Post Card - Business Cards

At conference I had breakfast with a nice demonstrator named Crystal. She had some great ideas and conversation and before she left she reached in her bag to get a business card for me. Instead of a small, plain business card she pulled out a colorful postcard! She told me she prefers using these instead because they don't get lost as easily as business cards.

The front of the post card is preprinted floating candles and pink flowers and her Gold Canyon website is printed at the bottom. The reverse reads Gold Canyon Candles, Please feel free to call or visit my website www. mygc.com/_____ and shop 24/7. Contact me today to learn more about our products, demonstrator opportunities, home & catalog parties and fundraisers for your organization. Name, phone #.

The card was ordered from http://www.vistaprint.com/ , then click Marketing Materials>Postcards> and search for "candle" to see the designs. They cost $25/100. I thought it would be a great tool for reactivating customers and hosts who don't use email, or as an alternative to sitting on the phone all day. The possibilities are endless!

Another idea would be to use your old GC party invitation cards and print a label with your message to cover the invitation printing and mail as Thank-yous, Birthday wishes and other special occasions for your customers.

Demonstrator for a Day

If you have a potential recruit, invite her to use all of your supplies and be a "demonstrator for a day". It really lasts about a week - you basically set her up with your catalogs, receipts and samples and let her take orders. When it comes time to place her order, help enroll her first and then help her place the order under herself. She'll be on the road to success because she'll already have the first party under her belt and still have a month to finish earning her kit free or earning her first Quick Start level.

It's a Party Out There

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it!" ---Michelangelo

The key note speaker at conference on Saturday morning was Karen Phelps, Direct Sales Success Coach. She was beaming with enthusiasm and quick, witty humor, it was impossible not to love her! Her goal is to "keep the fun and profit in direct selling". She shared how our life is shaped by the decisions we have made. We create our own destiny. What are you creating with your Gold Canyon business? 45% of your success comes from prospecting (finding people and telling them what you do). 20% of your success comes from good presentation skills. 20% of your success comes from product knowledge and 15% comes from personal and professional development. So what do you need to do to be successful? Prospect, present, learn and develop. Most of our boundaries are in our head.
"Being successful means breaking down boundaries. No one wants to be mediocre but we are creatures of habit." - Karen Phelps
To help you succeed, you need to write down answers to the following questions and hold yourself to them.
*WHAT IS YOUR COMMITMENT TO YOUR GOLD CANYON BUSINESS?
*HOW MUCH WOULD YOU LIKE TO EARN FROM YOUR PARTIES IN THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS?
*WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH YOUR EARNINGS?
*HOW MANY TIMES PER WEEK DO YOU WANT TO HOLD PARTIES?
*WHEN DO YOU WANT TO HOLD PARTIES?
Here are some ideas for booking parties, which we all know, is where the money is at! First we all had to write down 5 potential hosts (try it! It was too easy) She also shared a forbidden phrase. We can not use the words "Do you want to have a party for me?" Instead use this script: "Hi, this is _______. I'm so excited! I just got back from Gold Canyon Convention and we have so many new and exciting products! I immediately thought of you because I know you will love them and want to earn some free! I have a couple of special dates for your party, __________ and __________. Which one is best for you?"

An idea that she brought to my attention is that if we don't treat our business like a business, we won't have regular paydays. That's a big perk of a 'real' job is having set paychecks. So if we want paid weekly or biweekly, we must book parties for that frequency or we'll miss our paydays! So start setting your dates and make the most of your business.

Booking Challenge: Call 5 leads each day for 10 days. Keep track of each call, the date, phone number, name and their lousy excuse. If you seriously get 50 rejections you can email karen@karenphelps.com and she'll give you 1.5hrs of free coaching. It's impossible *not* to succeed if you do this!

