Deals To Travel - Tips for Bookings That Hold - Calendar Control

" or "I wish I had more bookings". One of the things I hear a lot as a trainer is "how do I get more bookings on my calendar?

And most of us don't like it and don't want to do it, it takes a LOT of work, while the shotgun approach DOES work, problem is. Or just plain old "talk to everybody", standing around chatting to people within 3 feet of them, " Anyone can fill their calendar with enough hours on the phone calling. What you're really saying is "How can I make bookings easier, chances are when you say "I wish I had more bookings"? I'm encouraged to 'motivate' my team, but as a trainer, this might sting a bit. Let's be frank.

They'll care more about yours, when people know you care about their cause. At the VERY least donate some time and get your FACE seen. Anything product related to help get your name out in your community, pampering packages, most all of them can use a contribution - donate gift certificates. Pull out your phone book and start calling local charities, or don't have ANY shows at all - and no potential leads to speak of, if you're brand spankin' new. So pull out your planner right now. It starts with what you DO have on your calendar. There's still hope. Don't panic.

It is extremely difficult to gauge your future performance, unless you know how you've been performing in the past. You need to know your metrics. How many bookings do you average per show? How many of those were due to poor hostess coaching? How many shows canceled or were rescheduled? Hard look at your last 6 months of business, take a good, for the rest of us, now.

The second needs to look at hostess coaching and follow up to address the reasons WHY people are canceling. The first could stand to liven things up a bit - and perhaps score a couple more bookings per party. Both groups have room for improvement. And have a 50% cancellation rate, i know consultants that book 3-4 people at every party, on the other hand. But RARELY have cancellations, i know consultants that do a very average show and get one or two bookings per show. The second deals with follow up skills, the first deals with conversational skills. Getting and keeping bookings are two completely different things.

But the hold rate of your parties, but an "over time" fix to improving not only the quality, this is not necessarily an overnight fix to having more shows. Will ensure better shows on your calendar in the future, and believe it or not, there are steps you can take to insure that the parties you have scheduled will hold, for the rest of us. And I'd strongly encourage you to disregard it now before you waste your time, then this article will sound like a lot of work, if that's not you. I want to remind you that I write this from the perspective of a person who wants to run my direct sales organization like a business, first.

How can you apply this to your business? The doctor requires a courtesy call in advance if a patient needs to reschedule. The doctor may be booked weeks in advance. Training), and consults with other professionals (networking, orders), reviews lab work (guest lists, the doctor completes paperwork (hostess packets), on the 4th day. And only see patients on 3 of the 4 days, the doctor may only work 4 days per week. Look at your business like a Doctor's office. Set your dates first Know when you want to work.

" Or would you like to book in closer, " Would you like me to call you at a later date? The hostess only gets credit when you book within X days. But I'm not booking that far out at this time, tell them "I'd love to schedule you, " If they want to book two months out. But would 'X day' be better, i'm not available that day, simply say "I'm sorry, if someone wants to work on a day you can't/don't? And abide by it, post it. Stick to it, once you've set your schedule.

And your cancellations will become rare, but what you'll quickly discover is that the ones that are booking are HOLDING, the bad news is that at first it may seem that fewer people are booking parties. So will your customers, when you take your calendar seriously, most of the time.

Customers take you more seriously when YOU take your business seriously. This is your livelihood (even if it isn't), people realize this is not just a fun night out for them. You've gained respect. Simple. Why is this?

You've made the third contact before the visit, when you call back to confirm. A few days before your appointment you may get a mailing or a phone call to confirm. You get a reminder card, the day you schedule. Think back to the doctor's office. The number one complaint the Direct Sales Association reports is that Hostesses wished their consultant contacted them MORE. It should include no LESS than 3 contacts before the party. Set up a system that works for you. It is imperative that you stay on top of your hostess, make Much Contact Once you've booked a party.

And no one knows that until show time, remember YOU are your company's best product. Every contact should serve to keep her excited about her event and to confirm she made the right choice in having YOU as the consultant. It's even MORE important that you make contact with your hostess no less than once per week every week before her party and at least twice after you've closed the show, because you're a mobile unit (meaning you come to your hostess), now.

But the returns are substantial, the cost investment is minimal. But the results are more than worth the investment of time, this takes work, yes. And knows more about how you do business, she likes you more, she trusts you more. Every contact you make with your host instills greater confidence.

Then all that work on the front end will finally pay off and people will be looking for YOU to book their parties instead of you "wishing" for bookings to magically appear in your calendar. The more she will recommend you to her friends and build your book of business, the easier you make it for your hostess. As well as an improvement in hold rates and number of parties booked, you should notice a marked improvement in reschedule rates. Implement these strategies for a month and review the results?