What Ever Happened to Just Having a Party?
This is part of my continuing tirade against Mary Kay. Only, this time, it's a little different. It's pretty much about most of the home based MLM businesses out there.
When I was a consultant, I used to say that a perfect client for me was someone who loved to hold parties. Since Mary Kay was supposed to be all about parties, it seemed perfect. If you had a lot of friends, why not invite them over? We'll play with makeup. And you can get free products, too!
See, the problem happens when that is the only kind of party you have.
For me, even my holiday party became a Mary Kay event, with the main party happening in the living room and the sales going on downstairs in my basement. That's right. I missed my own holiday party selling Mary Kay stuff to my friends. WHAT must they have thought of me? It's just awful. I look back and am so entirely embarrassed that I actually did that, and treated my friends that way.
But in Mary Kay, and in a lot of other MLM businesses, that is exactly what we do. We start with our friends and get them to hold a party. Then they become our customers. And they become our team members. And then, we don't have friends anymore, not really. We have clients. Customers. Team Members. People who earn us money. And eventually they stop taking your calls, because for goodness sakes, woman, I have enough makeup.
Not a week goes by these days that I do not see someone having a party of some sort or another. One has a Pampered Chef party and another has a Stampin' up party and another has a Creative Memories party and another has a 31 Gifts party. In all of these cases, as a consultant, you are setting up your hostess to be resented by her guests. Because no one really wants to buy all that stuff. Really. We are living in a terrible economy right now, and no one wants to spend a ton of money on stuff that they got to see at a "party." Oh sure, some people get into buying. But for the most part, people are getting to resent being invited to parties to spend money.
Do yo know that the last time I tried to have a party for a home based business, I invited 75 people? Do you know how many came? 4. And one of them was my neighbor who only came so that I wouldn't have the most unattended party ever. No one wants to go anymore.
You want real girlfriend time? Invite 6 of your girlfriends over for drinks and a movie. I guarantee you'll get a better response than inviting them over to play with makeup. The best party I attended in recent memory was a girl's night around Christmas time. We had cookies and hot cocoa and watched Love Actually and exchanged gifts. And everyone who was invited came. Because would you rather sit through a sales presentation or watch Colin Firth? Yeah, I thought so.
So have a party. Invite your friends over and open a bottle of wine. Watch a movie together. Play board games. Cook something together. Just don't ask your friends to buy anything. Your friendships will be better that way.
When I was a consultant, I used to say that a perfect client for me was someone who loved to hold parties. Since Mary Kay was supposed to be all about parties, it seemed perfect. If you had a lot of friends, why not invite them over? We'll play with makeup. And you can get free products, too!
See, the problem happens when that is the only kind of party you have.
For me, even my holiday party became a Mary Kay event, with the main party happening in the living room and the sales going on downstairs in my basement. That's right. I missed my own holiday party selling Mary Kay stuff to my friends. WHAT must they have thought of me? It's just awful. I look back and am so entirely embarrassed that I actually did that, and treated my friends that way.
But in Mary Kay, and in a lot of other MLM businesses, that is exactly what we do. We start with our friends and get them to hold a party. Then they become our customers. And they become our team members. And then, we don't have friends anymore, not really. We have clients. Customers. Team Members. People who earn us money. And eventually they stop taking your calls, because for goodness sakes, woman, I have enough makeup.
Not a week goes by these days that I do not see someone having a party of some sort or another. One has a Pampered Chef party and another has a Stampin' up party and another has a Creative Memories party and another has a 31 Gifts party. In all of these cases, as a consultant, you are setting up your hostess to be resented by her guests. Because no one really wants to buy all that stuff. Really. We are living in a terrible economy right now, and no one wants to spend a ton of money on stuff that they got to see at a "party." Oh sure, some people get into buying. But for the most part, people are getting to resent being invited to parties to spend money.
Do yo know that the last time I tried to have a party for a home based business, I invited 75 people? Do you know how many came? 4. And one of them was my neighbor who only came so that I wouldn't have the most unattended party ever. No one wants to go anymore.
You want real girlfriend time? Invite 6 of your girlfriends over for drinks and a movie. I guarantee you'll get a better response than inviting them over to play with makeup. The best party I attended in recent memory was a girl's night around Christmas time. We had cookies and hot cocoa and watched Love Actually and exchanged gifts. And everyone who was invited came. Because would you rather sit through a sales presentation or watch Colin Firth? Yeah, I thought so.
So have a party. Invite your friends over and open a bottle of wine. Watch a movie together. Play board games. Cook something together. Just don't ask your friends to buy anything. Your friendships will be better that way.