Booking Ideas for Home Shows

• Learning to set appointments for home shows is the key to sucess. BananaStock/BananaStock/Getty Images

  Bringing in a steady stream of new clients is a chief concern for many businesses. For those business people who promote their businesses through doing home shows, finding clients through traditional advertising isn't always possible. These businesses thrive on personal contact between the business person and the would-be client. Several effective ways to book a home show exist, just waiting for the business consultant to try out.

Circle of Friends

• Most people who expand their businesses by doing home shows look in their own back yard first. Companies like Pampered Chef, Rainbow and Cutco encourage new consultants with the company to make a list of all the people they know. They then are asked to organize them in the order of importance, meaning that the person the consultant thinks will absolutely book a home show goes at the top of the list. Although the consultant will ideally see all the people on the list, when first starting out she usually starts with the ones who'll book a show for sure. Upon having the show, the consultant typically rewards the people inviting her into their home with a gift in exchange for the use of their home.

Referrals

• This step is related to tapping into a person's circle of friends and acquaintances. In this case, when a consultant is at a home show, he gathers leads from the show's hostess and other people present. Many companies like Rainbow have special programs just for this type of referral. They ask the people giving the leads to call their friends and book a show. The consultant then follows up the call with the person's friend and sets the home show date. An effective consultant will do this in every home show he goes into.

Expos

• Some of the home party companies will have a booth at an upcoming expo like a home and garden show with the local consultants splitting the cost of the booth. A drawing for a big-ticket item like a set of cookware is offered. The consultants put out a jar to gather people's entry forms, which allows them to get people's contact information. Once the expo concludes, the consultants call the names in the jar to give daily prizes. The daily prizes offer the consultants a reason to call the contest's entrants and book a home show. The daily prizes that work best for this type of situation depend upon the company. For example, the home gift for a Pampered Chef consultant will be different than the one for the Rainbow dealer. The consultant sets up an appointment to deliver the gift and then uses the face-to-face time to discuss company products or booking a show. Finally, it's important to note that the people the consultant calls are still in the running for the larger giveaway and should be told that when calling.