How to Sell Pampered Chef® Successfully
I’m not an expert sales person or even professionally trained. But I have had quite a bit of success so I wanted to share what I’ve learned with you.
I’ve been selling for a long time. For as long as I can remember actually. I started selling pickles at a farmers markets in New York City when I was in college to help pay tuition. It was an incredible experience. And I learned a lot.
Can you make money selling Pampered Chef®? You bet! This article will help you learn how to start selling Pampered Chef. For the seasoned pro, these ideas can take your business up a level.
Success Begins with the Product
Get to know the product and believe in it. People can tell when you are excited about Pampered Chef—enthusiasm is catching.
Pampered Chef offers so much that you won’t be an expert all at once, but learn all you can, section by section, product by product. When you know and love what you are selling, your authenticity shines through.
Know Your Customer as Well as You Know the Product
Knowing the Pampered Chef product lines is the first step in selling. When you are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, customers respond.
They can tell you are genuine and trust you more. Enthusiasm is infectious. To be an effective consultant, understand what makes Pampered Chef special and be able to explain those differences to customers.
Who cares about the Pampered Chef products? Cooking fans and foodies are obvious. How about people looking for convenience? Those taking on a specific project like baking pastry or learning about Thai cuisine? Are there people looking for gifts fitting a specific occasion?
When you have uncovered potential customer groups, think about their needs and interests. Is there an opportunity in back-to-school outfitting a dorm room? What tools would be good Father’s Day gifts? Could moms returning to the workforce need help with fast, easy meals? Start thinking and you will come up with amazing insights.
Next think about where you would find each group of potential customers. What are their routines? How do they get information? People in yoga classes might be interested in tools for healthy eating. Bridal events might be a good place to find people looking to set up a gift registry.
Commit to a Plan
People who fail to make money selling Pampered Chef usually don’t put out the right effort. They start strong, then burn out. They run out of ideas. They exhaust their existing network of friends. This does not need to happen to you. Don’t just rely on the same old same old. Accept the reality that your life responsibilities might sap your energy and take away your focus. Then set up a plan that you can sustain over the long haul:
Decide how much time you can devote to your business—be realistic given your regular commitments to family and work.
Set a schedule that sets aside time for selling Pampered Chef every week. Is it when the kids are asleep? Is it before you leave for your day job? Is it only weekends?
Make your business a part of your routine and stick to that routine. If you put it on the back burner, you won’t be successful. It is better to spend two hours a week every week than 20 hours one week every quarter.
Set goals to stay motivated and help you avoid procrastination and distraction. Enlist your family in helping you focus on achieving those goals.
Stay patient. You have to connect with many people to find the one who buys. And you have to talk to most people more than once before they make a purchase.
Learn every chance you get. Use the Pampered Chef support resources. Seek out information and tips online. We at the Digital Marketing School are always here as a free resource.
Plan Out Product and Promotion Themes
Having a central idea can help you plan and orchestrate your marketing. Such a theme will drive the messaging in your materials, the product mix at parties, the recipes and tips given, and the promise of value made. Themes can revolve around cuisines, holidays, life events, seasons, and cooking techniques.
An example theme could be stir-fry techniques, tools and meals. Gather products from Santoku knives to non-stick woks. Talk about the speed and ease of this king of cooking, health benefits, entertaining ideas, recipes and more in all of your party invitations and promotional materials.
Plan your themes around Pampered Chef promotions so the two work together. In a month when Pampered Chef has a sale on Rockcroks®, build a theme around easy slow cook meals.
Marketing Ideas for Making Money Selling Pampered Chef
Newspaper ads, catalogs, flyers and cards on bulletin boards are classic examples. So is selling Pampered Chef at parties and events or making phone calls. But these can be expensive.
Today’s digital marketing options give you inexpensive and easy ways to reach people and measure results. Think of email, pay-per-click ads, and social media. Track your results and experiment to constantly improve our results.
