Christmas is a difficult time of year for many people. You have money to spend on others that you wouldn’t normally have to spend, so it’s hard to cover everything and still have money to use for bills and other necessities.

The easiest way to handle this is to save money all year long so you have the extra money when December rolls around, but that’s not always possible. Things happen and we must spend our savings on other things such as a broken furnace or a piece for the car. So what are your other options? There are several, but one that will work the best is to use coupons.

Couponing is something you can do all year long and save more money than you would be able to otherwise. You’ll find coupons for food, personal care items, and baby products just to name a few. This is something you can do every time you go to the store, so you’ll be able to save money every day of the year which will give you more savings than you’d have with other methods.

Something else to consider is coupons for items you plan to purchase. A lot of stores online offer coupon codes, so the best thing to do is decide what you want to purchase and then do a Google search for a coupon code for that item. Some are good for free shipping while others give you a percentage off the purchase. Either way you’ll save money and that will make things a little easier on your pocket book.
Saving money all year long will help make Christmas a little easier and it’ll give you the ability to spend more money on others or you’ll have enough money that you won’t struggle and live off of credit cards during the first part of the new year. When you use couponing it will make Christmas less stressful and your pocket book won’t suffer as much.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has two teenagers. She loves saving money when she can through couponing and price matching. If you’re looking for a way to save money at the grocery store, click here to purchase a copy of her couponing ebook.

Most direct sales consultants are rolling up their sleeves and heading “back to business” as their children head back to school.

Big mistake.

In truth, the holiday sales season is already in full swing, as parents are quickly filling their fall calendar with events, to-do’s, and other commitments that don’t include your direct sales business. It’s even more important now that you’re filling your calendar early, and host coaching often, in order to have successful holiday shows that stick.

Here are 5 quick tips to help you make the most of the holiday selling season that’s on now:

1. Book early with potential hosts. Holiday calendars fill up quickly, and if you want to be on the calendar in the first place, you need to be reaching out and scheduling those parties now. It also means you need to be more stringent in hostess coaching. Be sure to implement your follow-up system and stick to it for best results in holding shows you’ve booked.

2. Set expectations. Let your hostess in on your follow-up system and pre-show contact times so that she knows what to expect. It also holds you a bit more accountable to sticking to your follow up system. If she’s expecting you to call and you don’t, the show’s less likely to hold. On the other hand, if you tell her you’re going to email, and you do, she’ll be expecting it, so you don’t appear pushy.

3. Close the night of the show. If you don’t do this throughout the year (as I’ve suggested in the past), make SURE you do it during the holidays. simply put, products go on back order or out of stock so much faster during the holidays. An item that’s in stock in the morning can be sold out before your show that night – especially if it’s a limited edition item. in order to assure your guests will actually get the items they’re ordering before the holiday deadline, let everyone know you’ll close the show on the night of the party.

4. Bring limited edition products with you (cash & carry) to avoid issues with stop-sell and back-orders. I’m not one for carrying an inventory, but if you’re going to carry some extra items in your kit, the limited edition items are a good choice. It encourages impulse shopping for last-minute cash & carry gifts, and makes you look like the hero if the product they wanted goes out of stock before the show order ships. It feels good to say “this item is sold out, but I have two left that I brought with me tonight.” I’ve sold hundreds of dollars of products right off my table the night of a holiday show because people wanted to take them home with them. I also had a stash of gift bags they could purchase to “wrap” the gift before they left for the evening. If they purchased a certain amount of products, I’d give them the gift bag at no charge. You can easily add the total for the purchases to the show total for the host’s credits, making it a win-win for everyone.

Warning: do not carry a ton of holiday products if you don’t have the budget for it. There’s no sense going into debt on a “maybe” and then get stuck at the end of the season with products that didn’t sell. I was two years into my business before I started carrying extra limited edition sets to my shows for cash & carry. I used unused hostess credits and other “hidden money” to save up and purchase these products to have on hand. Don’t put yourself in the poorhouse to schlep a truck load of products to a party.

5. Use the Full-Service Checkout. It pays to spend quality time with every guest at a holiday party. Sometimes everyone’s in a hurry, but taking the time to do the Full Service Checkout we discuss in Direct Sales 101 gives you the time to review the order, present additional upsell options, as well as share the opportunity and booking options with each buying guest. Leaving money on the table at a show is almost always due to the fact that consultants feel too rushed to treat each customer individually. If you have a handful of people in a rush, have everyone take a number, and service them in that order. Most people don’t mind and appreciate the extra attention and gift-buying consideration of the full-service checkout.

