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| December Sales/Production Strategies |
| by Cindy Hurst, Sr. Director Holly Jolly Month is Here!!! This is one of my favorite times of the year. In South Ga. the weather is usually moderately cold, just enough to make you think is might be Christmas time, the trees are looking like fall, everyone is buzzing in anticipation of the holidays and preparations are under way. This is also a challenging time of the year for Mary Kay Beauty Consultants. If your new and busy holding appointments and selling gift items you might be overwhelmed with all you have to do. If you have been resting on your laurels you may be overwhelmed wondering how in the world you are going to pay for Christmas when no one wants to book a facial in Dec. I have been on both ends of this extreme in almost 17 years. Below I have put together some strategies that will help you have your best December ever. REMEMBER, JUST BECAUSE IT IS DECEMBER, THE GOAL DOESN'T CHANGE - YOU JUST GET FINISHED EARLY!!! 1. Set your goals now for the month of December, and don't lower your standards, only raise them. You need a wholesale goal, retail goal, interview goal, new recruits goal, faces or basics goal. 2. Decide how many days you want to work. For years I have made it my goal to have 98% of my work done by the 20th of the month when my children get out of school for the holidays for two reasons 1)I want to enjoy some time off with my kids & 2)I don't want to have to arrange for child care, besides my children look forward to time out of school that they can enjoy at home, who would want to go to a sitter or day care. 3. Break down each of your goals into the number of days you want to work. For example if you want to sell $2000 retail and you have until the 17th to do it, you have 15 days to work. This averages out to $133.33 retail per day that you need to sell. 4. Order inventory if needed. If you do not have enough inventory to meet your goal for the month you need to order it immediately. If you do not order early enough you may not be able to guarantee Christmas delivery. Many items are already sold out. If you order on the 1st of the month you can expect it to take 14-15 days to be delivered, this is pushing your predetermined deadline. If you order later in the month, Christmas delivery may be impossible. If you need products to complete your star in the Star Consultant program I would advise you to order it if financially possible, if you make up your mind to you can definitely sell it this month. If you have any doubts whether it will sell, take a trip to Wal-Mart or the Malls. People are spending money like crazy. They can spend it with you or the department stores, your choice. However, you cannot sell what you do not have. 5. Use the first week of December for customer service, booking, and telephone time. Last month with the birth of my fourth child Marissa, the week after she was born I spent on the phone doing the majority of my customer service for the month. I used the telephone as I felt like it, primarily calling my out of town customers, and mailed approximately 95% of the orders, even locally. There were a couple of large orders or orders whereas the client was desperate that my husband delivered for me as he was hauling children back and forth to school (usually my job). My sales for that second week of Marissa's life were $1027.50 and my total retail sales for November are presently $1898.00 (I am typing this on Nov. 30, the month isn't over yet, I may make $2000 yet.) Doing my customer service during the first week of the month instead of dragging it out over four taught me several things: a. My customers were taken care of, and I am a firm believer that no matter how much you can do in new business you should never neglect established clients. It does you no good to get a customer if you do not keep a customer. b. My $600 wholesale order was guaranteed. I usually order between $1000-$1200, and did this month. However, you never want to order less than $600 because that makes you a Star Consultant, plus if you are a team builder, you never want to order less than $600 because that gives you your 13% recruiter check. c.Weeks two, three, and four were freed up to spend on new business and working with the unit and my personal team. One of the biggest challenges of Consultants if trying to do all areas of the business, selling, recruiting, training, etc. If the sales are taken care of in week one, you can concentrate on new customers and new recruits the rest of the month. d. Cash Flow - because I mailed the orders I had cash flow to cover my expenses all month as the money came back in the mail all during the month. I always include a self addressed, stamped envelope in my orders. You can expect about a two week turnaround on mailed orders to receive the money. e.Many people get paid the first of the month, so you are calling them when they have dispensable income. f.Team building - if you are team building I encourage you to teach your recruits to do customer service the first week. This is your guaranteed production. After a consultant has a certain number of clients, and they are using up products, you can expect a certain amount of production as they resupply their products. As a team builder this is your guaranteed production, gotten in early in the month before the month end crunch. If you are working toward consistency club, this is a guaranteed ring or diamond if you discipline yourself to use this method every month. g. Telephone time - While you are on the phone with your clients you can be booking appointments for the month to fill your datebook. So many times I get off the phone and remember I meant to book this lady for a class or interview but it wasn't on my mind at the time, then I hate to call the same person back. Use this phone time as sales time and booking time. If you go into the remainder of the month with 10 or more classes on your datebook you will have an awesome month. h.Time management - By getting customer service out of the way and mailing all orders I better used my time I have had great results this month - $2000 personal retail sales, two new personal recruits qualified, $8000+ unit production, and I have had more free time than usual. I am sure that all of you have time to call through your customer list in just one week. Most Consultants have 50 or less client enrolled on the Preferred Customer Program so 50 would be less than 10 calls per day. You could do this on your cell phone in the car, on lunch breaks, etc. if necessary. Pull out your pcp list and make the most of your work!! 6. Traditional selling with Skin Care Classes & Facials booked from week 1. Traditional selling is selling the Skin Care through Skin Care Classes and Facials. Don't assume people will not book. I held my first class on Dec. 28. People will be looking for a new look for Christmas and New Years, especially with the turn of the millennium. Set a goal to have 10 classes and/or facials booked and you will be selling Basics to new clients that will in turn generate more reorders for next year as well as help you meet you Century Club goal of 100 new basics. Use booking specials to create a sense of urgency. The new color palette is an excellent way to book and have great class results, see back side of mailer. 7. Creative Selling - a.Twelve Days sales to significant others must be delivered by the 12th or 13th. Sales range from $99 upward. Use part of your telephone time in week one to make these sales so that you can get them put together and delivered by the 12th. Key selling phrase, "It's 12 days of gifts for her and twelve days of gratitude for you." b. Satin Hands Survey - Personally commit to conducting a Satin Hands Survey on new contacts that you are around this month. Even if you did this as a new consultant, it produces great results and you can create new leads. Most consultants will sell 3-8 sets of Satin Hands when conducting these surveys. Tip: Do it on only people who have not tried it before for best results. c.Silent Show Hostesses - Remind your silent show hostesses how much they have sold so far, that the deadline is 12/18. Encourage them to sell more to better their gift from you or to do a Skin Care Class. d. Gift Consultations - private appointments whereas you help people with their Christmas Shopping. All you have to do is set a 30 minute appointment, show and tell. People buy. 8. After you have contacted all your customers, done as many gift consults as you can and contacted all husbands/significant others, package up any remaining holiday/special edition items in cutesy packaging for sale to last minute shoppers. This is called inventory management. You do not tell a client, no I do not have what you want, its sold out, but you package what you do have so cute that they want those items. This is an especially good idea with the 75% off special on limited edition items currently going on. Any of these items that you do not sell before Christmas can be reserved for Valentines day or discounted during the last week of Dec. for an 'year end inventory liquidation' sale. I would use generic, not Christmas packaging so that you do not have to repackage for Valentines and would not discount products unless I had not met my month long goal, or unless you don't want to have to count it for year end inventory count. 9. Meet your goals early and reserve Dec. 20th and beyond for miscellaneous sales. There is always somebody who is desperate who didn't need anything when you called them earlier in the month. The year I had chicken pox the first week of Dec. I did $800 in twelve days baskets, week 2 I did $1100 in customer service, week three I had $400 called in when I was in the bed with chicken pox and didn't care. 10. Work your business full circle: Booking, Selling, Recruiting. Who do you know that needs Mary Kay in their life. Look through your customer file and think about who you would want on your team. Pursue these prospects and develop them into recruits. Plant the seeds and set interviews. Remember you will probably get one new recruit with five interviews. Set a goal to complete 10 interviews, you will probably have two new recruits. Order Something More Tapes and Brochures from section 2. Bring guests to Success Meetings with you each week just for them to 'check us out.' Your Sales are your income of today, your recruits are your income of tomorrow. Make December your most abundant month ever!! |
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