INSPIRING DEMO STORY

(From our Demo Website)
Best, Fastest Way to Get Results

February 22, 2010

We've been focusing on the power of the workshop to strengthen and build your business, and several of you have shared your success stories with us. Recently Catherine Pooler, a demonstrator who has served on the Stampin' Up! Advisory Board and earned recognition as a top ten Demonstrator of the Year, told us the following:

When I started this business six and a half years ago, it was to get some free Stampin' Up! goodies. Within a couple weeks, though, I realized that it was a viable business opportunity that would allow me to work from home, go out on the weekends and evenings a few times a month, and not have to put my kids in day care. In less than six months, I was making more money than my previous job as a teacher.

And I did this doing workshops.

I have been successful with Stampin' Up! beginning with my first year, and my success came from doing four to eight workshops each month. About two and a half years ago, it became harder to book workshops, and when I did have a workshop, the sales were low. So I stopped asking for bookings. I was lucky to do one or two a month. I relied on my current customer base and my clubs. As a result, I saw my sales, club membership, and recruiting plummet, followed by my enthusiasm.

This past July, I booked five workshops! Wow! I hadn't had more than two workshops in a month in more than a year. And July? July is usually a light month. My enthusiasm went through the roof! I was excited!

And guess what followed? More bookings. More sales. New club members. I'm having my best January yet--and it's mostly from workshops.

Workshops work--and they're easy! When I am preparing for ONE workshop, I am preparing for all of them for the month. I design a few different projects, cut a bunch of card stock for all of them, and keep everything on a shelf for easy access. When it's time to go, I grab a couple boxes, make sure my catalogue bag is stocked, and I'm gone! A few hours of work, a whole lot of fun introducing people to what I love, great sales, new bookings and club members--that's what you get from workshops. (Don't get me wrong, they don't ALL turn out great, but most do!)

Sometimes we feel like we have to have a strong Internet presence to compete in today's world. Although I have a blog, the blog isn't essential to my success at all. Reaching out to people in our neighborhoods, our friends, our families and asking them to stamp with us--that is what will make us successful.

Picture this: A demonstrator gets her Starter Kit, has an open house two weeks later, gets sales and couple of bookings. She's off! She can do several workshops using the contents from her Starter Kit, along with a little ribbon and card stock, plus a punch or two.

Another demonstrator gets her kit, works to get her web site up and running, posts every day with traffic gradually increasing, hoping to get sales. In the meantime she's had to purchase almost everything in the catalogue to show new things all the time, and she's worked just about every day.

My blog is an addition to my current business, which I'm basing on the workshop model. That's the best and fastest way to get results!

YOUR "30 SECOND ELEVATOR SPEECH"

Hi Ladies:

If you've ever been asked what you do and you're not quite sure how to explain it, here's one suggestion:

"I'm the owner of ___________, a rubber stamping and scrapbooking business. Did you know that scrapbooking is the #1 craft-related hobby in North America with over $2.7 billion dollars spent on supplies last year - up from the year before!

I work with people who are interested in this hobby to help them create handmade scrapbooks, cards, invitations and more. And, for people who would like to start their own paper crafts business, either as a full-time endeavour or as a way to gain a little financial security, I help them get established and grow."

From John Sanpietro

DIRECTIONS FOR EASY A2 CARD BOX

A2 (CARD SIZE) BOX


 One 7 3/4" x 9" piece of cardstock for your box base

 One 6 7/8" x 8 1/8" piece of cardstock for your lid

 Scor-Pal™ or other scoring tool

 Scor-Tape™ or other strong adhesvie

 Scissors

 Stamps

 Ink

 Ribbon

 Additional cardstock and embellishments to decorate your box if you wish.

Step-by-Step

1. Step 1

Score your 7 3/4" x 9" piece of cardstock at 1 1/2" on each side.


2. Step 2

On the long sides of the cardstock, cut the score lines up to the point where they connect with the score lines from the short side.


3. Step 3

Prefold all your score lines.


4. Step 4

Apply Scor-Tape™ to each of the four outside corners. These are your glue tabs.


5. Step 5

Peel off the paper lining of the Scor-Tape™ and fold in the glue tabs to create the bottom of your box.


6. Step 6

Stamp your 6 7/8" x 8 1/8" piece of cardstock if needed.


7. Step 7

Scor the cardstock at 1".


