Happy 2023! 2022 was a crazy year - lots of ups and downs in the world and your business. We went from having no access to the outside world other than our screens to suddenly having access to everything! On the one hand, it was great to have the freedom to go to a grocery store without a mask again, but on the other, your virtual parties no longer had a captive audience. It was a year of figuring out what used to work for us was no longer doing the trick. It might have even made you question if virtual parties were dead. But I'm here to tell you they are alive and well and ready for you to start kicking butt with your business again.

I've tweaked the systems in my own business and found five reasons my parties weren't working that I will share with you so you don't make the same mistakes.

#1 You're not using a Facebook Business Page to run your parties

From it's too complicated to the New Business Page Experience not working well last year with third-party schedulers - there were plenty of reasons in 2022 to avoid using a Facebook Business Page to run your parties. However, don't let those reasons become excuses for your business's performance in 2023.

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The New Page Experience Bug is fixed, and it only takes a couple of clicks to set it up from scratch. Now that we're talking about it - if you have a Business Page but have yet to switch over to the New Page Experience - that's almost as bad as not having one!

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Consistency is the #1 reason to ensure you run your parties in the most updated fashion. It's the only way to minimize something going wrong while your parties run, such as getting stuck in the dreaded Facebook Jail or blocking your posts. Of course, adapting when things go wrong is an essential skill for a consultant, but it does make it harder to keep your host and guests' attention the more glitches that happen during their party experience. And if one thing became painfully evident in 2022, it's that our audience has a different attention and patience than they once did. So we have to make sure to solve problems before they arise preemptively.

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The 2nd reason you need to be using a Facebook Business Page is that you're capping the number of parties you can run. You can run 2+ parties weekly from your personal profile without dealing with consistency issues, but that's pushing it.

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My only caveat is if you are a new consultant and you're just starting. Not overwhelming yourself is imperative to building a solid foundation. You don't need to manage a Business Page on top of everything else you're learning. Using your personal profile for your first couple of parties will help you get the flow.

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But if you have been in the direct sales game for 6+ months, leave the personal profile behind. Most direct sales teams will promote the four-parties-a-week model. However, the most successful consultants run 10…12… 15+ parties weekly. You would never be able to scale your business to that level while using your personal account. Facebook would block you before you even welcomed the members to your groups.

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The 3rd reason using Facebook Business Pages helps grow your business is its features. For instance, the ability to share all your videos from one source.

Uploading videos is a pain. It takes forever, especially if you are doing it for multiple groups. So instead, upload your videos once onto your Business Page and share the video link. The video will play automatically as if you went through the trouble of uploading the video manually in each group. And because Business Pages are public, you don't have to worry about changing the settings to ensure the videos are seen. That's already taken care of for you.

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Add the Business Page video link to a PostMyParty template through our video link post, and we'll do the posting for you!

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Facebook Business Pages also allow you to schedule your comments on posts. One of PostMyParty's most valuable features is being able to add comments to your Template. This saves you oodles of time. Of course, you still need to check into your parties daily, but imagine not having to repeatedly type up the same responses to your posts. It's already done! Real conversations can start immediately in your parties, and you can spend time fostering relationships rather than wasting time getting the ball rolling.

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Having a Facebook Business Page allows you to go LIVE in all your groups simultaneously! Once you go live, share it with all your groups before you start your demo.

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Business Pages can also help grow your business other than virtual parties. It acts like its own profile, so you can separate a lot of your direct sales-related content to exist on your Business Page profile newsfeed rather than on your personal. Because it acts like its own profile now, you also have a broader outreach. You can take advantage of reels as a way to gain new customers. Posting a short form video with you using your products is an easy way to build your Business Page reach that goes beyond the virtual party!

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#2 Your Host Coaching Needs to be Updated

If your parties aren't working, it's time to revamp your host coaching. When hosts don't rise to the occasion, it's likely because we still need to establish agreements with them. Not being on the same page with your hosts could happen because the host coaching has become too confusing or complicated. Or you're talking to your hosts like they are employees, not partners. These things happen to the best of us. But, thankfully, there's an obvious fix.

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It will help if you read through your host coaching. You may have cobbled together messages you've pulled from multiple sources. But when we do that, the host coaching does not have a consistent voice or a thoughtful flow. And you need both of those for a host coaching system that works!

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The first thing you need to do when reading through your host coaching is to make sure it lives all in one place. As you're reading through, ask yourself how you would feel if you were reading these words. Does it make sense if you didn't know anything about the business or virtual parties?

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You want to send your host coaching in small chunks of information. Refrain from overwhelming your hosts with large paragraphs of unbroken text. Instead, incorporate videos, photos, and voice clips. Show your hosts exactly how to do the task you are asking of them, and assume that their tech skills differ from yours.

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Also, when editing your host coaching, ensure you incorporate moments where you check in with them. For example, after you send one task, ask your host if they have any questions or if there is anything you can clarify. The more conversation you have with your hosts, the more engaged and committed they will be to their party.  

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If you are doing group host coaching where you lump all your hosts together and haven't been seeing results lately, it might be time to send the host coaching individually. I know it's not ideal because it is time-consuming - but reaching out to your hosts should be one of the most time-consuming parts of your business. If your hosts feel like you are on their side, they will do whatever it takes to have a good party.

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On the opposite end of the spectrum - one of the reasons your Facebook parties need to be fixed could be that you're doing too much for your hosts.

I'm not sure when it happened, but my systems went from guiding my hosts to do tasks to get their guests excited to me doing everything for them. I became impatient and started sending the messages, doing the reminders, and posting what I used to have my hosts post - and it worked for a while! I saw my sales shoot up, and bookings were at a record high. But eventually, it crashed and burned.

