Phoenix traders - what is your most successful selling technique?

allIcouldwishfor

L&L - That is seriously impressive :T !
How many people did you invite and how did you word your invitations? Did you bribe people with copious amounts of cake ?

skeeter_2

That is great L&L :j

I recently advertised at an NCT nearly new sale, using the March supplement with a freepost card attached.

Today a very enthusiastic person, who received the supplement at the NCT sale gave me a £65 order! She also asked me for some more brochures to give to her friends etc.

I have also had a few leads from the freepost cards, so advertising at the NCT sale was a positive move.

Have you seen advertising template 19 in the downloads section? I have requested the A6 size, so will send out with the May supplements to those on my mailing list. Hopefully there will be some willing participants, since it seems like a great way of getting orders as well as raising money for charity.

mindermum

Hi! I became a Phoenix Trader last month. I have found it great fun setting up, buying in stock, etc and now it's time to start making money.

I have held two parties at my house and sold about £100 each time, but I find that not many people turn up (one party 12 invited and 4 turned up). Do you think people just don't want to be pressurised into buying?
I also didn't get booked for more parties, which is what I had hoped for.
The parties themselves were very sociable, wine, nibbles, ice breaker game and a nice atmosphere. Where am I going wrong? Should I look to sell in other ways instead?

Earthengirl

mindermum wrote: »

Hi! I became a Phoenix Trader last month. I have found it great fun setting up, buying in stock, etc and now it's time to start making money.

I have held two parties at my house and sold about £100 each time, but I find that not many people turn up (one party 12 invited and 4 turned up). Do you think people just don't want to be pressurised into buying?
I also didn't get booked for more parties, which is what I had hoped for.
The parties themselves were very sociable, wine, nibbles, ice breaker game and a nice atmosphere. Where am I going wrong? Should I look to sell in other ways instead?

Hi mindermum,
The sales you've had so far are really good. I've had events where I've taken nothing! It hasn't happened for a while now as people are getting to know the PT name. I've got bookings for various events every weekend for the next month, an NCT fair on Satuday.
It takes time to build up a customer base, more when not many people have heard of PT.
I'd suggest just carry on as you are, the sales will increase as word gets around. In the mean time keep yourself out there, book nursery groups, table top sales, school fetes etc. You could even to a brochure drop. I'm in the process of sorting out a drop using the supplements.
Oh and as to the bookings you have tried to make, you'll probably get a fair few knock backs but you only need one or two people to say yes!
Good luck.

allIcouldwishfor

mindermum wrote: »

I have held two parties at my house and sold about £100 each time, but I find that not many people turn up (one party 12 invited and 4 turned up). Do you think people just don't want to be pressurised into buying?
I also didn't get booked for more parties, which is what I had hoped for.
The parties themselves were very sociable, wine, nibbles, ice breaker game and a nice atmosphere. Where am I going wrong? Should I look to sell in other ways instead?

I think that party plans in general don't enjoy the best of reputations for various reasons. That said, I do believe that Phoenix products are great quality and excellent value for money, all you have to do is raise awareness and people will buy from you.

Maybe people would feel more comfortable booking a party or coffee morning if there's a charity angle to it? Or if you offer an incentive for booking a party? Maybe as people at your party are placing an order you could offer them a discount if they book you for a home event. Also, as Earthengirl says, Phoenix lends itself to selling in ways other than party plans. As I've not been able to do much Phoenix-ing during the school holidays, I've done door drops which have resulted in 6 new customers and around £100-worth of sales and I've rung round to get three toddler group bookings, the first of which is booked for next Tuesday.

sunshine_girl_2

Sounds like you're doing really well mindermum! I did a party a couple of weeks ago and took less than £20!! Mind you most of the people there had already ordered from me recently so I didnt feel too bad about it. Hopefully you will find, and I sure others on here will agree, that once you start building up a customer base, people will come back with repeat business as the products are really good quality and the price is great too! Good luck mindermum - keep us updated with your progress.

mindermum

Hi,

Thanks for all the encouragement. A girl who had come to my last party has contacted me saying her mum and sister want a brochure, and another woman asked if she could keep her brochure to show her friends, so word is getting round.

Are we allowed to advertise ourselves by putting up posters in libraries,community centres and shops? Just to get the name out there.

Good luck with your events this weekend. I really must start contacting playgroups, etc.

skeeter_2

mindermum wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks for all the encouragement. A girl who had come to my last party has contacted me saying her mum and sister want a brochure, and another woman asked if she could keep her brochure to show her friends, so word is getting round.

Are we allowed to advertise ourselves by putting up posters in libraries,community centres and shops? Just to get the name out there.

Good luck with your events this weekend. I really must start contacting playgroups, etc.

If you look at the downloads on the Phoenix website, you will find several advertising templates which you can use.

It is challenging establishing yourself at first, but do bear with it as it does get easier over time.

glenshee

Hi All,

I've been a trader for about 18 months, found your thread recently and have found it a great source of inspiration and information. Well done to everyone :beer:. Thought I'd share my experience so far. I Love selling Phoenix, hoping I can build it up so I don't have to go back to work!

I pottered around selling Phoenix for the first year, to fit in with my v.young children ,selling to mainly family and friends and also the toddler groups I go to. Just managed to break even.. Have found now though that persistence is the key and now have customers coming back on a regular basis who first spent £10 and now spending much more and passing brochures round to their friends = hoorah! Must admit though that alot of the selling I do has a charity element (15% for first event, 10% thereafter) but glad I did it as am supporting local groups and getting sales and details from customers I wouldn't have had otherwise. Obviously they also won't be going to toddlers forever so will get full benefit then hopefully!

I mostly try to place one order at the end of the month to limit postage, and everyone seems happy that is the deal. I have stock too, but to be honest there is always something I don't have to complete an order! If you can befriend traders in your area it helps- I have 2 in the same town and we do loads of swapping and sharing postage if we know any of us aren't going to meet the bonus requirements for that month anyway.

Haven't had much luck putting baskets of cards into businesses except if I know someone there who is already a customer (one managed to sell £100 of stock, the other £160) so determined to start asking people to do the same! Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.

Luckiest break recently (fingers crossed) is a pile of letters I sent to 25 schools within a 15 mile radius offering to help fundraise - soooo chuffed as one phoned up asking for 70 brochures for parents!!! Will let you know how it goes... Hopefully picking up orders next Friday. Am planning to follow up the other 24 schools once I've worked up the courage - i'm not a natural salesperson so if anyone has suggestions of what to say it'll be much appreciated.

I haven't done a launch party or anything yet, would love to but my house is a complete riot! Probably due to the fact that I'm either browsing forums or stuffing cards in cellos in the evening once the kids are in bed . One day...

Would love to start sponsoring but short on time, the downloads are fantastic though aren't they? Does anyone have tips on that? Thinking the lady ironing one in a few newsagents windows to start off with, would be really grateful for any info

good luck with all your selling, look forward to hearing more news from you all!
x

Earthengirl

What an utter disaster today has been!! I did my first and last NCT sale today.... They shoved me out into the hallway on my own, most people just walked straight past my table or kept asking me where the ladies loos were!! I didn't sell a bean!! Not one brochure or leaflet was taken, not one ounce of interest was shown!
So I'm now £25 down! All the table top sales I do, I at least break even, or get some interest! This has been the worst so far.
At least I've learnt one thing, not to waste my time or money at an NCT sale.