Digital marketing works best when you use more than one method together. Write about it on your website with blog articles and event pages. Promote Pampered Chef through social media posts and email. This is where your theme comes into play, making all the activities work together so you can make money selling Pampered Chef. Repetition and variety are key.
How much time can you really devote to selling Pampered Chef? Beginners start strong, but can’t maintain that pace. Be honest with yourself so you can build a solid plan, whether a few hours a week or a few hours a day.
Consider the ideas below and add some of your own. Create a detailed three month schedule and a more general six to twelve month plan. Schedule around family commitments, your day job, and other demands on your time.
Stick to your plan and schedule. Define goals that keep you motivated. Recognize that distractions will pop up and you will experience set-backs. Stay focused and work through the difficult periods.
Success takes patience. You need to talk to a ton of people to find a customer and you have to talk to them over and over before they decide to buy. Don’t expect instant success.
Putting ideas together in your multi-media campaign are how to sell Pampered Chef successfully:
1. Parties!
Make this mainstay of selling Pampered Chef work better and build momentum through your themes. If you have plain parties, people will show up once, then maybe never again. If you have a fun theme with no sales pressure, people may show up repeatedly. Theme ideas include a post-Thanksgiving holiday gift-a-thon, a get ready for barbecue season event, and back to school lunch ideas.
2. In-Person Selling at Events.
People who can see and touch the product are likelier to buy, so think about wedding fairs, farmers markets, bake sales, holiday markets and craft fairs. Your “know your customer” work will help you think creatively about what kind of events might work.
3. Support a Charity.
Offer a free cooking demo as a prize or auction item. Do live demos. Offer give-aways (Pampered Chef’s “Under $10” collection is an inexpensive way to make an impression). With every prize, offer a discount certificate to encourage winners to contact you to buy more. Get in programs with a “sponsored by Pampered Chef” mention with your name.
4. Get involved in your community.
Spread the word that you are a Pampered Chef consultant by networking and getting involved in organizations. Be a booster of the new resident welcome wagon. Attend entrepreneur clubs. Get involved with business through the chamber of commerce and Rotary. Service clubs like the Lions are also helpful. Set up a volunteer day at a soup kitchen to demo products as you serve the needy—fellow volunteers are potential customers. Help out at a cancer outpatient clinic with healthy eating cooking demos.
5. The power of networking.
Always have business cards and catalogs eon you. Wear Pampered Chef hats, pins and shirts to let people know you sell Pampered Chef. Never be pushy. Networking is not selling. It is making connections. Some people suggest giving your card out to anyone within three feet of you. Just be sure to do it in a non-obnoxious way. Promote Pampered Chef on your voice mail message and email signature block.
6. Distribute cards, brochures, and catalogs.
Use printed materials like cards, brochures and catalogs to “reach” people you can’t contact personally. Leave materials on bulletin boards and waiting room tables everywhere—restaurants, stores, doctors’ offices, gyms. Don’t post once and forget about it. Change out the materials to match your ongoing campaign themes. Old-fashioned post office mail works better than ever, since people are getting much less advertising this way
7. Harness digital marketing.
To do digital marketing right, you need your own web site. Thankfully, you have lots of do-it-yourself options without needing to know how to code. You can set up a website that promotes you, your charities and events, your blog and your themes, and then link back to your Pampered Chef website for the actual products and online shopping. With your own website, you can better engage with customers and drive lead generation. When your website is up, attract visitors through email promotions, pay-per-click ads, and social media posts and ads. Don’t make the mistake of constantly pushing product on social media. Focus on the customer, their needs and wants, and provide insights. Social media is more like networking, not about the hard sell.
Start Selling Pampered Chef and Build a Lasting Business
We hope these ideas have got you thinking! They can help in selling Pampered Chef successfully. But one last thing: You can do everything right and still not make a sale if you don’t ask for the order.
Don’t wait for the customer to say something. Be proactive in closing a sale. You can ask what size might work or if they like this option or that. You don’t have to be direct. These kinds of test close questions will let you know if the customer is interested. Then you can make the sale!
