Avon Hints and Tips (Part 3)

Aesop

I personally wouldn't accept cheques or paypal. Unless you are prepared to wait for cheque to clear before delivering products.

Aesop

Oh yes the credit limit is upto £300 of sales, so not the actual amount you have to pay avon.

poppet

Is there a danger though in using previous books, I mean if customers order and that item is no longer available in the next campaign or something?
I've been reading through this whole thread and I'm not sure I get the back book/front book creative ordering. Do the brochures change a lot from campaign to campaign?

Yes, from time to time you will find items out of stock. You will be notified via your online ordering system if an item is out of stock, or low on stock. Avon use a system of coloured dots and ticks to indicate the stock level situation, as you go through the online ordering process. OOS items tend to happen at busy periods such as Christmas, or when there is a particularly good special offer or freebie being offered in the brochure.
How you handle customer orders with oos items is up to you, I like to warn them straight away as soon as i find out, so i avoid a grumpy and disapointed customer when i go to deliver.

I didn't even know about the credit check or credit limit thing either. I literally have no money so if I get a bunch of orders and have to pay Avon first I'm not sure I'll be able to. I wish my sl had told me about that. She basically showed me the little circle graph which shows you pay Avon after you deliver and collect money.

There are not that many reps who manage to exceed their credit limit in their first campaign - I have heard of reps who have exceeded their limit and had to pay some upfront, i have heard of reps exceeding their limit and not having any problems at all getting it all onto their avon account - so dont worry about it now, wait and see how many orders you get and take it from there.

Does anyone accept paypal on their orders?

Never heard of anyone taking paypal for Avon - I wonder how you would convince a customer to use that method of payment ? And i doubt very much that anyone is going to pay before you deliver , I certainly wouldnt, I would worry that the rep might do a flit with my money

I was thinking that I wouldn't take cheques, at least not at first. Even if someone is established customer they can still bounce a cheque without meaning to.

I dont like taking cheques but sometimes i have to. I have a couple of customers who place big orders with me "because" I accept cheques. If I insisted on cash from them, im pretty sure their order value would drop.

I'm a professional make-up artist as well as being a beauty consumer for well over twenty years! As a consumer I generally like to know what's in my skincare, especially because I have very sensitive skin. I would like to be able to answer custom queries on ingredients especially if I have any customers with similar problems.

I felt like this too when I started, there's not much info to help is there. In the end I ordered some products to test on myself and sent back the ones i didnt like. Remember that you are ordering items on account, so you do not have to pay from them upfront. For example: lets sya you have a care home to visit or a toddler group, I find that these groups prefer to buy things right there and then, rather than order from a book. So I order £100 odd of things I think they might like, old ladies like creams and mums like make-up and detangling spray, then I take them along, sell what i can and send the rest back for a credit.

I tot up what im sending back and reduce the total amount due on my invoice accordingly.

lozza1985

NoAddedSugar wrote: »

Thanks Lozza! Is there a danger though in using previous books, I mean if customers order and that item is no longer available in the next campaign or something? I've been reading through this whole thread and I'm not sure I get the back book/front book creative ordering. Do the brochures change a lot from campaign to campaign?

I've never had a problem so far, and been doing it over a year now. I just don't use the sale brochures on my back order campaign. You can always order from the current campaign, and from the previous campaign (it will make more sense when you enter your orders online). One item may be £5 in one brochure, but in the other brochure it may only be £3 - you can order it at the cheaper price and still charge the customer the £5 they thought they were having to pay. Well worth doing, as it will help to cover the cost of brochures, and you could also invest it in samples/free gifts.

Does anyone accept paypal on their orders?
No, and I only accept cheques from my mum, my sister, and a lady at work - customers on my territory have tried to hand me a cheque, but I just politely say I can't accept cheques only cash (it does state on the order form, cash on delivery). Never had a problem so far. It's the easiest way, as then you know you definately have the money. Even after doing it over a year, and knowing my customers pretty well, I still would never put myself at risk by taking a cheque from them - you could be left out of pocket for the items, as well as being charged by your bank for the cheque bouncing.

My other question is about product knowledge. How do find out about the products? The brand guides are really not helpful and the product descriptions on the Avon shop are not much more help.
If you keep hold of the HT magazines, there is usually some good info in there about the new products, and if you try different items yourself (or ask your family/friends what they think of the items they've had) it will help to build up your knowledge.

