Becoming The Excellent Wife
There is no such thing as a perfect summer of sales. Each one is different and presents differing challenges. Similarly, there is no such thing as a perfect summer sales wife. Each is different with unique strengths and ideas. We have collaborated as a committee of experienced wives of summer sales, and have compiled our best ideas and practices into the following manual, with hopes that it can be used as a resource for the leading women of summer sales. It is our committees goal to create more unity within our demographic. Working for our company is certainly a family affair. We know the women of summer sales are every bit as invested and associated as their husbands are. We realize not all these ideas will be applicable to everyone. Take what works for your team and join us in working toward a more unified, collaborative team of Excellent Wives.
These ideas are intended to encourage, inspire and cultivate a sense of creativity to help Wives move toward Excellence. Becoming The Excellent Wife does not mean perfection. It simply means improving, doing more within your means, striving to reach your potential and recognizing the power and influence you possess. As a committee of experienced Wives in leadership roles, we collaborated to produce this list of our best practices. Use these as inspiration and take our years of experience and apply what works for your situation, leadership style, and unique team.
Actually, it starts before day one. Office leaders need to organize an event for their team. This can include dinner and ice breaker games or incentives and prizes. For this initial get together make sure everyone is invited, included and knows who to turn to with questions. Let the team know where you will be going for the summer and some fun things to do in the area.
Once the summer starts, make sure everyone is welcomed and gets into their apartments with ease -no matter what time of day or night they are arrive. Make welcome cards and packets and leave them in each apartment. It’s such a warm welcome to walk in and immediately feel included.
As soon as possible, get a list organized and distributed with everyone’s basic info: include apt #s, cell #s, who is married/single, the office location, who has kids and how many. (template included) The sooner everyone is connected, the better.
Create a list of all summer birthdays right away. Celebrate them individually or collectively by month. (birthday template included)
Once majority of the wives in your office arrive, take them out to lunch. If your office has a lot kids, maybe opt for a kid-free breakfast outing before correlation meeting begins. Make a gift bag full of goodies: nail polish, lip gloss, lotion, treats, and gift cards. Give each wife their gift bag and treat them to lunch. Introduce everyone and thank them for making the effort to be part of the office. This small event sets the tone for a fun summer and the extra effort goes a long way. Be sure to let them know what is expected, how vital support and attitude is toward success, and offer ideas to motivate and incentivize husbands.
At the end of summer take the women out again. Thank them for their efforts during the summer and specifically tell them what was enjoyable. Everyone appreciates a little recognition. These gestures will go a long way with retention. The team will remember how they were cared for from the beginning to the end.
The purpose of this calendar is to create events for just the wives (and kids when applicable) that will cultivate friendships, explore the city you’re living in, and make a memorable summer for everyone. Creating a calendar can be a collaborative effort if your team is interested and involved. Or you can do it on your own with no expectations of the women in your office being ‘required’ to participate in the events. Look online before the summer to see what your area has to offer by way of free concerts in the park, free admission days to children’s museum, art museums, exhibits, fairs, festivals, farmers markets, or book readings. Organize play groups or preschool for kids in the office. Arrange weekly babysitting trades amongst the women with children. Arrange trades for big outings, such as service trips, hikes or sight-seeing. Get input from all the women in your office on local places they want to visit, hikes, state parks, tourist attractions, or museums. Add basic staples to the calendar like movie night, pot lucks, pool parties, tin foil dinners, bbqs, dessert potluck, poolside pedicures, nightly walks, monthly girls-night-out (share babysitters you find who live locally in your area and leave the kids at home for the night.) If you have women with particular talents, use them and add events to the calendar! Give your girls some ownership in teaching a craft, or activity they excel at. Some ideas include: group fitness classes, water aerobics, jewelry making, paper crafts, Pinterest projects, cooking classes, photography classes, or dance classes! Create opportunities to interact with, learn from, and have fun with one another. Ask questions about new people and involve them as much as possible. Cater one or two activities specifically to get them involved. Throw birthday parties and baby showers. Some offices get together every day. The activities are always optional. Some are big and some are small. Keep in mind some wives have a budget so do activities that are cheap or FREE. Activities don’t have to be big, but the effort will draw everyone together. The options are unlimited!
Assign wives to each course of a meal: appetizer, side dish, main dish, and dessert. Between the wives they’ll decide on a dish and location. Start at the appetizer apartment and then move onto the next apartment for the side dish. At each apartment take turns answering two "get to know you questions". This can create the foundation for great friendships!
Collect three or more favorite recipes in the categories of entrée, dessert, and appetizer. Compile them and email or print them for your team of women. Plan a get together and everyone can make one of their recipes to share for a pot luck meal.
Show Your Team The Insider
Look up vivint.insider and help the women in your office get educated on points, paychecks, deductions, rent and all the little things we tend to forget about in the beginning and fret about in the end. Let the women in your office know how they can be involved and play a supporting role in their husbands’ sales/installs, competitions, points and activations. Girls who are ‘in the know’ won’t have any surprises when their husbands’ back-end check arrives. Retention will come with ease when no one feels that they were tricked, lied to or uneducated about the ‘costs’ to make money doing summer sales.
First year wives should be reminded this job is not normal. That is one reason why it doesn’t pay ‘normal’. Give them insight to think of it as a new adventure.
Allow your husband the time he needs to fulfill his obligations. If he is out late, which he will be often, let him be out late with no fear of coming home to an upset wife.
Every summer learn a new hobby! How to cook a turkey -thanksgiving style, how to crochet, or how to bake a pie. Encourage the women in your office to do the same.
Make sure everyone has each other’s number. Send group texts to keep everyone informed and feeling invited, even for girls who are just visiting. Know that some girls will never respond. Keep them on the group text even if they don't come and don't respond. It’s probably nothing personal. Some people are not as social as others. The gesture is still appropriate and it’s important not to exclude anyone.
Educate New Wives on Proper Summer Etiquette
With regard to getting overly involved in their husband’s work, there is a fine line between supportive and intrusive. Figure out where that line is with your office leaders and let the girls know what’s appropriate and when she needs to voice her concerns to her husband and then let him take the issue to his manager or lead tech.
With regard to being understanding, new wives should realize that the boys come home dead tired. They have just run a marathon with their brains. Sometimes they need quiet evenings after work. Every guy is different so wives should figure out what their man needs, and make sure to help him relax after his long day. Likewise, the summer is hard for the women and they should communicate their needs as well so everyone stays happy!
Have a Group Facebook Page
Use this to post activities of interested or as a form of communication between the women in your office. Make sure all the rep and tech wives are included in the group
Invite new wives to ask the experienced women about the summer with no question being off limits. New members of the summer sales program have a lot to learn. Experienced leading women have great insight worth sharing.
The wives in leadership roles within an office set the tone for the other women. Be the examples to the other wives through a positive and happy attitude. Just like our husbands we too have a HUGE power in influencing and being an example to these women, so be a GOOD and strong example. Reach out and love all of the wives; be their friend and someone they can rely on.
Make it a point to NOT get offended. Surely no one is intentionally leaving anyone else out. If they are then turn the other cheek. Remember the purpose of the summer is to make money and have fun. Don’t let someone else’s unintentional or intentional rudeness ruin it for others! If there is a problem that seems too big to ignore GO DIRECTLY TO THE PERSON and talk it out.
Create the goals for your husband on your own or ask him what his summer goals are. Get it in writing. Make some sort of goal board, coloring chart or goal poster. A simple template is included in this manual.
Have a little jar on the counter and every day that your husband gets his predetermined daily goal, (3 sales/installs for example) let him draw a prize from the jar. They could be little gifts like treats, movie tickets or any sort of pampering; foot, back or neck rub, at home facial. ....OR..... have four jars, each one for a different amount of sales/installs he could get in a day: "1 Sale", "2 Sales", "3 Sales", "4 or more sales". Each night he can draw out of whichever one he did that day. Sales jar reward ideas: back, foot, or full body massage, favorite treat or drink, book, shirt, shoes, movie night, reward of his choice, breakfast in bed, or do an activity of your choice in the morning.
In any creative way imaginable, create a visual display to track your husband’s sales/installs in relation to his goal(s). Use a poster board, post-it notes, a goal board, paper chains, or even bingo. Once your man hits certain numbers throughout the summer (maybe every 15-20 depending his typical volume) reveal what his prize is for hitting each milestone as it comes. Prizes could be simple, small items you were going to buy anyway. They could also be fun, frivolous, items you normally wouldn’t buy unless it was earned. Or they could be extravagant and extraordinary if he hits huge goals with great quality. Incentives could be his favorite homemade treat, to a new Malibu wake boarding boat or a new sports car! Use your imagination and do something that’s both motivating for him, and realistic for your family’s situation.
Creating little milestones along the way to the big end of summer goal really helps keep them motivated and pushing hard every day.
Specific Ideas for Incentive Charts
- Make an incentive chart and if applicable involve your kids in the process. This can be creative, challenging and helps your kids understand that selling/installing is the reason you are there for the summer. Have your husband color in each of his weeks with different colors. This way he can go back and check which weeks he struggled/succeeded and what was going on at that time. Help him make a chart for all of his sales reps/techs too- on a smaller scale. He could use a white board that he marks different categories to check reps/techs progress throughout the weeks and months.
- Print out a simple word document with his summer goal and hang them in every room of the house! Have one on every mirror and especially the front door so he could be reminded on his way out to work.
- Print out his weekly goals and hang them as well. Everywhere will be a reminder of the end goal.
- Buy Post-It notes and number them individually to correspond with his goal. Post them on a main wall where he can see them. Make a fun shape like a heart or smiley face with the Post-Its. Under his monumental sales (25, 50, 75) post a personal incentive. Something small that he wants like new headphones or movie tickets. When he comes home he gets to tear off how many sales he made. He will love watching the big square get smaller as his sales increase. Write love notes on the back of some of them too. He’ll love the compliments and added gesture. You can also use the numbered Post-It’s to cover a picture of the big incentive he is working towards!
Send a text to your man halfway through a hard day/week letting him know if he gets a sale (or 2) by the end of the day, you’ll have something special waiting for him when he gets home. Anything from a favorite homemade treat, a back rub, foot rub or some other romantic gesture, to his favorite dinner waiting on the table when he gets off work. ....OR... send a text to let him know he’s loved and appreciated without expecting any response. Know that he is busy! Texts should not interrupt his rhythm. Make sure less experienced wives also know not to bother their husbands or the manager during work hours.
Some guys don’t need the added pressure and their days can be inconsistent. In these situations it may be better to not ask details of his day. Spontaneous incentives may not work to motivate him. Be sensitive to what motivates and what puts unnecessary pressure on your man. Instead of asking how many he got, ask how his day was just like any other job. IF he wants to talk, let him. If he doesn't, don't pressure him. ALWAYS thank him for working so hard. It’s important to understand that this job doesn’t pay hourly. Be sensitive to what affects your husband. This job can be very emotional and mentally challenging. Keep in mind the big picture: Good days and bad days even out to a decent pay off in the end.
Every summer choose one random day to surprise your husband with “(His Name) Appreciation Day”. This is a tried and true favorite and an idea every wife in summer sales should definitely do! It is so fun for both of you. This is an eight year tradition for Andrea Taylor and her husband, manager BJ Taylor. She still finds ways each year to top it and make it unique. Ideas include starting off with breakfast in bed and a few small gifts. You could create a video montage of all the reasons why he is appreciated, or writing an article about his work with Vivint and submitting it for Insider. Spend the morning together doing something he loves and when he leaves for his meeting, get busy making a treat for the entire office. Head to correlation with the treat and tell everyone how lucky they are to work with such a great guy. You can hide other gifts in his car or trunk, or even little notes in his binder! Another great idea is leaving treats for his entire car group. Each of these treats and gifts includes heartfelt sentiment for why he is appreciated and loved. Other ideas are having all of his friends text bomb him about how amazing he is, or doing the same idea on Facebook. You can drive out to his area and whisk him away at the end of the day for a late dinner and movie, or be waiting with other fun surprises and a fun night at home as soon as he gets back. One of the best parts of this is to be reminded of all the things your husband works so hard to provide, and to totally surprise him. The possibilities to this are endless!
It takes some planning and effort but the rewards far exceed the costs. Imagine how much harder your husband will work if he knows that his efforts are truly appreciated!
On the 4th of July get an American Flag patch and iron it on to the sleeve of his shirt. People love to see American pride all over the country. Especially if selling on or near a military base.
Set aside a designated date night every week to focus on one another. Also make sure he is doing something active or fun each morning so his days are more than eat, sleep and sell!
Everyday before he leaves tell him how good he looks. Something about his hair or how he can totally pull off the uniform. Tell him it’s his smile that gets him in the door. By doing this, when he gets rejected he will bounce back quickly thinking about how good he looks that day and that his wife loves him.
Again a big motivation for your husband is your support, love, and encouragement so make those your biggest priorities!
Theme dinners have been a favorite for many years! These can be done every 2 weeks to once a month. They can be a lot of work but don’t have to be! Here’s an idea of how it works: One theme dinner every 2 weeks. Each wife takes one turn ‘hosting’ a themed dinner. As a hostess she plans the theme, the menu any decor or costume, and delegates responsibilities to the other women. For example; Fiesta Nights menu is chicken enchiladas, salad, chips and salsa, Mexican rice, and Tres Leches for dessert. The hostess goes gets a head count and collects money from all the reps/techs. (Usually $4 per person) She takes the money and buys all the food, drinks and supplies. She’ll mass text the wives and tell them to pick up their ingredients from her apartment. She assigns each dish to a different wife. Once they have their ingredients they are in charge of making and bringing the dish to the dinner party. She buys Dollar Store sombreros and ponchos for photos and as everyone walks in, the girl assigned to be photographer dresses up each person and takes their picture. She buys a piñata for the activity and asks the manager for a budget and put that much money in quarters into the piñata, along with candy. Her crazy rule is that anyone who wants to hit the piñata can only use their head or their feet! Let the fun begin.
If planned properly, theme dinners are fun and don’t have to be over whelming. Remember, this idea can be modified to fit the needs of different offices. Theme dinner ideas: Toga Party, Luau, Fiesta Night, Asian Night, Cowboys and Native American Night, PJ Party, White Trash Night and Pot Luck.
Create 2 calendars each month. One for the entire office and one for the girls as mentioned earlier. The one made for the office can include mandatory Personal Interviews between management and reps/techs. It can also include fun activities like pool parties, pot lucks, Sunday game night, night games at the park, sand volleyball, Sunday outings, theme dinners, league sports, office tournaments, or poker night.
Office parties are enjoyable and memorable. Parties can be ‘earned’ events using incentive money for games and prizes. Or the manager can fund them to his personal budget. Party ideas include: pool party, Office Olympics, Fear Factor games, obstacle courses, or any other physical challenge you and your managers/lead techs can come up with! Office parties can be difficult to accommodate everyone on the team. Typically they should be done on a weekday morning with the understanding that work comes first and in some cases, not all technicians can make it if there are service calls or other jobs that need to be finished. Sundays are another option to host parties and office get togethers. However, not everyone spends their Sundays the same way.
The Great Cookie Competition
Ask all the wives in your office to participate in a creative bake-off. (older kids could enter too) The rule is cookies only. Simply because how can you compare the yumminess of a brownie to the goodness of a cookie!? Girls bring their best cookies to the Office where they are put on generic cookie sheets, given funny names and numbered. This is a double blind competition. No one but you knows who baked which cookie. All reps and techs are invited to be judges after they get off work. To judge they must pay $1 to $3. All the money goes into a pot for the winner, making the competition even more fun. Provide lots of milk for the judges and they’ll take their job quite seriously. They only get one vote. After votes are cast the winner is announced. Award money can go to the top 3, or the #1 winner can take it all.
Surprise the guys for no reason at all and make a treat for the reps and techs. Include all the women in your office in the baking fun. Get together at the office to make a treat for the reps and techs to come home to and enjoy. Make cupcakes and have fun decorating them with the kids. Make cookies, cake balls, or Oreo bites.
Get hundreds of dollars worth of Sacajawea $1 coins from the bank and a few hundred dollars worth of quarters as well. Get the team together for a pool party in the morning and dump all the coins into the pool! Establish the rules and then count down... 3, 2, 1. All the guys dive in and go crazy looking like carp flailing around the water. The game ends when the last coin is picked up.
Have manager(s) choose random numbers 1-100 (ex. 13, 25, 38, 52, 71, 88, 100) and assign some sort of prize for each one. Cut out the numbers from poster board, making the numbers as big as possible and hang them in the office along with a string going from number to number. Then make little characters with each reps face Photoshopped onto the body. As each rep sells, their little ‘guy’ moves around the room from number to number. When they sell 13, they are in the ‘13 club’ and get their gift from the managers. The guys like to compete and beat each other to the clubs. It’s also a good visual to track everyone’s progress. Plus, a decorated office is always more fun! This idea can be used toward the technicians installs as well. Have the lead tech determine which numbers he wants to award prizes at and use his incentive money to buy cool gifts. Help the office leaders in running the errand of purchasing the incentive gifts and making sure to have the gifts ready and in the office during correlation meeting as each rep or tech gets into another ‘club’.
Once a week play sand volleyball or football in the pool. Weekly office BBQs are informal, fun and really create great unity. Do pot luck to make it easy and enjoyable for everyone.
Get information from the sales manager/lead tech/OA to help inform wives about upcoming Vivint competitions, and events for the men as well as Arm Summer events for the women. Husbands aren't always the best at relaying information. Step in and make sure all the girls on your team are informed! This responsibility can be easily delegated to another wife on your team. Or have an office calendar for this purpose. The calendar is an easy place for everyone in the office: men, women, kids, to see what it going on! Everything from events to competitions, or parties to meetings.
Have husbands talk to customers about what activities and attractions are good for families. Talk to local church members for doctors, babysitters, and event references.
Take it one day at a time
Remember yourself and teach the women on your team that some days are fun and some days are hard. Take each day as it comes. Just like the guys do!
Store totes of “summer stuff” with everything you use in the summer: Dinnerware, cooking supplies, bedding, linens etc. Simplify the packing process every year by having separate supplies for your “normal” house and for the summer.
Create a Routine Amidst The Madness
Find a gym and go as often as possible in the morning- preferably together and use a daycare if needed. Monday mornings go swimming before meetings to get family time. Monday nights watch a TV show together as wives with pot luck treats with Italian dinner. Tuesday is an outing day to see a local park or museum and crock pot day. Wednesday is library day and frozen dinner. Thursday is pool day and rice with chicken. Etc. This helps some of the stress of daily meals and entertaining kids lessen. It can also be helpful to do HOME days and call parents and cousins, pay bills, track tax deductions, balance the budget and take care of items that need attention. Having a schedule and routine creates consistency and normalcy.
It’s imperative to figure out what your role is long BEFORE you go out for the summer and know this role changes from year to year. Ask yourself: How involved will I be? What is my primary responsibility? How do I contribute to the office, the reps, the wives, my marriage, my children, my finances? Figuring out your role in the office & with the reps is a very important relationship to think about well in advance. You are an extension of your husband as the manager. Fortunately & unfortunately, the office lives all together & it can be a blessing & a burden. Do you work in the office? Are you a “personal assistant” to your husband? How to you handle conflict or unexpected surprises? (like finding a rep skipping out of work) Talk to your husband and decide in advance what your role ought to be and what will work best for your office, your marriage, your family and your sanity.
Even the most experienced and Excellent Vivint Wives sometimes feel unappreciated. Talk to your husband at an appropriate time and make adjustments as necessary. Don't bother him during work hours when his focus is elsewhere. Mornings are often a good time to talk.
It’s hard to be there for your husband, family and team of wives when you’re homesick or feel neglected. Our husbands, families and teams fuel off of our motivation, so try to keep your tank FULL! Do whatever you have to in the summer to keep yourself happy and positive. Many wives find working, keeping busy with children, cooking, reading, working out, service and focusing on gratitude keeps them happy. The summer days change day by day. Remember that attitude is a choice!
All Vivint Wives have down days. Know you’re not alone! Part of our mission for the Summer Program is to connect the women of summer sales and create a greater sense of unity! We can pool resources and rely more on one another for encouragement and support.
If you have kids, know that you will experience a lot of single mothering during the summer. You will have dinner with them by yourself and put the kids to bed by yourself. Find purpose in it and enjoy the special time that it is.
Pick a children's museum, zoo, science museum, or theme park season pass from a place your kids will love visiting often. Share it with another wife. Passes always have more than one adult on them and usually up to 5 or 6 kids. This is cost effective and makes short trips not feel like a waste of money. Looking preseason is a good idea. Often the best deals on season passes are sold in the early spring.
Plan a few day trips each week, even if that just means going to a park or the library. The busier a family is during the summer, the more enjoyable it is for everyone! Day trips eliminate boredom and makes time go by quickly. Have puzzles and crafts for kids to do in the apartment during down time or for days without day trips.
Kid and baby gear can be bulky but essential for the summer. Craigslist or thrift stores are great options for buying temporary kid items. Baby gear can easily be re-sold or donated when you’re ready to head home.
There’s no place like home
Making your summer housing as homey as possible makes the transition easier for everyone. This is especially important for wives with children. Get involved in your new surroundings. Involve your kids in library clubs, summer sports leagues, local church groups, or classes and lessons. The sooner you resume normal life and normal routines, the smoother life will feel. This may be a temporary move but it doesn’t have to feel that way. For many summer sales families, ‘home’ can be felt no matter where they live! After one week many families feel comfortable in a new home and city. By week two it feels like HOME. Make it a goal to create a sense of home no matter where you are residing. Even if it’s temporary.
We as Vivint Wives in leadership roles are in this together, united through a common goal. Never before has there been an opportunity like this to share the experience of summer sales from the perspective of a Vivint Wife. We are a unique, strong demographic of incredibly independent women, driven to help our husbands move toward greater success. Through unifying our efforts we have the power to bring about greater change within the realm of summer sales. The committee of women who have worked together to create this manual are passionate about the Summer Elevate Program and the positive power of change that it will bring. The ideas in this manual and the collection of best practices are merely the beginning of an incredible movement for us. As the women in leadership roles more fully accept the power they possess and begin to magnify their responsibilities, we know those looking to us as examples will begin to see a new standard of Excellence.