8. Repeat scoring the cardstock piece at 1" on each side.


9. Step 8

As in step 2, cut the scor lines of the long side to the point where they connect with the score lines of the short side.



10. Step 9 (Optional)

Punch each side with your Scallop Edge Punch. No need to punch the glue tabs.



11. Step 10

Cut down your glue tabs so they won't show under the scallops. Add Score-Tape™ to each of the four corners.



12. Step 11

Prefold your score lines. Peel off your paper liner of the tape and fold the glue tabs in to finish the lid of the box.



13. Step 12 (Optional)

Add more color and depth by sponging the edges of your lid.



14. Step 13

Fill your box with either matching cards or other goodies.

NOTES FROM LEADERSHIP: MOTIVATING INVESTMENT

OK, I want to make macaroni and cheese (i.e. Kraft Dinner), what do I need?
Noodles - yes
Cheese - yes
Milk - yes
Stove - yes
And ... oh yes, a pot with water.
This is a recipe that guarantees results because millions of people have made it.

Monroe's Motivated Sequence (MMS) is a guaranteed result because millions of people use it (you can identify it in almost every commercial), and we can use it in our Stampin' Up! business, with workshop bookings, hostess training, and recruiting new demos.

The five points in MMS
1. Get the person's attention
2. Identify/develop a need or problem
3. Satisfaction - the product will solve the need.
4.Visualization - (the most important point) picture overcoming the problem and the benefits from it.
5. Call to Action - Ask

How does this fit with SU?
Bookings:
1. Attention - Show what we can create with paper - easy to do in a workshop or class, outside of these we can send cards, use accessories to open a conversation (rag purse, fabric flowers, logo wear, car decals, volunteer card making services, distribute catalogues)
2. Need. There is a set of needs that we will always have that are identified by the Relational Dialectics Theory:
- Need a connection to others
- Need novelty for interest
- Need to share
Stampin' Up! workshops and classes fufil all these needs.
3. Satisfaction - Stampers and Scrappers have fun when they get together, they try new things, and share what they have made
4. Visualization - Tell them how your classes work so they can imagine themselves there. Show them samples so they can imagine themselves making them.
5. Invite them to a class or other event.

With Hostess Coaching:
1. Attention - Tell her about the exclusive products and free merchandise that only hostesses can obtain.
2. Need - To feel comfortable about hosting the workshop, to find enough people to attend, to earn what she wants.
3. Satisfaction - Help her to relax - "I'll help you find people", "Don't worry about your house, I'll make sure we'll have lots of fun."
4. Visualization - A successful workshop. We can help hostesses have a succesful workshop without a hard sell. Say something like "In the past I've had hostesses tell guests - you don't have to buy anything - but that doesn't result in a good workshop for you. You don't have to talk about buying things, just tell them it will be fun - I'll make sure everyone has a great time and are glad they came."
5. Invite/Ask - Invite the hostess to get excited about the workshop, and the products, and get her involved. "Show your friends some of the things you've made (if she has), tell them how much you enjoyed the workshop you attended."

Recruiting:
1. Attention - Listen for those who say "I wish I had some exta money to get all the stuff I want". Consider your good customers - although you will lose them as a customer, you can still retain them in your classes etc. Plus someone else might ask them to sign up first, and that would be a bigger loss.
2. Needs - Money, product, connection with others, achievement.
3. Satisfaction - "I'll help you learn how to make money and run your business. We'll get together to learn new techniques and share ideas."
4. Visualization - "You'll be able to create your own stamping room." "You'll be able to help your daughter create her own wedding invitations and table favours".
5. Ask/Invite - "Now is a good time to sign up because it's: Sale-A-Bration, just before Christmas, easier to travel to workshops because it's spring/summer." etc.

Be proud that you have your own business, be proud that you have ideas and methods to make it successful.

Winged Spring

This is a class that both Linda and I found independently of each other, and both love. I'm offering it this month (February) and Linda is offering it in March. It's from a ten week class from Jackie Topa
I love the little picket fence holder (I use the white backing from the DSP papers to make the holder as it's stronger than plain paper.)

And here's a photo of the four cards:

Jackie uses the Extra Large Two Step Bird punch and the Eggcellent Eggs Kit to make these, and it's easy and a lot of fun. For instance - the pink petals on the top card are made with the 'wing' on the Bird punch. The little flowers on the yellow card, and the borders on all are from the sheets in the Eggcellent Eggs kit.