A house party is basically a presentation of products or an opportunity. Some people I know do five a day. Consider starting with just one a week.

1. It's best conducted at someone's home, not yours because it's more difficult to ask guests to leave from your own home.

2. House parties are a great place to get new customers and new prospects. Your time is valuable so look for four things from each guest:

Retail sales/new members.

Referrals from each person.

Booking of other parties with them.

Furthering your business opportunity prospects' list.

3. Time:

Plan a party to be no longer than 30 minutes to one hour. If you aim for 30 minutes you'll probably finish within 45 minutes. If you talk too long you'll talk your guests out of buying or joining you. The 45 minutes should be enough for everything including handing out the products and receiving the money.

4. What do you need?

A) Products to demonstrate and to sell.

B) Order forms for those who do not have money on hand.

C) Written material to hand out after the meeting. You don't want them reading it while you are making your pitch.

5. How to invite:

Simply go to someone and say "Can you help me? I just learned about these products/business and I want to do a demonstration. Invite a few friends. We'll have a great time!!" Then make a date and time.

6. Tips for the host:

Have the hosts only invite people they think would be interested in what you are offering. If you are selling diet related products, thin people may not be your target. This eliminates negative guests. You don't want quantity, you want quality of people.

7. Offer a gift to the host as an incentive:

It's better to offer the gift if the host achieves a certain goal at the party, e.g., number of attendees, sales goal or new member goal. The gift is given in front of the guests so everyone knows that they have an opportunity to host a house party and receive that same great gift.

8. Arrive 15 minutes early and set up:

This gives you time to feel comfortable and find out a bit about the guests. You may like to give early guests something to read.

9. Start:

Introduce yourself and your products or services. Answer any possible objections before they are asked, e.g. price, animal testing, etc. This prevents guests from cutting you off with questions.

10. Ask your host to serve the coffee. This is the time to ask for referrals and book more parties.

11. Follow up with the people who were at the meeting and start getting the dates for your next house parties and orders. Teach your new people how to do parties.

12. Make an appointment to talk with the host of the last house party. Tell the host that because of his or her help you now have three more house parties and ask if he or she would like to join you and do one or part of one of the house parties. Read on: