X Marks the Spot

The most important part of our party plan business? 
Hostess Coaching!

 
If you are getting low attendance, or a lot of cancellations, maybe you’re not making the right type and/or right amount of phone coaching calls and actions!
6 Essential Hostess Coaching Actions

1. Mail her catalogs, a hostess letter, invites and anything else important that will help her plan get guests to attend her party, right away!
It’s critical you mail her hostess pack right away, even if her party is scheduled months ahead. Getting your packet in the mail makes it ‘official’ plus you want to make sure what she’s telling her guests is what you want her to be telling her guests. AGAIN: do not delay in the mailing of this critical information pack.
2. Call your hostess 3 days after you booked her.
She will have verbally checked in with most people on her list, and if she hasn’t done so, it will prompt her to do so. This preliminary check of compatible party date will give you time to change the date SOONER than later and will be less likely to cancel in general, While you’re reconfirming the date, remind her about tip/action number 3 below…
3. Her email or postcard invitation should only serve as a follow up reminder to her verbal invitation-let her know that and remind her of that from time to time. She cannot rely on email or a postcard to get a response–this is an essential point to get across!

4. Connect with your hostess off line. 
Add her to your friends list on Facebook and then post a comment here and there on how excited you are about doing her show. Build a relationship and you build a hostess for life! Futhermore, she will less likely cancel. TIP: see if you can encourage her to ‘create an event’ for her party on Facebook and invite you as a guest (that way you can see the invitee list and make comments along the way. 
5. Your personal contact and enthusiasm is a contagious element that passes on to your hostess, and in turn gets attendance up.
If your hostess ‘hasn’t heard from anyone’ coach her to know it is not unusual for people not to respond one-way or the other! It doesn’t mean they’re not interested. Encourage her to keep up her Facebooking, send reminder emails, and then–that final reminder call!
6. The most important call of all? Yours to her the day before to encourage her to make a final reminder call about the party.  IMPORTANT: ask her to make a final courtesy call to all her guests, even if they have said ‘yes’–as everyone is very busy and often forget! This last call from her is the one that can make or break the attendance for your party! Get her to make it and you will have less postponements or cancellations.
—Rina Valan

###