Bonus tip: You have to make hosting and attending a show as easy as possible for a host during the holidays. With so many things vying for the attention of your hosts, the less they have to handle the better. You can easily have thousand-dollar shows (or more) when you make it effortless for your hosts and guests to spend their money with you. Each of these five tips is geared to doing exactly that.

Here’s to a very happy holiday season!

Lisa Robbin Young offers direct sales coaching and training to direct sales professionals looking to grow their business like a real business instead of an expensive hobby. Sign up for her free weekly ezine at http://www.homepartysolution.com.

The holiday selling season can be the busiest for direct sales professionals. It can also be difficult to pin down a date with potential hosts. Your hosts may complain that everyone is travelling, or that it’s too difficult to get everyone in the same place at the same time to host a party.

One possible solution: hosting an online holiday shopping party.

Online parties are similar to offline parties, in that there’s a host, a presenting consultant, and guests. Beyond that, though, online parties can be very different – and maybe even a little complicated for a host or even a direct sales consultant to figure out. They can also be an incredibly lucrative source of additional sales from a party, so it is worth your time to learn more about online parties.

Here are a few tips for understanding and using online parties during the holidays:

1. Online parties still require a “location”. Chat rooms, webinar, and video streaming sites abound. Use a reliable provider as a central location to bring all your guests to one “location” for hosting the presentation. Prepare any slides, pictures or video content in advance of the party and test your equipment to make sure everything is functional before your event. Chat rooms are basic, text-based, and the most popular style of online party. Webinars and video are quickly gaining popularity because people can talk with and sometimes see each other, which helps in the rapport building process.

2. Understand the similarities. Like an offline party, your online party should have a start and end time, as well as an order of events. Begin with a welcome and introduction, just like you would an offline party. Before you end the party, be sure to plant your booking and recruiting seeds, and close with a strong call to action for placing online orders.

3. Understand the differences. Online parties will require multiple reminders – especially if they’re sent via email or social media. The good news is that you can use social media to attract impulse buyers to the party that may not have been part of the original invitation list. Another difference is that you can’t demo your products the same way you would at an offline event. It becomes even more important that you “romance” your products. I use that term to describe speaking about your products in a way that creates desire. Make sure any images you use in your presentation are very crisp and clear. There’s no point using an image so blurry or small that your clients can’t see it.

4. Follow-up is critical. The “know, like, and trust factor” of an online party is not as high as an in-person, offline event. As such, it’s even more important to follow-up after the party ends. Everyone that places an online order needs an immediate acknowledgement, and it’s important to contact everyone and thank them for participating in the event. The follow-up goes a long way to reassuring technologically fearful clients that they’ve made a great decision in doing business with you.

5. Book early and ship out on time. Be sure to host online parties in plenty of time to have products shipped out before the holidays. There’s nothing worse than using technology to close your show and then have to apologize when product isn’t delivered on time. If you don’t plan to close the party the day of the show, be sure to let clients know when to expect delivery of their products.

The next time a host complains that everyone is travelling, consider an online party. Understanding the basics to running your own online shopping party will help you not just during the holidays, but throughout the year. These basic tips take the guesswork out of navigating your next (or first) online party.

Lisa Robbin Young offers direct sales coaching and training to direct sales professionals looking to grow their business like a real business instead of an expensive hobby. Sign up for her free weekly ezine at http://www.homepartysolution.com.

The Golden Rule VA
Melissa H. Dery
Owner
Melissa@TheGoldenRuleVA.com
www.TheGoldenRuleVA.com

Get our Holiday Sampler VA Package, 5 Hours for $97 (see link)
http://thegoldenruleva.com/ratespackages/limited-time-only-holiday-sampler-package/

Shure Pets
Lisa Kane, Pets Pet Consultant #357
barkingforbarker@gmail.com
http://lisakane357.shopshurepets.com

Celebrate the Season with these Great Free December Hostess Items:  Earn a free Christmas Tree Lollipup Dog Treat or a Cheery Deer Cat Toy with organic catnip, for every Qualifying ($200.00) Catalog Party you host for the month of December.

