Tucson Regional Meeting 9/1

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a regional meeting launching our fall products. I was pleased to have some of our team members representing us. I got to present the new fall line up to the group, and brought some home made Caramel Pecan Brittle from the recipes in our new fall catalog. It was a sweet way to showcase our new Sweet Traditions line.

One of my favorite quotes from the evening is "The fortune is in the follow up". I think we often grab our money and run and forget to take great care of our customers. I'm going to work harder at following up with my customers so I can keep them coming back to me.

We had a great presentation about Gold Canyon's Prayer Child foundation. It is important for us to be aware and share what we know with our friends, guests, hosts and customers. It was stressed to push the Prayer Child line by selling at least one at every party. One of the demonstrators in attendance has applied for assistance from the Prayer Child Foundation for a special friend of hers. The program is close to home, there to help and we need to be supporting it.

Notice my pose, I'm trying to show off the Prayer Child Bracelet I won in the raffle at our meeting! It is the new 2009 addition to Gold Canyon's jewelry, silver with a chunky dangling heart, designed exclusively for the Prayer Child Foundation. Buy yours for $75 at http://www.prayerchild.org/. Profits benefit the foundation for children in need. It goes with everything from t-shirt & jeans to dresses and is a great conversation starter for your business!

We received a BOOKING handout I wanted to share with you. Everything in your Gold Canyon business starts when you book a selling appointment. From it comes sales, more bookings, regular customers and new team members. So your first step is to PACK YOUR CALENDAR! When you are writing on your calendar, you are writing in your checkbook!!! All you have to do is simply follow the suggested outline below. Then BELIEVE, WORK, FOLLOW THROUGH and IT WILL HAPPEN!

1. Make a list of every person you can imagine, to ask about giving them an opportunity to introduce their friends to our fabulous new products and scents.

2. Set aside one hour a day, your "Power Hour", each day of the week to work on the phone. Call each person to tell her you are participating in a special program and your assignment is to introduce at least five people this week to our fabulous new products and fragrances. Then ask for a date, giving her a choice (Tuesday night or Thursday night). Next, tell her to please share her Gold Canyon experience with five to ten friends and how she can receive free products. Explain our Host program and current monthly promotions. BOOK HER and then call your next prospect.

3. It is imperative that every one of your customers receives at least one phone call per catalog cycle. Seasonal changes in fragrances and updates in new products make it a vital service on your part as their PROFESSIONAL DEMONSTRATOR. Call and book a home or catalog party by offering the opportunity to earn free products or invite them to your open house.

4. The best possible place to book a party is at your party or open house. Your goal is to always book two selling appointments, one to replace the appointment you just had and one to grow on! Leaving a selling appointment without your 2 bookings is like walking out of your host's home and leaving money on the table. I would be much more excited about a $150 party with two bookings than a $400 party with no bookings. BOOKINGS ARE THE LIFELINE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

5. There are many other ways to book, however, the KEY to each and every approach is simply ask and expect a YES! The worst possible result you will get is a "no" and believe it or not, that will not injure or disable you unless you let it. A "no" is not a terminal situation, unless you want it to be.

These are our regional leaders, Senior and Gold Managers from Tucson. L-R Dana, Toni, me, Kathleen Quirk (home office), Kim, Lisa

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.