We might think that doing everything for them is a good thing, that it's what our hosts prefer, but it's not. Our hosts are looking for us to validate and guide them. They want personal interaction. That's why they booked a party in the first place. They could have found something similar on Amazon if they just wanted the products.

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Plus, if your hosts are present in their parties, their friends will be able to show up. Right now, local and community-based word-of-mouth advertising are what works. It's much easier to get guests to support their friends than to help you. It's nothing personal - it's just the truth.

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To avoid the trap of doing everything for your host, make sure when you are booking them never to say they don't have to do anything or that you will do everything for them. It may sound enticing, but it's setting up the wrong expectations.

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#3 You Haven't Updated Your Party Template

Your party template sets the tone for your virtual parties. It's likely the first interaction the guests will have with you. First impressions matter. It used to be that you could throw together 5 days of posts with no relation to each other outside of it being products your company sold. But that's not going to cut it anymore. People invest in people, and if your posts do not have you and your voice in them, your virtual parties will continue not to work.

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Find a theme for your party template. What are you passionate about other than your direct sales business? How can you connect the two? Then, use that as a guide to finding a theme that'll get you excited to share. Think of it like this - when else do you have an audience listening to you? If you look at it as an opportunity to share what you'd like to see more in the world - you can create a fun, educational, and valuable party experience that's unique to you! So - what do you want to teach the world? If you're excited about it, the party guests will be too!

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Ask questions! Give a story and then ask if your audience can relate. Or better yet, use PostMyParty's Replacement Tokens and add [host] in front of each question. Referencing the host when asking a question engages them. You will also have more control over what kinds of conversations are taking place during the party!

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Discuss benefits, not features, when showcasing your products. How will your products specifically save your customers time & money? Spell it out for them. Please do not assume they are connecting the dots themselves. For example, you might think that talking about what the product is made of will showcase how your products are built to last, and by that logic, your customers will save money by not having to buy more than one. But it does not. All it makes them think about is the kind of metal it's made of, so you need to do the work for them and show WHY that feature will be valuable to them.

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Your party template might be spending too much time on bigger ticket items rather than smaller items that make a big difference in their lives. Highlighting your trim and cheaper options might sound counterintuitive, but it builds trust with your potential customers. If you showcase how unique your company is by how much they invest even in the products that don't come across as the big moneymakers. Your customers will trust that you are an authority of value, rather than someone just trying to sell them something.  

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You need to add more repetition in your party template. Avoid product overwhelm by picking a collection of products that speak to you. The more your guests see them, the more they'll stick in their heads and be added to their wishlist.

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It would help if you reminded guests to place their orders. So many of us have been so worried about coming off as sales-y that we've taken out important posts that inform the guests how to order and where and who it benefits when they do. Reminding guests about the host getting rewards is a good thing! It serves your host.

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You need to add different post formats. If you're only using text and pictures, it's time to shake things up. If you just saw the same kind of post on your newsfeed all the time, you'd stop checking into Facebook. It's the same thing. It would help if you made the party experience a feast for the eyes. The more texture and contrast, the more interesting it will be. Add humor through memes, GIFs, and of course, videos.

Video is the future! Anyone who is camera-shy is going to be left behind.

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#4 You are Not in Your Parties

If you're not checking into your parties every day, they will not work. Gone are the days when you could post and ghost. Even if you are scheduling comments, you need to be in every one of your parties and engaging with the things the guests are contributing. Always have a follow-up question or response when someone comments or plays a game. That's how everyone at the party gets to know you!

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If you're not showing up, then why would anyone else? Your biggest challenge is likely convincing people that what is happening in the party is worth their time. How can you expect others to get excited about it if it's not even worth yours?

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Ultimately, you want to showcase that your priority is investing in the people attending the party.

Sending personal messages to guests to start side conversations that have nothing to do with booking or selling is a great way to show you are invested in developing relationships and not just making money. If the first outreach you make to a guest is asking about them rather than asking something of them - they will be much more responsive.

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Did you know you can easily find out who the top contributors are in any of your party groups? Just go under group settings and click on "membership." From there, you'll be able to see who is commenting the most and how many comments and engagements they have contributed. It would be best if you prioritized reaching out to and building relationships with these people.

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#5 You Don't Have a System

A system is all the pieces you need to run a successful party - from the host coaching to your party template to the script you use when booking and recruiting leads - all in one place, with a designated time those tasks should be happening. If you don't have something like this, you're wasting time. Yes, it does take time to organize the pieces together - primarily if they are spread out in different folders or google documents - but having a place where it's all stored, so you don't have to hunt for it or change up the words every time you send a message will make you a lot more organized, and give your hosts a much better party experience.

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Do you like working with frazzled people? It doesn't come off as professional. If you feel frazzled when running a party, your host notices, which reduces your credibility, making it less likely she'll recommend you to her friends.

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If you want to avoid putting together a system for yourself, your upline probably has one. However, if you ask for a system and your upline doesn't have one, go to your Facebook Team Groups and contact your director's upline directly.

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If you already have access to a system and are only picking and choosing pieces to do when you feel like it, you need to be more consistent. Consistency is key in direct sales. You need to be doing every part of your system, even if it feels tedious and unimportant. When doing small daily tasks, you can't see the big picture, but they add up.

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Another vital piece of your system is tracking. It would help if you tracked who you are talking to, who are potential leads, from what party they came from, and the last time you reached out to them. If you do not have a way to track this information, then you can't do follow-ups, and follow-ups are where you're going to get a HUGE portion of your business.

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If you don't have a system, things fall through the cracks, and you have no way of following up with people interested in the business or your products.

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Hopefully, this article helped narrow down what you can do to get your virtual parties back on track. It can be overwhelming to implement so many changes in your business when you've gotten used to things a certain way, but adapting to the times is the only way to continue to thrive!

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