~Avon Hints & Tips (Part 7) ~

Money_maker

My SL was pushing TSL when I signed up years ago. Used to feel guilty saying 'no' when she rang up. TBH, if I didn't have a family, had lots of free time and was a social butterfly then I would have done it. I struggle nowadays to keep on top of my jobs (all P/T!) and family without having any available time at my disposal. Have also taken heed of some of the posts by SL's on here about how tough it can be but not many posts about how much money they're making!

I'm not sure that I 'get' the concept of the dropping notes for a book. Surely a book dropped to your territory means the customer can browse without having to make a call and 'committing' themselves to a brochure?

MarsdenCuckoo

rainbow12 wrote: »

Do you have any other expenses (apart from the initial £15) when working with Avon?
DO you have to buy catalogues and stationary or is it all provided?

Im sure this information must be posted somewhere in the forum but I cant find it, sorry to be repetitive.

Hi R12,

Aesop has laid out all the things that reps need to buy, however, having said that....

There are no 'Outgoing Expenses' you have to pay for - they actually come out of your commission provided you get £78+ worth of customer price orders per campaign (3 weeks). (If you really can't get that level of orders then you just don't proceed as a rep and there is nothing due).

£78 worth of orders is classed as Minimum Order Value (MOV) and attracts 20% commission (£15.60)

That covers:

1st instalment of your set up fee (£7.50)
20 books for your 3rd campaign (£5.34)
50 Mini Bags (24p)
50 Large Bags (99p)
Total deductions £14.07 i.e. leaving you a paltry £1.53 but there is nothing that you actually need to pay and actually will give you a few free samples for achieving MOV under the SmartStart scheme.

Book bags are available @ 80p for 50 (cheaper than freezer bags) and whoever signs you up may give you some of these free but that's up to them. For your sign-up fee you do get your books free for the first two campaigns - any other freebies are down to whoever signs you up.

Lots of tips on here; just wanted to clarify that, yes, reps have to pay for lots of stuff but in my view it really is the easiest way possible to set up your own business without any initial costs. Even only achieving MOV it's possible to be a rep without it costing you money.... OK, you're not going to earn much (if anything) but you're given an opportunity - up to you what you do with it.

MarsdenCuckoo

nixinixi wrote: »

thanks MC, I was so relieved earlier when I checked and she was on, woohoo for Avon staff working on a Saturday lol!!!

You're v welcome; think Contracts only work Monday to Friday normally (like Accounts) but from what I gather there are lots of incentives on at the mo (possibly re. the 125th anniversary celebrations?) so my guess is that they're working overtime to keep up with the workload.

MarsdenCuckoo

sylvergrunge wrote: »

Just quickly touching back on the SLship thing. I completely agree that new recruits should be encouraged to be Rep's first before venturing into SLship. I was a rep for 7 months before becoming TSL and am so glad I did. I wanted to "walk the walk" so I could pass on information from personal experience rather than use "Chinese Whispers" as mentioned earlier. My SL has been great but I am also liaising with an ASM (not mine I might add as I am in a postal area so she is way up country) and making sure I go out on swoops etc with her and she is training me on recruiting etc as I regularly recruit in her area. I must admit, my biggest fear at the moment is one of my reps wanting to become a TSL as I am only learning the ropes myself at the moment :eek:

As ever, sounds like we're pretty similar. I applied for TSL in my 10th campaign (and despite having 5 potential newbies lined up from the start it took me a few months to qualify ). Am having a recruitment spurt at the mo so flagged the opportunity of TSL to certain members on my team i.e. it was an easy way for them to qualify, but when one actually said Yes I hadn't a clue what to do. Sod's Law, couldn't get hold of my upliner but all the info is on the website and pretty easy really. Provided your rep is confident enough to want to be a TSL then chances are they know what they're doing and are ready to pass that information onto their own downline. Just really a matter of checking that they're on the right track and getting them to sign a few forms..... Don't worry (you subscribe to one of the best threads in my opinion so sounds like with us and your ASM you have all the back-up you need! :T )

MarsdenCuckoo

Money_maker wrote: »

Just to add to other advice, really the only thing you NEED to buy is brochures and that's after you get your first two campaigns ones given to you. They run out at the first 3 packs (3 to a pack = 15 brochures) for £4.86 lump sum. Each pack thereafter is 48p so my 45 brochures last delivery cost me £7.74 - you may need less than that and you can use brochures for 2 campaigns.

