How Did My First Real Cooking Show Turn Out?

[Becky0216]

Today was the day. I had my first real cooking show, and I hated it. I don't think I could have done worse and thats not just being hard on myself.
First, walking in the house I step ankle deep into mud (brand new house, no grass). Then I realize I left my Jerk seasoning for the nachos at home. Called hubby and he brought it out to me. STart the show (15 guests) and I had an audience of 5. The host as well as me announced we were starting and no one cared. They all talked to one another. Not whisper, talked. I couldn't even hear myself think. So As I was yelling over the crowd to have people hear me I realized I just kept leaving stuff out. I didn't say a thing each time I was using one of the tools. DUH!!! and I spaced on the names of a few items. I boiled something over in the micorwave also.
In the end I realized I never spoke about hosting, never brought up a product that was not part of my recipe and forgot my game! I left there thinking I really don't think this is the job for me.
I did do my drawing and I did remember to ask a few people about hosting during checkout.
All in all I got 2 possible bookings, about $750 in orders (4 more ordering monday) so I should hit 1k. Not bad, but didn't get experience from it.
I know I should be happy with the orders, but instead I am so bummed. I can't believe everyone was so rude. I just couldn't collect my thoughts.
So there is my update to those who wanted to know.

 

[jrstephens]

Sorry you had such rude guest. But look at it this way even as bad as you think it was you still had a very successful show.

We all forget things. I have been going this for 2 years next Saturday and I still forget to bring things with me sometime and I pretty much always think of something I could have said or done differently.

And if you had of been as bad as you think you were, you would not have gotten two bookings.

We all have shows like this whether it is out first or 100th we still get frustrated. We just have to put it behind us, learn from it and move on to the next one.

Keep your chin up and keep going!

 

[tabnat80]

Sounds like you just had a group of rude folks. It's hard to get past that. I had one like that last night. (see previous post). After her rude husband chewed me up and down about my DH that he's never met, I had to put on a show for 6 chatterboxes. They didn't stop talking enough to introduce themselves to me. Needless to say, I just did my recipe and when someone was looking at me, I asked if they had any questions. I didn't get to share my story, nobody cared. Don't let it get you down. Most shows won't go this array, but hey look on the bright side, 1000 show is awesome!

 

[dianevill]

First, Becky, big hugs. You GOT THROUGH your first show, and there will never be another first show! And you got two bookings and will most likely have a $1000 show.

That is awesome!

Remember that nobody knows what you were/weren't supposed to say - only you do, so don't be hard on yourself for that. The mud? Well, what can you do? Better than a wardrobe malfunction??

And of course you got some experience from this. Tomorrow morning after you've slept, sit down and critique yourself, as objectively as possible, and find ways to improve. I've been selling for 7 years and still forget plenty of things, from products, to drawing slips, to talking about hosting a show. It's normal, we're not perfect. Plus, you made up for forgetting to talk about hosting - you actually went one step further and asked them individually!

It sounds like the guests were really rude - maybe for your next show assign someone the "Shusher" (I just did that at a show; people were talking, one person said, "Shhhh" a few times, so I happily nominated her the Shusher, and announced it. Every time someone got loud she shushed them. It took the pressure off ME, and people actually quieted down. I gave her a SB for helping me).

Again, you did it! Be proud of yourself!

 

[Gina M]

Great job Becky! That's an awesome first show - my first show was for about 15 complete strangers - I only knew the host and no one else. They talked quite a bit but I just focused on those that were paying attention and answered their questions and basically did my show for them. It ended over $800 so I was happy. Sometimes you'll get real attentive groups and others are just loud - just go with the flow - don't worry if you forget something - no one will be the wiser. And you'll never have another first show again - congratulations!

 

[lkprescott]

You'll have them but DUDE you have GREAT sales so far! My first demo show I had my mom and her neighbor show up... and we barely made the $150 amount... my next show again, 2 people and my friend had to work like made to qualify. It can be very discouraging in the beginning but with $750 in orders, you're more than halfway to qualifying as a consultant! You'll have shows where folks will hang on every word and shows where you'll have a main 'gabber' that likes to overpower the conversation and you'll have shows where you wonder why you even showed up.... they're all different, they all have their pros and cons and each one makes us stronger as people and more experienced as consultants. My first 3 shows or so I was constantly forgetting ingredients and steps... know what? Most folks don't know and don't notice... in fact I left the mayo out of the artichoke cups and noted it to folks... they still thought they were great! LOL...

 

[pamperedlinda]

Awesome sales!

Sometimes you just have to let them talk. My friend went to a show in her neighborhood last week and it was with her Bunco group - and these ladies talk! She told me that the consultant got mad at them for talking and told the group that they needed to be quiet so she could finish and she also told them that they were being disrespectful to the host . These ladies did not appreciate it.

......... Not bad, but didn't get experience from it..........

Sure you did - you know what you have to work on for the next show. I recently heard this quote: Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want

If I were you, I'd call all the guests and thank them so much for their order. Tell them that with all the excitement you forgot to tell them about the booking benefits - maybe you can still get a booking or two. Good luck!

 

[Becky0216]

I actaully qualified a few days ago. SO I didn't have that pressure on me at this show. But I was still super nervous. I thought everyone talking would make me less nervous because It didnt matter if I made a mistake. but it did the exact opposite. I felt like an idiot. I can't complain about the sales, although I think if I had been able to point out some of our great products more, I would have sold more. I didnt sell a single piece of stonewear. Actually the biggest sellers for me were the 2 extra items I brought. Trifle bowl and collapsable bowl.

I will have to keep up with the 2 possible bookings and hopefully those shows go better if I get them. Unlikely though, cause they were the main talkers.

On the plus everyone loved the Nachos and the cake. and it made my first 30 days sales well over the 1250 so I also earned another 100 in PC dollars.

Thanks for the encouragement. I feel a bit better today, but still wish I got to actually practice more at this show.

 

[wadesgirl]

Don't beat yourself up over this, we've all had those shows! I did a couple's show at this guy's house once where during the show everyone kept disappearing to the garage to get more beer and smoke, the host was never around, we started 1 1/2 HOURS late! I had a show the next morning thinking that everything sucked the night before and how was a I supposed to do another show then. Well, the other show the next morning reminded me how normal shows go! Made me feel alot better.

Don't worry about messing up names of the products, I still do that all the time. Just laugh at yourself! I kept messing something up and one of my guests commented that it was okay, she was suprised at how much information I already knew. I forget to talk about products all the time. Most of the time, guests don't care about the features of the products just what they can do with it themselves.

 

[urbnk8]

It stinks that the guests were so rude, but as for the rest of it...sounds like a typical first show! It gets better, trust me!

 

[merego]

i'M SORRY TO HEAR THAT, I hate rude people who talk when you are trying to talk!!! I personally would have asked them to please stop talking until after the presentation. I used to do training at my old job and nothing ticked me off more than people who talked throughout, it is plain RUDE!!!!
Not everyone will be like that.
My 1st cooking show is next Sunday and I am nervous. I have 2 catalog shows going right now, maybe catalog shows are the way to go~ LOL
I know a suggestion my director gave me was not to give the catalogs out until after the demo, only give the order form and/or wish list, if you give the catalogs, they will lose interest and start talking to the people next to them.

 

[Momma23boys]

Of course you learned something! Everything is a learning experience, right?
You did great, by the way! I will chime in too how AWFUL my first show was.. one guest! ONE! And it never did qualify.. but thankfully I had a show the very next night and did very well ~ otherwise I might have threw in my apron. Congratulations on all you have accomplished so far and I hope you update us on your two bookings that you netted!