One of the most important elements to the success of any party is what happens before the day of the party itself and the role of your host.

Where possible it is best to arrange to see your host at their house around 10 to 14 days before the party. Firstly, this gives you a chance to make sure you know where the house is, if you have not been there before, and saves you having to search for it on the night of the party. A good trick is to give the host a couple of plain balloons to tie onto their fence or gate on the day of the party so that the guests can spot the house easily, particularly useful if it is dark or the houses in the street have numbers rather than names.

You also want to sort out where your display is going to be, a good spot is normally in front of the television as most homes have the seating focused towards the telly! Make sure there is a suitable table for your display to go on, if not an ironing board set at a low level can work well.

Go through with your host who they are going to invite to the party, and suggest more people for them if they have less than twenty on the list (neighbours, family, work colleagues, parents at school etc). Explain that they need to invite twice as many people as they expect to come along as experience shows that only half will actually turn up. They should also ask everyone to bring a guest and let everyone know in advance how you take payment (e.g. cash on the night or Paypal if you accept it) so that they know to bring enough money / their email address with them. For details about accepting Paypal payments please visit Paypal's own website.

Advise your host that they only need to provide very simple refreshments, i.e. tea, coffee, biscuits for the guests, possibly wine as well.

If time permits, using the catalogue, fragrance wallet with family fragrance tester strips and samples, help your host to choose their favourite FM fragrance and give them a free sample to wear prior to the party. If the host is already a customer then they can simply wear one of the FM fragrances they already have. By just wearing one of our fragrances they may well gain extra guests who ask them what fragrance they are wearing. It will also help to give them more confidence in the high quality of our fragrances.

Rewarding Your Host

Let your host know what you are going to give them as a reward for the sales / bookings generated from the party. Whatever you decide to reward your host is up to you. The usual would be 10% in free products (which only really uses about 7% of your commission) and may be an extra reward for two people booking from the party, you may want to give a free bottle of one of our Classic fragrances for this as it would only cost you £8.20 which is just £4.10 per booking and considering each party might well earn you £50 it is very worthwhile to reward your host for helping you to get more parties. One word of caution on giving a reward for two bookings is to only give the reward once the second party has actually taken place.

Tell your host to ask those who are unable to come if they would like to place an order anyway, as any sales that they can generate for you before the party will count towards the party total. Equally your host should be asking everyone if they would like to have a party themselves.

Leave some catalogues (and a spare samples kit if you have one spare), price lists and customer order forms with your hostess for them to show those who can not come.

Mention to your host that you are looking for more people who would like to earn some extra money by becoming a FM Group distributor and do they know anyone who might be interested. This third party question gives them the chance as well to say "Yes, me!".

Three days before the party you should give the host a call to check everything is ok and see how many people they have coming, this gives time for you to again suggest more people to invite if not many are coming. Ask the host as well to make sure those who have said yes know not to wear perfume to the party, this also acts as a way of the host reminding the people about the party.

By working with your host, and doing the proper host coaching, you will increase both your party sales and future bookings.