Create A Cash Flow Show
Deb Bixler
Direct Sales/Party Plan Educator
Deb@DebBixler.com
www.CreateACashFlowShow.com
717-751-2793

Please take advantage of all the articles and education at the largest FREE party plan/direct sales training center on the web.
If you see something you like at Create A Cash Flow Show then use this code to take
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Apply the code in the shopping cart coupon box!

Scentsy
Tanya Bierman, Independent Consultant
tanya.bierman@att.net
www.tbierman.scentsy.us
(414)520-6048

Visit my website and click on the Holiday tab on  the website. Specials tab is located on upper right of website. Send me an email after purchase to receive free product. Free product increases with purchase.

Thirty-One Gifts
Jane Dunn, Senior Consultant
jane31gifts@gmail.com
http://www.mythirtyone.com/jane
724.766.0256

Get FREE Direct shipping with your order.  Expires: December 13, 2010 to get your products for Christmas.  $99 Enrollment Kit with over $250 in products and business materials.  Sell $1,000 in 60 days and I will give you half your kit cost back.  Products with a purpose…Opportunity for a Lifetime.

L’Bel
Jennifer Vanderhoff, Beauty Advisor
lbel4u@gmail.com
www.lbelusa.com/jennifervanderhoff
678-428-9747

Place a $100+ order by December 15th and receive the Essential Special Set for Free!
Set Includes: Essential Cleanser Travel Size (1.5 fl. oz.), Essential Toner Travel Size (1.5 fl. oz.), Essential Makeup Remover Lotion Travel Size (1.5 fl. oz.), and Clarifiant Bag. *Email me for details.

Gold Valley Parties
Jennifer Vanderhoff, President
Jennifer.Vanderhoff@GoldValleyParties.com
www.GoldValleyParties.com
678-428-9747

Be your own Santa this December – Host a Gold Party and get some Holiday Ca$h! Book a December party and Double Dip on your Host Food &
Beverage Allowance – receive a additional $40 Food & Beverage Allowance at your party (for a total of $80) if we purchase $750 or more! Please mention “SALESMOMS40” when you book your event to get the bonus. We are also hiring in the New Year!

The good news is that the Holiday Season is a highly responsive time of year. However, as you know, it is a very competitive time, too. Here are some marketing ideas – both online and offline – to ensure that your current customers continue to shop with you and that new customers start shopping as well.

So just how do you overcome short attention spans and deal seeking, fickle customer nature? Many of these ideas are obvious, but many are also often overlooked. Try these holiday helpers:

Free Shipping – We’ll just get this one out of the way first. Free shipping has become a holiday staple with a majority of retailers. And, the majority of shoppers are most responsive to this offer. Seventy-five percent of shoppers prefer to shop with online retailers offering free shipping. (Source: Forrester Research).

Start Early – Overcome procrastination and beat Black Friday to the punch with “early bird” offers. Also, note peak dates and give customers a “heads up” on upcoming offers so they’ll keep your offers in mind versus your competitors’ offers. Peak dates for 2010:

• October & November – Previews, Pre-Orders, Limited Quantities, and Early Bird specials
• Friday 11/26 > Monday 11/29 – also known as Black Friday > Cyber Monday
• Friday 12/10 > Wednesday 12/17 – includes standard shipping service delivery expiration
• Tuesday 12/11 – getting it there with 2-3 day shipping service
• Wednesday 12/22 – getting it there with 1-2 day service
• Thursday 12/23 – getting it there overnight
• Friday 12/24 – Email gift certificates
•  Saturday 12/25 – Christmas
• Monday 12/27 – After holiday sale

Well-Coordinated Campaigns - Many missed opportunities occur because campaigns are disjointed. Focusing your message and consistently executing it in all channels will drive customer response. Use a master campaign calendar to ensure all your media singing the same song-Search engine marketing, website, email, affiliates, comparison shopping engines, online advertising, catalog/direct mail, magazine, radio, TV, social networking, etc.

Online Video – Including professional video clips of featured products can increase conversion 10-30% and also decrease returns. Videos engage customers and help avoid high bounce rates at your website. These videos can also be used on blogs (good SEO!) and social networking sites, so the small investment can go a long way.

Delayed Payment or Installments - Especially during these times, delayed payments (eBillme, Bill Me Later) and payment installments are popular options, particularly on higher ticket items. They are proven to increase conversion.

