You need to get out and about and do some 'networking'.
Check your local advertisement fliers, classifieds, community bulletin boards, etc for scheduled craft fairs, church rummage sales, open air flea markets, etc where you can set up a sales table. Call anyone who looks like they have a possible venue for you.
Advertise that you are available to put on a sales party. Some local advertising papers even let you put in a couple of lines for free.

I sold Tupperware and had the same problem. Once my family and friends threw the parties, I was out of luck. I put fliers and brochures everywhere. It seemed like everyone I talked to already knew someone who sold the product. :(

I don't sell. However this is what a friend who sells Southern Living at Home does. She has small advertisements in the local country register free monthly mag. Also in the monthly family home mag. You know the type, free at local discount stores or at public library.I also had a friend who sold Avon. She wore the avon pin faithfully everyday whenver she left the house.She said that sometimes people would just ask her, and she was always ready to hand out a catalog. Hope this helps.

Once you threw parties for your family...did the people that came to their parties have parties? Or did they like just invite your family over? Usually it helps to get others involved in the parties like co-workers and friends to get them to have parties and invite new people and get more parties...etc. Also could you get friends and family members to maybe ask people at work if they would be interested in a party? Maybe they are but don't know anyone who sells the stuff? I think you also have to do what others suggested and get your name out there in public places and in the newspaper and things. I know I've even seen a sign out front of a lady's house on our road saying she's a Tupperware rep. Oh, and each year at Christmas a Tupperware lady always rents a small cart in the mall and sells stuff from there. She must make her money back at least because she's been there about 3 years now.

Curious--what is Longaberger?? I sold Avon for ten years, but did not do as good as I should have. Tried to be friends with too many people, and I should have been more sales person. After i quite, no one even contacted me and boy were my feelings hurt. It is very hard to sell and be friends, except with your close friends and relatives. Being a SAHM, might cut your time during the day etc, and is your husband willing to baby sity evenings and is it safe to do nights? Could you find a coop day care to help out? Also bouth Tupperware and Avon do sales parties where part of the funds are donated to the orginizations. I wish you the best.
Marie

Try having an Open House or Customer Appreciation Night. Invite your friends and also ask them to bring a friend. Each person who arrives with someone not formally invited gets a small prize. Promote it as an evening of fun. No one is obligated to buy anything! You can show new products and try to book a few parties, but mostly it's for you to meet new people! A friend of mine sells via home parties and does very well. She sends out monthly newsletters via email and offers special incentives to either book a party or refer new customers. Just try being a little more creative!

Hollyj,
Longaberger baskets are wonderful products, I have quite a few in my home. But they're extremely expensive. And they are not a necessity item; they're kind of the Cadillac of baskets. At first I bought because I thought they were neat accessory items. Then I bought to help out the gal because she needed the money. Now I don't hardly buy any-when I looked at the investment in a Longaberger basket & what else I could be buying with the money I felt I wasn't being very thrifty. A person can go to nearly any discount store or gift shop & purchase a basket that might not be as good of quality, but can be replaced without guilt a few years down the road to update style or size.

I said those things because if you're going to improve sales you're going to have to continually network & market to new clientele, send out newsletters or show new decorating ideas & styles to keep your market alive. Convince the people why your product is worth the investment.

Maybe you need to consider a different program I don't need to sell product each month or have inventory. It's so simple. Provide services you already use and save your customers Money!! Get paid each month everytime they are billed!!!call me at 1-866-807-3906 ask for Mark or check the links

Here is a link that might be useful: Just L@@K Change your Life forever

I sold Mary Kay and did rather well until I realized that to replace my income I had to sell quite a bit! I was on my way to getting the car, but realized I liked being a nurse and missed it. So...I became a nurse again! Since you are a sahm (GOOD FOR YOU!) and want to make some extra money, I would try selling something more consumable. I would suggest Mary Kay cosmetics, BUT you really have to be someone who likes to dress up and look nice and be very "girly." Since that wasn't me (although, I would recommend the MK products to anyone...I still use them as they make your skin look GREAT) there are other companies you can look into. Try putting in "Direct Sales" into a search engine. I went to a "Tastefully Simple" tasing party and I thought it was pretty good stuff. If you want to know more, feel free to post and I will email you. Otherwise, look up Tastefullysimple.com and they have a list of consultants in your area and you might be able to contact them. I am not a distributer, so I don't know what their terms are, but it seems like a good deal.

Josa

Hi there... I do slumber parties and have recently started pampered chef. I love the pampered chef because you do not have inventory AND...We have montly meetings where we get alot of good ideas. I try to take my Pampered Chef Training and put it into the slumber parties also. I have alot of suggestions I would be willing to share with you directly via email. Let me know..I will check back here to see if you are interested and give you my email address than. Thanks

Sorry, I haven't been back in awhile. Did we ever email teeweone? Lol. Can you tell I've been so busy. I even bought my friend a Christmas present 3 times because I kept forgetting I already had something for her.

no you have not emailed me use tinaathome_2000@yahoo.com
I have all kinds of suggestions for you.. Happy holidays..

I sell Tastefully Simple. I have just started with the company but where I live It is still a really new thing so I'm having success at having parties and even recuiting new people. And since my prdoucts are food, people keep coming back for more!

I agree with Hilltop, Longaberger has some great stuff. I especially love the pottery, but it is so expensive. I would love to use their place settings for everyday, but I would like a service for 12 and that would be several hundred dollars. I just can't justify this right now, so I keep using the cheap stuff I bought years ago. I think with the economy as it is right now, people are applying the "nice but not necessary" rule. I hope you get over your slump soon. Good luck

Did anyone else have trouble accessing the website that Mark Macey posted? It's unavailable to me - but I could access his email address (didn't try to send a message, though - didn't have anything to say: O.K., I know that sounds strange from loquacious joyful).

hollyj3,

Often when you sell goods, you must first buy them, pay shipping, store them, lose some to deterioration, have money tied up in inventory, pay insurance, shipping to customer, worry about getting paid, etc.

Some companies offering goods will drop ship, so that avoids inventory problems for you - but few companies do the shipping themselves, they farm it out to others, who charge substantial fees.

All of which increases the price of the goods.

Especially if you've been recruited by others, who also get a small piece of the action.

As quite a few have said - often MLM products are overpriced, for the reasons alluded to above.

You can't ship products over the internet - but you can sure as heck transfer ideas using that method. The internet is a great place to move ideas from person to person.

Do you have a skill or knowledge that others would like to have if they knew about it, that you can make available to people?

Developing the idea takes some time, effort and emotional energy. It may involve some time to do research, etc., though often that will develop in bite-size pieces as you go.

Once your information is gathered and assembled in a professional way, it's no trouble to duplicate it. And no additional cost tied up in inventory.

All that you must do is send the messages over the internet.

Very simple.

Once the information is in place, you have three problems:

*how are you going to let potential clients know that your service is available, and

*that it is of such superior quality that they should ask for your product rather than similar types of information offered by others?

*Third is that you have to arrange for transfer of the money from the client to you.

Sorry - you can't ship it over the internet - though there are agencies that will look after the transfer (for a fee, of course, which you may or may not feel is at a justifiable level).

If you look at "Organizing the Home"(?), I think it's "bouncing pig" that's been working as a power seller on ebay, and recently was working on an idea of helping people organize their home, with a friend, but is backing down, as she feels that the friend (of many years) is too controlling. She has an idea for selling goods that she makes on the internet.

Good wishes for a better result in whatever aspect of business that you choose to get involved during the New Year - and best wishes to you and yours.

ole joyful

I don't sell anything, but I recently went to a Tupperware party that was very different. It was held in a meeting room in a hotel, and there were probably 5 or 6 reps there, each with 1 or 2 parties. Everyone in the room played Bingo, and occasionally they would take a break and talk about the Tupperware. Each Bingo they would give out small tupperware things, then they had a raffle (proceeds from the raffle go towards the room rental). The prize for the raffle was the Clear Salad Bowl, tongs, 4 of the acrylic glasses, 4 open house salad plates, and 4 open house large plates. GREAT prize, lol, I won it. Anyway, it was nice because none of the hosts had to clean their house or clean up, and it was different than going and sitting in someones home. I know they had a Mary Kay party going in the next room too. Just an idea ...