Avon Hints and Tips (Part 3)

Hi Shindig,

You're very welcome. Essentially.... do YOU like Avon products? If you do then you're half way there i.e. search out the bargains/good deals in your current campaign and promote those. Quite often I find that people don't have the time or inclination to search through the whole brochure but if you bring their attention to what's a particularly good deal then they appreciate it (or at least they'll have a look to check it out). Everyone likes a bargain and quite often Avon products are cheaper than their equivalent on the High Street (and they're delivered free! :T)

If you can view what you're doing as helping your customers get a good deal rather than trying to sell them something then it DOES help - honest!

Am wondering if you're a 'stuffer' rather than an 'asker'? (Lots of discussion about this in the previous thread i.e. as to whether you just put books through doors or whether you knock and ask if they're interested.) Pro's and con's both ways but in my experience my best customers are the ones I asked and whose eyes lit up at the very idea of seeing a new Avon book. I was given territory of 70 houses so with only 20 books at the outset it seemed to me that asking was the only way forward. It did get a bit demoralising at first so it's a good idea to take someone with you for moral support (luckily my OH insisted on coming with me initially as my territory was 'a bit rough' in places.... :rotfl:Turns out that what I perceived as my 'roughest' house/customer has led to three new customers and placed some of the biggest orders in my campaigns. She's also been a bit of a pain too i.e. by returning an order when she couldn't afford it but it's all about give and take. We have an understanding now that I need to call on a certain day i.e. when she gets her benefit.)

Betterware work the 'stuffing' system and when I covered my Avon given territory with B books it resulted in 16 Avon customers and 16 Betterware customers (not all the same but 70/75% tend to order from both). B books are free, hence my earlier comment about it being useful to find new Avon customers.....

To help get your books back it helps to do a few labels/notes to either staple to your books and/or put through the door when you go to collect. I've drafted my own; PM me if you'd like to see a few suggestions.

As for your query re. your returns, not 100% sure (am still quite new to this too) but I tend to apply and submit my returns form/claim online and then make sure I pay off the remaining balance (taking into account the credit whether or not Avon has processed it or not) before submitting my next order. Seems to work if you do it that way. Not had an order withheld yet (although I have had a few 'chasing' emails re. the outstanding credit - I just reply that the o/s balance is covered by products to be returned and so far they've then replied agreeing).

When returning just a few items I still tend to put them in an Avon box - I queried it with the driver once and was told they prefer it that way too because it's easier to make sure they actually arrive back i.e. a small envelope can easily get lost.

Sorry for the length of the reply....:rolleyes:

Marsden Cuckoo, many thanks for the reply. Yep, you got me, I'm a stuffer!:o
Thought at first it would be easier just to gauge who was interested that way and also feel a bit daft knocking on doors but take your points on board and may have to push myself out there!

And yeah I do like the products, I've always bought when I've had a local rep. Maybe I'll try giving a discount for first order or somesuch.

Aw, thanks for all your help M C, will try some of your tips as I have about half of a long road that I haven't yet got around to.;)

I met one of my customers in the street today, and she told me her neighbour had placed an order for £10 with me, but she was away so had asked my customer to pay it with her order.

The thing is I don't have an order for this customer, the one who is away, and she gave her book to the customer I met in the street, so if the order was in the book, she has lost it.

so annoyed! This customer I met in the street is a pain in the neck. Even my OH says oh no! not that woman!

Well I texted the customer from the street who had been given her neighbour's book which contained the order, and she said she didn't know what had happened to it. Hmmm, don't quite believe her.... she has tested me in the past by deliberately adding up the items on her invoice incorrectly so it looked like she owed more than she did. I always check the customer's maths, and pointed out to her I couldn't work out where her total had come from but it was wrong and she owed less.

I am going to text the neighbour as she is working away and ask her if she did place an order in the book, and if so, does she remember what she wanted so I can put in an additional order, at my own expense to get her items. If not, will have to wait until she returns and she will have to place order again.

It's things like this that make my OH tell me to give up Avon as I "don't" really make any money from it.