Gift Guides & Gift Finders – Making it EASY is key to holiday shopping. Gift guides by price or type or an interactive gift finder saves shoppers time. It can also help you focus customers on the merchandise that is most appealing and in stock.

Gift Cards – Offer gift cards for easy gift giving. Many customers become indecisive because they are overwhelmed with gift choices. Gift cards can overcome this. Also, gift cards delivered by email are a great last minute gift solution all the way up to Christmas Day! (Extends your holiday revenue opportunity, too.)Gift cards also help introduce new customers to your company.

Social Networking – Audience demographic makeup = which social network is most relevant. However, Facebook is an easy choice for most marketers. The holidays are the best time to leverage social networking to build up your network and engage customers who are potentially your most loyal customers. Give these fans and followers your absolute best deals. Consider holiday giveaways, too. There are over 150 million Facebook users (Source: Facebook), over 50% are women, and users are starting to resemble the general population as the larger growth has been coming from people over 35 years old (Source: istrategylabs.com).

Give a Gift to the Giver – Coupons, free gifts, free gift cards and other offers are great rewards to give to your shoppers. People like free gifts either to keep for themselves or to pass along as a gift.

Super Hot Daily Offers – For a week or two prior to Christmas, daily offers will keep your website top of mind. By knowing what your customer likes, you’ll know the most popular products to put on sale each day.

Office Gift Giving – Does it make sense for you to promote your products as great gifts for businesses and business people?

Coupons in Shopping Cart – Why encourage your buyers to go out to coupon sites when they are shopping on your site? Shoppers could change their mind when they go to these sites, and you may have to incur extra marketing costs at this coupon sites. Feature a couple of attractive offers upon checkout. These coupons could simply reinforce the offers you already have on your site.

Other ideas that have high potential for the Holidays and any time of year:

• Cart Abandonment – Utilize emails and/or live chat to recover lost sales. Only about 15% of online retailers address shopping abandon carts, with abandon cart email re-marketing converting at 10-20 times more than other emails (Source: Listrack). A Forrester Research study reports these reasons why 60-70% of shoppers report they abandon carts:

1. Shipping and handling costs were too high (44 percent)
2. I was not ready to purchase the product (41 percent)
3. I wanted to compare prices on other sites (27 percent)
4. Product price was higher than I was willing to pay (25 percent)
5. Just wanted to save products in my cart for later consideration (24 percent)

• Sitewide Web Banners – We pay a lot of attention to home page marketing. However, the home page is typically a smaller share of total site traffic. Flaunt your great offers using sitewide banners. “Slim banners” under top navigation or other banner formats in side navigation.
• Web Shopping Cart Upsells/Cross Sells – Relevant items and impulse buys are great ways to increase average order value. Stocking stuffers make great upsells/cross sells. You are guaranteed a lift in average order size and incremental revenue from the first day you implement this one. Even test a more interruptive (vs. passive) up-sell with a pop-up or roadblock web page as long as there is great value in your up-sell.
• Refer A Friend – A best kept secret to acquire customers at the lowest cost and easily increase loyalty. Reward customers with offers when friends they refer become customers.
• Bounce Back Offers – These offers are given to buyers to get them to come back and shop again. Why not start promoting holiday offers in shipping packages in October and November? An after holiday sale could be promoted in your packages, email, point-of-sale, and direct mail campaigns in December.
• Reward/Points Programs – Increasingly popular way to increase loyalty is a rewards program. Incentivize customers with extra points/rewards during the Holidays.
• Website Performance – Are there any user interface, user flow, application availability, speed, or other website performance issues? Website speed and navigation has become critical in maintaining customer attention. Slow sites can easily lead to site abandonment. Speed is also now a big factor for natural search rankings in Google (SEO).

Deborah Kania is a direct marketing professional, author and college instructor. Deborah has served in executive marketing positions at Lens Express and Vitacost.com (INC 500 Hall of Fame and Top 500 Internet Retailer). Deborah has written Internet marketing and ecommerce books including: Internet World Guide to One-To-One Web Marketing (Wiley, translated to Japanese, Korean and Chinese), Web Catalog Cookbook (Wiley), Branding.com (McGraw-Hill), as well as numerous online marketing articles. Deborah received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Massachusetts, and a Master of Business Administration from Virginia Tech. Deborah has also taught Direct Marketing at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). For more information and FREE marketing tools visit: http://www.responsology.com