Phoenix Trading - Hints and Tips

Rosemary_Jane

Hi Ann,

The box cost £2.49 to post second class (under 1kg). It would have been about a pound more first class.

Rosemary

lauhen

Hi there,

What are peoples plans with phoenix this year, this is my first whole year with phoenix, i have never done spring/summer events with them, so i am looking forward to it being alot warmer than the events i did over christmas, there was one that i did in a castle and it was freezing. I find it so much easier selling at fairs, i seem to really enjoy it, and i feel really comfortable doing it, which i never though i would, and it has given me alot more confidence. I have taken a gamble with one of the country shows i have booked in with, as it cost a fair bit for a stall, but it is a very established show, so as long as i do ok there and cover costs i will be happy with that for that show. I have four booked in at the moment, it is extremely hard finding them, i am just pestering alot of people, but in a nice way, just sending out emails etc in the off chance that i get a handful that say yes. There are some christmas fairs already advertised, so i figured i might aswell book in for them to, or at least try. I have only ever done one brochure drop of about 30 brochures and got 2 responses, so i got quite disheartened with that, although where i live there are over 2000 houses, so i do have scope to send out more. How do any of you go about giving baskets to businesses, do you get in touch with them first, do you choose certain ones, any help would be very much appreciated.

Trees2678

Hi everyone,
Thanks sofar for an excellent thread. Ive been reading it with interest over the past 6 weeks or so whilst I decide weither to become a trader or not. Anyway I feel ive heard both sides of the story and think it could work for me - so Ive just sent off for my business pack and the middle box of stock.

The trader who will be my 'upline' (is that the right term?) seems very nice and has had some very good advice sofar, even suggesting that I attend one of the roadshows with her. So I will be at Cambourne on sun 18th - if any of you are also going on that day?

I still have a few questions that I was thinking of asking (which I keep forgetting to ask my upline).

Parties - When do you take the money for the goods? When they place the order, 50% then and 50% on delivery or all on delivery?
What incentive would you give the hostess?
(I loved the idea about the raffle with the treasure on the wrapping paper and the winner gets to spend the total prize money on phoenix - more commission!)

Catalogue drops - likewise - when would you ask for payment?

Charity functions - What incentive do you give to the charity? (Im guessing that would also include things like NCT fairs, hospice fetes, coffee mornings etc?)

And finally - someone mentioned earlier in the threat that a bed sheet works for the tables - any particular size and does any particular colour work well? I was thinking bright pink if it was allowed and I could get one big enough?

Thankyou everyone for any responses I get
Teresa
:beer:

Rosemary_Jane

Hi Teresa,

welcome to Phoenix. - That makes me feel odd, I only joined in the middle of October, so I'm still rather a newbie too!

With parties, I would suggest that payment with order is necessary, or the hostess will be left collecting the money before you drop her the goods; or else you would be left with the task of delivering all the goods individually yourself in order to collect the money.

With the catalogue drop I did, I collected the money when I delivered the product, I was amazed, people were enthusiastic about parting with their cash in order to get their hands on the cards!

The charity incentive is up to you totally. Everyone appears to do something different, I'm inclined to offer 15% to charity, although that is a lot of your profit, some traders offer 10%.

I bought a kingsize bedsheet, so I can then fold it so that it drapes to the right depth no matter what table I am using. I bought a dark navy one, as I wanted the product to show up nicely; bright pink would certainly attract attention, although the new orange catalogues might clash! and the products might be hard to distnguish.

If you wait a few days before buying, your kit includes your password to log on to the website, if you go to the downloads section, all the old newsletters, especially the australian ones, are an inspiring read with planty of photos of the way different traders display their goods, which will give you ideas.

HTH Rosemary

lauhen

For a table cover I went to partyrama.co.uk and bought a plastic table cover and a matching table skirt all for about £6 or £7, you can get all sorts of colours, and it actually looks really good once setup, I didn't think it would, so I was pleasantly surprised. I have used it on a 6ft table and it covers it nicely right to the floor so that you can't see any of your boxes under the table. The skirt part sticks onto the plastic tablecloth once it is laid on the table and if you take it off carefully you can reuse it if you put the backing paper back on, just a suggestion.

paulnjulia

I'm so impressed at the positive nature of the posts now. All the new blood enthusing around the site!! lol.

I still consider myself a newbie although I will need to renew my registration in a couple of months.

I think the big thing here is to have a very open mind, there are things I have read and thought, that wont work, but then when you try it they do. So perhaps you can try the same thing in different ways and see what works best for you. As you know if five people do the same thing they will get five different levels of success.

I think you need to have a definite split between the task of sales (retailing) and building the downline (Sponsoring) and you have to decide how much you want to succeed in each area. Your upline ET's and others will help you with both aspects. You will probably need two or three mentors to cover all the bases but I would imagine you will easily find them here!!

The main way to succeed is "Just do it"

Have fun and let us know how you get on

Paul n Julia

lauhen

How do people approach the basket to business opportunity, i would like to try this but am not sure what businesses to go for etc.

KentishLady

Hi all

I am hoping to start doing brochure drops now the new catalogues are out. However I'm struggling to find grip seal bags in small enough quantities (everywhere seems to sell them in packs of 1000 and I really only need 100 at the most).

Anyone else use poly bags for their brochure drops who could point me in the direction of somewhere I can get them from?

Thanks

KL.

Rosemary_Jane

KentishLady wrote: »

Hi all

I am hoping to start doing brochure drops now the new catalogues are out. However I'm struggling to find grip seal bags in small enough quantities (everywhere seems to sell them in packs of 1000 and I really only need 100 at the most).

Anyone else use poly bags for their brochure drops who could point me in the direction of somewhere I can get them from?

Thanks

KL.

Hi KentishLady,

From another Kentish lady (or lady of Kent - never sure which area means which!)

I bought 100 bags from Staples as I couldn't find any anywhere else - they were about £13.50 from memory. Then I looked on ebay (search for A4 grip seal bags) and there are several dealers offering them at about £4 or 5 including postage.
Guess I won't be buying the next lot from Staples!

Rosemary

KentishLady

Rosemary_Jane wrote: »

Hi KentishLady,

From another Kentish lady (or lady of Kent - never sure which area means which!)

I bought 100 bags from Staples as I couldn't find any anywhere else - they were about £13.50 from memory. Then I looked on ebay (search for A4 grip seal bags) and there are several dealers offering them at about £4 or 5 including postage.
Guess I won't be buying the next lot from Staples!

Rosemary

Thanks for the info, have just ordered some from ebay. Just waiting for them to arrive so I can start door dropping.

KL.