When you signed on as a representative for your home party business, you probably knew what you were in for. You were aware that you'd need to stand up in front of strangers and present your products in a fun and creative way. You understood that you would be hauling product in and out of homes, taking orders, spending time away from your family a couple nights (or more) per week. You knew you'd have to work on getting hostesses to book parties.

Unfortunately, once the hostess sets a date, many representatives sit back and relax until the day of the show. But, the truth is, the time between the booking and the show date is crucial. In fact, this is the time you should be working the hardest.

Why? Because if you don't, chances are good that the day of the show your telephone will ring and it will be your hostess calling with bad news. She will be calling to cancel her show.

Although there are legitimate reasons for a hostess to cancel, most excuses are simply, “I don't have enough people coming.” And, hey, I don't blame them. If they're not going to have a successful show, why bother?

So what can you do to ensure that your hostess does have a successful turnout and, ultimately, a winning show?

• Mail the invitations yourself. Tell your hostess to come up with twenty (or more) names of people to invite and their addresses – both street and email. Then you send the invitations yourself. Not only are you saving the hostess time, you are making sure the invitations actually get sent.

• Follow up with a phone call. Some hostesses don't like to call and “bug” their friends. So do it for them! Since many invitations end up getting tossed in the trash or forgotten about, a simple reminder could just up that final count. When you call, include a certain special you're offering that wasn't included on the invitation for an added motivation to show up. Also mention that just by coming, they will be helping their friend or family member achieve free or largely discounted items.

• Offer plenty of catalogs. Encourage your hostess to pass out as many catalogs as possible to get orders from people unable to attend. Offer an incentive for achieving a certain number of pre-show orders or sales totals.

• Keep in touch with your hostess. Don't reserve that phone call for the day of the show. Call a few days after the invitations are sent to see how many responses she has received. Call again three days before the show to see how things are coming along and whether she has any questions. Make one last call the day of the show to get directions to her home as well as a final guest count. Be sure to ask your hostess if she needs you to pick up anything on your way over that she may have forgotten.

These things may not always ensure that your hostess will have a good turnout but they will certainly help! Remember, the time in between the booking and the date of the party is not a time to relax. The work you do during that time may just determine the success of the show.