Holiday Open House (or any open house)

I just had my 2 day Holiday Open House, wow, I just love this business and I love my clients. I saw over 60 clients and sales exceeded $4000 retail (not counting tax). Being able to visit and catch up on what is going on in each others' lives, wishing each other "happy holidays", munching on snacks, and looking at pictures of kids, pets, etc.. Seeing their appreciation for having cute gifts for their shopping ease, but most of all was seeing their happiness when they pulled into the parking lot to see the pink cts sitting there.
The "congratulations" were plenty but hearing them tell me that they were proud of me and that I deserved it and that they knew it was my dedication and the way I treated people like they are special was what made the difference, just made me realize how incredibly blessed my life is, I don't have clients, I have alot of friends that like Mary Kay and they way they came into my life was because of the MK conneciton . I have so many people that do care about me and realize that I am not just interested in their money.

Now, each quarter I do a two day open house in the city I use to reside until 5 years ago. I send out invitations just a week ahead of the date (too early and people forget about the event, too late, they already have plans) - the day before I send a short reminder email. I do not make reminder phone calls.
I put on the invitation if they can't make it, if they call or email me their order, they will still receive a 10% discount.


Also on the invitation I put information for an event that I will do at the end of the first night (Friday) and ask for an rsvp. For example this time on Friday, the open house was from 11:00- 7:30 and then at 7:30 we were going to do facials with Holiday Color Looks. Then Saturday 9:00 am was muffins and makeovers, and the open house was from 9:00 - 4:00. (Please note, I do no recruiting at these open houses unless someone asks me.) Our focus is totally sales and satisfied clients.

I always have some snacks and drinks - but I keep it simple. Many will run over on their lunch break on Friday's so there is enough so that they don't have to take time to go else where for lunch ( ham salad sandwiches have won the vote)..

I do have select specials that are only available if one attends the open house for example at this past weekend the "SPECIAL" was with any purchase you could select your choice of a Satin hands pampering set or a brush set at 50% off. ( If you like this idea, you may want to put a disclaimer, such as, if your purchase is $50 or more you may select an item at 50% off), I switch it up to keep it fun, but there is always something that will be fun and exciting. - this gives them a reason to want to attend the open houses and not just call in an order.

Another note on the invitiation is if they bring a guest (non mker), there will be another surprise) - I switch it up all the time, 10% additional off your order, a gift certificate for $10, etc....

A donation to the Mary Kay Ash Charitable foundation gets them a small gift. I forgot to put it on my invite this year but last year and next year, it also gives them an extra 10% off their purchase if they bring a canned good or a small toy.
We collect these for a shelter and for the Toys for tots program. And then we make one big donation, often we set a date and many of us go and donate and then we go out for out cider or something.

I always have my phone and my email on the invite so they have the info right at their fingerstips for orders, my cellphone if they need directions to get to the open house, my name and my MK Websie address.

I have a door prize drawing and the front table always as the registration box for their ticket and all the prizes I am giving away from the drawing are displayed on the table. (IE: this time it was: The Oh So Soft bathrobe in a great pampering set (cooling eye mask (from dept store), bath sponges, bath glove) , a beautiful jewelry set I had purchased at a fund raiser, a travel rool up bag, and an electric makeup mirror and the Glistening Winterberry collection.

I added a new little twist to my invites this time and everyone including myself liked it.... I put a "lucky number" on the invitation. They were to bring the invite to see if their lucky number was truly a lucky number. ( I was hoping this would insure that everyone would not misplace their invitations and not miss the open house.) When my guests walked in the door at the registration table there was a picture frame and in the picture frame, there were the lucky numbers and the prize associated with that number, so they could pick up their prize right away. I was so surprised and I will be doing it for every open house, 48 of the invites came with its owner. They held onto the invite to check the number, I think this did help the turnout I had.

At the end of the open house we also draw a prize from the slips of paper that I have the guests fill out (when they arrive)that has on it, their name, address, email, or phone number - so even if they didn 't have a lucky number, they all know, there is still one more shot at winning something. (I also use these slips to double check my client's information to make sure it is all up to date.
Often an email address will change and they have not thought to mention it to you or they have decided they don't need a landline anymore so they are going to only use cellphones, just an easy was to keep information up to date.

Now, I would do this for my clients no matter what, but since I have everything all set up and supplied, I always invite my unit members to invite their clients to the open house. They do not need to stay the whole time, if they only want to do one day for four hours, that is all they put on their invite. This has worked well for my unit members. First, many of them don't have enough to set up a disply like wowsa but I already did it so I want them to work smart not hard. Their client walks in and then places the order with her consultant.
(Now, can being a consultant get much easier? Send an invite to your customer and smile!) I will have everything all set up and she will come in and look and then give the order to her consultant. ) I wish my director would have been willing to do stuff like this for me when I was young.

This year I wanted to do something special so I had CD's of holiday music made with my info and they were in the Christmas cards that I passed out to the clients that attended the open house. It was great seeing their appreciation. Many said, aww, I am going to go pop it right in the cd player on the way home as soon as they got back to their car. (Many said, wow, how nice, this is sooo cool!)
(By handing them out it also helped me to make sure I kept my expense down, of course, I will be mailing alot of them but when there is a way to save money, - save money)

I do haul all my products with me because I want to be able to service them then a there and maximize time. Not one person left without every single item they wanted.

Warning: Your first open house, second, and even possible your third may want to make you never want to have one again,but don't quit, I can tell you I am happy I never gave up. It is import to that the ones that have attended because they understand how fun it is, but make sure you are selling the open house at your classes, parties, facials, etc.....(every year my open houses just get better and better and I would like to continue that trend.

I also started working on the new year. Everyone that booked a show in January will receive and extra hostess gift. I also book several "Get a New Look for a New Year Look" because they fit a description in the portfolio book and wanted to get in it. And several asked me to give them a call in January.

Each open house just seems to get better and better for me, but this was by far the best.

One client was so cute, she said she thought the lucky number was the order eveyone got to go for a ride in the car because they were ready to line up - and then one of my fav's started laughing and said, oh dog gone it, I thought the CTS was going to be the prize for the door prize drawing! ( We did have a great laugh on that one.)

(Oh, I am also only 5 clients ($100 purchases) away from the customer count challenge too, how are you doing on the Customers Count Challenge?? My goal was to have the 36 and prove I could do it legitamatelly. (Can't expect my unit to do it if I don't do it myself)

Well it has been a long weekend and I am starting to get tired, I am going to try and do a first open house in the city that is about 15 miles from me on just Sunday next weekend because I just got invited to display at a winter exravaganzza on Saturday. (I am sure I will be picking up a few new leads, but my big focus at that event is going to be to book events like Holiday Coffees & Shopping, etc..

I am pumped, this is such a wonderful time of year.

Don't miss these opportunites to really let your clients see all your products.

(and I guess there are still a few people who want to buy Mary Kay!!)

I can't wait to see what my total sales are for December, I had sales before the opne house ( dynamite open house sales) and the rest of the month to keep selling!

Make sure you start thinking about your next open house. If you can't do it with your director or she doesn't do them, you may want to get a couple of consutants to join you and work together.

Make sure you report back on any open house you do and let us know how you made out!!