Online parties are a great alternative to the traditional home parties done by Direct Sales companies in the past. They are very similar, yet at the same time, so very different.

Home parties are just as they sound, A party in the home. They can be very time consuming and require the Representative to be comfortable talking in front of crowds of people, and generally to have products on hand, and demonstrate. No doubt, seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling products is a great way to get sales, but it can also be costly if you must pay for your demonstration products!

Online parties are great in the fact that you dont have to worry about how you look or sound, you can even do them in your pajamas (as I have done many times!), you do not have to be comfortable talking to a crowd, you just have to be able to type into a chat room full of people! There is no need to have product on hand, you can send your website address out and people can look at your "online brochure" and ask questions from there.

Now for the basics:

Preparations -

Find a Hostess

Set a date

Choose a chat room to use, or make your own

Plan any games or specials you want to offer

Send out invitations/Advertise

Actual Party -

Thank people for attending

Introduce yourself and your business

List your specials

Discuss your products

Allow time for product questions

Discuss business opportunity (if available)

Allow time for opportunity questions

Games can be done at any point during the party

Tips -

Try to keep the conversation flowing and on topic. It might be a good idea to have a friend or family member participate with the job of asking lots of questions that you can answer to keep your other attendees interested in the topic of conversation.

Be prepared! For almost every party I do I create a script to use. I create the outline of what I am hoping to accomplish during the party and then in a notepad file I write down what I am planning to say, along with my website address, special offers, email address, etc, so that it can be easily posted throughout the party.

If you have late arrivals be sure to repost your website, email and special offers when they arrive.

If you choose to play games, make sure they are games that pertain to your products and/or services. Games that make the party goer visit your website and look around for answers are the best! (Product Name Scrambles, Description/Product Matches, etc)

It is a good idea to let your special offers be extended for a couple days after the party, in case the attendees do not see something they are interested in at that moment, but gives them a chance to save your information for awhile in case they think of something they want that you might be able to offer.

One thing that has been fairly successful for me is for every online party that I do, I offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount, a free gift with every order (use your profits to purchase something small), and I choose a random item to offer a big discount on if they order it that night. People LOVE anything free and discounts!