Here are some ways that Karen taught to be able to book 2 parties at every party: 1. During Host Coaching, have your host go through her guest list and mark "B" for "booking" next to the names she thinks would make good hosts. Offer her a special gift that if she has 2 parties booked before you come to the party. Then have her turn in the list to you and you will have more leads. 2. When the guests arrive, greet them by asking "Did you pre-book a party? Please decide before the party so _______ can get her free gift" 3. During your presentation, ask the group, "How many of you have ever had any type of home party? Raise your hand. Then after they raise their hands, say "I'm sure you do it for the same reason I do, to get free and discounted products. Let me show you what you'll get when you party with Gold Canyon..." Then let them know the average party is $400, which means the host gets $60 free plus 1 50% off item. Use your product and pile candles equivalent to that amount on the host's lap (or a separate table) plus be sure to add any of your own specials or promotions on there. 4. Play a booking game. This game is fool-proof for getting bookings. Hold up 3 gift bags, foofed up with tissue paper and looking pretty. Each needs to contain some kind of a booking gift. Then ask for 8 guests to volunteer, you know they will when you're holding those cute bags! After they're standing up in front of the group, give each volunteer a special envelope. Inform them that each envelope contains one of two messages. Either "Book A Party" or "Book a Party AND Receive a Gift". The game is that each gets the chance to open her envelope and see if she is just booking a show OR booking a show AND receiving the pretty gift bag. Each has the opportunity to "Pass" meaning give the envelope back to you and not "risking" a party, or she may open the envelope and see her fate, or she can "UPGRADE" to a "Bonus Envelope" which happens to be your host packet, and you promise that she'll receive her foofy bag the night of her party. It is fun to go down the line and see who's a chicken and passes, who takes chances, and open their envelopes, and who is confident and goes right for the bonus envelope. You can also open up the Bonus Envelope invitation to anyone left in the audience. After you've booked all 8 shows, ask your host, "Do you want to go to all 8 parties and SPEND money or do you want to sign up with me and EARN money at their parties?" Of course if she wants to sign up be sure to give her all of her friends' bookings so she can start her business off with a bang.

Here are some more sponsoring techniques: You sell Gold Canyon products! You market hope and opportunity! *WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL SPONSORING GOAL FOR THE NEXT 5 MONTHS? "Sponsoring is an unselfish act of sharing a fantastic opportunity!" -Karen Phelps In your party presentation, take 1-2 minutes to tell your story. This should include why you're passionate about our products or what drove you to sell them. Ask the guests if they think they could do what you're doing. Talk to your host about selling, make at least 3 attempts: 1. Add a sponsoring booklet to her host packet. During host coaching ask her "Have you ever thought about doing something like this?" 2. During your follow-up call to get directions or confirm the party, ask her "Have you thought more about selling? 3. During the party, get the host involved. Let her tell why she loves the products or why she booked a party. Let her help you pass out catalogs, let her draw winners for door prizes, and be as much of the presentation as possible. When totaling her party, let her know how much your commission was off her party and ask if she'd like to sign up and take this as her first party. She'll already know how easy it is because she's done most of the "work" with you!!
A quick sponsoring game that can be used at parties is pass out little strips with questions for the guests to ask you. You have to answer each in one sentence (avoid "verbal vomit"). The questions are: 1. How much does it cost to start up? 2. How soon can I promote/move up? 3. What type of training will I receive? 4. How much time do I have to spend? 5. What other perks are there? 6. How much will I make? 7. What is the best part about selling? 8. How often do you get paid? Be prepared with concise and positive answers!

Follow these steps and ideas and your business will explode!

Unstoppable

"Be a cause of your life, not an effect"

"My success depends on me"

"I am the one I've been waiting for"

"Work smarter not harder"

These are just a few of the ideas I loved from this presentation!

Our keynote speaker for Friday's session at convention was Cynthia Kersey, author of "Unstoppable", a book that reveals secrets and traits of some of America's greatest achievers. She taught us how we can create a breakthrough in our Gold Canyon businesses in just 30 days. The first step is making a decision: What do I want? That must be written down and specific. Then list 5 reasons Why I must achieve this goal? A strong enough "why" can bear any "how"! She showed a funny cartoon with the caption "I'm not ready to change my life, I'm still in the complaining stage". Hopefully that statement is not true! But it is important to realize and accept What BELIEFS have stopped me from moving forward with my goal? Then one can create empowering beliefs by raising your unstoppability quotient. Here are the ABC's of Unstoppability: A - Adversity - a triggering event (factual). Examples, someone turns down your invitation to purchase, a host cancels the party. Your initial interpretation is: B - Belief - internal self-talk evaluating the event. Examples, they're not interested, they don't like me. Then you feel or do: C - Consequences - quit or keep going. After you experience rejection, is your game over? NO! The new interpretation: D - Disputation - your New Belief. Next! next! next! You've got to get all the rejections out of the way so you can experience your success! and E- Energization - the new outcome. After you stick it out you'll have pleasure and excitement. You'll believe in your self. You can help others in your team believe in themselves, too.