I just feel a bit in the dark when it comes to the skincare which I know is a big part of selling Avon. They tell you to buy demo products but as I said before I can't really afford to purchase anything upfront. I was hoping to buy a few samples with my first commission so I could at least give those out if I had questions about skincare.
To be honest - I've never had a customer ask me about what products to try - I give out samples now and again, trying to tailor them slightly to the customer (older ladies get the anew range, younger ones the solutions radiance for example). If anyone did ask, I'd tell them what I know, and make sure that they know they can return it if they aren't happy with the product.

The best thing to do to start with - is just be reliable, collect brochures when you say you will, and deliver orders when you say - that way customers will trust you. I wouldn't worry yet about people asking questions......they may tell you to demo products in HT, but I never have, I just buy them for my own use lol. There is some good reviews on products on the "avon friends forum", under the "products" section, which give you real peoples opinions on various products.

Money_maker

Not sure about sweeties in with the brochures.

Lets face it, if you got sweeties through the door with an unsolicited catalogue would you do anything else but bin them?

NoAddedSugar

Thanks guys! I've been reading more of this thread on page 47 now lol so starting to get a better understanding of the back/front campaign and creative ordering.

Also thanks for putting my mind to rest about paying for things upfront. I think I got worried because someone much earlier said she had over £400 in orders and had to pay £200 or Avon wouldn't send her orders. Obviously, I started this whole thing to earn some money so I would have cash to order things.

I think I lucked out in terms of territory. I didn't realise how built up the side roads are here. I live on a main road with loads of flats. The ASM suggested I do the side roads instead of targeting flats as I might not always be able to get in. After a little back and forth with her about what roads I looked on Google and chose the nearest roads off mine. To one side there is a short road which actually leads to another road and then another (they are short roads that don't lead anywhere not quite culdesacs or closes, not sure what you call that), then I mentioned in the other direction there is a close directly off the road (the one I dropped to yesterday) which has another close off it. Plus, down the actual road it meets another road and that is about two blocks long with a couple of closes off of it.

The ASM said"do those roads". I was thinking it wasn't that big of an area, but after dropping all my books without even finishing the first close I've realised I've actually got a huge territory. I couldn't even imagine trying to flyer all the apartment buildings on my actual road as well. I would have to quit my other job and just do AVON everyday. The upside is that all this area isn't really that far from my own flat only a few minutes in each direction, and I don't drive. I may not even be able to cover it all in one campaign, which I guess is why the back/front thing is a good idea

NoAddedSugar

Money_maker wrote: »

Not sure about sweeties in with the brochures.

Lets face it, if you got sweeties through the door with an unsolicited catalogue would you do anything else but bin them?

That's something to think about, but I am working on an idea that worked for others in this thread, so thought it couldn't hurt to try. As for me personally, if they were wrapped I would probably keep them LOL that's why I chose wrapped ones. Unwrapped I would certainly bin them.

Elliebee_2

I do occasionally give 'fun-size' choc bars with an order (usually at Christmas), but only if I am handing the bag directly to the customer. There is too much risk with putting them through a door - just think how you would feel if a small child got hold of it and choked. I wouldn't want my dog getting hold of chocolate either as in extreme circumstances it can kill a dog.

You might like to try a teabag attached to the collection day leaflet, saying something like 'have a drink on me' or 'make yourself a cuppa and look at your Avon book'. You could even put the bag in an envelope & say 'free drink enclosed'. You don't expect anyone to actually use the teabag, but it just makes people take notice

Better safe than sorry!

MarsdenCuckoo

NoAddedSugar wrote: »

That's something to think about, but I am working on an idea that worked for others in this thread, so thought it couldn't hurt to try. As for me personally, if they were wrapped I would probably keep them LOL that's why I chose wrapped ones. Unwrapped I would certainly bin them.

Agree with Moneymaker; maybe a good suggestion once you've built up a relationship with your customers but in the early days..... maybe not.

MarsdenCuckoo

aureol212 wrote: »

Oh yes the credit limit is upto £300 of sales, so not the actual amount you have to pay avon.

This must vary depending on.... who knows what..... The first order I placed was over £400 invoice value and I didn't have any problems re. it being held up or being asked to pay anything up front. :cool: