What to do with discontinued inventory.....

Ugh!  They put out another new catalog and took out a lot of what I had in my inventory.  Now what???

I'm seeing this a lot since the new catalog came out and Pure Romance discontinued a lot of products.

Bedroom Eyes- send to Kathryn. ;) 

Here are some of the options I'm using and if you have any more ideas please share!

You may have seen the cute little pink tubs the west coast Florida girls are obsessive over at Target.  We've been snatching them up like condoms at a frat party.

You can either offer them as Hostess Incentives and charge a discounted price to your hostess or give them to her as her hostess gift depending on the price of the items. 

Or, you can make a discount bin.  There are many ways you can do this.  You can just say 50% bin and pile everything in it.  Or you can tell customers if they spend $X they can shop from the 50% off bin (or whatever % you want).  It's your inventory, play around with a few ideas and see what works for you.

You can also use them as booking incentives.  Pretty them up, post them on your page or add them to an email.  A little tissue paper goes a long way!

Customer Connection Cards

These are the bread and butter of your business ladies!  These are like the key to your money vault.

And guess who didn't use them her first few parties?  ME!  And I'm still kicking myself.

I now keep one on my demo table so I don't forget.  When I get a new pack of catalogs in my 15 year old knows she has a job to do- tear out all the cards from the catalogs (BTW Thank you for moving them from the Platinum Vibe page to the back PR!!  Makes things less awkward, haha!).  I've watched guest after guest tear their cards up trying to get them out......or watched empty cards walk out the door still attached to the page.  I'm loving that PR now sells them separately for stingy consultants like me that hang on to as many catalogs as possible. 

The new catalogs have a card in the front with room for a wish list which I love!  We can also put our Vistaprint stamps on there so they remember who to call when they're ready to get the items off those lists.

 Pure Romance added a Facebook URL and Twitter which, for social media addicts like me, is schamazing!

Different consultants use these cards in a variety of different ways.  Some play games with them, some use them for drawings at the end of the night, some have them fill them out in the beginning, some the middle, some at the end.  Me?  I'm still lucky if I remember to have them filled out at all...baby steps.

Erica Rivera had a fabulous idea!  She bought a glass cube, attached super cute PR related stickers on it and uses it for her drawing jar (winners will receive prizes at your discretion, ie. foil packs, coupons, 1/2 price shipping, etc). 

Find a place to put your CCC's and make sure they stay there!!  Yes, I lost a stack of 10 that had 8-10's checked for booking parties.  I know they're somewhere, just not sure where!  Encourage your guests to fill out the front AND back.  Here's a secret I learned from Hot Mama Jessica- tell them corporate checks the cards so the more information they give the better!  Let me them know you really appreciate feedback- both positive and negative.  If you've done your job well and they feel comfortable hosting parties they'll most likely fill out an 8-10 for booking.  Make sure you have recruit packets and hostess packets available for those who pick those high numbers.

How do you use your CCC's?  Please share below any tips, recommendations, games, etc that you use.  They might make it into a post one day!

I know I'll revisit CCC's again when I scour through the info others have posted on the Facebook pages but for now, there ya go!

Importance of training

Pure Romance offers a SLEW of FREE training to all of it's consultants.  It's up to you whether or not you want to participate. 

I guarantee you that if you attend even one training event your business will improve- as long as you implement what you've learned.  My first event was Pure Romance University back in March or April- just after I'd signed up.  Not only was I able to connect with other consultants but I was given a packet of information to follow along in the class and take home to study.  I remember walking away feeling like a cartoon version of a brain about to explode- that's a good thing. ;)

I was told to attend National Training as it would change my business for the better and be "life changing" for myself.  I was a little leery of the cost and about spending so much time away from my family especially since my oldest was scheduled to have her wisdom teeth removed and was leaving for college soon.  I signed up at 11:30 PM on the last day to register.  With travel time (a group of us drove from Tampa to Ohio), I was gone from my family for an entire week- the longest I'd ever been away from my husband and four kids.  We were so busy I almost forgot to call them a time or two to check in and say my 'I love you's.'  There were party demos to see, classes to attend, the new product launch, guest speakers, notes to be taken, slides to view and tons of handouts to read.  I still go back and review some of the handouts I received and notes I took during those three days.  Some of the notes you'll find on here already and eventually I'll add the rest (I'm working on the procrastination thing).  Every penny I spent to go to National Training was it worth it!!  I was doing 1-2 parties a month before I went.  Once I came home, I upped that number to 3-4 parties a month.  I was able to give my customers and hostesses a wealth of information that was drilled into my head from reading scripts over and over (which turned out to be a huge help with my ADD brain).  The big message that was taught at National Training was to "stay a student."  Even those who have been in the business for many years learned new tips and facts.

The next time Pure Romance University came to Orlando I once again hopped in the car and took off to learn more.  Some things were repetitive which is a good thing because our minds always need refresher courses.  Once again I was sent home with a packet of information to study at my leisure after it was gone over in class.  We did exercises to help us get to know our customers better and set goals which we flew across the room to others who would hold us accountable.

I didn't hesitate when the message came out about traveling to Atlanta for the PRU Series.  I would be gone for 24 hours and would miss my kids but knew, yet again, that it would be worth it.  I missed out on the Gold Series because I've been in the business less than 18 months but I was excited to hear that there was a class for us newbies.  Again, some of the information was similar to the other classes but after I got home I started to realize the amount of new information I was given in between the things I'd already learned.  I learned a lot more than I thought I did!  And having CEO Chris stand in front of me, using my name, acting like we were having a conversation- totally worth being awake for 27 hours!!  LOL   Hearing the bits and pieces the Gold Standard attendees talked about on the way home made me want to work my ass off to get invited to it once I'd met the goals for the PRU Series.  I showed that desire in my December sales hitting $2000 for the first time in just one month and increasing my bookings to five for both December and January (so far). 

With each training class that I go to my business increases.  My passion increases.  My knowledge increases.  The positive relationship with my friends, family and even myself increases.  I never got this much training with the other three in-home party plans that I used to do and I never had a fraction of success like I do with Pure Romance.

If you can attend any of the live classes that Pure Romance offers- go.  Being there in person makes a big difference.  Even though they give us handouts, mine are always covered in notes by the end.  However, if you can't attend there is still plenty of training on the website itself.  Watch the videos.  Listen to the conference calls.  Print out the documents.  Take notes.  Review your notes.  Stay a student.

<3