Starting a party planning co. can you help?

[Sean11]

Hi

I am Sean from the UK, my main I run a jewellery wholesale business on the south coast and am looking in to starting a party plan division, any help or advice you can give would be most appreciated.

The sort of thing I need to know is what are you looking for in a party plan supplier, what can I do to make the planners life easier?

The things I have thought of so far are I need to print catalogues and price lists of the complete range, I need to get some invitations to parties printed and maybe some posters too, I need to put together a sample pack of the jewellery for the planners to use as demonstration pieces, this is where I come in to a bit of a problem, as I wish to give a good number of items as demonstration pieces (30 or so, in boxes) and this suddenly pushes the price of the kit to over £500 or $900.

I think £500 is too much to expect someone to pay out on a part-time business, maybe I am wrong, but it is also more than I am willing to give away for free, the retail value of the pack would be in excess of £1250 and I feel that each party, depending on size etc, should bring in £150 for the planner.

Any ideas of how I can minimise the risk of loosing the jewellery or what you feel an expectable amount would be for the purchase of the starter pack, and anything else I should include in the pack to help the planner?

I look forward to reading your replies and hope I can get this moving in the very near future.

All the best

Sean

[LorettaA]

If I remember correctly from researching other jewelry companies, 30 pieces is a lot. You could probably cut that down to 15, maybe even less. Offer planners a discount to purchase items to add to their kit.

Look at other direct sales jewelry business to see what they offer in thier started kits. Most companies have the contents of the kit listed on thier website.

[Home&GardenGirl]

Yes, I agree, 30 pieces sounds like a lot. I heard somewhere, you don't want it to look like you're moving in to the hostesses house. My products are much bigger than jewelry, but it's the same idea. If you have catalogs available, they don't need to bring a lot. I cut back a lot of what I bring to shows (cut it about in half) and it hasnt bothered my sales at all.

Also, have contests to earn more products for free. For example, if they sell $1000 in February they can earn a pair of earrings, if they sell $1500 they can earn the earrings and bracelet set, if they sell $2500 they can earn the earrings, bracelet and necklace set. Obviously adjust those details to fit, but you get the idea.

Good luck,
Mindy