruits. Do your utmost to get as many door slips filled out as possible because they are like gold. Not everyone will be truthful with their info but you can avoid that by reminding people to be legible and to make sure their info is correct so you can call them when they win the prize.

- Most trade shows/fairs provide an 8 foot table but you will also want to bring 2 tray tables or a 2 foot table. 1 is for your Draw prize basket and draw slips the other one is for a large calendar and Hostess paks. It helps people to book when they can look at a large calendar. You may want to divide each day into 4 or 6 lines and basically the Consultant would write their name in the date selected and then write all the Hostess info into their own daytimer. Don't forget to get each booking Hostess to enter the draw but those slips should go back to the Consultant they booked with.

Try these suggestions and see if trade shows work for you. I also suggest that if you do not have the money to participate in a trade show that you then consider attending as a guest but go there with your Networking Gals "Business in a Box" so you are prepared is anyone wants anything from you. Step out there and let your company/products and self be seen as your business may rely on it! 

                                       Life is too short..................so go out and Party!

                                                 http://www.networkinggals.com

Spring into Business

One of the hardest jobs of a Leader is keeping your team focused on getting bookings,sales and recruits. The spring is the perfect time to shake things up. You will want to plan some of these ideas around the time your company's spring book/catalogue has come out. First off I highly recommend that you as a Leader offer a couple of small competitions. Such as:

- booking blitz - get your team gathered around a couple of phones and inspire them. They should bring some customer numbers (their Networking Gals "Customer care filer" or " Hostess trackers")

- booking round robin - each take turns phoning customers to try to book them. Great tool to teach open and closing methods.

- Spring Board 2012 - you can do a Spring Board (see Networking Gals "Spring Boards" presentation) as well as each team member can do them. You may want to have a night where everyone brings some supplies and each make one to take home. Your "Spring Board" should include promotions on each day of the month. When Consultant's do show you input their name and total sales into each date. The person who sold the most for that day can win a prize or the person who had the most shows that month can win a bigger prize from you.

Here is what you should be getting your team to consider doing. Remember that in order to keep doing shows as far into summer that you must fill March and April with bookings. Then, May will carry on from the previous bookings and June from May's bookings. Beyond that you will have to be very creative or make sure you are getting 3 or more bookings per show. Challenge your team to be creative and to fill forward their daytimers. (IE: fill forward means work ahead of schedule, book past the 6 week mark) Here are some tips:

- Each Consultant should be talking to all of their past Hostesses and customers about the new catalogue and that's why YOU (the Leader) need to do a booking blitz or Booking round robin.

- Learn how to create and creatively use Networking Gals "Spring Boards" sometimes all a person needs to book is a little extra incentive.

- Teach your Consultants to be creative and to consider doing shows a bit different, such as; in a park, a catalogue show (check out Networking Gals handy "Quickie Book shows") an ice cream party, a fundraiser (see Networking Gals "Fundraisers and Bridal shows") also do a basket show (another Networking Gals "Basket Show")

- Don't forget to get your Consultants taking their Networking Gals "Business in a Box" everywhere they go because business is everywhere.

- It's a great time of year to get those draw boxes out there. You will want to put a minimum of 3 out in cafes, pubs, gym, office lunch rooms, spas, salons, reception areas, bank, etc. (See Networking Gals "How to do a Draw box")

Companies bring out Spring/Summer catalogues to generate new business and keep the interest up over the summer months. If your Consultants are serious about their business then the spring and summer selling season can be the most rewarding. People are naturally more relaxed and energized at this time of year and therefore they are more willing to get out and more receptive to new ideas. Challenge yourself and your team as you take on this great time of year creatively! Remember....

                                                 Life is too short............so go out and Party!

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