Party Time

April is a great time for house parties. The month is the official start to the new season. It’s when people do spring cleaning – especially in their kids’ closets. It’s the time to retire the stained, ripped and outgrown clothes from the winter to make way for new ones. There are end of the year teacher gifts to purchase, mothers to shop for in preparation for their upcoming day of honor and camp trunks to start packing. In other words, it’s shopping season!

We like to think of LikeWear as not your typical direct sales company as we differ in many ways from most of the companies in the industry. However, there is one very important concept that all direct sales companies share: house parties. The more sales events that a rep has/attends, the bigger their network becomes and the greater the potential for more sales events, more parties and more sales, etc., etc, etc.

In fact, so many LikeWear independent sales reps are hosting or organizing house parties this month that I thought it was important to reiterate our Hostess Rewards Program and guidelines in this week’s Monday Morning Message, excerpted below:

LikeWear funds the Hostess Program for Catalog reps. We do not provide hostess benefits for Cash & Carry sales events (due to their higher discounted “wholesale” price), however, we strongly recommend that C&C reps follow these same guidelines.

House parties are a primary way to grow your business and you want to encourage people (friends, relatives, neighbors, customers, etc.) to want to host them for you. When people host sales events for you, they are doing you a huge favor and helping you to promote your business and generate sales. As such, they deserve something special for their efforts! Everyone likes to get discounts and credits on their purchases – even if they are your sister or your best friend!! In fact, you should explain what a hostess earns to any interested customers (or even with a flyer or table display card) in an effort to line up additional home sales events. The more sales events you have/attend, the bigger your network becomes and the greater your potential for more sales events, more parties and more sales, etc., etc.

The LikeWear Hostess Rewards Program is :

• One half-priced item – party hostesses are entitled to one half-priced item as a “thank you” gift (this should be the most expensive item that the hostess is purchasing that day)
o This discount is applied to full price items only
• Hostess Credit - $5 credit for every $100 spent at the party
o This is calculated once the party is over and all sales for the event have been totaled (i.e., a sales event that generates $1,238.00 will earn the host/hostess a $60 credit)
o Purchases made by the hostess do not count toward total party sales
o This credit is to be used towards the hostess’ purchases that day (this credit is not transferrable nor can it be held over and used towards a future purchase)
o This credit cannot be applied to their half-priced item
• Free Shipping on all hostess orders (we waive the $3 flat rate house party shipping fee)
• Exclusive Access to Sales, Specials and Discounts – although we have not implemented this part yet, we fully intend to in the near future!

As mentioned, the hostess credit and half-priced item are funded by LikeWear if you are a Catalog rep. It is very important to properly note the house party identifier on all orders originating from the same party so that we can calculate total party sales (and the accompanying hostess credit) properly. Similarly, please make sure to indicate which order from the party is that of your hostess so that we can also apply the half-priced item discount as well as the earned hostess credit.

As a Cash & Carry rep, the hostess credit and half-priced item are funded by you and should be treated as a cost of doing business – a very important and worthwhile cost. Keep in mind that as a Cash & Carry rep, these hostess rewards are just guidelines. You are permitted to alter them as you wish but know that the above is what we recommend.

In concluding this Monday Morning Message, remember: the more hostesses you have, the more rewarding your business will be! Don’t forget to mention the Hostess Rewards Program during any sales events you have – your best potential host is a happy current customer!!!