~Avon Hints and Tips~(Part 5)

angelatgraceland

Elliebee wrote: »

Just catching up after not being on yesterday - a couple of points....

Angel - With your customer who can't pay for her £50 order, is it worth asking how much she CAN afford to pay for then either sending back the rest or (if you can afford to) keeping the rest for next time?

Re bags for delivery. I always put small orders into an Avon paper bag, then put that together with the new brochure and any samples, gifts, etc into a carrier bag. Like Aureol I recycled supermaket ones but for large orders I used an Avon one (without using the paper bag). I found that made it much easier to handle several orders at once as you can loop them on your arm whilst dealing with money etc. Just write the customer name, door number and amount on the outside of the bag with permanent marker. You can buy cheap 'vest' type carrier bags on most markets and if you have a card for Makro (or any other C&C I imagine), they do some as well.

HTH

I did offer to take it to her in a week or two but she said she didnt want to put me in the same position then-saying she didnt have the money. Wants to get "straight"well I can understand that so Ive decided to just "grin and bear it". What I will prob do is to keep the anew offer(2 for £16) until next time but return all of the other stuff both from her and others. If I then don't sell it I will return next time but if someone happens to order anew I can offer them the ones I have. I am going to scrounge a few carrier bags on my travels I think-although we also need them for waste. Im trying not to buy anything! I did buy a little 3 drawer trolley on castors today at a boot sale though to put my brochures and paperwork in. Cost all of £4 so a very good value item! Had 3 free bottles of bubblebath and bought 5 handwash last time-hubby is rather fed up with them being on the diniong table so Im going to put them away at last! Does every Avon rep do these crazy things or am I just messy? :rotfl:

angelatgraceland

Loubylou1979 wrote: »

Does anyone know if the bathrobe is or will be for sale normally? I have 1 customer who really really wants to buy it at full price!

Not sure but if you have ordered enough eyeliners and handwash in the respective campaigns then all you would need to do is to order the handcream and YOU could claim one free! Then sell it on to your customer.
Im guessing they will be available as it says rrp £25.

Aesop

About 5 months ago DH threatened to throw al my Avon into the bin as it was cluttering up everywhere, including the dining table. Even now if I have paperwork on the dining table he complains. So nope, you are not the only messy one.

Did you get the PJs 18/20 the Frances ones? Are you returning them? If so, would you mind PMing me? I have a customer who calls me daily and is still waiting for Avon to send them to me.

angelatgraceland

aureol212 wrote: »

About 5 months ago DH threatened to throw al my Avon into the bin as it was cluttering up everywhere, including the dining table. Even now if I have paperwork on the dining table he complains. So nope, you are not the only messy one.

Did you get the PJs 18/20 the Frances ones? Are you returning them? If so, would you mind PMing me? I have a customer who calls me daily and is still waiting for Avon to send them to me.

Yes-Ive got 2 pairs! The legs are very long on them and the top is a little "snug fitting" as opposed to having room for movement. Id say they are a size 18-not 18/20.Now Ive no idea how we would do this so do pm me with details!
These pjs-they sent me 2 pairs same size instead of 14/16 and 18/20. My customer is no way a size 20 but they were very snug.

lullypops

Hey Ladies!!! I'm a new avon rep! HELP! lol any hints and tips are much appreciated! I tried to do it a while ago but no-one ordered
In a different area now so here's hoping!!

A few quick questions-
Roughly, what rep bits and bobs should i order on my first order? (i.e. bags, samples etc) and roughly how many!

Can i do my own little promo's like "order more than £15 and be put in a draw to win a bottle of wine/box of chocs" etc? Im really excited this time round, i just want to make the first couple campaigns as successful as possible!

lozza1985

Take time to read the first page if you haven't already, and the links that are on there.

Yes you can do your own promos, free gifts for ordering x amount, offering products at a discount. I'd avoid giving free bottle of wine though - you could have underage customers lol!

Rep bits to order - 2 packs of free order forms, extra calling books (free), ring sizers (free), and medium paper bags - they're a good size to start with. You could invest in the other sizes as you go along - though the mini aren't much good (I use them to put make-up items in when customers have also ordered larger items so that they don't get lost). Carrier bags - use supermarket ones! Resealable bags are a good idea to - avon do their own on the stationary page, or could can get them from ebay / supermarket. The amount of bags you order the first time depends on how many you'll need!

For samples - I wouldn't bother ordering any - you'll probably qualify for some free over your first 6 campaigns anyway, and unless customers specifically ask for a sample I wouldn't pay for them while you'll still got your admin fee going out.

lullypops

thankyou very much, i have no idea what im doing, they really throw you in at the deep end dont they?! I'm just glad this forum is here, i feel its going to be some good guidance!! P.s. they have a starter set with a demo bag and 50 samples for £10 as a "starter kit" at the moment for new starters, is this a good idea?

Mummyof2girls_2

Hi lullypops, welcome! The advice on here has been great & helped me so much!
I brought the demo bag but do not really use it at the moment, the samples come in handy but in smart start if you qualify you will get samples along the way (I now have loads!!), so I wouldn't bother to be honest!

Good luck, I'm sure you will get some orders it takes time & lots of patience!

MarsdenCuckoo

lullypops wrote: »

Hey Ladies!!! I'm a new avon rep! HELP! lol any hints and tips are much appreciated! I tried to do it a while ago but no-one ordered
In a different area now so here's hoping!!

A few quick questions-
Roughly, what rep bits and bobs should i order on my first order? (i.e. bags, samples etc) and roughly how many!

Can i do my own little promo's like "order more than £15 and be put in a draw to win a bottle of wine/box of chocs" etc? Im really excited this time round, i just want to make the first couple campaigns as successful as possible!

Long post alert!!

Welcome to the thread, LP, and good luck with your Avon business.

Whoever signed you up should've given you lots of pointers, certainly advised you re. your first order but for my 2p worth:

* Your books are free for the first two campaigns, it's recommended that in your 1st campaign though that you order your books for your 3rd campaign. (Makes it easier for your 2nd order as you can have your 3rd campaign books prepped and ready before bagging up your customer orders.)
* You get the option to buy the 'starter kit' (rep. bag with samples) for £10 - charged £5 in C2 and £5 in C3 - totally your choice (make sure you use the code 69401 rather than the one in HT otherwise you won't get the samples). NB: You only get the option to buy this in your first two campaigns.
* If you've signed up in C15-C18 then, depending on which area you are signed up to, you may get the opportunity to order some free trial size Anew skincare products. (Codes are mentioned earlier on this thread.)
* Bags - I recommend to my reps that in their first campaign they buy the mini bags (24p for 50) and large paper bags (99p for 50). Then buy the medium bags in your 2nd campaign - you're then well covered for a while.
* Also recommend you order a 2nd calling book (free) - good to have a back-up (and or even might be 'useful' if you've kids i.e. to get them interested in helping you by letting them keep their own record of your Avon business )

Personally, unless there are some samples on special offer or you really like a certain fragrance I wouldn't bother ordering any samples per se. Sometimes samples are half price, in which case it's a good way for you to acquaint yourself with the different fragrances but chances are your customers will already have their favourites so know more than you. (It can be helpful sometimes to use that tack when talking to potential new customers.) If anyone specifically asks about a fragrance then you can suggest you order it for them to try and remind them of the 90 day no quibble guarantee. Customers are loathe to 'put you to the trouble' but if you show you're happy to do it then chances are you'll have a sale of a full price product rather than it costing you money for a sample and they may not buy the product anyway.

As for your 'enticement schemes' - you can do anything that you think will work for you. I didn't do anything like that in the beginning - just 'made a nuisance' of myself to make sure my customers got the best possible deal (and made sure they knew I was putting myself out for them, of course ) - free gift with 'orders £10+', 'for introducing a new customer', 'for biggest order in my current campaign' are things I've tried since plus my latest favourite - offering a certain product cheaper than the brochure price. Definitely think I'm going to make more of that one in future.

Good luck with your Avon business.

MarsdenCuckoo

lozza1985 wrote: »

I'd avoid giving free bottle of wine though - you could have underage customers lol!

Did do this with one customer - she loved it (and helped me get rid of some wine I'd bought cheap and couldn't stand!) See your point though - not something I'd advertise generally. She said she really looked forward to her Avon order arriving as it meant it 'cut down on her housekeeping costs'! :rotfl: