Having high sales averages for your parties is a win-win. It grows your business while benefiting your host with many discounted and free products. The higher your party averages are, the more people will want to work with you, and the easier it will be for you to book more parties. Your business will prosper once you create a sales strategy that works for you and your customers.

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The most important thing about making your parties a success for your host is to be yourself. So if you’re copying and pasting from a host coaching document created by someone else, that’s fine. Just go through and edit it to make it sound more like yourself.

Everyone’s strategy will look a little different, but I will teach you the mindset you need and some helpful tips to get you started in this article!

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Work on Getting High Engagement In Your Parties

To guarantee the guests at the parties are having a good time, you want to share high-value content that’s fun and reflects your personality. At PostMyParty, it’s our mission to give you the tools to create Templates that will do just that!

That’s why we already have articles that go into detail about how to create a Template that your host and guests will love and the importance of incentivizing your guest to stay active in the group:

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• Use the engagement strategy from the 2 Sneaky Ways to Use Social Media to Get More Customers article in your parties to keep guests excited and connecting to you.
• Update your host coaching and set up systems to be more present at your party with the lessons taught in 5 Reasons Your Facebook Parties Aren’t Working in 2023
• Use different forms of media in your Template to keep your party guests interested with The Power of Infographics and How to Create GIFs.
• Use the ideas in 4 Ways to Customize a Shared Party Template to make content that you’re using from other team members better reflect you!

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Refreshing your Template, taking extra time to be present at your parties, and personalizing the experience in any way you can are the first steps of action you’ll need to take when developing a strategy for higher party sales. If you don’t have these pieces mastered, then no amount of ‘secret formulas’ will help you. Direct sales is a customer-first business, and if your customers don’t feel like you are investing in them and their experience, why would they invest in you?

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Getting the Host’s Shopping Link in Front of as Many Eyes as Possible

People take the path with the least resistance, so to get higher sales at your parties, you need to guarantee that everyone at that party is coming in personal contact with the host's shopping link. Otherwise, you're leaving money on the table. Think of it like providing a service. You know your products are amazing, and getting the shopping link in front of everyone, so no one misses out. Even if some party guests decide it's not for them, that's okay because you did your due diligence.

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The first thing to do to ensure everyone has access to the shopping link is to pin it to the group's top in the Featured section.

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"Shop here: [link]."

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That way, everyone can see it at the top of the group whenever they join. Plus, this allows you to reference it without ever having to send the link, which is helpful as a backup if Facebook decides you're no longer allowed to send or post links for the rest of the day. So instead, you only reference that it's pinned at the top.

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Cater to Different Guest Types

There are five main guest types in a party:

1. One & Done Guest - the one that checks into the group, and if they want to order, they do, but they never return after that.
2. Catalog Only Guest - the ones that do not use social media, love the products but just want to see what's new and order.
3. Observer Guest - the ones that join the group, check everything out but don't comment or answer messages.
4. Mid-tier Guest - the ones that participate in everything but don't do anything extra
5. Rockstar Guests - the ones that participate in every post, share their content and show interest in the business.

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3, 4, and 5 type guests are all guests that will work within the perimeters of how you usually throw a Facebook party. You'll quickly get orders and bookings from this group by doing the usual steps to keep guests engaged. But, unfortunately, 1 & 2 type guests slip through the cracks. Often, you don't even notice they are missing from the party experience. But if you don't take the time to cater to them, you'll lose an opportunity to boost your party sales.

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One & Done Guests tend to be people who live hectic lives. They have high-powered jobs where they occasionally use social media to escape or are moms in the throes of a busy sports or theater season. They are easily triggered, so if you make the experience of joining the group as painless as possible, they will check it out to support their friend and then never check in again.

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For these guests, you need to have a handful of key posts in the group before your hosts even start inviting. That way, when they first see the notification to join, all the information they need will be right in front of them. Then, if they have to search for the information, they won't bother and will leave.

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Keep the posts to add to the party when setting up simple.

• One that explains the logistics of the party and who has invited them
• One that is a highlight reel of the new products
• And one that explains exactly how to order.
• A virtual catalog - some guests prefer to 'flip' through a digital catalog over going straight to the website to shop.
• And an easy game for everyone to participate in - like a counting game or question with one-word answers. A good one is to create a graphic with all the months of the year and a picture of a product underneath that month and then ask your guests to answer which product is their 'zodiac sign' It's easy to answer, and everyone gets to be involved in a personalized way while also introducing products.

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Catalog-Only Guests are anyone who doesn't use social media or prefers one-on-one interaction. Hosts dedicated to getting outside orders can easily hit this demographic of guests to boost their party sales. To cater to these kinds of guests, ask the host ahead of time if they would like you to send them physical copies of the catalog. This will allow the host to leave out catalogs at their work, bring them over to a friend's, or even have an elderly relative that isn't tech-savvy take a look, so the host can put the order in themselves. You never know who needs your products, so giving the host this extra tool is an excellent way to increase your party sales.

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A great way to get the shopping link to Catalog-Only Guests is to have the host send personal messages via text and email.

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In your host coaching before the party starts, have a pre-written template that the host sends out to friends and family that don't interact on social media. This could even be friends & family that are on social media, but your host doesn't communicate with them that way. Having a message they can easily copy and paste to touch base with their community on their terms will increase your sales tenfold!

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Add the host's shopping link at the end of the pre-made template. Never send the template version to your hosts - always in the information for them. They often don't know where all the pieces are to find the information, or they don't thoroughly read the message before sending it out even when your instructions tell them to update it before they send it, or sometimes hosts ignore the task altogether if they feel like it's too complicated for them. So making it as easy as possible is essential. Plus, the personalization shows that you're paying attention and your host is more than just a number to you.

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After you instruct your host to send the message to their Catalog-Only friends and family, check back the next day and ask how many they could reach. This simple question sets a precedent that you will keep your hosts accountable during the entire party process.

Tasks for Hosts for Increased Party Sales

An active host is the #1 signifier if a party will be a success or not. Of course, there are some outliers where a host puts a lot of effort, but her community just isn't feeling it, or a host goes MIA, but her community is excited and initiates the experience on their own. But as a general rule, if your sales averages are low, even after updating your systems, it's time to look at how your hosts react to you and your instruction.

Here's an article where I go into depth about incentivizing your hosts to be active in their parties.

Speaking of host coaching - another vital task for hosts to do for higher show averages is sending reminder messages to everyone in the Facebook Group who joined the party. A reminder message usually happens on the 2nd to last day. It thanks the Guest for being at the party, along with informing the guests how far away they are from reaching their goal and the shopping link. So often, guests, even if they are interacting in the party, need a reminder to place their order - we're all busy, after all - having the host send reminder messages makes it easier for everyone.

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Pre-write a template in the host coaching so you can send it to your hosts easily and be as consistent as possible. Consistency builds trust with your hosts - so send the host coaching at the same time every day.

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When adding the message to your host coaching, include instructions on how to send the reminder messages. Go through the process of sending messages from a Group on the FB app and take screenshots. Use those screenshots to create instructions so they can still follow along with the tasks if they are not tech-savvy.

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Another direction for reminder messages is for the host to send the Facebook Group link instead of the shopping link. It may seem redundant, but it generally gets members back into the party if it's gone stale and interaction has dropped. And if you pin the shopping link to the feature, it'll appear at the top when the party members return to the group.

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The last piece you'll want to have your host do to get the shopping link in front of their friends and family has them post a last-call post on their Facebook Wall, not in the party. That's because their personal wall is more likely to be picked up by Facebook's algorithm and shown to their friends in their newsfeeds.

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Tasks for the Consultant

Do an Early Bird Giveaway where, during the pre-party, anyone who places an order by a specific time before the party starts gets entered into a drawing. The winner will be announced if the party qualifies. Also, make sure to announce the winner right away to create buzz. That way, if you’re doing an MVP Drawing at the end of the party, guests are more likely to trust that participating = perks.

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The Early Bird Giveaway is a great way to create some FOMO - fear of missing out because #1 lotteries are fun, and #2 if you can get the party qualified before the party starts, you’ll get the ball rolling. For some reason, there seems to be hesitation in ordering if no one else has gone first - so if orders don’t come in right away, they’ll come in slowly for the rest of the party.

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Doing “Thank Yous” when a guest places an order is another way to increase FOMO. It shows the other guests who have already ordered, making them feel like they must be missing out on something if other people are doing it.

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Here's an example of what to post:

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"Thank you, Jane Doe, for your order. You're going to love X. I love X because of X."

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If you sell products that use recipes, share a recipe that goes with the product. If it's makeup or another product, share a picture of it or create a graphic that adds Thank You on top of it. Most guests love the extra love and appreciation, and it allows you to talk about another product that may not be in your template.

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Use your Template to get the shopping link in front of people:

Add the [link] replacement token into your party Template as much as possible without going overboard. You don’t want to annoy your guests with the link appearing too much in your content, but you also want to avoid any of them saying they can’t find it.

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Here are some examples of ways to add the [link] Replacement Token to your Template:

• Create a post for the beginning of the day that reminds guests to place their order to help the host.
• Talk about the product and how many excellent reviews there are on the website, then say, “check out the reviews for yourself here: [link].”

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Your party template should consist of 10 to 15 products you always use. Then, integrate them into your posts over and over again. Instead of trying to add every product in the catalog that can be overwhelming - concentrate on the ones you love and are obsessed with. Passion is contagious. If the guests and hosts see how excited you are about the products you are showcasing - they’ll add it to their carts to see firsthand what the fuss is about.

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On games or content that doesn’t directly relate to your products, add pictures of your products to them those graphics. Make sure to remove the background on the product photos, so you have a crisper-looking graphic - like this one:

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Have video content that shows your products in action. Showcase the different ways you use them. If you have a unique way of using the product, share that to add value.

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Share how-to tips that don’t directly relate to your company but indirectly advertise your products using them when demonstrating the how-to. For example - how to debone a chicken - use your company’s cutting board, knife, and kitchen shears. Or How to get the perfect cat eye - use your company’s mascara and eyeliner. Creating content like this shows the party guests how the product can be integrated into their lives without being sales-y.

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But don’t avoid being sales-y altogether. Consultants who are coy have lower sales averages than those who are direct. That’s because people prefer for you to be straight with them. You may think avoiding all things that create urgency to purchase will make guests more comfortable, but it will confuse them and make them feel unneeded. Guests want to feel needed, so mentioning that ordering from you helps the host and your business is a great motivator.

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Speaking of being direct - a great tip for increasing sales at your party is to do a countdown update. What’s a countdown update? It’s a post you add manually to the party the last couple of days in a row. You tag all the members and announce how far away the host is from their goal and how many days are left in the party. Include the shopping link, a thank you for everyone being a part of the party, and add an easy-to-play game for everyone to participate in to increase the odds that it gets seen.

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The tag “@everyone” option only works if you are friends with everyone in the group.

It used to be that you could send a friend request to everyone in the group. That way, all the members would have easier access to you if they had any questions. However, now Facebook blocks that feature if you request too many at once. So it’s better to be more choose-y with who you send requests, such as those who were extra engaged, commenting on everything, and those who booked parties with you. If you want to tag everyone using the @ symbol, having the host do it is best.

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The easiest way to tag everyone is to use the “welcome to the party” members section in the group. Under the “Member section” on the right-hand side, you’ll see a section that says “New members this week.” It’s likely already a part of your system to use this feature to help guests feel welcome as they join the party. However, I would suggest waiting at least until the party is mainly full to do the welcome post so that when you do the countdown update posts, you can copy all the names from that post instead of having to hunt them down.

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Unfortunately, Facebook is doing another quirky thing with its member list where it does not give you all the members who are a part of the group at the top, it just gives you all the members that were invited, and you have to figure out which ones are in the group by making a separate list of all the names that say “joined’ or ‘added’ under their names. It’s a whole headache. So I advise keeping track of those names early on the party.

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Another way to get the host’s shopping link in front of the hosts is to send it directly to the party members after they respond no to a booking message. You should be reaching out to every party member. Otherwise, you’re missing business. About three people will say yes to a party, but the rest will say no, and that no is an excellent opportunity to get the shopping link in front of them one more time.

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If the guest that said no to hosting a party with you hasn’t ordered yet, respond with “totally understand. If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out x’s shopping link - here it is: [link] People hate saying no multiple times in a row - so if they have said no to you already, they are more likely to be receptive to the idea of ordering.

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Plus, this allows you to be more selective about who you, as the consultant, send the shopping link to - you don’t want to get Facebook mad and be unable to send messages.

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When you follow all these tips and tricks, you’ll maximize your Facebook party sales!

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