Order forms are free (max 2 packs of 50 each campaign, normally more than enough and you can build stocks up).

Carrier bags make the orders look more professional and run out around 50p - £1 from memory for 50 bags depending on size.

Well done, just a little 'tweek' if I may....

Books are sold in packs of 5 i.e. 15 books = 3 packs

Paper bags are sold in lots of 50 (from 24p to 99p); plastic carrier bags are sold singly at 3p for medium and 6p for large.

johanne

all customers except one in.... all lovely except one for me not coming last night as promised... infact 3 actually said they were really worried as it wasnt like me! made me feel a bit better

Got loads to do tonight.... books to prep and orders to finish with the bits from my addtional order that came late.

Have done a 1/2 A4 page "customer feedback" form this time.. asking people questions about my service and offering everyone who fills it in a small free gift! Hoping it will help me identify who i need to concentrate more on and who would prefer i went less often too them!!:rotfl::rotfl:

I have noticed a big decrease in the amount of people even LOOKING through the brochure so want to pinpoint why this is... are they all too busy/skint/or just overloaded with avon after over 2 years of me calling and dont need anything!:rotfl:

Nationally sales were down across c4 and c5 so avon are wanting to know what they need to change within the brochure to help increase sales..... if you have any ideas can you let me know and i'll pass them on to the lady in the Top 50 who asked.. She wanted us PC girls to ask our customers but i thought id ask you guys too as your just as valuable in my opinion

newbeginning_2

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

Thanks; interesting.... Don't suppose you noticed what date codes they had on?

No, but will be passing by again next week so will have a look and report back

MarsdenCuckoo

Money_maker wrote: »

My SL was pushing TSL when I signed up years ago. Used to feel guilty saying 'no' when she rang up. TBH, if I didn't have a family, had lots of free time and was a social butterfly then I would have done it. I struggle nowadays to keep on top of my jobs (all P/T!) and family without having any available time at my disposal. Have also taken heed of some of the posts by SL's on here about how tough it can be but not many posts about how much money they're making!

No need to feel guilty about anything - definitely your choice and don't be bullied into thinking otherwise.

Holding multiple part-time jobs is harder than one full-time one so well done you for managing as you do.

As for SL earnings - it's not much. As ever it's 'Jam tomorrow'. At a motivational meeting recently they showed us a graph which illustrated that SL effort to earnings is disproportionate i.e. SLs put in a lot of effort for not a lot of return, which is why Avon offer the bonus scheme from TSL to SL of £180. (Logic dictates that, like the rep costs, provided you achieve the targets the bonus payments mean you won't be out of pocket.) The 'bigger picture', however, is that it gets easier/more lucrative as you move up through the ranks. Like everything else in Avon, if you have a good upliner then they will help you achieve whatever level you aim for.

MarsdenCuckoo

newbeginning wrote: »

No, but will be passing by again next week so will have a look and report back

Thanks, that will be interesting to know.

I this thread.

MarsdenCuckoo

johanne wrote: »

all customers except one in.... all lovely except one for me not coming last night as promised... infact 3 actually said they were really worried as it wasnt like me! made me feel a bit better

Always good to be appreciated, J. Actually, I think sometimes we don't realise who really appreciates us. Am going to take a break shortly - have arranged cover, of course, but when I told one little old lady about having another member of my team take on my former territory and look after them all she hugged me and told me that I couldn't "pass her on". Bless!