Hosting a Holiday Open House For Your Direct Sales Business

If you run a direct sales business, then you know that holiday sales can be huge. This is a wonderful time of year to build your customer base for the new year to come.

I've always been a supporter of holiday open houses. I can offer a couple of suggestions.

I would host one open house just for existing customers. Invite all of your current customers for the first couple of hours. Make it an exclusive just for them. Then invite others after this exclusive event.

This is the perfect time to sell off any inventory you have. Mark items down to cost. You won't make a profit, but you'll recoup your cost for the products. Make some bundle packages. Perhaps they'll pay regular price for the one item but then half off the 2nd item. You'll still break even as you'll make a profit on the item, but your customer will feel like they are getting a bargain.

Stock up on small gift items. People love what are referred to as "stocking stuffers." Have several baskets filled with small items. Use these as add-ons to customer orders.

Get any demo products you've used for the year and put those on display also. I'm not talking about used products, but rather brand new products that you've used to show to people. For example, I have containers that have been touched and handled many times, but have never been used. These are perfect to offer at your open house.

If you are new in town, consider contacting another distributor from another company. Offer to host a joint open house. You'll then have her customer base also. Perhaps you can offer to share her catalogs with your existing customer base from your old town in exchange for her bringing in some of her in town customers.

Consider donating a portion of your proceeds to a local charity. This will allow you to approach the local newspaper and ask them to write about it as a press release.

Enjoy the holiday sales and then continue to keep in contact with these new customers throughout the coming year.

Audrey Okaneko has been in direct sales since 1983. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or you can Become a Tupperware Consultant

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