Avon Hints and Tips (Part 4)

inaminute

Thanks for finding out for me Lozza I will probably get some and she can give it a go. As its Avon branded I'm sure they've tested it thoroughly if its aimed at children so will probably be ok I'm sure.

MarsdenCuckoo

linzilp wrote: »

Not very happy today:(

I replyed to an advert in my local paper to become a rep, so Sunday the rep(sl) arrived and signed me up. She said that she could not allocate me any streets until today, but by all means knock on a few doors to see if people have Avon ect. I was all hyped up and about an hour later with books in hand went to canvass various streets, cut a long story short 8 streets near me have Avon reps, so I decided not to waste anymore time.
Today I have been told all streets in my area are not avalible!!!

I'm now thinking, 1- The SL i spoke to is not from this area and is waiting for my local Area manager to let her know where is avalible, could the ASM tell her porkies and keep some streets so she or any of her SL can have them? or is there a system in place so anyone can have an area if avalible.
Also what if an Avon rep says she no longer wants a street does it go back in the pot so to speak or do some SL/ASM keep them to sign up new reps?
2- Why advertise when there is no local streets avalible?

I don't want to sound yuky but just don't understand why I have been signed up.
I have spent about 6 hrs getting books/flyers ready, dreaming (I know sounds silly) about delivering today.

I'm still hoping to get a response sometime today as what area there may be.

Sorry to go on and on

Linzi

Count to 10 Linzi and take the time to either approach your Friends and Family and/or neighbours just to suss out if they're interested in having a book. Empathise with you - I was exactly the same. When eventually my given territory came through I had noooo idea where it was (also my OH, who knows this area, said it was so rough that he wanted to accompany me to make sure I was safe! :eek: ) Turned out that out of 70 houses on my GT I got less than 15 people, who wanted a book (also my GT was re-allocated to another rep 6 months later by some SL because my my ASM had never - and still hasn't!!! - allocated it to me officially)

Put the word out that you are now an Avon rep and 'feel your way'. Quite often reps just give up so GT doesn't appear to be free but actually is. Just get out there and talk to people.

Good luck.

PS: When you find a customer, it's worth offering them a gift for introducing a new customer. You'll find that most Avon customers tend to know where to find others.

lozza1985

And someone else has said they've used it since their little one was a few months so it should be fine

Fiver29

How soon do you have to pay the invoice? I have a week left before C10 has to be ordered, but still have one big order to deliver. The person who ordered it doesn't get paid until next week, and I can't get to the bank until Thursday, will 3 working days before the order is due be okay?

lozza1985

If you're paying online you can pay the evening of your deadline before you submit your order and it'll be fine. I always do it this way

linzilp

Thanks to all the positive replys to my situation early on today, I'm calmer now!!
Will wait and see if I get any territory if not will take youre advice and see if any friends (nearest family member is just over 1 hour away) are interested in having a book from me.
Will keep you updated.
Linzi

Fiver29

lozza1985 wrote: »

If you're paying online you can pay the evening of your deadline before you submit your order and it'll be fine. I always do it this way

Thanks, that's good. I was panicking a little in case they wanted it well in advance.

MarsdenCuckoo

Fiver29 wrote: »

How soon do you have to pay the invoice? I have a week left before C10 has to be ordered, but still have one big order to deliver. The person who ordered it doesn't get paid until next week, and I can't get to the bank until Thursday, will 3 working days before the order is due be okay?

If you check your invoice it will stipulate a date but, generally I tend to pay my invoice before submitting my next order. Having said that, you can track your order on-line and (as one of my reps did) she input her next order and it was prepared, ready for despatch but then held because she didn't pay her invoice. That suggests to me that provided you pay your o/s invoice prior to the date of despatch of your next order then you should be fine.

MarsdenCuckoo

linzilp wrote: »

Thanks to all the positive replys to my situation early on today, I'm calmer now!!
Will wait and see if I get any territory if not will take youre advice and see if any friends (nearest family member is just over 1 hour away) are interested in having a book from me.
Will keep you updated.
Linzi

Good, am really glad I found this thread and sure you will be too. I've even pointed my own SL in this direction!

As for an earlier post re. 'creative ordering' just think of how to get best value when you do your shopping (but also 'best value' for your customers too). We have two campaigns to order from (which our customers may or may not know) so...... compare the offers in both books vis-a-vis the orders you have and work it how it best works for you. I put my given territory on my current campaign and F&F on my back campaign. In my 'eyes' my GT customers have already seen the offers in the previous campaign so if they haven't taken advantage of them then.... hard cheese..... However, putting friends on your back campaign means you know what offers are in the next campaign so you can reeeeealllly look after them (if you want to) e.g. am on C10 now and flitflops are £10 (£18 in C9) I've had three C9 customers order them at £18 but I've told them at the outset that because they're on my back campaign I can get them at £10 Yes, know I lose £2 commission on each pair sold but 'what price loyalty'? Actually, come to that I've even had a friend of a GT customer order them at £18 and I've offered to 'hold them' if she can manage without them and order them at £10 in the next campaign. Yes, short term am losing but my customers tend to ring me if they're dropped a brochure by another rep (thanks to my ASM not doing her job! :mad: )

MarsdenCuckoo

linzilp wrote: »

Quick question time, If i deliver books tomorrow(Tuesday) is it best to collect them on Friday and redeliver Friday and keep a rolling pattern? Can you post on here what type of patterns you do when delivering books please.

2nd question is as a first timer would you deliver a book to every house? or knock on the door and ask if they would like a book?
Just want to get out there as feel I'm losing valuable days! I have no family around my area so most of my orders will be from canvasing.

Thanks in advance
Linzi

Hi Linzi,

As Aureol has already replied, work out what suits you and go with it.

My deliveries arrive on a Thursday so I prep them that day, deliver Friday* and enclose the next book, which has a note on the front reminding them that I'll be collecting the book/order on the following Tuesday.

Anyone, who doesn't order will get a book once I've collected my first batch back in and again it will have a note that I will collect it the following Tuesday. That means that all my customers know that Tuesdays are the day I collect my books (anyone not putting their books out gets a note through their door saying I tried to collect their books but will come back tomorrow/Wednesday). Means I get to put my books out twice for each campaign and if I'm hungry for new customers I just tighten up the second drop.

*Deliveries take me a long time; am wondering whether to adopt the Betterware approach and rather than just deliver the goods ad hoc, drop a note off saying I'll be delivering on ......day at ...... am/pm

As I said, just figure out what 'works for you' but routine is good!