Avon Hints and Tips (Part 3)

MiniLaura

Some basic info about AVON. (tried to base on questions from newbies)

To join up - contact Avon and you will be allocated an area manager/sales leader who will come out and visit you, give you more information and sign you up - sales leaders are generally easier to contact and provide more help but all comes down to who you get!

You pay a £15 sign up fee when joining, you pay this over the first two campaigns and covers the admin costs and the brochures (which ASM/SL should supply to you)

NOTE: You MUST declare your earnings as you are classed as being self employed whether actually employed, self employed or on benefits already. You can be fined for not doing so and AVON does advise you to sign up as self employed.

Newly self-employed tax helpline: 0845 915 4515

What is Avon: A catalogue with toiletries/makeup/beauty items/some clothes/accessories. A rep orders for customers and earns commission on all items sold.

Reps buy the catalogues from avonand canvass friends and family,neghbours, workplaces and local streets/local businesss for orders.

(books come in packs of five - three packs are around £4.87 and each additional pack are about 48p each) Other costs would be bags for orders - paperbags are very cheap and can be ordered through Hello Tomorrow(HT).

Territory is usally an area (local streets) assigned by your ASM/SL where you can go out and canvass - drop brochures off/door knock to find new customers - its worth going round and seeing if anyone is interested. (check hints and tips for more info)

Warning re Territory - due to the way avon works its possible that an area may already have a rep who was signed up by a different SL - Avon dont actually have a record of who does what area, so worth trying but be prepared! (will add more if anyone has any other info)

Plastic bags are often used for delivering books, so that people can leave them outside to be collected - some use the bags that the sales brochures come in, others use sandwich freezer bags - good places to get these include pound shops, supermarkets, ebay

To get commission of 20% there is usually a minimum order value of around £74 and for 25% its around £144

A campaign is a brochure (18 over a year) that runs for three weeks - dates for various campaigns differ all over the country. You can backorder the last brochure, ie in Campaign 12 you order from current brochure and from brochure 11 if there are better deals! (see below for tips)

Reps also recieve a preview catalogue (Hello Tomorrow) (HT) that is usually two campaigns ahead and has information on the products that will be available at reduced prices, so that you can demonstrate to customers, also has lots of information about products, tips, and special offers/reduced section.

You order items every three weeks and its usually delivered around a week later to your prefered delivery address by a local courier company - will vary locally.

You have 10 days after order to pay for items - plenty of time to deliver and get money from customers. Variety of ways to do this. (you only need to pay upfront if on your first campaign you get orders over £200 - as you have this credit limit for first time)

Returns can be made and theres a process for going through them, easiest way is to claim a credit while completing your order online, and then print off the necessary forms and follow instructions for returning via courier (pack up items with forms inside and get it stamped by delivery driver)


Now for the Tips/Hints bit (will try and condense down a wee bit!)

• keep good records of customers and what they buy, and you can then concentrate your efforts where you'll get the most return
• most fruitful way of selling was through the workplace - try and get managers permission first to avoid any trouble in bigger workplaces? (offer a share of any profits - ie in my work we do this with another co - any funds are for staff xmas party)
  
  would put the brochures through the doors in a freezer bag, with a note saying if they didn't want to order then leave it on their doorstep on such and such a night.
  
  When ordering, because you are usually running two campaigns at the same time, some things will be cheaper in one brochure so by ordering smartly you can maximise any earnings.
  
  engaging in a bit of conversation with the customer. This means that when you give them the brochure with the delivery you can draw their attention to any special offers etc.
  
  have half your customers on the current brochure and half on the one behind, that way you are using your books twice.
  
  order everything online
  
  mention avon to everyone you know! Friends, family seem to be great for ordering
  
  fold down certain pages to highlight them in the brochure
• put a note in the top box to say a freebie for orders of £20 or over, and then buy an item for £1 or under (so you spend £1 to gain £4 or more commission)
  
  Save up bits and pieces from special offers and freebies
  
  Do a reccomend a friend offer.
  
  Offer mystery free item or a certain product free when friend spends x amount.
  
  Include your email addresss for queries and late orders
• 
  dedicated email address for avon orders
• 
  looking through the customer order and cross referencing it with the book to check that the customer has not missed out on an offer with a product they have bought, if its 1 and 1 free or they have ordered something which is cheaper in a set, order the extra and write them a note on delivery stating the reason for the extra items.

Any other things I've missed out on?

Former_MSE_Wendy

I've made a new thread with a copy of MiniLaura's (part 2) as the previous thread was so big

samace83

Woo-hoo! Shiny new thread!
Sam x

lolly1981

ohhh and i get 1st post ...unless im crossing with someone elses

i have signed 4 reps in total now...have one more to do sat that will be my 5 in my 1st campaign as SL i have to admit that if irt was for my ASM i probably wouldnt be doing so well she is fab...im aiming for 1 more before xmas then i will have a break till after the new year when i will start again in full force

my c.18 wasnt too bad about average ...a rep of mine got 199 on her first order...pretty good going

minigirl762003

Ooooh new thread. How exciting. Is it our xmas pressie from MSE lol xx

minigirl762003

Do I need to re-subscribe to this thread to get the emails that let me know if anyone has posted???

carkeyz

yaaaaaay shiney new thread! x

echo

minigirl762003 wrote: »

Do I need to re-subscribe to this thread to get the emails that let me know if anyone has posted???

i've been on this site for so long i forgot about subscribed threads.i've got loads so it seems but the only notifications i've ever had are for those when somebody has pm'd me.how d'ya get the emails to say somebody has posted??? i've looked at the list down the left hand side in my account but can't see owt

deanos

echo wrote: »

i've been on this site for so long i forgot about subscribed threads.i've got loads so it seems but the only notifications i've ever had are for those when somebody has pm'd me.how d'ya get the emails to say somebody has posted??? i've looked at the list down the left hand side in my account but can't see owt

Go to user CP,edit options, "Default Thread Subscription Mode:" change to instant email from the drop down

pugsley_h

First moan (and possibly the first contriversial post) of the shiny new thread!

A couple of campaigns ago, I was given a new street -spent a fortune on brochures, and spent loads of time canvassing it (and it has ben a nightmare because nobody left the books out, and for the first time I have lost books). Anyway, I have just been to collect my latest books - and found that yet agin, someone else is on my territory. I know that people have different opinions on this, but I firmly believe that reps should stick to their own territory, and shouldn't cherry pick and drop brochures wherever they feel like it. I have just been in to one of the shops and asked for the avaon brochure, and a woman in the back shouted "My order is here", but then she saw me and said "Oh, it is for the other lady". This has happened loads on this street, and it is really [EMAIL="p*@**ing"]p***ing[/EMAIL] me off! What is the point in having territory if people just stick books wherever they feel like! :mad:

Arghhhh.... anyway, I have got that off my chest now lol!

lolly1981

awww poor you (and no that isnt sarcasim lol)...i agree with you about people sticking to their own territory...thats what its there for and thats what sets avon apart from all the others (ie betterware)...youre not supposed to fight for territory.
get on to your ASM ...if theyre any good they will sort it out ASAP!