The single most important action we need to take every day is to DO SOMETHING! Don't just think about it, do it. 5% of our actions are driven by our conscious mind. 95% of our actions are driven by our subconscious. 75% of our actions are driven by our negative thoughts. Be positive! A powerful purpose will get you through anything! If you would like more information about Cynthia Kersey's "Unstoppable" book or coaching, visit her official website http://www.unstoppable.net/ Cynthia finished her presentation with a quoted I LOVE by Marianne Williams: "You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking, so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

GC News Clips

For your enjoyment, here is a link to a 5-minute video clip of past media coverage about Gold Canyon. This would be a great link to share with customers hosts. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6231329150485591480

Telight Lollipop Favors

Here's an idea I brought back from conference. These tealight lollipops make great party favors, gifts and prizes. They look pretty with several different colors of candles and ribbons, and displayed piled into our hurricane glass. All you need is tealights, sucker sticks (purchase at Jo-Ann's or Michael's), netting, small ribbon, hot glue. It's easy, just hot glue the sucker sticks to the back of the tealight. Wrap the netting over and tie with ribbon. Your guests will love them!

General Session and Awards (Confention 2008)

Friday night was the big award ceremony - Gold Canyon's version of the Academy Awards. We all got to dress up, walk the red carpet, and they even had paparazzi dressed in hats and trench coats to photograph us as we walked in. Here's Patti (my roommie) with her new car. Gold Canyon announced their new incentive to become a Gold Director (the highest level possible) through December 2010 is a Mercedes S-class. To be a Gold Director you have to have at least 30 in your front line plus at least 2 Directors and 2 Senior Directors in your downline.

Here's Patti & I on the red carpet. No, I didn't get on stage this year. But I cheered my guts out for Kelly. After the awards there was a live band and as much dancing as we could squeeze in the symphony seating. We got back to the room at 11:30 and talked till 1am.
The previous pictures were Friday evening, the following are from our daytime events. Here's Kelly modeling her gorgeous Prayer Child necklace they were selling these at conference. Proceeds benefit Gold Canyon's Prayer Child Foundation http://www.prayerchild.org/.

We attended seminars and classes all day. Last year through Kelly I met these two cute girls from her team, Janet and Kelli. It was so fun to see them again this year and share how they have been able to grow their businesses from brand newbies to strong leaders.

The food is always great. This year was no different. Along with the Movin' & Shakin' theme, our lunch tables were decorated with the hurricane glass on a record, filled with bubble gum and a Cherry Lime Rickey candle with a matching bow around the top (see below). I wasn't trying to snap the ladies, just the centerpiece. Hi Jane and.... dang I still can't remember this other lady's name. I know she told me.
It was fun to get our lunch boxes! They were all in the shape of classic cars. Stuffed in the seats were tortilla wraps and chips. Not only fun, it was delicious!

This was a new poster, it's snapshots of Curt and Karen with all the celebrities who use Gold Canyon. Some I remember, Kenny Chesney, Whoopie Goldberg, Reba & lots more.

There was a Prayer Child program in the morning we got to see pictures of some of the recipients of prayer child grants. All of the children/families they help are nominated by Gold Canyon Demonstrators. They've donated over $1 million to help with medical bills, special equipment, surgeries and other expenses for special needs families. There is a committee that meets each month and they take the amount of money in the budget for the month and split it by the nominations (usually 12-15/mo) and then the demonstrator who nominated receives and presents the check. Of course they always spotlight one of the families on stage and our hearts and eyes are all overflowing. The Phoenix Boys Chorus performed "Simple Gifts" at the beginning of the program and finished with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", both songs accompanied by pictures of all the special, some suffering children on the screen behind. It is touching.

Back to the fun, this is Angela. It was her first year at conference but she was such a breath of fresh air! You can tell by this smile, she was so bouncy and fun. I'll share all my notes from the classes in a future post.

Movin' and Shakin' (Convention 2008)

Opening night at Convention is always fun because they have the big kick-off for the conference theme. Everything this year was from the 50s. I can't even start to describe all of the fun decorations, props, music, costumes... They had a dance troupe from Broadway entertaining us (Sherrilynn!!!). The pre-show entertainment was "expected". The costumes were typical, the dances traditional, very enjoyable but not fantastic. The SPECTACULAR part came when the curtain lifted for the "real" show and the dancers wore 50s costumes with a modern twist - and danced to updated versions of the 50s songs and "hip" renditions of those 50s dances. It was so enjoyable! Will all of you please come with me next year??? Then, in their final number, that song from the end of Grease.... what's it called?... "We go together like ramma-lamma-lamma-ka-ding-ditty-ding-de-dong" you know, that one. Curt & Karen (Gold Canyon's founders) came out center stage and danced the whole finale along with the troupe. It was very cute, obvious that they aren't dancers, but fun nonetheless. Karen was wearing a little black outfit kind of like Olivia Newton John did in Grease. She & Curt had gone to New York and taken lessons to be able to do that - so fun! I want to do that! They stayed on stage when the troupe finished the session by sharing and teaching the idea that learning to run our businesses effectively can be compared to learning to dance - it takes practice, and after you get the basic steps you can start adding fancy flourishes.

