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This posting relates to what I refer to as our Culture of Threes. As explained in previous posts, when an idea or concept comes to me three times from totally different sources, I have learned to pay attention, process the information, and then act.
The Culture of Threes happened to me recently concerning my Financial Freedom Party for Women.
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My Number 1 post was about the Financial Freedom Party for Women and how financial education for women meets party plans and the financial industry asks, “Like Tupperware parties?” Please go back to my previous post for all the details.
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Number 2 was about a fictional character in a novel who encounters mystery with a backdrop of relationships, relationship selling, and Tupperware. The book is The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty.
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Number 3 appeared when I turned on the TV one morning.
I have never watched the CBS This Morning Show, just glanced at it while channel surfing. I was about to switch channels and then saw Gayle King talking. I decided to watch CBS since I hadn’t seen Gayle (a journalist and media personality in her own right, but best known as being Oprah’s best friend) in action for a while. I always say that Oprah and Gayle made having “girlfriends” cool again. Gayle intrigues me and I always appreciate her viewpoint.
Rick Goings, the CEO of Tupperware Brands, was being interviewed. What a nice way to start the day with such a positive story. This was a huge contrast to all the other reporting which centered around the challenges of the day such the government shutdown, health care reform, and the debt ceiling.
Tupperware has been around my life over the years and I have products in my kitchen that I purchased a long time ago. This is a pretty big deal since I come from that generation of professional women who thought parties to sell products were kind of unsophisticated and not for us. The irony of this attitude is that later in life I became a distributor for several direct sales companies and also created a new business model for marketing traditional products such as investments and life insurance through my Financial Freedom Party for Women® Had I not learned so much about the value of parties in business to the clients and the company, I would not have had the ability to modify the concept and transfer it to the financial services industry.
Embracing a party concept for my financial services business came out my observation that a whole bunch of women showed up at my neighbor’s home for a Pampered Chef party and then proceeded to buy “a lot”. This all happened on short notice with only a couple of days planning by the hostess who simply invited her friends. Yes, she had a lot of friends. Even so, this was quite a change from what I and a small team of women brokers encountered when we planned ahead for financial seminars and found few women would show. Obviously we (and the industry) were doing something wrong. Things needed to change.
So that morning on CBS it was really refreshing to hear how Tupperware has re-branded the company and recognized that with 90% of their market outside the United States, they needed to change and adapt their product line. Tupperware acknowledged that the U.S. market is all about bargain shopping and price. With the advent of inexpensive plastic storage containers, U.S. customers were not as abundant. This 65-year-old business re-invented itself and offers an entrepreneurial opportunity internationally and current has 2.8 million representatives, most of them women. A nice story about success brought on by understanding the market and creating change.
At the core of the party plan process is not only products, but women who understand relationship selling. In a busy world where we can buy products and services on-line, party plans understand the importance that we women place on having a little special attention and understanding what we are buying.
I have always admired how direct selling and network marketing businesses remember that the connection between the customer and the product is most effective when it is through some sort of relationship. This concept transferred effectively for me when using the Financial Freedom Party for Women® to meet women, teach them financial basics, and sell them investment and insurance solutions.
For me, hearing this short segment on Tupperware and the women (and their families and friends) it serves, was a nice and positive way to start the day. I was surprised and pleased to hear the statistic concerning women in Indonesia who are making $100,000. You can hear more by clicking here.
Being a financial services professional who is advocating a party concept for teaching women about money management and seeing it as a marketing tool for the financial services industry is not easy. Many people in the industry are more entertained by the concept of the Freedom Party for Women® than they are impressed. Watching the Tupperware story re-inspires me that what worked for me in my business and for my clients, can work for many more.
That completes my Culture of Threes story about the Freedom Party for Women®, women, money, products, success, business models, relationships, party plans and of course—Tupperware. I am listening and paying attention!
If you wish to purchase copies of the Freedom Party for Women®, A Little Book about Money for Women, Workbook Edition at www.amazon.com. please Just click here.
Until Next Time.
Debra Hadsall
Financial Freedom Party for Women (FFP)-Talk 
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