Like I said before, everything was decorated in juke boxes, diners, all kinds of cute things. One of my favorite, most creative, unique decorations was the giant balloon soda pops. There were several of these around the halls. This is my dear friend & mentor Kelly Montierth posing by the soda pop with me, in our poodle skirts, of course. (For those who haven't met me yet, I'm on the left)

Speaking of Kelly, she's so on the ball, she made all of us these cute satin pink scarves and gift bags with glasses, gum and other treats. We all worship Kelly so she let us sit up front with her, just kidding, we loved her before we knew she had the VIP seats. Help me with names somebody, L-R: ??, Janet, Nancy, Jane, Kelli, ??, Angela; Bottom: Kelly & I

After the big opening session we were all pumped up and ready for the Fall Product Release party. This is where we get to see, touch and smell all of the new fall product first hand. And of course, refreshments!!! My plate looks wimpy but I was feeling full from our Mexican dinner at Matador's. I took this picture because I wanted to remember to make these things for my fall party, MINIATURE PUMPKIN PIES!!!!, coconut macaroons, peppermint bark and brownies. They also had a chocolate fountain with all kinds of dipping things.

Gold Canyon had the entire ballroom filled with rented furniture and false walls - made to look as cozy and welcoming as someone's home (mansion)- and every room was decked to the max with candle displays. It was so incredible! I won't make you all jealous by telling you they sold us boxes of the used items dirt cheap! Okay, I will. Anyways, these pictures will give you some great ideas for staging your candle displays for your fall parties.

This was one out of the Halloween room. The little feet on the left are the "Witches' Brew" set. To their right is our Floating Tealight Trio and instead of filling it with water they put gummy eye balls in it! Sitting on the place seting is the other part of the Witches Brew shoes, but instead of the cauldron they come with, one of our floating tealight cups is filled with candy corns and a little place holder is stuck inside.

I sell tons of the Iron Votive Centerpiece holders, and I always love the endless possibilities with it. Here, it's shown framed by two tapers in our new Dual Hammered Glass holders (with a fall leaf stuck inside), and then the Iron Votive Centerpiece has skinny pinecones stuck inside some of the votive cups! The other cups have candles of course, and then it's finished off with wired dall ribbon wrapped all around the edge and tied in the front for a finishing touch. It looked fantastic!

These little squirrels are so much cuter in real life than in the catalog! I loved how they put this little guy in our Footed Glass Hurricane, al sitting on top of fall berries, and then little plastic acorns and fall leaves help set the scene. These little guys looked right at home scattered all around the fall colors and leaves. They'll fit in perfectly to everyone's fall decor!

I'm not so sure burning candles on hay bales is such a great idea. These were fake hay, though and hopefully flame-retardant. Well we didn't have any accidents anyway. These displays were simpler, but they offered a nice mood grouped with the fall props. Lots of us probably already have scarecrows and pumpkins and such. Just take a few things you already have to spruce up the table at your next party!

This was another beautiful table. Each dinner plate featured one of our sparkling new Ruffled Candle Pedestals, holding cinnamon stickes tied with raffia, and then a little country home-made pinecone turkey (see his red head, googly eyes and straw tail) It was country meets sophistication - I think I'll try it on my Thanksgiving table this year! See more squirrels sitting around on the runner. Also, tied to the front of the pillar is the hang tags off our new Harvest Hearth candle.

This is my favorite idea HANDS DOWN! The large French Vanilla and Buttercreme Pillar is wrapped in biscotti!!!!!!!! Yummo! And it was all tied together with a cream colored satin ribbon. This would make the perfect display to show your Caffe Velluto candles! And look at the little copper coffee-shaped wick dipper leaning on the saucer. That's only available in our exclusive "Double Shot" Gift Box.

This display was elegant and gorgeous, too. Our Cottage Tealight Lamp (left) was surrounded in pretty glass ornaments and glittering leaves. Then on the right, the Gold Leaf Floret holds our newest product, a DIFFUSER! There was so much hype about these diffusers, I guess everyone has been requesting them like crazy. They last 3-5 months and the sticks use every last drop of the fragrance oil. I thought this was a very attractive way to display it.

This was a bedroon. At the foot of the bed was three Footed Glass Hurricanes sat on mirror tiles. Each hurricane has glass tree ornament bulbs in the colors of the pillar candle. Shown: Heather & Hyacinth; French Vanilla & Buttercream.

On to Christmas! This little Gingerbread House scene is self-explanatory - using cotton snow with little people and trees. It was creative that one of the Gingerbread Houses was sat up on our Candy Cane Columns for height variation. By the way - each of these adoreable Gingerbread Houses is our new tealight holders for the season!

Another use for the Gingerbread House holders - place holders again. I didn't zoom in enough to see how they attached the card to the chimney. Each piece of stem ware is donning the felt hang-tag from our new Peppermint Bark candle. Also in the center of the table it's hard to see but the floating glass tealight holders are filled with water and red rose petals. It looked very lovely.

This is another favorite of mine. The brown box is one of our current plush gift boxes which has been filled with ornaments, glittery leaves and taper candles tucked right in. This was so beautiful!

This is kind of a top view so it doesn't look that great, but it was. There are jingle bells sprinkled around like confetti. Then, two Ruffled Candle Pedestals are stacked on top (like tiers) both filled with gumdrops and the top pedestal holds the new Gingerbread candle. Both of the floating glass tealight holders on the side are filled with mini gumdrops and tied with matching Gingerbread hang-tags. The glass tealight squared have a simple ribbon tied around to make them more colorful.

This was way cute and easy. The glass hurricane is filled with mini candy canes and our new Peppermint Bark candle is nestled inside. Each of those votive cups are filled with peppermints and a tealight on top. All have the Peppermint Bark hang tag on them.

I really liked this red, white and blue Christmas display. I wouldn't have thought to put the Snow Bear Hugger on top of the Candy Cane Column like that. And all of the blue Amber Woods and Savannah Rain pillar candles look beautiful. There are two small holders on the left, a set of the Snow Bear Votives - and the votive glass is filled with red berries or candies or something.

Home Office Tour (Convention 2008)

Day 1: Thursday - Home Office Tours. Our tour bus picked us up from the hotel and took us to Chandler to Gold Canyon's office. All of the production, customer service, finances, everything takes place there.
There are bricks paving the way to the front of the building with all of the original "Charter" Distributors who invested the "old" way - $5,000 initial investment. They've now changed to make it easier for everyone to join - only $99 now. I'm laying on sun baked bricks that are like 400 degrees to get this picture in the bright sun with my brick. The name of my business was "The Candle Closet".

Close up

Here we are in the warehouse, they have about 12 aisles like this, floor to high ceiling, with candles ready to be picked and packed for orders. We didn't get to go inside the "top secret" section where the candles are poured.

I don't remember this conveyor belt the last time I went through, I was impressed at how fast the boxes travel through it, from the picking line they are dropped, scanned and travel here for weiging and shipping/packing labels. All was quick and computerized, fun to watch.

Here's the new expanded warehouse. It's an additional 100,000 sq. ft. of space to grow into. The ceilings are higher and more skylights to make it brighter. Loved the motion lights, as you walk the lights over head turn on automatically, so only the parts that are being use light up.

After the tour we met in the employee break room for refreshments. Of course it was decorated to the max in our 50s theme. It was certainly a party in there.

In the hallways of the office, they have large (huge) banners with all of last year's recognition posted. Remember, these are the top 100 out of 25,000 demonstrators nationwide. I made it for Highest Average Frontline Sales 2007

Here's a close-up, I should have stepped back so I could see my numbers, not sure how much.

These two pictures are out of order, another one of our team members, Mary made it to the fundraising chart. Go Mary!

There was fun tour-y info on the busses for the 30-min drive from the hotel. They gave all kinds of AZ trivia and even brought some huge lizards for us to hold and learn about. Here's the gal holding the lizard, and "Angel Island Chuckwalla" on her chest. It was gross and freaked me out being so near to her while she was doing the presentation. I didn't want to hold it but lots of passengers did.

It was a fun tour, from start to finish took about 2 1/2 hours. I look forward to sharing the experience IN PERSON with all of you next year!